Call the Midwife: “Season 6 Episode 8”

How am I supposed to write about this episode without just screaming and posting photos of how great it was? This thing could all be:

Oh no, don’t you let your voice break while talking about how beautiful this moment is, Jenny Agutter. I can’t handle that right now.

No, Kate Lamb. You put that sad face away!

Reggie, you can’t just come for a visit and call Violet ‘mum’ while giving her flowers.

AHHHHH!

Okay now that I got that out of my system, let’s get on to this review shall we.

One of the first shots was Delia (Kate Lamb) sadly looking through the mail while Emerald Fennell’s credit appeared in its regular spot, which felt like the show saying, ‘don’t worry everything will turn out fine.”

Nurse Crane (Linda Bassett) tells her not to worry. Much like last episode, Delia is still having trouble believing her. We then get a group lunch scene of everyone talking about how the clinic is getting a family contraceptive clinic too. The women going to that will have to go in through the side door. Valerie (Jennifer Kirby), Trixie (Helen George) and surprising Sister Winifred (Victoria Yeates) point out that is the entrance the unwed mothers use and that doesn’t seem fair. Sister Julienne (Jenny Agutter) tells them that is just how it is going to be.

Throughout that scene Barbara (Charlotte Ritchie) is getting more and more emotional at reading her letter. Once Sister Winifred finally asks what is going on, she tells everyone her father is about to be sent on a mission trip to New Guinea. Sister Monica Joan (Judy Parfitt) launches into how that country can be dangerous for missionaries. But Barbara isn’t worried about. The posting is for three years so he wouldn’t be able to attend the wedding. She always wanted her father to officiate her wedding.

This might have been the best season finale in terms of comedy. My favorite part was when Shelagh (Laura Main) nearly started crying to Trixie about how unfair it was that women have to use the side door for the contraceptive clinic and how that will mess up the schedule in the regular clinic. Nurse Crane takes Shelagh to the kitchen and calms her down. Nurse Crane is concerned that Shelagh has been skipping her clinical appointments and hasn’t attended any mother craft classes. Shelagh said she has just been too busy. Multiple previews of this episode said there was going to be a death and I really thought it was going to be Shelagh or her unborn child.

We then meet not wanting to be a mother of the week Wilma Goddens, who goes to the contraceptive clinic to get the pill. We saw her earlier getting new buttons for her work clothes from Violet (Annabelle Apsion) and talking about how excited she was to get back to work. She is relieved that she doesn’t have to get permission from her husband because he is an “man’s man.”

Back at Nonnatus, Barbara and Tom announced that they are going to get married in three weeks, while Barbara’s father is passing through London on his way to New Guinea. Everyone is excited and looking through bridal magazines with her. She doesn’t like the modern style but Trixie says if she wants an inexpensive one on short notice she is going to half to settle. Another great moment of someone getting emotional in the midst of a large scene, Delia is trying to be excited but sadly puts down her magazine because Patsy isn’t there and as she had said before she wants nothing more than to marry her.

The next morning Shelagh comes by to drop off the insulin for her last duty before her maternity leave. She then asks Sister Julienne to be her midwife, because of course she would. But it seemed like Nurse Crane thought they had bonded enough the previous day. Thankfully Barbara notices her disappointment.

The other great comedy bit of this episode is that Violet is going through menopause. Thankfully, Wilma works for a cosmetics company that sells things that can help her. Violet agrees, commenting that she is an excellent saleswoman. Violet has a bit of a break down to Fred (Cliff Parisi) saying she feels useless since she is no longer a mum to her sons or Reggie (Daniel Laurie). Fred comforts her as he fans her with a pamphlet.

Barbara tells Tom about a wonderful day at the fair with her father, when she was able to go on one ride and chose the carousal. She also nonsense tells him she has an appointment at the family contraceptive clinic. Because it is Barbara, Sister Julienne is working the check in table and then Barbara has a few hilarious scenes with a diaphragm.

Over at the Turners’, Shelagh tells Dr. Turner (Stephan McGann) that she wants to have a home birth and wants him to stop acting like such a doctor and start acting more like any other husband, but she is also failing to act like a regular mother and is being more of a midwife.

Valerie walks in on Barbara’s disastrous attempt to make her own dress. The rest of Nonnatus takes up a collection to give Barbara the money to buy a proper dress. She picks Nurse Crane to be her bridesmaid, which was the American equivalent of maid of honor. They go to get her a dress and Nurse Crane adorably guards the curtain to stop the attendant from walking in on Barbara.

Then three dramatic things happen at once. Delia is at Gateways, the real-life lesbian club from 5.7, talking to someone, who we don’t see for a bit too long, about how she used to have somebody who cared about her but she isn’t around anymore. It wasn’t that much more than promo and then it zooms out and we see that she speaking with some random girl, who is dressed in menswear, who says she’s going to call her a cab.

Wilma has been having weird pains and collapses while getting her kids ready for school. Dr. Turner runs over and sends her to St. Cuthbert’s, where Trixie has been helping out on women’s surgery. Wlima is having blood clots. Trixie goes to speak with her husband and asks him to have their children brought there and if there is anyone else they should call. He tells her she was brought up in the church.

Shelagh also goes into labor and calls Nonnauts. I am sort of sad we didn’t get a scene of someone answering the phone saying, ‘Nonnatus House, midwife speaking’ and Shelagh smiling on the other end. But, Sister Julienne arrives and starts helping Shelagh, who knows she shouldn’t have eaten an entire packet of pink wafers and knows what the gas and air case sounds like.

Tom comes to the hospital to deliver last rights to Wilma. Trixie decides to touch up her makeup, while nearly crying, because she knows how important it was to Wilma and that her children probably never saw her without it. Most of the time I hate Tom and I hate how much Trixie there is in Tom and Barbara’s relationship but I like Tom and Trixie being professional colleagues.

Shelagh’s labor is taking a while and being incredibly painful, which she knew it was going to be. Sister Julienne tells her she could start singing like the relaxation pamphlet Barbara gave her said. In a perfect being like all the other moms detail, Shelagh didn’t read it. She can’t decided between a song that was the old religious Shelagh or her new having a baby self. Sister Julienne says they are the same person. She then starts singing a song about secret love. Dr. Turner is standing outside the door and picks it up when Shelagh drops off. He then comes into the room.

Oh damn, that was beautiful. And I wish we would have cut to Delia for like a second. Dr. Turner and Sister Julienne help Shelagh deliver a perfectly healthy baby boy and nobody died, which I was so worried about. The death ended up being Wilma, who succumb to the blood clots from her birth control.

Trixie heads home with Tom and said she thought the pill was a miracle drug, but she should have known better than to believe in miracles. Tom says he will go check in on the family in the morning. Trixie asks if he is certain, tomorrow is the day before his wedding. He then says it is strange that at one point it could have been them. I nearly groaned but Trixie points out the reasons I actually like Barbara and Tom sometimes. They make way more sense than Tom and Trixie ever did and Tom and Trixie would have never worked out.

Tom says he has high hopes for her and Christopher. Trixie says it is complicated because he has a child. Tom says she has always been good with kids. Dear lord, this episode made me like Tom and Trixie. Also, Christopher’s child is a six-year-old girl. Trixie, why are you even worried?

Of course, the tea and ice cream with Alexandra, Christopher’s daughter, goes perfectly. She likes Trixie’s nail polish and Trixie says they should go look at some other colors after their ice cream.

Back at Nonnatus, Rev. Arthur Gilbert arrives. He seems to fit with the stories Barbara has told about him. She asked him for advice about how happy he and Barbara’s mother were. He is reluctant to give it. It seemed like Barbara’s mother died when she was rather young and I sort of  wish we went into that a bit more.

Another good comedy bit was Fred and the parish men’s group talking Tom out for his bachelor party since his best man wasn’t arriving until the morning of the wedding. This whole gag might have been because it is the eighth episode of the season and we need to put Tom into an undershirt for no reason. So there you go ladies, who aren’t here for Patsy and Delia:

As I mentioned earlier, Reggie appears in Violet’s shop with flowers right when she most needs to see him. He attended the wedding with them and everyone else. The wedding was beautiful and I’m a bit glad we didn’t spend too much time going through everyone part of it. Tom and Barbara leave in Nurse Crane’s decorated car. He stops it outside the archway in front of Nonnatus. He tells Barbara to close her eyes and walks her toward Nonnatus. Outside is a carousel, which I guess he rented with his gambling winnings from his bachelor party.

The carousel scene was amazing. Mature Jenny (voiced by Vanessa Redgrave) was giving a great voice over wrapping us up and taking about the changes and how sometimes there is room for tears in the midst of the happiness. Reggie is riding around waving at Fred and Violet. Trixie and Alexandra are riding together and waving at Christopher. Tim and Angela are riding together and waving at their parents and newborn brother. Barbara and Tom are riding on the same horse and kiss.

We then see Delia sadly walking beside the carousel. She peers toward the archway and sees Patsy (Emerald Fennell) standing in the same spot she was during the “where on earth have you been?” scene from the 2015 Christmas Special. Delia walks over, grabs her hand and pulls her further away. Delia said she didn’t know if she was going to come back. Patsy tells her she got on the boat the day after the funeral and was always intending on coming back. Patsy also says she is never going anywhere without her again, then pulls her toward her and kisses her!

They finally kissed!

And it was much longer than I thought it was going to be!

Then Patsy, with her button down and trousers, adorably shoved her hands into her pockets as she followed Delia back to Nonnatus.

I am so glad none of the main cast died. I actually liked Tom in this episode. I’m liking Trixie and Christopher and the possibility of Trixie becoming a stepmom. The Turners were adorable. Patsy is back! Patsy and Delia kissed. That is a thing this show can do now!

I’ll probably do a few post between now and the 288 days until Christmas, but this is enough to hold me over for a while. I will also be continuing my American Recaps of the episode when they air on PBS, starting on April 2.