All Creatures Great and Small Finale Recap: The War Is Over

I know we have the Christmas special next week, but how are we already at the season finale? I’m expected to just continue through this modern hellscape without my 1940s veterinary-practice show? This is like when Aslan drops the kids back off in their world in Prince Caspian, and they’re like, Oh, great, so you showed us a land filled with magic and wonder, and now we have to go back to war-torn Europe, only instead of a lion that is God, it’s a grumpy vet and his friends.

This week, the war is over! There’s also a baby cow and a draft horse, and Tristan has some very serious feelings, and Siegfried and Mrs. Hall continue to microscopically inch their way toward each other. THIS IS STILL OUR YEAR, I CAN FEEL IT. We did get some truly fantastic moments between them in the season finale, so let’s get going.

Tristan and Charlotte picnic in front of her family’s massive home. “There’s a Boy Coming Home on Leave” plays on the radio as they discuss Tristan’s leave ending soon. Is that why he’s always in uniform? Look, normally I would go down a research rabbit hole, but I am not in the mood to delve into WWII uniform-regulation history. I also don’t understand why Tristan still has to go fight when most of the war is over. I guess I have less of a handle on Britain’s role. Maybe other things were going on. Regardless, Tristan is awkward about it, even though Charlotte is being really charming and saying things like “our relationship will be almost entirely epistolary.” Both clearly feel unsettled.

Meanwhile, a cow! James goes to help out with a pregnant cow at the Alderson farm. Helen and Jenny are still gone, and I hate to say this about a show with so few women, but I do not miss them. We’ve got a real “Wendy and the Lost Boys” situation going on with Mrs. Hall and the Skeldale crew, and I am regretfully a fan. Obviously, Siegfried is Peter Pan. Okay, wait, but back to the Alderson farm. James says the cow will give birth in a day or two, and he asks about Helen and Jenny calling. They haven’t called because Mr. Alderson disconnected the phone. The number is too close to the railway station, so everyone keeps calling for train times. I wonder if you could petition to have your number changed back then. Feels like probably? But Mr. Alderson is busy stomping around his farm, so he probably doesn’t have time. He also has to train his new worker, Butch, who looks like Willem Dafoe. When James questions Butch’s age, Mr. Alderson talks about his experience. Yeah, at trimming horse hooves, sir.

There is an ill horse at Elijah Wentworth’s farm, so Siegfried and Tristan go to check it out. Elijah Wentworth is famously taciturn (“A Yorkshire farmer lacks patter?” asks Tristan), and the two make a bet that Tristan can get him to say anything but “ah,” “aye,” and “oh.” Tristan loses. I am personally delighted because the horse is a draft horse, and I love a draft horse so much. THEY’RE SO BIG. This is, more specifically, a Shire, and no, it’s not Tolkien-related. I mean, not in an obvious way. Shires are known for being enormous and extremely strong, and I want to hug all of them, but I can’t because they’re too big! Wow, what a great horse. So this particular Shire has an abscess in his hoof. The horse starts getting agitated during the examination and Tristan gets agitated in turn, clearly by PTSD, and he leaves the stable, takes the car, and drives off, leaving Siegfried stranded with the breviloquent Wentworth.

Did we all note that Jimmy calls Mrs. Hall “Auntie Audrey”? Just mentioning. It’s very good. He also helps her deliver a cake to Maggie, whose husband Arthur has died in the war. They leave the cake at the door so as to not bother Maggie and her son, which is very kind and teaches Jimmy about tact. He’s around Siegfried all the time, so this is important.

Siegfried gets a ride back into town on Elijah Wentworth’s cart. He’s wearing a squashed hat and is put out but concerned for Tristan, who is at home but being very curt. Things don’t improve at midnight when the prime minister announces the end of the war. Everyone celebrates (Siegfried and Mrs. Hall hug, just pointing that out), but Tristan walks out of the room. Siegfried and Mrs. Hall have a drink in the kitchen and talk about how Tristan hasn’t been himself since he got home. Mrs. Hall brings up Tom Chapman being back from the war as well, and how he’s different. She decides to host a party on the green the next day. Siegfried is charmed by this. As someone with a wife who loves to host things when I myself am rubbish at hosting things, I fully understand Siegfried here.

The next morning, Tristan is missing from his room and has left his war medal on his bed. Charlotte comes by to help with the party, and Siegfried covers for Tristan by saying he had to go on a house call. Maggie drops by to say the brewery hasn’t delivered the Drovers beer, so there’s none for the party. She’s also able to inform Siegfried that she saw Tristan going into the church. And now here it is: Siegfried asks Mrs. Hall to go with him to talk to Tristan. When she asks why, Siegfried says, “I may not be clear on the detail of what’s going on with my brother, but I have long since come to the conclusion that irrespective of the question, the answer is always you.” THE ANSWER IS ALWAYS YOU. WRITE IT ON MY TOMBSTONE. The answer is always you?? What? They still haven’t even kissed. What even is this SHOW? Also, how does Mrs. Hall not immediately see that and everything else Siegfried has said this season as “I love you forever, please never leave me again”? I mean, maybe she does.

They find Tristan in the church, and Mrs. Hall, knowing what to do, leaves them alone and stands guard outside. Tristan shares how he got his medal — his closest friend in the army saved Tristan’s life by warning him not to move in a field covered in land mines. Tristan ended up saving several soldiers, but not his friend. The horses all panicked about the explosions, and so the Shire horse’s anxiety reminded him of that moment. Well. That is very serious and terrible. Siegfried hugs him in the pew, and they both cry. Talking is an important step, Tristan.

Feels weird pivoting to talk about the pregnant cow, but pivot we must. James checks her, and she is no longer pregnant. Mr. Alderson admits some of the cows had escaped, but he didn’t think she had. So now there is a baby cow (it’s a cuter name than “calf,” and everyone knows it) somewhere on this massive farm. James gets Tom and Jimmy to help, and they get nowhere until Jimmy very astutely suggests they let the mother cow try to find it. How is this child the only one to think of this! Okay, so the cow immediately finds its baby, and then there is a BABY COW gamboling in a field. I, the viewer, laugh with delight. Mr. Alderson hires Tom as a non–Willem Dafoe–age farmhand.

While Siegfried, Tristan, and Mrs. Hall are at the church, Maggie and Charlotte set up the party on the green, and the whole town seems to come through. Tristan and Charlotte talk obliquely about their future, and when he tells her he’s not sure he’ll ever be the same chap he was, Charlotte tells him that’s all right, because she likes him now. Oh, you kids. Siegfried and Mrs. Hall watch, and when she tells Siegfried he didn’t need her after all, Siegfried says, “I’ll always need you, Mrs. Hall.” THIS IS OUR YEAR. GOOD LORD. She stands there silently and unsure what to say, because she’s getting it; she’s realizing; and now allllllll the naysayers must eat their words, because this may still be slightly subtext, but it’s like 90 percent of the way to maintext.

The party moves to a hilltop to light a signal fire in celebration. The quiet Mr. Wentworth gives a speech about how the Dales have kept the fires burning, and they always will. Tristan, wearing his medal, lights the fire. Our lovely Skeldale family stands together and suddenly notices the fires burning on other hills all across the countryside. A brass band plays “I Vow to Thee, My Country.” I cry again. What a great show.