We’re back again for another visit to Poplar. The year? 1971. The squad? Back in action. We’re trying out a new recap format this time around, but you can still find all previous seasons here.
Family Number 1: The Cutlers
Thelma Cutler has a terrible case of perma-morning sickness (actual name: hyperemesis gravidarum). She’s getting no relief at all, and medication to help isn’t an option. After the thalidomide scandal, Dr. Turner even speculates that medication will never successfully be developed to treat morning sickness (note: thankfully, he’s wrong about this; there are now drugs that can be safely used for folks like Thelma). Sister Catherine has been assigned to work with Thelma as her first solo case, and it’s a doozy: during a visit, Thelma goes into very early labor and her son ends up in the toilet. Sister Catherine stabilizes Thelma and then realizes that the baby is, miraculously, still alive. Wrapping him in a towel, she pulls a Forrest Gump and runs him to the maternity home, where Dr. Turner and Sister Julienne stabilize the boy and send him to the most specialized hospital in London.
Thelma is wracked with guilt for both how her kiddo was born AND wishing she wasn’t pregnant while she was in the throes of never-ending nausea and vomiting. She’s also grappling with the question of what is best for her baby: aggressive treatment that might save his life but result in disability, or comfort measures. Thankfully for her and her husband, Sister Catherine happens to meet a woman named Rebecca whose extremely premature child is about to be released from the hospital after over a year, and she sets up a chat between the two families. Rebecca’s takeaway: her kiddo is in a lot of ways just like any other child, and the ways that the baby is different make her special. This is exactly what Thelma needs to hear, and though they’ve got a lot of challenges ahead of them, she and her husband are eager to face them head on.
Family Number 2: The Kingsleys
The Kingsleys have four living children, and Edna Kingsley is pregnant again. Their oldest boy, Martin, passed away when they were briefly living in another part of the country, and Mr. Kinglsey has unmanaged diabetes. When Phyllis calls in, primarily to help with the diabetes, she finds the kids in a state of neglect: dirty, wearing summer clothes despite the cold weather, and just generally unsupervised. She loops in social services, and passes the case to Joyce in the hope that a younger person will relate better to the family.
It turns out that relating to the family isn’t the primary concern: Joyce gives the parents a talking to and then gets the kids washed up and deloused, and this is when she finds bruises and cigarette burns on their little bodies. Despite this, when the parents show up and barge into Nonnatus, the midwives can’t prevent them from taking their children back. Finally, Cyril is able to track down information from their previous town, including the coroner’s report for their son’s death. It seems like there was some indication that the parents may have suffocated their son, but there wasn’t enough proof. But when Cyril goes for a visit and finds one of the children on the sidewalk having fallen out of an open window, and once she’s in the hospital it’s clear that she’s been, essentially, starved, social services intervenes and takes the children. It’s gut-wrenching. Everyone is heartbroken: the parents, the kids, and Sister Veronica and Cyril, who are there to manage the children. Edna Kingsley ends up giving birth to her baby in custody, attended by Phyllis. Despite Edna’s hope that she’ll get to keep this baby with her, all 5 children are taken into foster care, and Edna and her husband are arrested.
What’s going on with our friends:
Sister Catherine passed her exams and is now officially a midwife. Yay! Hopefully most of her future experiences are less intense than this one. Regardless, her friendship continues to develop with Sister Monica Joan, who takes her role mentoring the much younger woman very seriously.
Speaking of friendship: Sister Veronica and Trixie’s brother Geoffrey continue to be close friends, which is very charming. Sister Veronica even tells him to call her by her real name, which is Beryl, and then confesses that she wants to have a child of her own before it’s no longer possible.
What’s going on in Poplar:
The squad celebrates Shrove Tuesday (the day before Ash Wednesday, observed by eating pancakes, among other things). Trixie explains American pancake customs — it turns out the UK way is to sprinkle on sugar and lemon juice. Look, that sounds tasty, but as a native New Englander I am coming down firmly on the side of maple syrup. Sorry, Trixie.
Women’s lib has hit Poplar. Rosalind accidentally attends a meeting that’s being hosted in the house of one of her patients, and ropes in the rest of the non-nun contingent for a future event (Sister Catherine also seems interested, but Sister Julienne shuts down any nun participation). Vi and Shelagh are involved too, and they’re part of a women’s strike, which means their husbands and sons will have to take over around the house. Dr. Turner talks a big game but does a B- job; Fred is, as you can imagine, a full on disaster despite his best efforts. The only holdout is Phyllis, who’s not super into the trappings of the movement. That is until Miss Higgins reminds her that it’s not wise to judge a book by its cover; they may have some fear that they’ll lose their place in society if this movement succeeds, but they’ll certainly be left behind if they don’t break free. Millicent has even picked up a copy of Germaine Greer’s The Female Eunuch despite the book’s evocative cover. Phyllis ultimately decides to opt for freedom, and they all burn bras symbolically outside Nonnatus before heading out on a march through the streets of Poplar.
Trixie has fully taken over the financial management of Nonnatus, including liaising with the Council. After noticing that something very weird is happening with their budget, she calls the Council and is immediately put through to the slimy jerk who runs the board of health, which seems pretty ominous, and only gets worse when he says he has information to share but only in person. When Trixie finally gets to this meeting, he explains with some relish that by 1974, all healthcare will be managed directly by the NHS, without councils serving as a go-between. What this means practically is that the team would have to abide by NHS regulations, starting this year. This is a problem, because one of the rules is that the nuns would have to ditch their habits. Sister Julienne isn’t having any of it, but the fact is that they’ll either have to follow the NHS rules or leave the system entirely. The slimy jerk wants them to respond by the end of the month, but Sister Julienne doesn’t care about his fiscal calendar: she’ll give an answer on August 31, which is the feast day of St. Raymond Nonnatus (and also, I’m assuming, the end of this season).
Will the men of Poplar keep taking on household tasks as the season continues? Will Sister Veronica get her wish? And what will Sister Julienne decide when it comes to joining the NHS? Only time will tell!
