Anne of Green Gables 6-106 Anne of Green Gables
Marilla observers that Anne’s only real shortcoming is her penchant to daydream. Marilla decides to wait to tell Anne that she will stay at Green Gables. Of course, Anne asks at one point and Marilla tells her to get back to work. When Anne is finally told she imagines herself soaring to the sky. Anne promises to be her best.
This episode highlights the joys of Anne’s imagination. When Anne is told that she will be staying, she goes to tell the blossom tree she’s named Snow Queen. She also has a tendency to romanticize and fantasize everything. She imagines herself walking through the mirror and holding hands with her mirror image as they float into the woods. She also imagines herself as a princess at one point in the episode.
7 Mrs. Rachel Lynde is Properly Horrified
Mrs. Rachel comes to visit and comments on how Anne is skinny and ugly. Anne calls her out as rude and unfeeling. After Anne storms off, Marilla calls Rachel out as well, which doesn’t go over well. Marilla says Anne must go apologize and ask for forgiveness. Matthew backs Anne’s behavior, but says she must be punished as well so Anne goes off to apologize.
While Anne is quite the chatty dreamer, she’s been a rather subdued child. This is the first time we see some of her spunk. It also gives Marilla a flashback to her own youth where she experienced ridicule. As stern as Marilla is, she seems to be trying to instill Anne with good values. Of course, Anne’s apology is quite melodramatic and flowery. While Anne might be practicing some of these virtues, her heart might not be in the right place.
8 Anne’s Impressions of Sunday-School
As Sunday approaches, Anne’s fantasizes about what her dress will look like. Her lofty expectations are dashed when she is presented with several plain dresses. Marilla states there’s nothing wrong with sensible dresses. Anne ends up going to church alone and along the way she decorates her hat with flowers. Even when wearing plain clothes, Anne finds a way to be dramatic. And instead of focusing on the service, she thanks God for the majestic view out the window.
At this point, a lot of the episodes feel the same. And for a show as gorgeous and charming as Anne of Green Gables, that’s not entirely a bad thing. The show doesn’t feel episodic as each episode pushes forward a larger narrative, but the general structure and the tangents it goes on are often similar.
9 A Solemn Vow and Promise
The future holds excitement for Anne as she is told she will meet a young girl her age named Diana. Anne is consumed with worry that Diana will not like her while simultaneously imagining that she and Diana will become bosom friends. It’s a moment where she realizes that reality doesn’t always meet up with her dreams. Anne meets Diana, a girl taken with books and not likely to venture outside much. The two hit it off spectacularly and make an oath to be bosom friends.
It’s nice that the show is broadening its horizons beyond Green Gables. Last episode it was the church, this episode it’s a new friend for Anne. It’s nice the show is giving Anne someone else to interact with as Anne and Marilla can only show one side of Anne. Diana begins to show a new dimension of who Anne is as a person.
10 Anne Plays with a Bosom Friend
Anne and Diana plan to meet on a bridge to play, but Diana doesn’t show. Anne decides to go to Diana’s house and discovers that Diana’s younger sister is keeping Diana trapped. Anne suggests that she comes along, but Diana’s mother whisks her away. The two run off to play in the woods and consume some candy Matthew gave Anne.
This episode is another glorious showcase of Anne’s imagination. Anne and Diana stumble across a mirror and Anne insists that it’s a spirit mirror. The two also imagine a grove of trees as a house and Anne makes up a game on the fly for the two to play. They also take the clear colored candy wrappers and look through them to see the world in a different light. It’s a good image of how Anne sees the world through a different light than most people.