Thoughts on Call the Midwife

I am really enjoying Call the Midwife. I have been watching the first two seasons this weekend. I like how feminist and progressive it is, while staying accurate to its setting of 1950s London. It is about a house of nuns and midwives who provide maternal health services to poor and struggling women in East London, as well as providing support and care on visits to lonely elderly people and people in poverty.

I like how the nuns balance their beliefs between conservatism and liberalism, that the midwives and nuns are loving and supportive as a sisterhood, and how they truly care for the well being of their neighborhood.

So far, my favorite characters have been Chummy (a sweet woman who grows in confidence in her midwifery skills and socializing), Cynthia (a dorky and mousy midwife with an endearing charm in her innocence); and Sister Monica, a nun who is a little mentally frail and forgettable, but refuses patronizing attitudes from others, and is otherwise quite lucid in her observations. The lead character, Jenny, is a good person, but not interesting, she acts more as the vessel in which the audience enters into this world as a nurse entering the slums to help women have babies. I do like hearing Vanessa Redgrave's voice as the mature Jenny, looking back on her memories as bookends to the episodes.

The show is in its fifth season now, and I likely will catch up with it through Netflix.