Malena's Pregnancy Loss and Hospitalization

Malena's pregnancy loss and hospitalization become a turning point in Pirjo's response to her relationship with Atu: the medical emergency is over by the time Pirjo visits, but the news has already intensified Pirjo's jealousy and her determination to have a child of her own. Across two scenes, the episode moves from an ambulance journey and uncontrollable bleeding to a hospital bed, where recovery and rivalry occupy the same uneasy encounter.

The News and Pirjo's Reaction

Atu tells Pirjo that Malena lost the pregnancy only a few hours earlier and that she had been taken to hospital by ambulance. He describes the day as terrible and reproaches Pirjo for not being there when he needed her, saying she should have accompanied Malena. His account makes the event more than a medical crisis: it also becomes a measure of Pirjo's absence from Atu's immediate circle of care.

Pirjo has just explained that she needed to get away from the academy, then turns the question back on Atu, asking why he wants to know and whether he has enough work of his own. Her effort to redirect the conversation precedes the revelation. When Atu says Malena lost the pregnancy, Pirjo averts her eyes and wonders whether Atu had got Malena pregnant. The question is not resolved in this exchange; what is clear is that the possibility strikes directly at Pirjo's hopes and fears.

She sits with the news, trying to absorb it. Her thoughts turn to her own waning fertility and the sense that time is passing faster and faster. She rejects the prospect of sharing Atu with other women and imagines a child of her own as his successor, even as a new savior. Malena's loss is thus registered in Pirjo's mind not only as a grave event for Malena, but as a threat and a spur within Pirjo's private ambitions. The gap between that internal response and the neutral expression Pirjo tries to recover marks how carefully she conceals what the news has stirred.

Malena in Hospital

The later scene places Malena on the fourth floor of Kalmar Hospital, in a gynecological ward described as sterile-looking. She is so pale that Pirjo compares her complexion with the nurses' white lab coats. This physical detail gives the aftermath a stark, clinical setting, distinct from Pirjo's earlier inward calculations.

Pirjo appears suddenly at the end of Malena's bed. She smiles to herself, reasoning that Malena had hoped Atu would come to show compassion and demonstrate how much he cared, but that Malena does not know him well enough. The scene therefore supplies Pirjo's interpretation of Malena's expectation, not a confirmation from Atu about why he has or has not come. Pirjo asks Malena how she is; Malena turns her head toward the wall and answers that she is better.

Malena reports the concrete course of her recovery: the bleeding stopped the previous night, and she expects to be discharged later that day. This marks a change from the emergency Atu described. The uncontrollable bleeding has been stopped, and the hospital stay appears close to ending, although the scene does not describe the treatment itself or the longer-term consequences of the pregnancy loss.

A Visit Marked by Rivalry

Pirjo responds to Malena's news with relief, but the visit does not settle into easy consolation. When Pirjo takes Malena's hand, discomfort passes through Malena's body; she tries briefly to pull away, and Pirjo does not let go. That small physical exchange complicates the spoken concern. Pirjo's words acknowledge the good news, while Malena's attempt to withdraw and Pirjo's refusal to release her hand make the tension between them visible without a direct confrontation.

The contrast between the two moments defines the episode's significance. In private, Pirjo thinks of the child she wants Atu to father and of the future she imagines for that child; at Malena's bedside, she meets the woman whose recent pregnancy has made those desires urgent. Malena's bleeding has stopped, but the account offers no easy reconciliation: she turns toward the wall, resists Pirjo's touch, and remains the focus of Pirjo's unresolved jealousy. The hospital visit closes with Malena nearing discharge, while the emotional conflict that the news has exposed remains in place.