Call the Midwife 5.06
Feb. 22nd, 2016 08:29 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakWhich felt like it had a bit too many subplots to juggle, to be honest.
Take Dr. Turner's incompetent temporary replacement: I thought he was going to be revealed as the culprit in the "woman beater terrorizes Poplar" subplot, or that he was going to be revealed as senile, or something, but apparantly he was just there to give bad advice on the phone. The Turners having the archetypical rainy holidays would have made for an okay comic relief subplot in another episode, but in this one between the double horror of violence to women in one plot thread and Diana and her mother illustrating why it's really not a good idea to have a home delivery without a professional at hand on the other, it felt pretty jarring.
(Otoh the ongoing "we all have our secrets" arc development was okay, as Trixie by the end comes out with her "I'm going to AA" confession to Patsy and Delia - and they react well - while having noticed earlier Patsy after a visit in Delia's room shows up just a bit dishevelled. I'm pretty sure that it's going to be Trixie who'll figure out about Patsy and Delia this season, both because we've had the previous season set up establishing that Trixie has have some ingrained homophobia and because Trixie is the character with whom you can do a believable "overcomes that prejudice, decides to support gay friends" arc.)
As for the two main subplots: the "mother of pregnant daughter pretends it's her baby" thing happened often enough in rl; two prominent examples would be Jack Nicholson and Eric Clapton, both of whom grew up believing their mothers were their older sisters and their grandmothers their mothers. I figured, this being an essentially optimistic show, that it would end with Diana and her mother deciding for the truth after all, but what I hadn't anticipated was the gruesome secret birth being quite so gruesome. So that's what happens if someone pulls at the placenta. *shudders*
Anyway, given old Jenny opens the episode by both nostalgically raving about a time when it seemed everyone really know about each other and yay community while admitting that this is a self created comforting transformation of the actual past, it figured that the episode would showcase how in fact people didn't really know each other and how secrets could often threaten to destroy them, Diana and her mother being one case in point, and the women being terrorized in other prominent plot thread the other. Doing a subplot about violence against women is always a double edged thing - how to do it without doing it exploitatively, or by reaffirming clichés is the challenge - and all in all, I think the show pulled it off. Not least because the three victims are women from three different backgrounds - a prostitute, a happily married wife and Sister Mary Cynthia, who is a nun - so there isn't even a whiff of the "she risked it by behaving such and suchly" unpleasant subtext that often comes with such scenarios. We see the bruises afterwards, not the attacks themselves, and the identity of the culprit is almost incidental because the focus is on how the women deal. And there is the show's usual social criticism: the prostitute is afraid to go to the police because the law really is against her (she'd be punished for soliciting), the wife is afraid because people would look down on her for being an imperfect mother). It's also the first (Mary)Cynthia character exploration we've had in a good while as we see her work through the anger and horror that this has happened to her until she can accept the comfort her sisters offer (from Sister Monica Joan, as it happens). I do wonder whether we'll get more follow up for her, mind, and suspect we may, because the show is usually good with exploring long term after effects of traumatic events. In fact, I hope there will be, because due to the clutteredness of the episode Mary Cynthia had to work through the trauma pretty quickly in the last ten minutes.
In other news: after his very brief appearance last episode, this episode features Peter Noakes in a more extended role, which is very welcome. (We also hear Chummy is well, but no dialogue reference as to a possible return.)
Trailer for next week: and the pill finally arrives! Hallelujah!
Take Dr. Turner's incompetent temporary replacement: I thought he was going to be revealed as the culprit in the "woman beater terrorizes Poplar" subplot, or that he was going to be revealed as senile, or something, but apparantly he was just there to give bad advice on the phone. The Turners having the archetypical rainy holidays would have made for an okay comic relief subplot in another episode, but in this one between the double horror of violence to women in one plot thread and Diana and her mother illustrating why it's really not a good idea to have a home delivery without a professional at hand on the other, it felt pretty jarring.
(Otoh the ongoing "we all have our secrets" arc development was okay, as Trixie by the end comes out with her "I'm going to AA" confession to Patsy and Delia - and they react well - while having noticed earlier Patsy after a visit in Delia's room shows up just a bit dishevelled. I'm pretty sure that it's going to be Trixie who'll figure out about Patsy and Delia this season, both because we've had the previous season set up establishing that Trixie has have some ingrained homophobia and because Trixie is the character with whom you can do a believable "overcomes that prejudice, decides to support gay friends" arc.)
As for the two main subplots: the "mother of pregnant daughter pretends it's her baby" thing happened often enough in rl; two prominent examples would be Jack Nicholson and Eric Clapton, both of whom grew up believing their mothers were their older sisters and their grandmothers their mothers. I figured, this being an essentially optimistic show, that it would end with Diana and her mother deciding for the truth after all, but what I hadn't anticipated was the gruesome secret birth being quite so gruesome. So that's what happens if someone pulls at the placenta. *shudders*
Anyway, given old Jenny opens the episode by both nostalgically raving about a time when it seemed everyone really know about each other and yay community while admitting that this is a self created comforting transformation of the actual past, it figured that the episode would showcase how in fact people didn't really know each other and how secrets could often threaten to destroy them, Diana and her mother being one case in point, and the women being terrorized in other prominent plot thread the other. Doing a subplot about violence against women is always a double edged thing - how to do it without doing it exploitatively, or by reaffirming clichés is the challenge - and all in all, I think the show pulled it off. Not least because the three victims are women from three different backgrounds - a prostitute, a happily married wife and Sister Mary Cynthia, who is a nun - so there isn't even a whiff of the "she risked it by behaving such and suchly" unpleasant subtext that often comes with such scenarios. We see the bruises afterwards, not the attacks themselves, and the identity of the culprit is almost incidental because the focus is on how the women deal. And there is the show's usual social criticism: the prostitute is afraid to go to the police because the law really is against her (she'd be punished for soliciting), the wife is afraid because people would look down on her for being an imperfect mother). It's also the first (Mary)Cynthia character exploration we've had in a good while as we see her work through the anger and horror that this has happened to her until she can accept the comfort her sisters offer (from Sister Monica Joan, as it happens). I do wonder whether we'll get more follow up for her, mind, and suspect we may, because the show is usually good with exploring long term after effects of traumatic events. In fact, I hope there will be, because due to the clutteredness of the episode Mary Cynthia had to work through the trauma pretty quickly in the last ten minutes.
In other news: after his very brief appearance last episode, this episode features Peter Noakes in a more extended role, which is very welcome. (We also hear Chummy is well, but no dialogue reference as to a possible return.)
Trailer for next week: and the pill finally arrives! Hallelujah!
