Call the Midwife: 6, our fragile hearts: 0. It’s been a pretty brutal season so far, but we’re coping. Sort of. As we head into this episode, a lot has changed at Nonnatus House. Phyllis has taken off for a much deserved trip across Europe (take those vacation days, girl!) and Trixie made her way to Portofino to take care of her ailing godmother. Already, the absence of the two women is noticeable as the remaining midwives take on extra work, including two additional patients for each of their district home visits. Let’s just say that while they might be surviving, they’re certainly not thriving.

A Flighty Visitor

This week, Lucille returns to work following a devastating miscarriage. It’s a task so tremendous while she and Cyril cope with the pain of miscarrying, and the women try their best to welcome her back without much fuss. Despite the somewhat somber start to the morning as they prepare for their rounds, Lucille isn’t in the spotlight for long. The group hears a commotion coming from the parlor and are shocked to find Sister Monica Joan attempting to climb the furniture. After the elder midwife had a fall that resulted in injury and a long but temporary loss in her faith, the women of course are on high alert. Once both of her feet are planted safely on the ground, Sister Monica Joan points out a large raven that has found its way into their home. Tiny flying dinosaur? Beak ready for pecking? Not ideal.

Fred assists in the capture and release of their feathered friend foe, but even when the bird is long gone Sister Monica Joan worries its presence is a sign of bad things ahead and quite possibly someone’s passing. Perhaps she’s been reading too much Edgar Allen Poe? She seeks out Miss Higgins, who is a member of the spiritualist church and has connections to many mediums in Poplar. (A fun fact about the medical assistant that we are living for.) She refers Sister Monica Joan to a local clairvoyant, Dulcie Greenhalgh, who might be able to tell her about what her future has in store for her.

A Vaccination Plan

While Sister Monica Joan handles the supernatural and Nonnatus House prophecies, at the quarterly District Health Committee meeting Dr. Turner completes a party of one in making a case for a systematic approach to the measles vaccination. Though the Council has offered a five shilling bonus for every person vaccinated at each doctor’s office, Dr. Turner maintains that this won’t be enough to eradicate the virus and prevent the very serious outcomes he has seen in some of his own young patients. He begs the committee to allow him to start a pilot scheme to experiment on a small group of individuals so he can prove the effectiveness of widespread vaccinations and encourage more people to get it. The committee agrees to this, but all that work is going to require a little help from the midwives.

Pregnancies and Party Planning

On the theme of unwelcome house guests this episode, Matthew Aylward makes an unusual discovery at one of his warehouse properties down by the docks. He sees someone painting the doorway of his building, but when he stops to question the man’s intentions, he’s locked out of the building. It isn’t until the man, Jojo Harris, is inside and has the safety of the second level window between him and Matthew that he engages in conversation. Jojo tells Matthew that he’s a member of a collective residing (and trespassing) in the building while it’s empty.

Matthew threatens to call the police if they don’t leave, but Jojo dismisses him and promises he and his friends won’t be there long. As it turns out though, building occupants living rent-free is the least of Matthew’s problems.

Later, we meet two additional members of the collective, Clover and Kat. Much younger than her peers, Clover is pregnant and hopes to deliver her baby naturally in the building surrounded by her friends. She’s even picked out the exact room she wants to give birth in and plans to decorate it for the occasion. However, Clover’s so-called friends don’t seem to share quite the same amount of enthusiasm as she does for her pregnancy and are more interested in planning they’re upcoming party, The Happening. Trouble ahead? We think so.

Closed for Business

While Matthew considers how he’ll handle his new residents, Sister Monica Joan makes an impromptu visit to Dulcie’s home. She hopes to speak to the clairvoyant about whatever omen the raven may have brought with it to Nonnatus House, but receives a cold greeting at the door. Dulcie tells Sister Monica Joan she doesn’t practice anymore and asks her to leave. Refusing to take no for an answer however, Sister Monica Joan returns the next day with proper compensation for Dulcie’s time – a delicious cake. Smart. The sweet treat is a success, but even when Dulcie lets Sister Monica Joan into her home, she keeps her face veiled by the drapes of her bed. *~Mysterious~*

Still hesitant to help Sister Monica Joan with her request, Dulcie admits that her ability to see spirits isn’t the gift it once was and instead has cursed her life. She was accused of fraud and lost her business in an ugly court battle. Her bad luck continued when her husband died during WWII and her son married off into a wealthy family that wasn’t accepting of her abilities. As she opens up about her hardships and allows herself to become more vulnerable in Sister Monica Joan’s presence, Dulcie shares more than intended as she drops the veil from her face. Sister Monica Joan sees a large injury across her cheek, which Dulcie blames on hot oil from frying chips. The midwife offers her medical attention, but Dulcie asks her to leave.

Confronting Our Fears

Dulcie is not the only one trying to shoulder her burdens alone. Back at Nonnatus House, Lucille is attempting to silently battle through the loss of her pregnancy now that she’s back on the job. Cyril and her peers continue to walk on eggshells around her unsure if they should confront her about her miscarriage or let her be. When Shelagh offers her support as they work on patients together at the maternity hospital, Lucille declares that keeping occupied is the best way for her to cope.

Even so, it’s clear to Shelagh and the others that Lucille is not emotionally ready to work with their pregnant mothers and is far off from being able to assist with deliveries. Sister Julienne assigns Lucille to district work so that she doesn’t need to relive her trauma but can continue to have her distraction as requested. Later, Cyril confides in Sister Monica Joan and confesses that like the midwives, he has had a difficult time getting Lucille to open up about their loss. Sister Monica Joan encourages him to try again and to share his pain and grief with Lucille rather than internalizing it out of fear that he might hurt her more. When he takes Sister Monica Joan’s advice and confronts Lucille, she shuts down again and refuses to speak about it.

A Worrying Environment for Baby

Meanwhile, when Matthew returns to his warehouse, Jojo finally welcomes him into their collective and he finds the group has made themselves quite at home. Amidst the members, he meets Clover and asks how she’s coping with her pregnancy under the conditions they’re in. His question is met with resistance. With decorations and paintings adorning the walls, Matthew realizes that the collective doesn’t intend to leave anytime soon, and he leaves frustrated. Clover follows after him and pleads with Matthew to allow the group to stay until her baby arrives. In a moment of empathy for the young girl, he agrees to her request, but stops by Nonnatus House to speak with Sister Julienne and express his concerns for Clover’s safety.

Filling In for Trixie

The midwives offer their assistance as usual, and Sister Frances takes the lead on Clover’s case. During her district visits, she heads over to the warehouse where she runs into Clover and her father having a heated discussion. Her father urges her to return home, and she denies him. Following their argument, Clover also refuses Sister Frances’ help and instead decides to lean on Jojo and Kat to be there for her during her delivery. Unfortunately, she places her trust in the wrong hands.

Clover goes into labor the evening of The Happening, and no one from the collective is around to help her. Thankfully, hero Matthew arrives just in time. He’s purchased heaters from the Buckles’ store to get the group through an impending cold snap, and he’s appalled when he finds Clover alone upstairs. Panicked, he calls Shelagh for support. When Shelagh arrives, she stays with Clover while Matthew seeks out additional help, but the trio soon realizes that the ambulance they’ve called is having trouble finding their location. With no time left to wait for emergency responders, Shelagh must deliver Clover’s daughter on her own.

In a dimly lit room with Matthew’s thoughtful heaters, Clover gives birth to a baby girl, but as soon as her daughter is born Matthew and Shelagh can see something is terribly wrong. Though they try to conceal their shock, Jojo and Kat stumble in (inconvenient timing) and make it very clear that Clover’s child is not ok. After Matthew leads them away, Shelagh informs Clover that her baby has gastroschisis and was born with her intestines on the outside of her body. Matthew and Shelagh carefully wrap Clover’s baby and take both mother and child to the hospital in Matthew’s car. Luckily, thanks to Matthew and Shelagh’s teamwork, Clover’s baby is able to fight through it until she’s in St. Cuthbert’s care.

Healing and Finding Peace

Despite being thrown out of Dulcie’s home not once but twice, Sister Monica Joan doesn’t let this discourage her. Seeing that the reclusive woman is in desperate need of medical attention, Sister Monica Joan urges Dulcie to allow her to use her gift in nursing to help her and is finally able to convince Dulcie to let her examine her face. Warning: it’s not as bad as Bernard’s foot removal in Episode 3, but it’s not great.

Later that day, Sister Monica Joan visits Dr. Turner’s surgery to inform him of the woman’s injury, which she believes is an advanced rodent ulcer. When Dr. Turner examines Dulcie at her home, he confirms Sister Monica Joan’s diagnosis and explains that Dulcie has a type of skin cancer. Though he informs her that it can easily be treated and won’t be fatal, Dulcie objects to going to the hospital. Even so, she receives an appointment with a specialist.

When Sister Monica Joan finds out that Dulcie has hidden her appointment from her and plans to skip the visit altogether, she confronts her. When she inquires why Dulcie is so adamant about staying home, Dulcie explains that she feels there’s nothing left in her life for her and that no one would mourn her even if she died from complications with her ulcer. Sensing that this would be her reason and having been witness to her defeat, Sister Monica Joan has already prepared a response that Dulcie can’t turn down: her son.

In walks Arnold, enthusiastic to reunite with his mother and to help her through this difficult time. Who knew that all she needed was a lost raven and Sister Monica Joan to help give her the push she needed? With her son there to support her, Dulcie finds her purpose again and attends her appointment at the hospital.

Reconciliation and Working Through Grief

After her disagreement with Cyril, Lucille busies herself with work at Dr. Turner’s vaccination clinic. Though the team has managed to encourage many local parents to get their children vaccinated, some of them are still skeptical. One mother in particular arrives at the clinic only to cancel her children’s appointments, pointing out that they’ve already had so many injections and she feels they don’t need another simply for the measles.

This doesn’t sit well with Lucille, and she follows after the woman to tell her that if her children aren’t vaccinated they could risk dying from the infection. As someone who recently experienced pregnancy loss, she asks the patient to consider what it might feel like to lose her child to a preventable disease all because it seems like an inconvenience. In confronting this mother, Lucille realizes she’s also confronting her own grief for the first time. When she sees Cyril that evening, she admits she was afraid to be a burden to him and kept her emotions closely guarded. He acknowledges that they’ve both experienced pain from the loss and that to be strong and to heal they need to work through life’s problems together.

Cloudy Skies Ahead

As Lucille and Cyril learn to face their grief together, Sister Monica Joan must now confront problems of her own. Following her surgery, Dulcie stops by Nonnatus House where she finally offers to read for Sister Monica Joan as a thanks for her kindness. Reluctantly, Dulcie says she feels something “unfortunate” will happen at the house but doesn’t divulge what that might be. A raven infestation? A cake shortage at the house?

Cryptic, we know. Of course, this information doesn’t sit well with Sister Monica Joan who comes to the conclusion that it must have something to do with her own life or the house’s demise. So as we wrap up this week’s wild adventure, we’re left with what we can only imagine is a red flag for episodes to come. We’re not sure that the midwives can handle any more loss this season and we don’t know if we can handle the suspense!

Forgot how we got here? Catch up on “Call the Midwife” with the Season 11, Episode 5 GIF Recap.