I knew it was going to be a good episode the moment Siegfried arrived at Skeldale, covered head to toe in dirt after wrestling a 900-pound sow, sheepishly confessing to Mrs. Hall that the stains on his clothes might contain more than just mud. Mrs. Hall, of course, can’t be mad at him – not when he looks at her with the guilty sincerity of a child caught red-handed, a look actor Samuel West has perfected to a T.
With Carmody gone, Siegfried’s to-do list has grown considerably, leaving the surgery stretched thin. After a few well-placed nudges from Mrs. Hall, Tristan steps up and offers to help his older brother with the farm visits. Siegfried and Tristan working side by side for an entire day—what could possibly go wrong? The answer: plenty. And every chaotic, exasperating, and utterly hilarious moment is a joy to watch.
The two brothers begin their day with the castration of a pony. Siegfried expects Tristan to calculate the amount of chloroform needed to sedate the animal. However, Tris has never been one for exact measurements when they’re not absolutely necessary. He prefers to eyeball it and trust his instincts.
Siegfried, outraged by his brother’s carelessness, takes the bottle of chloroform and carefully administers a few drops onto the chloroform mask. Nothing happens. He adds a few more, yet the pony remains completely unfazed. Tristan, having seen enough, takes matters into his own hands and dumps nearly half the bottle onto the mask. Within seconds, the pony drops with a loud thud. It is now fully sedated, and the procedure can finally begin.
| “Glass Half Full” – ALL CREATURES GREAT AND SMALL, Pictured: Callum Woodhouse, Samuel West and Olivia Paige Marsh © Playground Entertainment, Channel 5 and PBS Masterpiece. All Rights Reserved |
Afterward, Siegfried is quick to insist that the animal must be an anatomical anomaly—because under normal circumstances, the amount Tristan administered would have been more than enough to knock out a horse twice its size. It’s alright, Siegfried, we believe you. But even if you were ever wrong, we’d still adore you, you daft, grumpy man.
Their next visit takes them to Mr. Dobson’s farm, where the two vets have been called to check on the farmer’s newly acquired horse, Algernon. Siegfried examines the animal, handling it with practiced care. Tristan, observing his brother’s gentle touch, can’t help but acknowledge his skill: “You really do have a way with them.” But in true Tristan fashion, a compliment never comes without a playful jab: “If you were half as pleasant with people, you’d be twice as popular.”
When Siegfried declares the horse to be in good health, it’s Tristan who notices something his brother overlooked—once again reminding us that Siegfried isn’t infallible after all. The horse is having a reaction to an insect bite that requires treatment. When Siegfried asks Tristan to fetch the standard injection, the younger vet points out that there are now newer medications available for such cases. Siegfried, of course, is well aware but sees no reason to abandon a tried-and-true method when it continues to work reliably. Understandable.
Tristan administers the injection, and within moments, the horse collapses. That makes it the second time in a single day they’ve knocked a horse off its feet – though this time, it was definitely not intentional. Both Tristan and Siegfried are frozen in shock at the extreme reaction of the horse. Siegfried repeatedly assures Mr. Dobson that everything is fine, though, it seems more like he’s trying to convince himself rather than his client. Fortunately, after a few tense moments, the horse stirs and gets back up as if nothing happened. Neither vet can explain what caused such an intense reaction. While it’s not unheard of for an animal to go into shock after an injection, Algernon’s response was far beyond the norm. Siegfried, of course, takes the opportunity to remind his brother that this is exactly why one should always proceed with caution and not rely on guesswork, as Tristan so confidently did earlier with the pony.
While Siegfried and Tristan spend the day bickering and accidentally knocking out horses, James holds down the fort at the surgery. At first glance, he seems to be in great spirits. But it quickly becomes clear that something isn’t quite right. His enthusiasm is over the top. He is bounding around the house like a squirrel on speed. When Mrs. Pumphrey brings in Tricki, concerned about his teeth, James calls her “a very, very silly woman”, suggesting there is nothing wrong with the Pekinese and that she’s simply exaggerating—yet again. This is when they realize that James is delirious, running on fever-fueled adrenaline. It is likely another bout of brucellosis, the very same illness that kept him from serving king and country.
Helen helps her husband upstairs and tucks him into bed where he soon becomes completely lost in fevered dreams, mumbling incoherently. He seems to believe he is back in Abingdon with the Royal Air Force (RAF). Though he once told Helen about losing part of his crew, he has never truly processed the trauma that came with the loss. Nor has he ever admitted the weight of guilt he carries because of what happened. He believes he let his people down, that he failed them.
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| “Glass Half Full” – ALL CREATURES GREAT AND SMALL, Pictured: Rachel Shenton and Nicholas Ralph © Playground Entertainment, Channel 5 and PBS Masterpiece. All Rights Reserved |
Not too many hours later, James recovers – remarkably quickly, if you ask me – and apologizes to Helen for worrying her. She gently asks about Banerjee, one of the young men he mentored at the RAF whom he had been talking to in his delirium. James tells her that Banerjee was one of the people on the plane that got shot down. Though the boy survived the crash, he was badly injured and is still at the hospital. James confesses that he feels responsible for what happened. After all, he was the one who encouraged Banerjee to fly, the one who convinced the scared boy that he was ready when he probably wasn’t.
Now Helen is the one who apologizes. Up until now, she had always seen James’ illness as a blessing – something that brought him back to her and Jimmy, back to safety. But for James, it’s not that simple. While he agrees that, in some ways, brucellosis spared him, the reality is far more complicated. The couple embraces, a quiet but meaningful moment. I’m glad they finally had this conversation, and that James allowed himself to open up. Unresolved trauma has a way of catching up – left unspoken, it could have taken a much darker toll.
Once again, it’s the remarkable Mrs. Hall who keeps everything running while the Farnon brothers are out, and James and Helen are confined to the bedsit. She makes sure phone calls get answered, dispenses medication when clients drop by and looks after little Jimmy – all the while making enough strawberry jam to feed half of Darrowby.
Thankfully, Mrs. Pumphrey realizes how much Mrs. Hall has on her plate and decides to stay at Skeldale to lend her a hand. She keeps Jimmy entertained and even helps answer the phone. In a conversation with Audrey, she admits that she did quite a bit of clerical work during the Great War and enjoyed the challenge of it. It’s clear that Mrs. Pumphrey thrives when she feels needed, when she has a purpose and can contribute to those around her.
It’s rather bittersweet to think about Mrs. Pumphrey having to vacate Pumphrey Manor when it was converted into a convalescent home for soldiers. As we saw in Uninvited Guests (Episode 5×4), several rooms at the manor are unoccupied. There was more than enough space for her to stay. More than that, she could have been an asset—helping with the daily work and lending her energy and determination to the cause. It’s a shame they didn’t give her the opportunity.
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| “Glass Half Full” – ALL CREATURES GREAT AND SMALL, Pictured: Patricia Hodge and Anna Madeley © Playground Entertainment, Channel 5 and PBS Masterpiece. All Rights Reserved |
One thing I particularly enjoyed about Mrs. Pumphrey and Mrs. Hall’s interaction in this episode was how it reaffirmed the deep respect and appreciation the older woman has for Mrs. Hall and everything she does for both the Skeldale family and the surgery. That’s something I’ve always greatly appreciated about the show: There is never a moment of doubt about how vital Mrs. Hall’s pressence is. She may have started out as the housekeeper, but she has long since become the heart of the family—the one holding everything together.
In the meantime, the Farnon brothers are on their way back from Mr. Dobson’s when the Rover runs out of petrol. Siegfried is convinced Tristan was supposed to fill up the car, while Tristan, of course, insists Siegfried had said he would take care of it. With no other choice, they set off on foot. I love how they don’t think twice about leaving the Rover and all their medical equipment behind—yet both make sure to grab the bottles of elderflower wine Mr. Dobson gifted them before heading off. Good to see they have their priorities straight—hydration first.
As they start walking, Tristan brings up the goat lady, Mrs. Grantley, noting that Siegfried has been visiting the Grantley estate quite a bit lately. Unsurprisingly, Siegfried has no interest in discussing the matter and quickly deflects by taking Tristan up on his earlier suggestion (one he had previously dismissed as “nonsense”) to cut across the fields rather than sticking to the road.
They push through the brush, tearing their clothes on branches and shrubbery—ensuring Mrs. Hall will have her work cut out for her when they get home. As they walk, the conversation turns to the war. Siegfried once again points out that Tristan makes it sound as if his deployment was nothing more than one big party. The comment clearly strikes a nerve. Tristan fires back, “Am I not sufficiently anguished to your liking? Are you disappointed I didn’t suffer enough?”
Later, after indulging in their fair share of elderflower wine, Siegfried finally clarifies that he never wanted Tristan to suffer—not that we ever doubted that. After all, we all saw the sheer relief on his face when his brother returned home. However, Siegfried had hoped that once Tristan was back, they would finally have some common ground, having both experienced war. Instead, Tristan’s time away turned out to be vastly different from his own.
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| “Glass Half Full” – ALL CREATURES GREAT AND SMALL, Pictured: Callum Woodhouse and Samuel West © Playground Entertainment, Channel 5 and PBS Masterpiece. All Rights Reserved |
Siegfried admits that he wishes they talked more, that Tristan would spend more evenings at home so they could enjoy each other’s company. Tris agrees—he would very much like that too. This seems like the perfect moment to thank the elderflower wine for making this heartwarming conversation possible. Let’s just hope they still remember the details when they sober up!
As the drunken duo stumbles upon a body of water they need to cross, they face a dilemma. There’s no sense in both of them getting wet. In a wonderfully absurd turn of events, Tristan hoists Siegfried onto his back and carries him through. I’m pretty sure they would have found a way around the water if they were sober, but I’m not complaining. While that piggyback ride was completely ridiculous it was also undeniably delightful.
However, beneath the humor, this scene carries a deeper meaning that might not be immediately noticeable. Up until recently, it was always Siegfried who “carried” Tristan—watching over him, guiding him. But now, the roles are reversed. This time, Tristan is the one carrying Siegfried.
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| “Glass Half Full” – ALL CREATURES GREAT AND SMALL, Pictured: Callum Woodhouse and Samuel West © Playground Entertainment, Channel 5 and PBS Masterpiece. All Rights Reserved |
This moment beautifully echoes Siegfried’s emotional words from Homecoming (Episode 5×3), when Tristan asked to hear the speech Siegfried had prepared for little Jimmy’s christening—a speech he never actually got to deliver. In it, Siegfried spoke of the emperor penguin, using it as a metaphor for fatherhood in all its forms:
“All fathers – god, surrogate, or otherwise – share one common desire: to help those under their care become the best version of themselves. The trouble is, when they start to forge their own path and you realize the roles have somehow reversed, you find yourself needing them far more than they ever needed you.”
And in this ridiculous, drunken piggyback ride, that sentiment is brought to life. I absolutely loved everything about it!
After walking (and drinking) some more, Siegfried finally admits that he had planned to ask Mrs. Grantley to dinner. However, after offering some constructive criticism on her book—pointing out minor grammatical errors and the like—she suddenly seemed far less interested. They had a robust discussion, and they haven’t spoken since, as she has been avoiding him.
I’d be lying if I said I was disappointed by this turn of events. On paper, Siegfried and the goat lady might have seemed like a suitable match, but that’s about as far as it goes. They don’t share the same values, and she appears rather out of touch with the real world. This was never going to work. Siegfried, however, is convinced that he simply isn’t intriguing enough for a well-travelled woman like Mrs. Grantley.
Thankfully, Tristan is there to set the record straight. With great confidence, he assures Siegfried that they both have a “devastating effect on the opposite sex“. In fact, Tris even claims he learned everything he knows about women from watching him. I assume this must have been before Evelyn because while Siegfried is certainly charming, we have never seen him be particularly skilled when it comes to showing women he is interested in them. Not that this is a problem—most of us only want to see him with one particular lady anyway.
When the Farnon brothers finally stumble back to Skeldale, they look as if they’ve spent days lost in the wilderness—when in reality, it’s only been two or three hours. Completely drunk and disheveled, they make quite the spectacle.
As they weave toward the house, Tristan teasingly tells Siegfried to walk in a straight line, prompting Siegfried to insist that he is walking perfectly straight. Determined to impress his younger brother, Siegfried proudly recalls how, during his time in the Army Veterinary Corps, he was known for his imperviousness to alcohol. He claims to have passed every sobriety test ever thrown his way. Naturally, Tristan insists he prove it.
Mrs. Hall, Helen, James, little Jimmy, and Mrs. Pumphrey find the brothers in the backyard, where Siegfried is balancing on a bucket, one leg raised, finger on his nose, dramatically reciting Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll.
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| “Glass Half Full” – ALL CREATURES GREAT AND SMALL, Pictured: Callum Woodhouse and Samuel West © Playground Entertainment, Channel 5 and PBS Masterpiece. All Rights Reserved |
Both men make a feeble attempt to pull themselves together when they spot Mrs. Pumphrey, but there’s no disguising just how utterly plastered they are. To their surprise, she effortlessly picks up where Siegfried left off, reciting the next lines of Jabberwocky without missing a beat. The brothers, delighted, eagerly join in. The entire scene dissolves into laughter, and once again, I find myself sending a silent prayer to the TV gods—grateful beyond words for a show as wonderful as this.
What did you think of this episode? Did you enjoy the Farnon brothers’ misadventures as much as I did? Let’s discuss in the comments!
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