Ticketyboo

Yes to what everybody else said about the marriage license ridiculousness (background checks, marriage issued by state)- that's exactly what I was thinking last night! I'm beginning to think that there was an elaborate plan for some (completely stupid and made up) reason to keep the two from getting married. The long-lost husband? The fire at the rooftop venue? The flood that ruined the dress? (Kate should send a thank-you note to that pipe.) And the fairy-tale part about overcoming challenges-- ugh. Do they think people aren't willing to watch a couple who have a happy and fun relationship? Nick and Nora did it perfectly, so it can be done. It's like "Moonlighting" ruined a happy couple for all time now.

Some of my favorite moments of this series are the tiny little ones. Tonight-- Sister Julienne trying to tell a cricket joke. There was a moment about two weeks ago when Sister Evangelina got a little bit silly about Lamaze breathing, I think, which I loved.

I didn't realize it, but this is the episode I've been waiting a long time for-- we get to know more about Sister Evangelina, and she gets acknowledgement she so richly deserves! We got hints of her background in that first Christmas episode, but I think her feature episode is long overdue. I also wonder what she would think of me if I were a midwife at Nonnatus (what, doesn't everybody do that?) and my hope is it would start out very Trixie-like, and end up very Trixie-like. I love how that relationship has progressed. I also liked all the callbacks in this episode-- Jenny's time at the London with Patsy, (who I did not expect to like but happily liked her immensely as a character and as a part of the group) the home where the couple nearly placed their baby born with spina bifida, Sister Monica Joan's tendency to wander off-- and many more. I love that we know these characters so well that these little things stay consistent and can just be referenced in one little scene. Although I wish some scenes weren't *quite* as little-- I'm really irritated PBS cut the Shelagh/Sister Evangelina scene short!

I like how this episode started, and I hope it's an indicator of what's to come. Diane and Alicia are now free of The Man in their professional lives (albeit tragically and involuntarily) and I want to see what they do next. Although I loved Diane's courtship and marriage, I'm not as interested in the romantic entanglements of Diane and Alicia as I may have been in the past. Maybe I've been watching too much "Call the Midwife" lately, but I really want to see women be interesting on television without having a romance be the reason why. Women can have friendships! And careers! And not fall into bed with every man they happen to like and is decent to them! (which is why I do NOT want to see a Finn/Alicia pairing. Sure, she has a good relationship with Cary, but I don't know that they're friends. Alicia needs a friend; after the Kalinda betrayal, I don't think she has one. That could be a really interesting thing to explore.) That's also why I liked the kitchen scene so much. Peter just assumed that when Alicia said he could sleep with other women it's because SHE wants to be free to sleep with someone. I think Alicia just wants to be free, and when he said that the look of disgust on her face said it all.