'All Creatures Great and Small": Season 2, Episode 5 Recap
Siegfried begins Episode 5 of All Creatures Great and Small shocked and outraged — nothing new there, but this time it's because there is a hole in his cricket trousers, and Darrowby's most important event takes place in a few days. The match between the Darrowby Eleven (farmers and veterinarians) and the Holton Hall Chaps is sponsored and hosted by Mrs. Pumphrey, a cricket aficionado. In Yorkshire, cricket is serious business; there's a saying, "King, God, Cricket." The Darrowby Eleven hasn't done so well in recent years, and this year they are one man short because Tristan isn't playing. As he tells Siegfried, he is neither farmer nor veterinarian. The brothers tolerate each other, but it's more of a ceasefire than a reconciliation.
James heads to Holton House, summoned by Hugh (Matthew Lewis), who was jilted at the altar by Helen a few months before. It's all very civilized and courteous, as James is there to face several hundred pounds of masculine bad-temper, a young bull that needs to be ringed. (Aka, perform a nose piercing followed by a ring insertion to make the animal more manageable. Yes, James is giving Hugh's bull a ring. Make of that what you will.) Hugh casually asks James if he's been seeing much of Helen and receives a non-committal answer. However, when Hugh mentions he's planning to visit the Aldersons, James loses concentration and the bull charges. The estate workers get him under control, but James' pride is hurt, and his clothes muddied.
At the Aldersons' farm, there's a wonderful swooping shot up a bright green hillside, dotted with May trees, where Helen and her father are repairing a drystone wall. There is concern Hugh may not renew their lease, and if it happens, Mr. Alderson says, she was right not to marry him. But Hugh reveals the lease is renewed for another twenty years, and both daughters' names are on it. Moreover, he brought the family a gift, the young pedigree bull James ringed, explaining it's to make up for his blunder when the Aldersons sold their old bull in Season 1. The family protests it's too generous a gift, but Hugh persuades them to keep it for the moment while they make up their mind.
