Aired and seen on 11 Feb 2024. Telly Visions recap.
James is way off southwest in Devon [still in England]; it's about four and a half hours via modern car estimation and, y'know, down next to Cornwall. It's the first time in the show that we don't see James in an episode, but Helen passes on that he's still in the drills and training stage of the RAF (and hasn't flown yet).
Oscar is cuddly, but Helen is a bit lonely in Skeldale House. Mrs Hall recommends visiting her family, and when Helen finds out that her father twisted his knee a bit in a gopher hole, she jumps on the chance to move back home and help out. However, Mr Alderson doesn't want her to exert herself too much - by fixing the fence or using the wheelbarrow - and lets her check in on a calf that's not interested in eating.
Siegfried is a bit annoyed by a leaking tap in the kitchen, but he's definitely more focused on it (and grumpy) after Mrs Hall gives notice about her leaving. She's not exactly super confident and actually had to do most of the explaining in a letter for Mr Farnon to read; she also postponed until after Helen had gone back to the Alderson farm and Gerald had asked about it. [In another visit to Gerald's. During their chess match, Rocky the dog had a limp and Mrs Hall tells Gerald to bring him by Skeldale House for his suspiciously large testicle.]
With Siegfried being more grumpy with Richard than usual, he gets sent off to the Alderson farm to check on the calf. Siegfried has a whole visit with Gerald about Rocky that also doubles as releasing some tension about Mrs Hall leaving. It wasn't an outright argument, but I did wonder if Gerald needed some time to think about Rocky needing surgery because he just needed some space away from the tension in there. (Rocky has a tumor in his testicle, so this can't be put off for too long.)
It turns out the calf ate way too many apples at once and needs surgery to sort of unblock all of them, and Richard is kind of afraid of pissing off Siegfried by asking for him to come out to the farm. Mr Alderson is also sort of taking out some of his frustration on a 'book smart but stupid' veterinary student, so this is very much a high tension visit for Richard. Anyways, the calf knocks into Mr Alderson and Helen, so we can have stress about how she fell and can't feel the baby moving in the next day or so. [Siegfried will offer his stethoscope, so she can hear the heartbeat, and we will eventually get Siegfried out to the Alderson farm to help Richard with the surgery to remove the apple blockage.]
Mr Alderson's simmering tension will reach a boil, and his apology to Helen after yelling at her will be when we finally find out why he's been so gruff and treating her like she's fragile [regarding farmwork]. Apparently, Helen's mother lost a baby before they had her known younger sister, and he's been more or less blaming himself for not making Mrs Alderson take it easy on the strenuous labor of farmwork because she worked up until losing the baby. (It's not that he's been gruff the whole time because of this; it's more that Helen being pregnant is bringing out this old uncertainty around that.) Helen still stays at Skeldale House after the apology [she went back after the yelling scene], but they do work through that moment. It felt more like a nod to pregnancy bringing up old fears and quasi-superstitions about what can affect it - possibly more noticeable looking back at that time period - than an insurmountable obstacle for the family.
Back to Mrs Hall and Gerald: Mrs Hall is very uncertain about leaving Skeldale House, and even though Siegfried finally reads her letter and stops acting quite so frustrated towards others about the idea of her leaving, she decides that she wants to stay on instead of letting him place an ad for a replacement. I'm honestly not sure why this is such a hard line in the sand for Gerald, but instead of having a long-distance relationship, he ends their engagement and relationship entirely. (I suspect something outside the narrative is affecting this - the actor is leaving, the writers are struggling with this relationship, the writers want to pivot to having Mrs Hall with someone else, something.)
Also: Gerald does bring Rocky back for the surgery, and while waiting, he fixes the leaky tap. It feels like a call back to how he fixed the grandfather clock when he first met Mrs Hall, especially since she has a line about how the clock still keeps perfect time in this episode. Siegfried is much more polite/professional during this visit, and Rocky should be fine.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: Saturday, 1 March 2025 08:17 pm (UTC)Aired and seen on 11 Feb 2024. Telly Visions recap.
James is way off southwest in Devon [still in England]; it's about four and a half hours via modern car estimation and, y'know, down next to Cornwall. It's the first time in the show that we don't see James in an episode, but Helen passes on that he's still in the drills and training stage of the RAF (and hasn't flown yet).
Oscar is cuddly, but Helen is a bit lonely in Skeldale House. Mrs Hall recommends visiting her family, and when Helen finds out that her father twisted his knee a bit in a gopher hole, she jumps on the chance to move back home and help out. However, Mr Alderson doesn't want her to exert herself too much - by fixing the fence or using the wheelbarrow - and lets her check in on a calf that's not interested in eating.
Siegfried is a bit annoyed by a leaking tap in the kitchen, but he's definitely more focused on it (and grumpy) after Mrs Hall gives notice about her leaving. She's not exactly super confident and actually had to do most of the explaining in a letter for Mr Farnon to read; she also postponed until after Helen had gone back to the Alderson farm and Gerald had asked about it. [In another visit to Gerald's. During their chess match, Rocky the dog had a limp and Mrs Hall tells Gerald to bring him by Skeldale House for his suspiciously large testicle.]
With Siegfried being more grumpy with Richard than usual, he gets sent off to the Alderson farm to check on the calf. Siegfried has a whole visit with Gerald about Rocky that also doubles as releasing some tension about Mrs Hall leaving. It wasn't an outright argument, but I did wonder if Gerald needed some time to think about Rocky needing surgery because he just needed some space away from the tension in there. (Rocky has a tumor in his testicle, so this can't be put off for too long.)
It turns out the calf ate way too many apples at once and needs surgery to sort of unblock all of them, and Richard is kind of afraid of pissing off Siegfried by asking for him to come out to the farm. Mr Alderson is also sort of taking out some of his frustration on a 'book smart but stupid' veterinary student, so this is very much a high tension visit for Richard. Anyways, the calf knocks into Mr Alderson and Helen, so we can have stress about how she fell and can't feel the baby moving in the next day or so. [Siegfried will offer his stethoscope, so she can hear the heartbeat, and we will eventually get Siegfried out to the Alderson farm to help Richard with the surgery to remove the apple blockage.]
Mr Alderson's simmering tension will reach a boil, and his apology to Helen after yelling at her will be when we finally find out why he's been so gruff and treating her like she's fragile [regarding farmwork]. Apparently, Helen's mother lost a baby before they had her known younger sister, and he's been more or less blaming himself for not making Mrs Alderson take it easy on the strenuous labor of farmwork because she worked up until losing the baby. (It's not that he's been gruff the whole time because of this; it's more that Helen being pregnant is bringing out this old uncertainty around that.) Helen still stays at Skeldale House after the apology [she went back after the yelling scene], but they do work through that moment. It felt more like a nod to pregnancy bringing up old fears and quasi-superstitions about what can affect it - possibly more noticeable looking back at that time period - than an insurmountable obstacle for the family.
Back to Mrs Hall and Gerald: Mrs Hall is very uncertain about leaving Skeldale House, and even though Siegfried finally reads her letter and stops acting quite so frustrated towards others about the idea of her leaving, she decides that she wants to stay on instead of letting him place an ad for a replacement. I'm honestly not sure why this is such a hard line in the sand for Gerald, but instead of having a long-distance relationship, he ends their engagement and relationship entirely. (I suspect something outside the narrative is affecting this - the actor is leaving, the writers are struggling with this relationship, the writers want to pivot to having Mrs Hall with someone else, something.)
Also: Gerald does bring Rocky back for the surgery, and while waiting, he fixes the leaky tap. It feels like a call back to how he fixed the grandfather clock when he first met Mrs Hall, especially since she has a line about how the clock still keeps perfect time in this episode. Siegfried is much more polite/professional during this visit, and Rocky should be fine.