The Other Bennet Sister episode 8 recap
- Brianne Moore
- May 28
- 8 min read
Mary’s spent the whole road trip from Derbyshire to the Lake District observing and learning from the Gardiners’ relationship. Clever girl. She’s noticed that they don’t just expect to be happy, they actively work to cultivate it.
While stopped at an inn, Mary comes upon Anne Baxter, of all people. They’re delighted to see each other. Anne’s heading home post-season with her mother. Mary happily asks if Anne and Tom are officially engaged at last and Anne tells her they broke up. Furthermore, she’s engaged to some other man, a Mr Powell, the guy she was smiling at during William’s dinner party.
Mary asks how Tom’s holding up and Anne says he took the news as well as could be expected. She asks Mary to look after him up in the Lakes. Oh, I’m sure he’ll be in good hands, Anne.
On a completely unrelated note: I love Anne’s coat. That collar’s beautiful.
MayVO recites Ode: Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood. But she cuts herself off in the middle of a sentence with, 'And I, again, am strong.'
Mary and the Gardiners settle into their inn in the Lakes, and Mr G brings Tom in for breakfast their first day. Apparently, Tom’s here at Mrs G’s behest: She said he worked too hard and needed to enjoy himself occasionally. Mrs G suggests he and Mary go for a walk before their day’s excursion, and Mary looks like she could die happy right now. So, for that matter, does Tom.
Outside, Tom offers her a book: Wordsworth’s Guide to the Lakes. Awww, what a thoughtful gift! She’s touched, and thanks him and says how happy she is that he was able to join them.
They talk a bit about her time at Pemberley. Tom, not having met Mrs Bennet, is confused as to why Mary’s not overjoyed by her mother’s recovery. She says it seems like her mother’s more disappointed in her than ever, which confuses him even more. She explains that she doesn’t measure up to her sisters, and her mother doesn’t stint in pointing that out.
He tells her, quite seriously, that he’s very sorry that anyone has ever made her feel like a disappointment. Well! I think we can all agree that, cute as he is, William doesn’t even come close to Tom. Mary looks at him like he’s just spoken straight to the depths of her soul.
She confesses that she ran into Anne and heard about the breakup. She says he must be suffering and he manages not to laugh. He thanks her and says he heard William visited her at Pemberley. Before she can get into that, the Gardiners call for them.
They go fishing. Mary’s read about fishing on the ride up here and gives Tom all kinds of pointers. They talk about a nearby mountain (Scafell), which Dorothy Wordsworth climbed. Tom asks if she’d be willing to attempt a climb with him. The MOUNTAIN, folks. Climb THE MOUNTAIN. Just to be clear. The Gardiners are game too, so looks like it should be a merry party!
Mary tries her hand at sketching in an idyllic woodland. She’s a little better than she was at painting, but not a great talent. Tom comes over and shows her his own, much worse attempts to sketch a bird.
They agree that their artistry is wanting.
Mary very awkwardly informs Tom that she and William aren’t engaged, and that she’s trying to work out a different future for herself. Maybe she’ll go back to being a governess. (But she was a terrible governess.)
Tom asks if she doesn’t think she might find herself a match. She says no several times. He suggests she take one more look, in case she missed anyone, and she still says no, that ship has definitely sailed, there’s no chance for marriage at all. Mary, the guy you like is single. What are you doing?
‘I’m sure you don’t wish to discuss engagements,’ she says, as if he’s not the one who brought it up.
The two of them switch, kind of randomly but also very funnily, into discussing and imitating bird calls.
That night, Aunt G comes to Mary’s room, sits next to her on the bed, and brushes her hair. This is a very stark contrast to her mother doing it. That scene was all dark and foreboding and full of anxiety and uncertainty, whereas this one is nothing but warmth and support. Aunt G asks how she enjoyed her day and observes that Mary and Tom get on quite well.
Mary says he must be devastated about Anne, even though anyone can see he’s not. Aunt G says he’s concealing it very well, if he is upset. She never thought they were very well suited anyway.
A week later, Mary and Tom are out boating on the lake while the Gardiners recline and play cards and flirt on the shore. The Gardiners are adorable. Excellent chemistry here, they really do seem like an affectionate, long-married couple that can tease and have fun together and it never feels mean, unlike so many other couples Mary’s come across.
Tom’s stripped down to his shirt, which means we’re in very real danger of a forearm sighting, and I’m not sure Mary’s ready for that.
Fortunately, she’s engrossed in a book, which she refers to as just: Tintern Abbey. I’m assuming she means Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey by Wordsworth, although there were a lot of other written works she could be referring to. Let’s assume it’s Wordsworth, because that’s all she reads now. Wordsworth’s great, Mary, but maybe branch out just a little bit? Try some Ann Radcliffe; Gothic novels would be right up your crime-pamphlet-reading alley. Or, if you must stick with the romantic poets, Dorothy Wordsworth is well worth a look? Coleridge?
Tom says Tintern Abbey’s his favourite, but Mary’s patience is worn thin because it doesn’t easily give up its secrets. Does it not? He asks her to read it to him and braces himself against the sides of the boat and his sleeves are, in fact, rolled up a bit, folks!
Mary is terrible at reading poetry. She asks Tom to take over, so she can take notes. He’s willing to read but asks her not to bother with notes and just experience the words. I mean, really, Mary, you’re not studying for your A-levels here.
Tom, of course, has the whole thing memorised and recites for her while they float on this glorious lake surrounded by mountainous beauty. She gets the poem a bit better now. I don’t really know how she didn’t suss out a meaning like ‘he’s talking about our connection with nature and how it grows over time.’ It’s not the most hidden meaning I’ve ever seen in a poem.
Tom sets the book aside and seems to be gearing up to say something important. He tells Mary that he was relieved when Anne dumped him, because they made their agreement a long time ago, and his feelings have since changed. Don’t get engaged too young, folks! You do a LOT of growing and changing in your 20s.
He says that lately his feelings had changed significantly and he’d hoped that Mary would feel the same way.
And then who should show up but William.
GodDAMMIT, William, you ruin everything! He waves and shouts at them from the lakeshore, then splashes in and starts swimming their way, while Mary wonders what the hell he’s doing and Tom gets understandably annoyed and upset. Poor Tom just cannot believe this is his life right now.
William gets to the boat and when Tom goes to help him aboard, he pulls him into the water (it’s not clear to me if this is intentional or not, but it’d be dangerous for him to do this on purpose. He could have upset the boat and drowned Mary.).
Tom accuses William of always causing a scene, and William’s like, ‘Ha! Isn’t this a lark? Life is so fun when you have zero responsibilities, right?’ Mary’s sitting on the boat laughing. Tom asks her for an oar and she just tosses an oar into the water at him. Not what he was hoping for. She tries the other oar, remembering to hold onto it this time, but then the boys start kind of fighting over it and the second oar is lost. They have no choice but to swim in.
The Gardiners watch, shocked, as Mary, reclining in her seat like the Queen of Sheba, is towed to shore by two cute boys and I am LOVING this for her. The boys, meanwhile, continue to snipe at each other. William whines a lot, and Mary’s just blissed out.
They all make it safely to shore and William explains that he needed some legal advice, so he stalked Tom all the way up to the Lakes. I’m sure it had nothing to do with Mary being there too.
Tom asks what this legal matter is, that couldn’t wait. ‘Oh, it’s not urgent,’ says the guy who just admitted to following him hundreds of miles north to take care of it. ‘Not urgent,’ Tom repeats, through gritted teeth, in what might be the best easy-to-miss line reading in this whole show. I didn’t catch it until the rewatch, but it’s great. Tom takes off his sodden tie and wrings it out like he’s imagining it’s William’s neck.
Mrs G switches to mum mode and tells the boys to go get into some dry clothes before they catch their deaths.
‘It’s such a beautiful day I can barely feel the cold,’ William purrs, and even Mrs G rolls her eyes at that.
They arrive back at the inn and discover the Hursts and Caroline have landed. Is there only one inn in all the Lake District? Was Caroline drawn here from her black tower by some sense of William slipping away from her yet again? I’m amazed she didn’t just show up at Pemberley out of the blue, especially since everyone else did.
Mr Hurst is excited to see Mary, which is adorable. Mrs Hurst and Caroline already hate it here. Caroline snits that nobody mentioned Mary would be there. ‘And yet, here I am,’ she says. I imagine that back at Pemberley, Collins finds himself applauding and isn’t sure why.
Both travelling parties have joined up for supper. William overhears Mary and Tom talking about climbing Scafell and invites himself along, which means now the Hursts and Caroline will be coming too. Goody! Because that trio really seems up for mountain climbing. In fact, the Gardiners try to talk them out of it by impressing upon them how difficult a climb it is. But, how difficult can it be, really, if pampered ladies in full Regency-era gear can do it?
Caroline will not be deterred, so she’s going.
The party starts to break up for bed, and William notices Tom and Mary looking a bit cosy. Tom suggests the two of them walk together the next day, away from the crowd. Mary smiles beautifully and says she’d love that. Especially if it means they can finish the conversation they started on the boat.
He bids her goodnight and William ditches Caroline so he can go apologise to Mary for his ‘proposal’ at Pemberley. He’s done a bit of soul searching and realised how very inappropriate it was. He says he now sees a way they can have Italy and conform. You mean, by getting married, William? Yeah, that’s a pretty straightforward solution.
He promises he’ll make amends to her at the top of the mountain. She’s going to have a busy day tomorrow.
MayVO wonders how, once she resolved never to marry, she managed to win the admiration of two eligible gentlemen? I mean, the admiration was there before, Mary, you just didn’t notice it.
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