Family Number 1: The Khans
Ruth Khan lives with her husband Dilwar and her mother-in-law Aisha, and all three are eagerly awaiting the birth of Ruth and Dilwar’s first baby. Aisha is really trying to be helpful, but Ruth is feeling a bit suffocated. She loves her mother-in-law, but wants to give birth with just her husband in the room, which is a source of tension: Aisha thinks that only a mom can be properly supportive to a laboring mother, and feels that her son has become too assimilated to English culture. In the end, Aisha ends up waiting in the hallway while the baby is born.
A few days later, Dilwar prepares to return to work, and Aisha notices that Ruth is looking awfully pale. Ruth brushes it off as needing to go for a walk, but Aisha, concerned, sneaks out to keep an eye on things. That turns out to be for the best: Ruth starts to collapse, and it’s only with the support of Aisha that she’s able to make it back to the surgery. The Turners run outside to help, and realize that Ruth needs to be treated for preeclampsia. There’s no time to wait for an ambulance, even: Dr. Turner drives, and they get Ruth to St. Cuthberts just in time to prevent her from having more serious complications. While recovering, Ruth apologizes for pushing Aisha away; she didn’t know what to do with this kind of maternal love.
Family Number 2: The Barrowmans
We first meet father and son plumbing duo Ivan and Paul Barrowman when Reggie notices a leak in the shop roof coming from Cyril’s flat. The family has just moved back to town, and Ivan’s mom Hilda prepares a celebratory dinner of tinned lunch meat to christen their new flat. They’re a super happy family who all enjoy joking with each other, so there’s a lot of making fun of Hilda’s cooking, which becomes much less funny when everyone comes down with food poisoning (except the youngest, Suzanne, who didn’t eat the lunch meat). Dr. Turner comes to check on everyone, especially Paul, who’s got asthma which has been triggered by the vomiting. His advice? Get a good night’s sleep and wait for the food poisoning to blow over.
The next morning, Dr. Turner and Tim, who’s returned having aced his exams, return to the flat to check on Paul. When nobody answers the door, they let themselves in and find Paul on the downstairs couch dehydrated, headachey, and having used his entire inhaler. Tim heads upstairs to check on the rest of the family, and discovers the apparently dead bodies of Paul’s mother, father, and little sister in his parents’ room. He immediately calls his dad up, and Dr. Turner confirms what Tim has already figured out. Midway through the conversation, Tim starts to feel faint, and they rush to the window before heading downstairs to get Paul out of the house and call an ambulance… and the police.
At the hospital, Paul’s grandmother Hilda arrives, and she’s furious. She blames Dr. Turner for putting the whole family to bed to die, and while Dr. Turner has a pretty good idea what actually happened, he still feels horrible. Dr. Turner explains to Paul that they’ll need to wait for a coroner’s inquest for official answers, but that he’s pretty confident that the family died of carbon monoxide poisoning, which is usually caused by heating systems. Like the brand new boiler that Paul and his father just installed in the flat. Paul, of course, immediately fears that he is to blame for the leak. Meanwhile, Vi, who sold Hilda the tainted meat, is also blaming herself and undergoing an investigation.
Later, Hilda tracks down Dr. Turner to yell at him for telling Paul he killed his family. Dr. Turner tries to explain that that’s not at all what he actually said, and that they need to wait for more answers, but she’s not having it. Hilda says she hopes he gets fired for negligence, and she doesn’t stop there. The next morning, our friends find the word “murderer” painted on the surgery door, and Miss Higgins has to fend off reporters asking about malpractice. Dr. Turner is rattled, and says he won’t see any patients until the report comes in, explaining to Tim that patient trust is the most important thing, and he can’t work until that trust is regained. Finally, everyone gets the information they need to move on. The report found that the food poisoning didn’t contribute to the deaths, and that the boiler itself was faulty: there was nothing wrong with the installation. Hilda apologizes, Dr. Turner accepts, and Paul and Tim have a nice moment bonding over the experience of following in one’s father’s footsteps. Paul and Hilda support each other as they grieve, focusing on the future.
What’s going on with our friends:
The antenatal clinic hosted by the order has been moved to St. Cuthberts, despite pushback from Dr. Turner. Not only is the space less nice, and not as well stocked, they also receive a visit from an NHS administrator who starts rifling through patient records, ignoring the lecture he gets from Miss Higgins. He explains that since they’re under his auspices, he is required to have full access, but that doesn’t sit well with anyone. The Turners and Sister Julienne talk it all over, trying to figure out if this bodes ill for the future of their work, and when Sister Julienne leaves, Dr. Turner worries that if she doesn’t make a decision soon, the choice will be made for them. Unfortunately, she keeps putting it off, focusing instead on the preparations for the upcoming feast of St. Raymond Nonnatus.
Cyril and Rosalind have a wonderful weekend getaway, but come home to find Fred, Reggie, the Barrowmans, and Mrs. Wallace peering at Cyril’s pipes. Mrs. Wallace is decidedly frosty to the young couple and calls Cyril to a summit about his conduct. Rosalind complains to Joyce about this, and Joyce is pretty unsurprised: it makes sense that a church elder like Mrs. Wallace wouldn’t be thrilled to see her pastor, who’s still not technically divorced, returning to his flat/their church from an overnight vacation. Over tea, Mrs. Wallce tells Cyril that he’s a good person, but God is watching. Sure, they live in the modern world, but sometimes it’s safer to be a little old fashioned. Cyril relays these concerns to Rosalind, adding that maybe they should wait until they’re engaged to continue a sexual relationship. Rosalind is not amused.
- You can’t unring that bell, so why fake it?
- She doesn’t want to be beholden to anyone else’s timeline.
- If she’s going to be proposed to, it better be a proper proposal, thank you very much!
They avoid each other for a few days, and then make up. Cyril says she was right: it wasn’t a good proposal. Will she give him a chance to do a better one? She will, so at least we have something fun to look forward to!
A neighbor shows up at Nonnatus house saying there’s someone having a baby, and Sister Julienne goes to assist. The flat? Squalid. The patient? Not at all interested in being helped. She spits at Sister Julienne, and after the baby is born, she lashes out physically, yanking off Sister Julienne’s collar and cutting her neck in the process. Later, while Trixie cleans the wound, Sister Julienne explains that this mom needed all the compassion she could give; the only thing that kept her from leaving was her faith. The experience reminded her that she’s a missionary: she’d rather have to leave than stay and pretend to be something they’re not. Has she made a decision?
With Sister Veronica in Hong Kong, Sister Catherine has stepped in to make the sweets, and nobody is thrilled, least of all Sister Monica Joan. Speaking of whom: Sister Julienne takes over caring for Sister Monica Joan, and while reminiscing about the early days in Poplar, discovers that her friend has extremely swollen ankles. Between that and her disinterest in desserts, Sister Julienne is worried enough to call in Dr. Turner, who confirms her fears. It seems likely that Sister Monica Joan is starting to experience kidney failure. Despite everyone knowing that Sister Monica Joan is elderly, no one, least of all this recapper, is ready for her to die. While they’re talking, Sister Julienne also tells Dr. Turner that she’s made up her mind. If the order isn’t allowed to work as missionaries in Poplar, they’ll leave at the end of the year.
Having returned from Hong Kong, Sister Veronica decides she can’t wait any longer. She explains to Sister Julienne that she’s been unhappy for a long time. She’s realized that she can’t continue on as she has been this whole time: it’s just too hard to care for her patients now that she knows she wants to have a child of her own. Sister Julienne gives her permission to go away for six weeks while she decides if she’s ready to give up her vows and leave the order. Before she leaves, Shelagh drops by to offer support since she’s been in a very similar situation. Sister Julienne walks Sister Veronica to the train station, stopping along the way to drop off a letter to the NHS explaining her decision.
Will the NHS bend on their restrictions? Will Sister Veronica take the next step and give up her vows? And will we get to see another Call the Midwife wedding before the end of the season? We’ll just have to come back next week to find out.
