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Call the Midwife 8.07
In which I doff my hat to the show for the way it planted varilous elements for the storyline which in this episode gets its first big pay off, and for the pay off itself. That was one great episode!
The various cases of the week in a way were red herrings, though well done in their own right - Sister Frances gaining confidence through mastering her first solo delivery, Mrs. Pugh having to cope with discovering her husband gave her gonorhea. Patrick Turner was at his compassionate best, making sure the prostitute Mr. Pugh visited was informed himself, and not just leaving it at a "don't do it" lecture with Mr. Pugh but talking to him to figure out what was going on with him. Then we had Mother Mildred proving my fears about her replacing Phyllis Crane wrong by leaving at the end of the episode, and another case of Violet being a councillor now, having to balance budgetary needs when team Turner and Trixie lobby for a new advisory institution for single mothers in the district. I liked that she wasn't painted as the bad guy here, with her scene with Fred showing she wants to help, but doesn't want to cut off financial support elsewhere. By making Violet city councillor instead of using an anonymous face this season, the cliché of "unfeeling bureaucrat" is pointedly avoided, as she's hard working and trying to achieve the best herself. (Oh, and Sister Julienne's reaction to the whole advisory-to-single-mothers thing was excellent continuity to previous seasons; she's a wonderful and compassionate person, but there's a set of social changes she's deeply uncomfortable with, and that's one of them.)
But really, the big emotional punch of the episode, and not just for Valerie, comes with the reveal of just who's been doing the seven-pounds-costing abortions showcased in previous episodes this season. And here I thought Valerie's gran being featured in previous episodes was just a case of wanting to give Valerie something to do and reminding the audience she's from Poplar and thus the sole working class nurse so far. (ETA:![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
contrary_cal has reminded me: Phyllis is working class, too! Just not from Poplar.) Not so. (Though yes, that, too.) It's just so well done in retrospect. Grandmother Dyer was introduced as a sympathetic character over several episodes and the audience got to know her a bit. Meanwhile, Val having witnessed the end results of illegal abortions has been building up the abortionist as a monster in her mind. Even in this episode, there's sneaky build up to the reveal: when Mother Mildred asks Valerie how her grandmother would have reacted to there being an advisory for single mothers in her youth and Valerie says she'd have danced in the streets and explains why. When Sister Julienne finds out Grandmother Dyer would have liked to become a nurse herself, but how medical training would have been impossible for a working class woman of her generation. And yet I didn't see it coming until Valerie and Trixie entered the pub's backroom.
Trixie's matter-of-fact, take-charge reaction is partly because it's not her grandmother involved, sure, but I also think it supports my suspicion about her seasonal arc. Meanwhile, it feels dramatically right that it's Valerie who once she's out of her shock enough to speak who has the big midwife vs abortionist person-to-person argument I thought (and was complaining about) the show avoided via, say, letting Sister Julienne speculate what was motivating the women in question in the season opener. And by making the abortionist not a one episode character but someone directly emotionally tied to one of our regulars and whom the audience has known already, the show completely avoided making it narratively easy on either a Doylist or Watsonial level.
In conclusion: can't wait till next week!
The various cases of the week in a way were red herrings, though well done in their own right - Sister Frances gaining confidence through mastering her first solo delivery, Mrs. Pugh having to cope with discovering her husband gave her gonorhea. Patrick Turner was at his compassionate best, making sure the prostitute Mr. Pugh visited was informed himself, and not just leaving it at a "don't do it" lecture with Mr. Pugh but talking to him to figure out what was going on with him. Then we had Mother Mildred proving my fears about her replacing Phyllis Crane wrong by leaving at the end of the episode, and another case of Violet being a councillor now, having to balance budgetary needs when team Turner and Trixie lobby for a new advisory institution for single mothers in the district. I liked that she wasn't painted as the bad guy here, with her scene with Fred showing she wants to help, but doesn't want to cut off financial support elsewhere. By making Violet city councillor instead of using an anonymous face this season, the cliché of "unfeeling bureaucrat" is pointedly avoided, as she's hard working and trying to achieve the best herself. (Oh, and Sister Julienne's reaction to the whole advisory-to-single-mothers thing was excellent continuity to previous seasons; she's a wonderful and compassionate person, but there's a set of social changes she's deeply uncomfortable with, and that's one of them.)
But really, the big emotional punch of the episode, and not just for Valerie, comes with the reveal of just who's been doing the seven-pounds-costing abortions showcased in previous episodes this season. And here I thought Valerie's gran being featured in previous episodes was just a case of wanting to give Valerie something to do and reminding the audience she's from Poplar and thus the sole working class nurse so far. (ETA:
contrary_cal has reminded me: Phyllis is working class, too! Just not from Poplar.) Not so. (Though yes, that, too.) It's just so well done in retrospect. Grandmother Dyer was introduced as a sympathetic character over several episodes and the audience got to know her a bit. Meanwhile, Val having witnessed the end results of illegal abortions has been building up the abortionist as a monster in her mind. Even in this episode, there's sneaky build up to the reveal: when Mother Mildred asks Valerie how her grandmother would have reacted to there being an advisory for single mothers in her youth and Valerie says she'd have danced in the streets and explains why. When Sister Julienne finds out Grandmother Dyer would have liked to become a nurse herself, but how medical training would have been impossible for a working class woman of her generation. And yet I didn't see it coming until Valerie and Trixie entered the pub's backroom. Trixie's matter-of-fact, take-charge reaction is partly because it's not her grandmother involved, sure, but I also think it supports my suspicion about her seasonal arc. Meanwhile, it feels dramatically right that it's Valerie who once she's out of her shock enough to speak who has the big midwife vs abortionist person-to-person argument I thought (and was complaining about) the show avoided via, say, letting Sister Julienne speculate what was motivating the women in question in the season opener. And by making the abortionist not a one episode character but someone directly emotionally tied to one of our regulars and whom the audience has known already, the show completely avoided making it narratively easy on either a Doylist or Watsonial level.
In conclusion: can't wait till next week!
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