From the opening beat of Gentleman Jack Season 2, it’s clear that Anne Lister (Suranne Jones) is determined to make an appearance.
This Time Around, Anne Lister Is Better Than Ever
Even though the series (which debuted in 2019) had a long road to the production of its second season, with a delay caused by the ongoing pandemic, there’s something infinitely comforting about being able to pick up right where we left off with the creator Sally Wainwright’s
ongoing adventures of Anne Lister — and this is still Anne Lister, all right, in all her outwardly assured and inwardly vulnerable glory.
Season 1, which focused mostly on Anne and young, affluent heiress Ann Walker (Sophie Rundle), moves ahead to the early days after the two women ultimately consented to marry, albeit in a more covert, symbolic gesture than anything that the state or church would completely recognize.
Ann Walker has agreed to move into the Lister family estate known as Shibden Hall, but it won’t be an easy transition; aside from the legal complexities of their new arrangement, they’ll also have to deal with Ann’s extended family
(who believe she is being manipulated by her new “companion”) and the lingering presence of Anne Lister’s former flame Marianna Lawton (Lydia Leonard). He isn’t convinced about this new relationship.
Meanwhile, the Listers themselves remain endlessly supportive in their own unique ways – Marian (Gemma Whelan) has given up trying to persuade her sister to take a breather, while Aunt Anne (Gemma Jones) and Lister patriarch Jeremy (Timothy West) remain the family’s rock.
Underneath that drive and seemingly boundless reservoirs of energy, though — for Anne constantly looks to be on the go, always in action, even when she’s sleeping comfortably in bed with her new wife — there is an expose in her heart, a raw wound that has never entirely healed.
Despite her confidence, Anne fears that she will be abandoned by Ann because of who she is as well as what she cannot be. It’s a deeply entrenched worry that exists with all the precariousness of a guillotine, with even Anne unclear exactly when the blade would eventually fall.
There are bumps in the path Ann Walker and Anne Lister have walked during Season 2, ones that require smoothing out as they continue to move forward, despite all of the external obstacles they must overcome as a unified couple.
Indeed, the sequences between Gentleman Jack’s two leading ladies remain the show’s most fascinating, as well as what lends the season its most emotional weight.
The degree of discussion about property documents, ownership, and a prospective new business opportunity for Lister herself is a less fascinating B-plot beneath the relationship-based arc.
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The stakes remain continuously and reassuringly modest outside of Anne and Ann’s emotional and occasionally tumultuous encounters.
Immersing yourself in the realm of this small English town with the knowledge that there won’t be any significant upheaval to these characters’ circumstances, even as the background threat of political turmoil begins to make its way to Halifax’s doorstep, makes for an
unexpectedly calming viewing experience — because, ultimately, there will still be a woman, dressed head-to-toe in black, marching through it all with aplomb. Hello there, Anne. It’s also nice to see you again.
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