Call the Midwife 3.08
Mar. 11th, 2014 07:46 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakIn which events had me googling whether this was the season or also the series finale, because zomg!
The result of my googling was finding out that the series has been recommissioned for a fourth season but yes, this is the exit of Jenny Lee as a character. Which means the previous Jenny-less episodes this season were not, as I suspected at the time, written to accomodate Jessica Raine filming other things, but to prepare for her ultimate exit. Well, I do like the character, but Call the Midwife has always been an ensemble show, and while Jenny is the narrator, she never was the one with the most focused on storyline: in season 1, that was Chummy (finding her confidence as a midwife and her romance with Peter Noakes), in season 2, Sister Bernadette/Shelagh (going through a crisis of vocation that resulted in her leaving the order, falling in love with Dr. Turner). And they weren't the "main" character in the traditional sense, either; everyone in turn got their share of the spotlight. So the show will work without Jenny. Though I wonder whether they'll keep Vanessa Redgrave as elderly Jenny the narrating voice?
Another reason why I thought this might be the ultimate finale was that various storylines are resolved. Shelagh's and Patrick Turner's marital crisis comes to a head and is worked through, and they do get to adopt a child, Chummy's mother dies (more about that in a minute), and Trixie and Tom the Reverend instead of having another date from hell share their first kiss. But if this had been the overall finale, it would mean new characters Patsy and Winifred were introduced without ever getting the chance to be explored as in depth (though they got one episode focused on that each) as the earlier regulars, and besides, steadfast supporting character Cynthia deserves a turn at the spotlight, and also, this season brought us more about Sister Julienne, the matriarch of the show, than we've learned before and that made me hope for yet more because I do love her. So I'm really glad the show will continue.
On to the episode proper, opening with Jenny's speech about birth and ending with her speech about death (which is identical): this reminds me of Neil Gaiman's version of Death in The Sandman, where Death is present both at the beginning and at the ending of each life - she helps people into the world as well as out of it. I know some people involved with hospice care and it demands enormous strength - and is so very, very important - that deciding to do hospice work is broth a brave and a daunting decision of Jenny. (And in retrospect even makes the Alex interlude part of her arc, to confront the reality of death and do something about this, not to mention that it mirrors her entrance in the pilot, facing the new task of being a midwife in the East End.) But the ones who actually face death in this particualr episode are Chummy and Sister Monica Joan. It's very much an episode about mothers and daughters; Sister Monica Joan, whose ongoing dementia most of the time makes for gnomic utterances but once or twice a season provides painful angst makes for a painful (in the best way) interlude, since talking to Chummy has reminded her of her own mother and triggered both old memories and a temporary loss of short term memory. it reminded me of the memoirs of Robert Graves' son, in which he describes his dementia-ridden old father falling back into the shellshock Robert Graves experienced as a young man in WWI, hiding from gunfire, gas and bombs of fifty decades past with horror that because of the dementia had returned with undiminsihed force. Thus Sister Monica Joan experiences the estrangement from and death of her mother as if it just happened, lost it time, and it felt achingly real.
Helping Chummy to nurse her dying mother helps Sister Monica Joan (which is very this show, mutual support and action being the solution). Chummy's dysfunctional relationship with her m other, the root of so many of her insecurities has been there since season 1, and Lady Brown's painful death-by-cancer was culmination and a certain closure (although, as Sister Monica Joan proves, losing your mother never really goes away). Chummy trying to shield herself via her professional "armor" as nurse only to allow herself being laid bare emotionally in that wonderful, silent scene where she gives her mother the manicure was heartrendering. (Also typical of this show with its light touches in addition to dark ones was that Sister Monica Joan immediately deduced who would likely to have everything needed for a manicure - Trixie, of course.) I also appreciated how the show walked a tightrope between making it clear Lady Brown did love her daughter but not to let her do a 180 % deathbed turnaround or a declaration of having been wrong. Also, the remark about her feet hinted at her own insecurities fostered by her husband. (Meanwhile, I'm sure Chummy will break the vicious circle with Young Sir, aka Freddie.)
This show is so good with emotional realities, including the physical comfort sometimes provided - Sister Monica Joan with her mother's pearls, Chummy with her mother's bath robe. I'm really glad it continues.
The result of my googling was finding out that the series has been recommissioned for a fourth season but yes, this is the exit of Jenny Lee as a character. Which means the previous Jenny-less episodes this season were not, as I suspected at the time, written to accomodate Jessica Raine filming other things, but to prepare for her ultimate exit. Well, I do like the character, but Call the Midwife has always been an ensemble show, and while Jenny is the narrator, she never was the one with the most focused on storyline: in season 1, that was Chummy (finding her confidence as a midwife and her romance with Peter Noakes), in season 2, Sister Bernadette/Shelagh (going through a crisis of vocation that resulted in her leaving the order, falling in love with Dr. Turner). And they weren't the "main" character in the traditional sense, either; everyone in turn got their share of the spotlight. So the show will work without Jenny. Though I wonder whether they'll keep Vanessa Redgrave as elderly Jenny the narrating voice?
Another reason why I thought this might be the ultimate finale was that various storylines are resolved. Shelagh's and Patrick Turner's marital crisis comes to a head and is worked through, and they do get to adopt a child, Chummy's mother dies (more about that in a minute), and Trixie and Tom the Reverend instead of having another date from hell share their first kiss. But if this had been the overall finale, it would mean new characters Patsy and Winifred were introduced without ever getting the chance to be explored as in depth (though they got one episode focused on that each) as the earlier regulars, and besides, steadfast supporting character Cynthia deserves a turn at the spotlight, and also, this season brought us more about Sister Julienne, the matriarch of the show, than we've learned before and that made me hope for yet more because I do love her. So I'm really glad the show will continue.
On to the episode proper, opening with Jenny's speech about birth and ending with her speech about death (which is identical): this reminds me of Neil Gaiman's version of Death in The Sandman, where Death is present both at the beginning and at the ending of each life - she helps people into the world as well as out of it. I know some people involved with hospice care and it demands enormous strength - and is so very, very important - that deciding to do hospice work is broth a brave and a daunting decision of Jenny. (And in retrospect even makes the Alex interlude part of her arc, to confront the reality of death and do something about this, not to mention that it mirrors her entrance in the pilot, facing the new task of being a midwife in the East End.) But the ones who actually face death in this particualr episode are Chummy and Sister Monica Joan. It's very much an episode about mothers and daughters; Sister Monica Joan, whose ongoing dementia most of the time makes for gnomic utterances but once or twice a season provides painful angst makes for a painful (in the best way) interlude, since talking to Chummy has reminded her of her own mother and triggered both old memories and a temporary loss of short term memory. it reminded me of the memoirs of Robert Graves' son, in which he describes his dementia-ridden old father falling back into the shellshock Robert Graves experienced as a young man in WWI, hiding from gunfire, gas and bombs of fifty decades past with horror that because of the dementia had returned with undiminsihed force. Thus Sister Monica Joan experiences the estrangement from and death of her mother as if it just happened, lost it time, and it felt achingly real.
Helping Chummy to nurse her dying mother helps Sister Monica Joan (which is very this show, mutual support and action being the solution). Chummy's dysfunctional relationship with her m other, the root of so many of her insecurities has been there since season 1, and Lady Brown's painful death-by-cancer was culmination and a certain closure (although, as Sister Monica Joan proves, losing your mother never really goes away). Chummy trying to shield herself via her professional "armor" as nurse only to allow herself being laid bare emotionally in that wonderful, silent scene where she gives her mother the manicure was heartrendering. (Also typical of this show with its light touches in addition to dark ones was that Sister Monica Joan immediately deduced who would likely to have everything needed for a manicure - Trixie, of course.) I also appreciated how the show walked a tightrope between making it clear Lady Brown did love her daughter but not to let her do a 180 % deathbed turnaround or a declaration of having been wrong. Also, the remark about her feet hinted at her own insecurities fostered by her husband. (Meanwhile, I'm sure Chummy will break the vicious circle with Young Sir, aka Freddie.)
This show is so good with emotional realities, including the physical comfort sometimes provided - Sister Monica Joan with her mother's pearls, Chummy with her mother's bath robe. I'm really glad it continues.
no subject
Date: 2014-03-11 10:50 am (UTC)The story of Chummy, her mother and Sister Monica Joan sounds terrific - I did feel that in the first season Miranda Hart was coasting a bit (it was the sort of role she could play with one hand tied behind her back) and that sounds like the writers have given her something much more serious and moving to work with.
no subject
Date: 2014-03-11 11:36 am (UTC)