Gentleman Jack: Are You Still Talking?   Show Only 
June 10, 2019 8:18 PM - Season 1, Episode 8 - Subscribe

Season One Finale. Difficult news from Shibden spurs Lister to leave behind her new lifestyle in Denmark.
posted by oh yeah! (23 comments total)
 
Awwww, that was really touching. But also slightly distracting, in that the weather during Ann's proposal to Anne seemed quite less autumnal than the rest of the scenery. I'll chalk it up to poetic license!

I guess they laid the track for further investigation of the muderous pig farmer, but I still don't care. I was kind of disappointed that Ann didn't hand over the cash to save the coal mine as part of her new commitment to Anne, but I guess that's for season two as well.

And finally: Anne bowling over footmen when she exits carriages (to say nothing of driving the carriage herself) continues to be a delight.
posted by TwoStride at 8:58 PM on June 10, 2019


The ending was so sweet!

Though I'm pretty sure Ann's sister got beaten after Ann made her escape.

Danish Queen got personal super fast, damn your Majesty!

I thoroughly enjoy all the cute girls making eyes at/flirting with Anne.

Anne wore PURPLE to get married in, Ann wore gold and white, they looked stunning.
posted by emjaybee at 9:03 PM on June 10, 2019 [1 favorite]


Also the "Dad went to America!" lie was just so dumb! He was a known nasty drunk. Why not just say that he stormed off drunk one night and was probably dead in a ditch? Didn't seem like people would search very hard for him and they always could have planted the odd belt buckle or bone fragment somewhere else.

And Anne's "I'm not as tough as you think--I mean, obviously I am, but--" line was just heartbreakingly beautiful.
posted by TwoStride at 9:52 PM on June 10, 2019 [1 favorite]


I found two interviews with the costume designer Tom Pye: 1, 2 & bonus sketches. It's nice reading if you enjoyed the show's costumes as much as I did.
posted by peeedro at 1:03 PM on June 11, 2019 [2 favorites]


I loved the development of Ann's character, the beginnings of defining her boundaries, in this last episode - even at the end there were hints. Perhaps we'll see more of her sterner side in season two.
posted by eclectist at 5:32 PM on June 11, 2019


I loved everything! And I just want to note that I have totally been to that church in York where they filmed Anne and Ann's marriage and recognized it immediately. Those box pews! (It's Holy Trinity Church.)
posted by soren_lorensen at 9:08 AM on June 12, 2019


Oh hey some googling revealed that Holy Trinity wasn't just used as a frozen-in-time 18th century parish church to film in but was actually the church where Actual Anne Lister and Actual Anne Walker Actually Got Married.
posted by soren_lorensen at 9:15 AM on June 12, 2019 [6 favorites]


Yeo, and they replaced the rather newly mouthed plaque mentioned in the article there earlier this year with this one.
posted by J.R. Hartley at 9:51 AM on June 12, 2019 [1 favorite]


I loved so much I loved in this episode. I loved the symbolism of the closing door after they got communion. I loved how it was all shot. I loved the way they showed how they illustrated so clearly how everything was happening quickly over letters and feeling lonely and far away and second-hand conversations juxtaposed with the lovely feeling of just chatting normally walking down the street together.
posted by bleep at 5:33 PM on June 12, 2019 [2 favorites]


Also there were hints of Anne displaying her own boundaries early on, when Rev. McNasty was ushered out by James. It's just that her whole life everyone has been discouraging her boundaries and she just needed to have someone show her how to do it and encourage her for her to get the hang of it. Eventually she and her sister talked enough for her sister to show her where those boundaries could be and encourage her for her to be able to do it. And that's exactly what Ann said she needed earlier.

Also maybe before the wedding what happened to that old drunk didn't matter much to Washington but now he has a vested interest in the activities of his son in law it's a little different.
posted by bleep at 5:39 PM on June 12, 2019 [1 favorite]


Also another thing I love is how carefully this story was written (not discounting that they really did get married, but the writers could have fucked up the crafting of the story via the dialog and how much we learn about them from what they say). Like how they showed how Ann realized that her ability to be independent and live the way she wanted was due to her position as the richest person in the neighborhood and cultivating friends in high places. So there's a poetic aspect to how Anne's investing in the mine is symbolically investing in their shared independent position.
posted by bleep at 6:00 PM on June 12, 2019


And finally I loved when Elizabeth was like hold on, you mean you do have something you want? Well damn girl let's get you that!
posted by bleep at 6:41 PM on June 12, 2019 [1 favorite]


I miss uplifting characters that take on life on their own terms. These were the kind of people I looked up to and wanted to be like when I was younger. I want more shows like this on tv.
posted by xammerboy at 8:05 PM on June 12, 2019


> Also the "Dad went to America!" lie was just so dumb! He was a known nasty drunk. Why not just say that he stormed off drunk one night and was probably dead in a ditch? Didn't seem like people would search very hard for him and they always could have planted the odd belt buckle or bone fragment somewhere else.

If that was the story, the logical assumption was that he wouldn't have been able to get that far, and the town would have been morally obligated to search for him extensively. His shitty attitude and drunkenness wouldn't be relevant, he's still the head of the household. Without a body, there would be no reasonable conclusion to the search, and the paternalistic forces of society would swoop in and make decisions for the family.

Meanwhile, the family would have to endure a protracted active search without airing their dirty laundry. Even though it was an open secret that the dad was a miserable drunk, if anyone in the family, including the smaller children (especially the children!), slipped and suggested that they were actually better off with dad gone and could carry on without him, it would come across as an indecent attitude and they would lose their tenancy anyway (whether the landlord was Anne or anyone else.) This society is not a merit-based system; good manners and hard work can prevent you from sliding backwards, but don't earn you any real promotion in status. The son saw a tiny rare window of opportunity, and knew that the explanation for his father's disappearance required him to be GONE gone in a way that would prevent the town from investing in trying to find him.

Washington now has a moral decision to make as well, now that he knows that the bit about the letter from the uncle is false, he could press the issue. But his smartest move would be to quietly let it slide for the greater good -- and to avoid igniting extra scandal that now would hurt HIS family by association. "Being talked about" (for any reason, really) is tremendously humiliating in this time and place.
posted by desuetude at 8:52 AM on June 13, 2019 [4 favorites]


Oh hooray we're talking about this show!
posted by tzikeh at 2:17 PM on June 13, 2019


I see your points desuetude so... I guess just be all, "OMG he must have 'slipped' and fallen into the pig pen! Oh noes!"
posted by TwoStride at 2:37 PM on June 13, 2019


There were so many great fourth wall moments through this whole series, but the profundity of Anne locking her gaze on the audience before walking into the church destroyed me. Mainly because the look acknowledged all the years of horrible endings for Hollywood lesbians and was like, "look, ladies! It's a happy ending finally! Love wins!"
posted by ikahime at 5:14 PM on June 14, 2019 [2 favorites]


Also, as a young thing, my first encounter with romance of any sort was Jane Eyre which I think led to a lot of messed up ideas about relationships, but still imprinted itself in my queer brain. There were enough echoes in GJ to JE (Yorkshire, the mirror scene, autumn/spring seduction) that I think I may be able to successfully eliminate the Rochester archetype and replace it with Lister.
posted by ikahime at 5:51 PM on June 14, 2019


I was thinking of Jane Eyre too! The end of Jane Eyre when she's gotten raised up and he's been humbled so that their relationship power has been balanced and they can be together, I was reminded of that when Ann was all bedraggled and screaming and having lost *everything*, and Anne floating up in her big blue cupcake dress all confident and self-assured and ready to save her(after having rejected her own St. James Rivers for the same reasons). Now they can be equals in their relationship. I loved it so much.
posted by bleep at 7:28 PM on June 14, 2019 [1 favorite]


I would really enjoy an entire season of the Walker-Listers affectionately bickering and being sweet with one another. I love that the camera pulled away and left us with, "In a certain light? With just a tiny bit of Rawson comeuppance that must be due.

Ann's costumes this episode were spectacular. And I love that she's capable of remaining utterly herself while dressed for a dinner or a royal birthday celebration. And her wedding suit was incredibly beautiful and vibrant.

Ann's musical theme is one of my favorite parts of the show -- that fast, proto-Celtic theme that plays when she's storming through her life at top speed. She's such a force
posted by gladly at 10:00 AM on June 15, 2019 [1 favorite]


So there might be more to the Anne Lister/Bronte parallel. According to this article, it seems likely if not plausible that Emily Bronte may have visited Shibden Hall with her students, seen a room in the manor dubbed "the red room," which was reputed to be haunted by Anne Lister's uncle, told Charlotte about it, who then put it into Jane Eyre as .... wait for it..... the red room where young Jane is imprisoned.
posted by ikahime at 1:27 PM on June 17, 2019 [1 favorite]


I'm screaming... I'm dying
I love Jane Eyre so much and I feel like I'm learning new things about it all the time. And for two things I love to intersect!!
posted by bleep at 9:46 PM on June 17, 2019 [1 favorite]


Ann's musical theme is one of my favorite parts of the show
Indeed. One of my favourite parts of the show has been finding out what Belinda O'Hooley has been up to since leaving the Winterset.
posted by rhamphorhynchus at 11:41 AM on June 20, 2019


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