What’s going on with our friends:
Sister Monica Joan’s blood tests have to be repeated, which makes everyone grouchy, and when the results finally come in, the news is not good. As everyone suspected, she’s got kidney disease. There’s nothing they can do to help; this is the illness that will slowly but inevitably take Sister Monica Joan, and it’ll be even faster if she doesn’t agree to treatment. Even before the results come in, Sister Monica Joan starts confronting her own mortality more seriously than ever, even reciting Shakespeare’s Sonnet 73 (which is about love and death) beautifully before she and Fred share a cup of tea which helps a bit, but doesn’t fix everything, no matter WHAT the English tell you.
Joyce has purchased new slippers, and is extremely excited to share this news with Rosalind, except Rosalind is pretty distracted. Why? Because her period is late. Joyce gently suggests she take a pregnancy test, and when Rosalind wakes up feeling sick the next day, she agrees. Joyce sneaks the sample into the pile when Miss Higgins isn’t looking. And just as Cyril is finally legally divorced, the results come in: Rosalind is pregnant. She panics: the pill was supposed to prevent this! She could lose her job, and she’ll have to tell her parents, who she’s barely talking to these days because they were so crappy about Cyril. Joyce, as ever, has great advice: she tells Rosalind that she’ll support her no matter what, and that she’s got to talk to Cyril. They’ve got time before anyone else needs to know, and Joyce will help Rosalind cover as needed. When Rosalind gets a chance to tell Cyril, he is, as ever, the best. While this might be a little off schedule, he’d never have had se with her if he wasn’t planning to marry her. Having a life together — and kids together — was always the plan. Awww!
Trixie’s brother Geoffrey pops over to help with the inevitable decorating for a seasonal festival. The scissors are not good, so he asks Sister Catherine if she knows anything about Sister Veronica’s timeline (she’s got the good scissors in her personal stash, you see). Sister Catherine doesn’t know much because Sister Julienne has kept most of this private, but she decides to pop into Sister Veronica’s room to borrow the scissors, and while she’s in there, she realizes that her friend left behind her cross and her bible, which means she’s definitely not at the mother house like Sister Julienne said. Sister Catherine confronts Sister Julienne, who explains that this wasn’t her story to tell, but she does say where Sister Veronica actually is. And that’s how Geoffrey ends up visiting Sister Veronica/Beryl, going out for pastries, and convincing her that she’ll be more able to do her soul searching if she’s not living in a religious institution. That’s right: despite some initial shock on her part, Sister Veronica/Beryl agrees to move in with Geoffrey after he reminds her that he’s a “confirmed bachelor.” Forget the spinoffs we already know are happening: when do we get to watch this one?
Family Number 1: Tina and Tony Bianchi
Tina Bianchi is about to have a baby, and her husband Tony owns an ice cream truck. He also has a ridiculous number of older brothers who all operate a tiling business together, making him the odd man out. After a bad case of braxton hicks send the couple to the maternity home, and they return home not actually in labor, Tina spots a painful looking open sore on Tony’s nipple. He’s been ignoring the problem and hoping it would just go away, but Tina is more proactive, so the next morning, Dr. Turner takes a look and promptly sends Tony to St. Cuthberts for surgery.
After Tony’s surgery, both Turners show up to the ice cream truck and pull him and Tina aside for a chat. It turns out that Tony’s been diagnosed with breast cancer, which he finds upsetting and confusing. They tell him that there are many new treatments which may help, but Tony’s scared to tell his family that he’s ill because he’s convinced they’ll make fun of him for having a woman’s disease. Tina is briefly sent to the maternity home for observation, and while she’s away, Tony kind of spirals: he shows up for surgery, but is so put off by the surgeon’s flippant description of what’s going to happen and the very female-centric waiting room that he ends up running off before they can operate. And then when he talks to Tina on the phone, he lies and says surgery went great.
Of course, our friends aren’t about to let that stand. Shelagh reminds Tony that brothers may tease, but at the end of the day, they love each other. She also brings Tina home, and that very evening, Tina goes into labor. Despite the fact that this is their first baby, this is a speed run delivery: Rosalind pedals like mad to get over to the flat, while Joyce stays on the phone at Nonnatus, talking Tony through the delivery. Even though the baby has the umbilical cord wrapped around his neck, Tony’s able to deliver his son safely before Rosalind gets there. And the next day, when his brothers all come visit and talk about how impressive he is, he’s finally able to tell them about his illness and get immediate love and support from the whole crew.
Family Number 2: Gwen “Harmony” Savage
Trixie is attending an AA meeting when Gwen, a lady wrestler, is knocked out in an underground match next door. Gwen tries to say she never lost consciousness, but Trixie knows that isn’t true and helps drive Gwen and her young son Carl home, and then gets Gwen an appointment with Dr. Turner the next day. The good news: Gwen doesn’t have a concussion! The bad news: she’s got a painful rash that she’s picked up from the dirty ring floor, and she’s also dealing with exhaustion and joint pain. They give her meds for the rash, and Trixie continues to check on Gwen, realizing that she’s a broke, she doesn’t have any family support, and the only career she has seems to be making her sicker.
After Gwen oversleeps and finds Carl missing she runs out of the house to track him down. He had just walked himself to school, but the experience proves that Gwen is really suffering from something serious. Her rush to leave the house also means that she skipped makeup, so Trixie is able to see a distinctive rash on Gwen’s face. After one look, Dr. Turner is confident that Gwen’s got lupus, a serious chronic autoimmune disease. Gwen is dropped from the fighting roster and has to take a job in the “adult fixtures” which appears to be wrestling, but in a skimpy outfit. Trixie tries to get her not to fight, but Gwen does it anyway, and ends up needing to be brought to the hospital. Finally, she takes Trixie’s advice and decides to move back to the north of England, where women can wrestle legally. She’ll be able to train fighters and avoid unscrupulous promoters: it’s a real win-win.
What’s going on in Poplar:
Dr. Turner meets with the slimy jerk who runs the board of health. Having seen that the clinic has been running smoothly at St. Cuthberts, they’ve come to a decision. They’re shutting down the maternity home. Dr. Turner will be able to continue operating the surgery as a general practitioner, but that’s it. The license runs out in only a few weeks, so there’s barely any time to plan for this devastating news. Dr. Turner is furious: Slimy Jerk still has some sway, why is he doing this? It all comes down to Nonnatus, which this guy just hates. He doesn’t really care that this will be bad for the patients, and is leaving that problem to Dr. Turner to solve. The situation is confirmed via a letter that Sister Julienne gets from the NHS: the maternity home with close, and the order will close up shop too.
What’s going to happen to all of our friends? Is there really nothing they can do about it? We’ll just have to come back next week to find out.
