'Anne with an E' Season 3 Episode 2 Review: Marilla's response to Anne's search for parents is deeply relatable
Major spoilers for 'Anne with an E' Season 3 Episode 2 ahead
'Anne with an E' has proved to be progressive and in tune with the current world time again, while also staying true to the original universe created by Lucy Maud Montgomery through 'Anne of Green Gables'. While the story has gone on to introduce characters who were not part of the original books, including a Trinidadian sailor and a girl from an indigenous tribe living near Green Gables. However, the central character of our story is still the titular Anne (Amybeth McNulty) — the wild, liberated, imaginative Anne who will never stop seeking adventure.
In the ongoing Season 3, we see this attribute of hers getting channeled in the form of her pursuit to find her roots. She has told herself all these years that her parents loved her but they died and she had to be taken to the orphanage. She endured the years of unhappiness and destitution at the orphanage because she believed this to be true with her whole heart, and yet it is not enough anymore. Anne wants to find out where she came from, who her family is, and if she was actually loved.
Although Matthew (RH Thomson) and Marilla (Geraldine James) gave her their blessings to seek out the truth, they — primarily Marilla — are worried that she will find her family and will want to leave them behind. However, Anne remains ignorant of their fears and is propelled by her desire to find the truth about herself. In Episode 2 of the season specifically, we see her heartbreaking for the child she used to be, especially seeing the whole place from an outsider's perspective. She deems herself pathetic for creating an imaginary character and wholeheartedly believing that she will be rescued.
Even though Cole (Cory Grüter-Andrew) tells her that her imagination is what kept her spirit alive, she realizes that imagination is not enough anymore. She has decided to search further for her parents, hoping the church records may lead her in the right direction. While Matthew agrees for her to go on this search, Marilla is in distress. Especially after hearing Anne cry through the door, and begging God to help her in her quest, Marilla believes it is in Anne's best interest to stop her from this search.
She, in fact, does forbid her, and while we see how distressed Anne is, and how wrong Marilla is to stop her, we cannot help but sympathize with her. Most of us have experienced this range of panic at the thought of losing a loved one, and acted out in ways we are not proud of. Marilla has never loved anyone the way she loves Anne. She dedicated her entire life to taking care of people, and sure, she can be a hard cookie, but she does express her affections in her Marilla way. However, we do hope that instead of expressing her fear of losing Anne as anger, she would speak to Anne about why her journey scares her.
Hopefully 'Anne with an E' will address it in the upcoming Season 3 Episode 3. All 10 episodes of the season are available to binge-watch on Netflix right now.