S06.E01: Episode 1

[MissLucas]

On 5.4.2017 at 5:14 PM, Mumbles said:

And can I say, the times this show quotes religious texts, it slays me. Like when Sisters Monica Joan and Julienne quoted the saint's memoir about not being overcome when trying to help Cynthia. The other time I remember is last season when Sister Julienne prayed over the severely handicapped  baby left to die in the cold ("I have called you by name, and you are mine.") Gawd, it just wrecks me every time. Even to nonreligious people, there is a lot of beauty in these writings.

I started reading Julian of Norwich's 'Revelations of Divine Love' because of this show.

[sigmaforce86]

On 4/5/2017 at 10:01 PM, ItCouldBeWorse said:

Or she is abstemious and believes that is a desirable quality for everyone.

Like with the "lunch" she gave the group when they returned.  It's pouring out, probably cold and they just got home from a long journey; even if she wanted to change to cold lunch/hot supper was that really the time to introduce it?  She seems to be a combination of My way is right so follow it no matter what and I live an austere life so everyone around or near me better give up all luxuries too.  Wonder if she'll go after the girls "bar" anytime soon.  

The mistake Ursula made with Trudy was insisting she go to the maternity home without even assessing how close to birth she was.  She had that baby less than 5 minutes after arriving, if she had left she'd have given birth in the street on the way.  But who was going to call Ursula on it; not the nuns for sure.  I hope that comes back to bite her.  To be honest I'm torn between keeping the season spoiler free and wanting to look ahead at the episode synopsis to see if we either get rid of her or she comes around and begins to act "human" sometime in the future.

[Clanstarling]

16 minutes ago, sigmaforce86 said:

Wonder if she'll go after the girls "bar" anytime soon.  

I wondered that during the first drinkies scene. Half expected her to come in and confiscate the liquor.

[Calvada]

This type of thing always makes me laugh.  In real life, wouldn't any sensible person (and one who is a nurse/midwife of long standing) say I think we need to check Trudy's progress, see how advanced she is in labor, before moving her elsewhere, and then the other sensible person (also a longtime nurse/midwife) would say yes, you're right, that's what we should do, and what was I thinking?  No, instead it becomes a device to show this person is good and this person is bad.  Ursula reminds me of a former boss, who came into the office assuming that every way we were doing anything was wrong, and he was the one to fix it, because he (and only he) knew best.  It ran the gamut from really stupid stuff (how reams of paper were stored in the copy room and no, I am not kidding) to major things like people's work schedules, deadlines for major projects, and so on.  He didn't last long, because he was universally hated and office efficiency and performance went into the tank.   I'm assuming there will be some story of a baby or a mother almost dying because of Ursula and she will see the light.  Or the people of the East End will rise up en masse, storm the Motherhouse, and demand that Mother Jesu get rid of Ursula and restore Julienne.   

[Kohola3]

But is Ursula a midwife?  Do we know that?  Maybe she's a "run a nunnery like a business" type that got sent in to improve efficiency.  She obviously doesn't give a hoot about providing sustenance to the moms or making them wait for hours for an appointment.

[Calvada]

I thought all the nuns were nurses/midwives.  The real life order that Jennifer Worth worked with in the East End was founded as a nursing order.  However, if Ursula is not a nurse/midwife, then she should not question the wisdom of an experienced midwife dealing with a mother in labor. 

I was surprised she was so nice to Mickey.  I thought for sure she was going to hand him a cloth and tell him the clean up the mess his mother made.  Of course, she did just walk away from it.  Apparently the dirty work is not hers to do! 

[JudyObscure]

35 minutes ago, Calvada said:

Apparently the dirty work is not hers to do! 

That's probably sister Julienne's job now, along with carrying stacks of heavy chairs around.

[Capricasix]

On 2017-04-06 at 11:03 PM, ItCouldBeWorse said:

Logan's Run!

Also The Avengers and Captain America: Winter Soldier (she was a member of the World Council or whatever it is).

[AnnaBaptist]

On 4/17/2017 at 7:38 PM, Capricasix said:

Also The Avengers and Captain America: Winter Soldier (she was a member of the World Council or whatever it is).

And let's not forget Walkabout.

[theatremouse]

This Sister Ursula plot feels super redundant to me. Yes, the power dynamic is different since she's in charge now over Sister Julianne, but it seems like there have been multiple "new person shows up with more efficient system and everyone at Nonnatus bristles" plots before. I'm not digging it.

[latetotheparty]

6 hours ago, theatremouse said:

This Sister Ursula plot feels super redundant to me. Yes, the power dynamic is different since she's in charge now over Sister Julianne, but it seems like there have been multiple "new person shows up with more efficient system and everyone at Nonnatus bristles" plots before. I'm not digging it.

Criminal waste of Harriet Walter. 

[RedbirdNelly]

this was a tough episode. I hope Sr. Julianne ends up back in charge again soon. 

Sometimes I have trouble understanding the accents--so it took me a bit to figure out the boxing dad was getting out of prison. 

Mikkey was adorable.

I don't like Sr. Ursula but I did like how she had a nice side with Mikey. This show has consistently avoided making its characters all bad/all good. 

I continue to love Nurse Crane. 

[Cetacean]

28 minutes ago, RedbirdNelly said:

 

Sometimes I have trouble understanding the accents--so it took me a bit to figure out the boxing dad was getting out of prison.

I highly recommend closed captioning when available. I could not live without it!

[marypat57]

4 hours ago, Cetacean said:

I highly recommend closed captioning when available. I could not live without it!

I find it very difficult to understand CTM without the closed captioning.  I have a mild to mid hearing loss and some of the accents, particularly Shelagh’s Scottish accent, are very hard to understand at times.  Closed captioning is a lifesaver!

[AZChristian]

10 hours ago, marypat57 said:

I find it very difficult to understand CTM without the closed captioning.  I have a mild to mid hearing loss and some of the accents, particularly Shelagh’s Scottish accent, are very hard to understand at times.  Closed captioning is a lifesaver!

Not only that, there are some words that are used in British TV shows that are not common to American English.  I have had to pause shows on occasion so I could look up the definition of words on the closed captioning.