‘Call the Midwife’ season 6, episode 2 review: Is Patsy leaving? Shelagh’s fight

“Call the Midwife” is a series that by and large, loves to beat the drum of change. With that being said, much of Sunday night’s new episode featured storylines that were a tad more universal rather than specific to the moment.

Take, for example, the decision by Patsy when it comes the letters from Hong Kong. She was not altogether keen on opening it for a while, feeling as though her attention was better when it was focused on some of the patients of Nonnatus House. Specifically, this brings us to the story of Penny.

Will Penny be okay? – The main focus of this story was on an expecting mother who clearly wants to be a mother more than anything else; unfortunately, there are also some serious risks and problems that came with it. She has a form of dwarfism that she could pass along to her child, but more than that, there is a possibility that the baby could be stillborn or produce significant health problems for the mother.

This is a story that only became more stressful as time went on, as we started to see the midwives doing everything that they could in order to help Penny. She knew the risks, but she still wanted to press onward. Eventually she needed to undergo an operation, and in the process, the baby was successfully removed, alive and healthy.

After helping Penny, Patsy made the decision to contact her father, and after a harsh conversation with Sister Ursula, we learned that this was the icing on the cake. She would be leaving as soon as possible; it was difficult for her because of her relationship with Delia, but she realized that it was best the best thing that she could.

Hopefully, this does not mean that Emerald Fennell is leaving the series, but this is something we’ll probably learn more about later in the series. (Delia did have a nice moment at the end of the episode.)

Explosion at the docks – This is where things became all the more troublesome for Poplar, given that a tragic situation meant a significant loss of life. One of the men significantly impacted in the explosion was George Marsh, whose eyes were badly burned and may struggle to take care of himself, let along his wife and his new child.

Let’s just say that George did not take this well, and struggled with facing a reality that would include him being unable to seen and understand the world around him. This would be a difficult thing for him to take on, but he had to continue to fight. Luckily, he would, as you will see later.

Tension at Nonnatus – It’s probably wrong to call Ursula the worst, but she is rather frustrating when it comes to some of her philosophies. We mean this especially when it comes to her desire to distance the midwives from some of the patients that they look after. She doesn’t want them to be overly involved in their lives, and while we understand that from an efficiency standpoint, it does matter when you are talking about humanity. Humanity was what Patsy had fought so hard for.

The news comes out – Shelagh and Dr. Turner are spreading the good news about their pregnancy! Unfortunately, in the process she had to deal with the aftereffects of the explosion, and that her voice in speaking out about the problems would not be ignored. This caused for desperate measures, but ones that were achieved after George Marsh decided to take a stand and turn up at court, even with the bandages still pressed over his eyes. While Shelagh was unable to bring back those who were lost in the dock explosion, she did get changes approved that helped in the future.

Overall – Another powerful episode of “Call the Midwife” that was precisely what you would want from the show. There were no miracles (George still does not have his sight), but there was still progress and hope. Episode Grade: B+.

Next week – If you are interested in previewing what is coming next on “Call the Midwife,” head over to the link here. Let’s just say that the spread of general hospital could mean that Nonnatus as we know it is in danger. (Photo: BBC.)