The Blue Chest of Arabella King is an episode which lets us get to know Olivia a lot better, as she features prominently in it. At the beginning of the episode Olivia, who dreams of becoming a writer, has had a poem published in the Avonlea newspaper. As she has little self confidence, she had to be talked into submitting it by Sarah. Olivia is excited even though Hetty makes some mood dampening remarks about her efforts. Encouraged by the public admiration that her poem has elicited, Olivia goes to the office of the struggling Avonlea Chronicle and asks the owner/editor Mr. Tyler for a job writing for the paper. He is less than enthusiastic, but agrees to hire her on a trial basis providing she comes up with interesting stories and can provide photographs to go with them. The only person locally who owns a camera is Jasper Dale, the shy reclusive genius who we met in the second episode (Side note: I forgot that I missed the first two episodes and so didn't write about them. Since we're probably going to take a hiatus from Road To Avonlea for the rest of lockdown, perhaps I'll go back and revisit those ones). Sarah suspects that Jasper has a thing for Aunt Olivia and talks her into asking him to accompany her around Avonlea to take pictures of local interest stories such as a prize winning pig and the local quilting bee's latest quilt. Olivia and Jasper enjoy this time together, though they're both self-conscious. Unfortunately, Mr Tyler doesn't think that these stories are interesting enough to be put in the Chronicle, even with accompanying photographs. Shows you what he knows; people love to see themselves- and their family members and friends- in the paper. That sort of thing sells copies. No wonder Mr. Tyler's paper is failing. In any case, Olivia returns home devastated, feeling like a failure. This isn't helped by Hetty, who bluntly tells her younger sister that she's frittering her life away on nonsense.
This is an enjoyable episode, in no small part because Jasper Dale is in it. The tentative, hesitant relationship between he and Olivia is funny but also endearing. Although they perhaps seem an unlikely match, Olivia's bubbly personality conceals some deep insecurities and self doubt, and Jasper, though painfully shy, has confidence in her; his encouragement and support, though awkwardly expressed, buoy her and helps her blossom as a writer.