Every season, GBH Drama prepares to bring you coverage of the latest and greatest in British dramas. This month, we get the triumphant return of MASTERPIECE’s remake of the classic series All Creatures Great and Small. Featuring eccentric characters, adorable animals, and the vast, rolling hills of Yorkshire, this series does not disappoint. GBH Drama contributor Amanda-Rae Prescott is here to recap the magic as it happens.
We’ve officially crossed the halfway mark for All Creatures Great And Small Season 2. This is a rare episode where the human drama outweighs the animals with medical issues. Who ruined Tristan’s special day? Here’s what happened.
Big Man In Charge
The episode starts with Tristan receiving the monogrammed medical bag Mrs. Hall brought earlier in the season. Of course, the monogram also includes the initials for the veterinary degree Tristan doesn’t have. Siegfried decides to lay the internship schemes to rest and finally gives Tristan his list of appointments as the lead vet in charge. He tells James to shadow him in case the cases or clients give Tristan too much trouble. Siegfried also plots to do some random check-ins to make sure Tristan isn’t messing up. Later on in the episode, Tristan even gets to drive the Rover as James needs the other car.
Tristan originally planned to go to the pub after work for his birthday bash but then decides at the last minute to burden Mrs. Hall with catering a dinner party for 7. Siegfried decides to invite Diana Brompton, and James brings Helen along, but Mrs. Hall decides not to invite anyone. Tristan once again plays it by ear on who he’s going to ask out on a date. Dinner parties are another favorite period drama trope, so let’s see what happens.
The Horse From Hell
Siegfried usually saves the horse appointments for himself, but he gives Tristan the task of filing the teeth of the horses on one of the gentry estates. John Monkham, the gamekeeper/manager of the estate, rudely greets Tristan and James as he was expecting Siegfried to show up. Tristan asserts himself, saying that he is indeed qualified to treat the horses.
Margot Seabright Saunders is intimidating on two fronts. First of all, she’s pretty, but way out of Tristan’s league according to the British class system rules. James encourages him to try and invite her to the dinner party anyway. Secondly, her stallion is named Satan.
This name is very apt as he has a terrible attitude and kicks Tristan extremely hard in the shin. Margot agrees to the date and Monkham agrees that Tristan suffered a bit but still completed the necessary horse dentistry.
Call The Cow Midwife
Tristan’s second appointment is at Mr. Dobson’s farm. His heifer has been in labor for a long time and it’s clear the calf is in a weird position. Mr. Dobson is played by a little person yet his role on the show is exactly the same as the other farmers in Yorkshire. This is one small step towards erasing ableist bias in period dramas. May there be many more!
Tristan appears to be struggling with the birth, yet refuses James’ offers to help. Dobson even offers Tristan a restorative cup of tea.
Thankfully, a little brown calf is born and all is well. As they’re packing up to leave, Tristan admits he exaggerated how hard it was. That may come back to bite him later.
Tears Of A Clown
The dinner party guests arrive at Skeldale House and at first, it seems like everyone is having a good time. Margot brings flowers and accidentally calls Mrs. Hall “Mrs. Farnon”. (We really want that to be canon though!!!)
Siegfried offers a toast to the birthday boy, including all sorts of high praise for his achievements in general and as the lead vet. He even admits he’s proud of Tristan which is a shock. Things go downhill when Tristan offers to help Bonnie, the golden retriever who has been yelping her way through coming off of barbiturates.
The joy is fleeting of course as Tristan admits he put on a bit of the show for the clients. Siegfried’s mood darkens as he accuses Tristan of embarrassing the practice. Tristan retorts that Siegfried is a hypocrite, since he also loves theatrics. Siegfried claps back (theatrically) that Tristan failed parasitology so he’s a fake vet. Tristan is stunned that his brother would allow him to make a fool of himself to all of Darrowby. Siegfried defiantly responds that he was right to allow Tristan to go out and see cases on his own to gain confidence. Tristan is not only angry that Siegfried doesn't trust him, but also that he ruined what was supposed to be Tristan's special day. Mrs. Hall scrambles to distract the guests as it’s clear the war between the Farnons is going to get even more awkward and explosive. Diana later on jokes about being invited to dinner and a show, but this is way more depressing than a comedy of errors.
Once the guests leave Mrs. Hall is right there to try to console Tristan. She admits she only found out about Siegfried’s duplicity about the exam results later on. We may not have thought Tristan could take things seriously but this outpouring of emotion makes it clear that he does care. He wants to be a good vet and a good brother but he needs Siegfried to bend a bit. Callum Woodhouse deserves a shout out for knocking this scene out of the park!
The Glaswegian Elephant In The Room
Tristan isn’t the only one having an awkward time at the party. Helen arrives at dinner just as the vets are changing out of their work clothes. She offers to help Mrs. Hall with prep but is politely declined. Interestingly enough Mrs. Hall tells Helen to call her Audrey as there’s no need for the formality. While they’re talking, Audrey accidentally reveals that James was offered the permanent vet position in Glasgow. Helen is blindsided because James failed to share that when he visited the Aldersons earlier to check on their pregnant horse Candy.
Adding to the confusion for Helen is James acting as if everything is fine during the dinner. He even tries to hold her hand which results in Margot sending some serious side-eye in their direction. She’s friends with Hugh so would have only heard his initial anger and pain, and not how Helen agonized over not being honest about how the relationship wasn’t working out. Thankfully Margot later apologizes for not knowing Helen’s side of the breakup story as she leaves the disastrous dinner party.
James drives Helen home. As they’re discussing the future of Skeldale House if Tristan can’t help out, Helen tells James that Audrey accidentally spilled the beans about the job offer. He doesn’t shy away from telling her the truth: Mama Herriot has a big mouth and accepted the offer before talking to James.
He admits he really wants to be with Helen and he wants to stay in Darrowby, but disappointing his mom is going to be hard. Helen realizes her boyfriend isn’t a shady liar and therefore agrees to help him work something out. We can’t help but stan open communication and second chances! Although the idea of additional smooches with Helen is tempting, James leaves to check on Tristan.
The Fallout
Back at Skeldale House, Siegfried is thankfully doing the opposite of gloating. He’s realizing he messed up big time but doesn’t know how to move forward. The bombastic vet is gone and Bonnie the golden retriever senses his pain even though she’s recovering from a lipoma removal.
James returns to see Tristan has moved on from crying and is drinking away his problems. Since the dinner party was a disaster, he decides to go back to his original idea to get hurricane drunk at the pub. There’s a few hours left for his special day, might as well salvage some fun out of it.
Will Margot try to go out with Tristan again? Will Siegfried get off his high horse and make a real apology to Tristan? Can Helen and James go out without further haterade from Hugh’s friends? We’ll find out next week!
Episode 1 recap: spring in the Dales
Episode 2 recap: The Daffodil Ball
Episode 3 recap: community care and love
