Call the Midwife 8.05
Feb. 11th, 2019 04:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakIn which I finally get my hoped-for Beatles call-out. Good for you, Timothy.
I mean, booh on Shelagh having to embody the „Mums think Beatles are safer than the Rolling Stones“ cliché, but still, yay on Timothy heading off to watch A Hard Day’s Night in the cinema, andn on Patrick bringing up that Paul McCartney’s mother was a midwife. (Though how well known that factoid was in 1964, I don’t know. Hunter Davies‘ authorized biography of the Beatles which was researched in 1967 and got published in 1968, but until then, I think all fans had as information resources were articles which were more prone to ask „when will you and Jane Asher get married, Paul?“ or „will you ever cut your hair?“) (BTW, this, like last episode’s reference to Doctor Who when last season’s Doctor Who referenced Call the Midwife, probably counts like a mutual reference as well, since Paul reportedly is a faithful Call the Midwife viewer.)
On to more serious matters, i.e. the cases of the week. When George had his stomach cramps I thought „cancer“ not „sympathetic pregnancy“, which shows I’m apparantly prone to assume the worst. Meanwhile, Lois turning out to be an intersex person (is this the correct term in English?) also caught me unawares, which just goes to show that despite having eached the early seasons of House and now seven and a half of CdW, my tv medical diagonosis skills suck. Anyway, the godawful way Lois was treated at the clinic, with the doctor in question displaying her to his students as a teaching object without explaining anything to her and without having asked her permission to include the students, strikes me as something not limited to the 1960s. Though hopefully today Lois could sue the bastard for malpractice. (It also falls into the tradition of male doctors other than Patrick Turner being condescending gits on this show.) This storyline was a good showcase for Trixie, too, giving Lois not just empathic but sensible advice based on her own experiences, and I note it gains her a second place of work which if I’m right in where the show will get Trixie and probably also Dr. Turner within this season should further that arc.
Also in great form in this episode: Sister Julienne, managing that mixture of firmness and kindness beautifully when Lois‘ mother arrives and rages at Sister Monica Joan.
Speaking of Sister Monica Joan, while her deciding to set up Lucille with Cyril is entirely ic, all the midwives following suit feels both weirdly rushed and a bit like subconscious racial thinking (i.e. „the first black young and eligible man to show up on our doorstep – clearly Lucille, aka the only poc midwife, should date him!“). As for Phyllis and Sgt. Woolf, I do wonder how much her restraint is due to her rather recent experience with her Spanish class guy. Anyway, the brief discussion of romance in fiction at the start of the episode with Trixie concluding there’s nothing wrong with a bit of escapism was probably meant in a meta way as well.
I mean, booh on Shelagh having to embody the „Mums think Beatles are safer than the Rolling Stones“ cliché, but still, yay on Timothy heading off to watch A Hard Day’s Night in the cinema, andn on Patrick bringing up that Paul McCartney’s mother was a midwife. (Though how well known that factoid was in 1964, I don’t know. Hunter Davies‘ authorized biography of the Beatles which was researched in 1967 and got published in 1968, but until then, I think all fans had as information resources were articles which were more prone to ask „when will you and Jane Asher get married, Paul?“ or „will you ever cut your hair?“) (BTW, this, like last episode’s reference to Doctor Who when last season’s Doctor Who referenced Call the Midwife, probably counts like a mutual reference as well, since Paul reportedly is a faithful Call the Midwife viewer.)
On to more serious matters, i.e. the cases of the week. When George had his stomach cramps I thought „cancer“ not „sympathetic pregnancy“, which shows I’m apparantly prone to assume the worst. Meanwhile, Lois turning out to be an intersex person (is this the correct term in English?) also caught me unawares, which just goes to show that despite having eached the early seasons of House and now seven and a half of CdW, my tv medical diagonosis skills suck. Anyway, the godawful way Lois was treated at the clinic, with the doctor in question displaying her to his students as a teaching object without explaining anything to her and without having asked her permission to include the students, strikes me as something not limited to the 1960s. Though hopefully today Lois could sue the bastard for malpractice. (It also falls into the tradition of male doctors other than Patrick Turner being condescending gits on this show.) This storyline was a good showcase for Trixie, too, giving Lois not just empathic but sensible advice based on her own experiences, and I note it gains her a second place of work which if I’m right in where the show will get Trixie and probably also Dr. Turner within this season should further that arc.
Also in great form in this episode: Sister Julienne, managing that mixture of firmness and kindness beautifully when Lois‘ mother arrives and rages at Sister Monica Joan.
Speaking of Sister Monica Joan, while her deciding to set up Lucille with Cyril is entirely ic, all the midwives following suit feels both weirdly rushed and a bit like subconscious racial thinking (i.e. „the first black young and eligible man to show up on our doorstep – clearly Lucille, aka the only poc midwife, should date him!“). As for Phyllis and Sgt. Woolf, I do wonder how much her restraint is due to her rather recent experience with her Spanish class guy. Anyway, the brief discussion of romance in fiction at the start of the episode with Trixie concluding there’s nothing wrong with a bit of escapism was probably meant in a meta way as well.
no subject
Date: 2019-02-12 10:13 am (UTC)At least this one doesn't sound like he was actively dangerous, unlike the locum from a few seasons back...
Meanwhile, I'm still waiting for the show to introduce a female doctor whose role goes beyond a couple of tiny scenes in the contraceptive clinic. Or bring her back and expand the role, that would work too!
no subject
Date: 2019-02-14 06:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-02-14 06:33 pm (UTC)I had mixed feelings about Lucille being set up with the first black man to appear, but I do think it was partly to do with shared culture, that and the fact that Sister Monica Joan finds him drop dead gorgeous! Religion and education are both important to Lucille.
Sister Julienne is a wonderful steady rock, which never fails. She will never fail to love the sinner regardless of the sin, and to have the capacity to understand the sin. (After all, you could argue that Lois is entering a homosexual marriage.)
BTW, I have to thank you for inspiring me to watch this show, and I've fallen totally in love with it!
no subject
Date: 2019-02-15 10:20 pm (UTC)I did family law at Oxford, and the first week's course was on nullity, so the moment she said, "Never had a period in 23 years" and there was a wedding on the horizon I immediately went, "Bet her vagina's unusually short and comes to a dead end" because that was the facts of one of the cases. But Honore's Sex Law claims that the law at the date in question would turn on the appearance of the external genitalia, which may be another reason why Sir Julienne was so keen to make that point to Lois' mother, not just to defend Sister Monica Joan.
I think it's one of those where if someone wanted to kick up a kerfuffle they easily might.
no subject
Date: 2019-02-17 10:51 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-02-17 10:56 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-02-17 10:47 am (UTC)