[7.4/10] Easily my favorite of the season to date which, granted, is not a trophy you want to go showing off around town, but is still a nice standard to meet.
For once, I liked pretty much every storyline here. Plenty of them have their low points (cheesy misunderstandings, trite disagreements, farting dogs), but every plotline manages to redeem itself by the end, which is worth something.
My favorite is the professional love triangle (for lack of a better term) between Siegfried, James, and the new veterinary student they took on to help carry the load left by Tristan’s absence, a young chap named Richard Carmody.
It’s only one episode, but Carmody is a nice new ingredient in the All Creatures stew so far. He is not a substitute for Tristan, since he’s not some new mischievous rogue with a heart of gold, but he is a substitute, creating challenges for James and Siegfried as they run the practice. I’d compare it to the transition from Burns to Winchester on MASH. Carmody fills the same role as a sort of foil and counterpart to the other vets, but he is, in many ways, the opposite of Tristan, which helps keep the show fresh.
Carmody is a big nerd; he is very green, and he’s pretty lacking in bedside manner; whereas Tristan struggled with book-learning, but made up for it with experience and his easy way with people. That leads to a broad conflict where Siegfried, who’s impressed by the young man’s knowledge and confidence, takes an obvious shine to him in a way that not only foils James’ plans to mentor the kid, and not only prevents Carmody from being the slack-picking-up assistant that James needs so he’ll have time to schtup his wife, but reminds James that he very much did not get the same warm welcome and instant acceptance when he arrived in Skeldale house.
That comes to a head when James and Richard disagree over, sigh, Mrs. Pumphrey’s farting dog. I doubt many folks have seen another show from across the pond called BallyKissAngel, but it has a similar vibe to All Creatures, and it too had a prominent farting dog subplot. I can't say I’ve watched a ton of cozycore shows from the British Isles, but it’s odd that both of them went to the same canine flatulence well.
That said, it’s surprisingly funny in places, or at least, the people’s reactions are. Poor Francois the butler declaring that he’d rather return to France than deal with the pup, even as it’s being invaded, got the first genuine laugh out of me this season. Mrs. Pumphrey being too polite to explain the condition frankly to the vets, only to explain to “Uncle Herriot” that his treatments reduced the number of the dog’s emanations but not “the magnitude” got a good chuckle out of me. So I guess I can't turn my nose up at the farting dog subplot.
Plus, it leads to a really nice moment between Mrs. Pumphrey and Helen. I kind of loath the corny “When are we going to have time to bang?” storyline between James and Helen, especially when she conveniently gets crosswise with him over the dog at Mrs. Pumphrey’s party in a way that causes cheap relationship drama between her and James.
That said, I kind of love the conversation she has with Mrs. Pumphrey, where after diagnosing the dog’s problem as homesickness (apparently missing your owner causes flatulence, who knew?), she hears tell of the long-absent Mr. Pumphrey. He and Mrs. Pumphrey had all sorts of grand plans, including some that drove the missus crazy, but they all went to pot when her husband unfortunately died young. Her advice to let time be of the essence, but to forgive easily in the shadow of that quiet tragedy is earnest and heartening.
The same goes for Mrs. Hall’s simple but sweet storyline with Gerlad. The show headfakes a corny dispute between them when Gerald seems upset that Mrs. Hall told the rest of the residents of Skeldale house about her impending divorce before telling him. There’s a million good reasons for that, and it’d be silly for him to be upset. But when it comes back to him just wanting Mrs. Hall to know that he doesn't want her to be afraid to tell him things like she was with her husband, and that he can be an ear too, it ends in a sweet place. The fact that we get their first big kiss since last season’s Xmas special is the icing on the biscuits.
That just leaves Seigfried, James, and Richard to resolve their business. Theory turns to practice when a horse gets out from a local farm and, in its unbridled haste, impales itself on a fence. I appreciate the setup and payoff of both the horse having problems and the local soldiers training in Yorkshire inadvertently leaving the gates open. It both establishes how this misfortune could occur, and sets up a nice little bit where the young soldier boys aim to help out in the community given how many from the town are gone fighting the war.
And despite James being miffed at Siegfired seemingly stealing his newly hired assistant away, but favoring him over James, when it comes time to save the horse, Richard screws up, and Siegfried relies on James as always. It’s a nice vindication of their partnership and the trust and rapport that's developed from the two practitioners in their time working together, something even a nerdy (if inexperienced) wunderkind cut from Siegfried’s own cloth can't match.
The whole “It turns out Helen’s already pregnant!” bit at the end is broad, cornball, and inevitable, but at least it’s done with now. But I much prefer the exchange between Siegfried and the local farmer who misses her enlisted son. The sentiment about neither “having a damn clue” how life can just go on without the people you love when they’re at war is full of pathos, and Siegfried’s retort about whiskey helping adds just the right touch of levity. As much as I bristle at the character’s writing, Samuel West continues to be marvelous in the acting department, especially in intimate little moments like that one.
Overall, there’s still plenty of the hokey or broadly-drawn elements of All Creatures that tend to irk me present here, but there’s a greater depth to the writing and cleverness to the plotting that reminds me what I like about this show when it does its light conflicts and warm sincerity right.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParentSpoilers2024-01-27T06:53:50Z
[7.4/10] Easily my favorite of the season to date which, granted, is not a trophy you want to go showing off around town, but is still a nice standard to meet.
For once, I liked pretty much every storyline here. Plenty of them have their low points (cheesy misunderstandings, trite disagreements, farting dogs), but every plotline manages to redeem itself by the end, which is worth something.
My favorite is the professional love triangle (for lack of a better term) between Siegfried, James, and the new veterinary student they took on to help carry the load left by Tristan’s absence, a young chap named Richard Carmody.
It’s only one episode, but Carmody is a nice new ingredient in the All Creatures stew so far. He is not a substitute for Tristan, since he’s not some new mischievous rogue with a heart of gold, but he is a substitute, creating challenges for James and Siegfried as they run the practice. I’d compare it to the transition from Burns to Winchester on MASH. Carmody fills the same role as a sort of foil and counterpart to the other vets, but he is, in many ways, the opposite of Tristan, which helps keep the show fresh.
Carmody is a big nerd; he is very green, and he’s pretty lacking in bedside manner; whereas Tristan struggled with book-learning, but made up for it with experience and his easy way with people. That leads to a broad conflict where Siegfried, who’s impressed by the young man’s knowledge and confidence, takes an obvious shine to him in a way that not only foils James’ plans to mentor the kid, and not only prevents Carmody from being the slack-picking-up assistant that James needs so he’ll have time to schtup his wife, but reminds James that he very much did not get the same warm welcome and instant acceptance when he arrived in Skeldale house.
That comes to a head when James and Richard disagree over, sigh, Mrs. Pumphrey’s farting dog. I doubt many folks have seen another show from across the pond called BallyKissAngel, but it has a similar vibe to All Creatures, and it too had a prominent farting dog subplot. I can't say I’ve watched a ton of cozycore shows from the British Isles, but it’s odd that both of them went to the same canine flatulence well.
That said, it’s surprisingly funny in places, or at least, the people’s reactions are. Poor Francois the butler declaring that he’d rather return to France than deal with the pup, even as it’s being invaded, got the first genuine laugh out of me this season. Mrs. Pumphrey being too polite to explain the condition frankly to the vets, only to explain to “Uncle Herriot” that his treatments reduced the number of the dog’s emanations but not “the magnitude” got a good chuckle out of me. So I guess I can't turn my nose up at the farting dog subplot.
Plus, it leads to a really nice moment between Mrs. Pumphrey and Helen. I kind of loath the corny “When are we going to have time to bang?” storyline between James and Helen, especially when she conveniently gets crosswise with him over the dog at Mrs. Pumphrey’s party in a way that causes cheap relationship drama between her and James.
That said, I kind of love the conversation she has with Mrs. Pumphrey, where after diagnosing the dog’s problem as homesickness (apparently missing your owner causes flatulence, who knew?), she hears tell of the long-absent Mr. Pumphrey. He and Mrs. Pumphrey had all sorts of grand plans, including some that drove the missus crazy, but they all went to pot when her husband unfortunately died young. Her advice to let time be of the essence, but to forgive easily in the shadow of that quiet tragedy is earnest and heartening.
The same goes for Mrs. Hall’s simple but sweet storyline with Gerlad. The show headfakes a corny dispute between them when Gerald seems upset that Mrs. Hall told the rest of the residents of Skeldale house about her impending divorce before telling him. There’s a million good reasons for that, and it’d be silly for him to be upset. But when it comes back to him just wanting Mrs. Hall to know that he doesn't want her to be afraid to tell him things like she was with her husband, and that he can be an ear too, it ends in a sweet place. The fact that we get their first big kiss since last season’s Xmas special is the icing on the biscuits.
That just leaves Seigfried, James, and Richard to resolve their business. Theory turns to practice when a horse gets out from a local farm and, in its unbridled haste, impales itself on a fence. I appreciate the setup and payoff of both the horse having problems and the local soldiers training in Yorkshire inadvertently leaving the gates open. It both establishes how this misfortune could occur, and sets up a nice little bit where the young soldier boys aim to help out in the community given how many from the town are gone fighting the war.
And despite James being miffed at Siegfired seemingly stealing his newly hired assistant away, but favoring him over James, when it comes time to save the horse, Richard screws up, and Siegfried relies on James as always. It’s a nice vindication of their partnership and the trust and rapport that's developed from the two practitioners in their time working together, something even a nerdy (if inexperienced) wunderkind cut from Siegfried’s own cloth can't match.
The whole “It turns out Helen’s already pregnant!” bit at the end is broad, cornball, and inevitable, but at least it’s done with now. But I much prefer the exchange between Siegfried and the local farmer who misses her enlisted son. The sentiment about neither “having a damn clue” how life can just go on without the people you love when they’re at war is full of pathos, and Siegfried’s retort about whiskey helping adds just the right touch of levity. As much as I bristle at the character’s writing, Samuel West continues to be marvelous in the acting department, especially in intimate little moments like that one.
Overall, there’s still plenty of the hokey or broadly-drawn elements of All Creatures that tend to irk me present here, but there’s a greater depth to the writing and cleverness to the plotting that reminds me what I like about this show when it does its light conflicts and warm sincerity right.