As the finale of Maternal begins, Helen Cavendish (Lisa McGrillis) runs out of the house to greet paramedics. Once they give Guy (Oliver Chris) Naloxone, he begins coming around. He is taken to the hospital where Dr. Matt Malyon (Joe Thomas) and Louise (Elizabeth Dulau) work on him. Catherine MacDiarmid (Lara Pulver) works up her courage before approaching Jack and Lars. Jack asks her to come by his office when she has time. She asks Lars if he is free for a minute. Dr. Maryam Afridi (Parminder Nagra) approaches the hospital. She goes inside and says hello to Sami’s sister.

Maryam admits she is scared of what will happen to the baby if they don’t take her. She is scared of what will happen to her if they do. Catherine tells Lars that she can’t keep this up. She knows she could get another consultant job. Lars suggests Elis could live with them. Catherine doesn’t think she should have to give up her career. Lars says it is a wonderful place to raise children and Catherine could still be part of her life. Mae calls Maryam to tell her Jakub (Dylan Hughes) is back with another chest infection and they’re asking for her. Maryam talks to Dr. Susan Fisher (Julie Graham) about whether she can visit.

Susan reveals that Jakub hasn’t responded to three rounds of antibiotics. A line for the fourth has just gone. Susan doesn’t think there is much clinically that she can do for him. Maryam asks her to come in with her so she can say she did it. They go inside as Maryam greets Zoya and Kateryna. Maryam finds a tiny vein in his finger and puts a line in for antibiotics. Catherine calls Helen and learns what has happened. She calls Maryam before they rush over to comfort Helen. She tells them that she is the last person Guy wants to see because he didn’t want saving.

Helen tells them how she reported Guy for drinking on call. He also found out that she slept with someone else. Matt interrupts to tell them Guy is on the Acute Ward. Maryam and Helen check on him. Catherine visits Jack. He shows her the new rota and says the trust waived his notice period so he can pitch in clearing the waiting lists. Catherine finds that she is either on call, on nights, or on weekends the whole time or on call three out of four weeks. When she complains about it, Jack says he can’t do any favors. He tells her to talk to him about it tomorrow. Catherine tells him about Guy trying to take his life.

Helen tries to stay busy. When they’re alone, Louise asks her if Guy is going to be okay. Louise says she is sorry before admitting she is in love with him. Helen comforts her by insisting this isn’t her fault. Louise asks if she can sit with him. Helen says it’ll be his parents and children when he is well enough. Moments later, Catherine finds Helen breaking down and hitting the wall. They go outside and sit together. Helen tells her how she has been thinking about going back and stopping him. Helen is so angry with Guy that she feels like she should kill him herself. She doesn’t know what to tell the kids and worries that life will never be the same again.

Catherine has to leave to attend Maryam’s meeting. The meeting is already in progress by the time she gets there. When asked why she didn’t give Edward antibiotics, Maryam says she gave Dr. Simon Segman (Dean Ridge) what she believed what a direct instruction to call microbiology so they could find an antibiotic Edward could tolerate. The call wasn’t made. It is mentioned that the instruction to call microbiology wasn’t in Edward’s notes. Maryam admits that was an oversight on her part because it was an extremely busy shift. Catherine points out that being in an acute setting was in breach of her return-to-work plan.

Maryam says she tried to say something to Dr. Fisher. Matt tells Helen that she told psychiatry Guy isn’t fit to be assessed. He thinks they might section Guy if that is what he needs. Helen wonders if she should read Guy’s note or give it to psychiatry, but Matt isn’t sure what to tell her. Maryam is asked about the return-to-work plan she put together with the training director. She says they agreed she’d spent her first week in a non-acute setting. Then, they’d assess her readiness to return to full duties. Catherine says she was pulled out of an IT induction by Dr. Fisher on day one to carry the labor ward pager.

She questions whether Maryam was able to come off the acute and on-call rotas immediately following Edward’s death. Dr. Fisher says no and she might’ve seen Dr. Afridi as a fresh pair of legs because her team was exhausted. Maryam is asked if she might’ve come back too early from maternity leave. Maryam says her instruction to Simon wasn’t clear. She assumed he’d hear it was for him because she wrote down every syllable her reg said when she was in F1. Simon confirms there were other instructions she gave that he knew were meant for him. Catherine says he didn’t carry out Edward’s urine dip.

Simon says he thought she meant he could ask a nurse to do it. Catherine asks Maryam what she thought it’d be like coming back after maternity leave. She knew they were short-staffed. Maryam has heard about burnout and knew they were struggling to meet the challenges children were facing in their health and development. She didn’t feel ready to come back because she felt tired. She was scared about being tired. Maryam couldn’t remember the doctor she was before she had children because she felt changed. When asked how, she says it felt like the pieces of what she was were thrown in the air and some still hadn’t landed.

Catherine thinks it is important to consider why Maryam wasn’t given the support she needed. They’re asked why the sepsis guidelines were not followed. Catherine says it was unlikely that microbiology would’ve found an antibiotic for Edward within the hour that didn’t send him into anaphylactic shock. Even if they had, they still don’t know if Edward would’ve lived. Catherine argues that Edward was let down by the same systems that let Maryam down. It is easier to pin that failure on an individual instead of fighting for real change. She talks about how the NHS workers always find a way and it takes something from them to maintain those high standards.

Helen picks up Maggie from school and learns that she wore Ariana’s spare swimming costume. Matt tries to tell Guy what is going on. Guy says they didn’t look after them properly and should’ve done better. After the meeting, Maryam tells Catherine she feels like she got away with it. She has thought about Edward every day since he died and knows she could’ve done better. Catherine asks if she still wants to be a doctor before her pager beeps. Before Catherine leaves, Maryam thanks her. Maryam goes back to Susan who tells her that Jakub’s line didn’t hold. She offers to speak to them since she knows them best.

Catherine joins the surgeons and says she can assist with a 14-year-old who was hit by a car. Catherine takes over for Jack and stabilizes the patient. Jack leaves in a hurry. Maryam tells Zoya it might be time to consider that Jakub won’t survive this. She explains it would be best to give him a death with some dignity. Maryam convinces Zoya (Aliona Baranova) to tell Kateryna what is going on. Catherine confronts Jack for speaking to her like she is his junior despite saving him. She also urges him to stop whatever is going on with Helen. He reminds her that he is the boss now. Catherine tells him to fire her, but he might want to have at least one decent surgeon around.

Maryam stays with Jakub and his family. At home, Helen reads Guy’s letter. Catherine sits down next to the baby’s crib. Jakub passes away. Helen tries to get Guy to speak to her. She says she loves him and she is willing to listen to whatever he has to say. Both apologize. Simon enters the room as Maryam prays. He tells her he couldn’t do what she just did. Maryam says this is what it means to be a doctor to her and Simon will find out what it means for him. He reveals he is moving to orthopedics because people don’t die due to bad knees very often. Maryam gives Susan her badge and says she can’t do this anymore. Catherine goes to the doctor for myofascial release therapy.

Once it is over, Catherine admits it feels like she is in her body again. Then, she meets Lars and tells him she can’t let them take Elis. She is going to take it one day at a time. Lars says their arrangement isn’t sustainable. Raz (Abhin Galeya) talks to Maryam about post-natal depression. Maryam is tired of people telling her how she must be feeling and just wants him to listen to her. She isn’t in a fit state to take a baby and worries she’ll end up like Guy if she doesn’t put herself first. When she asks if they could get more time, Raz says there is another family so they’re pushing hard for a decision. She says she is sorry.

Jack joins Helen in the elevator. She gets out of the elevator without saying anything. Helen talks to Tessa (Jennifer Macbeth) about herself and Guy. She thanks Tessa for taking such good care of him yesterday morning. Tessa mentions that they’re going to need a locum or someone to act up as a consultant. She believes Helen is the most qualified person for the role. After Elis goes to sleep, Lars tells Catherine he needs to check the dates to find out when he can get back over there. He doesn’t want to leave her so he suggests there must be another way to work this out. They end up having sex. The next day, Helen tells the others that she’ll be a consultant when she is ready to come back.

Maryam isn’t sure when she’ll come back. Catherine tells them about her visit to the fanny witch who says she needs three more sessions.

 

Maternal Review

The finale of Maternal wrapped up the main storylines well while opening new doors for a potential second series. The show has the potential to get better with more time and character development. The soundtrack could’ve been better because some of the songs took away from the serious nature of the story.

Certain storylines were more interesting than others and juggling so much throughout the season made it somewhat difficult to get emotionally invested. Truthfully, some viewers will latch onto the characters and the stories more than others. The series was well done and acted well enough to justify another season which could be even better.

The finale scores a 6.5 out of 10. Recaps of Maternal can be found on Reel Mockery here. Find out how to support us at this link. Learn more about advertising opportunities on Reel Mockery here.