[7.7/10] This was a strong finale for the season. (I don’t know how Brits traditionally think of the subsequent Xmas special, but I tend to consider it its own separate thing.) There’s a good concluding arc for everyone, with room to grow as the series is renewed for another go ‘round.
As set up in the last episode, James gave a local family advice that a cow was fit to buy, and now it’s having problems, which he feels responsible for. The balance between Herriot needing to learn that loss is part of the job, while also wanting to go the extra mile, even if it means disobeying his boss, makes for a good conflict. More than anything it gives the actor a good opportunity to play James’ inner turmoil over the whole thing. Even in bright moments that are supposed to be rousing, he’s torn up about the fate of this cow and the family who sunk their life savings into her.
There’s good arcs for the rest of the vet crew too. Tristan has the biggest role to play. He’s been lazy again, not prepping for his exams and getting Siegfried to throw up his hands about it. But you get the sense that Tristan is not stupid or incapable, just unmotivated. When push comes to shove and he has to fill in for Siegfried in the office, he’s a marvelous physician, suggesting that for all his layabout qualities, he’s better at the practical than the theoretical, and he just needs the right motivation.
That comes not from the cow that's bothering his colleague, but from James himself. He can’t stand to see his new friend so tortured about this. So god help Tristan, it spurs him to take a look through actual books and help Herriot come up with a procedure that, while risky, is the only hope for saving the animal. The choice shows not only applied learning from Tristan, proving that he’s up to this task when he has the fire underneath him, but also that he’s a caring and supportive individual, giving James the boost and the nudge he needed to go the extra mile.
The episode is a good outing for Siegfried and Mrs. Hall as well. Siegfried gets some solid comic material from falling ill and trying to do the job. He gets to be the villain, or at least a foil, when he throws up his hands and says some pretty awful things to his younger brother, and outright forbids James from performing the procedure in the name of not giving the family false hope. But when pressed, he too acquiesces and even admits, i n his own curmudgeonly way, that he was wrong. I bristled at Siegfried at first, but the show’s done a nice job of balancing his grumpy and arrogant ways, which distinguish him, with a softer side and a decency that make him someone the audience can still like.
Mrs. Hall gets plenty of great moments too. Her managing of the practice despite all these knuckleheads causing trouble is a thing of beauty. She sends Siegfried to bed, enlists Tristan to handle the clients, and makes all the heartwarming preparations for James’’ birthday. It’s a warm scene to see everyone coming out to celebrate his big day, with nice gifts from Seigfried (the vet’s bible that proves makes the difference in the cow case) and Mrs. Hall herself (who gives James his own Saint Nick to put on the shelf near the door, her own little act of making him an official part of the practice.)
I particularly like that they all have a hand in saving the cow. As I mentioned in my first review, often this show has a House M.D. quality to it, with medical mysteries mixed with melodrama. But everyone gets to play a part in the solution ‘round these parts. James performs the surgery. Tristan assists. Siegfried offers advice. And Mrs. Hall even holds the lantern in the key moment to provide the necessary light. It’s a team effort, and even though the cow’s survival is all but a forgone conclusion for savvy viewers, the episode imbues plenty of emotion and poignance in the scene from the group’s triumph.
What I particularly appreciate is that the show meter’s James’ great success -- a triumph of ingenuity, a great service to a hardworking family, and a promotion -- with him losing the thing he perhaps wants most. In the throes of his glory, he finds out that Helen is engaged to Hugh, a nice tonic to prevent this from being too sappy an ending. I’ll admit, I’m not terribly invested in the James/Helen romance. (If anything, he and Tristan oddly have better chemistry than James and Helen do.) But again, I appreciate the opportunity it gives to the actor to sell the bittersweetness of his great triumph being matched with a great loss.
The close has some of that stirring if standard TV imagery of the main characters walking off together in perfectly staged and blocked shots. But amid the apologies (including offerings of “the good stuff”), gifts, collaborations, and friendships that emerged, the show earns the coming together the four strolling astride back to their home signifies.
On the whole, I was skeptical about this show after the first episode, but it’s steadily won me over. The performances are superb, the characters have dimension to them, and even if some of the overall plotting is a little too tropey and predictable, the execution is sound. On to the Xmas special!
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParentSpoilers2023-05-04T05:32:21Z
[7.7/10] This was a strong finale for the season. (I don’t know how Brits traditionally think of the subsequent Xmas special, but I tend to consider it its own separate thing.) There’s a good concluding arc for everyone, with room to grow as the series is renewed for another go ‘round.
As set up in the last episode, James gave a local family advice that a cow was fit to buy, and now it’s having problems, which he feels responsible for. The balance between Herriot needing to learn that loss is part of the job, while also wanting to go the extra mile, even if it means disobeying his boss, makes for a good conflict. More than anything it gives the actor a good opportunity to play James’ inner turmoil over the whole thing. Even in bright moments that are supposed to be rousing, he’s torn up about the fate of this cow and the family who sunk their life savings into her.
There’s good arcs for the rest of the vet crew too. Tristan has the biggest role to play. He’s been lazy again, not prepping for his exams and getting Siegfried to throw up his hands about it. But you get the sense that Tristan is not stupid or incapable, just unmotivated. When push comes to shove and he has to fill in for Siegfried in the office, he’s a marvelous physician, suggesting that for all his layabout qualities, he’s better at the practical than the theoretical, and he just needs the right motivation.
That comes not from the cow that's bothering his colleague, but from James himself. He can’t stand to see his new friend so tortured about this. So god help Tristan, it spurs him to take a look through actual books and help Herriot come up with a procedure that, while risky, is the only hope for saving the animal. The choice shows not only applied learning from Tristan, proving that he’s up to this task when he has the fire underneath him, but also that he’s a caring and supportive individual, giving James the boost and the nudge he needed to go the extra mile.
The episode is a good outing for Siegfried and Mrs. Hall as well. Siegfried gets some solid comic material from falling ill and trying to do the job. He gets to be the villain, or at least a foil, when he throws up his hands and says some pretty awful things to his younger brother, and outright forbids James from performing the procedure in the name of not giving the family false hope. But when pressed, he too acquiesces and even admits, i n his own curmudgeonly way, that he was wrong. I bristled at Siegfried at first, but the show’s done a nice job of balancing his grumpy and arrogant ways, which distinguish him, with a softer side and a decency that make him someone the audience can still like.
Mrs. Hall gets plenty of great moments too. Her managing of the practice despite all these knuckleheads causing trouble is a thing of beauty. She sends Siegfried to bed, enlists Tristan to handle the clients, and makes all the heartwarming preparations for James’’ birthday. It’s a warm scene to see everyone coming out to celebrate his big day, with nice gifts from Seigfried (the vet’s bible that proves makes the difference in the cow case) and Mrs. Hall herself (who gives James his own Saint Nick to put on the shelf near the door, her own little act of making him an official part of the practice.)
I particularly like that they all have a hand in saving the cow. As I mentioned in my first review, often this show has a House M.D. quality to it, with medical mysteries mixed with melodrama. But everyone gets to play a part in the solution ‘round these parts. James performs the surgery. Tristan assists. Siegfried offers advice. And Mrs. Hall even holds the lantern in the key moment to provide the necessary light. It’s a team effort, and even though the cow’s survival is all but a forgone conclusion for savvy viewers, the episode imbues plenty of emotion and poignance in the scene from the group’s triumph.
What I particularly appreciate is that the show meter’s James’ great success -- a triumph of ingenuity, a great service to a hardworking family, and a promotion -- with him losing the thing he perhaps wants most. In the throes of his glory, he finds out that Helen is engaged to Hugh, a nice tonic to prevent this from being too sappy an ending. I’ll admit, I’m not terribly invested in the James/Helen romance. (If anything, he and Tristan oddly have better chemistry than James and Helen do.) But again, I appreciate the opportunity it gives to the actor to sell the bittersweetness of his great triumph being matched with a great loss.
The close has some of that stirring if standard TV imagery of the main characters walking off together in perfectly staged and blocked shots. But amid the apologies (including offerings of “the good stuff”), gifts, collaborations, and friendships that emerged, the show earns the coming together the four strolling astride back to their home signifies.
On the whole, I was skeptical about this show after the first episode, but it’s steadily won me over. The performances are superb, the characters have dimension to them, and even if some of the overall plotting is a little too tropey and predictable, the execution is sound. On to the Xmas special!