Hi all
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — General Discussion
Mr_Gordo — 10 years ago(March 25, 2016 09:03 AM)
Hi all
I'm sorry if this has been brought up repetitively before. Probably has. But I am a new fan of this show and only up to almost the end of season 3.
The one thing I haven't been able to understand is Timothy and how he got Polio.
Timothy, the doctor's son and the step son of that ex-nun.
In season 3 episode 5 the wife/ex-nun is being over protective of him not letting him go out and play because of his legs. And at one point the doctor says "he needs to be left to his own devices" and she said something like "that is how this became of him".
Now just before he got ill he was seen stealing pills and medicine from his dad's (the doctor's) bag.
Can anyone explain this to me? I'm confused.
Did he know he was sick and took any pills or medicine he could find without having to disclose it, which made it worse that caused the polio? Or did he know he was on the way to getting polio and the pills and medicine he stole was the right treatment but still didnt work. Or was the stealing of the pills and medicine not even a contribution, because from what I thought polio was a disease that happened suddenly without any symptoms. But the wife/ex-nun said, it was leaving him to his own devices that got him in this situation. Or could the stealing of the pills and medicine have caused the polio, and if so, why was he stealing them.
I hope my lack of sense explained makes sense, so that someone can clear it up for me.
Buffy Lives -
njgill — 10 years ago(March 25, 2016 05:32 PM)
You can look this stuff up:
Poliomyelitis, often called polio or infantile paralysis, is an infectious disease caused by the poliovirus. In about 0.5% of cases there is muscle weakness resulting in an inability to move. This can occur over a few hours to few days.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poliomyelitis
He was taking aspirin for pain, which might have caused Reyes syndrome, but luckily did not. -
pvd295 — 10 years ago(March 26, 2016 10:32 AM)
Can anyone explain this to me? I'm confused.
I'm glad you asked. I've been following the series all along in the USA (can't wait for it's return next week) and I've always wondered the same thing.
I prefer fantasy over reality TV - like Fox News. - B.Streisand -
Mr_Gordo — 10 years ago(March 26, 2016 07:07 PM)
I'm sorry if I didn't explain my self properly, but I wasn't curious about the "polio" disease. I was curious about the connection of him stealing the medications and him getting polio.
So are you saying he was getting pains and so he didn't want to tell his father and so stole aspirin or anything he could find to get rid of the pain. And the pains were the symptom of polio?
I got the impression he was stealing the medications for months not days or even weeks.
And what you have quoted is exactly what I thought, polio comes on suddenly without symptoms. What you posted is that the only symptoms are pains that can occur maximum over a few "days". But generally over a few hours. So that doesn't make sense as to why he was stealing the medications.
Thanks for the info anyway. I don't tend to go searching on every little detail of a query I have because I rather spend my time with my friends in reality than on a computer.
Buffy Lives -
beldasnoop-1 — 10 years ago(March 27, 2016 12:32 PM)
Polio can cause flu-like symptoms in the early stages. Here's a link describing the different forms of polio:
http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/polio/basics/symptoms/con-20030957
The show never suggested that Timothy was taking the aspirin for months. He most likely had no idea he had polio and probably just thought he was coming down with the flu or something. The idea is that Dr. Turner and Shelagh were excited about the wedding, and Timothy was looking forward to the wedding too, and was hiding his illness because he didn't want to spoil their plans. He was taking aspirin because he was feeling unwell.
Later, when Timothy is in the hospital, Shelagh tells the nurse that, as a nurse herself, she (Shelagh) should have noticed the signs. She felt bad because she and the doctor were so caught up in wedding plans that they didn't notice Timothy's symptoms.
In series 3 episode 5 when Shelagh's talking about how they "left him to his own devices the day he was taken ill", she's referring to the fact that they left him in the house by himself while they went off to see to their own tasks (the doctor to answer a call to see a patient, and Shelagh to the dress shop to talk about exchanging her wedding dress). -
Mr_Gordo — 10 years ago(March 27, 2016 08:10 PM)
Yes, it (to me) indicate that it was happening for at least a month. An episode spans a few days, some is obvious it goes over a week long. And between each episode must span at least a month. And it shown him doing it over 2 episodes. There certainly wasn't so much going on everyday as they carry out in the show. We see him doing it at least 4 times over 2 episodes and from the storyline it did seem like months, cause other things had come and gone, and as you said, they were preparing the wedding and preparing a wedding takes months, even then, not days. The adoption process they showed, would usually have taken years, but on the show it went over about 4 or 5 episodes.
Plus if it was because he was having flu symptoms, it would have been a lot clearer and cheaper and easier for them to show him having flu symptoms. Plus from my education, I haven't heard that early symptoms of polio was flu type symptoms. Don't believe everything you read online.
Especially
these online medical information sites.
And from that discussion much later, Shelagh obviously wasn't referring to her or them ignoring him, she obviously slipped out that he'd brought it on specifically himself without assistance. Otherwise she would have felt guilt not anger.
Also, we don't know he is getting aspirin, we see him grabbing the first thing he sees, and he also takes some medicine. So to me it indicates he was experimenting with his fathers drugs.
As for Shelagh saying "she should have seen the signs" someone like her, a devoted wife and mother and ex-nurse would have said that about anything.
I don't mean to argue your post just to be argumentative. But the show has been very accurate in its script, and this is one situation where I think they dropped the ball. Because your explanation has holes also.
I am just going to put it down to completely unrelated circumstance, and he was experimenting having easy access to his fathers drugs.
Buffy Lives -
beldasnoop-1 — 10 years ago(March 27, 2016 10:25 PM)
He was shown taking the aspirin only in the Christmas special. What other episode are you talking about? I've watched this show a lot, and even did transcripts of episodes for a friend who was writing something about them. There's no other reference in any previous or subsequent episode to Timothy's taking medicine from Patrick's bag. Throughout the episode he was shown to be feeling unwell and hiding it when asked about it.
Editing to add I checked episode 2x08 (on DVD)the episode that precedes this Christmas special, and there's nothing in that episode about Timothy's taking anything from Patrick's bag. I also looked at the Christmas special. Timothy is only shown taking the aspirin (the bottle is clearly labeled) out of his dad's bag once. He takes the bag, puts it on the table, gets the bottle out and puts it on top of the bag while he takes some pills and puts some extra ones in his pajama shirt pocket. Later, he's shown getting the extra aspirin out of his shirt pocket and taking it.
And as to what Shelagh said in 3x05, the context was about her being worried that Patrick left Timothy to play cricket with the kids. She's being overprotective because she's concerned that he will be hurt. That's the anger, but what she says also shows there definitely was guilt there about leaving him alone before (not because she thinks Timothy caused the polio, but because she thinks they could have caught it earlier if they had been paying attention, which is what she told the nurse in the Christmas specialshe says "I've seen polio before".) Patrick says "I don't deserve that, and neither do you". She concedes his point and the conversation moves on to what she can do with her time. Neither of them can blame themselves (or Timothy) for his getting polio because they couldn't have caused itit's caused by a virus and as medical professionals who've dealt with polio before they would both know that. But what she can blame herself (and Patrick) for is not recognizing that he was ill until he was in serious condition.
I think the script is very clear. If he had been "experimenting with drugs" the show wouldn't have shown that and not addressed it later. That would be really sloppy writing, and this show doesn't do that. That was not the point of those scenes. The point was that he wasn't feeling well and didn't want Patrick and Shelagh to find out because he didn't want to disrupt the wedding.
As for adoption and weddings, adoptions used to be a whole lot faster than they are now, and planning a wedding can take any amount of time depending on how simple or fancy the wedding is. They were trying to make it very simple at first. Later, when they finally had the wedding it was bigger but it was also a little while later (the voiceover says "early spring"). I know people who planned weddings in less than a month. It's definitely possible.
Also, about polio, the symptoms were something I had heard about. The link on that site was just for a reference (and there are more references that will say the same thing). This show does its research. Also, he was shown having flu-like symptoms. He was shown being sluggish and also checking his glands in his neck after the Cubs' Christmas party (Shelagh asks him what he's doing, he says he's looking at his tongue because the cherryade he drank turned it red, but after she leaves the room, he checks his neck.) -
Mr_Gordo — 10 years ago(March 28, 2016 06:42 AM)
Ok. I guess you know this show just as much as I know about Buffy. But I'm not too interested to go back to watch the episodes again to confirm my points so I'll agree with you. But I do remember 100% that one scene I did see was him taking the pills from the bag not leaving the bad, but using the flap of the bag to hide him taking them. He never put them on the table and the bottle was not labelled. And he also grabbed a bottle of coloured liquid (medicine) to take with it. Quite different to what you say. I remember this because he did this while the bag was on the lounge and the parents were in the kitchen talking/arguing and he had to be very discreet. Taking the bottle completely out of the bag showing the label as you said surely would have given him away.
But I'm not that interested in going back to past episodes, especially when I am yet far from up to date. And the episodes are an hour long.
Buffy Lives -
beldasnoop-1 — 10 years ago(March 28, 2016 09:57 PM)
I think you may be conflating the two scenes, because there's no "colored liquid" in the first scene, although there is in the second (but it's juice, not medicine). In the scene where he takes the aspirin out of the case (it's hard-sided like a briefcase), the only bottle he takes out is the one he places on top of the case while he takes the pills. This bottle has a label that's visible. Shelagh (who is in the kitchen out of sight) is apparently making breakfast and calls to Tim asking if he wants some toast. Tim says he does, and puts the bottle back into the case and closes it, putting extra aspirin into his shirt pocket. He doesn't have any colored liquid or any other bottles. He's also not hiding behind anything. He looks around to see if anyone's watching, but that's it.
Later, when he's at breakfast the next day before Patrick comes into the room, Tim takes the extra aspirin and washes it down with his red juice (which is in a glass, not a bottle). The glass of juice is still on the table when Patrick is there, so it's clearly not medicine that Tim is trying to hide. He was only trying to hide the aspirin that he took before his dad came into the room.
I have described these scenes as I saw them upon re-watching. This is my favorite show. I have all the episodes on DVD and it's no trouble for me to re-watch a few scenes. -
Mr_Gordo — 10 years ago(March 29, 2016 11:28 PM)
I agree. I think I did get my memory confused.
After rewatching it, I agree. But I didn't like how they scripted it. It was too vague and too fast. And it was giving us the impression that it was something more serious. But it is what it is, and it is as you mentioned.
If you ever get anything confused about what happens in Buffy let me know and I'll clear it right up for you, haha.
Buffy Lives -
Kristabel — 7 months ago(August 08, 2025 05:26 AM)
I thought the same thing. The first I noticed he was sneaking the briefcase and taking a pill, and slipping some in his pocket. Then he’s taking them at the children’s Christmas party and sipping the red drink. Then the other kid is seen CHUGGING the red drink. The behavior was very much that of experimenting and being high. So it was very confusing they switched to polio as opposed to exposing the boys stealing medicine. It felt to me that the writing of the episode was changed during filming for some reason or another and made it a very uncomfortable episode. I also noticed the drift from first to third season which how birth was handled by the nuns and midwives. It could simply have been the advancement in maternity care in that decade and it mirrored that, but it doesn’t really line up with midwifery services of the period. I feel maybe ( if I were to have seen the show on the original airing, not on Netflix, with commercials ) there may have been some backlash from sponsors that led the direction of some seasons and episodes. I plan to read the series to confirm or dismiss my suspicions.