"Your Will Shall Decide Your Destiny"

"Your Will Shall Decide Your Destiny" is the series premiere of CBC's Anne with an E (2017–2019), the first episode of Season 1 and the first episode of the series overall. It was written by Moira Walley-Beckett and directed by Niki Caro. It premiered on CBC on March 19, 2017.

Summary[]

When a miscommunication brings a girl to Green Gables instead of a boy, Marilla and Matthew are faced with a life-changing decision. (CBC)

A bungled message brings spirited orphan Anne Shirley to Green Gables, where unmarried siblings Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert are waiting for a boy. (Netflix)

Plot[]

At Green Gables the siblings Marilla and Matthew Cuthbert are discussing their decision on taking in a boy from the orphanage. Marilla is fussing about how she hopes that it isn't a mistake before she tells Matthew to hurry up so he won't miss the train with said orphan boy.

On the train, there is no boy, instead there's a red haired girl - Anne - and we get to see a flashback from her previous life. In the flashback, Mrs. Hammond is having a go at Anne for not having the supper ready on time. Back on the train, Mrs. Spencer has woken up from her nap and Anne is excitingly asking her questions about the Cuthberts and Green Gables.

Cast[]

Amybeth McNulty as Anne Shirley
Geraldine James as Marilla Cuthbert
R.H. Thomson as Matthew Cuthbert
Dalila Bela as Diana Barry
Corrine Koslo as Rachel Lynde
Aymeric Jett Montaz as Jerry Baynard
Ian Clark as Stationmaster
Edie Inksetter as Mrs. Hammond
Martha Girvin as Mrs. Spencer
Jonathan Holmes as Mr. William Barry
Avery Trask as Girl #1
Zoe McGarry as Girl #2
Michelle Giroux as Mrs. Blewett
Helen Johns as Mrs. Eliza Barry
Sarah Dodd as Matron
Helene Robbie as Elegant Woman
Alexandra Floras-Matic as Older Girl
Timothy Mooney as Mr. Hammond
Dan Warry-Smith as Stablemaster
Philip Williams as Thomas Lynde
Ryan Kiera Armstrong as Minnie May Barry

Crew[]

Director: Niki Caro

Writer: Moira Walley-Beckett

Quotes[]

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Behind the scenes[]

Cultural references

The titles of this and the following episode ("I Am No Bird, and No Net Ensnares Me") are references to Chapter 23 of Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë's novel which had an influence on L.M. Montgomery's writing. The titular character works as a teacher for wealthy Mr. Rochester, whom she secretly loves. Believing he is about to get married to another woman, she wants to leave his house and go to Ireland. Jane eventually tells Mr. Rochester, "I am no bird; and no net ensnares me; I am a free human being with an independent will, which I now exert to leave you.", to which he replies: "And your will shall decide your destiny."
Anne herself mentions Jane Eyre to Mrs. Spencer on the train to Bright River. Anne expresses her love for both the novel and character and quotes the heroine's thought, If all the world hated you and believed you wicked, but your own conscience approved of you and absolved you from guilt, you would not be without friends. Mrs. Spencer apparently doesn't know the book and believes that Jane Eyre is a real person.
Just like in the original novels, Anne frequently uses the phrase scope for imagination, which is borrowed from Laurence Sterne's A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy.
Anne wants to be called Penelope as she believes that name has a tragical ring to it and would suit her misfortune. It is likely a reference to Penelope, the wife of Odysseus in Homer's Odyssey, who was separated from her husband for many years after he went to fight in the Trojan War.
When Marilla asks Anne about her family background, the latter quotes the first line (Somewhere in la Mancha, in a place whose name I do not care to remember, a gentleman lived not long ago, one of those with a lance and ancient shield on a shelf who keeps a skinny nag and a greyhound for racing...) of Don Quixote, a famous Spanish novel by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra. Anne, however, changes la Mancha in the original version to a far-off land for the purposes of her story.
Anne is told to learn the Lord's Prayer, one of the most famous Christian prayers.
When she is introduced to Jerry, Anne recalls Charlemagne's impossible horse Bayard (although she changes the latter's name to Baynard to match Jerry's surname). Charlemagne was the mighty Frankish ruler and the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire in the 8th and 9th century. According to the legends, he possessed a magic horse named Bayard who was known for his supernatural abilities, such as understanding human speech or adjusting his size to his riders.
Anne mentions she likes to imagine she is Joan of Arc riding into battle. Joan of Arc, also known as The Maid of Orléans, was a French heroine of the Hundred Years' War. After receiving visions of the Catholic saints, she supported the French king Charles VII and was sent to the siege of Orléans. She was captured by the pro-English forces, put on trial and burned at the stake.

Production notes

The crew officially started filming and began principal photography on September 22, 2016 in Ontario.^[1]
The filming locations included Milton, Pickering (Green Gables), Caledon (Lake of Shining Waters), Markham (Hammond House), Dundas (Asylum), Georgetown, Ancaster, North York, Tottenham, Millbrook and Toronto.^[2]
The filming of the pilot episode wrapped on October 27, 2016.^[3]
The sequence in which Matthew arrives at the train station, talks to the official (who remarks on Anne having "a tongue of her own") and then encounters Anne for the first time, plays out nearly identically across the 1930s Hollywood film, the 1985 Megan Follows film and Anne with an E, even with similar (sometimes verbatim) dialogue to Montgomery's novel.

Gallery[]

Anne of Green Gables Wiki has 29 images from Your Will Shall Decide Your Destiny (view gallery).

Videos[]

Some of the following videos are geographically restricted to the viewers from Canada by the channel's owner, CBC. We are including them nonetheless.