Day Three Hundred and Forty-four - Call the Midwife: Season 1, Episode 6, "Oh, Chummy, you're a delightful bride~"

It's been a long while since I watched any Call the Midwife, probably because there is only so much I can take in regards to my heartstrings being pulled. Still, today's a busy day and I needed something familiar, but not recent... shortish, but not too brief... and proven, not untested. So, Call the Midwife it is, and this episode features the trial of dementia-ridden Sister Monica Joan for theft and Chummy wrestles with the class differences between her and her beau, PC Noakes.

It's a hard thing to watch a dear character fall under both suspicion and illness. Sister Monica Joan's deterioration leaves her prey of both as she's caught filching knick-knacks from the market and accused to swiping quite a bit of expensive jewelry as well. Watching her begin to doubt herself is almost as painful as the pained looks she gets from her adopted family at Nonnatus House.

Conversely, it's not at all difficult to watch Chummy deal with her own issues. When her prim and proper mother comes to visit and finds her dating well below her station, it puts quite a bit of strain on her and PC Noakes' relationship such that she decides to break the whole thing off. It requires being taken into confidence by a desperate young mother living in squalor to become brave enough to take the plunge and defy her mother's wishes... and quite handsomely, too, dutifully informing her that a white wedding dress would no longer be appropriate (ooo, such scandal)!

As for Jenny Lee, herself, she has to come to terms with the intense feelings that she holds for her previous lover and the ramifications of the affair on her present life. Does she reach out for what her heart truly wants... or does she hold back from becoming a married man's mistress? The drama is mildly amped by the fact that her long time crush (well, one-sided on his part anyway), Jimmy, returns to help her (and Sister Monica Joan) in an hour of need.

As the series has worn on, while I still enjoy all of its period nostalgia and remembrances, I think the only things that keep me coming back anymore are the brief moments of character drama with Chummy. I can't find myself all that interested in Jenny Lee's love troubles, and just about every other character is simply static, even if the writers try and show a measure of roundness to everyone. While it's quality television, watching poor young mothers in urban London smoke or drink or live in terrible conditions, it all just loses its shock value after a while and I find myself a bit bored. That said, I'll probably always come back for Miranda Hart's portrayal of the ever awkward and sweet Chummy. There's just something so endearing about her drive, naivete, and innocence. It's almost (dare I say) moe.

Until tomorrow, Potatoes~