Call the Midwife 4.01
Jan. 20th, 2015 08:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakThe midwives are back!
Still adorable and going strong. New character Bsrbara seems to indicate Miranda Hart needed another absence (but as ever will return), so Chummy takes off for a while but we're reassured PC Peter Noakes will remain while she's gone, which is great: Peter is a strong contender for best husband award. As for Barbara, I am amused that no sooner have the 60s started that we get a nurse from Liverpool. Even though so far there's just Bill Fury to represent the Mersey on radio.
Sister Evangelina's illness seems to be something more serious, which is worrying. Not least because they already did the "has serious illness, gets better" thing with Shelagh/Bernadette, so I fear the next time a regular gets seriously sick, it might be fatal. Btw, continuity is good as ever at the show: hence the slight awardness between Sister Evangelina and Shelagh. (Sister Evangelina doesn't have such a huge issue with her leaving and marrying anymore, but there is still some gradual awkard left.) Also the scene between Sister Evangelina and Sister Monica Joan is one of those scenes where the full impact is only there if you've watched their long running feud. They're both old and now both ill, in different ways, and Sister Monica Joan's reaching out actually works and makes Sister Evangelina finally take the step of consulting a doctor.
Loved the scene between Shelag and Patrick re: her missing midwifery and nursing, because I as a watcher have been missing her as a midwife, which she's really good at. Patrick drawing the parallel to his doctoring and calling it lonely makes me wonder whether Shelagh won't try to qualify as a doctor in the end, or whether that's too unrealistic a storyline for the show. But note Sister Evangelina asking for a female doctor, which also looks like a bit of set up (in that it introduces the idea)..
Mainly, though, this was a Trixie episode. Again with the continuity - we've heard about her Shirley Temple play acting for her shellshocked father when he was having his breakdowns before - so her identifying with the case of the week, Gary in particular, makes much sense. And after last season's build up, Reverend Tom proposing works for me - they've let the relationship grow, and it works without coming across as Trixie losing her sparkling vibrancy which makes her Trixie. Also, Trixie giving the cake to inveterate cake lover Sister Monica Joan was a neat wrap up. :)
Gary and his siblings and their mother: we've had episodes with neglected children before, but unlike the others, this one ends on a glum note; old Jenny's voice tells us that they were sent to Australia and did not find that happily ever after the nurses were hoping for, only had that brief time of hope. This show being socially conscious as it is, the children's neglect was directly tied to their mother's inability to work nearby and the lack of proper council housing; the mother wasn't presented as actively malvolent, but the harm was done, and so you understand Peter arresting her.
In conclusion: welcome back, show!
Still adorable and going strong. New character Bsrbara seems to indicate Miranda Hart needed another absence (but as ever will return), so Chummy takes off for a while but we're reassured PC Peter Noakes will remain while she's gone, which is great: Peter is a strong contender for best husband award. As for Barbara, I am amused that no sooner have the 60s started that we get a nurse from Liverpool. Even though so far there's just Bill Fury to represent the Mersey on radio.
Sister Evangelina's illness seems to be something more serious, which is worrying. Not least because they already did the "has serious illness, gets better" thing with Shelagh/Bernadette, so I fear the next time a regular gets seriously sick, it might be fatal. Btw, continuity is good as ever at the show: hence the slight awardness between Sister Evangelina and Shelagh. (Sister Evangelina doesn't have such a huge issue with her leaving and marrying anymore, but there is still some gradual awkard left.) Also the scene between Sister Evangelina and Sister Monica Joan is one of those scenes where the full impact is only there if you've watched their long running feud. They're both old and now both ill, in different ways, and Sister Monica Joan's reaching out actually works and makes Sister Evangelina finally take the step of consulting a doctor.
Loved the scene between Shelag and Patrick re: her missing midwifery and nursing, because I as a watcher have been missing her as a midwife, which she's really good at. Patrick drawing the parallel to his doctoring and calling it lonely makes me wonder whether Shelagh won't try to qualify as a doctor in the end, or whether that's too unrealistic a storyline for the show. But note Sister Evangelina asking for a female doctor, which also looks like a bit of set up (in that it introduces the idea)..
Mainly, though, this was a Trixie episode. Again with the continuity - we've heard about her Shirley Temple play acting for her shellshocked father when he was having his breakdowns before - so her identifying with the case of the week, Gary in particular, makes much sense. And after last season's build up, Reverend Tom proposing works for me - they've let the relationship grow, and it works without coming across as Trixie losing her sparkling vibrancy which makes her Trixie. Also, Trixie giving the cake to inveterate cake lover Sister Monica Joan was a neat wrap up. :)
Gary and his siblings and their mother: we've had episodes with neglected children before, but unlike the others, this one ends on a glum note; old Jenny's voice tells us that they were sent to Australia and did not find that happily ever after the nurses were hoping for, only had that brief time of hope. This show being socially conscious as it is, the children's neglect was directly tied to their mother's inability to work nearby and the lack of proper council housing; the mother wasn't presented as actively malvolent, but the harm was done, and so you understand Peter arresting her.
In conclusion: welcome back, show!
no subject
Date: 2015-01-21 01:06 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-01-22 01:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-01-22 02:25 pm (UTC)They did say this season will be a little darker, so the ending to the abuse storyline didn't completely surprise me, but it still made me sad. I don't think they've taken abuse/neglect stories quite that far before, either. The baby needing skin grafts was particularly horrific, but also something I've heard about, so not unrealistic.
I <3 Barbara. She seems like a character who will be fascinating to see grow.
The living room got a little bit dusty when Tom proposed. The development of their relationship has been so beautifully done. I was sure it would end terribly when they first started it, because he seemed to mismatched to Trixie, but the writing has been terrific for them and allowed us to see why they actually work together really well.
no subject
Date: 2015-01-22 03:26 pm (UTC)Barbara: came across as endearing, yes!
Trixie and Tom really are an against-the-odds couple - but because we got a chance to see the relationship develop, it works. One of several aspects of this show I really appreciate is that it doesn't buy into the cliché of good equalling boring and dull. All of the characters are really driven to help others, and yet they're all different from each other, and believable as individuals, and none of them comes across as flat.
no subject
Date: 2015-01-22 05:57 pm (UTC)Some of them were pretty much used as slave labour.
no subject
Date: 2015-01-23 06:49 pm (UTC)