‘Call the Midwife’ season 5, episode 5 review: Dr. Turner realizes the effects of smoking

It’s strange in some ways to think about an episode of any TV show where we learn about how dangerous smoking can be, if for no other reason than that this is 2016. This is hardly the sort of time where we think about this sort of stuff at all; it’s just a given that if you smoke, terrible things could happen to you in the future.

However, in the era of “Call the Midwife,” Dr. Turner was just learning that, and to go along with it, he had to practice a little bit of what he preached. The moment that he saw Timothy starting to pick up this habit for himself, he realized just the sort of danger his habit was putting his family through, and as a result of that, there was nothing else that he could do other than stop encouraging the act himself. (The irony here is that Timothy may have never smoked at all, and this was a all a ploy.)

As for the other stories in this episode, did they preach more of a message of happiness? Maybe at times, since we did at least have surviving babies! Also, we had a nice storyline for Fred as he had to realize that his marriage was different than many others that are out there. He doesn’t have a chance to raise any children with her, or do many of the things that other married couples would. Instead, they have to figure out some other ways to celebrate their life together. We liked this little side-story not only because it gave Fred something to do, but it also explored the idea of atypical relationships, something that is very different from what we usually see.

In the end, we’d say that this was a fairly strong “Call the Midwife.” Was it supremely eventful? Not really; as a matter of fact, we want to get Trixie and Barbara more in the spotlight soon. At least for the time being, everyone’s getting involved and we’re starting to see time’s impact on Poplar. Now if only we could have some storylines coming up where there isn’t so many tears and/or screaming all of the time. Grade: B.

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