The All Creatures Great And Small Season 4 premiere reminds viewers that the shadow of World War II is now fully woven into the lives of the residents of Yorkshire. At Skeldale House, Tristan is sorely missed as there are plenty of farmers and pet owners looking for veterinary care. While the season premiere establishes that the series has not forgotten its roots in comforting television, the stakes for the health of the animals have never been higher. Let’s discuss how the characters are adjusting to their new reality.

Reader, I hope you’re as excited as I am to have our Victorian era detective pals back in action! Remember how last season Detective Mustache (Nash) offered our pal Victoria Mars (Eliza) the opportunity to run his office while he went off to set up a new branch in Paris? And how Duke Silver (William) had just gotten dumped by Arabella? It’s been a while, so if you, like me, needed a refresher, you can find all my previous recaps here.

Winter is here (allegedly — as a snow loving Boston resident, I’m miffed) and so is a drama fan favorite holiday tradition: the Call The Midwife Holiday Special! I’m here to recap the show just in case you missed it, or just couldn’t get enough of our favorite nurses, nuns, and other assorted denizens of Poplar.

When we left Amsterdam last week, Euro Cash and Eddie had discovered the hidden door that gave the non-demon murderer access to the conjuring space, Citra and Drunkie Howser were posted up in a club surveilling Magic Man and crew, and Grandad Conjurer had just attacked an orderly at the hospital before making his escape. Luckily for that orderly, Hassell was on her way to the hospital, so she finds him soon after the attack, administers a bit of haphazard first aid, and confirms that Grandad Conjurer is in the wind.

Reader, I’m honestly not sure how we are somehow already at the LAST episode of this season. There’s still so much left to untangle, and that’s just talking about the interpersonal nonsense everyone’s dealing with! Anyway, we’ve only got one television hour left, so let’s jump right in: that sniffer dog from last week was right on the money, and New Cassie, Sunny, and Pathologist gather under a forensics tent to discuss the newest remains this season. The body is that of a young man, and there are two bullet holes in the head. Other than that, there isn’t a lot to say now, but New Cassie asks for rush DNA so they can try and confirm that this is, as we all assume, Precious’ older son.

I’ll be real with you, reader: I was pretty excited when this episode, for the first time this season, turned out to be about the weird and esoteric, and kicked off with a magic ritual featuring two men covered in hand-drawn sigils conjuring something in a candle-lit room.

Last week, things FINALLY seemed to be looking up for our squad, at least when it comes to their interpersonal skills. Personal lives? The living embodiment of that "this is fine" cartoon dog.

It’s never great when someone who thinks they have important information to share with a detective gets murdered. But it’s definitely worse when that person has romantic history with said detective’s boss, and that’s the situation we’re faced with here at the start of episode 4.

After last week, it really seems like the case is starting to come together: the tech team found the bullet, they’re interviewing some very solid suspects, and two different people made phone calls that imply deep knowledge of the case (one from inside a prison, so we can only hope that information makes its way over to our friends). On the other hand, everyone’s personal life is in shambles. You win some, you lose some.

This week’s episode begins with a party scene right out of an 80s movie, complete with a dude wearing a white suit. A wild choice, and one that really shows the blood when he gets stabbed with a full on sword (a sword he was clearly intending to acquire from someone in a creepy basement hallway). What’s up with the sword? And why was everyone congratulating the victim at the party? We’ll get some answers, but not all, when our detective squad arrives on the scene.