SERIES 8, EPISODE 8
Please feel free to comment on my review.
There was a delay in terms of me seeing Series 8, Episode 8 of ‘Call the Midwife’ on BBC iPlayer before I did a quick review of the episode on ‘Bradley’s Basement’. There was a good reason for that.
The weekend beforehand, I attended the ‘London Comic Con Spring’ in March 2019. It took a while for me to settle back in. Thankfully my parents and I saw the last episode of Series 8 on the Monday.
What can I say about Series 8, Episode 8 of ‘Call the Midwife’? Well, I found it an emotional rollercoaster of a season finale in ‘Call the Midwife’. It tied up a certain thread throughout Series 8. 🙂
Most significantly, the abortion storyline gets resolved as well as the fate of Valerie Dyer’s grandmother who became involved. It was pretty saddening to watch the outcome of that storyline.
In the final episode, Jennifer Kirby as Valerie has a tough time trying to reconcile the shock revelation that her gran, Ann Mitchell was Elsie Dyer, was involved in the abortions of some pregnancies. 😦
Valerie’s gran has to go to court and face the legal consequences of performing abortions in Poplar. You could tell how miserable Valerie is in the story, since she’s being torn between duty and family.
It was interesting to see how things get tied up in the final episode, both in terms of the series overall and in an emotional manner. And it’s not just the echoes from Episodes 4 and 7 in this finale.
There are also echoes from Episode 1 when Emily Barber as Cath Hindman returns and gives her testimony in the trial. Jordan Stevens as Lesley White from Episode 1 also returns in this episode.
I found it moving when Elsie Dyer changed her plea to guilty after hearing Cath’s testimony. Elsie ends up being imprisoned for six months, which Valerie is very heartbroken by when she sees her. 😦
The episode also has Fenella Woolgar as Sister Hilda helping a couple to deal with a baby on the way. Meanwhile their daughter Bessie Coates as Julie Schroeder suffers from Hodgkin’s disease in this. 😮
I must admit, I was shocked to see the condition that the daughter was in, since she had red burn marks around her neck and she required special treatment. Thankfully Julie didn’t die in the episode.
Sister Hilda forms a bond with Julie and grants her the wish to attend a special dance at the episode’s end. It was lovely to see here as the father, Nick Waring as Alf Schroeder, danced with her.
It was interesting when it was revealed that Julie’s father was once a prisoner of war – hence the German name he has. Julie’s mother is Kerry Goldiman as Ena Schroeder and she has her baby here.
The episode also resolves a plot thread where Stephen McGann as Dr. Turner and his wife Laura Main as Shelagh have the adopted Chinese girl called May back. I’m glad that was resolved happily. 🙂
There’s also a plot thread where Shelagh arranges a special dance for the community which serves as the finale’s final scene at the episode’s end. I like it when a ‘Call the Midwife’ season ends happily.
There’s also a plot thread where Cliff Parisi as Fred Buckle and ward Daniel Laurie as Reggie seem to be keeping secrets from each other. This is something that does trouble Violet Buckle in the episode.
Annabelle Apsion as Violet Buckle insists that the two talk to each other. It gets revealed that Fred has bladder trouble whilst Reggie has fallen in love with a girl who’s Poppy Barrett as Jane (I believe).
Series 8, Episode 8 of ‘Call the Midwife’ is definitely an emotional rollercoaster of a season finale. I enjoyed watching Series 8 of ‘Call the Midwife’ in 2019 as I was able to get into the characters more.
It was lovely to revisit the Series 8 episodes of ‘Call the Midwife’ on DVD recently. After watching Series 8 in 2019, I hoped it wouldn’t be long to catch up on previous seasons of this drama TV series.
At the time I saw this ‘Call the Midwife’ episode in 2019, the series had been green-lit for two more seasons and two more Christmas Specials. That has already happened and they’re still doing more. 🙂
I did watch Series 9 of ‘Call the Midwife’ in 2020 but at this point, I’ve yet to see Series 10. I was surprised ‘Doctor Who’ wasn’t receiving the same treatment that the ‘Call the Midwife’ series was. 🙂
The DVD special features for Series 8 of ‘Call the Midwife’ are as follows. On Disc 3, there are the behind-the-scenes featurettes ’60s’, ‘The Creator’ and ‘Working with Miriam’ to check out with cast and crew interviews.
‘Series 8, Episode 8’ rating – 8/10
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