Anne with an E: Season 2, Episode 4 (S2E4)
The monthly series analyzing the Netflix show, "Anne with an E" based on L.M. Montgomery's beloved classic, "Anne of Green Gables" continues.
“But what we call our despair is often only the painful eagerness of unfed hope.” - George Eliot’s Middlemarch
Siphoning of Hope & Romantical Notions
S2E4 is titled "The painful eagerness of unfed hope.” Like this season’s episodes, it borrows a line from George Eliot's novel “Middlemarch”. The full quote, referenced above, is a compassionate reframing of despair, not as weakness or failure, but as the sign of a still-beating heart. It’s a fitting wrapper for the episode in which past love and longing reign supreme. Anne attempts to bring Matthew, now a very much confirmed bachelor, in his mature years, into a renewed situationship with a childhood crush, Jeannie, who has fallen hard for Matthew and writes him love letters from abroad. Unfortunately, Anne initially mistakes Matthew’s hesitation for simple shyness when, in reality, he has no desire to rekindle a romantic relationship with Jeannie. This misunderstanding leads Anne to intervene in the interim. She begins replying to Jeannie’s letters as if she were Matthew, unintentionally giving Jeannie false hope for a renewed romance.
“It would be awful to live a life without true love”
⁃ Ruby Gillis on subject of Matthew and Jeannie
The Grifters’ Ponzi Scheme and PTSD
Meanwhile, Avonlea is still licking its wounds. With Nate the grifter finally gone, along with a good chunk of the town’s money, things are technically safer, but the damage lingers. You can feel it in the tension and tempers of the townsfolk. Over at the Barrys’, things are especially strained: Mr. Barry has emotionally checked out, leaving Mrs. Barry to channel her resentment into controlling Diana’s future. With the dream of finishing school in England off the table, she’s now determined to “finish” Diana herself.
“We all need to stop galavanting around like nothing bad could ever happen in Avonlea.” [PTSD] Marilla
And now for a different approach…The Writing Prompts Cometh
How this works: Each content area is labelled by theme and questions given for response by my daughter (A) and myself (Beth).
Unspoken Desires, Misguided Intentions & The Ethics of Love
Anne acts as a romantic intermediary, writing love letters on behalf of Matthew to Jeannie, unbeknownst to Matthew.
How do Anne’s intentions reflect her understanding of love and romance?
A: Anne thinks that everything is always perfect and that it all works out in the end. That every romance must be tragic and dramatic to make it worthwhile. She is reflecting her wishes onto Matthew, only to realize that not everyone shares the same wishes as her.
People can be happy without romance. - A
Beth: At Anne’s age, her prefrontal cortex is still in development, which means impulsivity and risk-taking are at an all-time high. Yes, she wants to see Matthew, a surrogate father, happy and fulfilled, and she definitely deems Jeannie worthy of Matthew’s affections (in the past, at least), so all good intentions here, but her actions in this episode are a bit premature. She doesn’t fully grasp that throughout a lifetime, romantic feelings can change. They should. We change!
I also love what you said about people being happy without romance. You are right!
The ethics of love: Is helping someone find love worth risking betrayal?
A: I think sometimes it is. Sometimes you need to think if it’s worth it. (Subtle foreshadowing to the end of the show when Diana helps Anne in her attempt at love.) Anne somewhat knew that Matthew wasn’t in a position to be with Jeannie and that the whole idea of them was a little bit outlandish.
Beth: Unpopular opinion outside present company (and safe space), but yeah, I think sometimes as a friend or family member, if you can see a connection and love match, it’s worth helping to nudge it along a bit, in service of the pairing, of course. This may seem antithetical to trust, but it’s not. It’s predicated on a level of deep understanding. Call me, Emma.
Also, what is the betrayal, exactly? Is it betraying someone else’s secrets? Your own feelings? The boundaries of a friendship? Some betrayals rupture things; others rupture illusions, as in Anne and Matthew’s case. If love is the end goal, maybe it’s a worthy rupture, if only to get closer to the real thing.
In this episode, Marilla’s interaction with the foreign peddler, Mr. and Mrs. Barry’s inability to claim responsibility for their actions, and anger related to the gold scheme, and Anne’s meddling in Matthew’s feelings stem from, in part, fear and concern.
What do these emotional missteps reveal about trust as the foundation of healthy partnerships?
A: That sometimes telling the truth won’t always work out the best in the end. As you’ve seen in this episode, Marilla asks Matthew to respond to Jeannie. He tells her to quit it. This may not have made a sway in Matthew’s decision, but it showed concern to a comfortable degree. Anne however, not only went behind Matthew’s back, but did it in an uncomfortable way for Matthew. We all know he is not very communicative by nature.
Beth: Adulting is hard, and naming emotions and the source of them is even harder. I could see where all the frustration in this episode came from. Diana lashing out at her sister, Marilla snapping at the peddler because he represented danger after her experience with the boarders, and Anne barking at Jerry for showing concern. When we don’t recognize or manage our emotions, we end up causing collateral damage. But in relationships grounded in trust and shared values, being vulnerable and having hard conversations doesn’t feel quite as impossible.
We’ve arrived at the end of our prompts. A special thanks to A for making the reflection exercise such a worthwhile endeavor. Thank you :)
Episode Facts, No Printer
Runtime: 44 minutes
Directed by
Anne Wheeler
Writing Credits
Moira Walley-Beckett...(created by) Lucy Maud Montgomery...(novel)Shernold Edwards...(written by) Naledi Jackson (executive story editor); Alina Mankin (executive story editor); Kathryn Borel (executive story editor)
Produced by
John Calvert (producer); Patricia Curmi (associate producer); Miranda de Pencier (executive producer); Shernold Edwards (supervising producer); Moira Walley-Beckett...executive producer / producer (showrunner)
I enjoyed reading these prompts and responses. Thank you, A & Beth for both sharing your insightful comments.
Loved this piece! It's so unique! I also think this show explores the idea of love in such a beautiful way, both demonstrating the passionate adolescent love that we see building between Anne and Gilbert, while also exploring the more subdued, nostalgic love that we see in Matthew, and also in Marilla.