I Am Fearless and Therefore Powerful

***I Am Fearless and Therefore Powerful*** is the fifth episode of the third season of *Anne.* It premiered on CBC on January 3, 2020.

## Synopsis

A dance rehearsal generates sparks (and tension).

## Plot

Miss Stacy's students are continuing their hands-on education in this episode, beginning with a walk through the woods to observe the natural relationships between plants and animals. What begins as a tame walk quickly turns chaotic as Moody slips on a sharp rock, badly gashing his leg. As a consequence, a local Mi'kmaq child who was hiding and watching reveals himself when he screams. Ruby faints from all the commotion and is tended to by the girls in class. Anne and Gilbert quickly spring into action, with Gilbert examining Moody's wound and Anne leaving to ask for help from the local Mi'kmaq camp. Returning with Aluk and the village's medicine woman, Gilbert observes closely as she uses willow bark for pain and honey for its antibacterial properties. The woman then stitches Moody's leg. Before leaving, Aluk and Anne share a quick conversation about Kakwet, with Aluk saying they have heard nothing about his daughter and they hope she is well. Later at home, Gilbert is excited to share what he saw with Bash, wondering what other natural remedies there are to learn about.

In the wake of Mary's death, Rachel and Marilla discuss their difficulties taking care of Delphine. As a solution, Rachel suggests that Bash should find another woman and suggests that Marilla tell him, though she is hesitant to bring it up with Bash in his time of grief.

In the garden, Matthew is hard at work when Jerry asks to go home early. Walking home from school, Diana and Anne discuss the new "take notice" board and their hopes for adventure in the future. After parting ways, Diana sees Jerry in the woods, who is hoping to walk her home. Though she sends him mixed messages at first, she allows him to walk her home.

At school in the morning, Gilbert, Anne and Miss Stacy are reading the newspaper while other students are preoccupied with the new notices. Gilbert's interest in the Sorbonne is sparked when he reads about antitoxin research. Miss Stacy encourages his curiosity, sharing that she knows a female doctor in Toronto doing similar work. Reading the paper's obituaries, Anne suggests they write an obituary for Mary as another way to honor her and leave a legacy for Delphine to cherish. Diana bursts into the room to tell Anne that she has some attention from Charlie on the "take notice" board, leaving her flustered when he tries to talk to her. Anne then learns from the other girls that Miss Stacy has scheduled a dance practice before the county fair, with mixed reactions from the students. Josie brags about dancing with her "intended" at the fair, referring to Billy Andrews who is no longer at school.

Marilla and Rachel's disagreement about Bash comes to a head when he walks in on them loudly arguing about him remarrying. Rachel tells Bash directly that he needs to remarry for his own survival, especially as summer approaches and he will need help farming. Bash is surprised at the conversation since it has only been a few months since his Mary's death. After Rachel leaves, Marilla is relieved to hear him say that he is considering writing to his mother for help with Delphine and house work. She comforts him after Rachel's intense speech about remarrying.

Back at school, Anne is reluctant that she keeps getting attention from Charlie Sloane as she finds him uninteresting. While she and Diana walk home, Diana suddenly tells Anne she needs to hurry home to help with Minnie May's music lessons. Anne asks to come so that she can look through Mr. Barry's library, but Diana refuses and the girls walk their separate ways home. Before reaching her house, Diana sees Jerry in her yard, though she knows that if she is caught flirting with her she will be in serious trouble. He hands her a copy of *Frankenstein* before she continues into the house.

At the Blythe farm, Bash is working in the garden when Gilbert comes home and talks to him about Mary. He tells her about Anne's idea to write an obituary for her in the Avonlea Gazette. Meanwhile, Anne returns home to find Matthew in the barn, excited that their horse Belle will soon have a baby. As the evening settles in, Gilbert works on his obituary and Bash writes a letter to his mother, Hazel. At the Barry home, Diana begins to read the book she got from Jerry.

The next day at school, everyone is nervous as they get dance lessons from Rachel Lynde, who has brought her son to help, causing Miss Stacy to feel awkward. The adults demonstrate the country dance "Dashing White Seargant" before giving the students a chance to try, which they do ungracefully. The students are taking a break before trying again when Ruby announces to the girls that their touching boys might have caused pregnancy. While the girls panic, Miss Stacy intervenes to tell them that pregnancy won't come just from dancing, but there are many other "steps to consent". Still, Ruby doesn't want to dance, so she sits by Moody who is still healing while he plays the banjo. On the second time around trying the dance, the students do much better. Anne and Gilbert end up in the same dance circle and find themselves drawn to each other as they dance. At the end of the dance, they share a long gaze and leave school flustered and unsure what to make of their feelings. Anne senses that Gilbert might be following her, but turns around to see Charlie, who walks her home. After she vents about how ridiculous dancing is, he expresses his concern that she might be impacting her fertility by being so emotional. When Anne brings this up to Marilla in the kitchen preparing dinner, Marilla doesn't know what to think. At the same time, Gilbert seems frustrated while he talks about the dance with Bash, though he won't tell Bash that it was Anne he danced with. Bash advises him on the difference between attraction and love as Gilbert begins to think about the future.

Diana visits Green Gables, first looking in the barn for Jerry before dropping off a book about Scotland to Anne. While they talk outside, Jerry approaches in an attempt to talk to Diana but is treated coldly by Diana, though she has secretly left behind an embroidered handkerchief for Jerry, which Matthew finds and gives to him.

While the girls hand out copies of the Avonlea Gazette after church, they continue to wonder what Miss Stacy had meant by "steps to consent", and force Anne to ask Gilbert because of his medical studies. She asks about the connection between emotion and fertility that Charlie had mentioned and Gilbert assures the girls that it's not true as far as he knows. Still anxious and hyper about it, Anne tells the girls they need to rid themselves of the nonsense with a ritual from her book on Scotland - Beltane. They agree to meet after dark. As the citizens of Avonlea read Mary's obituary in the Gazette, she is remembered fondly by many, including Mr. and Mrs. Barry, who decide to help Bash and Gilbert by adding their apples to their foreign export.

In the moonlight, Anne and her friends meet and perform a Beltane ritual, where they commit to respect their intellect, bodies, emotions, and their femininity while gathered around a fire. As Anne returns home, she finds Matthew in the barn, quietly watching Belle's newborn foal.

## Cast

### Main Cast

* Amybeth McNulty as Anne Shirley Cuthbert
* Geraldine James as Marilla Cuthbert
* R.H. Thomson as Matthew Cuthbert
* Dalila Bela as Diana Barry
* Lucas Jade Zumann as Gilbert Blythe
* Corrine Koslo as Rachel Lynde
* Aymeric Jett Montaz as Jerry Baynard
* Dalmar Abuzeid as Sebastian Lacroix

## Trigger and content warnings

* Blood
* Fainting
* Injury
* Mention of adoption
* Mention of death
* Mention of infertitlity
* Needles
* Pain
* Racism