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Season 5 Discussion Thread

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John Potts

John Potts

Was not expecting James to be back in Darrowby so quickly. Obviously, people aren't watching ACGaS for its depiction of the Second World War, but it seems odd to have taken such pains to put James in the RAF only to bring him back home (particularly given we've been Tristan-less for a whole season). I don't know how the Books depicted it (and maybe James did spend only a couple of months in actual service), but I would have thought we'd see more of James on service. Did like his commanding officer - obviously James wasn't a fan, but he certainly had a point that he couldn't risk sending out a pilot who might pass out at any moment. And of course, the RAF took some fearsome losses (particularly early on) and colleagues would sometimes just not come back.

Glad Carmody is being portrayed as gaining confidence in his abilities, even if he screws up on occasion. Liked that it was he who realised why the cat kept passing out (in a manner that reminded me of my family pet growing up). And good on Mrs Hall for insisting she was quite capable of being a Warden. I wonder if we'll be seeing Land Army Girls turning up in Darrowby as the war goes on?

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ofmd

ofmd

(edited)

Well, after last season was less to my liking than the ones before, dare I say I'm cautiously optimistic!

This looked a bit more like the ensemble show of old. Hopefully not just a one-off.

James' brucellosis was a surprise (and I assume not in the books), but I think it's for the best. Well, not the illness, but that James is back. I'm definitely not watching this show for the war scenes.

Carmody feels like part of the family now. I like the new dog, seems to be a sight hound mix.

And Mrs Hall returns to form! Is it just me, or did Siegfried like her uniform?

Edited by ofmd
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ofmd

ofmd

(edited)

A general spoiler for Ms Hall... I'm not sure where to put this,hope this is all right.

Source: an interview with Rachel Stenton.

https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/drama/all-creatures-great-small-mrs-hall-exclusive-newsupdate/

Spoiler

Mrs Hall will face "something huge" in season 5 of All Creatures Great and Small, which made its debut on Thursday 19th September.

"I feel like I say it every season but Mrs Hall just smashes it out the park this season with the story," Rachel Shenton, who plays Helen, told RadioTimes.com.

..."I was a big fan of Mrs Hall and Gerald (Will Thorp, it was very hard for me to let go of that [romance]. And then this year, Mrs Hall faces something huge that really sort of tests her mental [health]."

Not sure I like the sound of the final sentence... Something to do with

Spoiler

her ex-husband?

I hope they won't "go there" and have something happen to her when she's out at night with her new job.

Spoiler

Shenton went on to praise actor Anna Madeley for her performance, adding: "I’m really looking forward to everyone seeing that. It runs for a while, and it's good."

Great to see Anna is getting something to do other than knit or dote over a baby... or so I hope!

The article has further spoilers regarding other characters, such as

Spoiler

Tristan

OK, I hope I did that properly!

ETA: OMG, I'd totally forgotten about

Spoiler

her son! I'm guessing it will be about him going missing.

 

Edited by ofmd
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MissLucas

MissLucas

Higgins!!! Sorry, that was my initial reaction upon hearing Jeremy Swift's voice. Seems that this part is closer to Spratt though.

Well, I'm glad James is back. Though I'm a bit confused - shouldn't he have been able to fly once he had recovered? Still, good to have him back. If they want to do another war-related plot there's still Tristan. I'm starting to wonder if he's being written out since they hardly mention him anymore.

Yes, Siegfried certainly seems to have a thing for a lady in uniform!

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crankcase

crankcase

“Wight enlisted in the RAF in November 1942. He did well in his training and was one of the first in his flight to fly solo. After undergoing surgery on an anal fistulain July 1943, he was deemed unfit to fly combat aircraft and was discharged as a leading aircraftmanthe following November. He joined his wife at her parents' house, where she had lived since he left Thirsk.”

Source

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crankcase

crankcase

(edited)

Audrey’s son is a sailor on the (real) HMS Repulse. It was sunk by Japanese aircraft on Dec. 10, 1941, three days after Pearl Harbor. There were some survivors. Audrey and Siegfried will marry in the season that gets to 1942, the same year that Don Sinclair (i.e., Siegfried) married Audrey Adamson.

Edited by crankcase
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ofmd

ofmd

(edited)

Yes, that's what I alluded to.

There were actually more survivors (1000) than losses (513), so I'll be really p*ssed if tptb decide they need to kill off Audrey's son (as opposed to having her worry etc until they know) for drama. They hardly even let any animals die on that show!

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

That said, a huge scare and then Edward turning up for Christmas... That would make a fine Christmas episode!

As for Siegfried & Audrey, I'm all for it, but they'll need to rekindle that spark of the first seasons. Whether people see that as romantic or not, it was there in their banter and arguments, and it has gotten lost somewhere during the horrible previous season...

Edited by ofmd
ofmd

ofmd

(edited)

Overall, I liked this Chistmas special, particularly compared to the previous one.

However, I do have some niggles.

Firstly, I find baby/ toddler storylines very boring to watch. They could have cut the Jimmy stuff down a bit.

Secondly, Mrs Hall... who got the storyline most of us expected. Great work by Anna, her reactions/ non-reactions were very sonvincing and in character. And thank you, show, for staying true to your slightly escapist self and not killing Edward off! I hope it'll be smooth sailing for him from now on. Also well done: the fox symbolism. Some nice touches, like Helen stroking Audrey's arm when they broke the news. I like these toned-down reactions, as opposed to... say, season 4.

I did find Siegfried pretty useless as a friend (particularly pre-fox rescue), or rather, far less engaged than I'd have expected. Series 1 Siegfried would have been there for her, even if he'd just annoyed the hell out of her by strubbornly sitting around in the kitchen. And he would have moved heaven and hell to call his friends and even enemies in high places/ the military to find out what happened to her son.

I don't think we're supposed to assume their friendship has suffered (e.g. by her wanting to leave the household at one point), so I can only come up with two explanations:

1. different writers

2. They want to put a lid on the shipping part of the fandom and went a bit overboard, throwing the unique, if unconventional friendship out with the bathwater, so to speak.

Although, when everyone sat on the stairs with Mrs Hall, cuddling and laughing, Siegfried notably stood aside,  isolated, unable or unwilling to join, but apparently overwhelmed with relief. Fanifc writers will latch onto that, I'm sure! 🫠

Finally, while I appreciate the less bombastic approach to Christmas, I did miss some people at the table. Edward would have been nice, of course. (They've fudged timelines before, so I don't care if that would have even been possible in real life.) 

BUT, most notably, no Tricky and Mrs Pumphrey!! We didn't see them at all in the episode!

Oh, and wouldn't Carmody & Hamish have joined them?

All that said, it was lovely to see these folks again, plus a cute little fox, and a nice finale to a decent season.

Edited by ofmd
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MissLucas

MissLucas

It was a lovely Christmas episode and the fox story was such a fantastic touch. I also appreciated Tristan admitting his feelings and anxieties to Siegfried - not something that would have happened in earlier seasons. I agree that the baby stuff was over the top especially the squabble over his future profession.

I've said it before but the knitwear in this show is spectacular. It's of course period appropriate but I've rarely seen a show delivering on that scale. The men's fair-isle vests are always great but in this episode several pieces worn by the female cast were swoon-worthy: Helen's bottle green sweater with the zig-zag pattern (I really wish to get my hands on that pattern), Mrs Hall burgundy cable knit cardigan and Jenny's sweet short-sleeved jumper with the ajour pattern.

HoodlumSheep

HoodlumSheep

5x01

solid opening episode! enjoyed it more than Miss Scarlet's opening.

SPRATT!!!

wasn't expecting James to be discharged so soon? never got to see him fly :( i do appreciate the linking his temporary health condition wth a case from last season. a nice detail imo.

also the bby calf (cutie patootie!) harkening back to season 1 :') good stuff.

now all we're missing is tristan

i love Mrs Hall's pink coat

 

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possibilities

possibilities

It's a bit tricky to find where to comment on episodes, when the show has aired on different schedules in different places.

I'm in the USA and just watched Ep 1. 

I was surprised they were so quick to discharge James. I thought they mightk eep him on in some kind of veterinary service. But maybe the commanding officer actually thought he was doing him a favor, by sending him home safe. 

I have avoided all spoilers, but I did read the comments upthread, which wondered why james couldn't fly once the fever had passed. I think the issue with James is that the fever would be recurring, so they were afraid he would take ill suddenly again, while on a future mission. I don't know anything about how brucellosis affects people, but that's what I gathered from the bedside scene where the doctor was talking about him no longer being allowed to fly.

If Helen and James were planning reunion sex, why did she put the baby to bed in their bed instead of in the bassinet? Seems unwise!

The utter silence on Tristan struck me as odd, especially since they did mention Mrs Hall's son. 

Three months convalescence after a hysterectomy, no gloves when sticking your arm inside a cow, morphine in your tea... medicine has changed a lot, hasn't it? 

The gobsmacked look of Seigfriend when looking at Sudrey seems to me to be a recurring beat. I don't think they would do that so much if they didn't mean for something to come of it. He was extremely fun with the baby, too. But they are too old, aren't they, for children of their own? Actually, I don't really have any idea how old either of them is. Everyone looks so much older in the kind of outfits they wear, comapred to the causal garb of today.

 

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dargosmydaddy

dargosmydaddy

13 minutes ago, possibilities said:

The utter silence on Tristan struck me as odd, especially since they did mention Mrs Hall's son. 

I thought Helen said something about Tris during one of her conversations with Mrs. Hall? Maybe I misheard.

For the whole episode I was thinking the not-dead-cat's owner looked familiar... had to IMDb it, and was gobsmacked to realize it was Win Thursday (Caroline O'Neill) from Endeavour!

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Jodithgrace

Jodithgrace

Helen did mention Tris in her conversation with Audrey in the victory garden. 
Apparently the real “James Herriot” washed out of flying early due to an anal fistula(!) I guess the show thought brucellosis was a classier diagnosis. The way they described it, it sounds kind of like malaria…once you have it, it can recur at any time, though, unlike malaria, eventually you get over it. 
i honestly don’t recall how they handled the war stuff in the books. I remember that the author said he preferred not to talk about the war, and wanted to keep to vet stuff. 

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YorkshireLass

YorkshireLass

I wondered how they were going to handle James leaving the RAF.  (Did not think they would use the real reason.)  The brucellosis was a nice tie-in.  One thing that has me a bit stumped is that brucellosis is a zoonotic disease and some of those can be passed back and forth from animal to human to animal.  James working on the cow so soon after his diagnosis seemed a bit dangerous to me.  I've googled it, but haven't found anything definitive about brucellosis being one of those diseases.  Plus, it was back in the early 1940's so not a lot may have been known then about zoonotic human to animal pathways.

Baby Jimmy is absolutely adorable 💗! 

It was lovely to see all the animals in this episode.  Hopefully that bodes well for the rest of this much too short season.

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MrAtoz

MrAtoz

8 hours ago, Jodithgrace said:

i honestly don’t recall how they handled the war stuff in the books. I remember that the author said he preferred not to talk about the war, and wanted to keep to vet stuff. 

My recollection is that something would happen at the RAF base that reminded him of Darrowby, and then he would reminisce about an animal that he had cared for back home. Basically the war was just a framing device for more animal stories. I welcome correction if someone else had read the books more recently.

Of course the older series pretty much leapfrogged over the war entirely. Wight didn't really write war stories, so there's only so much you can do with it.

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iMonrey

iMonrey

5 hours ago, YorkshireLass said:

One thing that has me a bit stumped is that brucellosis is a zoonotic disease and some of those can be passed back and forth from animal to human to animal.  James working on the cow so soon after his diagnosis seemed a bit dangerous to me.

The doctor said he wasn't contagious, I assume that means to animals as well.

Good to have the show back. I hope we are through with the war stuff. I've already seen Masters of the Air. I don't watch All Creatures for WWII stuff. I'm OK with them framing the Darrowby stories against that era and how it's affecting the folks back home. I don't need them to keep cutting to the actual soldiers miles away.

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libgirl2

libgirl2

1 hour ago, iMonrey said:

The doctor said he wasn't contagious, I assume that means to animals as well.

Good to have the show back. I hope we are through with the war stuff. I've already seen Masters of the Air. I don't watch All Creatures for WWII stuff. I'm OK with them framing the Darrowby stories against that era and how it's affecting the folks back home. I don't need them to keep cutting to the actual soldiers miles away.

I find stories about the "home front" very interesting and would like to see more of that. I want to see how Mrs. Pumphrey's home is used by the military, more on Victory Gardens, blackout curtains...... 

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Sarah 103

Sarah 103

(edited)

I'm curious to see the response/reaction of people to Tristan and James being home from the war, unless everyone they meet knows they are veterinarians, a protected occupation, and doing what their government deems vital work for the war effort. I could easily see Tristan getting into multiple fights over this, especially fights coming to the defense of James. 

I'm assuming when Jimmy gets a little older and starts asking about what his father did during the war the explanation/story from James is going to be "I trained as a pilot, but then I got sick and they decided I couldn't fly, so they sent me home to take care of animals, because they needed food and wool, which come from animals", and more details getting added as little Jimmy gets older. 

I also want to see some of the Land Girls, especially Helen and/or Jenny interacting with them. 

 

Edited by Sarah 103
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Quilt Fairy

Quilt Fairy

(edited)

Well, that was abrupt.  And - since I don't think we have a total ban on comparison to the books in this forum - taking a voluntary discharge from the RAF due to brucellosis isn't what happened to Alf Wight (James) in real life.  He didn't become a pilot but he stayed in the service for the entire war, IIRC.   Tristan actually did work as an Army vet, somewhere in North Africa, again IIRC.  (Have a heart, it's been 50 years since I read the books.) 

All of the books are collections of anecdotes, so it doesn't affect the stories at all.  And the showrunners have said from the beginning that this reboot is a reframing inspired by the books but not 100% faithful to them.  But those people who were aghast that they made Mrs Hall younger are probably going to be upset. 

Edited by Quilt Fairy
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tennisgurl

tennisgurl

I was wondering what they would do after James finally got called up, it will be hard to have either the show without both him and Tristan, or to keep cutting to James on the front, but it seemed really abrupt to have him be back so soon after we spent all season building up to him leaving. I guess a latent case of brucellosis is as good a reason for him to be with everyone else as any, I get why James was so upset but its hard to fly a plane when you could get a bad fever and pass out at any time. 

That little house panther is such a cutie, as is the new dog. The home front stuff is interesting and something you don't see as much in WWII stories, so I am looking forward to that. Mrs. Hall certainly looks nice in her spiffy uniform, Seigfriend certainly thinks so!

Oh man, that call Helen got when James called her was really great acting, when she got the call asking for Mrs. Harriet and was put on hold, you could really feel Helen's momentary panic. I know that you have to use an operator, but come on, you cant make a woman who's husband is fighting in a war wait on hold that long when someone official sounding calls!

I'm trying to avoid seeing what happens later in the season so its a bit hard to post here, watching here in the US, so am going to be playing don't look at the earlier posts! 

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nora1992

nora1992

(edited)

I didn’t think the reluctance of Mrs Hall being an air warden was entirely due to doubt about her capabilities.  It seemed more like Spratt/Higgins didn’t want the responsibility of sending a lone woman to patrol the dark village for her own safety.  Any man with ill intent could do her a lot of harm, especially in the dark when the streets are deserted.  Even in bucolic Darrowby, such evil is possible.  

Edited by nora1992
Typo
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voiceover

voiceover

11 hours ago, MrAtoz said:

My recollection is that something would happen at the RAF base that reminded him of Darrowby, and then he would reminisce about an animal that he had cared for back home. Basically the war was just a framing device for more animal stories.

Yup.  That’s the whole structure of All Things Wise and Wonderful.

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jah1986

jah1986

So happy to have this show back! I'm glad they didn't drag out James' military experience beyond this episode. Watching him dig ditches, I was screaming "this is a waste, you're a vet!" Glad he's home, now we just need Tristan. I really want to see the 'little cottage' Mrs. Pumphrey and Tricki are staying in. Audrey looked great in her Warden uniform.

"How did you manage to lose a dead cat?" That plot just made me laugh.

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