Emily of New Moon Episode 4 – A Picture of Four People

As Teddy was introduced last episode, we find out about his family and the problems that he’s facing, particularly his mother disapproving of him drawing. Emily, who is greatly impressed with Teddy’s works, could not accept this and tells Teddy to stand up for what he wants, despite the fact that she herself faces the same problem with her Aunt Elizabeth. How will they get through this obstacle for the realization of their dreams? Will this “picture of four people” be filled with happiness, or sadness…?

Summary

Emily once again writes a letter to her father, as she shares her experiences with Ilse, and also Teddy, a gentle-looking boy skilled in drawing that she just met. She also talks about Teddy’s mother, whose beautiful face has been outshone by the scary expression she shows. “It’s as though she has even forgotten the fact that she’s beautiful,” Emily says, and tells her father that despite thinking that Teddy’s mother is strange, he likes Teddy (or is interested in him).

The following day, Ilse and Emily goes to visit Teddy, but his mother prevents him from going out with them and makes up a lie that Teddy’s sleeping. Thinking that it was strange, they decided to check on Teddy, only to find out that his mother lied to them, as he is wide-awake, gazing by the window. Emily climbs up the tree to reach his room, while Ilse stays watch below. As Emily reaches the window of his room and formally introduce themselves to each other, Emily expresses her wanting to become his friend, and also to see more of his drawings, to which Teddy smiles in agreement. They weren’t able to talk much anymore as Teddy’s mother goes to his room, as though sensing something unusual happening.

Emily goes home and tells Perry about Teddy and his breathtaking drawings (his drawings really come “alive”, according to her). “We decided to become friends!”, Emily said with much happiness. For some reason, Perry gets irritated about this and insults Terry of being a “dull” boy, because he’s engrossed in doing “boring” things like drawing, reading books and poetry. Emily gets infuriated with his criticism, since she herself is pretty much like Terry. She defends her love for poetry, reading books, and drawing, then leaves in disappointment.

Emily and Ilse once again visits Teddy the next day, who agrees to spend time with them with his mother not around. Teddy gets his drawings and shows them to Ilse and Emily, who were amazed with his skills. Emily wonders why he keeps his works inside the barn, and finds out that it’s because his mother doesn’t approve of him drawing (and gets sad if she finds out he’s doing it). Emily couldn’t accept the fact that his mother is not at all delighted with this, and advises Teddy to stand up for what he wants, to confront his mother that he loves to draw. As Emily gazes at Teddy’s drawings in admiration, words came flowing out of her mouth and inspires her to compose a poem right then and there, much to Ilse and Teddy’s admiration.

Meanwhile, Teddy’s mother is out in the city, and sells the clothing she has sown to a stingy store owner. The women in the city talks bad rumors about her escaping from somewhere, and she just glares at them. Perry on the other hand, is looking at Emily’s notebook, skimming through the pages until he reaches the end of it and sees what he thinks is Emily’s name. He starts practicing how to write ‘Emily’, but hides this from Emily as she and Jimmy walks pass him. Jimmy wonders if Emily and Perry had a fight, that’s why they’re ignoring each other, but Emily denies this and says that Jimmy hates someone like her who loves reading and looking at pictures / drawings. To help uplift her spirit, Jimmy shows her the collection of books they have, and thinks that it’ll be a great idea to lend some of these books with pictures to Teddy.

Perry continues to practice writing ‘Emily’, but was caught in surprise as Aunt Elizabeth goes to ask him about Emily. Aunt Elizabeth also notices that Perry has Emily’s notebook, and explains that he borrowed it on his own, so he’ll be the one to return it to Emily himself.

Emily is spending her time in bliss as she reads the books that Jimmy showed her. Elizabeth comes in and forbids her from reading books or writing poems, because it’s useless. She advises her to read books about history and proper manners instead, which is what she should be learning more about. In the end she wasn’t able to stand up for what she wants.

That night, Teddy wakes up as he hears her mother crying, who embraces him as she tells him “Being with you by my side is enough” Emily also spends some time pondering about what happened with her aunt earlier, and contemplates on the fact that she wasn’t able to practice what she herself advised Teddy to do. When her aunt “shut” the door to the bookshelf, she felt as though her very heart was being “shut” as well, and comes to realize the fact that books and drawings are able to touch the heart of people.

Emily and Ilse never cease to visit Teddy, and as his mother once again gives them excuses to not let Teddy go out of their house, Ilse runs out of patience and confronts her about the lie she made up before. Teddy hears them arguing, and as he was walking down the stairs, he hears Emily telling her mother about simply wanting to play with Teddy, look at his drawings, and hear about her poems, “Drawing or poetry is also a part of our very soul / being, so if you forbid us from doing that, you’re depriving us of the chance to become our true selves!” Teddy’s mother was shocked as she finds out about this.

On their way home, Ilse tells Emily that she was deeply moved by her words there, even though she doesn’t fully understand what exactly it is that she could also consider as a “part of her soul”. They see Perry who’s standing by the river, looking as though he has something to say to Emily.

Teddy’s mother confronts him as to why he has been continuously drawing without her knowledge, despite the fact that she already forbid him to do so. Teddy asks for her forgiveness, and his mother tells him that the reason why she told him not to draw was because she thinks it’s for his own good, for his happiness. Remembering what Emily said, Teddy gains the courage to tell her that he agrees with Emily, “I understand what she meant, because drawing is indeed also part of my very soul / being. Not being able to draw means not being able to be myself anymore. I want to find my own happiness [with my own strength], and also want to make mother happy.” Teddy’s mother cries as she was moved by his words…

Back to where Emily and Ilse is, Perry confesses that the reason why became irritated with Emily’s words before is because he can’t read nor write, and thus felt bitter about it. He also returns Emily’s notebook, and shows her that he’s able to write her name as he’s been practicing writing it. The truth is, he admires Emily, and swears that he’ll someday become a president. Ilse simply laughs at this absurd dream that he has, since there’s no “president” in Canada, which means that he can’t be someone who doesn’t even exist. Emily suggests that he become a Diet Member instead, and Perry thinks it’s a great idea. Ilse thinks about her dream… but being as simple minded as she is, tells them that she’s just going do as she wants. Emily makes up her mind to become a poet, and be able to share the stories she makes with other people. Just then, Teddy also comes and shares to them that he also plans on continuing drawing for as long as he lives. Emily and Ilse are glad to see that his mother finally approved of him drawing, and thanks them for their help. Teddy notices Perry with them, and gets to know each other. Terry shows Perry his drawings, which renders him speechless in amazement. Teddy tells them that he wants to draw a picture with them this time, and so the “picture of four people” becomes complete (with happiness).

Thoughts:

As expected from this lighthearted yet wonderful show, problems presented are not dragged on and delved in too deep to the point of making you feel emotionally wrought. It might just seem a little fast-paced, because Teddy’s problem with his mom was already resolved before the episode ended, but I think I like it that way. I was just hoping more explanation was given as to why his mom felt sad about seeing him draw… I’m thinking it has something to do with her husband’s memories, though I’m not quite sure.

And another thing… Teddy’s words “I want to draw as long as I live” got me thinking… because although it’s such a wonderful dream, I’m not sure if Teddy has thought about the possibility of not being able to draw one day (thinks of Hagu from H&C). Although I don’t think such kind of problem will arise throughout the series because of its lighthearted mood, I still can’t help but think of that “reality”.

Ilse is as carefree as ever, and I just love her guts to actually “fight” against Teddy’s mom ^^ Perry was adorable in this episode, as he apologizes for the things he told her and honestly tells Emily that he admires her ^^ I was really thinking Perry got jealous over Teddy, but it turns out the real reason why he became irritated was because he couldn’t read or write…. poor Perry. Given Perry’s personality, I can really see him fit to become a diplomat or politician… although, he needs to have some education or else this dream will be quite difficult.

Emily has made up her mind to become a poet, but I wonder what her Aunt Elizabeth will react to this decision of hers… She still haven’t faced her aunt yet (like Teddy did), so perhaps we’ll see that in the coming episodes. I wonder if there’s a deeper meaning behind her aunt’s dislike to see her enjoying poetry and reading short stories and novels… something to do with her mother’s past, or her father perhaps?

From the preview of the next episode, it looks like we’re going to see Emily’s poetry skills in action as she becomes in charge of the play that their class is going to have. I’m excited to see how their play is going to turn out, considering that Rhoda and her “bully classmates” haven’t quite forgiven her yet for what she did.

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