In addition Alec, who is on the Avonlea cricket team, is getting ready for a big game which is coming up. Felicity runs into a young player from the opposite team- David Hawes- while out walking and is immediately smitten with him (which results in the diary entry about kissing). Meanwhile, Sarah and Felix meet a friendly teenaged boy named Gus Pike, fishing in the river. Gus is an orphan who had been working on a fishing trawler which recently sank off of the coast of Nova Scotia. He's on the Island to look for work. Sarah and Felix bring him to the farm and Alec, who can't help being a dad to everyone no matter how distracted he is, tells Gus that the lobster cannery in the next community is opening for the season in a few days and will be looking for workers. He invites Gus to bunk in their barn until then, and Gus gratefully accepts, insisting on doing chores to pay his way.
Last Friday night we watched the second season episode How Kissing Was Discovered. In this episode, Felicity, aged thirteen and three quarters (as she reminds her father when he says she's a child) is experiencing growing pains. She no longer wants to run around playing with the other children because they are children, and she's decided that she's not. She spends much time mooning about her room writing in her diary, trying out more adult hair styles, and discontentedly complaining that her dresses are too childish. She's getting on the other kids' nerves and Felix takes impish revenge by stealing her diary and reading embarrassing parts- her speculating about how it would feel to be kissed- aloud in front of a number of people. This ends badly for all concerned. This isn't the only uproar at King Farm; Janet's Great Aunt Eliza has arrived for a visit. Fussy, outspoken, and hard of hearing, Eliza travels about staying with all her relatives, sometimes for upwards of six months, as Janet ruefully explains to Alec. She's brought enough baggage with her for at least that long of a visit. Her constant demands for attention keep Janet, who hasn't been feeling well all week, stressed and exhausted. And her constant critical comments about his character keep Alec exasperated. In addition Alec, who is on the Avonlea cricket team, is getting ready for a big game which is coming up. Felicity runs into a young player from the opposite team- David Hawes- while out walking and is immediately smitten with him (which results in the diary entry about kissing). Meanwhile, Sarah and Felix meet a friendly teenaged boy named Gus Pike, fishing in the river. Gus is an orphan who had been working on a fishing trawler which recently sank off of the coast of Nova Scotia. He's on the Island to look for work. Sarah and Felix bring him to the farm and Alec, who can't help being a dad to everyone no matter how distracted he is, tells Gus that the lobster cannery in the next community is opening for the season in a few days and will be looking for workers. He invites Gus to bunk in their barn until then, and Gus gratefully accepts, insisting on doing chores to pay his way. At the cricket match, Felicity irks her family by cheering loudly when David Hawes gets a run... or whatever it is in cricket. And she's visibly put out when Alec hits David's pitch and wins the game. At the following reception, she attempts to attract Hawes' attention and manages to spill her punch on him. Using his handkerchief to mop up the spill, she promises to launder it for him. She hopes to return it to him at the tournament's closing dance that night. There's only one problem: the dance is for adults, not children. Felicity goes to Janet and begs her mother to allow her to accompany her and Alec to the dance. Janet, harried and tired, is inclined to give in if only to stop the nagging but puts Felicity off, saying that she will talk to her father about it. Felicity runs off to tell Sarah that she's going, assuming that her father will give his permission because he's usually pretty amenable, especially if Janet asks him for something. Finding Sarah in the barn, Felicity gets her to help her practice dancing; they're doing rather badly until Gus, who has been observing while forking hay, gets out his fiddle and skillfully plays them a tune to dance to. Unfortunately for Felicity's hopes, Alec is no mood to be lenient. Soaking his sore muscles in the tub, he's already irritated by her behaviour at the match and reception and tells Janet that the last thing he's going to do is take Felicity to a dance where she can make even more of a spectacle of herself, mooning over some fancy pants guy. He says that frankly, he doesn't even want to go to the dance. Janet, still not feeling well, says that would be fine with her but Felicity will be very disappointed. Alec replies sarcastically and Janet, who's tired and emotional, tears up and flees the room. Eliza, who has a genius for making bad situations worse, upbraids Alec, calling him a brute. At this inauspicious time Felicity arrives, inquiring brightly when they're leaving for the dance. Alec informs her that no one is going anywhere, let alone to the dance, which results in her running off to her room. There she angrily tells Sarah and Cecily that she's going to the dance no matter what anyone says. She stars ripping the frills and sleeves off one of her dresses to make it look more grown up as the other two girls look on worriedly. (To Be Continued...)
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Last night we watched the first episode of the second season of Road To Avonlea- Sarah's Homecoming. Some months have passed since the end of season one: that took place in winter and it is now summer. Also, Sarah's leg has healed. At the start of the episode, Felix is messing about with some Dominion Day fireworks which he's been told not to touch. When Sarah tries to stop him disaster ensues, resulting in Alec's wagon being damaged and a fence destroyed. Felix vacates the scene and Sarah alone is found at the scene of the crime; she is hastily blamed by Alec, who is angry over the expensive damages and in no mood to listen to explanations. Later, smarting over the injustice and feeling hurt and angry, Sarah receives a letter from her father again asking her to return to Montreal. She abruptly decides to go, to the dismay of the entire family. As they make their good-byes Alec, remorseful over losing his temper and feeling responsible for her leaving on bad terms, tells Sarah that the damages aren't that serious, that they're all going to miss her, and encourages her to come back soon to visit. Sarah is polite but aloof, making no promise to return. She ignores Felix when, obviously wretched and guilt-ridden, he tries to say good-bye to her. Sarah is accompanied by Hetty on her trip back to Montreal. Hetty is inwardly distraught over Sarah's leaving but determined to keep a stiff upper lip and even stiffer backbone. When they arrive at the train station in Montreal, Blair (Sarah's father) is supposed to meet them but is delayed at work so they make their way themselves to the Stanley's luxury home where Sarah has a happy reunion with Nanny Louisa. The meeting between Hetty and Louisa is considerably frostier, their mutual distaste obvious as they trade politely worded barbs. Blair arrives home and Sarah leaps into his arms, telling him how much she missed him. He's barely been there any time though when he gets a call from the office and returns to work, assuring a dismayed Sarah that he'll only be gone for about an hour. As that hour stretches into another, then another, Sarah frets over his continued absence and Hetty, not without an inward feeling of satisfaction, tells her that she'll have to get used to this. There is a knock at the door: it's a police officer, come to inform them that there's been an accident. Blair had gone to his company's warehouse to inspect a shipment, some scaffolding collapsed and he was killed instantly. Sarah ends up returning to PEI much sooner than anyone had dreamed, bringing her father's body to Avonlea so that he can be buried next to her mother. The whole King family gathers around her, trying to comfort Sarah, but it's like her emotions are frozen... she doesn't cry, or get angry, or express any emotion at all. The situation is made worse when Blair's will is read and Nanny Louisa is named as Sarah's guardian. Hetty hits the roof, pointing out- not entirely unreasonably- that Blair's will was three years old, made before Sarah had come to live in Avonlea with them for the last year. She and Louisa (who is also staying at Rose Cottage) get into it until Olivia warns Hetty that if this continues, Louisa will take Sarah back to Montreal and never let her return. After that, Hetty tries to play nice, though she is maliciously amused when Nanny Louisa manages to lock herself in the outhouse. This amusement becomes outrage when a fuming Louisa says that a girl of Sarah's background shouldn't have to use such "primitive facilities". Meanwhile, Sarah is struggling to come to terms with her father's death. Peter Craig, the hired boy at Rose Cottage, sees her moping about and tries to cheer her up, inviting her to go to the circus- which happens to be in town- with him. At first Sarah refuses but with the tension in the house thick enough to cut with a knife, she feels like she needs to get out and changes her mind. She and Peter go to the circus, taking in the dancing bear and other attractions until Sarah spies a fortune teller's wagon. At the door is a heavily made up woman in a robe and turban who tells Sarah that she can contact the spirits of the dead. Peter wisely tells her not to go in but, desperate to talk to her father, Sarah pays her money and enters the wagon. The fortune teller goes into a "trance" and speaks to Sarah's father, surprisingly coming out with some details- including his name- that go well beyond the standard mystic blather. As she speaks, the silhouette of a man in an overcoat and hat- like Blair's (or any other man's) appears on the curtain behind her. She also tells Sarah that her father is with her mother and that they have something to tell her... alas, the vision fades at this point. She says that she may be able to speak to them again, but is too tired now; Sarah should return later, alone, and with more money with which to pay the spirits. Sarah, grief stricken and gullible, is convinced by the woman's knowing so many details about her life and agrees to come back, bringing with her a purse filled with money. (To Be Continued... ) Related Posts: Friday night we watched the first season finale of "Road To Avonlea", Nothing Endures But Change which is, naturally, about change. Throughout the season Sarah has been living on the Island because her father- Blair Stanley- in Montreal has been embroiled in a court case, accused of embezzling funds. The case is now over and Blair has been acquitted. He immediately sets out for PEI and before long is in Avonlea. He arrives at King farm to find Sarah and the other children engaged in a snowball fight with Alec, laughing and shrieking happily. Sarah and her father have a joyous reunion, the happiness of which is tempered by the news that Blair intends to take Sarah back to Montreal immediately, first thing in the morning. Sarah obviously doesn't want to leave so soon, and Janet pulls Alec aside, whispering that he must talk Blair into staying in Avonlea longer. Alec tries, but Blair is determined not to stay any longer than absolutely necessary and it becomes obvious that this is because of the longstanding feud between him and Hetty. He takes Sarah to Rose Cottage so that she can pack her things, meeting Olivia and Jasper at the door, just returning from a photo shoot for the paper. Olivia, shocked, invites him into the parlour for tea while Hetty lurks in the kitchen, not wanting to interact with him. This changes when she hears Blair say that he's taking Sarah home in the morning; she bursts into the parlour and verbal fireworks ensue. All of the old grievances are dragged up, awful things are said, and the scene ends with Blair storming out to spend the night at King farm, ordering a devastated Sarah to be packed and ready to go in the morning. She runs to her room crying, while Hetty turns her fear induced anger on Olivia, unfairly blaming her for letting Blair into the house. Meanwhile back on King farm, Janet is hectoring Alec, telling him that as head of the family, he must talk to both Blair and Hetty and convince them to make peace for Sarah's sake. Alec tries reasoning with Blair but he's too angry to listen, so Alec then heads to Rose Cottage to talk to Hetty. She refuses to budge and Alec eventually loses his temper, telling her bluntly that she's going to lose Sarah for good, just as she lost Ruth. Sarah has been listening from the stairs, but pretends to be asleep when Hetty comes to check on her. She then climbs out the window, goes to King farm, and climbs in through the children's bedroom window (Felix and Andrew are bunking on Felicity and Cecily's floor so that Uncle Blair can have their room). Her plan is to stay in hiding until Hetty and Blair make up, so the children sneak her into the barn loft. The next morning Blair arrives at Rose Cottage to find Hetty and Olivia frantically searching for Sarah. He at first accuses them of hiding her but soon comes to his senses, realizing that Sarah has obviously run off. They go to King farm to check there... the children deny having seen Sarah, and everyone joins in the search. Hetty and Blair can't stop sniping at each other, Hetty saying this proves that Sarah doesn't want to go, and Blair saying that Hetty obviously isn't capable of taking care of Sarah. Eventually Alec catches the kids in the pantry filling a basket of food for Sarah and the truth comes out. Everyone rushes to the barn, where Sarah refuses to come down from the loft until her father and Hetty stop fighting. She tells them that they aren't being fair; she loves them both and they're trying to make her take sides and choose between them. While talking, Sarah leans against the loft window shutter, not realizing that it's unlatched; it flies open and she falls out, plummeting to the ground outside. Rushing out to find her there, spread-eagle and unconscious, they frantically send for the doctor. It turns out that she has a broken leg and a concussion. Sitting by Sarah's bed as she slumbers, Hetty and Blair realize that their endless fighting is to blame for this happening and finally bury the hatchet. It's obvious that Sarah won't be able to travel back to Montreal for a while, and Blair tells her that she can take whatever time she needs. He stays for an extended visit then returns to Montreal to rebuild his business and the season ends with it up in the air as to when Sarah will decide to leave Avonlea for Montreal. This is an excellent episode of Road To Avonlea, displaying what made the show so good: an ability to depict real, heartfelt emotion but with humorous- and sometimes downright ridiculous- moments thrown in. The most obvious "change" the title is referring to is Sarah's position. She's become a member of the family and community in Avonlea and is now facing being uprooted once again and returning to Montreal. She will be with her father, whom she loves, but deprived of her extended family- her uncle and aunts, and all her cousins. And, due to the animosity between Hetty and Blair, it seems that the bond will be forever severed. This feud between Hetty and Blair is one of long standing and, frankly, is mostly Hetty's fault. She blames him for taking her sister Ruth away from the Island and her subsequent death although this is clearly irrational. And, as we've seen on multiple occasions, Hetty is not one who easily admits to her mistakes, and she can hold grudges for years. She also deals with fear (ie. losing Sarah) by taking refuge in anger and lashing out, which we see her do at both Blair and Olivia. But of course, these behaviours merely exacerbate the problem, pushing away the people Hetty most fears losing. This doesn't let Blair off the hook though: he's quick to lose his temper, and by insisting that Sarah leave with him right away, he's completely ignoring the fact that Sarah loves her newly discovered family and it's going to hurt her to be ripped away from them so suddenly. Both he and Hetty are so wrapped up in their bitterness and resentment that they're not considering what their constant fighting is doing to Sarah. It's only when Sarah's hurt takes physical form that the two of them come to their senses and realize that they need to do what's best for her (and themselves) which is forgiving each other and uniting in their shared concern for her. This episode is also about the necessity of Hetty accepting that change is inevitable. Whether Sarah stays or goes, her relationship with Hetty will change as she gets older, becoming a teen and then an adult. More change is on the horizon as well, as it's obvious in this episode that the shy, tentative friendship between Olivia and Jasper is slowly and awkwardly but steadily progressing towards romance. Hetty can see this and it has led her to being rude, and just this side of hostile, towards Jasper. Yet if she can't bend and learn to accept that change happens and that isn't necessarily a bad thing, she risks making the same mistakes with Olivia- and Sarah- as she made with Ruth. As season one closes out, it remains to be seen whether or not the lessons Hetty's learned in this episode will leave a lasting impression, or if she'll slip back into her old controlling ways. Related Posts: We returned to our formerly regular scheduled Friday Road To Avonlea viewing this week with the episode The Witch of Avonlea. This is a Felix-centric episode which also marks the return of Peg Bowen, the local "witch". School is in, and teacher Hetty King has announced that the provincial spelling bee competition for students is coming up. To pick their school's candidate, she is going to hold a series of practice bees, then a final actual one. The winner will be sent to the provincial bee. To encourage the students to try hard, Hetty also announces that the winner of the school bee will win a new dictionary (ooh!) while any student who does especially bad in the practice bees will be required to wear a dunce cap for the rest of the day. I feel like the negative reinforcement outweighs the positive here. Felix isn't a bad student, but he is intimidated by Aunt Hetty and when she fixes her gimlet eye on him and snaps out a word, his brain freezes and he ends up misspelling it, going down in the first round of the bee and ending up sporting the dunce cap. As the days and practice bees go by, Felix becomes increasingly tense and miserable; he works hard at his spelling- even studying at the breakfast table- but during the bees he can't remember a thing. The day of the final practice bee, Felix snaps and runs away from school but is swiftly found and brought back by Abner Jeffries, the local constable and truant officer. Hetty makes him stay after school as punishment, then sends him home because it is starting to snow. Reluctant to go home and face his parents about his truancy, Felix takes the long way home through the woods but the storm suddenly becomes a lot worse and, unable to see where he's going, he gets turned about. Felix ends up collapsed under a tree, lost, afraid, and freezing. He's found there by local eccentric Peg Bowen who drags him back to her shack in the woods. In a secondary plot, early in the episode Peg had been wandering through the King farmland and accidentally scared the kids, who believe her to be a witch. Janet, indignant that her children were frightened on their own land, had words with Peg and ordered her off the property. So Felix is more than a little unnerved when he wakes up and finds himself in Peg's shack. But the gruff Peg treats him kindly, gives him some soup, and listens to his poured out tale of woe. She tells him that she knows what he needs to be a success at spelling: a magic stone which she just happens to have on one of her shelves. She gives it to Felix, telling him to keep it with him during the bees and he'll be unbeatable. An excited Felix runs home to find his family and neighbours all gathered in despair, having been out all night searching for him in the snow. Though relieved and thankful that he's fine, Janet and Hetty get into it, with Janet accusing Hetty of being to blame for Felix running off and almost freezing to death. Hetty denies being responsible but at school later that day, experiencing twinges of guilt, she tells Felix that he's excused from taking part in the spelling bee. To her surprise, Felix insists on taking part in the bee- which is the actual one this time- and he confidently and unhesitatingly spells down all the other students, winning the bee (and the dictionary) and a trip to the provincials. The night before the provincial spelling bee, Janet slips into the boys' bedroom and takes Felix's dress shoes to polish them. While doing so, she finds a rock in one of them and gets rid of it. The next day, Felix is panicked when he can't find his magic rock. He searches everywhere for it and, failing to locate it, wants to back out of the whole thing. His family of course just think he's nervous and try to reassure him as they drive to the hall where the bee is taking place. Unable to get out of it, Felix reluctantly takes his place on the stage, sure he's going to be humiliated. He freezes when given his first word and spells it incorrectly, but so do the other contestants, so the competition is restarted. Felix is just about to go down in flames when he sees Peg Bowen slipping in at the back of the hall, smiling encouragement to him. His confidence returns and he is able to spell down the other students, winning the bee. Later, Felix and Janet make a trip to Peg's shack. Janet apologises to Peg for her harsh words and tells her that she is always welcome on King land. She also gives Peg some pies that she baked and thanks her for helping Felix. Before they leave, Peg tells Felix that he didn't need the magic rock, just belief in himself. This is an average first season episode of Road To Avonlea... not great, but with some good moments. The plot is a bit obvious- rewritten Dumbo and the magic feather- and the ending "believe in yourself" message is trite and cliched. But it is a good episode for fleshing out Felix's character. Usually he's portrayed as a mischievous imp, but here we see another side to him: he's insecure and afraid of being laughed at. And of disappointing his parents. Also, we see Felix's frustration and despair at working hard at a subject, actually having a good head knowledge of it, but being unable to display that knowledge in the manner required. You really feel for him in these moments. There's also some good interplay among all the children as they vie to win the spelling bees. To sum up, The Witch of Avonlea is worth watching, but more for character development than plot. Related Posts: The Story Girl Earns Her Name is the second episode of "Road To Avonlea" and it continues to set up the Avonlea world. The entire series is, of course, based on the Chronicles of Avonlea, The Further Chronicles of Avonlea, and The Story Girl by L.M. Montgomery, so it was a given that an episode like this would be included somewhere in the mix. In this episode, we're introduced to two characters who will become recurring: Sally Potts, daughter of town gossip Clara Potts, and Jasper Dale, local eccentric genius. At the start of the episode, the school is trying to raise money to buy books for their library and are hosting a magic lantern show. This proves a popular idea, with lots of the townspeople purchasing tickets in advance. Unfortunately, the projectionist they've hired for the show turns out to be a scoundrel who absconds with the proceeds, and they are left with no show and no money. Sarah, who feels guilty because she inadvertently abetted the projectionist in making his getaway, attempts various schemes to make up the lost money including door-to-door canvassing, which proves a bust. She eventually makes the acquaintance of Jasper Dale, a recluse who spends his days tinkering with various inventions and scientific experiments in his barn. Jasper is regarded as an oddity around Avonlea because he doesn't go out much, actively avoids other people, and is terribly awkward when forced to interact with them. The truth is, he's a super nice guy- and really smart- but afflicted with crippling shyness and a painful stutter. Sarah, delighted to find that Jasper has a "magic lantern" eventually talks him into assisting her put on a show, at which she'll tell stories while he projects the images for them. The show comes together and the night of, everything is going swimmingly until the malicious Sally Potts sneakily causes trouble and the event ends in fiery disaster. Many of the townspeople are inclined to blame Jasper who retreats back into hiding until the school children, led by Sarah, form a righteous mob and chase Sally Potts into a leech infested pond, forcing her to confess. This is a fine follow up episode to the pilot, and introduces us, as mentioned, to Sally Potts, who will remain in the show as an occasional antagonist for all seven seasons. More importantly, we meet Jasper Dale (an actual character in The Story Girl) who will become very important in the series as time goes on... especially to Sarah's Aunt Olivia (wink, wink). He is played to awkward perfection by R.H. Thomson.
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