We’ve reached the point in the season where Poplar’s timeline is overlapping with ours. Specifically: the squad is undergoing a rigorous spring cleaning. But unlike us, they’re doing it for a person. That’s right: there’s a new girl in town named Sister Catherine, and she’s studying for both her religious vows AND her midwifery certification, so she’ll be one busy bee. Also a busy bee? Fred, who’s helping by moving various furniture pieces, and who I hope will get a nice break soon.
Sister Catherine has actually turned up a day early in an attempt to avoid a railway strike, but on the plus side, she came bearing gifts: chocolates, given to her by a patient, which Sister Veronica tries to put into the charity pile before Sister Monica Joan snatches the bounty for herself. Meanwhile, at the surgery, Dr. Turner and Miss Higgins bemoan the unusually short list of folks who have signed up for a measles vaccination clinic.
We also meet a lady named Mrs. Wrigley, who’s here for an appointment with Dr. T. She’s clearly struggling with something, which starts to make sense when she explains why she’s here: Mrs. Wrigley, who is in her mid forties and has 7 children, thinks she might be pregnant. What she wants is an abortion. After an exam, Dr. Turner confirms that his patient is about 3 months pregnant, and then explains that even though abortion is legal, it isn’t simple.
Mrs. Wrigley: Yeah, and having another baby isn’t simple either. I love my kids, but I work constantly to take care of them. And my husband’s job is in jeopardy because of the docker’s strike. I can’t have another one; it’d kill me.
Dr. Turner: It won’t kill you, but it could cause you a lot of distress.
Mrs. Wrigley: So does that qualify me to get an abortion?
Dr. Turner: The law is complicated. You’ll need to be seen by more than one doctor.
Mrs. Wrigley: Please help me. Please.
Phyllis: We can’t help you immediately, but we will help you.
Dr. Turner: I’m going to refer you to another doctor, and I’m going to have him talk to you about sterilization while we’re at it.
Mrs. Wrigley: That might be good. Thank you.
And across town, Shelagh runs into a former patient, Mrs. Trotwood, at Mrs. Wallace’s laundromat. Mrs. Trotwood is attempting to fold her laundry while her son Andrew bangs a dryer door closed over and over. Mrs. Trotwood is frazzled, and apologizes for her kiddo’s behavior (even though Mrs. Wallace seems pretty chill about it). But things take a turn for the worse when Andrew accidentally shuts his hand in the machine. Lucky for everyone involved, Shelagh’s right there, and with the help of Mrs. Wallace’s first aid kit, Andrew’s soon all patched up. Shelagh and Mrs. Wallace also take this opportunity to tell Mrs. Trotwood to have a cup of tea and relax for a bit, because this lady is clearly worn out.
Shelagh: The last time I saw you, Andrew’s seizures were getting worse. Is that happening again?
Mrs. Trotwood: No, but they aren’t getting better either. It’s very stressful. I can’t believe he was just like any other kid before he got sick.
Mrs. Wallace: What happened?
Mrs. Trotwood: Well, he caught measles. And the brain infection left him the way he is now. I love him just as much, if not more, but he’s more challenging to care for.
Later, at clinic, we see Mrs. Wrigley again, this time accompanying her daughter Gail, who’s close to delivery and whose husband is serving in Cyprus with the RAF. While Gail’s baby’s heart sounds great, Phyllis notices that her patient’s blood pressure is a little high, and suggests a urine test AND rest. That settles it: Mrs. Wrigley insists that her daughter move back home to be taken care of. The good news is that based on the urine sample, Gail does not have preeclampsia, but Phyllis will check in regularly regardless. While Gail gets ready to leave, Mrs. Wrigley pulls Phyllis aside and asks to keep her own medical situation private. Phyllis is of the opinion that Mrs. Wrigley will need to talk to SOMEONE about this, but her patient isn’t convinced.
Back at Nonnatus, Sister Catherine gets her bearings by taking a look around, and bumps into Sister Monica Joan. From this interaction we learn three things: one, that Sister Catherine is an active sort, who’s been forced to turn her interests more inward to align with her vocation (trampolining, for instance, is hard to tie to worship). Two, that Sister Catherine has somewhat overbearing parents. And three: that Sister Monica Joan is finding this new arrival somewhat challenging. This makes Sister Monica Joan snippy with Sister Veronica, which I’m sure will be fun to watch unfold. On the plus side, Joyce and Rosalind are excited to have another younger friend in the house, even though said friend is an almost nun who will be studying all the time.
Across town, we get a glimpse of life at the Wrigley house, and it immediately becomes clear why Mrs. Wrigley is so overwhelmed. There’s a LOT going on, and both she and her husband are adamant that he should continue to support the strike despite the financial hardship it’s putting the whole family under. And speaking of people under strain: Shelagh has arrived at the Trotwood home to check on Andrew’s bandage, and finds Mrs. Trotwood pulling Andrew and his wheelchair up the stairs: the elevator is out. Unfortunately, this seems to be a regular occurrence.
Shelagh: Well, looks like this cut might be a little infected. I’ll get a cream prescribed for it, and drop it off later.
Mrs. Trotwood: He kept messing with it. I can’t watch him all day!
Shelagh: I’m not here to criticize you: you’re working really hard, and alone. Yeah, I figured out that your husband left and also assumed you didn’t want to talk about it?
Mrs. Trotwood: People already feel sorry for me because of Andrew. I loved my husband, but he couldn’t love our son, so it was easy to let him leave, in the end.
Shelagh: I would have thought that special education school in Essex would have helped?
Mrs. Trotwood: He got a lot out of it, but the council stopped paying for him to attend. They said he had to go to a place that was closer, but there isn’t one!
At the Wrigley house, Phyllis arrives to find Gail up and about, trying to clean while her mother is out of the house. Not great for her bloodpressure, but understandable, given what we saw earlier. She also tells Phyllis that her husband is very involved in her pregnancy, even though he’s abroad, and that her father was decidedly NOT involved with any of his children. No wonder Mrs. Wrigley is overwhelmed. And speaking of Mrs. Wrigley: she’s out doing the shopping, but something is wrong. She can barely stand up from pain, which even I, a non-midwife, can tell is bad news. She arrives back home in rough shape, and bleeding, and is immediately escorted to the lavatory by Phyllis. While Phyllis is fairly sure her patient is having a miscarriage, she asks Gail to call for Dr. Turner just in case.
At the surgery, Shelagh and Sister Veronica chat about Andrew Trotwood. Shelagh is very worried about the whole family; Andrew staying at home isn’t good for him or his mother. So Sister Veronica takes up the cause. First stop: the council, who insist that everything is fine. They don’t have any evidence that the family needs support. There are forms to fill out! But you know who’s really good at filling out forms? Sister Veronica. Meanwhile, when Shelagh arrives to check in, she finds Mrs. Trotwood at the end of her rope and having a small meltdown. While Shelagh looks at Andrew’s bandage, Mrs. Trotwood explains that she feels very isolated: none of the moms she knows are in the same position, and moms with typical children can’t understand her experience.
At the Wrigley home, Dr. Turner confirms what everyone suspected: Mrs. Wrigley has had a miscarriage. They’re unfortunately pretty common for people her age, and Phyllis is worried that there’s been more bleeding than normal. Mrs. Wrigley will have to go to the hospital and have a procedure to make sure no fetal tissue is left behind, because otherwise she can get a bad infection. This is a good time to talk about the referral Dr. Turner was setting up earlier, so he asks Gail to leave so her mom can have some privacy.
Gail: I can’t leave her!
Phyllis: Dr. T needs to talk about some confidential medical information with your mom, kiddo.
Mrs. Wrigley: Is this about me getting my tubes tied? Like we talked about?
Gail: Wait, what? When did you do that?
Mrs. Wrigley: When I went to ask for an abortion.
Gail: WHAT? What did dad say?
Mrs. Wrigley: He wouldn’t have known, and I don’t think he’d have cared.
Meanwhile, at Nonnatus, Sister Catherine’s attempt to escape to her room to study is thwarted by Sister Julienne, who insists that Sister Catherine join the group for recreation. Sister Julienne is right, of course: study breaks are important. But I fear that Sister Catherine’s been shoehorned into a type of recreation that isn’t actually helping her recuperate, and that’s a bigger problem to solve. Also, the TV is on the fritz, and with no Cyril around to fix it, so Sister Monica Joan is in… a mood.
At the hospital, the doctor asks if Mrs. Wrigley would still like to have her tubes tied. She isn’t sure, and asks her daughter for advice. Gail says she doesn’t want to see her mother go through something like this again, and tells her to put herself first. Unfortunately, what initially looks like a routine procedure takes a nasty turn in the operating room. In the waiting room, Mr. Wrigley finally makes his appearance, and gets an earful from his daughter. Gail explains what’s happened, and reminds her father that he’s part of the reason they’re in this situation. Just then, the doctor appears, and brings them into a separate room, which is never a good sign. Despite everything they tried, Mrs. Wrigley has died.
The next morning, the team at Nonnatus talks over the loss. They’re all worried for the Wrigley family, and especially Gail. It’s unclear what happened to Mrs. Wrigley, but the team at St. Cuthberts will do an autopsy, which should clear some things up. Unfortunately, that information hasn’t come soon enough to prevent Gail and her dad from getting into a loud fight in front of all the kids where they both blame each other for what happened.
Time passes. The midwives talk over their new colleague, who it turns out is bright and effective, but very interested in caring for children. Phyllis opines that this is good, but that they need to remind Sister Catherine to care for the laboring mothers first. But the discussion does give everyone an idea: could Sister Catherine’s particular skillset be useful in helping out Gail and her family? Yes, and that help can’t come soon enough: Mr. Wrigley is not coping well with his new reality, and Gail is also struggling, especially with keeping up with the household needs. That part, at least, Phyllis can help with: Gail’s going to check into the maternity home. Today.
Meanwhile, Shelagh talks to Vi about Andrew Trotwood. The biggest issue is that Andrew and other handicapped kids have no legal right to an education. Vi tells her that there’s a bill going through parliament which would help, and until then funding is at the mercy of the council.
Shelagh: But we need to be doing better! We have to help each other!
Vi: I agree. Kids like Andrew and Reggie deserve more.
On the plus side, Andrew’s mum has found something that can get her out of the house: she’s spotted the measles vaccine clinic poster, and asks Mrs. Higgins for leaflets to distribute. If anyone knows how dangerous measles is, it’s Mrs. Trotwood, so Mrs. Higgins happily hands over all the fliers she’s got. That afternoon, the Trotwoods post up outside the school, where Mrs. Trotwood gets every mom there to take a flier. Even better, a lot of those moms follow through and sign their kids up for the vaccine clinic.
Meanwhile, Mr. Wrigley comes home to find Sister Catherine entertaining his children. She’s also gotten a start on dinner, and has generally set things to rights. Despite clearly loving helping out with these kids, Sister Catherine does a great job taking care of Gail that evening at the maternity home, where the rest seems to be working.
Later, Sister Catherine’s studies are interrupted by Sister Monica Joan, who comes bearing biscuits.
Sister Catherine: This is so nice! But I’ve been taught that it’s not allowed to eat between meals.
Sister Monica Joan: But THESE are a lot of biscuits. We can call this a meal, I think.
Sister Catherine: You know what, I’ll go with it. Sounds good.
Sister Monica Joan: Is this what you imagined?
Sister Catherine: I didn’t actually imagine it very much, to be honest. God called me, and I came. I’ve given up everything; that’s the job, you know?
Sister Monica Joan: Everything is just a word. What was it, specifically, for you?
Sister Catherine: Tights. Sweets. My cat. The apartment I shared with my friend, and my favorite exercise, and my family. Choosing anything for myself. I think I miss that the most.
Sister Monica Joan: I get that. But the good news is that this is still a very full life.
Somehow I feel like these two are going to be good for each other. Not so good? There’s been another strike, this time with the railway workers, which means that the measles vaccines will be delivered a day late. They’ll need to postpone the clinic… unless Dr. Turner can get to the factory fast enough in his car. While he rushes off to do that, Shelagh goes across town to collect the Trotwoods, so that they can see just how many people came out to get vaccinated because of Mrs. Trotwood’s efforts. While the waiting crowd starts to get restive, Sister Veronica is armed with chocolate biscuits, and Dr. T soon makes his appearance with boxes of vaccine in hand. As the clinic gets underway, Vi arrives with good news for the Trotwoods: the council are going to look at Andrew’s case again, and hope to have everything sorted before the new school year starts. Even better, Mrs. Trotwood has made friends with some of the other parents at the clinic, and Andrew is playing with the kids. He even signs up to join the cub scouts! The family has a new lease on life.
Meanwhile, at the maternity home, Gail’s labor begins. She’s working through it with the help of Sister Catherine and Phyllis when her dad shows up bearing gifts: knitted baby clothes that his wife had been preparing for Gail. Mr. Wrigley, who after all has never seen his wife in labor, is shocked and upset to see his daughter in pain, but sticks around in the waiting room anyway. Gail’s struggling without her mom, which prompts Phyllis to go and get Mr. Wrigley to come support his daughter. This is particularly notable given Phyllis’ prior sentiments regarding men in the delivery room, and, somewhat surprisingly, she’s successful. Not only that, but Mr. Wrigley is actually helpful, giving his daughter a pep talk, holding her hand, AND providing a sugar candy to suck on. Soon after, Gail’s baby is born: a hearty baby girl.
And with that, the episode ends: a hard one, but with a hopeful note. What will next week bring? We’ll just have to wait and see!
