'Call the Midwife' Tackles a Difficult Case with an Iron Lung

It was officially time for a summer vacation in the latest episode of Call the Midwife. Reggie (Daniel Laurie) returned to town for the holidays, but it was still full-time work for the nurses and nuns of Nonnatus House. Sister Julienne (Jenny Agutter) was looped into a case with an abused mother that made her question her purpose and the purpose of The Order within Poplar. The battle with the Board of Health was over, but the constant need to defend the role of Nonnatus House within the community had taken a toll on Sister Julienne. She was despondent and not eating as we entered the episode, and her difficulty connecting with her new patient, Eva Baldwin (Laura Hanna), only exacerbated her existential crisis.

She wasn't the only one having a hard time in this episode. Nurse Turner (Laura Main) also had a rough week. She checked in on a polio patient, Owen Desmond (Ben Owen-Jones), only to discover that his devoted wife and caretaker, Betty (Sophie Bould), was not in the best shape herself. Tissues were once again needed to make it through this heartbreaking case.

It wasn't all bad news in Poplar, though. Cyril (Zephryn Taitte) finally returned from Jamaica. Mrs. Buckle (Annabelle Apsion) immediately put him to work organizing a Poplar Commonwealth Games to entertain the children out of school for the holiday. That left him with little time to reconnect with Rosalind (Natalie Quarry), who made a significant discovery while Cyril was away. Little did she know, Cyril had returned with major news of his own that would mean big things for both of them.