#like he and caleb are both so intellectually attracted to one another that i feel disappointed when fics don’t approach their sex lives

[herenvibing]

is this a safe space to say that i don’t really enjoy the fandom woobification of essek at all and that i think it makes him a far less interesting character than he is in canon.

like it’s nice that he took up knitting post campaign but i’m more curious about whether or not he’s allowed inside veth’s home. my instinct says not for a good while

[calamity-bean]

Hi! First of all, I love your meta for Turn amc. It brings me a lot of insight into things I would have missed the first time around. I saw a post recently that equated Anna and Hewlett having screentime this season to be as horrible as Arnold or Simcoe given prevalence in the show, and I can't get it. Some ships aren't for everyone, but I get frustrated when Hew's name is thrown together with men who have been abusive when his and Anna's relationship is built on complete and total respect.

Thanks for your kind words about my meta! I gotta say, I’ve started all sorts of different ways to respond to this. It’s difficult because even if I’d seen the post you refer to (I don’t think I have), I don’t feel comfortable talking about anyone’s post behind their back, as it were. It’s also difficult because in the end, I think it’s best if we just try not to let ourselves be bothered by such things. We all get to like and dislike different things— which is as it should be— and nobody is ever going to understand every other person’s preferences. (Nor do we need to understand them.)

With that said, I sympathize with your frustration in a general sense. And ultimately, I think the best way I can respond is simply to offer you some positivity by gushing about just a FEW of the reasons that I love Hewlett and his relationship with Anna so very, very much.

I love that, as you said, this is a relationship built first and foremost on mutual respect. Heather Lind herself described it in those exact words. I’ve loved our brave, sad, lonesome Anna since the very beginning, and all throughout the series, we see her suffer continual disrespect at the hands of so many other characters: Richard, who sees her as a whore; Selah, who sees her as a possession, and Simcoe, as a prize to be won despite her objections; Abe, who broke her heart supposedly for the sake of honor yet still seems content to keep her as a piece on the side, who remains jealous and possessive of her even when she’s cut off the affair, who refuses to respect her wishes and her autonomy; even Ben and Caleb, who each at different times doubt her abilities on the basis of her sex. And then there’s Hewlett. Awkward, unlikely Hewlett, who first finds himself attracted to her because he’s so struck by her courage. I fucking LOVE that, you guys. So many fictional romances are based on nothing more than lust or some vague sense that Designated Male Lead and Designated Female Lead are in love, never taking into account actual personality traits, and I love love love that Anna and Hewlett’s relationship is developed by scene after scene of them actually, like … talking. Hanging out. Getting to know one another. Stargazing while having an intellectual discussion about morality and science. Playing the harpsichord. Collaborating on military strategy — and god, how beautiful that despite how little the other Culpers seem to value her input half the time, Hewlett trusts Anna and takes her ideas seriously. Because he respects her, dammit, just as she respects and admires him for being “a man of honor, of intellect, of kindness.” His proposal explicitly cites his respect for her, and her apology in 3.08 cites her respect for him. I love that even in season 1, when they were nothing to each other, he’s curt and impersonal with her but never cruel; I love that even in 3.08, when he has every right to be angry and hurt, the rudest thing he does is sit down before she does. I love that even when Hewlett was pretty much just an antagonist, he was never a villain, and I love that his relationship with Anna has allowed us to explore both of these wonderful characters in such new and interesting ways. It’s been so unspeakably rewarding to see them both grow so much as they’ve opened each other’s eyes — and ours — to the moral complexity of this war.

Neither Anna nor Hewlett is faultless. Nobody is, especially in times of war. But he has never mistreated her, she has mistreated him only to save his life, and they have both sacrificed dearly for each other. Not because either of them demanded or even expected sacrifice, but because they each cared about the other’s safety more than their own happiness, their own reputation, or showing blind loyalty to their side in the war. And I love that they have gone from being near-strangers on different sides to caring about each other so much.

Not liking Annlett is fine. Not liking Hewlett is fine. I have no desire to tell people what to like — nor to demand that they not express their opinions, positive or negative, on their blogs. But in my view, Annlett has deeply enriched the thematic complexity of Turn, and at the very least, I don’t see how any canon-based analysis could come tothe conclusion that it’s somehow wrong to enjoy this ship or to want it to have screentime this season. So let’s just shrug, carry on liking what we like, and remember all the reasons to love Hewlett and Anna and their relationship. And I for one will continue hoping for oodles of Annlett in season 4.