Gentleman Jack: I just went there to study anatomy
April 29, 2019 8:49 PM - Season 1, Episode 2 - Subscribe

Lister begins a playful but dangerous courtship of Ann Walker; Lister's plan to excavate her coal mines brings her into the path of local magistrate Christopher Rawson and his brother Jeremiah; Lister's servant offers a solution to Eugénie's problem.
posted by oh yeah! (8 comments total)
 
I love this show so much. That whole speech she gave about life was enthralling. I would have run away with her.
posted by bleep at 9:25 PM on April 29, 2019


I think for me one of the greatest pleasures is watching Gemma Whalen go from Yara Greyjoy to this.
posted by miss-lapin at 2:38 AM on April 30, 2019 [5 favorites]


I don't know, this episode left me conflicted.
On the one hand, I absolutely love:
-Anne striding around everywhere; I LOL'd when she banged out of the carriage and nearly bowled over her coachman
-Anne "running circles" around the various patronizing men; the coal scene was BRILLIANT and I particularly liked Suranne Jone's body language, where Anne took up all of the body language traditionally coded as masculine, first sitting with legs spread, then foot over knee and leaning back as she calmly stated what price she'd take. So good.
-Anne's OUTFITS

This I didn't like:
-The seduction of Ann Walker as so rooted in emotional manipulation. It skeeved me out hardcore.
-I'm still not into the random 4th-wall looks directly at the camera/occasional soliloquy to the camera.
posted by TwoStride at 6:43 AM on April 30, 2019 [4 favorites]


I like the looking at the camera and such (in this show only) just because the way she does it reminds me of the way I talk to myself, especially when I was keeping a journal regularly. I would often be smirking at myself when I did something I was definitely going to write about, or when I was reading about something I did. The way she does it in this show makes it feel natural to me. But in general I hate that stuff.
posted by bleep at 9:37 AM on April 30, 2019


I wonder if at some point the show is going to interrogate Anne's still very binary conception of gender. Her behavior with Ann Walker is very much out of a rake's playbook, and she seems to think toxic masculinity is okay as long as it's not a dude doing it.

I did think this episode did a bit better at smoothing out some of the unevenness of the first, stylistically.
posted by soren_lorensen at 12:22 PM on April 30, 2019 [1 favorite]


Kanata, I'm curious what book it is you read. I would totally put it on my reading list ASAP.
posted by miss-lapin at 8:20 PM on April 30, 2019


I don't normally love period pieces about rich British aristocrats in drawing rooms, but boy do I love this.

And you know, Anne is basically Don Draper. A sexy, swaggering rake who is smarter than everyone else in the room. Neither of them are great people, but they sure are fun to watch. I mean, it's fun to watch a woman seduce another woman. We rarely get to see that, at least not in a way that is meant to push the story forward and illuminate the characters, not just titillate the audience.

Also, I just want to call attention to how great Cameron Esposito's Vulture recaps are (linked in the post). There's some very specific queer stuff in this show and I'm so glad Cam is there to tease it out.

I feel like I'm sharing too much about being a baby butch and it is hard to admit that I recognize myself so much and how much of an asshole I was.

kanata, thanks for sharing what you are! Similar to Cameron Esposito's recaps, it's so valuable.
posted by lunasol at 12:35 PM on May 6, 2019 [1 favorite]


kanata, truth! She's totally an immature butch with noone to model good behavior, all id on that side of things. I love her but she's fully a cad.
posted by Iteki at 1:04 PM on May 7, 2019 [2 favorites]


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