All Creatures Great and Small
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Buckle in: Weve got a sad episode.
Not We have to kill Clive, the Best Bull That Ever Lived sad, but still sad.
But then I said to myself, Self, there is perhaps a lesson to be gleaned from this.
A lesson about maintaining hope and soldiering on, etc.
Also, its still a great show.
We begin with a funeral.
Farmer Billy Dalby is dead and has left behind a wife, two children, and a farm.
The B plot is Tristan taking care of some chickens.
We need this fun other storyline because of all the sadness with the cows.
As it is, he is getting paid nothing, and Siegfried is constantly hovering over him.
Because of the lying.
After Mrs. Hall scolds Siegfried about this (Mrs. Hall, who is complicit in the lying!)
and he petulantly wobbles the chicken-shaped salt-and-pepper shakers back and forth, these selfsame shakers give him an idea.
HOW did I almost forget that TRICKI WOO is back?
Remember Tricki Woo, the Pekingese with the very fluffed-out coat?
Owned by Mrs. Pumphrey, who was previously played by the late Diana Rigg but is nowrecast?
Mrs. Pumphreys butler drops him off at the veterinary practice.
The chickens and Tricki collide as Siegfried and Tristan bicker about how to get chickens to lay eggs.
In college, I readThe Egg and Iby Betty MacDonald (creator ofMrs.
None of Tristans runaway chickens die, though!
He tricks Siegfried by buying eggs in town and placing them under the chickens.
Siegfried decides Tristan did a good enough job to begin to receive a paycheck.
But Tristan, fundamentally good egg that he is (puns!
), confesses to his ovoid deception.
Siegfried then confesses tohisdeception.
Not the one you want him to confess to, about Tristans exams!
But what about those cows?
Apparently entirely and only to the widowed Mrs. Dalby.
He has floppy hair!
He looks like a Romantic poet!
Its a fun look that can solely be brought about by cow angst.
This throat injection, by the way, is a mixture of chloroform, turpentine, and creosote.
This sounds like something I would come up with, which is not a good thing.
But sometimes you do things because thats how theyre done, and so James does it.
A cow dies, and its pretty terrible.
Now, some of you are probably saying, Hey.
There is that plotline!
This may, in fact, be true, but I dont know.
But comparing feelings about home feels like a zero-sum game.
He goes back to the Dalbys, where another cow has died.
Which is frankly amazing.
We dont find out here what happens with the cows!
She calls this behavior Trickiwoolally.
James apologizes to Helen, and they kiss on a roof.
Items for Pondering
James with Brylcreem or James without Brylcreem?
Should we all get chicken-shaped salt-and-pepper shakers?
Is there a cuter sight than a tiny pet sitting on a chaise longue by the fire?
If so, I would like to see it.
