‘Call the Midwife’ season 6, episode 5 review: Good news for Trixie, bad news for others, and more Valerie Dyer

Sunday night’s new episode of “Call the Midwife” certainly fulfilled many different qualifications for the series: There were some great moments of happiness, but they were also mixed throughout with some sadness, depression, frustration, and virtually everything else that you would expect from this show. It’s one that certainly knows how to pull on the heartstrings. It does so really well, and in a really devastating fashion to boot.

Here’s the good news: Trixie seems to be happy! She’s exploring the concept of love again, and that in itself is great given that we weren’t sure what was going to happen with her in the aftermath of Tom becoming engaged to Barbara — it could have been one of those situations in which she felt like the entire world was out to get great things before her, and that could’ve sent her down a hole. You just have to look at her history to receive some further evidence of this.

One other positive from the episode is that it’s nice to have Valerie Dyer more entrenched as a main part of the series. Hopefully, Patsy comes back in time and she’s not just seen as a “Patsy replacement,” but she has a different energy and style than most of the other women, and in the end, what makes this show so interesting in particular is that you do get opportunities to see people who stand out from one another in interesting ways.

Now, let’s get to the sad stuff – The main case of the week really went for the jugular when it comes to tears, as we learned more about Reggie, a young man with Down’s syndrome who found himself terribly out of luck and lost in the world. It wasn’t a whole lot easier when it came to seeing the struggles of one Sister Mary Cynthia and some of the electroshock treatment that she was receiving. Was this relevant during the time? Sure, just look at the Alexis Biedel storyline from “Mad Men” for more evidence of that. Still, it was nothing short of devastating to see something happen like this to a character who has been a part of the show for so long and went through SO much in the way of devastation.

Overall, you can consider this episode to be one of the sadder ones of the entire season just from the vantage point of getting the full extent of mistreatment going on in the world. There were further reminders that the midwives were heroes, but also that the world was so cruel that it forced them into situations where they had to be and in the process, had to act quickly. This was a powerful hour of TV, and not one meant to be forgotten soon. Grade: B.

Want to preview more of what lies ahead on “Call the Midwife”? Then be sure to head over to the link here now! (Photo: BBC.)