Call the Midwife 2.07 & 2.08
Aka, my feel good series of the year wraps it up for the season with a Small Island crossover and a big scare. Also, a scooter!
The whole storyline with Cynthia (the patient, not the nurse) really did feel like a Small Island crossover to me, down to the fact of the former Jamaicans calling England "the mother country" because that's what they were taught and then of course the people there give them the full racist treatment, the husband having been with the airforce during the war, the emigration after the war, the small cramped living space, the reaction of the neigbours. Because this show is basically optimistic about human nature yet also not pretending all problems can be solved at once, we get one of Cynthia's racist neighbours, equally pregnant, help her in her hour of need; racism isn't out of the world (and the other neigbours remained the same, even at the sight of getting-into-labour Cynthia), but one particular person overcame her prejudices in favour of reacting with solidarity and support in an emergency, and this I can believe.
(The Cynthia storyline was also the first time where the ongoing subplot/read thread of Sister Monica Joan's increasing dementia took a very serious turn indeed, as Sister Monica Joan's inability to remember Cynthia's distress call or indeed write it down correctly could have had distastrous consequences.)
Comic relief wise, we had Fred's unwillingness to admit he doesn't know how to ride a motor scooter and the fact that Sister Evangelina does (due to having been on a motorbike during the war), which was great fun, especially since it wasn't played as an humiliation to Fred or a big deal to Sister Evangelina; she simply enjoyed the opportunity to ride again and helped him out without embarrassing him in front of the others. I also find it interesting, history wise, that every one associates scootes immediately with Italy; how far (or not) spread were they at this point?
Here, and in the next episode, Sister Bernadette, being on the road of recovery from TBC, has a heart to heart with Sister Julienne and makes her decision to leave the order and become Sheila again. It struck me in all her scenes with Dr. Turner in the ensueing episode, including the marriage proposal (with cunning aide from his son via the wrapping paper, Dr. Turner, you're a smart one) how this plays out very much like a Jane Austen romance, down to the fact that it remains delicate and understated throughout (he still hasn't done more than kissed her hand the last time we see them, and yet that very thing contributes to making it work; you never get the feeling that he's the only reason why she decided to become a laywoman again, or that he is in any way pushing her, taking instead his cues from her).
Meanwhile, Chummey who had last season's romantic storyline provides the big suspense in this season's ending, with her torn plazenta and birth difficulties. I must say I was only 70% sure they wouldn't kill her of, the other 30% coming from insecurity about whether Miranda Hart during her temporary absence this season might have decided to exit altogether now that her career is taking of. So I was quite relieved to see her survive (and the kid as well). I might have felt meanly manipulated if not for the fact that nearly dying in childbirth wasn't the only thing Chummey did this episode; before that, she also got to showcase her competence again at being a superb midwife to Fred's daughter and delivering this earlier baby safe and sound. One more Chummey related thing: I find it oddly endearing that Peter is the only one calling her "Camilla", and the name always sounds tender when he says it, which I never thought before when reading my Virgil.
Nurse Cynthia's storyline with the husband and wife soothed my ruffled feathers from the previous plot with the daughter and father, because here again we had a man denigrating a woman, but here the woman wasn't made to placate the bully first before he changed his behavior. (Also, shy Cynthia defending the wife was lovely to see.) Instead, the story was about her getting out of the mindset trap of owing him everything, and about her reclaiming a life of her own.
Jimmy's reappearance made me fear we would get into soap opera territory after all, but no, it actually provided a very nice and mature wrap up to what was never quite a romance. Mind you, presenting Jenny with Alec as potential dating material could be read as patronising, but it didn't come across this way to me.
For all the various happy resolutions, it was interesting that the show also brought in a downer in the final episode by announcing that Nonnatus House is now threatened with demolition. Older Jenny's narrative voice mentions the Winds of Change and not noticing them yet in her opening narration of 2.08, and even a non British foreigner like me knows that the East End went through some massive restructuring over the last decades, so I assume the house will be indeed torn down. As Sisters Julienne and Evangelina in their conversation about Bernadette leaving the order also mentioned there are fewer and fewer new entries, I wonder whether the non-clerical nurses/midwives and the nuns won't have to part ways at the end of next season (I'm assuming there is a next season, right?). Other than that, I have no speculation for the future.
Trivia: "Song of Bernadette" was the reason why Franz Werfel, who wrote the novel, was one of only three German exile writers who actually made money with their writing in their American exile during the Third Reich. (The other two were Thomas Mann and Lion Feuchtwanger.) The movie made of it starred Jennifer Jones, and I'm both amused and touched that Sheila chose the name Bernadette because of it.
Fred's daughter reminded me again that this is the best show for employing actresses who don't fit the "between 20 and 30, must be thin and look gorgeous" parameter.
We've seen Trixie wearing slacks mid season and now, in the season ender, Jenny, Cynthia and Jane do likewise, which is a neat way to include the changing fashions for women as the 50s get closer to the 60s.
This entry was originally posted at http://selenak.dreamwidth.org/880211.html. Comment there or here, as you wish.
The whole storyline with Cynthia (the patient, not the nurse) really did feel like a Small Island crossover to me, down to the fact of the former Jamaicans calling England "the mother country" because that's what they were taught and then of course the people there give them the full racist treatment, the husband having been with the airforce during the war, the emigration after the war, the small cramped living space, the reaction of the neigbours. Because this show is basically optimistic about human nature yet also not pretending all problems can be solved at once, we get one of Cynthia's racist neighbours, equally pregnant, help her in her hour of need; racism isn't out of the world (and the other neigbours remained the same, even at the sight of getting-into-labour Cynthia), but one particular person overcame her prejudices in favour of reacting with solidarity and support in an emergency, and this I can believe.
(The Cynthia storyline was also the first time where the ongoing subplot/read thread of Sister Monica Joan's increasing dementia took a very serious turn indeed, as Sister Monica Joan's inability to remember Cynthia's distress call or indeed write it down correctly could have had distastrous consequences.)
Comic relief wise, we had Fred's unwillingness to admit he doesn't know how to ride a motor scooter and the fact that Sister Evangelina does (due to having been on a motorbike during the war), which was great fun, especially since it wasn't played as an humiliation to Fred or a big deal to Sister Evangelina; she simply enjoyed the opportunity to ride again and helped him out without embarrassing him in front of the others. I also find it interesting, history wise, that every one associates scootes immediately with Italy; how far (or not) spread were they at this point?
Here, and in the next episode, Sister Bernadette, being on the road of recovery from TBC, has a heart to heart with Sister Julienne and makes her decision to leave the order and become Sheila again. It struck me in all her scenes with Dr. Turner in the ensueing episode, including the marriage proposal (with cunning aide from his son via the wrapping paper, Dr. Turner, you're a smart one) how this plays out very much like a Jane Austen romance, down to the fact that it remains delicate and understated throughout (he still hasn't done more than kissed her hand the last time we see them, and yet that very thing contributes to making it work; you never get the feeling that he's the only reason why she decided to become a laywoman again, or that he is in any way pushing her, taking instead his cues from her).
Meanwhile, Chummey who had last season's romantic storyline provides the big suspense in this season's ending, with her torn plazenta and birth difficulties. I must say I was only 70% sure they wouldn't kill her of, the other 30% coming from insecurity about whether Miranda Hart during her temporary absence this season might have decided to exit altogether now that her career is taking of. So I was quite relieved to see her survive (and the kid as well). I might have felt meanly manipulated if not for the fact that nearly dying in childbirth wasn't the only thing Chummey did this episode; before that, she also got to showcase her competence again at being a superb midwife to Fred's daughter and delivering this earlier baby safe and sound. One more Chummey related thing: I find it oddly endearing that Peter is the only one calling her "Camilla", and the name always sounds tender when he says it, which I never thought before when reading my Virgil.
Nurse Cynthia's storyline with the husband and wife soothed my ruffled feathers from the previous plot with the daughter and father, because here again we had a man denigrating a woman, but here the woman wasn't made to placate the bully first before he changed his behavior. (Also, shy Cynthia defending the wife was lovely to see.) Instead, the story was about her getting out of the mindset trap of owing him everything, and about her reclaiming a life of her own.
Jimmy's reappearance made me fear we would get into soap opera territory after all, but no, it actually provided a very nice and mature wrap up to what was never quite a romance. Mind you, presenting Jenny with Alec as potential dating material could be read as patronising, but it didn't come across this way to me.
For all the various happy resolutions, it was interesting that the show also brought in a downer in the final episode by announcing that Nonnatus House is now threatened with demolition. Older Jenny's narrative voice mentions the Winds of Change and not noticing them yet in her opening narration of 2.08, and even a non British foreigner like me knows that the East End went through some massive restructuring over the last decades, so I assume the house will be indeed torn down. As Sisters Julienne and Evangelina in their conversation about Bernadette leaving the order also mentioned there are fewer and fewer new entries, I wonder whether the non-clerical nurses/midwives and the nuns won't have to part ways at the end of next season (I'm assuming there is a next season, right?). Other than that, I have no speculation for the future.
Trivia: "Song of Bernadette" was the reason why Franz Werfel, who wrote the novel, was one of only three German exile writers who actually made money with their writing in their American exile during the Third Reich. (The other two were Thomas Mann and Lion Feuchtwanger.) The movie made of it starred Jennifer Jones, and I'm both amused and touched that Sheila chose the name Bernadette because of it.
Fred's daughter reminded me again that this is the best show for employing actresses who don't fit the "between 20 and 30, must be thin and look gorgeous" parameter.
We've seen Trixie wearing slacks mid season and now, in the season ender, Jenny, Cynthia and Jane do likewise, which is a neat way to include the changing fashions for women as the 50s get closer to the 60s.
This entry was originally posted at http://selenak.dreamwidth.org/880211.html. Comment there or here, as you wish.