Epidurals Finally Make Their Debut in ‘Call the Midwife’ Season 15
Epidurals may become Nonnatus House’s saving grace in this week's episode of ‘Call the Midwife.’
With spring finally appearing both onscreen and off, Easter preparations are afoot in the second episode of Call the Midwife. Fred and Reggie sort chocolate eggs for the egg hunt, and Miss Higgins has roped her grandson Harry (Eisa Latif) into playing the Easter Bunny. But the discovery of a dying dog with foam around its mouth suspends the festivities and brings the small community to the brink of panic about a potential rabies outbreak.
Harry’s the first to recognize the dog’s symptoms because he’s seen it happen “in the streets in Delhi.” There’s something “othered” in how Poplar’s residents treat the threat of a rabies spread, with Violet remarking how common such a thing is in Germany, but not in England! When there is a confirmed case of rabies, its origin is traced to India. (Interestingly, the show doesn’t seem to realize this messaging.)
As Nonnatus House faces an uncertain future, leaps in birthing technology like epidurals and the subsequent increased commonality of hospital births pose an existential threat to both midwifery and Dr. Turner’s practice. Even Sister Julienne declares epidurals “the future” of birthing after seeing firsthand the eradication of labor pains.
