‘Call the Midwife’ season 6, episode 4 review: Trixie’s big return; Shelagh’s state; a new application
“Call the Midwife” is never a show that lets you feel any one thing and that alone, and you certainly got some further sense of that courtesy of the new episode on Sunday night.
We begin tonight with the source of Shelagh. As you found out on this past episode, she was suffering some issues in her pregnancy that led to her being hospitalized. While there, she was examined this week and it was discovered specifically that she had an ailment that made it more difficult for her to deliver children. While she struggled, she actually spent more of her time being there for a fellow mother in the same room as her. It had to be hard in some ways to spend the majority of this episode in bed, but the character was able to be a shoulder for someone else to lean on and a tremendous impact. She made her presence felt, even if it was in a subtle, powerful way.
The state of Trixie – Trixie returned to the show last week, and over the course of the hour, we ended up seeing her do her best to try to get into the thick of things once more — including with her keep-fit class. The issue that she ran into along the way here is that her was struggling herself to keep up with her own routine as a result of her spending so much time away in South Africa. There is still something terribly ironic about wanting to be so healthy while also still smoking as much as she does. unfortunately, this is just a habit that she is going to need to know how to kick.
Away from keep-fit, Trixie was getting back into her duties as a midwife, as she had to take on a very difficult case regarding a young women in poor financial standing, one who had to make a difficult decision regarding her child and her cousin. She of course was there to help, and to try to encourage her child to get more involved.
Trixie’s case eventually led to Tom getting involved, as well, as the young mother had to figure out precisely what she wanted to do in terms of adoption. Even though we haven’t seen a whole lot this season of Tom and Barbara planning out their future as a married couple, we’ve certainly seen plenty of the two trying to figure out who to continue doing the best for the people in Poplar.
Dr. Turner reassures Tim – Consider this to be the biggest story for Dr. Turner and Shelagh’s son that we’ve seen so far this season — and it was a pretty funny one given that they had some bro time as they bonded … and Dr. Turner did his part to reassure him that even when Shelagh gives birth, it would not change anything when it comes to their relationship.
The search for the new nurse – With Patsy gone, it was clear that Nonnatus was in need of someone new to help keep things together and stable. Enter Valerie Dyer! The character decided to formally apply at the end of the episode, which allowed us to see another shake-up when it comes to the Nonnatus dynamic.
Unfortunately, we’d argue that this was the weakest episode of “Call the Midwife,” largely because the case for this week didn’t have too much of a tangible hook behind learning about Tom’s backstory as an adopted child and seeing more Trixie. Sure, it was very much emotional, but we’re not sure we would consider it memorable. The status of one Sister Mary Cynthia is one of the bigger question marks we’ve got floating around at present.
As for a positive, we would say that the closing montage this week was more fun than most, largely because there’s something fun about seeing a running parade of many characters through the streets. Episode Grade: B.
Next week – The search for Sister Mary Cynthia will be on! Be sure to head over here in the event that you want to read about that even further. (Photo: BBC.)