Change Is Inevitable in ‘Call the Midwife’s Penultimate Episode
Will ‘Call the Midwife’ become a butterfly or a dinosaur? There's only one episode left to find out.
As we approach the end of Season 15 of Call the Midwife, there’s a brief spark of hope this week that perhaps Nonnatus House can be saved. Mayor Violet decides that if the “tiny voices” of the citizenry don’t stand a chance against the machine of change barreling at them, she’ll use her not-so-quiet influence to speak up at the next Council meeting.
In preparation, Violet arms herself with the powerful tools of public opinion: she arranges a publicity stunt to showcase the attack on midwifery and gathers signatures opposing Nonnatus House’s closure. Unfortunately, when she presents the newspaper article and signed petition, the nasty Dr. Threapwood simply brushes them aside, literally, and moves forward as if there were no objections from the Council.
The impending changes bring a sense of peril and doubt to everyone. To make matters more confusing, Dr. Turner’s GP practice will continue to operate even after the maternity home is closed. But as Miss Higgins points out later in the episode, change isn’t always bad. There’s a shift in the wind away from home to hospital births, which, as history bears out, will become the predominant method of labor and delivery. What this means for the nuns and midwives is as yet uncertain, but their effect on the community and the need for their loving care is quite clear. They will find their place in this world.
