S09.E08: Episode 8

[OnceSane]

Quote

Sister Julienne decides it is time to take matters in hand when a letter arrives from the council saying that it will cut funding to Nonnatus House and no longer pay for the accommodation, and goes to see Violet at one of her open sessions as a local councillor. At clinic, Nurse Crane meets and cares for heavily pregnant Bonnie, who is not married but committed to the baby's father Eddie, while Kevin's dependency on pain relief is discovered by the team and Dr Turner and Miss Higgins must find a way to help him.

Airs February 23, 2020.

[Hasseltine]

How is it the finale already?

[OnceSane]

6 hours ago, Hasseltine said:

How is it the finale already?

I feel like that every year.

[IrishPirate]

The show begins its new season in Britain right after New Year (and after the Christmas special). Stateside, we get to see the Christmas special but have to wait til spring for the new season.

[MissLucas]

*phew* It might seem tough that we only get eight episodes each season but after this finale I'm glad for a break. Talk about emotionally draining - we hadn't reached half-time yet and I was a sobbing wreck. That was relentless and even the uplifting parts felt heavy. 

Best moment for comic relief Nurse Crane muttering to herself that she needs to get two vases. Also on the plus side: first time I felt Lucille and Cyril as a couple. And fierce Trixie is the best Trixie. Sister Monica Joan on Gran's bedside gently alluding to the reason Gran was so overjoyed with Val's birth was sublime. I wish a bit more time had been given Doctor McNulty's plot but the episode was already juggling three (!) other plots. 

5 out of 5 hankies. The Christmas Special better be all rainbows and unicorns!

 

[purist]

16 hours ago, MissLucas said:

*phew* It might seem tough that we only get eight episodes each season but after this finale I'm glad for a break. Talk about emotionally draining - we hadn't reached half-time yet and I was a sobbing wreck.

Same. I lost it when Sister Julienne and Lucille joined Val in the chapel. Val's stricken face and their kindness to her broke me.

Loved the community rallying around, and Trixie telling it like it is to the panel of men. Yay for the power of women, and hoorah for their unseen, un(der)paid work that (to this day) keeps the world turning.

[bybrandy]

I feel like the last few seasons have been overdone on the tragedy espeically the finals.  This show just isn't must see tv for me anymore.  It is more like, "oh, midwife was on.  I should check it out.  Do I want to see death and suffering?  Eh...   um... no... maybe I'll fastforward through some bits.   

I don't mind the more serious stories.  Every bit of Val's grandmother has been tremendously well done.   But I just don't feel like we're getting the character moments that we used to that provided the light to contrast the dark.   

 

[captain1]

Wasn’t that fiancé  our William from Downton Abbey?

Edited May 18, 2020 by captain1

[Constant Viewer]

17 minutes ago, captain1 said:

Wasn’t that fiancé  our William from Downton Abbey?

Yes! I had to look up to make sure, but it was.

[debraran]

I had read Trixie helps Dr McNulty and fights for him. Can that be next year or did PBS leave that out? That would be pretty big, maybe they meant next season.

Edited May 18, 2020 by debraran

[captain1]

Phyllis telling the councilmen to “read, mark, learn and inwardly digest” was especially cool since she fancies herself non religious.

[Kohola3]

Wait. what happened to the unwed mother and the father of her child. Are we to assume they stayed together because the other girl lost her baby?  I hate loose ends!

How sweet Cyril is and went through two hankies listening to him and Lucille singing at the deathbed.

How will I manage until next spring??

[lurkerbee]

21 minutes ago, Constant Viewer said:

Yes! I had to look up to make sure, but it was.

I laughed out loud whwn they named the baby Daisy.

[Rhetorica]

I hate this show but I can't quit it! 😥 Such sweet storylines and so heartwarming. See you next year. 

[Badger]

36 minutes ago, debraran said:

 

 

36 minutes ago, debraran said:

I had read Trixie helps Dr McNulty and fights for him. Can that be next year or did PBS leave that out? That would be pretty big, maybe they meant next season.

I don't remember that at all.  There is a scene they cut where some of the midwives were trying to teach Kevin to dance so they could send him to the discotheque for junior doctors.  You see a record player playing a 45 of Petula Clark's "I Know a Place" while Sr. Hilda dances with Kevin urging him to swing his arms but he's not sure in what direction.  Sr. Monica Joan is standing holding a diagram of dance steps.  Nurse Crane looks up from her knitting and asks if maybe his oxfords are too stiff and maybe plimsolls might be better.  Sr. Hilda thinks that they'd give him more bounce on the ball of his foot.  Trixie points out that they don't wear plimsolls at a discotheque.  Meanwhile Kevin has started really getting into the dancing and he's bopping away happy as a pig in slop when Lucille comes in and tells Kevin that the men's shelter called that someone has died and he will have to certify the death.  

Some of the other scenes they cut:

There's a bit of cut dialogue in the scene with Violet and the mother and her daughter.  When the daughter goes outside, the mother says she is nervous and Violet assures her that she won't be the first and she certainly won't be the last which is no doubt a reference to her daughter's pregnancy.

There's a bit of an extension to the scene where Val's Gran comes back to her flat.  Auntie Flo drops by and says all their relatives want to see her, but Elsie says the only person she wants in her flat is Val.

There's a scene with Sisters Frances and Hilda along with Lucille on their bikes ready to get signatures from their home visit patients.  When that's done, Sister Hilda says they'll knock on doors.

There's a montage of scenes of Val with Elsie, Eddie with Bonnie and then Eddie with Petra. Then there's a scene of a woman signing the midwives' petition.  This is all done while Andy Williams' "More" plays.
 

 

 

 

Edited May 18, 2020 by Badger
removed a paragraph.

[MartyQui]

They cut so many scenes I would have liked to see!

[Kohola3]

Thank you, @Badger for filling in the blanks.  We missed SO much!

[dargosmydaddy]

This is kind of a continuation from my last episode post, but the Dr. McNulty plot just pisses me off!

Here was the opportunity for a really interesting addition to the cast, a new young doctor finding his footing while being mentored by (and living with, at least temporarily) all these women. Why did they have to ruin this by introducing this super-rushed and completely unnecessary addiction storyline?

If we never see his character again... what was the point? They've already done a much more nuanced addiction story with Trixie. If they wanted to do another, surely a patient-of-the-week would have sufficed. And are we just going to start over with a new young doctor next season? I thought the McNulty actor was good, and had nice chemistry with the cast; who knows what we'll get with someone new.

If McNulty does end up coming back (and I feel like he might, because otherwise, what was the point?), it'll feel super contrived... as he himself rightfully pointed out, no one is going to trust him, nor should they. Every future storyline he has is going to be colored by that, which feels like needless melodrama when again, there could have been plenty of other, more natural-but-still-interesting stories to give him. I just feel like they've taken a severe right turn into unnecessary soapiness, and for what? The deleted scene Badger described sounded adorable, and I loved the scene with Phyllis measuring him for a sweater while they watched wrestling. Continued character development like this would have been more than enough for a second-tier character. Or if the drug addiction was necessary (and it really wasn't), let it develop more slowly and be a fully realized story, rather than a B-plot that was done in three episodes. Ugh. You're better than this, Call the Midwife.

Other than that, the bureaucracy storyline also felt pretty rushed, but I'm glad Trixie got her moment in the spotlight. And I spent the whole episode thinking the two-timing guy looked familiar, but I never would have guessed William the footman. Yikes! 

[JustDucky]

1 hour ago, lurkerbee said:

I laughed out loud when they named the baby Daisy.

Oh, if I had only caught who that was upon first viewing!  (I had to watch it after it aired on the website, and I was so distracted by the "Who Is That?" that I became a little distracted from that particular plot.  

This is the first new Midwife episode in *checks calendar* a couple of seasons that made me boo-hoo openly.  Recent episodes have made me have feelings, but not to the point of this one.  When Val's grandma muttered about "gritting her teeth" as her former patients did, the waterworks started and didn't stop until *checks clock next to calendar* two minutes ago.

After Trixie's first line about "It's Nurse Franklin, in this professional setting", I was quietly chanting her name.  Damn, girl - when they give you something to do, you pick it up and run with it, fashionable high heels be damned!

If we'd gotten to know Dr. McNulty better, I'd have felt more for him.  Do I blame Heidi's writing for this, or PBS's editing?

[Dr.OO7]

On 2/21/2020 at 11:16 PM, OnceSane said:

I feel like that every year.

That's British Brevity for you. Just as we Americans find ourselves really getting into the season and enjoying it, it's finished.

I knew the receptionist was getting suspicious about Dr. McNulty. I'm glad he collapsed before he really screwed up with a patient.

I saw one of Eddie's girls losing her baby while the other miscarried a mile away. I just fully expected the twist of the nearly term woman to be the one to have a stillbirth while the other pulled through.

Edited May 19, 2020 by Camille

[zoey1996]

Yes, I sobbed.  I liked that Lucille & Cyril sang one of the later verses of Amazing Grace, one that isn't heard as often.

The Guy Fawkes night celebration was fun.  I actually got to go to a Bonfire Night in England a few years ago, so this brought fond memories as well.

I didn't realize it was the same father and didn't figure out the actor either, so kudos to those who did.  How perfect is Daisy!

[LittleIggy]

I liked the mum whacking the two-timing fiancé over the head with her purse. He deserved it! 😆 Petra can do better than him. Not only was he a cheater, he was stupid. Didn’t he think someone Petra knew might be at that class?
Cyril and Lucille singing was nice, but he wasn’t of much spiritual help since Granny was unconscious by then.

Dr. McNulty storyline was a waste of a good character.

[caitmcg]

3 hours ago, Kohola3 said:

Wait. what happened to the unwed mother and the father of her child. Are we to assume they stayed together because the other girl lost her baby?  I hate loose ends!

I assume so, given a) she was much more forgiving of him than Petra, who wondered how she could marry a man she’d never be able to trust, and b) he was there at the birth.

[GaT]

6 hours ago, Badger said:

There's a bit of an extension to the scene where Val's Gran comes back to her flat.  Auntie Flo drops by and says all their relatives want to see her, but Elsie says the only person she wants in her flat is Val.

OK, I read "Auntie Flo drops by" & my brain went "grandma got her period? Isn't she too old?" The brain is a truly sad thing.

[debraran]

9 hours ago, Badger said:

 

I don't remember that at all.  There is a scene they cut where some of the midwives were trying to teach Kevin to dance so they could send him to the discotheque for junior doctors.  You see a record player playing a 45 of Petula Clark's "I Know a Place" while Sr. Hilda dances with Kevin urging him to swing his arms but he's not sure in what direction.  Sr. Monica Joan is standing holding a diagram of dance steps.  Nurse Crane looks up from her knitting and asks if maybe his oxfords are too stiff and maybe plimsolls might be better.  Sr. Hilda thinks that they'd give him more bounce on the ball of his foot.  Trixie points out that they don't wear plimsolls at a discotheque.  Meanwhile Kevin has started really getting into the dancing and he's bopping away happy as a pig in slop when Lucille comes in and tells Kevin that the men's shelter called that someone has died and he will have to certify the death.  

 

Okay, well maybe it was an "in the future" article or a "what if" Time will tell if it comes true. I hated as others seeing another addiction story, the only twist with it not being the doctor who liked to drink. I don't know why it was so rushed in a sense, with such a big gap. What was the purpose? I can see him also having Dr Turner's support but always that cloud hanging there. I'm sure unless the actor can't, he'll be back for the Xmas special and maybe an interest for Val in the future. The fact Dr Turner brought up his past shows he will give him that chance.🤞

I loved the show but didn't like how conveniently the other pregnant mom gets written off, because she loses the baby. One of my daughter's watches off and on and was surprised because it is not like the usual episodes, not saying those things don't happen but for me it seemed "off" for this show. I loved Nurse Crane and Cyril and Lucille singing. Lots of good moments. I will miss them very much.

Edited May 18, 2020 by debraran

[debraran]

Someone put the dancing scene in this comment on the show. I got the second video to play but no sound. Funny though. https://uk.style.yahoo.com/call-midwife-viewers-worried-fate-112200028.html

Edited May 18, 2020 by debraran

[Badger]

2 hours ago, debraran said:

Okay, well maybe it was an "in the future" article or a "what if" Time will tell if it comes true. I hated as others seeing another addiction story, the only twist with it not being the doctor who liked to drink. I don't know why it was so rushed in a sense, with such a big gap. What was the purpose? I can see him also having Dr Turner's support but always that cloud hanging there. I'm sure unless the actor can't, he'll be back for the Xmas special and maybe an interest for Val in the future. The fact Dr Turner brought up his past shows he will give him that chance.🤞

I loved the show but didn't like how conveniently the other pregnant mom gets written off, because she loses the baby. One of my daughter's watches off and on and was surprised because it is not like the usual episodes, not saying those things don't happen but for me it seemed "off" for this show. I loved Nurse Crane and Cyril and Lucille singing. Lots of good moments. I will miss them very much.

They did a similar thing in an earlier episode.  A young working class man had gotten a scholarship to Oxford and had aspirations of working for the BBC.  However, his girlfriend got pregnant so everyone decided they had to get married and he had to get a job.  The girl had mixed feelings because she hated that he had to give up his dream for her but at the same time she had been worrying that if he went up to Oxford, he'd forget about her.  The young man was so distraught by the situation that he attempted suicide.  Then the girlfriend had a miscarriage and in the end, he went off to Oxford but they remained a couple.

[jschoolgirl]

11 hours ago, dargosmydaddy said:

This is kind of a continuation from my last episode post, but the Dr. McNulty plot just pisses me off!

Here was the opportunity for a really interesting addition to the cast, a new young doctor finding his footing while being mentored by (and living with, at least temporarily) all these women. Why did they have to ruin this by introducing this super-rushed and completely unnecessary addiction storyline?

If we never see his character again... what was the point? They've already done a much more nuanced addiction story with Trixie. If they wanted to do another, surely a patient-of-the-week would have sufficed. And I spent the whole episode thinking the two-timing guy looked familiar, but I never would have guessed William the footman. Yikes! 

He's gained a lot of weight.

[Bunnyette]

15 hours ago, Kohola3 said:

Wait. what happened to the unwed mother and the father of her child. Are we to assume they stayed together because the other girl lost her baby?  I hate loose ends!

How sweet Cyril is and went through two hankies listening to him and Lucille singing at the deathbed.

How will I manage until next spring??

More cut scenes!  Yes it was a bit to neat.  And unrealistic view of miscarriage as well.  You don’t just carry on.

what annoys me about the cuts is that PBS adds about 10 minutes worth of behind the scenes footage!  I’d rather see the cut scenes.

Edited May 18, 2020 by Bunnyette
Added more thoughts

[Suzn]

1 hour ago, Bunnyette said:

More cut scenes!  Yes it was a bit to neat.  And unrealistic view of miscarriage as well.  You don’t just carry on.

what annoys me about the cuts is that PBS adds about 10 minutes worth of behind the scenes footage!n I’d rather see the cut scenes.

I wonder who thinks we would rather see the behind the scenes stuff instead of the entire show.  Meaningful scenes are lost and we have to speculate things that are actually spelled out but not shown.

[LittleIggy]

18 minutes ago, Suzn said:

I wonder who thinks we would rather see the behind the scenes stuff instead of the entire show.  Meaningful scenes are lost and we have to speculate things that are actually spelled out but not shown.

But...but then we wouldn’t get to see everyone fawn over Heidi Thomas! 🙄

[AZChristian]

1 hour ago, LittleIggy said:

But...but then we wouldn’t get to see everyone fawn over Heidi Thomas! 🙄

In a nutshell . . . BINGO!!!!

[debraran]

Is there a way, maybe on FB page, to let them know many don't like it? Wouldn't it be better to have a montage of that as a special show, behind the camera scenes, interviews etc when it's all over?

[dargosmydaddy]

The behind the scenes stuff is usually only a minute or two; there's also the (necessary for PBS) ads that take up the other minutes. The behind-the-scenes stuff used to be kind of interesting (especially when they would talk to the nun actresses without their habits on) and, in my memory, episode-specific. This season they seem to have only two or three videos that they keep rerunning them, which is super annoying. 

I know people have mentioned they've contacting PBS before (about the cuts in general, not the annoyingness of the behind-the-scenes videos in particular), and nothing has changed in all these years, so I doubt it ever will...

[txhorns79]

Caught the episode finally.  I thought the scenes with Val nursing her Gran were lovely, even if maybe they could have toned down the death make up they gave the actress?  I half expected her to open her eyes after dying and take a large bite out of Lucille's arm. 

I also really liked Trixie getting such a nice moment to shine.  Her speech was moving, and even if Nonnatus House was only given a 12 month reprieve, that is something more than they had before. 

[DonnaMae]

On 5/17/2020 at 5:46 PM, Constant Viewer said:

Yes! I had to look up to make sure, but it was.

Thomas Howe has gotten rather chubby since Downton Abbey.

 

[nokat]

On Sunday, May 17, 2020 at 7:29 PM, dargosmydaddy said:

Here was the opportunity for a really interesting addition to the cast, a new young doctor finding his footing while being mentored by (and living with, at least temporarily) all these women. Why did they have to ruin this by introducing this super-rushed and completely unnecessary addiction storyline?

I'm with you on this. I was excited when his character was introduced.  I really like the beginning of the friendship with Sister Frances.

The Valerie storyline got the tears going again. Her styling though is rivaling Trixie. Love the clothes.




 

3 hours ago, DonnaMae said:

Thomas Howe has gotten rather chubby since Downton Abbey.

 

It's why I was trying to remember where I knew him from. Of course I've also become chubby since then too.

 

Nurse Crane: you are not fishwives. I love her character.

I also like the addition of Lucille and her boyfriend. I would want that kindness at the end.


 

Edited May 19, 2020 by nokat
spelling

[caitmcg]

It’s kind of surprising that they got through nine seasons before featuring a story about two women knocked up by the same guy, all things considered.

[nokat]

On Monday, May 18, 2020 at 12:43 AM, GaT said:

OK, I read "Auntie Flo drops by" & my brain went "grandma got her period? Isn't she too old?" The brain is a truly sad thing.

My brain went there too. Aunt Flo dropped by? She hasn't visited me in many years. I never liked her anyway.
 

[AZChristian]

9 hours ago, nokat said:

I also like the addition of Lucille and her boyfriend. I would want that kindness at the end.

I thought it odd that Gran wanted to have a minister (not the vicar, whom she didn't like), but Cyril appeared not to speak to Gran at all.  He sat nearby reading a Bible, but we didn't see him approach Gran until Lucille said she was asleep and wouldn't be waking up.  And then they sang - but he never prayed with her????

[Kohola3]

2 minutes ago, AZChristian said:

And then they sang - but he never prayed with her????

Not that we saw but maybe they decided to leave any religious stuff out.  We don't see a lot with the nuns, either.

[nokat]

12 minutes ago, AZChristian said:

I thought it odd that Gran wanted to have a minister (not the vicar, whom she didn't like), but Cyril appeared not to speak to Gran at all.  He sat nearby reading a Bible, but we didn't see him approach Gran until Lucille said she was asleep and wouldn't be waking up.  And then they sang - but he never prayed with her????

Maybe he knew praying wasn't her thing, but just being there so she wasn't alone was how he ministered to her?

 

Maybe he was there for Lucille as much as for Gran.

 

Edited May 19, 2020 by nokat

[kwnyc]

I could see Trixie going on to become a feminist activist or MP! She told THEM, and she did it in a way that laid out the most important stuff and dared them to ignore it. Brava, Trixie!

And it was such a lovely moment when Cyril acknowledged how important Lucille's work is. He loves her more because of it. And when she called Gran "Precious," that was my losing it moment.

Especially with Gran, they actually showed, rather than told, why what Nonnatus House does is so important. 

[nokat]

6 minutes ago, kwnyc said:

I could see Trixie going on to become a feminist activist or MP! She told THEM, and she did it in a way that laid out the most important stuff and dared them to ignore it. Brava, Trixie!

Wasn't Trixie awesome? I was cheering for her.
 

[mmecorday]

Does anyone else play "Guess the Diagnosis" when watching this show? I knew that Gran had esophageal cancer. It's just about the worst kind of cancer one can have. I hope now that Gran has passed, Valerie is given something to do other than look cute in her outfits. I really like her.

[libgirl2]

14 hours ago, nokat said:

I also like the addition of Lucille and her boyfriend. I would want that kindness at the end.


 

Having just lost both my parents in less than two years (I was at their bedsides), when she said precious and about letting your body do the work, I lost it.  

[proserpina65]

2 hours ago, mmecorday said:

Does anyone else play "Guess the Diagnosis" when watching this show? I knew that Gran had esophageal cancer. It's just about the worst kind of cancer one can have. I hope now that Gran has passed, Valerie is given something to do other than look cute in her outfits. I really like her.

While this show often makes me tear up, that storyline really hit home for me.  My father died of esophageal cancer eight years ago, and like Gran, we discovered it way too late to do anything.  So I was outright bawling Sunday night.

[txhorns79]

15 hours ago, nokat said:

I also like the addition of Lucille and her boyfriend. I would want that kindness at the end.

If it was possible to have mostly fictional characters with me at my deathbed, I would totally want the current Nonnatus crew there.  They are so lovely, and I couldn't think of better fictional people to help usher me on my way. 

[LittleIggy]

4 hours ago, mmecorday said:

Does anyone else play "Guess the Diagnosis" when watching this show? I knew that Gran had esophageal cancer. It's just about the worst kind of cancer one can have. I hope now that Gran has passed, Valerie is given something to do other than look cute in her outfits. I really like her.

I worked with someone who died of esophageal cancer in her late 40s. She was already stick thin when she was diagnosed. It was diagnosed late, too.

Edited May 19, 2020 by LittleIggy

[tennisgurl]

Is there a petition that I can sign so that they stop hacking the episodes to pieces and cutting stuff out so I can see the whole damn episode?! Where is Trixie to give a big impassioned speech where she can convince them to let us watch a whole episode?!

Anyway, still a good episode, eight hankies out of ten! Trixies big speech telling off the board for trying to act like what they do at Nonnatus House is something that can easily be cut out from a budget, and all the good that they do for the community, was awesome! She was absolutely the right woman for the job, and from the "I prefer Nurse Franklin in a professional setting" and until the end, I felt like we needed some water, because she was on fire. They might have only gotten a reprieve for twelve months, but its better than nothing, and maybe they can at least figure something out by then. 

Oh Val, she finally gets a story, and its such a sad one. Lucille and Cyril were so lovely at her bedside, I love that they sung some of the lesser known verses of Amazing Grace. 

I cant believe this season is already over!