It's taken me this long to come to terms with the emotional events, this long to be able to pull myself together to discuss the sad and sombre story that unfolded during Sunday's episode...
So Alec, Jenny's delightful boyfriend, is no more. After episode three's lighthearted worries about those fake theatre tickets, it came as a bit of a shock.
One minute Jenny and Alec's biggest problem was the prim and proper midwife not being able to say the words 'I love you' and the next we were at Alec's funeral and waving goodbye to Jenny Lee.
The episode started off with Alec asking Jenny if she'd like to go away for the weekend to Brighton. A delighted Jenny quickly set about buying herself a new dress, but before long she began to worry about Alec's intentions, and whether or not they were honourable.
All that paled into insignificance though when Alec suffered a great fall at work. Doctor Turner tried his hardest to help Jenny's boyfriend, but he couldn't save his left foot. It was sad - but the pair reconciled and chatted happily about travelling to Brighton, and the to Paris. We all breathed a sigh of relief.
But then, THEN, we had the air knocked out of us again when Jenny was told to rush back to hospital to see an ailing Alec, only to be told he'd already passed away when she arrived.
Passed away, we cried. Died? DEAD? In Call the Midwife? At ten to nine on a Sunday night?
It was all a bit much for us. And for Jenny, too, who then decided it would be best if she left Nonnatus House to recover away from the East End. So the episode saw us say goodbye to two of our favourite faces.
How we can continue? Who knows. The best I can do is put on my thinking cap and attempt to make some spurious suggestions...
Glum faces all round here. It looks as though the midwives haven't moved on from last week's sad instalment either. And rightly so. Horrible things happen in Poplar all the time, but not to our very own girls.
Really, though, there's no point just sitting there in a row staring into the middle distance. There are still babies to be born, ladies. Chop, chop.
You can count on Sister Evangelina to be proactive. Never one to sit around looking sorry for herself, the fierce midwife has clearly taken matters into her own hands - okay, PC Noakes' hands - when it comes to finding missing midwife Jenny Lee.
She'll be around here somewhere and they'd have found her already if someone wasn't so incompetent. We'd just give the torch to Evangelina, if we were you, Peter...
Emotions aside, Jenny's absence from Nonnatus House does call for a replacement. And we get one this week in the form of Patience Mount aka Patsy. She looks pretty glum here too, but rumour has it she's actually a hoot.
In fact, a little bird told me she says the word "penis". In Nonnatus House. Can you imagine?
God (literally) knows what's going on here. It looks as though the nuns are having some sort of holy-off. A Who-can-look-the-most-devoted competition. Sister Julienne's gone for stern and serious while newbie Winifred is channeling coy and coquettish. Sister Evangelina is doing a stellar job, but she looks a little smug, a little too pleased with her efforts. So the winner, if you ask me, is Sister Monica Joan. Good work, ladies.
Faced with the knowledge that she can't have children it seems Shelagh's determined to fill her days with distractions. And clearly the new Poplar choir is not enough. This week it looks as though she's become something of a pushy parent - may as well put all her energy into the child she already has, eh?
Under her steely stare, it seems Timmy's taken the braces off his legs and is attempting to walk on his own. She's even sorted him an audience, some sort of catwalk arrangement, to witness and marvel at the Turners' successes.
Celebrations on such scale, so soon after Jenny's tragedy, can surely only mean one thing: Trixie's finally got a date!
If we've learned anything from last week's episode, it's that life and love are precious. Bunting, garlands and paper chains are surely just the start. These things must be celebrated - and the residents of Nonnatus House will go to to any lengths to try and bring some light back into Poplar.
Call the Midwife continues on Sundays at 8:00pm on BBC1.
Resource:http://www.radiotimes.com
