Call the Midwife 5.03
Feb. 4th, 2016 09:06 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakIn which Peter Noakes shows up, sadly without Chummy, and so does typhoid.
Though I thought the typhoid plot was pretty weak. This was the first time Old Jenny's "yay love!" summary at the end annoyed me, and I wished the show would have gone for the less feel good but more accurate "yay better hygeniec conditions and new housing!" instead. The one thing I liked about the typhoid was that it brought some of Patsy's backstory angst about the camp of her childhood back, enough to rattle her to snap at Delia, but that she carried on professionally regardless (and apologized for the snapping), because Patsy is a stoic heroine and I love her a lot.
Meanwhile, the other case of the week was one grim illustration why being a woman in 1961 could be horrible, with society having it in for you: sadly, none of what happens to the teacher - her landlady throwing her out, her married boyfriend trying to palm her off with not enough money for a professional medical abortion, and her school throwing her out as well - feels unrealistic for 1961. What makes the case, though, is that this is another example as with the episode with the gay husband last year, when Trixie showed some casual homophobia, where one of our sympathetic regular characters reflects a prejudice, instead of leaving that to some mean strawman guest characters, and the narrative makes it clear that it is a prejudice. Since this show is at its core optimistic, Sister Winifred upon realising how wrong she was to judge her friend gets to do something to make up for it, but the show isn't rose coloured glasses about its time, so what Winifred the individual can do is limited.
Lastly: good to see Peter back, despite grim circumstances. Did we ever get an on screen explanation as to why Chummy isn't working at Nonnatus House this season, and I forgot, or are we assuming she is, and she's just doing it off screen because Miranda Hart isn't available?
Though I thought the typhoid plot was pretty weak. This was the first time Old Jenny's "yay love!" summary at the end annoyed me, and I wished the show would have gone for the less feel good but more accurate "yay better hygeniec conditions and new housing!" instead. The one thing I liked about the typhoid was that it brought some of Patsy's backstory angst about the camp of her childhood back, enough to rattle her to snap at Delia, but that she carried on professionally regardless (and apologized for the snapping), because Patsy is a stoic heroine and I love her a lot.
Meanwhile, the other case of the week was one grim illustration why being a woman in 1961 could be horrible, with society having it in for you: sadly, none of what happens to the teacher - her landlady throwing her out, her married boyfriend trying to palm her off with not enough money for a professional medical abortion, and her school throwing her out as well - feels unrealistic for 1961. What makes the case, though, is that this is another example as with the episode with the gay husband last year, when Trixie showed some casual homophobia, where one of our sympathetic regular characters reflects a prejudice, instead of leaving that to some mean strawman guest characters, and the narrative makes it clear that it is a prejudice. Since this show is at its core optimistic, Sister Winifred upon realising how wrong she was to judge her friend gets to do something to make up for it, but the show isn't rose coloured glasses about its time, so what Winifred the individual can do is limited.
Lastly: good to see Peter back, despite grim circumstances. Did we ever get an on screen explanation as to why Chummy isn't working at Nonnatus House this season, and I forgot, or are we assuming she is, and she's just doing it off screen because Miranda Hart isn't available?
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Date: 2016-02-04 02:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-02-05 08:16 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-02-04 03:00 pm (UTC)That was 1956.
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Date: 2016-02-05 08:18 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-02-05 02:16 pm (UTC)OTOH, when my father wanted to go back to seminary, and actually found a church which would pay him and pay for that last year, he talked it over with my mother. He said, But, honey, we'd have to sell the house, and she said, Well, then, we'll just have to sell the house.
They had a partnership as well as a love-match. Maybe why I never got married -- never found that.