Call The Midwife Series 13 Episode 8 Recap

As this episode of Call The Midwife begins, Nurse Julienne (Jenny Agutter) tells the gives that Nurse Crane is still with Singh. They have bedbugs at Lisbon buildings. Trixie Aylward (Helen George) calls Rosalind (Natalie Quarry) to say she is going to be late because she overslept. Fred Buckle (Cliff Parisi) tells Reg he doesn’t know about the municipal fireworks at the rec. He knows Violet has to make it look important. Reg mentions that Nonnatus House is having a party. They talk about Cyril and the technique of setting off the fireworks. Reverend Nicholas Connell (Joseph Chance) tells some of the women about the upcoming Poplar Mother of the Year competition. The winner will receive a fully automatic washing machine and a place in the all London final in January of next year.

The children have to get their tributes to their mothers in by the end of the week. Beryl Walker (Jordan Baker) apologizes to Phyllis (Linda Bassett) for missing the clinic yesterday. She offers her a bottle of urine instead. Phyllis can’t take it and instead asks if she’ll be at home tomorrow morning. Violet (Annabelle Apsion) tells Fred and Reg about her busy day. Fred says he polished her chain. Violet suspects he is sick so he isn’t coming to the municipal display tonight. Instead, Fred and Reg catch up with Cyril (Zephryn Taitte). Geoffrey Franklin (Christopher Harper) runs into Trixie and asks her not to go sloping off on her own. He offers to come around and cook for her. Trixie tells him they should arrange it soon. Sylvester Warren (Benjamin Cawley) surprises Joyce (Renee Bailey) by showing up at the party. Nancy Corrigan (Megan Cusack) checks on Beryl Walker who says her sister will be in the hospital for at least another six weeks.

Nancy wants to know if it gets to be too much because Beryl needs to take better care of herself. Nurse Shelagh Turner (Laura Main) tells Timothy the mothers aren’t supposed to know what their kids are doing. He tells her she is the Mother of the Year every year. Miss Williams calls to say the appointment at the welfare office with May has been brought forward. May’s mother, Esther Tang, has had a change of circumstances. She wants to speak to May. They’re booking an international call to take place during their meeting. In the middle of the night, Mariam Chopra (Shanaya Rafaat) visits Miss Higgins (Georgie Glen) to talk about something in private. She explains she is the wife of Victor Chopra. Higgins asks Phyllis to leave.

Mariam reveals that Victor is alive and he’s in London. Higgins knew that was the name his adoptive parents had chosen. Mariam says he is Higgins’s son. Phyllis watches Miriam leave from her vehicle before going back inside to comfort Higgins. She tells Phyllis that her parents had gone home from the Punjab when she was ten. Higgins wanted to return because she wanted India more than she could’ve wanted any man. Her parents sent her to a widowed friend in Simla. She got a job in a library. One day, a young tutor came in needing three copies of Henry V. His name was Krishnan Chaudri. Higgins never mentioned him when she wrote letters to her parents. Shelagh tells Patrick Turner (Stephen McGann) she is worried that Esther has married.

Patrick believes they should see those opportunities for May too because May isn’t theirs. Higgins tells Phyllis how she had John and he was sent to a suitable family with a mother of Dutch extraction and a Hindu father. Higgins says John is in England for two weeks and he wants to meet. Veronica takes care of Monica. Veronica (Rebecca Gethings) tells her they have a project on their hands this half term. Young Colette wants to enter Nurse Corrigan in the Mother of the Year contest. Veronica thought they could do it in the form of a big painting. Monica gets mad and throws something at her. Nancy asks Julienne if it’ll be okay to look for faith. Veronica bursts in and asks for help. Julienne makes her apologize before making Monica do it too. Monica eventually apologizes. Shelagh asks Julienne if she can speak to her.

Miriam goes with Victor (Rez Kempton) to buy a gift for Higgins. Shelagh tells Veronica and Julienne about her concerns for May. Julienne asks Veronica to send a telegram to Sister Margery at the Hong Kong branch house to see what they can find out. Victor arrives to see Millicent. Beryl arrives at Dr. Turner’s surgery because he believes he’s in labor. Millicent learns that they’ve sent their boy to a private school in Delhi. She is struggling to digest the fact that she has a grandson. Phyllis notices that Victor’s ankle is swollen. Nancy tells Trixie she needs to send in Lynne Viner. Phyllis asks Miriam about Victor’s ankles. She learns Victor has been sick with Bright’s disease of the kidneys. Inside, Millicent speaks to Victor.

Trixie gets amniotic fluid in her face before delivering a baby. Beryl is told she only had a false alarm. Julienne tells Veronica they’ve received the details for the transfer of deeds to the Order. Mother Mildred insists they proceed. If the council ever enacts the compulsory purchase, she believes it would be to their advantage. Reggie arrives and tells Fred he went to the shed to find a biscuit tin for the Mother of the Year contest. He isn’t sure what he’ll do with the tin yet. Sylvester calls Nonnatus House to speak to Joyce. Victor continues hanging out with Millicent. She confirms his father was a Hindu. Above all else, Krishnan wanted to do what was right by his family. That involved a marriage to someone besides Millicent. She believes he did the honorable thing in his way.

Joyce meets Sylvester who takes all of her money. He reminds her he could take everything from her. Sylvester thinks she owes him recompense for coming out there and this is just a start. Millicent and Victor talk about their favorite films and novels. Victor ends up getting ill so Millicent gets him to Dr. Turner. Patrick warns him that chronic kidney disease is difficult to live with. He says his kidneys and heart are failing. Millicent tells Phyllis she wants to find the best specialists. Phyllis thinks she should get Victor admitted to St. Cuthbert’s as soon as possible. Patrick promises to make sure he is seen as soon as possible, but it might be too late to do anything for him. Millicent only says they have a connection going back many years. Later, Shelagh and Patrick talk to their son about adopted kids.

Angela yells because May is crying. Millicent puts Victor to bed. He thinks it’s best for him to be there since visitor hours in a hospital can be very strict. She suggests arranging for him to have dialysis. The next day, Shelagh thanks Veronica for coming with them. Veronica received a telegram from Sister Margery who said Esther lost her job with the British Army family earlier this year. She ended up back on the streets. She’s just given birth to a baby boy. After Trixie takes pills, Julienne asks her to test Lynne Viner’s urine. She’ll have to do it the old-fashioned way with a spirit lamp. Veronica translates for Esther Tang. May tells her she likes being in England and she is getting good marks in school. When she grows up, she wants to be a nurse or a hairdresser. May says she loves her English brothers, sisters, and mommy, and daddy.

Trixie has an accident. May admits she would like to live with her English parents forever. Trixie sets herself on fire until Julienne helps put her out. She tells Julienne she has been taking caffeine tablets all day. Julienne tells her that the burns are entirely superficial. She questions whether she should phone anyone. Trixie asks for her brother. Later, her brother asks her about taking nitrazepam. Trixie tells Geoffrey she isn’t in the mood for this. He complains about her taking pills and says he is going to get rid of them. Geoffrey asks when she last went to Alcoholics Anonymous. Trixie says too long ago. Miriam tells Phyllis she was worried about traveling, but meeting his mother has brought him peace of mind. Phyllis hopes it does the same for Millicent. Miriam shows Phyllis where all of Victor’s things are kept.

Trixie says she is in control of everything in that room and the power is all hers. Geoffrey tells her to run towards him if she has to run. Nancy takes Beryl everything she’ll need for a home birth. Beryl reveals it is her afternoon to go to the hospital to see her sister. Millicent is surprised to see Harry. Violet tells Reg it is okay to call her mom. A bus driver yells that there is a sick woman on his bus. Nancy learns it is Beryl so she rushes over. Victor tells Harry he wants him to come to Liverpool. He talks about coming up to the dental hospital, but Harry doubts he can make it. Victor asks him not to tell his mother. Nancy helps Beryl birth her baby. The cord ends up around the baby’s neck, but they get the baby out. He’s just fine. Rosalind finds Phyllis setting up a projector before she runs out. Sylvester shows up at church and talks about the lord.

Miriam worries that Victor is worse. Dr. Turner tells them he is going to arrange for Victor to have oxygen at home. Then, they’ll have one more push at getting him dialysis. Rosalind sees Sylvester with Joyce’s money. Millicent and the others gather to look at pictures of Victor. Rosalind confronts Sylvester about the wage packet. He tells her to ask Joyce and give his regards to Claudine. Millicent Higgins sits with Victor and holds his hand. Rosalind and Nancy try to get information out of Joyce, but she doesn’t want to talk about it. Joyce eventually admits that she is a liar and her name is Claudine. She says she left Sylvester and changed her name. Nancy says they’re going to speak to Sister Julienne. Victor dies. Joyce speaks to Sister Julienne about her lies.

Julienne offers to help and says they must report Sylvester. Her tenure there is not in question. Matthew calls Trixie to tell her he can come home in a few months. She is coming to join him. Sylvester approaches Joyce who tells him that the truth is hers and she’s told it to good people. Shelagh and Patrick speak to Angela in private. She thanks them for choosing her. Monica is in a better mood when Veronica checks on her. Harry asks Millicent about scattering Victor’s ashes. She says the flowers are enough. Harry puts them on the water for her. Reg tells the crowd during the ceremony that he made a miniature to celebrate that he has two mothers. Monica and Veronica speak highly of Sister Julienne.

 

Call The Midwife Review

This episode of Call The Midwife left a lot to be desired with a pretty predictable story and no real surprises. Anyone with half a brain could see what was going to happen to Joyce. Sure enough, everything she did was swept under the rug. Trixie and Matthew’s turmoil went out with a whimper and she got over her drug issue without any struggle.

It was humorous to see her catch herself on fire because it was so outlandish, but no more than Millicent’s story. Nothing ever good happens in this show until it does in the most unrealistic way possible. As the series has progressed, it has become filled with fantasy world writing that isn’t possible in the real world. There is no real setup for any of the stories such as Victor just showing up out of the blue.

Again, nothing good can happen in this series so he had to die or something along those lines. The episode had the token poor mother in Beryl who couldn’t put two cents together to save her life. For God’s sake, she was carrying urine around in her purse with about eight kids running around her. The writing of that character was extreme in the least, but at least Millicent’s long-lost son and grandchild are doing good until one of them dies.

If anyone takes a few minutes to think about the writing of this show, they’ll become frustrated and possibly even infuriated with the sheer stupidity of it. It’s become set in a fantasy land with modern issues, yet it is really about nothing at all. Not to mention it turns poor English people in the worst caricatures with the worst stereotypes possible. The episode scores a 4 out of 10. Recaps of Call The Midwife can be found on Reel Mockery here.

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