Matthew's Financial Risks Threaten Nonnatus House in 'Call the Midwife'

If anyone was hoping that Call the Midwife would bring a spot of cheer to the weekend, we deeply empathize with your miscalculation. It was a very depressing hour in Poplar for Sunday's episode and we are going to have a storm cloud of dread over our heads for the upcoming week. Not only was it a grim week for the patients of the week, but we discovered that Nonnatus House was in grave danger.

Our first patient of the week, Gladys Bell (Anna Francolini), was in the middle of planning her father's funeral after taking care of him for years when she was diagnosed with abdominal cancer. It came from the asbestos her father unknowingly brought home from his construction job, and Gladys went so long without getting treated, preferring to focus on work and her family, that her prognosis was only a few months long. Sister Monica Joan (Judy Parfitt) and Gladys' son Jason (Mitchell Creak) were able to convince her to join a clinical trial to extend her time, but it still looks like bad news for a woman who has fought her whole life.

Things weren't much better for Deidre (Grace Boyle), a struggling Irish mother who escaped an abusive marriage but could not get on her feet in London. She abandons her two sons at the church at the beginning of the episode but is later found collapsed at the dock, pregnant with a third child. Rosalind (Natalie Quarry) took on the case and helped Deidre gain some confidence. Cyril (Zephryn Taitte) also stepped in to help the young mother, but the best he could do was allow her to keep her newborn daughter while her two sons went into foster care. We have to applaud Deidre for how she took the news, though. 

Deidre admits that she's made mistakes as she talks to Rosalind and Cyril about her future of her and that of her children. She felt she had no choice but to give up her boys, but it did not mean she did not love them. Her devotion to her children makes Cyril feel conflicted about what he must do as a social worker to ensure the best outcome for the entire family, not just give Deidre what she wants. In the end, he decides that Deidre needs help getting settled with just one baby, and if she can prove that she can handle that with The Council's assistance, then Cyril will help her regain custody of her two older children.

Deidre is not stoked about losing custody of the two older boys, but she takes it in stride. She immediately realizes that Cyril and Rosalind are doing their best to help her and that she needs to do some work on herself and get situated before she's ready to be a mother to three. It's a tough spot, but she recognizes that Cyril is doing his best and vows to get herself together.

It would be great if Deidre could teach a course on accountability because someone in Poplar should be sitting in the front row. This brings us to my favorite part of the recap: explaining why Matthew (Olly Rix) is the worst. 

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting a different result. Why am I again out here thinking Matthew will redeem himself for me? I believed that Trixie (Helen George) finding out about the financial troubles would finally help Matthew see the light and work with his wife to solve his mess. Unfortunately, Matthew does not go to Trixie in time to do something about the business. He's kicked off the board and removed from the Aylward Estates business before he tells Trixie anything. She is shocked by the news but immediately promises that she's with Matthew for the long haul, reciting their vows to be together for better or worse, for richer or poorer. Trixie is here for their partnership.

That's what makes it so annoying when Trixie enters survival mode and starts asking around for jobs – and finds one for Matthew!! – and he throws her spending habits back in her face. I'm sorry, dude. She was spending money like a wealthy lady because you refused to tell her she wasn't one anymore. She shouldn't have to apologize for not being psychic. On top of that, he also blames her for the fact that he saved Nonnatus House. He admits that it made him "a better man," but it did nothing for the business. (Did it make him a better man? Where is the evidence??)

Trixie manages to forgive Matthew's insults and him saying it was only a matter of time before she left him over the money. She already said she was sticking to her vows, but she should consider leaving him because he's such a condescending piece of work. Instead of packing her bags, Trixie sits down with him to look over the finances and find a way out of the mess again. They have nothing left except for Trixie's wages as a nurse, which is nothing to brag about. They only have the lease on the apartment for the next five years. And it gets worse. When Matthew "saved" Nonnatus House, he never transferred the deed to the order. They don't own the house. Matthew used to, and now it's been lost with the rest of the business. Whoever takes over Aylward Estates will now decide what happens to Nonnatus House and the order. 

Some forgiving viewers may be able to look past how Matthew has treated Trixie and chalk it up to stress or whatever, but if anything happens to the house or the nuns who live in it, there will be an outright riot. All of our favorites' futures are at stake because Matthew was too proud to ask for help when he needed it. That cannot be forgiven.

Call the Midwife Season 13 continues on Sundays at 8 p.m. ET on PBS, with new episodes available streaming on the PBS App and the PBS Prime Video Channel. As always, check your local listings.