S03.E06: Episode 6

[maraleia]

 

The local curate asks Trixie to join him for a day of cricket; Shelagh wants to adopt a baby; and Patsy has difficulty adjusting to midwifery work and later helps a docker with unusual symptoms.

 

[Jordan Baker]

This show. It never fails to make me misty.

 

I liked everything about tonight's show, but I do have one question. What in the adoption papers gave Dr. Turner pause? Is he hiding a secret, too? He knows how important it is for Shelagh to adopt a child, and so I find it odd that he tossed aside the papers because the agency asked too many questions. Too many questions about what, exactly?

 

Nevertheless, I find Dr. Turner to be a true hero of this story. As are all the nuns and all the midwives. I'm quite certain that all of them (well, perhaps not the nuns) could be making a better, more lucrative  living elsewhere, but they dedicate their lives to helping the less fortunate. So very inspiring.

 

 

[Kohola3]

Wow, Patsy's story was just so unexpected and heartbreaking.  She certainly adds a new dimension to the group.  

 

And I, too, wonder about the abrupt U turn by Dr. Turner.  Was he reacting to a certain question or the whole process.  He seemed so supportive at first!

[Tara Ariano]

I made a very silly post about a very silly moment in the episode.

[Lillybee]

Very funny. Rev. Beefcake, one of the better nicknames I have seen.

[LittleIggy]

It was really touching when Declan, the Irish hubby, went to get Rev. Tom to baptize the baby. He put aside the Catholic/Protestant issue for his wife and child.

[Portia]

It was really touching when Declan, the Irish hubby, went to get Rev. Tom to baptize the baby. He put aside the Catholic/Protestant issue for his wife and child.

I thought the same thing. His wife said he'd never convert himself, but he had no hesitation about fetching a protestant vicar. That was what pushed me from sniffling to blubbering...this week.

Tara, those memes are awesome.

[Charlotte Vale]

As per usual, I wept copiously. But you can tell they have left the books behind and the plots are getting a bit soapy: first The Weirdly Convenient Death of Jenny's Bland Boyfriend; and now Bossy New Nurse amazingly was in the same kind of internment camp as her one patient and therefore recognizes the Mystery Illness and dashes all the way to Liverpool on her kitten heels to get the one bottle of pills that will save him!

 

Mind you, I still love the show, which is odd, because if there are three things that try my last nerve, it's nuns, babies and Vanessa Redgrave.

[CindyBee]

Another great episode. This season is really delivering the tears for me too.

 

And since I just saw "Railway Man" at the movies the other day, the horrors of what Patsy and her patient faced in WWII was fresh in my mind so maybe that's why I teared up even more.   The story line of her saving the day might have been a tad contrived but it still was acted well.   I'm glad Heidi Thomas decided to expand the cast and add characters like Patsy and Rev. Tom.

[Milz]

 

But you can tell they have left the books behind and the plots are getting a bit soapy

 

Yes, they are. The one-bottle-of-life-saving-medication-that-she-had-to-go-to-Liverpool-herself-to-get is a bit too much.

 

OTOH, if the episodes are getting a bit too soapy, then they'll probably be able to rip off Now, Voyager, as shamelessly as they ripped off The Nun's Story.

 

Along the soapy goodness. lines, what is Dr. T. hiding from his family? His refusal to fill  forms is a bit unsteadying-----the guy is a doctor, granted, paperwork in the '50s isn't as much as it is today, but he still had to fill out forms of some type. Is he really Dr. Turner? Or is he a fake doctor, using a fake name?

 

.

[SunnyBeBe]

I'll keep watching, but the show really has suffered.  They need some help with the writing, IMO. 

 

I do think it's odd that the show is portraying that adoptions at that time were as strict and invasive as they are today, especially for a physician.  Informal adoptions were not uncommon during that time period. It's little difficult for me to swallow.   Apparently, there is something that the doctor does not want to disclose.  That will be interesting.  Still, with his reputation, I bet if he put the word out, he could find a child to adopt before too long without going through all that red tape.

 

I do find it curious that recently, the doctor and his wife had two newborns come into their lives, but adopting them seemed to never enter their minds.  Now, it's like a great idea that never dawned on them.   Their son even asked to keep one of the babies.  Just seems odd to me.  And yes, I know that his wife was planning on having a baby, but even so, when an infant needs a home and you are providing it......just seems odd you don't consider keeping the child.  I just see this as an oversight in the writing. 

[attica]

My mom wasn't one for movie-star crushes (or maybe just admitting to them), but she had one for Rock Hudson. Him and Ben Gazzara, of all people.

 

Is it wrong to want all of Trixie's clothes?

 

I totally guessed worms for the guy's condition! I guess all those years of watching ER paid off!

[Milz]

Ben Gazzara! Well, they can totally rip off Run for Your Life. Mystery Midwife comes to Poplar. Confides to Dr. T. that she (MM) has an unnamed terminal illness and only has 18 months to live. She does some good for the Sisters before she leaves. If CTM writers play it right, this could be a spin-off. ;-)

 

Turners and the Babies

I think it would have been very difficult if the biracial baby stayed with them: the baby's mother lives in the neighborhood and the abusive husband wanted to kill her. So for the baby's safety she had to go somewhere safe.

 

I'm beginning to like Timothy less and less. He's getting a bit too much of a wiseacre for my tastes. It would be different if he's a funny wiseacre, but he comes across more like a mean wiseacre.

Edited May 5, 2014 by Milz

[Ticketyboo]

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.

[SunnyBeBe]

I'm not a big Trixie fan, but I do have to hand it to her for being such a good sport with the outing date.  I'm not sure how I would have behaved, but not as nice as her I'm sure. lol

Edited May 5, 2014 by SunnyBeBe

[jaytee1812]

I'm not a big Trixie fan, but I do have to hand it to her for being such a good sport with the outing date.  I'm not sure how I would have behaved, but not as nice as her I'm sure. lol

 

I might've for the Rev. Beefcake!

[macatt]

to those who think that call the midwife is ripping off the nun's story - although sister luke (audrey hepburn) did have tuberculosis while serving in africa and was treated by the doctor played by peter finch, she did not leave the convent because of him.  she was assigned back to europe and it was the nazis - how they had to treat the nazi's women when they were in the hospital - only the best for them - and one of the student nurses (jewish) had botched plastic surgery on her nose.  if memory serves the final straw was a message from someone in the underground that she know about and didn't report. 

[Milz]

Sister Luke  left due to her dissatisfaction with the Church and its role in the war. Similarly  the real Sister Bernadette left the sisterhood over her dissatisfaction with the Church of England when they began the ordination of women priests. My contention is the tuberculosis plot CTM ripped off. In The Nun's Story, Sister Luke contracts TB. She suspects it's TB and tells Dr. Forunati.  Dr. Fortunati confirms the diagnosis and treats her. There's even a scene where an uncomfortable Sister Luke has to disrobe enough so Dr. Fortunati can examine her. In CTM, Sister Bernadette contracts TB. She suspects she has TB. Dr. Turner confirms her diagnosis, complete with a scene where an uncomfortable Sister Bernadette has to disrobe enough so Dr. Turner can examine her. That is why I describe this rip off as shameless.

 

The way CTM ripped off the TB story showed their lack of creativity when dealing with things Jennifer Worth did not write. They needed a "romantic" story between a Nun and a lay person. So they picked the TB story from  The Nun's Story because it's more believable than all the Sisters of Nonnatus House going crazy a la The Black Narcissus or stranding Sister Bernadette and Dr. Turner on a tropical island a la Heaven Knows Mr. Allison or Sister Bernadette and Dr. Turner on a raft in the middle of the ocean a la Sea Wife. It's laziness to use the TB plot when there are other diseases that Sister Bernadette could have have, such as Gilbert's syndrome or Chiari malformation syndrome.

 

With the current over the top plots that don't make too much sense, it wouldn't surprise me if the Turner's adopt a baby and strange things begin happening soon afterwards, like  The Omen or they think they're adopting a baby but get a pre-teen red-headed  girl orphan like Anne of Green Gables.

[MaryHedwig]

it's more believable than all the Sisters of Nonnatus House going crazy a la The Black Narcissus or stranding Sister Bernadette and Dr. Turner on a tropical island a la Heaven Knows Mr. Allison or Sister Bernadette and Dr. Turner on a raft in the middle of the ocean a la Sea Wife. It's laziness to use the TB plot when there are other diseases that Sister Bernadette could have have, such as Gilbert's syndrome or Chiari malformation syndrome.With the current over the top plots that don't make too much sense, it wouldn't surprise me if the Turner's adopt a baby and strange things begin happening soon afterwards, like  The Omen or they think they're adopting a baby but get a pre-teen red-headed  girl orphan like Anne of Green Gables.

Love your thinking and humor here.  I have seen all those movies, although I am embarrassed to admit so for some of them.

 

Maybe he is waiting for his seven secret children to climb over the Alps to join them (Sound of Music).

Edited May 6, 2014 by MaryHedwig

[zoey1996]

I didn't think that Dr. Turner's reaction indicated he had something to hide.  I thought it was the reaction of someone who had just completed battling bureaucracy in order to get polio prevention up and running, not to mention researching an unusual tropical disease, and the care of his other patients, and was just tired and didn't want to deal with more paperwork that night.  Also, he's a doctor, she's a former nun, and they're already raising a child.  What more could the agency need to know?  I know, they need to know a lot more, but that was just his initial reaction that night.  Adoption through the proper channels even then required a lot of paperwork, home visits, etc.  And I believe that both Shelagh and Patrick would want to go through proper channels to adopt their child.

 

Sister Monica Joan confused me.  She seemed to both condemn and embrace the science behind being able to see the earth from space.  My grandfather, born in the late 1890's never believed that astronauts actually went in to space.  He died before the moon landing in 1969, but he wouldn't have believed that either.

 

Loved Trixie's outing with the curate, and the Scouts.  I was happy that the Irish couple married, and that he, the Roman Catholic, ran to get the Anglican (protestant) priest to baptize the baby.

[Milz]

MaryHedwig, I watched the Nun's Story, Black Narcissus, Heaven Knows Mr. Allison and Sea Wife for these reasons only: Peter Finch, David Farrar, Robert Mitchum, and Richard Burton in that order. :-)

 

But let's get really creative about Turner's hesistancy with the form filling. In1950, he impregnated a 14 year old girl named Mo Porter. Ashamed that she's pregnant by the local GP, Mo has a one night stand with a guy named Stuart Mullins and claims he is the father of her baby. Mo subsequently moves out of Poplar and to Walford. She gives birth to a girl, whom she names Vivienne. Eventually she marries her best friend's brother, Jimmy Harris. Thus Patrick Turner is the grand father of the annoying Slater sisters in EastEnders.

[Charlotte Vale]

MaryHedwig, I watched the Nun's Story, Black Narcissus, Heaven Knows Mr. Allison and Sea Wife for these reasons only: Peter Finch, David Farrar, Robert Mitchum, and Richard Burton in that order. :-)

 

David Farrar, yum.