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“Elephants have been known to die of broken hearts if a mate dies. They refuse to eat and will lay down, shedding tears until they starve to death. They refuse all human help.”
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![Will you be alright with Sister Bernadette?
I admit that for a long time, I found 2x04 rather puzzling. The Turnadette scenes were minimal and appeared at best to be cliché, and at worst, out of place. Why, when the previous episodes were so richly layered in ways that illuminated the complexities of the characters, should this episode be so direct? How is it that the same nun who had earlier sewn buttons on Dr. Turner’s coat in secret, is now shown to openly and publicly nurse his son back to health?
But this episode called for an entirely different way of looking—not at the scene, but outside of it; it was not about what was presented, but what wasn’t. The answers were there all along, but in the outskirts. As demonstrated in the story of Ruby’s baby, this episode was about breaking and entering. Ruby’s challenge was not to fix her baby, but her own beliefs, thereby welcoming her baby into her life. Similarly, Sister Bernadette’s struggle is to fix her position in a family. She (Shelagh) is the child who needs a home.
These questions are raised again in 2x08, an episode that shares structural and narrative similarities with 2x04. The issues touched upon in 2x04, such as the friendship between Sister Bernadette and Timothy, are multiplied (doubled) in the final episode.
[[MORE]]G. K, Chesterton surmised that “Art consists of limitations. The most beautiful part of every picture is the frame.” In both episodes, it’s the frames that tell a different story. In 2x04, Dr. Turner is absent from Timothy’s drawing. Sister Bernadette’s painting, in 2x08, is devoid of people but instead focuses on nature, an open garden. Timothy’s final note, which also contains pictures, is a proposal of marriage but written in the voice of a child. The only time the frame captures the three of them, father, son and mother-to-be, is in the moments between these sketches. These moments, paralleled in both 2x04 and 2x08, are fleeting but also beautiful, full of life and transformation, like the butterfly that ties the threads of their narrative. The Turner family move quickly through the frame(s). In some ways, they evade capture, escaping the voyeuristic eyes of (us) viewers seeking to limit their narrative.
The framing is integral to character development. Dr. Turner, absent in Timothy’s drawing, changes between Episodes 4 and 5: Sister Bernadette’s injury is not just a “graze”, and his concern for her highlights his growing attachment to her. Unlike his earlier drawing in 2x04, Timothy’s sketch of blue clouds frame the proposal in 2x08, essentially inviting Sister Bernadette to now enter into the space that contains his Dad and himself.
Sister Bernadette’s reception of art indicates her role outside the walls of Nonnatus. Timothy’s thank you note symbolizes her desire to be a wife and mother, her break from her Nonnatus family. By mothering Timothy, she nurtures the artist within herself. At the same time, the act of mothering is also shown to be an art form. Most importantly, when she walks in the open landscape in 2x08, she breaks the boundaries of her own frame, free to be who she wants.](http://24.media.tumblr.com/95c236ebafc5f7d0b6c5fe23ea438005/tumblr_mn5k3vstG91r1o611o1_500.jpg)
Will you be alright with Sister Bernadette?
I admit that for a long time, I found 2x04 rather puzzling. The Turnadette scenes were minimal and appeared at best to be cliché, and at worst, out of place. Why, when the previous episodes were so richly layered in ways that illuminated the complexities of the characters, should this episode be so direct? How is it that the same nun who had earlier sewn buttons on Dr. Turner’s coat in secret, is now shown to openly and publicly nurse his son back to health?
But this episode called for an entirely different way of looking—not at the scene, but outside of it; it was not about what was presented, but what wasn’t. The answers were there all along, but in the outskirts. As demonstrated in the story of Ruby’s baby, this episode was about breaking and entering. Ruby’s challenge was not to fix her baby, but her own beliefs, thereby welcoming her baby into her life. Similarly, Sister Bernadette’s struggle is to fix her position in a family. She (Shelagh) is the child who needs a home.
These questions are raised again in 2x08, an episode that shares structural and narrative similarities with 2x04. The issues touched upon in 2x04, such as the friendship between Sister Bernadette and Timothy, are multiplied (doubled) in the final episode.
5 hours ago on May 21, 2013 at 12:01pm
Moonlight, 1889, Henri-Joseph Harpignies. French (1819 - 1916)
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top of the lake, ep. 7
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Gladys Cooper by Sarony, 1910
Vienna Library by GeertBoog on Flickr.
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Dress, 1889
From the Hull Museums
Jan Vermeer - Glass of Wine (1661).
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Turner, Fishermen at Sea │Aivazovsky, The Black Sea at Night
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(via Le voyage créatif)
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Edward Okun, Filistrzy.
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