Anne with an E follows an orphan girl, Anne Shirley who is adopted by two siblings—Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert. They wanted to adopt a boy to help with the farm work as Matthew was getting older. At the train station, Matthew discovered that there was a mix-up, so he decided to take Anne home anyway and sort the issue out with her sister. On the journey home to Green Gables, we see that Anne is a bright, vibrant, optimistic, energetic child with a great love for nature, literature and her imagination. She considers her imagination her greatest strength. When they arrived, Marilla was unhappy at the prospect of a girl because she could not help on the farm. Despite Anne’s best attempts to convince her that she is stronger than she appears and can help with cooking and cleaning, Marilla decides to set out to the orphanage to return Anne. While she was annoyed, she was also intrigued by Anne. At the end of the journey, Marilla grows fond of Anne and decides to keep her.
I rarely find myself emotionally attached to a show. But I felt a connection to Anne with an E that I never felt before. The way the plot builds, the character development, the direction, aesthetic, music, everything was a work of art. The intensity and range of emotions portrayed were so beautifully timed and I think that is a big part of why I liked it so much. It made me happy, sad, angry, frustrated, disappointed, pity—all in one episode. I am not surprised that the screenplay, most of the production and direction was done by women. The show displays a certain sensitivity and brilliance that can only be achieved by women. It also refers to Anne’s heavy past and shows what it was like growing up in an orphanage and being moved from one foster home to another. Books and her creative mind were her sanctuaries and her way of escaping the horrible world she lives in. The rest of the story follows Anne as she continues to grow, making mistakes, learning from them, being a fighter, an empathetic and open-minded child. She goes from hating the way she looked and being so different from other people, to embracing and truly loving those very things. Instead of her past making her an untrusting and bitter child, she chose to be kind and unjudgmental so that no one had to feel what she felt when she was a child.
The show accurately portrays what it was like to be each of the characters like during the period it is set in and makes you feel like you’re on a journey with them. It addresses a variety of issues such as bullying, homophobia, racism, feminism delicately and effectively. These issues drive the plot, yet they are not overdone in terms of activism. The focus remains on how Anne deals with these subjects as she grows into a beautiful, strong woman. The show is wholesome and sensitive to the core and that is what makes it so brilliant. This is by far the best show I have ever seen and I cannot wait for more episodes to be released to see where Anne, her friends’ and the Cuthberts’ paths take them.