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S09.E03: Episode 3

OnceSane

By OnceSane
in Call The Midwife

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OnceSane

OnceSane

Quote

Lucille is seconded to St Cuthbert's when a ward sister is off sick, but a lift malfunction sees her spend the evening with mother-to- be Connie instead of her planned rendezvous with Cyril. Nurse Crane tries to help a woman who is newly arrived from East Pakistan, while Shelagh enlists Violet, Trixie, Sister Frances and Valerie to put on a charity fashion show to raise money for the incubator fund.

Airs January 19, 2020.

MissLucas

MissLucas

If felt a little bit disjointed to me but as usual Nurse Crane ruled.

Obstetric fistulas are absolutely horrible and sadly still a massive problem in Sub Sahara African countries and parts of Asia. And as shown in this episode its impact is devastating going far beyond the physical - here's a quote from a recent paper on the subject:

Quote

Women living with fistula may be blamed by the community members for their condition, viewing it as punishment for sin or a venereal disease or curse. The women are unable to participate in religious activities and social gatherings, and are considered unhygienic.

And it's not always the result of prolonged childbirth but can also be caused by rape. Check out the work of Doctor Denis Mukwege who helped thousands of women brutalized in the Second Congo War (one of these horrible forgotten conflicts).

Lucille's plot was a bit predictable but I appreciate that her struggles with everyday racism keep being a theme. And she looked wonderful for her date.

The fashion show was supposed to be a distraction but I simply can't with 60's fashion. 

How much longer will Sister Julienne wait until she finally drops the bomb? This is so untypical for her - I wonder what's going on.

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BooksRule

BooksRule

Maybe it was the editing for the U.S. audience, but everything seemed to have been wrapped up very quickly and neatly.  The woman who didn't like Lucille very quickly changed her mind about Lucille (I know that she needed Lucille's help, but she went right from sneering at her and ordering her to pick up her magazines to almost being besties in about 60 seconds), the husband of the Pakistani woman went from being angry and ashamed of his wife to being ashamed of himself, swallowing his pride and was well on his way to being a good father/husband.  And what about the young woman who had to go home and was terrified of being alone with the baby?  We immediately skipped to a happy home with her mother there to help.  I know there had to be more story that I didn't see.  I'll definitely have to get the DVDs from my local library and catch up (as soon as they are back open, of course).  So far, every season of the DVDs have been uncut.

I thought the Pakistani woman's problem would have been that the placenta hadn't been delivered and caused an infection (but she had the baby long enough ago that if that had been the problem it would have killed her, I guess). 

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LittleIggy

LittleIggy

2 hours ago, geauxaway said:

Wowza Trixie’s skirt was short short!  All those people being scandalized by it, including Sister Julienne blushing.  Loved it!

Dr. Turner’s tie matching to Shelagh and the girls and Fred’s vest matching to Violet was a sweet touch.

What TV show was Sister MJ watching?

Didn’t Violet say she was wearing a matching pair of “briefs”? I thought that meant she was wearing short shorts, too. I don’t know. I just thought the outfit was ugly, especially the hat. I know that was the style back then but still 😬.

That poor Pakistani woman! Glad Phyllis took charge.

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purist

purist

An Australian hero called Dr Catherine Hamlin, who pioneered obstetric fistula repair surgery in Ethiopia and thereby helped thousands of women, died just recently. She found out about the condition when she went to Ethiopia in the very late 1950s, and eventually founded a hospital for women in Addis Ababa. This episode made me think of her gratefully.

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caitmcg

caitmcg

(edited)

As soon as Phyllis encountered her and her situation, I knew that the Sylheti wife likely had a vaginal fistula. It seems all it took to turn her feelings around about accepting medical attention was for husband to say “we need you to get well.” He had so shamed her and blamed her that she felt too ashamed even to accept help. (I also figured she wouldn’t want to let Dr Turner examine her, so I’m glad he realized they’d need to do it another way.)

I’d like to know if an edited scene covered any followup regarding the two sons’ inoculation,  because it seemed that once Phyllis encountered their mother, the original reason for her chasing down the parents was forgotten in what we saw in the US. It wasn’t the point of the plot, of course, but I kept wondering. 

Edited by caitmcg
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JudyObscure

JudyObscure

9 hours ago, Driad said:

A documentary about affected women in Ethiopia, called "A Walk to Beautiful," aired on PBS about 2011.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Walk_to_Beautiful

I remembered that documentary as soon as we met the poor woman.  The men in the documentary, in fact their whole village, had rejected the women, too. 

Spoiler

After their surgery, which was so simple nurses could perform it, the women were given new cotton dresses to wear back to their villages and the all look so fresh and lovely in them.  It's well worth watching.

The only fashion show I was interested in, was seeing the Sylheti wife return to her (hopefully well cleaned) home in her new sari.  Even my husband was disappointed that we didn't get to see that.

I wore very short skirts in the late sixties, too, but somehow we had all got used to it gradually, a few inches shorter each year. We always wore pantyhose or tights with them and we never got quite to the height Trixie's  was.  With matching panties it was all rather like tennis skirts.  They never seemed  as revealing around the "personal area" as some of the thin, tight leggings seen today. 

We wore our longer skirts to work or dinner with in-laws.  I don't see the point in deliberately trying to scandalize people unless it's to say, 'I'm young and pretty and you're not."  I wonder if this thing between Trixie and Sister Julienne is building to something.

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Blackie

Blackie

On 1/20/2020 at 1:59 PM, MissLucas said:

If felt a little bit disjointed to me but as usual Nurse Crane ruled.

 

I thought this was the most continuous show in a long while, instead of 10 plots there were 3 main ones and 2 subplots, the one with sister MJ was sweet but the one with the lady and the mom was not needed. Oh I guess Lucille and her dates was another sub-sub plot so I guess there were still a lot crammed in.  And why did they have to show a 2 sec scene of Dr Turner getting in his car???  To show that the Dr was on his way?  Then they probably cut some other scenes that actually have some plot info.

 

I thought Trixie was wearing hot pants.  I laughed that the little girls dresses were made of drapes, they cute though.  Did they end up making enough money to by the incubater? I guess we'll never know because we had to see Dr Turner getting in his car.

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Straycat80

Straycat80

I loved the 60’s fashion show and how scandalized the nuns and older women were when Trixie walked out in the mini skirt. I remember being a little girl and hearing about how upset the priest at our church was when the women starting coming to church wearing them. 
The story of the Pakastani woman was sad but unfortunately true to this day that women as are still going through conditions like that. 

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labresq

labresq

I don't know exactly why, but I think the Fashion Show was unnecessary and just didn't fit in.  It might be because I've been binge watching past seasons and am having to watch this one so slowly (an episode a week), but felt like a complete waste of time and took me completely out of the work of the women.  I did like that the woman was able to get a lovely sari - but the show itself just seemed like so many sitcoms where they throw in a talent show or school play or some such just as a change of scenery.  I guess the actresses do get tired of always wearing their uniforms, but there are other ways they could show us their "real" clothes than taking so much time away from their work.  

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nx74defiant

nx74defiant

Of course the woman went into labor in the elevator. I had a co-worker who shared her story,  She is slightly claustrophobic and doesn't  really like elevators anyway. One day when she was 8 months pregnant  and the elevator  she was in stopped. She used the elevator 's phone. As she was freaking  out the lady on the other end was reassuring  her that they'd  have here moving and no she wasn't going to have the baby in the elevator. To which she replied "Yes I will, I know. I watch Lifetime! 

 

Of course  she did  got out and didn't  have the baby for another  month. Later she thought  - of all the dumb things, that  what comes out - Lifetime. 

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Kohola3

Kohola3

1 hour ago, nx74defiant said:

Of course the woman went into labor in the elevator.

Yeah, you could see that one coming a mile away!

I, too, felt like there were some gaps or maybe I'm getting hypersensitive to the fact that we know about cutting scenes.  I didn't get the whole exchange of glances between Phyllis and the teacher when looking at the boy's arm when discussing vaccinations.  What did I miss?

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caitmcg

caitmcg

23 minutes ago, Kohola3 said:

I, too, felt like there were some gaps or maybe I'm getting hypersensitive to the fact that we know about cutting scenes.  I didn't get the whole exchange of glances between Phyllis and the teacher when looking at the boy's arm when discussing vaccinations.  What did I miss?

I assumed it was due to there being the raised white mark or scar, which is not something you’d expect to see at a vaccination site weeks or months after the fact, but this is part of what had me wondering whether there was followup after Phyllis found the parents. 

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Kohola3

Kohola3

1 minute ago, caitmcg said:

I assumed it was due to there being the raised white mark or scar, which is not something you’d expect to see at a vaccination site weeks or months after the fact, but this is part of what had me wondering whether there was followup after Phyllis found the parents. 

Heck, I'm over 70 and you can still see my smallpox vaccination scar!

I guess it'll be a mystery unless someone from the UK can fill us in on deleted scenes.

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tljgator

tljgator

30 minutes ago, Kohola3 said:

I didn't get the whole exchange of glances between Phyllis and the teacher when looking at the boy's arm when discussing vaccinations.  What did I miss?

At first, I thought it was related to the raised scar (presumably for smallpox), but I think it was simply to do with the boys' clothes being "threadbare" and "needing mending" since Phyllis specifically mentioned this when getting the donated clothes for them. There was a hole in the sleeve of his coat when he rolled up his sleeve.

I'd also bet we're missing scenes, too, though, lol.

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Bunnyette

Bunnyette

8 hours ago, labresq said:

I don't know exactly why, but I think the Fashion Show was unnecessary and just didn't fit in.  It might be because I've been binge watching past seasons and am having to watch this one so slowly (an episode a week), but felt like a complete waste of time and took me completely out of the work of the women.  I did like that the woman was able to get a lovely sari - but the show itself just seemed like so many sitcoms where they throw in a talent show or school play or some such just as a change of scenery.  I guess the actresses do get tired of always wearing their uniforms, but there are other ways they could show us their "real" clothes than taking so much time away from their work.  

As usual cut scenes made it disjointed. Why was Lucille not even a part of the fashion show?  Completely separate from them all.  Within Trixie’s mini dress I’m sure there is a scene on PBS’ cutting room floor that ties it together.  Stop cuttings scenes PBS, I’d rather have them the the behind the scenes stuff they show.  Yep, the racist patient stuff was wrapped pretty quickly.

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txhorns79

txhorns79

Quote

I loved the 60’s fashion show and how scandalized the nuns and older women were when Trixie walked out in the mini skirt. I remember being a little girl and hearing about how upset the priest at our church was when the women starting coming to church wearing them. 

Isn't it supposed to only be '65?  I felt like Trixie's outfit was really fashion forward with the mini-mini skirt and boots, and Valerie's skirt length would have been much more the style. 

I also thought Lucille looked great in that yellow outfit she wore on her date.  That's a wonderful color on her.  And seriously, she has the patience of a saint.  I would have been done with that patient the moment she directed me to clean up her magazines.  "Tell ya what love, I'll clean up the magazines and we'll have the hospital maintenance staff deliver your baby.  Have fun!"   

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Sarah 103

Sarah 103

My biggest problem was the scene between Dr. Turner and Mrs. Mohammed. She knows what happened to her (long childbirth and the baby died) and that she has a problem. I'm guessing it was written that way to catch up viewers who were tuning in halfway through the episode, but there had to be a better way to do that type of recap.  

I loved the fashion show. 

StatisticalOutlier

StatisticalOutlier

(edited)
On 4/13/2020 at 3:53 PM, Kohola3 said:

Heck, I'm over 70 and you can still see my smallpox vaccination scar!

I think I've posted about this before, but I'm 62 and my doctor put my vaccination on my shoulder blade instead of my arm, so it wouldn't be visible.  These days, I can't think of a single place on a person's body that would be considered safe from visibility.

Edited by StatisticalOutlier
safe, not save
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StatisticalOutlier

StatisticalOutlier

1 hour ago, izabella said:

What sort of....implement creates these vaccine scars and why were they even used instead of a regular needle?

I always pictured the implement as a round thing with a bunch of individual needles in it--shaped kind of like a car cigarette lighter.  It turns out I was wrong, but that's not surprising because there's no way I would ever actually look at whatever was coming toward me. 

From what I gather, the vaccine goes shallow instead of deep.  They use a bifurcated needle that looks like two-pronged pitchfork.  The vaccine is suspended between the prongs and they poke the skin 15 times with it.  About a week later, they check to see if there's a blister; if there is, then the vaccine took. 

My recollection is that it didn't hurt as bad as a shot.

Still, I preferred the polio vaccine in a sugar cube.

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HoneyBeach

HoneyBeach

On 4/13/2020 at 5:50 PM, caitmcg said:

I assumed it was due to there being the raised white mark or scar, which is not something you’d expect to see at a vaccination site weeks or months after the fact, but this is part of what had me wondering whether there was followup after Phyllis found the parents. 

This is not unusual for foreign countries.  I have family from outside the US who was vaccinated at least 50 years ago, and they all have a small, about the size of a dime, raised scar.  Not sure which vaccine it comes from. I came back to the US so I could start kindergarten, and I don't have it.  My inoculations were all in the US, so no scars.

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JudyObscure

JudyObscure

I have a round white scar from my small pox vac, of which I remember nothing, and a small white scar from when I returned to the U. S. after three years in England and failed a TB test, causing a mound of ugliness the size of a thimble to rise up.  I didn't know there was a BCG vaccine!  The USAF should have given it to all of us before we left.

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Deskisamess

Deskisamess

I'm 61...I remember my dad holding me on his lap, and holding my arm as I got the smallpox vaccination on the back of my upper arm. It's been a long time since I looked for the scar, it's hard to see now, but it was very visible and round, about ⅓ of an inch across when I was younger and thinner.

I seem to remember it sort of scabbing over, then the scab fell off, leaving an imprint type scar.
 
This episode was ok, but the US editing really throws off the flow somehow. Some of the resolutions seemed rushed or incomplete.
 

Why make a point of showing that pretty fabric for the sari, then not show the finished product?

I thought Phyllis reacted to the boys arm because they were so thin, she mentioned later they could stand a decent meal. 

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LeGrandElephant

LeGrandElephant

On 4/12/2020 at 10:16 PM, GaT said:

I remember a loooong time ago all my dresses had matching panties, that was the style.

On 4/13/2020 at 4:59 AM, JudyObscure said:

With matching panties it was all rather like tennis skirts. 

This is the first I’ve ever heard that those miniskirts came with matching panties that were expected to be seen! Like a bathing suit bottom? That explains a lot. Were they really panties or more like wearing bike shorts under a skirt?

I did think the outfit was ugly and the whole fashion show plot was odd, like they just needed a filler B plot. No followup on people walking out on Trixie? 

LeGrandElephant

LeGrandElephant

(edited)
On 10/5/2020 at 12:28 PM, GaT said:

From what I remember, they looked like panties, not bike shorts.

Fascinating. When I wore miniskirts in the late 90s and early 2000s I don’t remember that being a thing (though I did sometimes wear bike/volleyball shorts or similar underneath). When you wore these matching panties, did you expect that people would see them? 

Edited by LeGrandElephant
GaT

GaT

35 minutes ago, LeGrandElephant said:

Fascinating. When I wore miniskirts in the late 90s and early 2000s I don’t remember that being a thing (though I did sometimes wear bike/volleyball shorts or similar underneath). When you wore these matching panties, did you expect that people would see them? 

Yep, that was the whole point, they were supposed to be seen.

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LeGrandElephant

LeGrandElephant

On 10/6/2020 at 3:53 PM, GaT said:

Yep, that was the whole point, they were supposed to be seen.

I'm so curious about this! So was the idea that they'd be seen in a naughty sexual way, or that they'd be seen and it would just be totally blasé acceptable, like seeing the shorts under someone's tennis skirt when it flies up during a game? 

If the latter, then it sounds far more practical than the short skirts I wore in the late 90s and early 2000s! 

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GaT

GaT

2 hours ago, LeGrandElephant said:

I'm so curious about this! So was the idea that they'd be seen in a naughty sexual way, or that they'd be seen and it would just be totally blasé acceptable, like seeing the shorts under someone's tennis skirt when it flies up during a game? 

If the latter, then it sounds far more practical than the short skirts I wore in the late 90s and early 2000s! 

They were called Sizzler dresses

https://www.facebook.com/332172910135308/posts/summer-of-71-found-me-wearing-the-ragethe-sizzler-dress-it-was-a-super-short-cas/2591104534242123/

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