Glass Half Full – As the finale of All Creatures begins, Mrs. Pumphrey (Patricia Hodge) brings Tricki to Skeldale House for a checkup with James Herriot (Nicholas Ralph). She says Tricki has had a strange little couch. Tricki doesn’t cough in James’s presence though. James mentions there is too much sugar in Tricki’s diet. James wants to hear if the cough comes back. Later, Audrey Hall (Anna Madeley) talks to Helen (Rachel Shenton) about getting sugar and making jam to send to Pumphrey Manor. Siegfried (Samuel West) returns and tells Audrey about an incident he had with Arkwright’s sow. Now, he needs his jacket washed. Siegfried learns there is a message from Mr. Dobson on the telephone. He tries to contact Miss Grantley. Helen finds James napping upstairs. He admits it was a long surgery. Siegfried finds out that Tristan (Callum Woodhouse) has been marking course papers. He asks Tristan to help out now that the course is over.
Tristan claims he has a new batch of students starting soon. Siegfried says he is missing the book he was reading. Tristan suspects he’s talking about the goat lady’s Persian memoirs. Siegfried finds out that Tristan has Grantley’s draft and he’s made a bit of a mess on the cover. Helen tells Audrey she’s managed to find more sugar. She is also going to stick around and help. Siegfried asks James if he took several calls for tomorrow. He reminds James that he doesn’t have an assistant. Tristan thought Siegfried might drive up to Miss Grantley’s this evening to talk about the book. Siegfried says Miss Grantley is away. Tristan relents and agrees to help if they need an extra pair of hands tomorrow. He doesn’t want Siegfried breathing down his neck the entire time. Tristan and Siegfried arrive and say hello to Molly Stephens (Olivia Paige Marsh) who shows them Barley.
Molly says she wants to use the horse for pony rides so she can’t have him turning nasty around kids. Helen checks on James who is much happier. Tristan and Siegfried get into an argument. Siegfried takes over and gives Barley a precise dose instead of winging it. He realizes that he’s going to have to administer a few more drops. Audrey has too much work back at Skeldale House. She takes a call from Mrs. Pumphrey who seems worried about Tricki. Audrey notices that James is behaving oddly. Siegfried still hasn’t given Barley enough so Tristan gives him more. Siegfried isn’t happy, but Tristan’s process works. James is finally ready to see Tricki. Pumphrey says he keeps pawing at his face. James tries to convince her Tricki is the healthiest dog in the world. Pumphrey asks James if he’s well. Helen arrives just as James becomes overheated. Pumphrey tells her that James is delirious. Helen and Audrey help get James to bed.
Pumphrey tells them to bathe him in cold water to bring down the fever. She agrees to look after the baby. Tristan and Siegfried finally catch up with Mr. Dobson (Jon Furlong). Dobson shows them Algernon. He asks Siegfried to give him a look over since he just got him. Dobson speaks about Tristan about his travels. He might have something for Tristan. While Dobson goes to retrieve it, Tristan begins helping Siegfried. Helen tells James this might be another bout of brucellosis. She decides to call a doctor when his fever is over 100. Downstairs, Pumphrey and Audrey agree that something seems to be bothering Tricki. Audrey thinks she should wait and see Siegfried. Helen comes in and says the doctor claims this type of fever is very common with brucellosis. They need to keep James cool and comfortable until the fever breaks. Audrey agrees to keep Jimmy down there so Helen can look after James. Pumphrey says she’ll watch him since Audrey is so busy. Dobson wants to give Tristan two bottles of his legendary elderflower wine.
Siegfried says Algernon is in fine health and his teeth are in good shape. Tristan yells to tell Siegfried he missed something. He points out that it looks like a patch of sweet itch. Siegfried has an injection, but there will be a charge. At Skeldale House, Helen continues taking care of James. Tristan is tasked with giving the horse the injection. When he tries, the horse collapses. Siegfried assures Dobson that everything is fine. Algernon gets back to its feet. Audrey struggles to keep up at Skeldale House. Pumphrey decides to answer the phone at one point. In the car, Tristan and Siegfried wonder what caused Algernon to collapse like that. They run out of gas and argue about who was supposed to fill up the car. James continues mumbling to himself. Helen overhears him mentioning Banerjee. James begins sobbing and saying he let them down. Helen tells him it’s going to be alright. Tristan and Siegfried have to walk. Tristan asks him about Miss Grantley. They take a shortcut and run into more issues.
Tristan and Siegfried begin talking about the war. Tristan argues that Siegfried doesn’t think he’s done the war properly. He tells Siegfried to do them all a favor and just ask Grantley out. Pumphrey takes notes about all the calls to Skeldale House. Audrey decides to call Dobson’s farm to see what is delaying Siegfried. When they run into water, Tristan tries to give Siegfried a piggyback ride across it. Audrey and Pumphrey talk about the fact that Tristan and Siegfried are missing. Helen tells them James is awake and he’s asking for tea and toast. She gets emotional while holding Jimmy. Siegfried tells Tristan he imagined they would’ve had more common ground after his war experience. He was looking for him coming home and being able to talk to him man-to-man. Tristan argues they’ve never really been big talkers. Siegfried questions why they couldn’t be. He tells Tristan it wouldn’t kill him to spend an evening at home once in a while.
Later, James apologizes to Helen if he worried her. Helen mentions that he was talking to Banerjee. James tells her what happened to him. He believes he let them all down because of the illness. Pumphrey holds Jimmy while Audrey works on the jam. Audrey wonders if they try some of the jam to make sure she’s not poisoning folks. Siegfried admits to Tristan he was going to ask Grantley to dinner. He offered her some constructive criticism about her book. She wasn’t very receptive. They had a robust discussion and they haven’t spoken since. Siegfried has read the rest of her memoir and it’s a far cry from Darrowby. Tristan believes he and Siegfried have the same impact on the opposite sex. He also thinks ladies of a certain age find Siegfried irresistible. They finally make it back to town. James apologizes to Pumphrey for his behavior. She reminds him that he was delirious.
Tricki begins scratching again. James takes a closer look and finds something stuck between Tricki’s teeth. It turns out to be a tiny chicken bone. Siegfried and Tristan make a lot of noise outside. The others come outside to see what is going on.
All Creatures Great And Small Review
The finale for the fifth series of All Creatures was a pleasant watch although probably not the most memorable finale of a series. Personally, it felt like there was a bit too much going on so almost everything fell flat. James’s trauma from the war really flew under the radar and didn’t have much of an emotional impact.
It was a bit disappointing to see Richard just gone without getting some type of goodbye party at The Drovers which is where they were heading at the end of the last episode. We didn’t even get to see him speak to Doris. Siegfried’s relationship with Grantley was skimmed over and went nowhere as well. There was nothing about Bosworth and Bingo either.
I also don’t recall any explanation about Algernon’s fainting spell. On the plus side, Tristan and Siegfried had fun scenes together throughout the episode and it was good to see Pumphrey helping out at Skeldale House. I’d really like to see some tweaks going forward. In particular, I hope the writers move past the war and get back to the animal-based storylines.
We need animal operations, life-or-death situations, and heart-wrenching conclusions. Regardless, the episode was a carefree watch with some strong moments scattered throughout. It scores a 6 out of 10. Recaps of All Creatures Great and Small can be found here. Find out how to support our independent site at this link. Learn more about advertising with us here. Join the discussion here.
Jay Skelton is a fan of all television shows and movies. He tries his best to keep up with the latest foreign television shows and movies. Jay loves skinny dipping in the dark too.