Call the Midwife 6.06
In which a major plot thread does not go the way I thought it would, and very relieved am I.
To wit: seems we're not in for a 60s and 70s style horror story about mental instutitions, afterall. Which, come to think of it,fits with a show which might as well carry banners titled "yay medical profession and National Health Service!". And thus, no one refuses Sister Mary Cynthia's release, the ECT isn't a torture to her, and while the prison-resembling environment of Lichmore (spelling?) Hospital still remains a gruesome sight, its major problem seems to be that it's overcrowded and understaffed. Which in combination to other factors leads me to a new speculation where this arc might be going.
Also, while Cynthia being discharged to Nonnatus House is relatively easy, this still leaves her with her basic problem of depression and PTSD, now deepened through months of isolation, and still in need of professional therapy (only different therapy than what she'd been getting), so a bit of backstory I'd forgotten we got several seasons ago kicks in, to wit, the fact that Patrick Turner post WWII had a mental breakdown and had been hospitalized himself. And thus he's able to reccommend an appropriate hospital to help with Cynthia's recovery. As to my new speculation where all this is going - I think the key is that Cynthia herself tells Sister Julienne about there not being enough nurses at Linchmore. So: I now think that once she's recovered, Cynthia (whether or not she'll leave the Order again, as I earlier speculated) will retrain and want to specialize in mental healthcare, wanting to help people who are going through the same thing she did, and that this will be her new calling.
Case of the week: the first big one for Valery Dyer, and it's a Somali woman who has had female circumcision. The script is careful to both show the horrific consequences for a woman and to make this not sound patronizing/White Savior-like, as Khalifa shatters several of Valerie's and Barbara's automatic assumptions in her final scene when she points out that circumcision is performed by women, not men, and that it's Valerie who gives her her husband's name when her own naming habit refers to her maternal line. Plus, of course, our heroines while able to help Khalifa through birth and recovery aren't able to change Khalifa's mind with a stirring speech, or to save her little sister from being send up to Somalia in order to get circumcised; change of mentality and deep set convictions takes time, though Narrator Jenny's voice tells us it does eventually happen for Khalifa, and that her own daughter would be spared.
Ongoing subplots: Trixie and Christopher the cute dentist progressing in their relationship in the shadow of the Cuba crisis starts out deceptively light hearted, though long time viewers now that Trixie being gunshy at this point has some serious reasons, but in their last scene, when Christopher, not knowing about Trixie's past, innocently offers her a drink and she uses being on call as an excuse so she won't have to tell him she's a recovering alcoholic just yet, it's brought home how deep these scars go for her.
Speaking of the Cuban Missiles Crisis as the frame work for this episode, of course Fred's window-painting efforts remind me again of all those ridiculous "what to do in case of a nuclear attack" exercises they used to inflict on us during the Cold War until at some point in the 80s the public awareness that there's literally nothing you can do was simply too far spread.
Sister Winifred now being aided in her driving lessons by Delia, and Delia showing also up in the hospital when Valerie arrives there with her patient, reminds me again of what I observed some eps ago, that one Doylist reason for Patsy's temporary absence might be that it gives the series the opportunity to develop Delia's relationships with the rest of the ensemble as well as in her professional capacity and thus flesh her out more. The scene with Winifred also worked as neat comic relief in a pretty tense episode.
This entry was originally posted at http://selenak.dreamwidth.org/1217549.html. Comment there or here, as you wish.
To wit: seems we're not in for a 60s and 70s style horror story about mental instutitions, afterall. Which, come to think of it,fits with a show which might as well carry banners titled "yay medical profession and National Health Service!". And thus, no one refuses Sister Mary Cynthia's release, the ECT isn't a torture to her, and while the prison-resembling environment of Lichmore (spelling?) Hospital still remains a gruesome sight, its major problem seems to be that it's overcrowded and understaffed. Which in combination to other factors leads me to a new speculation where this arc might be going.
Also, while Cynthia being discharged to Nonnatus House is relatively easy, this still leaves her with her basic problem of depression and PTSD, now deepened through months of isolation, and still in need of professional therapy (only different therapy than what she'd been getting), so a bit of backstory I'd forgotten we got several seasons ago kicks in, to wit, the fact that Patrick Turner post WWII had a mental breakdown and had been hospitalized himself. And thus he's able to reccommend an appropriate hospital to help with Cynthia's recovery. As to my new speculation where all this is going - I think the key is that Cynthia herself tells Sister Julienne about there not being enough nurses at Linchmore. So: I now think that once she's recovered, Cynthia (whether or not she'll leave the Order again, as I earlier speculated) will retrain and want to specialize in mental healthcare, wanting to help people who are going through the same thing she did, and that this will be her new calling.
Case of the week: the first big one for Valery Dyer, and it's a Somali woman who has had female circumcision. The script is careful to both show the horrific consequences for a woman and to make this not sound patronizing/White Savior-like, as Khalifa shatters several of Valerie's and Barbara's automatic assumptions in her final scene when she points out that circumcision is performed by women, not men, and that it's Valerie who gives her her husband's name when her own naming habit refers to her maternal line. Plus, of course, our heroines while able to help Khalifa through birth and recovery aren't able to change Khalifa's mind with a stirring speech, or to save her little sister from being send up to Somalia in order to get circumcised; change of mentality and deep set convictions takes time, though Narrator Jenny's voice tells us it does eventually happen for Khalifa, and that her own daughter would be spared.
Ongoing subplots: Trixie and Christopher the cute dentist progressing in their relationship in the shadow of the Cuba crisis starts out deceptively light hearted, though long time viewers now that Trixie being gunshy at this point has some serious reasons, but in their last scene, when Christopher, not knowing about Trixie's past, innocently offers her a drink and she uses being on call as an excuse so she won't have to tell him she's a recovering alcoholic just yet, it's brought home how deep these scars go for her.
Speaking of the Cuban Missiles Crisis as the frame work for this episode, of course Fred's window-painting efforts remind me again of all those ridiculous "what to do in case of a nuclear attack" exercises they used to inflict on us during the Cold War until at some point in the 80s the public awareness that there's literally nothing you can do was simply too far spread.
Sister Winifred now being aided in her driving lessons by Delia, and Delia showing also up in the hospital when Valerie arrives there with her patient, reminds me again of what I observed some eps ago, that one Doylist reason for Patsy's temporary absence might be that it gives the series the opportunity to develop Delia's relationships with the rest of the ensemble as well as in her professional capacity and thus flesh her out more. The scene with Winifred also worked as neat comic relief in a pretty tense episode.
This entry was originally posted at http://selenak.dreamwidth.org/1217549.html. Comment there or here, as you wish.