What TV show did you last watch a season of on DVD/Blu-ray?

Begins with abstract shots of Anne (not showing her face, just parts of her) as she says goodbye to Belle the horse (there wasn't nearly enough horse-chatting going on this season), grabs some rope, waves to a tree (she waves to everything. I'm surprised she doesn't wave to the dirt she walks on), then literally hugs the tree, climbs it, and is up there to get a good perspective. For a split second when seeing her grab the rope and taking it to a tree, my mind went to a dark place (I thought, "Damn, what happened between last season and this one that would make Anne want to hang herself?")...but then I remembered what sort of show I was watching and that they wouldn't dare 'go there' (I blame all the other dark stuff I watch for making me automatically think of the worst possible thing).



She’s still as curious as always, talks just as much, and soaks in everything/feels everything so completely. By all rights, Anne's overenthusiasm for everything should get on my nerves...but I find Amybeth McNulty brings such a charm to her character that no matter how irritating Anne might get at times, I just can't hate her for it. I can't even dislike her. I've noticed in recent years when reading comments online people using the phrase "He/she must be protected at all costs!" in relation to various characters. I never really 'got' that before now, but I think I can safely say I feel protective of Anne's character in this show. Anything that's done to upset her royally pisses me off and I feel stabby towards whoever does it. Who woulda thunk it? Me, a person who typically hates most kid characters in shows/movies, feeling 'protective' of a kid character in a show? That's a testament to Amybeth's acting, I think, as I'm not sure I'd care so much if a different/less endearing actress had played the role. But enough of this gushy stuff! I was disappointed to learn that her freckles AREN'T REAL. They put fake freckles on Amybeth for her to play Anne. I wonder how many viewers were so happy to have a heroine who, like them, had an abundance of freckles...only to find out it was all a lie! I feel SO disillusioned! 



I still love the show's theme/opening credits, though, and was glad to see neither had been changed (I hate it when shows have already perfect themes/opening credits and then feel the need to change them and they're not a patch on the original versions). Seriously, if nothing else...check out these opening credits! They're a thing of art and one of the best I've ever seen. 



Of course, not everything is 'light'/'fun', as we are shown more flashbacks to Anne's torturous time at the orphanage where the horrible girls there are telling her nasty stories (seriously messed up things that have you wondering what sort of psychos birthed them in the first place), and yet Anne is the one who gets in trouble for talking and is forced to hold a pile of heavy books all night, it seems (though she cleverly hides one under her dress to slightly lessen the weight as the person who's supposed to be watching her snoozes). Later on, one bitch rips part of a book out because Anne likes reading it. I feel so sorry for Anne every time we see something horrible that she’s put through. It's always the good ones who're treated the worst. 

I thought it was weird that the Cuthberts still hadn’t figured out their two new boarders were bad news. It's also a bit disturbing that Anne seems like she has a bit of a thing for one of them, the one called Nate, but it's also weird that he seems to have a bit of a thing for Marilla (causing her to get flustered). Clearly he's putting on an act for all of them (especially Anne, who he appears to struggle to be patient with at times). The other one, Mr. Dunlop, seems nicer and bakes lots of stuff with Anne. They even sing. But I won't forget that he and Nate beat up and robbed poor Jerry at the end of last season, thus making both of them scum. Obviously Nate is messing with Marilla, since at dinner he takes her hand (then everyone else joins in). I was amused at Anne asking him to say something in prayer that sounded more 'romantical' (her favourite word). 

The family go for a ride, Anne randomly jumps off and wants to go to the beach, she goes into the water against Marilla’s wishes and so does Matthew, then there's a brief moment where they think Anne's drowned, but he carries her out and proceeds to give her a brief swimming lesson.



Anne asks if they make enough money can they buy back the horse which Jerry sold in last season's final (and they didn't even get the money for the horse, since Nate and Dunlop stole it from Jerry after beating him up). Speaking of, he's getting menaced by Nate in the barn and I wonder how it's possible Jerry doesn't recognise one of the men who beat the snot out of him. Anne's been giving him lessons to learn the alphabet/how to read, though he doesn’t want a spelling lesson with her after his barn encounter with Nate (who was possibly going to do something bad if Anne hadn't come in). 

It was nice to see Anne and Diana, as well as Ruby Gillis (who was pretty horrible to Anne last season, but then ended up becoming a friend of hers), at their clubhouse and writing stories...or at least trying to, anyway. I was amused that apparently Ruby just kept writing romantic stories about someone with a name like Gilbert (as she was obviously missing him) and Diana kept offing her characters. 

Matthew sees from a distance the two grifters chatting and they’re pretending they've found gold, purposely talking loudly about it so Anne overhears, then she goes to Rachel Lynde who can tell she’s hiding something and says whatever secret she's keeping is safe with her. Cut to everyone knowing. The grifters are playing them like a fiddle at the town meeting and getting them to invest a large sum of money in their supposed gold-finding venture. While they’re away from the house, Anne finds the stamp thing in Nate’s stuff he's used to create fake gold certification documents, she prints it onto paper she takes because she has a shortage, prays her letter gets to Gilbert and that she makes no spelling mistakes (I know the feeling when it comes to hoping for no spelling mistakes). 



She plans to replace Nate’s paper that she took, but later he finds that someone's been in his stuff, then proceeds to pull a hair from his head and put it on the lock he keeps his stuff in (I think)? Meanwhile, Gilbert’s elsewhere and has befriended an African-American man named Bash (short for Sebastian), singing as they shovel coal into the boiler of a steamship they're on.

Begins with Gilbert and Bash. Gilbert admires a horse and encourages Bash to come over to it, but he has a thing about horses. Some jerk assumes Bash is a slave and wants him to do whatever for him, but Bash informs him that he's a free man and Gilbert learns things aren't so easy for his new friend.

Somehow Jerry STILL hasn’t put two and two together in regards to Nate and Dunlop being the ones that beat him up last season. Nate makes Anne believe she's seeing traces of gold under a microscope despite the fact that she's not actually seeing anything and says as much to him, but he convinces her that it's there and she goes along with it. This reminded me of the first episode last season when Marilla thought Anne had stolen her brooch, which she hadn't, but Marilla convinced Anne to lie and say she did. It was disappointing to see in this scene with Nate that Anne, who is so intelligent, let him pressure her into second-guessing herself just to please the jerk, as she really should've gone with her gut/trusted her instincts on this one. Matthew gives Anne money to buy a new slate after the one she cracked on Gilbert's head last season (a classic moment from Season 1 that I'll never forget as it always cracks me up whenever I think of it).



Anne has such imagination when walking with Diana in the woods, imagining a branch she gets snared on as a skeleton hand and (amusingly) freaking them both out. At school, Cole is a quiet artistic type who we're introduced to and he draws very well for someone his age. Billy Andrews (Anne's main tormenter last season) throws a ball, tells Cole to throw it back and says he’s got a good arm, but Cole doesn’t want to join. Billy then throws the ball hard at a 'friend'. He's still a dick, I see. Meanwhile, the creepo teacher has still got his ridiculous hair/mustache, still got that student (Prissy) lusting after him, and is still an a-hole. Billy the dick makes ink go all over Cole's drawing (apparently he didn't take too kindly to Cole knocking back his invitation and now has a vendetta against him - which kind of makes Billy the Draco Malfoy of the school. Hell, he even has his own Crabbe and Goyle), but creepo teacher blames Cole (what is it with adults in this show blaming the person being victimized?) and makes him go to the black board to write (after not even letting him pick up his stuff that fell on floor. Luckily, Anne - who is one of the only decent people at that school - picks it up for him). Cole writes in big fancy writing, but creepo teacher rubs it off, saying he’ll need space for 50 more (such an a-hole!).

Anne and Diana go to sit with Cole at lunch, one by one others join (mainly because Diana has tarts). Josie Pye (Anne's other main tormenter last season) pretends other older girls are outside asking her to join them. Anne continues to freak out her friends with her ghost story, they leave, she gets a bit freaked herself, meets a fox, then returns home to find Dunlop fake-crying over a letter supposedly about a dead relative and saying that he has a sizeable inheritance. He gives her a fancy pen and she immediately forgets all about her slate which she dumps in the wood bin for collecting firewood. I felt a bit sad for Matthew when he saw this, after he'd given her the money for a new one. Speaking of making people sad, Marilla has been changing her hair multiple times to attract Nate, yet he won’t hold hands with her at dinner like he did last episode and doesn't bother with saying grace either. 

Diana’s parents are having a party and everyone leaves Anne at home (who’s still freaked out by her own story). Dunlop sings along with Diana’s piano playing, everyone wants to get in on the whole gold-finding venture, Diana’s sister (who nearly died last season, but Anne saved) catches Nate trying to steal something and he puts it back, fake-compliments her and she kicks him - which makes her awesome. Go, Minnie May!





Marilla thinks she hears Nate complimenting her, but turns around to see it’s someone else he's complimenting (let it go, Marilla, he's not worth it). Dunlop offers to pay Matthew and Marilla the money they need to get in on the whole gold venture thing, then later he and Nate argue outside the Cuthbert residence, causing noise that scares Anne more than she already is (as she's heard howling and whatnot prior to their raised voices). Anne goes to write a letter to Gilbert about the gold and ink pours out of the pen Dunlop gave her. I was mildly amused that the episode ends with her reaction, where she's like, “NO!!”. Speaking of ruining paper with ink, I forgot to mention that earlier in the episode after Billy the dick had spilled ink onto Cole's sketchbook, later on Cole turned over several pages in his sketchbook that the ink spill had soaked through and gradually there was less and less ink left on the pages until eventually he reached that was mostly clean and just had a few spots of ink on it. I thought it was pretty neat how he turned those spots into Anne's freckles as he drew her face and continued to prove what a gifted artist he was. I feel bad for him, as he just wants to keep to himself and draw, yet bullies won't leave him alone (I can relate).

Begins with Matthew and others riding in the night on horses with lanterns in pursuit of something. After the opening credits, we pick up right where the last episode left off with Anne and the pen ink that went everywhere over the paper she 'borrowed' from Nate. Apparently she's going away for a trip with Diana and her parents (who have been fully convinced of the whole gold thing by Nate and Dunlop). Matthew wants to pay them for taking Anne with them, and while Diana's father doesn't think it's necessary, Diana's mother has no problem taking money from them despite the fact the Cuthberts aren't exactly rolling in it. Diana’s sister, Minnie May, is super-irritating on the ride (which is disappointing, after she'd been so awesome in kicking Nate last episode). Once they reach their destination, Anne and Diana go sleuthing and track down a sarcastic old guy named Malcolm Frost. He's not overly friendly to begin with, but it's done in a funny way. Gradually, though, he comes to respect Anne and what the two of them are trying to achieve by investigating the gold rush. He helps them and they put two and two together, figuring out Nate and Dunlop are swindling everybody. Jerry hasn’t, though, after all this time around them, and Nate is trying to force him to drink alcohol. Marilla's also moved on from not-minding them to not-liking like them now after finding their hidden booze. Dunlop wants to stay and buy land, build a house, stay close to the Cuthberts, and is even making Anne a pie. 

Meanwhile, Diana’s mum is pissed they went to a pub and threatens to end their friendship when they try to tell her about the grifters. Once Nate and Dunlop realise Anne and Marilla are onto them, they tie the two of them up and flee. FINALLY Jerry gets it that they were the ones who beat him up...just in time for Nate to punch his lights out again. It’s nighttime once Matthew & co catch up with the grifters (which brings us up to where the episode began). Nate's pushed Dunlop down a hole at the site where they pretended to find gold and has fled. Jerry says at least he tried to stop them this time after feeling guilty he didn’t last time. The most infuriating thing is that NATE GETS AWAY. This is like Game of Thrones-levels of unbalanced (ie. good characters like Anne, Cole and Jerry get treated like crap, while characters such as Nate, creepo teacher and Billy the dick  get away scot-free/suffer no comeuppance whatsoever for their actions). It's really quite rage-inducing. Of course, it's at this point that Anne’s letter she sent reaches Gilbert and he’s like, "There’s gold in Avonlea?". Er...yeah...about that...

Begins with Anne and her friends reenacting a play that involves a corpse in a boat. It's sad to hear Anne say she won’t play the main role because of her red hair and that Ruby should play the part instead (this show will do wonders for your self-confidence if you're a redhead, for sure!), but eventually she relents. Unfortunately, Diana's mother scolds them all and seems to especially target poor Anne. It was at this point I wished Anne would've pointed out to her that she'd tried to stop them giving money to the grifters last episode, but she wouldn’t listen (not that it would've likely done much good, of course). Diana and Minnie May are given social etiquette books on how to be 'proper ladies' or whatever by their mother, who is harsh with them and makes them balance the books on their heads (Diana manages to, and while curtseying too. Minnie May? Not so much).

At school, Diana's showing Anne how horrible the social etiquette book is and they ask Cole if there's a book that's equally horrible for boys. His response is it wouldn't help him. It's not so much the words, but the way he says them and reacts that gave me my first clues of what his deal was. The book's descriptions of all the things not to do and how bad they are in the book are somewhat amusing with how ridiculous they sound. One of the 'Don'ts' includes burping...which creepo teacher proceeds to do (apparently it is 'social ruin' or whatever), causing Anne and Diana to have a good laugh.

Anne discovers that Matthew’s been receiving letters from Jeannie (who we met last season when Matthew went to get a dress made for Anne). There's obviously some unresolved feelings there between the two and Anne encourages him to write back, but he doesn’t. Naturally, Anne being Anne, she replies to the letters on his behalf and you just know this is not going to end well. When Matthew does eventually find out, he tells her in no uncertain terms that what she did 'wasn't right'. While previously I've felt sorry for Anne whenever anyone has caused her to get really emotional/upset, I thought in this instance she somewhat overreacted to what was said to her. I mean, it wasn't like Matthew was yelling or insulting her or anything. He was pretty reasonable, actually. I'd expected him to be a bit more harsh. Thankfully, he wasn't...but the way Anne reacts to what he says seems like the sort of reaction one would have to something a lot worse. I guess it can be chalked up to Anne tending to 'over-feel' things. Or it might just be that Matthew's always so good to her, and they've gotten along so well up to this point, that having him be disappointed in her really got to her. Anyway, rather unfairly, she takes out her being upset on poor Jerry, then runs off to her clubhouse and is visited by her new fox friend (I was relieved she didn't take out her feelings on the fox as well). 

Rachel Lynde says in not so many words that Marilla was responsible for the grifters and I was ready to hate her again like I did at the start of Season 1, but later she retracts that, more or less saying it wasn't Marilla's fault. Matthew talks to Jeannie, she quickly realises he wants to spend his remaining time with Anne who later comes to see him in the barn and is hesitant to enter it at first after what he said to her earlier, but then he holds out the horse reins for her, basically letting her know he's forgiven her. It was a really nice moment when she said her reason for doing what she did was because she didn't want him to not have love in his life he said he had her, ending with them hugging.



I remember back in the second episode of Season 1 when he spent the whole time looking for Anne after she'd run away (after Marilla accused her of stealing the brooch which she hadn't) and called out, "She's my daughter!" at the train station and her reaction to that - it was such a heartwarming moment. I'd been missing moments like those so far this season up until this point. There should be more of them! Anne also had a good scene with a peddler in this episode. It's always nice to meet a character who is decent to Anne. Naturally, she's very open-minded about him (unlike Marilla). 



Diana’s family playing in leaves, after her mother apologised to her daughters because Minnie May was upset her parents weren’t getting along (they'd been arguing about who was to blame for giving their money away to the grifters), didn’t feel entirely 'believable' to me. It was too much of a turnaround on the mother's part. I didn't buy for one second she'd be willing to get all dirty with the leaves and whatnot. It felt 'too happy' a conclusion to their plotline in this episode. It would've been enough to just hear her apologise to her daughters (and to Anne as well would've been nice). What I did believe, though, was Diana running in excitedly to tell Anne she had plenty of time to become a woman (her mother’s words) and that they could play again, followed by them having a sword fight with broomsticks. 

What's Gilbert been up to this episode? Why, he's been drinking, barfing and helping to deliver a woman’s baby. Just as well he doesn't take things to heart as much as Anne does, since the woman tells Bash to keep 'that white boy' away from her. Bash reassures her by saying he didn't trust Gilbert (who he refers to as 'pasty') at first either. The most Gilbert gets after his miraculous delivery of a baby is a 'thank you' from the woman (no 'sorry', though, despite the fact that all he did was try to help her and if she really thought he meant her harm, what did she think Bash was hanging out with him for?). Bash isn't the only one who gets unfairly judged.

Begins with Anne and her friends hanging out. Diana's playing the role of a guy, Anne poses the question of why the girl has to wait for the guy and, frustratingly, keeps going on about how ‘ugly’ she is (I really hate seeing her be so hard on herself when it comes to her looks. I wish at least one person would compliment her on them. She's far from the worst-looking person in this show. Still, I can understand her struggling to overcome what she's been told about herself by others after a lifetime of put-downs and no one really complimenting her appearance). We get more flashbacks to the horrible girls at the orphanage who tortured her and you can see why she has such low self-esteem when it comes to her looks.

She ties lots of bows in her hair, but Marilla is against it. Really, Marilla? An abundance of bows in her hair is where you draw the line? Marilla's character seems a tad inconsistent when it comes to things she will and won't allow Anne to do, I find. Anne puts them on anyway when she’s in the barn and out of sight...until Jerry finds her and she rolls her eyes at his staring at her. Anne's weird with her treatment of/attitude towards Jerry. After all the bullying she's suffered, I would've thought she'd be a bit more sympathetic/nicer towards him. She treats him kind of like a kid brother...but I think he may feel differently about her. Earlier she was mean to him when he was talking to Diana in French and complimented her, saying how beautiful she was. Anne said she wished she was beautiful too and Diana's response was she’d rather be smart.

Cole helps Anne style her hair and make the bows work better, but creepo teacher (who we were subjected to more scenes of along with his willing victim, Prissy, earlier as they discussed him ‘aiding and abetting her higher education’ - is that what they call it back then? His moustache is so annoying and he’s such a ponce and a creeper) catches this and makes Cole sit with the girls (which, of course, gets all the usual jerks laughing). One thing that's been confusing me for some time now is how Josie Pye is so horrible to Anne at school...but hangs out with her outside of class. It was great to see Cole tell her off at one point during the episode.



It was also good to see Anne tell off the jerky guys who were running around lifting the girls' skirts (how uncomfortable it must've been for the actress playing Diana to utter the words 'just boys being boys' since that excuse certainly doesn't fly anymore...or at least it shouldn't). 



After much discussing of the subject of 'kissing' earlier in the episode (there was a funny scene involving Anne talking to Marilla and Matthew about kissing and their reactions/awkward responses were quite amusing, as was Marilla saying it wasn't the right time to be asking about that...only for a few seconds to pass before Anne asked what would be the right time?), Josie Pye gets a game of 'spin the bottle' going at school. Anne once again flashes back to the horrible treatment she suffered at the hands of the monstrous girls from the orphanage and I'd really like someone to track those bitches down and kick their arses. One of the worst things about bullies is they prey on those who they perceive as 'weak' and oftentimes niceness is something they mistake for 'weakness'. Anne is so nice, so naturally she's the perfect 'victim' as far as they're concerned. I hate the fact that Anne was subjected to all that nastiness, including face-licking (like, WTF?) and throwing her book she loves into what appears to be tar. Diana has to kiss a guy who seems excited by the prospect of getting to smooch her. Cole mentions to Anne that he doesn’t like being ‘weird’. 

Marilla offers no reassurance about Anne’s looks when she's constantly putting herself down, and I was not only disappointed by that, but also mad at Marilla later on when she basically confirmed what Anne had said about herself being 'plain' - which she seemed to intend as words of comfort or whatever. I felt so bad for Anne. How was Marilla so blind not to see the hurt she caused her? Rachel Lynde wasn't any better, of course, recommending whipping Anne for asking about kissing (just when I think she's a half-decent human being, she comes out with crap like this and I'm back to hating her character). 

When Anne's out in the woods, she encounters her fox friend once again.



After making some comments to the fox, it gets startled and runs off. I thought it was a sweet moment from Anne when she yelled out to the fox that it was beautiful. It's sad that although she can recognise beauty in all manner of things, she can't see it in herself. Thank goodness for Diana saying at one point that she wished Anne would stop putting herself down (or something to that effect). Anne really needs to be told that more often. Diana's a good friend. 

When it came time for a second round of spin the bottle, all I could think was "Why does Anne even sit with them, let alone participate?" given all the nasty comments they typically make towards her. This instance isn't any different, as they call her all manner of mean things. The guy that the bottle lands on says in the most hurtful way that he doesn't want to kiss Anne, which is bad enough, but they all start chanting "Kiss, freaks kiss!" when Cole says he’ll kiss her. Billy the dick makes his usual annoying/obnoxious barking noises and I really wanted someone to kick his arse. Instead, Anne takes hold of Cole and bends him backwards like he's the female half of the couple and gives him a peck on the cheek. It was a sweet moment - Anne was returning Cole's kindness after he stood up for her. Speaking of standing up, at one point during the episode (I can't remember exactly when) Cole showed again what a good friend he is to Anne by snatching back from Billy the dick something he'd taken from her (I think it may have been a letter from Gilbert? Not sure). He's taller than that jerk and therefore can hold it out of his reach (giving him a taste of his own medicine).



Another great moment in the episode that I can't quite recall when it occurred was Anne walking through the woods and wishing she was a tree...until she saw a completely bare one. 



She meets the peddler from last episode and he sells her hair dye in exchange for a sandwich. Even if I hadn't been spoiled for what was going to happen, I still would've been able to tell this wasn't going to go well. Marilla returns, thinking she’s prepared to answer Anne’s questions about kissing now, and finds her with...green hair.



Anne says she can't face Josie Pye (though considering all of her crap she's put up with so far, what else could she possibly say that she hasn't already heard from her? I imagine she's pretty much used up all manner of insult already. At this point Anne should just embrace her Joker hair and go full maniac on Josie Pye's bitchy arse!). Marilla still doesn’t reassure her, but considering her lack of tact earlier, I guess Anne should be thankful she didn't run out screaming or double over in laughter at the sight. Marilla says there's really only one option - and that's a haircut. I think Anne feels like this is even worse than having green hair. This is one of the instances where I can at least understand her getting overly emotional (especially considering how down she was on herself before all this), no matter how much I mightn't like her being so harsh about her own looks. At least her overreacting felt somewhat justified here. We end on the sound of the first snip as the screen goes to black. Well, Anne, you wanted 'better' hair...and instead it cost you your already lovely hair. Lesson learned, huh? Still, at least you're not a completely bare tree. 

Oh, and Gilbert’s back...after shoveling shit. Nice snowy landscape. Felt sorry for the cows, though.

Begins with purposely not showing Anne, as she doesn’t want to go to school with her new haircut. Honestly, I didn't think it was that 'bad'. Diana, once again proving what a great friend she is, helps Anne out by removing a bow from her own hair and tying it around Anne's head. I was so pleased to hear her say she'd promised never to 'forsake' Anne and comforted her by saying, "It's just hair. It'll grow back." (take notes, Marilla...THIS is how you reassure Anne. Not by essentially saying, "Why, yes, you are plain.").

Of course, not everyone at school is as decent as Diana is. Actually, hardly any are. Cole's reaction is interesting, but the most noteworthy part is Anne's eyes widening as she sees Gilbert has returned. Poor Anne. As if she wasn't feeling 'humiliated' enough, the person who she least wants seeing her in her current state is standing right there in front of her. Gilbert being Gilbert, though, he doesn't even remark on her hair and is just so happy to see her. It was funny that the first thing she says to him after her shocked "You're back." is that there's no gold (referencing the letter she sent him). 



Naturally, creepo teacher is as bad as the majority of the students and snidely calls Anne a 'boy', asking if she’s sitting in the right place (this comes after he'd previously made Cole sit with the girls). He's such an a-hole and the WORST. TEACHER. EVER.

Marilla meets Bash and it was somewhat amusing when he called out to Gilbert that there was a very surprised lady there to see him. While she does have a noticeable reaction to seeing Bash, she quickly recovers and asks him to Christmas dinner. 

Considering oftentimes it feels like Anne is a bit too harsh with Jerry, it was nice to see her genuinely thanking him after he presented her with a Christmas card. She even managed to not correct his misspelling of her name. 



Apparently there's an annual 'Christmas pantomime' being put on with Rachel Lynde in charge (god help them). Anne, Diana and Cole try on dresses and a tiara, but Anne reckons she can’t be a Queen looking like she does. All I could think was, "Tell that to Cersei Lannister!". Marilla catches the three of them and doesn't know what to think of Cole in a dress, but after she leaves they just laugh off her reaction. It's not the only crossdressing going on in the episode, though, as Anne poses as boy (after being called one at school) and helps out people in town, the last of which being Jeannie who Anne apologises to for writing letters posing as Matthew/on Matthew's behalf. Speaking of Matthew, I appreciated his talk with Anne encouraging her and saying she's brave. We also get flashbacks to young Matthew and how his brother Michael (who died) was the one who encouraged him - so, in a way, Anne reminds Matthew of Michael with his outgoing personality, whereas Matthew himself was the opposite. His brother even gave him marbles to help him make friends. 

It's a very interesting scene when Gilbert and Bash come over for Christmas dinner. First, there's Matthew's reaction to seeing Bash. He's not as good with his 'recovery' from the surprise as Marilla was. Then Bash meets Anne. Their reactions to seeing each other seem to be of equal surprise. Anne's never seen someone like Bash, and I'd wager Bash has never seen a girl looking like Anne currently does either. While she's her typical chatty self and things look like they might get a bit awkward for a second (Marilla and Matthew in particular look uncomfortable), Bash's smiling says all we need to know. He's clearly as intrigued by her as she is by him and they shake hands and all is well. 

As Cole is painting the set for the Christmas pantomime, Billy the dick purposely knocks him from the ladder he's standing on which results in poor Cole getting seriously injured, as it appears he's broken his wrist. Even worse, it's the one he uses to do his artwork. While Billy does look shocked, like he hadn't intended it to have such serious consequences, it doesn't even begin to make up for the fact that he did intentionally knock the ladder Cole was on (what was he expecting to happen exactly? Did he somehow think Cole wouldn't fall off? Billy doesn't seem that bright, so it wouldn't be a surprise) and then once Cole gets injured, all he does is stand around looking shocked and saying it was 'an accident'. BS! How does no one see all the crap this jerk does? It's like he has a cloak around him that makes him invisible when he does things like this. Everything Billy does just makes me hate the guy more. He has NO redeeming qualities about him. Same with Josie Pye. Honestly, they deserve each other. Josie Pye also richly deserves getting sick, which is what happens as the Christmas pantomime is about to go on. So Rachel Lynde asks Anne, who has experience posing as a boy, to take over...but they're missing an all-important prop - a shovel. I was amused by this exchange she had with Marilla when asking her and Matthew for a shovel. 

Anne: “I need a shovel. Josie Pye just fell gravely ill."

Marilla: “What do you intend to do with it, bury her?”

IF ONLY, Marilla! 

Since Billy likes to mock everyone (especially Anne), it would've been fitting to see him get mocked for being dressed in a goofy-looking owl costume when he's onstage (same goes for creepo teacher, who is even more ridiculous when 'performing' than he is the rest of the time - something I didn't even think possible), but I guess we have the small consolation that Billy the dick gets whacked on the head by a lightning bolt prop.



The downside is that his bitch of a mother blames Bash for it and makes predictably horrible remarks. And just when he'd been feeling welcomed by the Cuthberts, he's reminded of how nasty a lot of people can be to him. With Billy the dick down for the count, Rachel Lynde gets Matthew to fill in. He looks equally goofy as Billy did in the owl costume and he's all nervous about going onstage in front of a large audience. His brother helped encourage him when he was younger and Anne is there to encourage him now. He has one line and it's simply "They all lived happily ever after!". That's it. I have to say, this is one of the WORST plays I've ever seen performed. It's just so bad. The singing is terrible, everyone is uncoordinated, and there's many mistakes made. Rachel Lynde can't direct worth a damn!

Christmas comes and Matthew gives Anne marbles after she’d been playing them earlier when posing as a boy. It's a nice ending to what had been such an awful beginning of the episode (for Anne). Gilbert also gives her a present (a miniature dictionary).

I'm not sure when exactly in the episode it occurred, but there was one line from Anne - "Oh, Marilla, what is it that makes people take such delight in the misery of others?" and that really spoke to me, as I wonder that very same question every day given all the horrible people in the world who do horrible things just for the sake of being horrible/because they derive joy from it. Can't they all just have lightning bolt props dropped on their stupid heads? Or, better yet, get struck by actual lightning?

Begins with Marilla having headaches, and we get flashbacks to her and Matthew as kids where she took care of him and their mother after she lost her other son, Michael. As I commented on last season when we were treated to Marilla flashbacks, the actress they cast to play the younger version of her really doesn't resemble Geraldine James in any way, but she sounds like her and matches her inflections. Anne’s wanting to go to a soirée that Diana's Aunt Josephine is having, but Marilla won’t allow it. Why even bother objecting to these things at this point Marilla? It's rather pointless as we all know eventually you'll relent. To be fair, I think part of why she says 'no' is simply because of having to deal with these headaches she's got going on. 

Gilbert asks the creepo teacher for help, as he's wanting to become a doctor, but all the useless creeper can think about is the student he's been preying on all this time (Prissy). And as if he wasn't utterly contemptible enough, he then uses a metaphor about Gilbert’s father even though, as Gilbert points out to him (showing much more restraint than I would've), his father is deceased. The a-hole just dismisses this with "The metaphor still stands." and I wished Gilbert would've punched that laughable thing he calls a mustache right off the prick's stupid face...except then Gilbert would've gotten in trouble. 

Cole can’t draw properly because of his hand injury Billy the dick caused last episode and burns his sketchbook which Anne and Diana have to rescue. As an artist myself, I can fully sympathise with Cole and how bad a feeling not being able to draw would be. If I couldn't do my art, I'd feel like life was over too. Thankfully, Anne and Diana are there to comfort him. Anne also concocts a scheme for her and Diana to be able to go to the soirée - by having Cole escort them. This manages to convince all the adults to let them go. 

At the soirée, which has all manner of people, Diana's Aunt Josephine is nice to Anne (which is a far cry from how she was when she first met her last season, but then Anne saved Minnie May and that made Josephine respect her) and Cole, but when she tells Diana she doesn't have to be like her parents, Diana gets all weird. Some people dress Cole up in an effort to cheer him up, he talks to one about not being able to draw, she suggests clay and that he hasn’t lost his ability to do art. It's nice to see Anne and Cole more or less having a good time, after both of them being put through so much torment at school. This was such a relief, watching them actually get to be HAPPY.



Unfortunately, Diana's not so happy when she learns her Aunt Josephine had a thing with another woman named Gertrude and is weirded out by it, but I think it's all just so new to her since she's lived a rather 'sheltered' life (and given the sort of mother she has, it's no wonder she reacts the way she does). While it mightn't be the sort of reaction everyone would've hoped for from her, it's at least understandable and not one of 'hate' or anything. It's mostly just confusion, I think. She deserves to be given a chance to come to terms with the brand new information she's learned and shame on anyone who judged her too harshly for how she reacted. She is, after all, still quite young. At one point Cole's talking to Josephine and admits that he thinks he’s like her and Gertrude. It was good that he finally told someone, as I wondered how long they were going to stretch that out for this season. 

Marilla worries about becoming a burden to Anne, given her headaches and that her eyesight is starting to fail. Matthew reassures her that she was stronger than their mother, as she got up every morning to take care of them. Anne returns and wants to tell Marilla everything about the soirée in her usual enthusiastic manner, but Marilla politely asks if she could possibly tell her in a quiet voice (due to her headaches and everything else going on with her). This is one instance where Marilla used the right tone with Anne. She asked in as nice a way as possible and Anne didn't get offended or anything. She even cheers Marilla up by giving her the flowers she'd been wearing from the soirée. Anne also mentions how she learned more about 'love'. Some might've got their noses out of joint about what she says, accusing it of being 'too modern thinking', but we know Anne is an open-minded individual who embraces everyone/everything, so I don't think it was such a stretch to believe she'd be so accepting of different types/forms of love. 



One of the best moments in the episode for me personally was seeing Gilbert stick it to useless creepo teacher by saying he learned stuff without his help (this is after the a-hole picks on him by asking a question that he obviously thinks Gilbert's not going to know the answer to...except he does). I always enjoy seeing that jerk taken down a peg (not that it happens too often).

Begins with creepo teacher (ugh!) who is apparently going to make things 'official' with his prey Prissy. It surprised me that apparently everyone knew that they were involved...yet they didn't seem to have a problem with a teacher being involved with a student. Yes, why persecute him when they can go after innocent people who never do anything wrong? He even asks Prissy's father for her hand in marriage. It's kind of funny that Poncy wants to marry Prissy. Will they become Mr. & Mrs. Prissy? It'd be fitting. He’s still the WORST. TEACHER. EVER.

Billy the dick knocks Cole over after almost killing him two episodes ago (so, clearly he hasn't learned anything from the experience - then again, it's Billy Andrews and he is one of those people who will NEVER learn). Cole goes to get firewood, spills some bits on creepo teacher’s shoes, they both bend down as he tries to clean it off and there's this moment between them where creepo teacher A) recognises that Cole is gay and B) makes it clear to us that he is as well. For a moment there I thought creepo teacher was going to take advantage of another student (because one's just not enough!), but instead he's obviously disgusted by himself (and that Cole has recognised someone who's like him) and so he takes it out on Cole because he knows they’re the same. Later, when Billy the dick throws what I think is a squeeze ball (which Cole's been using to strengthen his injured hand) threw a classroom window, once again the jerk refuses to accept any responsibility and blames Cole (like nearly killing him episodes ago and then knocking him over just earlier this episode wasn't enough). Even after Cole tries to get him to tell the truth, he won't and just remarks that he was giving the ball back to him. Naturally, self-loathing creepo teacher is blind to Billy being the culprit, despite Anne having Cole's back, and wants to punish him with a caning...but Cole stands up to the a-hole. 



Between this^ and last episode with Gilbert standing up to him as well, FINALLY creepo teacher is getting told off. Too bad it's taken this long. And shouldn't telling off a teacher earn Cole some 'cred' with the other students who wouldn't have had the nerve to do so? I guess it doesn't really count for anything since most of them aren't fond of Cole and his 'weirdness'.

Later, Cole is at Anne's clubhouse (the fox makes another appearance) and he tells her he’s like Josephine and Gertrude. "Except with boys." Anne clarifies, then she thanks him for telling her and I saw no problem with her saying this or her acceptance of him (apparently some people did, though). They're true friends and I wouldn't have expected anything less from Anne. They also pinky swear that if they don't eventually find romantic partners, they'll marry each other and it'll be a marriage of friendship, based on them being equals, instead of romantic love.

There's some stuff with Prissy and her mum, but I didn't really care about any of that. The fact that her parents were okay with her marrying creepo teacher tells me all I needed to know about them as people. I've never really thought much of Prissy either, but Anne tells her she can have her own life when married which gets her thinking about things and reconsidering marriage. 

Meanwhile, Bash has a sore tooth which he ties to one end of a string and the other end to a doorknob, wanting Gilbert to slam the door shut (why can't he just slam it himself?). After Gilbert tells him to go get it seen to and Bash refuses, he walks out and slams the door on his way past like Bash asked, thus pulling out the tooth. Later, Bash goes to buy some salt (for his gum infection) and encounters a rather nasty shopkeeper. He does learn one useful piece of information in between all the racist remarks. Apparently there's a 'Bog' (sounds inviting) where the shopkeeper says Bash's 'kind' are. He's happy to learn this, it seems, but unhappy with Gilbert for not telling him (the reason for that, he says, was because he didn't want his friend going to a 'slum community'/place of poverty). When Bash stops by the school to talk to Gilbert, Billy the dick says he's not welcome there and that Bash tried to kill him at the Christmas pantomime (if only he HAD, the world would be much better off). At least Anne stands up to him, saying that the only threat in the classroom is Billy. Gilbert says he knows someone who can help, but Bash is intent on going to the Bog.

After Gilbert finally manages to convince him to go see his doctor friend (making a compromise that Bash can go to the Bog after he sees the doctor), they encounter problems boarding a train because they won't allow Bash on. Luckily, Marilla's there (along with Rachel Lynde) and helps them out (she's on her way to get her eyesight looked at). The passengers give Bash the stink-eye, but Marilla's happy to see them both (Rachel apologises awkwardly to Bash for treating him as 'the help' the first time they met). When Marilla informs Gilbert that creepo teacher will be leaving, Gilbert says he hopes the next one’s actually interested in teaching (I hear ya, Gilbert). The doctor they go to see is decent to Bash and helps him out. There's a funny moment where Gilbert sees a needle the doctor's going to use and promptly faints as a result (I give you your future doctor!). And Gilbert's going to be working there as an apprentice too. Good luck with that.



Bash keeps wanting to go to Bog. Once there, he encounters an African-American man who he met on the train and seems to think Bash 'doesn't know his place' and punches him (though avoids the face, since he knows about his toothache). He says Bash's 'guest' (referencing Gilbert) 'ditched' him. It would've been nice if Bash had made clear to this guy that Gilbert was his friend and there was no 'ditching' involved, though the train guy seems like he wouldn't have accepted that anyway. He does at least help Bash up out of the mud/shit and directs him to a laundry where he meets Mary who works there and he’s making googly-eyes at her. Gilbert catches up with Bash at the laundry and is given a look by those who work there, but he's his usual polite/courteous self and the two rent a room (with Gilbert sleeping on the floor).

While all this^ is going on, Anne is getting carried away with all the marriage talk and accidentally rips a veil of Marilla's that she was trying on. After the brooch incident last season, Anne's learned to go straight to Marilla, tell her the truth and be prepared for whatever consequences. Marilla appreciates this and 'bequeaths' the veil as well the brooch (which she has bought back from the pawnshop it had been sold to at the end of last season when they were in dire straits financially) to Anne who is so excited that she doesn't know which she likes best - the brooch or the word 'bequeath'. It's nice that Marilla gave her the brooch after that whole misunderstanding last season which led to Anne running away, especially since back then Marilla practically forced Anne to lie - since she kept telling the truth but Marilla just wouldn't believe her - and then punished her once she did lie. Marilla gives Matthew back his pocket watch which she also bought back from the pawnshop (she did all this after going to get her eyes checked out, and Rachel Lynde helped with the pawnshop owner who liked to haggle). The pocket watch was something she didn't know had been sold, as she thought Anne sold it back when they got her to sell various stuff of theirs in return for money, but in fact Matthew sold it when he went in pursuit of her after she'd run away. 

The episode ends with Prissy running out of her wedding, doing the only wise thing she's ever done (ie. dumping creepo teacher at the altar), and into the snow with her friends pursuing her, and after a moment she realises she's free from the a-hole and they all laugh and play in the show.



I'm not sure how much I buy that^ happening...but considering it got her way from the perv and she looks so HAPPY once she's free of him, I'm willing to just roll with it.

Begins with us meeting the new teacher who's taking over from creepo teacher (whose arse got dumped at the altar last episode and who, hopefully, we've seen the last of). Her name is Miss Stacy and she rides a motorbike and is automatically a vast improvement over creepo teacher. Hell, Anne's fox would be an improvement over creepo teacher.




Immediately I'm struck by how much she talks, acts and even looks like Anne from certain angles - so much so that I thought she would be the perfect casting as an adult version of Anne. But unless this show is introducing time travel and Anne has come back from the future and assumed a new identity...I guess it's just a case of the show wanting to make it clear how similar the two characters are/how much they're alike and the resemblance is just a bonus. Unfortunately for Miss Stacy, the 'Progressive Mothers' group (led by Rachel Lynde, naturally) want her gone because she's late and is dressed/teaches unconventionally. The group's name seems rather contradictory. I think they should consider a more fitting one like, say, the 'Gossipy Bitches' group or something - since that's what they are. They assume the worst about her, gossip amongst themselves, spreading rumours (we learn that Miss Stacy's husband died and there's all sorts of speculation surrounding that) and basically give her an ultimatum of "Be more conservative or you're outta here!".

I'm not the only one who thinks Miss Stacy is a lot like Anne, as Anne herself does too and assumes they're going to get along swimmingly...but then Anne talks too much, as she tends to do, and tells her stuff about each student as they're introducing themselves to their new teacher using the letters that are the initials of their names to describe themselves - this is something Miss Stacy comes up with, which naturally you would think Anne would be an expert in, but she's not so fond of Anne's oversharing and lets her know as much, which causes Anne to get flustered, and because she's reeling from the teacher's disapproval, when she's called on to introduce herself, she can’t think of any words to describe herself using her initials. I felt sorry for Anne here because although she was being a tad gossipy, I could understand her being excited to meet someone she thought was so much like her and her overeagerness in wanting to impress Miss Stacy with her knowledge. The saddest part is that we know how skilled Anne is with language and how many words she has in her vocabulary...but she's not able to show any of that off to this new teacher she so desperately wants to impress because she's upset that's she's made a bad first impression. Miss Stacy wants her to do an essay on gossip, Gilbert wants Miss Stacy's help to expedite his studies and Billy the dick lets Miss Stacy know just what sort of dick he is by calling her "little lady" and she puts him in his place (another tick in the 'Why Miss Stacy is SO much better than creepo teacher' column). 

Rachel Lynde is horrible to Marilla, insulting her and using her to make Miss Stacy feel unwelcome and fall into line with how the 'Progressive Judgy Mothers' want her to be or just simply leave. Almost everyone seems to be against Miss Stacy except Anne, but she's not exactly on her teacher's 'good side' currently as she keeps putting her foot in it. I can totally relate to having what you thought would become a favourite teacher at school, only to find they didn't see eye to eye with you, and it's rather sad, as is the fact that Miss Stacy hasn't really gotten a good impression of Anne at this point whereas if things had just gone a bit differently when they met, they could've immediately become good friends. Anyway, Miss Stacy teaches a lesson in class involving electricity and potatoes. Marilla's also there for some reason (I forget what) and is equally impressed as the students are with this 'unconventional' lesson.



Naturally, Rachel Lynde and the 'Progressive Regressive Mothers' storm in and complain about Miss Stacy as well as what she's teaching. One student stupidly tries to taste one of the potatoes and receives a shock, which causes him to knock over the light bulb the potatoes were charging and glass shatters everywhere on the floor. His mother is all like "MY CHILD!" and I'm all like "IS A DUMBARSE!". Naturally, they blame Miss Stacy and think this is even more reason to get rid of her. The final nail in the coffin is when Rachel sees Miss Stacy getting a ride with Billy the dick's father and assumes the worst, spreading vicious lies about Miss Stacy, basically saying she's a big ho. 

It was nice of Anne to let Marilla and Miss Stacy into her clubhouse. They seem impressed and it's the first time, I think, that Miss Stacy has seen there's more to Anne than the less-than-stellar first impression she got of her. Anne makes them pinky swear not to tell a soul about the clubhouse. As if there's not enough stuff going on for Anne to worry about, she also is as horrified as I am that Billy the dick and his cronies are off hunting her poor fox friend (they stumble upon the clubhouse and, being the utter wastes of existence that they are, decide to destroy it and Cole's clay sculptures he's been making ever since it was suggested to him at Josephine's soirée that he try using clay to do his art as it'd be easier on his injured hand. They take great delight in being destructive, destroying something they know is a sanctuary for their victims that they torment endlessly, and you just wish that they'd suffer horribly for this heinous act). The fact that Matthew's set traps to stop the fox going after his chickens doesn't help things. Anne's constantly telling him to remove the traps, but he refuses, and eventually she's overwhelmed by so much going wrong for her that she drops some eggs and snaps at Matthew about his refusal to remove the traps, then she runs off. Sadly, things don't improve for her as she discovers the remains of the clubhouse.

While all this^ has been occurring, Miss Stacy's gone to Cole's house to find out why he hasn't been attending school (he's been skipping it and making his sculptures instead) and inadvertently lets his mother know who hadn't been aware that he'd been skipping. This causes him to get angry, as he finds out Anne was the one who sent Miss Stacy to his house (though only with the best of intentions, as she thought Miss Stacy could help encourage him back after creepo teacher, Billy the dick and everyone else who tormented him at school made him leave and not wish to come back in the last episode), and he comes to yell at Anne just as she's reeling from the discovery of their ruined sanctuary. It's pretty devastating.



Anne is NOT having a good day. Neither is Cole, really. It's scum like Billy Andrews that makes me hate the world and I can understand how upsetting this must've been for their two characters. Anne tries to explain things and how she was just trying to help Cole, but he finds what I presume is Billy's scarf which tells him exactly who he needs to go punish for this atrocious act (like there was ever really any doubt who could've done this. How many people in town destroy things just for the pleasure of it?). Anne runs after Cole as she knows what he's going to do and, sure enough, he storms in right during the middle of class and starts beating up Billy the dick. They get into fisticuffs which ends with Cole accidentally causing Billy to hit a hot stove and burn his ear. He, of course, screams and Cole runs off. Anne looks shocked and this is treated like some majorly terrible thing that's happened...but, honestly? Billy deserved MUCH worse for all the crap he's done. Cole should’ve put his whole head inside the stove. He got off lightly. This was a pretty intense episode, as lots of stuff happened and at times it was quite upsetting - the clubhouse being destroyed, the fox-hunting, Anne's and Cole's friendship seemingly being ruined. The one bright spot? Billy the dick FINALLY got some comeuppance! Though, unfortunately, this isn't good for Cole. There was so much going on this episode, in fact, that I forgot to mention a couple of other things that happened such as...

1) Anne getting competitive with Gilbert (since he was wanting Miss Stacy to help him with his studies) and them not being as nice to each other as usual. It was weird seeing them at odds, especially Gilbert getting angry with Anne since he's always so courteous to her.

2) Bash being unable to handle farm work and dumping Gilbert after feeling he'd dumped him and their plan to work on the farm for two years (again, Gilbert's focused on his studies). He's no better than Gilbert, though, since he appears to only be thinking with his downstairs brain and all he seems to care about is Mary from the laundry at the Bog. I found it a bit too much that he fell for her about as quickly as Anna fell for Hans in Frozen. Seriously, he's only just met her. Talk about 'too fast'. Running the farm is clearly a two person job, as without Bash around, Gilbert is no better at it (making a fence is hard work, apparently).

Begins where last episode finished, with Anne running after Cole after he's just (unintentionally) caused Billy the dick to get injured. Cole's standing at the edge of a cliff, looking like he's ready to jump, Anne apologises and hugs him. It's a nice moment...except for the dodgy green screen background. It's sad that Anne wasn't able to give Diana and Ruby a heads-up about their clubhouse being ruined, as they find the ruins of it and hadn't been forewarned, so they're feeling as devastated as Anne and Cole were when they discovered it. Group hug time. Aww.



They move out what stuff they can find that hasn't been destroyed. On the way back home, Anne is so upset that she collapses to the ground and what confused me was Matthew and Jerry discussing how Anne would be 'happy' about something until they see her collapse and then she's thanking Matthew as he hugs her. I thought maybe he'd made a pen to keep the fox in so it'd be safe from Billy and his hunting buddies...but it appeared that wasn't the case. Still, any scene of Anne and Matthew hugging is a good one.




I couldn't get over the fact that Cole APOLOGISED to Billy when it should've been other way around (with added apologies to Anne, Diana and Ruby for destroying their clubhouse). Billy, being a dick and all, offers no apology back to Cole and tells him to get gone. Cole asks Billy if he ever thinks why he destroys things that aren't his and he says he doesn’t have to think. "Yeah, I can see that." is Cole's perfect response to that. 

Anne tries to make things right with Miss Stacy, Rachel Lynde is yet again terrible to Marilla who finally tells her off and even brings up how she treated Anne terribly back when she met her in the show's first episode. Rachel's all "La-la-la-la-la-not listening!", too hellbent on judging Miss Stacy for being without a husband, without a child and seen riding home with Billy's father. Marilla calls her out on her prejudice and basically tells her to get out, which is a cheer-worthy moment. 

Anne, the gang, and the guy who broke the potato bulb and got Miss Stacy in trouble last episode (whose name is apparently Moody) all jump on a train to go see Diana's Aunt Josephine for help in saving Miss Stacy's job. While there, Diana apologises for how she was after finding out about Josephine and Gertrude, they both thought they'd disappointed each other, but they make up. Cole stays behind because he can be himself there and is going to live with Josephine. He and Anne share a goodbye and it's sad that Anne's losing one of her good friends since she has so few in Avonlea. At one point Cole points out the obvious to Anne which she's apparently been unaware of this whole time and vehemently denies. 



Anne's plan that she's come up with to keep Miss Stacy around involves her and other students walking in during the middle of the townhall meeting (on whether to keep or get rid of Miss Stacy) while holding up the potato bulbs Miss Stacy taught them last episode. Anne then makes a speech in favour of a teacher who actually teaches them stuff, unlike their previous one, then Marilla and Matthew stand up for Miss Stacy as well and I guess Rachel Lynde has a change of heart because she, along with pretty much everyone else it seems, vote to keep Miss Stacy around. Hurray! We get to keep the teacher who DOESN'T make me want to punch the screen whenever they appear! Once again I must comment on how much Miss Stacy looks like a grown-up Anne, especially when wearing that hat she wears.

Billy the dick, in his first non-dickish act ever, sees Anne's fox friend as he’s walking around the ruins of the clubhouse whilst carrying his gun and for a second looks like he wants to shoot it...but then he seems to remember what Cole said to him earlier and he lets the fox live. I guess this is to be interpreted as Billy displaying 'compassion'? Though more likely he just wasn't in the killing mood at that particular moment. If this is supposed to show 'growth' for his character...well...he's still got a LONG way to go before he even comes close to proving he's more than just a hate-filled, destructive person who gets joy out of making others miserable. I've seen the 'bad boy redeemed' storyline play out SO many times previously, I'm really not eager to see any attempts to 'redeem' Billy...but if he can become even slightly less dickish and not hurt innocent people or animals, then I can live with that. 

In other news, Bash has ditched Gilbert to go chase after the woman, Mary, who he only just met and helps her around the place instead of doing anything on the farm (just because Gilbert isn't there to help) and is going to propose already, but sees Mary kissing another guy who it turns out is her grown-up son we find out when Gilbert goes to her in search for Bash who is drunk at the laundry. Next thing you know, there's a wedding. Talk about fast. Still, at least it's a 'happy' ending compared to last season's final with Jerry getting beaten up (where was he this episode, by the way?) and the guys who beat him up becoming boarders at the Cuthbert residence. 

Final thoughts on Season 2

I still adore the character of Anne who, while she makes mistakes (which is good, as she'd no doubt be deemed 'too perfect' if she didn't), still remains likable as far as I'm concerned. She's just got so much enthusiasm, imagination, empathy and love in her heart. Things would be better in the world if more people were like her. I was also glad to see Diana get more development and their friendship is so pure (which is something that's in short supply these days, it seems). Cole proved to be a really good new character introduced this season and was also a great friend to Anne.

I still love the relationship between Matthew and Anne, and I hope for more scenes between them in the next season. Marilla has softened quite a bit since last season, though still has moments where I question the things she does or says. Still, she's shown she cares for Anne and I like seeing that. Miss Stacy was another welcome new addition who I hope to see more of next season. I didn't mind Bash when it was just him and Gilbert, but I'm worried his already being married to a character we hardly know and her having a grown-up son might bog (pun unintended) things down next season. Finally, Anne's fox friend was a delightful surprise addition this season (I just hope nothing bad happens to him). All the jerks in the show, however, can go jump off that cliff I thought Cole was going to throw himself off of.