What’s going on in Poplar:
Despite the impending closure of the maternity home, a group of junior doctors has been assigned to the squad for training… including one Tim Turner! The trainees get a basic intro to the practice from Shelagh, and then a basic intro to bicycles from Phyllis, which is exactly as funny as you think. One of the other lads faints during a delivery, but Tim is doing great: not only does he ace the technical elements, but he’s also got a good bedside manner. Unfortunately, this sometimes gets him into trouble, like when he picks up a baby in the St. Cuthberts nursery and is scolded by the matron: he’s only supposed to diagnose and treat the babies, not take care of them!
Speaking of the maternity home: Vi tries to get Slimy Jerk to hold a special meeting to discuss the impact of the closure on the community, but he won’t budge. Everyone worries that the maternity home is a proverbial canary in the coal mine, and that more closures are coming, so they spring into action. Vi contacts the press, and arranges a photo story where she becomes a “Mayor Midwife.” They get her an outfit and everything! They also collect a huge number of signatures on a petition. Vi and Dr. Turner bring all their work to the next council meeting, and tell the group that there is a groundswell of support, but Slimy Jerk literally brushes it all aside and ignores everything they’ve prepared. Really living up to his recap nickname, that one!
Family Number 1: The Mullucks
We’ve met the Mullucks family a few times before: their daughter, Susan, was impacted by thalidomide exposure. Susan is now a happy tween, and benefiting from her parents’ advocacy and some of the expanding accessibility improvements in Poplar. Meanwhile, dad Bernie has found a new occupation with the undertaker. Losing his old job was a blow, but he now feels like working in the funeral business is his calling. Not that it doesn’t have challenges: Bernie worked the funerals for the Barrowman family in episode 5, which was especially tough because their daughter Suzanne was the same age as his daughter Susan. Bernie loves his daughter and has come a long way in getting comfortable with her disability, but he knows he’s not totally over it because he can’t get over the things in life he thinks she won’t be able to do, like dance, get married, and have children.
Separately, the Mullucks mom Rhoda has been putting off gallbladder surgery for a long time. On two separate occasions she’s reached the top of the surgery list and turned down the opportunity because she’s too busy with caring for her family and with advocacy work through the thalidomide parents group. Unfortunately for her, the choice is taken out of her hands when she has a bad gallbladder attack and is rushed to the hospital. Unsupervised, Susan has a tumble down the stairs, and is bruised but not seriously harmed. Needing more help at home, the Mullucks parents summon their daughter Belinda back from college. She initially refuses: she’s there because Rhoda insisted that Belinda get an opportunity that Rhoda never had, after all. Belinda clearly has some resentment for the amount of time and energy that is required of everyone in the family to take care of Susan, and isn’t shy about bringing this up, which is upsetting for Susan to hear. And when Belinda does return home, it turns out that she had another reason for trying to stay at school: she’s eight months pregnant and has been hiding it from her family.
Family Number 2: Ranjini and Subhankar Das
Joyce and Tim are on call when Ranjini Das goes into labor. On their way to the family’s top floor flat, they pass a woman named Cathy who asks Joyce for some help with her sick baby. Cathy doesn’t have the bus fare to take her kiddo to clinic the next day, and is worried, so Joyce says she’ll make sure to pop in once the Das’ baby is delivered. Upstairs, Ranjini explains that for religious reasons, her husband can’t touch her right now, so she’s been laboring solo. Technically, he shouldn’t even be in the room, but he doesn’t have anywhere else to go, so Tim runs out to the hall and grabs some washing line to rig up a screen. The baby is coming quickly, so Tim hustles: if he isn’t back in time, this won’t count towards his training.
Ranjini is doing great, which turns out to be a good thing, because just as soon as the baby’s head is out, Cathy starts screaming for help and a neighbor bangs on the door calling for Joyce: Cathy’s baby has stopped breathing. Joyce runs downstairs and starts giving the baby CPR while a neighbor calls for an ambulance. Meanwhile, upstairs, Tim successfully helps Ranjini deliver her baby girl. Joyce is still downstairs desperately trying to save the older baby when Tim notices that Ranjini is bleeding way too much. He administers an injection, and the baby downstairs wakes up, so both patients are ok but both will need to go to the hospital. Quite a busy first night on the job for Tim Turner!
What’s going on with our friends:
Rosalind is still getting absolutely destroyed by morning sickness, but still has to pull extra shifts because the crew is short staffed. On the plus side, Cyril picks out a beautiful pearl engagement ring that she absolutely loves, and the whole group is excited to break out the sherry to toast the young couple. Less excited? Rosalind’s parents. She puts off calling them as long as she can, and once she does, they unfortunately fail to live up to her hope that they’ll come around on Cyril. Rosalind is devastated. She doesn’t even tell them about the baby: it was so upsetting to have them continue to reject Cyril; she can’t bear to have them reject their child too.
Cyril invites Mrs. Wallace over for another tea summit to discuss the engagement and wedding, and she immediately clocks the reason for their speedy nuptials. She pretends to be cross for about 5 seconds and then tells Cyril that whatever scary thing he imagined she’d say is punishment enough. Afterwards, Mrs. Wallace meets up with Phyllis to plot how they can make this wedding special and make up for Rosalind’s disappointing parents. It’s cute that Rosalind and Joyce think the rest of their friends (who, lest we forget, are all midwives) won’t figure out the secret pregnancy, but in addition to being midwives they’re also all nice, so they pretend they don’t know yet and are delighted in secret.
Sister Veronica/Beryl continues to be doted upon by Geoffrey, who treats her as though she’s recovering from a serious illness: he takes the couch, she gets breakfast in bed, and he even encourages her to come up with a list of things she wants to do before making a final decision on returning to life as a nun. The result? A makeover! Sister Veronica/Beryl gets a couple new dresses, a part-time job as Geoffrey’s secretary, and makeup tips from Trixie. The only part of this that isn’t an unmitigated delight is that mid-makeup lesson, Sister Veronica/Beryl appears to have a hot flash, which may indicate an extra complication in her hope of becoming a mom.
Trixie takes a meeting at the Very Posh Maternity Hospital, where she’s been offered the role of Matron. She’s pretty conflicted about both the overall direction of her field away from home birth and towards a more medicalized model and the fact that the Very Posh Maternity Hospital exclusively caters to, well, the very posh. She also bristles when her new boss compares her time working in the East End to a jail sentence: Trixie has come a long way over the 15 seasons of this show, and considers it a privilege to have worked with this population. In the end, she accepts the role but with the condition that she won’t start until the order’s operation is closed down.
Sister Monica Joan’s diuretics are working, but the medication has seriously impacted her quality of life. She doesn’t like having to constantly call for help to use the toilet, she’s worried that she’ll have an accident, and she’s sick of feeling like she’s being coddled (even with things that would normally bring her joy, like having the TV set up in her room). She gets into an argument with Sister Catherine, who tries to get Sister Monica Joan to use a wheelchair to go outside based on Fred’s suggestion, leaving both women upset. Sister Julienne reminds the younger nun that families are just like this sometimes, and explains that she won’t be around to help mediate: Sister Julienne has to go visit the Mother House to talk about the future of the order with Mother Mildred. While she’s gone, Sister Monica Joan announces that she will no longer be taking her medicine. She’s ready to go, and isn’t swayed by Sister Catherine’s arguments. This prompts a bit of a breakdown for Sister Catherine, who feels alone (and in some ways she literally is, with Sisters Julienne and Veronica away). Enter Shelagh, who thoughtfully organizes everyone else to come join prayers so Sister Catherine isn’t totally solo in the chapel. This helps, but obviously this situation is only going to get harder next week — for everyone.
With so much change in the air, what does the future hold for our friends? What will the season finale bring? There’s only one way to find out!
