And this sums up much of modern day filmmaking let alone Anne with an E.

Excellent review.

Hi Jules. Thanks for your comment! Yeah, it was a strange choice from the writers to transform the Anne story in this way. In the end, I enjoyed it, but it’s not really Anne of Green Gables as imagined by L.M. Montgomery.

The dark and gritty stuff they injected was unfortunate. I didn’t take issue with Anne’s flashbacks to earlier trauma, however I couldn’t get past the horrible way she often behaves in this series. The rudeness she shows the friendly French hired hand is just weird. Her temper is nasty and vindictive continually, and it never is in the book. They have Anne all wrong, and that is disappointing. Worse, the parts where Anne is actually bright and sparkling are atrociously over-acted by McNulty. It was hard to watch without cringing.

I’m glad you’ve found a way to appreciate this series now by separating it in your mind from Montgomery’s beloved book. I, however, wish they’d just written new material about a traumatized orphan girl who moves to a farm, rather than taint the purity of the source material here.

A replier from the future. If you hated S1E6, I’m so curios what you thought of S2E7 if you got that far

Thanks for your detailed thoughts on the show! I grew to love it more than I did on the first watch. It was jarring at first because I grew up with the books and previous adaptations that were closer to the source material. I can appreciate it now for being something separate.

I found myself more attached to Anne when themes such as female puberty and curiosity etc were addressed as they help normalize these topics to this generation and I understand that many representations of a time like this would not have included some of these scenes or been graphical about Anne’s period would seem unnecessary or simply a dismissed idea these things happened then too and just because they aren’t romanticized or deemed clean and wholesome I don’t believe deters the quality of this production or gives it a reason not to include them.

Having actors of their age (instead of adults who are around 10-years-senior to the character they are trying to portray) perform these scenes and other topics addressed especially from Amybeth McNulty concerning PTSD. Overall, I think this has opened the discussion and welcomed it naturally to people of an age where other generations have transferred a taboo down, sometimes for good reason but as a mentally and emotionally evolving society this helps bring respect and naturality to these topics as seeing it from people of similar age and may see as peers.

I did not expect there to be as much reference to homosexuality as there was and can understand that it does seem like a modern talk being stuck in the middle of a timepiece where others haven’t many portfolios of similar focus to compare to. Although I don’t always look forward to this sort of topic due to religious conflicts, I do believe this show handled it quite beautifully and not overpoweringly so that it felt everything was about sexuality. I did very much enjoy Aunt Jo’s and Cole’s character don’t get me wrong and their bond it’s just nice in contrast to other shows where obviously there is probably a different main theme but that there was proper character and traits and relationships built with the other characters which didn’t concern their sexuality and curiosity but rather kindness and natural way of making friends.

The character developments weren’t always the best I’ll admit, and I wasn’t impressed by Marilla’s even though she had a great actress I did think there could have been more wit carried through and generally more backbone despite liking her breakdown to the softer woman she becomes; I think I just feel like her original self-left too quickly. Diana could’ve had a better development as she seemed to just be a loose end at the end of the third season who was hurriedly made to grow in conflict mentally and emotionally with her parents when a more progressive gradual development would have been more satisfactory. Matthew being suicidal is a very surprising turn of events which I don’t quite know if I like or not, as the character and from the director’s perspective I can understand it, but it felt quite a drastic shock even though it blended into the situation understandably.

I feel that in a way it became a protagonist against the world sort of situation, in this case, Anne and the town. It felt overly villainous and shows a lack of imagination for the plot regarding how Anne and the townspeople develop as individuals and together over the 3/4-year period, it is a good enough idea for the first season but after that, it seemed to drag on.

Romantically speaking I do wish there were more scenes with Anne and Gilbert leading up to their ‘connection’ especially as I liked their dynamic although Anne could have been less angsty.
Talking about Gilbert, he got enough screentime and although his scenes were relevant, they did at times only suffice whereas I thought him becoming an orphan was thrown in a desperate attempt to be relatable to Anne and there wasn’t enough discussion or even acknowledgment from the other characters of how caring he was or hardworking. of course, his parent or lack of situation welcomed the amazing introduction of Sebastian, etc but still. The frustration from the miscommunication between Gilbert and Anne infuriated me as my romantic fantasies weren’t materializing as quickly but that’s fine now 😉 (watch the last episode)

I was sad at Mary’s short-lived performance as I feel there was more for her to offer but it did feel slightly relevant for whole-roundly growth concerning the main plot now that I look back on it.

I could honestly ramble on about other characters, but I think I’ll finish. Although I have had quite a lot to say, I am ever so delighted and fulfilled with the ending even though I am still processing emotionally that after getting invested and binging through it over a couple of days that Netflix canceled the show:(

This production will probably not be the actors’ greatest performance of their entire career, but it is a great experience and a great source of entertainment. 1000% recommend

I am one of those rare male fans of Anne, and have been since my late teens when I first saw Sullivan’s AOGG miniseries on VHS. Since then, with the sequel Anne of Avonlea, and seven seasons of Road to Avonlea, I’ve found an bright and innocent getaway from the stresses of life in this modern world. Now, after marriage and children, Avonlea is still dear to my heart. My wife and children never took to the shows as much as me for some reason, but that’s ok, it’s my own private escape. When I get nostalgic for a simpler more innocent time, I can go to Avonlea via Sullivan’s films.

Anyway, when I heard of the “Anne with an E” series I knew I had to check it out. I realized from the trailer and things I’d read that it was going to be darker and grittier, but it still looked delightful. So I signed up for a free trial month of Netflix to check it out.

(Lots of Spoilers below…)

From the opening scenes and even the hip artsy opening sequence, I was hooked. This is going to be good, I thought. The first episode pretty much followed the familiar story, but with more raw emotion and punch. The main players were excellent. I thought it was great that RH Thompson played Matthew; he’s like an elderly Jasper Dale without the scientific tinkering and the stutter. The woman playing Marilla was spot-on also, for me anyway. And I really enjoyed the spunk and spirit of Amybeth McNulty’s performance. Her facial expressions and enthusiasm in the role really won me over. She’s no Megan Follows, but I really enjoyed her version of Anne nonetheless. I really feel for this girl’s troubles and hardships in adjusting, more so even than in the Sullivan production.

I enjoyed the second episode, but I realized the writers were going to be taking some serious liberties with the storyline. Even to inventing things out of thin air, but I was still on board.

The third episode, with the “mouse” talk, was a bit off-putting, but it was still innocently handled and I could overlook it. One of my favorite scenes is at the end of this episode, when Anne runs out of the school house and all the way home; very poignant and touching. Episode 4 resolves the tension of her adjusting to school, and the end of the episode where she returns to school, and is greeting by smiles and her new friends, is another touching moment.

If only the writers would have kept on track from that point on – but no, the next episode gets into menstration scenes, and menstration discussions among the girls, which I know is realistic and all, but I felt as a grown man I was hearing things I should be privy to hearing from the mouths of young girls. Certainly Anne and Marilla in the books and the Sullivan films went through something similar, but that was private, “off-camera” and not “shown” in the books, or on film. Yes she’s coming of age, no need to show the blood.

But I was still into the series, overlooking the puberty talk – though un-called-for, it was realistic and gritty, true to form for this production.

Until this point I had in mind that I’d purchase the DVD of the series when it came out, I was enjoying the acting, the cinematography, the music, the all-around excellent production value. However, around the middle of episode 6 I began to feel differently.

I hadn’t heard anyone mention this, but when the writers found a way to shoe-horn in allusions to homosexuality, by way of Diana’s aunt Josephine, and her relationship to her late “companion” Gertrude, I was dismayed. To me it seemed obvious that they were making a point to inject a 21st century liberal mentality about same-gender relationships and marriage. There was an Agenda here. As a strong conservative myself, I was taken aback. There goes the innocent escape that keeps me coming back again and again to shows like Road to Avonlea. This was not the same Avonlea.

I recalled how the town minister was portrayed as a rigid clueless buffoon. A totally unsympathetic figure in every one of his scenes. How unfortunate. But now I see it fits with the writers’ agenda.

Then the final seventh episode. I expected, and wanted, a happy glowing finish to Season One. Such as a warm family gathering around the hearth at Christmas, smiling faces in the candlelight, you know. But what we get instead is Green Gables and the farm in jeopardy, Matthew coming close to blowing his brains out with a pistol, Anne and Jerry selling off all the family items, including Marilla’s brooch and Anne’s dress with puffed sleeves. Jerry gets beat to a pulp by ruffians, and then, at the end, instead of a happy resolution, those same ruffians show up at Green Gables as boarders, Anne appears uneasy with it all, and the episode ends. Ugh, what a let down.

I’m halfway through watching the series again, but I might skip most of episode 6, and will not watch the final 7th episode again – I probably will not buy the DVD set. If I could purchase individual eps, I’d only get 1-5. That way I get no Aunt Jo’s “enlightened” views of same-gender marriage, and no suicidal Matthew. (I mean, Anne brought Matthew so much joy, he would never contemplate killing himself like that; it was so disappointing they did that; makes me distrust what they will do with Season Two)..

The other name was Robert S. However, your explanation is unlikely but I won’t push it. We’ve had a lot of experience with people posting under different names. But again, I haven’t blocked you because at least these two comments aren’t rude. That said, the third comment (the first one) did not show up on the page, though as administrator I could see the comment. It appears the comment was marked by our automatic spam detector. It didn’t look like spam but it was argumentative. I ultimately didn’t approve of the comment. Again, keep it one person per IP address. At most, two for people who are related and make that obvious. Thank you. And you should still read Anne. The series will be quite different from the original text. And because they’ve changed so much from the books, I’m sure there will be surprises for all viewers on the show.