This week, our friends in Poplar are dealing with a real garbagey situation: literally. There’s a trash collection strike, which has resulted in a giant pile of rubbish right outside Nonnatus house. Inside, it’s business as usual. Well, sort of: Phyllis is on vacation, which means Trixie is in charge of the schedule for the week. The team is also teaching a class about new guidelines for patients to get up and walk around as quickly as possible post-delivery, rather than the bedrest that they had been used to. Everyone’s on board with that, but there is a potential conflict brewing: some of our friends are pretty unhappy about the garbage strike.
Joyce: Look, I’m sure it wasn’t an easy decision, but sometimes a strike is the only option.
Sister Veronica: Sure, but now our whole neighborhood is overrun by rats. This can’t continue!
Joyce: Don’t forget how excited we all were for our pay increase earlier this very season. Solidarity, sister!
I’m convinced, but upstairs, Sister Julienne is talking over her cleanliness concerns with Dr. Turner. No, our friends don’t see patients at Nonnatus house, but they do have to pass the trash pile multiple times a day, and maintain sterile tools inside Nonnatus.
Dr. Turner: The pile is also too close to the school and the market. SO bad.
Sister Julienne: I’m just happy you’re back on the board of health so you can share our feedback.
Huge mood. Anyway, at St. Cuthberts, Trixie and Joyce wrap up their class for the nurses there about movement post birth. Unfortunately, the other nurses and doctors aren’t as enthusiastic as one would hope, and Trixie keeps having to rely on Joyce as an audience plant. At the surgery, one of this week’s expectant mums, Bernie, arrives bearing gifts. Bernie’s a baker, and she’s got sweets to share which are almost exciting enough to distract Miss Higgins from Bernie putting out her cigarette on the floor mid-contraction. Almost.
At the board of health meeting, Dr. Turner wastes no time bringing up the giant trash pile issue. The rest of the board wastes no time passing the buck directly to Vi, who they think should be able to shut down the strike.
Vi: Look, they have a right to do this, and I support that.
Dr. Turner: I’m pro union, I get it, but the kids have a right to go to school NOT next to a giant trash pile!
Vi: We’re doing the best we can!
Dr. Turner: Well that doesn’t really help the mom with twins diarrhea-ing everywhere I visited this morning, does it? It’s an outbreak waiting to happen!
Two of our friends in an angry showdown? I don’t like it one bit! Outside the meeting, they have a slightly more civil conversation, but neither is willing to budge. Vi reminds Dr. Turner that bureaucracy takes a REALLY long time, and Dr. Turner shoots back that they don’t have a lot of time. Nevertheless, Dr. Turner still offers Vi a ride home: this is Call The Midwife, after all.
And speaking of midwifery: at the maternity home, Rosalind and Sister Catherine are teaming up to help Bernie deliver her baby. Everything seems to have gone pretty smoothly, and after a few hours, Bernie safely delivers a baby girl.
The next day, the trash situation has gotten even worse. Kids go to school wearing gas masks. Someone’s left rubbish on the war memorial. And when Trixie prepares to get on her bike to leave for a day of rounds, she finds a rat in her pannier. Alas, Trixie’s rat isn’t alone: they’re everywhere. Dr. Turner and Sister Veronica also run into the furry harbingers of doom while visiting an elderly gentleman named Albert, who’s extremely ill with a bad infection, possibly contracted from the rats.
Albert: The rats aren’t new, but they have gotten SO much worse lately.
Sister Veronica: The trash is basically a rat family reunion waiting to happen.
Dr. Turner: No time for jokes: we need an ambulance. Now.
Yikes. On the plus side, Fred’s come up with a good solution to the would-be rat bike gang: he’ll bring all the midwives’ bikes inside Nonnatus for the time being.
Sister Julienne: That’s it. I’m putting down traps.
Sister Monica Joan: They better be humane!
Sister Julienne: They won’t. 🙂
I get where Sister Monica Joan is coming from, I do. But I live in a rat city, and Sister Julienne is 100% right.
Meanwhile, at the maternity home, Trixie and Joyce are teaching some light exercises to the patients there. Well, most of them: Bernie is very much staying in her bed.
Joyce: Do you want to try and walk your baby over to the nursery so you can both rest?
Bernie: No. Where are the nice nurses from yesterday?
Joyce treats this like a normal and polite question, and not a racist microaggression, and even tries again later, because Bernie’s baby is still fussing nonstop. Bernie aggressively refuses any suggestions from Joyce, and accuses her of being unfairly critical.
Joyce: Oh, honey, I’m so sorry if that’s how that sounded: I just want to help. I know this is your third baby.
Bernie, sarcastically: Sure, I totally believe you. And don’t call me honey.
Unfortunately, Bernie’s bad mood continues (and yes, it is disproportionately aimed at the various non-white women around her, including the gal in the bed next to hers). Look, it seems pretty reasonable to be cranky when you haven’t been getting sleep, are in an open ward with strangers, and have a grumpy baby, but that’s no excuse to be racist, Bernie!
The next day, a refreshingly low-stakes conversation between Miss Higgins and Sister Veronica about whether they’ll finish a badge with the cubs is interrupted by Dr. Turner, who’s bringing some very bad news. Nice old Albert has died at St. Cuthberts of Weil’s disease (or more commonly, Leptospirosis), a normally rare illness that is spread through the urine of infected animals. Like rats. The unsanitary conditions in Poplar have claimed their first victim: will there be more?
Worryingly, our next stop is the Buckle residence, where Reggie has to ask Vi to bring more toilet paper. He’s been sick all night, and while he doesn’t look as poorly as Albert did, Reggie’s clearly feeling pretty wretched. Too sick, for sure, to feed Cyril’s cat Nigel. Vi is more worried about taking care of Reggie, so she sends Fred over to check on Nigel, who it turns out is a pretty big deal this episode. See, Rosalind happened to be walking by and noticed that the little cat wasn’t looking his normal self right as Fred arrived for feeding time. So Rosalind picks Nigel up and follows Fred into Cyril’s place to try and apply her midwifery knowledge to the feline. Downstairs, Dr. Turner tells Vi that he thinks Reggie is probably just dealing with a normal bug.
Vi: Well, thanks for checking on him. It makes me more nervous knowing you were coming here to tell me that we’ve already lost someone.
Dr. Turner: Yes, and it’s because of that strike.
Vi: I know, I’m not a fool. Look, as the mayor, I need to be objective. But that’s pretty hard to do when someone dies. Or even gets a bad case of diarrhea. I’m putting my foot down.
Back upstairs, Rosalind’s hanging out in Cyril’s empty house, holding Nigel, and having a cry (as one does) when Cyril himself returns home from work. She explains what’s going on, and I’m no vet, but it doesn’t sound good: Nigel’s got the shakes, and won’t eat or drink. Cyril thanks Rosalind for caring for his furbaby, and very gallantly ignores the giant elephant in the room before walking her home with Nigel in tow. Later, when he returns home, Nigel still won’t eat, so Cyril resolves to take him to the vet first thing in the morning. Reader, Cyril seems very worried, and so am I: that’s our collective emotional support cat!
Meanwhile, over at the maternity home, Bernie has marched over to the front desk and told Miss Higgins that she intends to check herself out. She insists that she can’t get any sleep here, and needs to get home to take care of her two older kids and her business. Shelagh strongly objects, but it doesn’t do any good: Bernie is leaving.
Remember the less stressful drama regarding the cubs? It seems about to be resolved, as Sister Veronica has joined the team tonight and gives the boys their marching orders. The plan: to go out into town and find interesting sites to research. Alas, it is not to be: when Miss Higgins arrives, she explains that the trash pile has gotten so big and so gross that it’s not safe to go out. Honestly, she’s making a good call, because these kids are clearly itching to dig around in that giant garbage mountain. Unfortunately, that also means that they’re SUPER bored and get into all kinds of mischief during Miss Higgins’ attempt to do the activity indoors.
Later, back at Nonnatus, Rosalind arrives home and is promptly tucked into bed by Trixie and Joyce. At first, it seems like she just had a long day and is suffering the after-effects of missing dinner, but Joyce points out that Rosalind looks pretty ill. She’s also got a bad headache and a fever. Overnight, she gets worse, nearly collapsing in the hallway on her way to the bathroom. Thankfully Joyce is there to help, and given how wretched Rosalind looks, it’s no surprise that the rest of the crew call up Dr. Turner. Dr. T’s pretty sure he knows what this is, but wants Rosalind to go to the hospital to confirm his suspicions. By ambulance.
Unfortunately, there’s no such thing as a vet version of Dr. Turner, and when Cyril wakes up in the morning, having fallen asleep at the kitchen table holding Nigel, he finds that the poor cat didn’t make it through the night. Cyril is unsurprisingly distraught, and gets Fred to help bury Nigel in the allotment where he’ll be close.
Fred: I try not to get sentimental, but I’ll miss him.
Cyril: Me too. He and I had a lot in common. I used to worry about what would happen if Lucille came back; she’s not a cat person.
Fred: I guess that’s one thing not to worry about.
Cyril: Fred, she’s never coming back. I hoped she would, and prayed about it even after she asked to divorce. But Nigel helped me realize it was time to let her move on. Anyway, I guess this is me telling someone about the divorce other than Mrs. Wallace.
Fred: I’m so sorry, Cyril. Um, hang on: there’s an ambulance outside Nonnatus!
Cyril pretty understandably guesses that something might have happened to Sister Monica Joan, and Fred, ever helpful, tells his friend to stay and say goodbye to Nigel while he runs over to find out more.
Over at Bernie’s house, she seems much happier with the chaos she knows than the chaos she didn’t. But her husband, who was expecting her to be treated in the maternity home, is less sure about this plan. Lucky for him, our friends make housecalls, so that morning Sister Catherine and Joyce arrive to check on Bernie. Unfortunately, Bernie’s not happy enough to be back at home to prevent herself from being a jerk to Joyce. She’s snippy, and gets downright angry when Joyce suggests a walk around the flat.
Bernie: I said no! Rest is what I need; it worked with my first two and it’ll work now.
Sister Catherine: You know, all babies are different. I agree with Joyce; moving around is good for you.
Bernie: She’s a bad influence on you. Get out, both of you.
Joyce: We still haven’t finished our exam.
Bernie: I don’t care. Leave.
So that’s not good. Also not good? The continuing growth of the trash pile. It’s gotten so bad that a reporter has arrived on the scene to interview the neighbors. Miss Higgins gives a very prim interview about how annoying the stench is, but it’s Sister Monica Joan who has the best soundbite, in my humble opinion.
Sister Monica Joan: She needs to grow a spine. Yes, the trash looks bad, and smells gross, and is inconvenient. But we can deal with it, just like we dealt with the war. It’ll pass.
Meanwhile, walking back to Nonnatus, Sister Catherine asks Joyce how the heck they should document what just happened.
Joyce: It happens. We even have a set notation for that.
Sister Catherine: Ok, but that glosses over the situation. She was really rude to you!
Joyce isn’t too keen to explain how racism works to her new friend, and I honestly don’t blame her. Later, when Bernie’s husband gets done at the bakery, he asks how the visit went, and is surprised to learn that his wife has kicked the midwives out. It seems like he knows his wife’s got crappy racist opinions, but he sort of chalks that up to Bernie’s general air of not wanting to be told what to do. Either way, he offers to get her a cup of tea and a pastry, which she gladly accepts. But when he leaves to fetch the treats, she suddenly doubles over in pain; never a good sign.
Speaking of bad signs: over at St. Cuthberts, it turns out that Rosalind has Weil’s disease, which has already damaged her kidneys a bit. Trixie tries to spin things, saying that at least with a diagnosis there’s a clear treatment plan, but this situation is pretty dire. They basically have about 24 hours to get Rosalind’s infection under control.
Rosalind: Trixie, will you pray with me?
Trixie: Oh, sweetie. That’s not my thing.
Rosalind: Please? I can’t focus enough to say the words.
Trixie: Ok. Close your eyes, and I will too.
Later, at Nonnatus, Trixie comes home with the bad news, which has actually gotten worse: she was kicked out of Rosalind’s room when the team at St. Cuthberts determined that Rosalind is now critically ill. She’s still lucid enough to know that she’s in rough shape, and even asks to see her notes, which I am choosing to see as a good sign. But things are not looking good.
Meanwhile, Bernie is also getting worse, and has woken up with more pain and red, swollen legs. Her husband calls Nonnatus, so Sister Julienne asks Joyce to go check in on Bernie on her rounds. Joyce, of course, agrees, and although Sister Catherine tries to join, she is assigned to the maternity home. Joyce will have to deal with Bernie solo. If you thought Bernie was bad before, she’s a LOT worse now. She tells Joyce she doesn’t want a Black person touching her, blames her pain on Joyce’s suggestions to exercise, and kicks Joyce out AGAIN, even though she’s clearly very sick and needs the help. Bernie’s husband tries to talk her down, but at that point the damage is done: Joyce says she’ll have Dr. Turner come asap. Calling the surgery, Joyce tells Miss Higgins that she’s pretty sure Bernie has a deep vein thrombosis (a common complication when folks don’t move around enough after a medical procedure, and one that we’ve seen cause a patient to die in a previous season of this very show), but that Bernie refused to allow Joyce to examine her.
Miss Higgins: What? Why?
Joyce: It doesn’t matter right now. Just get help.
Before everyone leaves for rounds, Cyril stops by to try and find out what’s happening with Rosalind. Trixie, who isn’t Joyce, and thus hasn’t noticed that Cyril and Rosalind have been kinda dancing around something here, tells him that even though he’s Rosalind’s friend, she can’t give him medical information. Instead, she suggests he talk to Dr. Turner. At the office, Dr. T takes a blood sample from Cyril: the team’s working theory is that poor Nigel might also have had (and accidentally spread) Weil’s disease. Weil’s disease is clearly no joke, so Cyril is under strict orders to call immediately if he develops symptoms. He’s obviously really worried about Rosalind, but Dr. Turner, who assumes Cyril is just concerned about his own prognosis, says Cyril has nothing to worry about.
Next stop for Dr. Turner? Bernie’s home, where he agrees with Joyce’s suspicions and says they need to send Bernie to the hospital in an ambulance.
Bernie: This is all that midwife’s fault! She didn’t look after me!
Dr. Turner: The trainee?
Bernie: No, Joyce. She’s supposed to be qualified. If I die, it’s her fault.
Obviously that’s a bunch of crap, and Dr. Turner knows his colleague well enough to know something is up. But I sure wish Bernie’s husband, who’s been there the whole time, would have said something to contradict his wife. Dr. Turner’s first stop after this conversation is to talk to Sister Julienne, who immediately says that Joyce is one of their best, most meticulous midwives.
Dr. Turner: Yeah, and Bernie is a smoker, and relatively sedentary. Joyce told me she refused to be examined, which is why Joyce called me for the urgent house call.
Sister Julienne: I wish Sister Catherine had been there.
Dr. Turner: Me too; now it’s Joyce’s word against Bernie’s. And Bernie is definitely going to file a complaint.
In a spot of good news, Rosalind is finally awake and looking MUCH better. She calls Nonnatus to apologize for being out sick when they’re short staffed, and to complain that St. Cuthberts won’t discharge her immediately so she can help out... so she’s definitely on the mend. Rosalind looks even better when Cyril stops by for a visit, and holds her hand. He tells her that losing Nigel taught him that he needed to stop being such an island of a person.
Rosalind: But you’re not alone! You’ve got friends, and colleagues. And you’re married!
Cyril: Lucille has made a life for herself there, and while I was waiting for her, I made a life here. She won’t be coming back, and we’ve decided to divorce.
Rosalind: Don’t you need to prove that one of you did something bad to divorce?
Cyril: Not anymore; the law has changed, so no one has to commit adultery or anything. I don’t know what the future looks like, but I do know I don’t want to be single. You don’t have to hold my hand if you don’t want to, btw.
Rosalind: Oh, I want to.
Look, I’ll be the first to admit that I wasn’t sold on this originally: Lucille was so great, I really liked her and Cyril together, and I miss her. But I can’t lie: these two are cute! This is working for me! Also good news? Sister Veronica hears Sister Monica Joan’s interview on the radio and realizes that her friend is a) extremely entertaining and b) has seen a lot of Poplar history. She’s the perfect person to come talk to the cubs and help them finish their badge! The kiddos are enthralled, and Sister Monica Joan is thrilled to be out doing something constructive. A real win-win.
Ready to get back to the bad stuff? Joyce has a chat with Sister Julienne about the Bernie situation.
Joyce: I knew something was wrong; I wish I’d just called an ambulance now.
Sister Julienne: Do you think maybe she was just making bad decisions because of the fever?
Joyce: No. It was something else.
Sister Julienne: Please elaborate. I need as much information as I can get.
Joyce: Look, Bernie made friends with the other midwives right away, and she didn’t like me. She acted the same way around some of our patients. I think she doesn’t like me because I’m Black.
Sister Julienne: Is that something you’ve dealt with before?
Joyce: Wow, what a question. I could either laugh at that, or cry. But instead I’ll do what I always do, which is be dignified and professional. The answer is yes. In training, when I started working, in the district, in the maternity home… it’s everywhere.
Sister Julienne: How do you survive that?
Joyce: Because that’s not all there is.
Sister Julienne: Joyce, I will make sure this matter is fully investigated. I promise.
And Sister Julienne is true to her word. The next day, she talks with Bernie, who almost immediately tells on herself by calling into question Joyce’s qualifications and background. But that doesn’t matter, because Bernie is insistent on being the absolute worst. She’s going to complain to the board. Sister Julienne also talks to Sister Catherine, who immediately backs Joyce: the only possible reason for Bernie’s behavior is racism, plain and simple.
Sister Catherine: I wasn’t sure what Joyce wanted. I didn’t want to make her uncomfortable, but I think I messed up by not saying anything.
Sister Julienne: Bernie is the one who messed up. We are going to defend Joyce.
The next day, Vi has come up with a rather ingenious plan to deal with the trash: they’ve called in the army to clear the refuse. Technically, you can’t accuse the armed forces of scabbing, and this way, no one else will get sick. And just in time for Rosalind’s triumphant return from hospital! Trixie ushers Rosalind right into a bubble bath, and afterward, Joyce brushes out her hair while the two friends chat.
Rosalind: Joyce, do you want to talk about what happened?
Joyce: No. Definitely not. This is going to drag on for weeks, maybe months. Tell me something else.
Roslaind: I’m going to go out with Cyril.
Joyce: To church?
Rosalind: No. Somewhere else. He’s getting divorced, and we’re gonna date.
Joyce: Oh my god, don’t. It’s not about the divorce, or him being a pastor, although I don’t think that makes anyone a very exciting boyfriend. You are from totally different worlds, and the people who don’t like him won’t like you. It will be SO hard, and I don’t want that for you.
Rosalind: But what if it’s something we want for ourselves?
Joyce: Look, I told you my opinion. Let me dry your hair.
I’ll just say this: if anything bad happens to Joyce because of one horrible racist patient, I will be most enraged. But as Joyce said: we have weeks of that situation in front of us still, and two more episodes to go until the end of the season. Until next time, reader.
