#s22e44

[hcscreenshots]

nicky and louis, s22e44

[uhhholby]

After what you and I have been through, we’re bonded for life.

[lonelier-version-of-you]

I have no words.

When I heard that the episode where Paula returned had been written by Lydia Marchant, I knew, immediately, to expect very good things. You all know how much I praise S22E44 of Holby, and the way it tied Henrik’s autism into his trauma - the heartbreaking way they addressed how his ostracisation and isolation, even undiagnosed, left him vulnerable as a child. The horrifically realistic comments from Reyhan suggesting it was Henrik’s own fault that his mother killed herself, because she “could never really bring herself to love him”. I came out of that episode in awe. Marchant had evidently done her research; she clearly knew the things people say about disabled kids, and just how high the abuse rates for disabled children are. It was a shining spark of careful writing in a storyline that was otherwise a sensationalist mess.

Marchant hasn’t done much TV writing, going by her IMDB, but I put my faith in her to write about disability issues again, after how good she was last time. Some part of me, however, worried that perhaps Holby S22E44 was just a fluke, and this episode could be a letdown.

I was wrong to worry. Lydia Marchant has done it again.

Tonight’s episode had me on the verge of tears so many times. The complexity and realism was amazing, yet heartbreaking.

The scene with Paula at the social services meeting wrecked me. The way that every little thing she said and did got turned back against her and treated as proof she was unfit to raise a child. The way the social workers talked about her “behaviours”. It was so hard to watch.

Rosie Jones was incredible in that scene. I cannot praise her acting highly enough. It made everything so much sadder, because you could feel Paula’s desperation.

And when Adi walked in and asked if there was any chance Paula’s baby could be born today... oh my fucking god. Again - I don’t even have the words. Paula did everything right, she did everything social services told her to, and they still refused to let her raise her own daughter. Just because she was struggling ten years ago. And she was struggling in the first place because she was a poor, disabled, abuse victim with no support bringing up her child. And all they did was take the kid away from her. And now she’s being robbed of the chance to be a mother all over again.

I wish I could say it wasn’t realistic.

Paula’s screams when she found out she wouldn’t be allowed to keep her baby were haunting.

The complexity of the writing in the interactions between Paula and Dylan was brilliant. The visible vs. invisible disability contrast - “you’ve had an easy life!” - Paula’s cerebral palsy in contrast to Dylan’s autism. The fact that Dylan can pass himself off as neurotypical but just “weird”, and Paula cannot. The fact that they’ve both faced abuse and discrimination and trauma anyway. The effects that all of this has on both of their lives.

(Something about tonight made me think back to S29E43. The scene where Brian, Dylan’s father, finds out his new girlfriend is pregnant. And his first thought is to ask how far gone she is, to make sure they’ve “still got options”. Because he doesn’t want to “risk” having another autistic child. He only changes his mind when he thinks it could actually be his second chance to have a “normal” kid.)

And then there’s the parallel of Paula’s first child going into care, while Dylan grew up in care himself.

There’s so many layers and so many differences and parallels in this storyline. It’s just brilliant. And William Beck and Rosie Jones both acted it so, so well.

The last scene with Paula in her flat, planning to run away, had me straight up crying. Fucking hell.

As heartbreaking as this storyline is, I can’t wait to see how it plays out, and I hope Casualty continue to handle it with the care and sensitivity that they have done so far.

So that’s all of that covered. As for Paige - as with last week, she’s still got a lot to learn as a doctor, but she does show a lot of compassion and that’s a very good start. I really do like her so far. The actress is still very charismatic.

The surrogate mother storyline provided an interesting contrast to Paula’s story. When the spoilers said the surrogate lady was 60, I was like “surely that’s impossible”, but then I looked it up and apparently there have been women who managed to get pregnant at that age through IVF! The more you know. See, watching medical dramas can actually be educational sometimes! XD

And I’d be lying if I said I didn’t tear up when the baby finally started crying.

It was also nice to finally see Rosa again. She basically disappeared for ages. I’ve missed her.

[jadelou-musical-theatre-nerd]

So looks like a Ange recovery storyline isn’t happening. s22e44 ©EastieOaks on Twitter.

Will be interesting to see what happens here.

[uhhholby]

- Thank you, for today. - It was nothing.

[lonelier-version-of-you]

Ironically, even though I’ve hated most of the writing for Henrik this year* (by which I mean, series 23 + the last few episodes of series 22, so basically I’m talking about the start of the CSA storyline onwards) and I think series 15 is when the writing for him was at its very best... some of the writing for him this year has actually reminded me of his series 15 writing in a way.

Like, in the sense of Holby actually recognising Henrik as disabled - not just “different”, not just “a little bit on the spectrum”, but disabled - and writing him accordingly. I think we’ve seen that in some episodes this year in a way we haven’t really seen since series 15.

I’m mostly just talking about the CSA storyline itself tbh though. I mean... like the storyline was awful and terrible, but the way they specifically handled the intersection of Henrik being an abuse survivor and Henrik being autistic? Fucking hell, that was good. Like... they wrote it in such a way that I don’t think a lot of the general audience really realised quite the impact of it, but if you knew what they were doing, you knew they knew what they were doing. There is no way they didn’t write it with the abuse statistics for disabled kids in mind. S22E44 and S23E04 in particular... it’s been half a year and I still think about those episodes a lot.

Like, you know, there were going to be implications surrounding giving a CSA storyline to a character like Henrik no matter what, god knows I would’ve read into it and brought up the statistics etc. when writing meta about Henrik’s autism. But I was not expecting the show to actually just straight up go there by themselves and I’m still kind of in shock that they did.

(* - Thankfully, however, the writing for him has GREATLY improved in recent weeks. He’s finally got his agency back. So thank goodness for that.)

[jadelou-musical-theatre-nerd]

Holby City s22e44 update spoiler

©EastieOaks

[lonelier-version-of-you]

what would be your dream au where this storyline had been done right? like what would the key moments or scenes be?

Ohh boy anon you have opened a can of worms here. It’s a can of what I personally think are very good worms, but it’s a can of worms nonetheless. I have put so much thought into how I wish this SL had gone.

OK. My number 1 priority for this AU version of the storyline that was actually done right: the abuser is NOT Sahira’s dad.

In fact, Sahira isn’t involved with the storyline at all. Or if it absolutely must overlap with her return (which is a story I wanted to happen, just... not like this, and I think it should’ve been completely separate from this one), she’s supporting Henrik (perhaps in a similar sort of role to the one Fletch took a couple of weeks ago). But I think it’s easier if she’s just not involved at all.

Instead, we’re introduced to a new childhood friend of Henrik’s (à la when Rox and John came in as “Henrik’s university friends” even though he’d never mentioned them before). The name or gender doesn’t really matter, but for this post, I’ll assume it’s a woman and call her Stacey just to make things easier.

Stacey could be introduced shortly before the storyline as a new staff member, or come in when her dad - let’s call him Richard - is brought in. That doesn’t really matter either, though I’m leaning towards the idea of her coming in to see her dad and being introduced then. Oh, and obviously, Richard is white because fuck this weird “men of colour are evil” racial stereotyping, and also it’s far more plausible for him to have got away with abusing his pupils all these years if he’s white. (Stacey is probably also white, though she could also be biracial so long as it was her mother who was a POC. The important part is for Henrik’s abuser to be white - and in this case, since it sounds like Henrik went to an all-boys private school, there probably would have been mostly male teachers so it’s most likely for it to have been a man who abused him, so that’s why I’m still keeping it as the dad of his childhood friend.)

Also, in this hypothetical verse (hey, you said my dream AU, I can go as far-out as I want), COVID wasn’t a thing and therefore the show still has hour-long episodes and this storyline can actually get the screentime it deserves.

Some other significant changes are that the Cameron storyline would finish before the Henrik storyline started, and Jac would still be on the show.

So. The scenes/plot points I would keep the same:

- S22E40, the beginning of the storyline, would have played out exactly the same except the abuser isn’t Reyhan. Honestly, this was a good episode and a good introduction to the storyline, my only qualm is the Reyhan aspect. Definitely keeping the “you were always my special boy” scene - that was brilliant(ly terrifying).

- The scene in S22E44 where Henrik confronts Reyhan about the abuse would have stayed the same, except, again, it wouldn’t have been Reyhan. I love this scene. Absolutely love it. It’s incredibly well done, and it is incredibly powerful on a disability/autism level. I could not get rid of it in a million years.

- I would keep the fundamentals of how the abuse went pretty much the same, although I would have been more explicit about Henrik having had a crush on Richard than the show has been so far about his having had a crush on Reyhan (because I want them to stop dancing around Henrik’s queerness). But the whole thing of a teenaged Henrik, not having fully come to grips with his bisexuality yet, being groomed, thinking he was having a consensual relationship, then realising much later it was abuse? Yeah, it works, we can keep that.

Things that would be different:

- The storyline would have been announced in advance.

- Henrik would actually have a social circle and friends there to support him. He would be in a steady relationship with Carole, who would support him. In my dream Holby, Roxanna never died, so she’s there. Sacha is more involved in the whole situation instead of being so caught up in Dom’s storyline.

Jac definitely still needs to be there, and as another anon said a while back, she should have had a scene with Henrik about them both being rape survivors along the lines of that scene she had with Guy Self in S18E46 about them both having abusive mothers.

If the storyline overlapped with Sahira’s return at all, then as earlier stated, she’d also be there to support Henrik - regardless of how he may have treated her in the past, she knows no one deserves this, and as a mother she’s horrified at the thought of such a thing happening to a child.

- Not only would we have had a scene with Jac and Henrik talking about everything, but we would have had one with Dom and Henrik too. There is a wonderful parallel in the idea of Dom being there to support Henrik through having to face his abuser again, just like Henrik was there for Dom through everything with Isaac.

- Henrik would have gone to the police and reported Richard of his own free will, not because he was forced to.

- Henrik would have been given the chance to open up to other people (at least Jac and possibly Sacha; I think he wouldn’t say anything to anyone other than them until later) about what happened to him before having to say anything to his abuser’s daughter.

We can still keep the plot point of Henrik noticing his abuser trying to get time alone with his grandson, being horrified and shouting at him to stay away from the child, leading to a confrontation where his abuser’s daughter is like “why would you assume such a thing about my father?!” and Henrik says “because he did it to me”. Stacey, however, would listen to Henrik and take his words into consideration, rather than going into kneejerk “omg you’re a liar” mode. She’s torn between her love for her dad and what she’s now learned from Henrik, but she doesn’t straight up deny that abuse happened - she just has complicated feelings about how to deal with it.

- Rather than another allegation being made that Henrik’s abuser’s daughter doesn’t believe, a few other victims would come forward after Henrik reported Richard. One of these victims would be, just like in canon, a boy who was abused very recently... and he happens to be autistic. There would be parallels drawn between this boy and Henrik - the show’s already done this with the comments about them both being “odd”, I’d just make it less subtle by actually introducing him for an episode and explicitly stating that he’s autistic - which make it very clear to anyone who hadn’t already figured it out that Henrik is autistic too, just undiagnosed, and Richard took advantage of both of their isolation from their peers and difficulty with reading people’s intentions.

- Richard would face actual justice, instead of just dying and basically getting away with it the way Reyhan’s gonna do.

- Henrik’s queerness would be addressed more clearly, and the fact that the trauma from the abuse made it harder for him to admit his feelings for Gaskell would be mentioned.

- All of this would lead into a longer-term storyline exploring Henrik’s mental health and his trauma.

[jadelou-musical-theatre-nerd]

Ange doesn’t look happy here!! Also I wonder what Josh is up too 👀 ©EastieOaks on Twitter

Holby City s22e44

[jadelou-musical-theatre-nerd]

All Ange wants is to feel loved and be wanted 🥺

s22e44

[jadelou-musical-theatre-nerd]

If anyone is interested these are other images I found for s22e44

Only one I missed of was Sahira dad cause nobody needs that

©EastieOaks on Twitter

[jadelou-musical-theatre-nerd]

Holby City Spoilers s22e44 ©EastieOaks on Twitter.

My heart breaks for Henrik.

Also I predict Ange back at work isn’t going to end well.

[jadelou-musical-theatre-nerd]

Well clearly Louis wasn’t that hurt and Vicky is back in hospital.

Holby City s22e44

©EastieOaks on Twitter

[lonelier-version-of-you]

Are there any eps of holby that you refuse to watch for a second time (or even at all)? for me it's the finale 😂. Just going to pretend that shit never happened. Also, Jacs breakdown episode because I can't bear what they put Rosie through

I skipped the Jac breakdown stuff because 1. it happened while Henrik was away from the show anyway (although to be honest if it had happened while he was there, I probably would've just only watched his bits) and 2. yeah, I couldn't bear to watch it knowing what it did to Rosie's own mental health.

As for episodes I refuse to rewatch... yeah, probably the finale for me too. Definitely anything from Henrik's CSA storyline, so... S22E40, S22E41, S22E42, S22E44, S23E01, S23E02, S23E03, S23E04, S23E05, S23E06, S23E07, S23E15, S23E16. I rewatched the storyline obsessively over and over while it aired (yeah, I was not in a good place) but now it's over I don't think I could ever watch it again. At least not without it doing dreadful things to my mental state (I've had to watch a couple of the episodes again recently to write down some of the dialogue and it left me feeling extremely triggered and upset all day). The fact that I don't consider it canon helps though, as it means I'd hardly have any excuse to watch it anyway. (Dunno what I'm gonna do though, when I get round to making that Henrik/John parallel gifset... I should draw a parallel between their backstories but I can't bring myself to watch any of the scenes where Henrik talks about his abuse, plus I don't even accept those scenes/episodes as canon. So. IDK. Maybe I'll figure out what the most obvious scene hinting at Henrik having been abused from his early episodes was and just use that??)

[lonelier-version-of-you]

As atrociously written as that CSA storyline last year was and as much as I hate it, I keep finding myself going back to it just for Guy Henry's acting, he really is under appreciated outside of Holby and I hope we see him in more things

Understandable. I haven't really been able to go back to it for ages (occasionally I rewatch THAT scene from S22E44, you know the one, just to marvel at Lydia Marchant's writing and how the writers actually - unlike what they did with, y'know, the entire rest of the storyline - actually did something clever by tying Henrik's abuse into his autism like that) because it's too upsetting to watch, but the brilliance of Guy Henry's performances still sticks in my mind. He was incredible.

His acting during Henrik's argument with Josh in S23E07 was one of his very best ever performances on Holby, IMO. I hope he goes on to do more things too, and I hope he finally, finally wins a BAFTA for one of them.

[lonelier-version-of-you]

Trying to figure out if I have it in me to watch That Scene from Holby S22E44 again tonight.

Like tonight’s Casualty being a Lydia Marchant ep, and her being just as great on disability stuff as she was last time, kind of makes me want to go back and revisit that scene because it was so well-written but. It’s also painfully, horribly realistic and I find anything from that storyline incredibly hard to watch anyway.