Ann(e) Shirley has to learn to control her temper.

After three eps Anne finally got an OP. And it comes complete with a flash-forward. That’s interesting in the context that as even I know, the source novels cover a not inconsiderable span of time. Does this mean Anne Shirley is going to skip far ahead within its two-cour allotment? We shall see. In the meantime this episode was more of the same. Which is mostly a good thing, given that this series’ sense of the familiar even to someone who hasn’t read or seen much of it is one of its core strengths.

First off we have a very comfortable tale about a missing brooch. Marilla’s amethyst brooch to be precise, which she always wears to church and can’t find. Anne cops to having tried it on, but swears she put it back in its proper place afterwards. Marilla doesn’t believe her, and thus begins the trouble. This is a bit of a muddy situation. Anne is undeniably a hothead, but I know this – nothing pisses a basically honest kid off like being accused of lying when they’re telling the truth. And IMO, Marilla should not have defaulted to assuming Anne was lying when Anne has no track record of lying to her. Children are like anyone else – they deserve the benefit of the doubt.

I kind of think this whole thing was brushed off a little too easily (though a little cardinal tells me it was not so in the novel). Marilla’s apology – “I forgive you if you forgive me” – didn’t cut it with me. Accusing someone of lying is pretty serious, actually. Anne making up a theatrical confession to try and end the whole thing so she could go to the picnic was pretty funny, and I know that Marilla is fundamentally a very good person with no parenting experience. So not that big a deal – but not strictly kosher, either. Also, Anne totes has Matthew wrapped around her braids.

We get our pic-a-nic and ice cream (was it as good as Maomao’s?). And then, school. Obviously a huge deal for a child in Ann’s position. She’s in her comfort zone dealing with the gossipy schoolgirls in Diana’s circle. She copes well at first with Mr. Phillips, the fussbudget teacher (deftly handling an attempt to trip her up with a map question). But things get rather more tricky when Gilbert Blythe makes his presence felt. He’s the older (13) boy who’s been away for a while, the apple of the girls’ (especially Diana) eye, and the best student in class. You can see where this is headed.

My hot take on this is, like, 70-30 Anne’s fault. Should Gilbert have called her “Carrots”? Obviously not. But kids say dumb stuff. And he calls Diana “Crow” and she doesn’t seem to mind. He has no idea Anne is as sensitive as she is – but she is. And while her umbrage is understandable, her reaction is not. Breaking her slate over Gilbert’s head was over the top (Ann Shirley has  a very bad temper). But even after she did, Gilbert still tried to take the blame with the teacher. And then apologized, and then chased after her to do it again. He did a bad thing, realized it, and owned up. Not anything so terrible, really.

So yeah, Anne really does have a temper problem. Gilbert shouldn’t have said that and Mr. Phillips shouldn’t have robbed her of her “E”. But she’s going to keep getting herself into trouble if she goes off like this every time things don’t go her way. At some point you have to forgive and move on – which has been the case with Marilla, so there’s no reason why she shouldn’t do the same with Gilbert. But that relationship is a famously volatile one in literature’s annals, so “Shirley” we haven’t seen the last of the fireworks here.