If you’re ready to laugh, cry, and experience all the emotions in between, you have come to the right place my friend. As we jump into this week of Call the Midwife, Cyril is interviewing at the Council offices for a civil engineering position, Lucille is keeping a pregnancy under wraps, and Shelagh is organizing a Jamboree Jumble Sale to fund refurbishment of the local playground. There’s a lot packed into Episode 5 – how are we already more than halfway through Season 11?! – and Heidi Thomas is not about to go easy on us.

A Life-Changing Injury

Kicking off Episode 5, Trixie makes a house call to Gordon and Glenda Packer. Gordon has suffered a serious injury after falling from a crane, and the accident has resulted in him becoming paraplegic. Though Trixie questions why Gordon was released from St. Cuthbert’s so soon, she also finds it strange that he hasn’t been provided proper training on how to use the catheter he now requires and barely leaves his bed. Trixie encourages the family to apply for home care with the Welfare offices, but attentive wife Glenda assures her that they can manage on their own.

A Spot of Good Luck

While the Packers do their best to cope with their recent misfortunes, Phyllis on the other hand stumbles upon a pot of gold. In the form of a letter, that is. As the midwives convene over afternoon tea, Phyllis receives word that she’s won five thousand pounds thanks to Premium Bonds she received as a birthday gift from her late mother. The women are ecstatic for her, but Phyllis finds herself overwhelmed as a world of opportunities arise for her. New house, new car or both? We can’t relate, but we love this for her.

Nancy and Sister Frances’ Health Class

As Phyllis shoulders this new responsibility, duty calls at the local primary school for her peers.

The women learn that there are young girls at the school who have started their menstrual cycles, but that they’ve been ill-prepared for the massive and sometimes distressing changes in their bodies. To help ease their way into this important stage of their lives, Sister Hilda recruits the youngest of the Nonnatus House midwives, Nancy and Sister Frances, to teach the girls about their periods and sexual health.

Despite their initial hesitancy about leading this task, the midwives’ class is a success. Following their first day with the students, the women offer an anonymous question box for the girls to submit to and read through the questions later that evening. 

Though they get a good laugh from some of them – many completely unrelated to their health – one note left in the box gives them pause and cause for concern. A student asks how to make a report to the NSPCC (National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children), but a name isn’t left behind. It isn’t long however before young Deborah Packer comes forward to her teacher and admits that she was the anonymous sender. The women take Deborah into their care and decide next steps on approaching her parents.

Making Adjustments for the Family

Meanwhile, Lucille is busy overseeing the care of Pamela Heslop. Pamela is considered a geriatric pregnancy with a higher risk for issues during labor, and she’s prepared to deliver at the maternity hospital as a precaution. During an appointment at her home, Lucille is surprised to see that Pamela has been busy running a book-keeping business even though she’s only days away from giving birth.

Pamela explains that following the births of her two eldest, she realized her shift job at the factory wouldn’t be sustainable long term. Wanting to both care for her children and also contribute to family finances, her new job from home was the best path forward. Seeing similarities in her own situation with Cyril, Lucille begins to think about next steps for her own future. After her conversation with Pamela, she looks into opportunities to train as a Health Visitor, which would offer her more regular hours when the baby arrives.

A Couple’s Loss and Grief

When Lucille later discusses the idea with Cyril, her career transition is not as well-received as she’d hoped. Cyril worries about how Lucille retraining and requalifying for a new job will impact their lives, and Lucille similarly expresses concerns over Cyril finding a civil engineering job at all. Their argument escalates, and Cyril storms out before they can finish talking about their plans. He spends the night collecting his thoughts before eventually making his way to the Buckles’ store the next morning where Fred has an important envelope waiting for him. When he opens it he learns that he’s received the civil engineering job he interviewed for after all and will be able to support his family with steady pay. He’s overcome with emotion and returns home to share the good news with Lucille and to apologize.

Though the couple is overjoyed by the news, it’s a fleeting feeling as things take a turn for the worst later that day. Pamela goes into labor at the maternity home, and though the practiced midwife is fine supporting her on her own, a quick bathroom break in the middle of her patient’s labor quickly turns into a nightmare. Lucille is alarmed to see that she’s spotting, but with no other midwife present she must turn her attention back to her waiting mother in the next room. Pamela’s baby is delivered safely, but Lucille is distraught as thoughts of her own child consume her.

Following the delivery, she finally calls Phyllis for help. Phyllis takes care of Pamela while Lucille rests, but when she returns to check on her Lucille is missing from her bed. Phyllis finds Lucille in the surgery bathroom where she reveals that she’s miscarrying. Both women are emotionally distraught and Phyllis stays with Lucille as it happens. Following her miscarriage, Lucille is taken to the hospital where Cyril meets her.

Doing Better for Gordon

As Cyril and Lucille try to figure out how they’ll move forward, Trixie makes a follow-up visit to the Packers’. She helps Gordon clean up following a night of complications with his catheter, but when she helps him undress, she notices red marks and bruising all over his back. He claims he fell trying to get into his wheelchair, and Trixie is enraged by this. Still in the dark about Deborah’s note, Trixie visits the Health and Welfare Services to admonish them for their total lack of support for the Packer family.

Meanwhile, Sister Hilda visits with Deborah at her school where she explains that her mother, Glenda, is abusive. She shows Sister Hilda and her teacher similar marks to Gordon’s and tells them that Glenda disciplines her, her brother and her father with a dog lead. Sister Hilda takes this to Dr. Turner. After looking through his records, the doctor finds that both of the Packer children were treated for greenstick fractures of the upper arm within the past three years and that only last year their son was treated for a perforated eardrum. During their discussion, Trixie returns from her visit with the Council offices flustered that she wasn’t able to get any answers from them.

A European Adventure

As Sister Hilda and Dr. Turner fill Trixie in on the disturbing case, back at Nonnatus House, Phyllis meets with Sister Julienne. After discussions with Miss Higgins and much thought into what she’ll do with the money from her Premium Bonds, Phyllis has finally decided how she wants to spend her new earnings. She tells Sister Julienne that she found an ad for a motor coach tour throughout Europe and that with all the vacation time she has accrued, she wants to jump on the opportunity to see more of the world. Though Sister Julienne is thrilled for her friend, she shows a hint of distress when she realizes Phyllis plans to leave in only a week’s time and won’t be back until the fall.

Talks with the Police

Later, once Trixie hears what Glenda has done to her family, she takes the allegations of child abuse and domestic violence to the police and an officer joins her on a visit to the Packer’s home. As soon as Trixie confronts Glenda about Deborah’s statements, she dismisses them and goes into a rage. Trixie immediately notes the dog lead that Glenda has instinctively picked up as she yells at her son and tells the women that Deborah is a liar.

Gordon hears the commotion from his bedroom and comes out to offer an interview to the officer. After Gordon confirms his daughter’s allegations and following a hostile discussion with Glenda, the officer requests that Glenda joins her at the station for further questioning.

A New Life for the Packers

After Glenda’s interview with the police, it’s clear that things are not in her favor and she’s ordered to stay at a hostel for women away from her family. When she's gone, Gordon meets with Dr. Turner, who agrees to make a medical recommendation on his behalf for an accessible ground floor apartment for his family and promises to have St. Cuthbert’s reassess his condition to help with his recovery. Feeling that his own health has become much more manageable, Gordon also feels confident that he can care for his kids. He vows never to go back to Glenda and to protect his children.

The First ‘I Love You’

Despite Gordon and his children having a fresh start, Trixie is left confused and unsettled by the events that unfolded. She visits Matthew to express her frustrations that she wasn’t able to see the signs of abuse early on and feels that she let the family down. She begins to wonder whether all her care and empathy for others is truly making a difference in the community. During this moment Matthew assures her that all her work has been meaningful and also tells her he loves her for the first time.

Long Distance Romance

This intimate moment is just the thing Trixie needs to lift her spirits, but just as she gets back on her feet she immediately gets knocked down again. The next day, Trixie receives unexpected news that puts her budding romance with Matthew on hold. Back at Nonnatus House, she receives a letter informing her that her godmother Daphne is sick with cancer and has no one to help her. As the caring, nurturing person she is, Trixie knows in her heart she has to go to Italy to help her. She promises Matthew that she’ll be back, but it’s a difficult conversation for the new couple as neither of them know when she’ll return.

Goodbye for Now

As the episode concludes, Trixie and Phyllis depart on their separate trips across Europe, and all of their friends gather at Nonnatus House to say their farewells. Down not one but two midwives mid-season, it’s a nerve wracking moment for the others as they wait to see what lies ahead.

Forgot how we got here? Catch up on “Call the Midwife” with the Season 11, Episode 4 GIF Recap.