Doc Martin (Part 15 — Spoilers)

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  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 29
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    S6 Opening Shot Prediction

    James Henry is being christened in the church and Louisa asks the Doc to get married right then and there since the vicar is already there.

    I had Louisa asking the Doc to marry her too! Because how do you top DM's straight from the heart "Louisa I can't bear to be without you" proposal and Louisa running to him and throwing herself into his arms. It was so unexpected, especially because they weren't young twenty-somethings!

    And then I thought they should go to the magistrate's office to get married so they don't have to deal with the village people; but mostly because I don't like TV weddings. Although I might make an exception in this case because MC and company do things so well.
    I like your idea a whole lot more.:)
  • NewParkNewPark Posts: 3,537
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    larablair wrote: »
    I had Louisa asking the Doc to marry her too! Because how do you top DM's straight from the heart "Louisa I can't bear to be without you" proposal and Louisa running to him and throwing herself into his arms. It was so unexpected, especially because they weren't young twenty-somethings!

    And then I thought they should go to the magistrate's office to get married so they don't have to deal with the village people; but mostly because I don't like TV weddings. Although I might make an exception in this case because MC and company do things so well.
    I like your idea a whole lot more.:)

    That should be a prediction too: Louisa is the one to propose this time, or, DM proposes again.

    I think it will be Louisa, but don't they need a day or two to get a special license? ino, not on the spur of the moment.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 29
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    NewPark wrote: »
    That should be a prediction too: Louisa is the one to propose this time, or, DM proposes again.

    I think it will be Louisa, but don't they need a day or two to get a special license? ino, not on the spur of the moment.

    Ah, good point. LG getting one ahead of time would take away the spur of the moment. (see, I'm just not a wedding planner)
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 911
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    NewPark wrote: »
    The thought of him going through with it is too horrible to contemplate as he would then have been well and truly trapped. I agree he was going through the motions but he was oddly passive about the whole deal -- meekly putting his boxers in the drawer, etc., etc. Was he so afraid of Edith that he couldn't say, "there's been some mistake?" Suppose he had gotten into that bed -- as there is no reason to think he wasn't going along with. Edith would not have left him alone, you can count on that! and, as hopeless about Louisa as he was feeling at that point, I don't know that he could have held out. I think he was just sleepwalking, but it's a good point that his experience in the kitchen restored some sense of his own power and that he did not have to do what Edith wanted. But I will always think that the chambermaewas the last straw-- it can't be a coincidence that they styled her hair into a pony tail or that we see him deciding to leave as soon as he saw that.

    Still, like many things in the series, in the end, it's ambiguous. But I lean to the idea that he would have done the deed, and lived to regret it, sooner rather than later.

    I, too, think Mona makes an excellent point about the Doc gaining confidence through his medical intervention without being debilitated by his blood phobia. But, as much as I would have hated his liaison with BP (the Boney Trollop), I agree with NewPark and believe he would have passively acquiesced, through habit and circumstance - until the sight of the ponytail jolted him back to realizing "I just didn't want to be with you." To his credit, boxers in the drawer notwithstanding, he did go to the meeting room to say "goodbye" to Edith, and he did, sheepishly, stand up to her when she swooped into his surgery afterward. He ultimately made the right decision, but I do think Fate intervened. He was headed toward the crack in the bed - and most signals he had been increasingly giving Edith, even before that meeting at the hotel, egged her on. Remember, she knew him well, and she could read even the faintest encouragement. Even lack of objection was to be taken as acceding. Other than telling her he had to attend to his Portwenn patients, when did he say "no" to her?
  • SusieSagitariusSusieSagitarius Posts: 1,250
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    mmDerdekea wrote: »
    This idea has floated around the Forum many times. I do not really agree with it. From the moment DM entered that room he was completely uncomfortable and awkward. That he went through motions of the room, such as the air conditioner and checking for bed bugs, is like LG dating Danny--sipping the acrid waters she never wished to drink. I do not believe he ever wanted to have sex with Edith. I can believe that for a moment he was allowing himself to fall back into a very old habit of allowing Edith to be the "man" in the relationship, as she probably was, to some extent, when they were lovers in med school. I can see that the ponytail was a poignant moment, but I think something else was much more important than that.

    I think DM being the Doc In Chief, with no problems with blood or an amputated finger in the kitchen really gave him the strength he needed to completely pull back from Edith. The strength he needed to realize he just wanted to be with LG, and that Edith no longer had that decisive power over him she had in the past. I think it was his own self-confidence and self-actualization that was the primary force of his leaving the hotel. He was not her puppet anymore.

    He got home late, and he immediately began packing. He had no blood phobia, anymore, and although he loved LG and would stay true to her, his life was now, he thought in London, as a surgeon, once again.

    Well said. But I just had another thought. It has never been clear to me that the ponytail did it, nor necessarily his kitchen accident experience, though they both may contribute to Doc's actions.
    I just noticed that the maid says, "Shall I turn the bed down?" (In other words, I think the bed did it!)
    He hesitates, says "yes" but then gets this look like he just doesn't want to get in it, the way Edith intends.
    Then in the next episode we'll be rewatching next, Edith confronts him and he explains "or maybe I just didn't want to be with you."
    She just isn't Louisa!
  • SusieSagitariusSusieSagitarius Posts: 1,250
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    ~~Shudder~~I don't even want to think about him in bed with Edith (BT--good one!).~~Shudder~~Shudder~~ (Is it cold in here? I think I'm dying.)
    I think my brain was screaming "No, Doc, don't do it!" the whole time.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 137
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    ~~Shudder~~I don't even want to think about him in bed with Edith (BT--good one!).~~Shudder~~Shudder~~ (Is it cold in here? I think I'm dying.)
    I think my brain was screaming "No, Doc, don't do it!" the whole time.

    My gag reflex was in overdrive as well. I'm pretty sure I have an acute case of Montgomeraphobia.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 340
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    Well said. But I just had another thought. It has never been clear to me that the ponytail did it, nor necessarily his kitchen accident experience, though they both may contribute to Doc's actions.
    I just noticed that the maid says, "Shall I turn the bed down?" (In other words, I think the bed did it!)
    He hesitates, says "yes" but then gets this look like he just doesn't want to get in it, the way Edith intends.
    Then in the next episode we'll be rewatching next, Edith confronts him and he explains "or maybe I just didn't want to be with you."
    She just isn't Louisa!

    Susie - I am with you. I think it was 'the bed' also that was the final straw. Up to really seeing the bed turned down there were any number of ways to avoid the issue - running down the waiter, the actual conference, the kitchen incident. But, if he allowed himself to actually stay and get into that bed with Edith - well, then all was really lost. I never really thought he would stay and I loved the way it was played.
  • NewParkNewPark Posts: 3,537
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    dmbesotted wrote: »
    Susie - I am with you. I think it was 'the bed' also that was the final straw. Up to really seeing the bed turned down there were any number of ways to avoid the issue - running down the waiter, the actual conference, the kitchen incident. But, if he allowed himself to actually stay and get into that bed with Edith - well, then all was really lost. I never really thought he would stay and I loved the way it was played.

    i think all the points can be worked in --

    1. He arrives, is uneasy, stalls and temporizes a bit but can't force the issue with Edith and find his own room, for whatever reason.
    2. the incident in the kitchen is deeply reassuring to him and he feels his own man again, more or less.
    3. He returns to the bedroom, sees the bed being turned down and the reality of what he is letting himself in for, is inescapable and not at all appealing.
    4. The final straw -- from behind, the chambermaid reminds him of Louisa, and that seals it for him -- it's just not on.
    5. We see him next packing, and for the first time in S4, we hear the love theme music, which tells us clearly that he chose Louisa. In other words, the decision was not primarily the negative one of rejecting a relationship with Edith, but the more positive one of staying faithful to his feelings for Louisa.

    I even think that you could read his look at Edith as he was leaving as "I'm sorry, I wish I could, it's not you, but I can't go through with it."

    My point is, that he doesn't dislike Edith, in fact he has some (residual) affection for her, and while he was probably largely oblivious to her predatory designs on him, a resumption of intimate relations with her might not have seemed like such a bad idea, were it not for his feelings for Louisa. I think one has to believe in the real possibility of his relationship with Edith developing, in order for him to make a real choice between the comfortable and non-challenging relationship he might have with her, and going outside of his comfort zone with Louisa, better for him in the end.

    We knew he never was going to go through with it (or it would have become an entirely different kind of series)but they built the suspense well.

    Meanwhile, back at the shower -- it's pretty clear that the good people of Portwenn realize that Louisa has no idea what she's about to be facing, and are trying to be helpful. But Louisa has a somewhat decisive moment as well, where she sticks up for DM -- "sure,he has intimacy and commitment issues, but who doesn't?" (love that line)

    I wonder if the after affects of the first scene -- where they each hear the other say that their assumptions about each other's motives were wrong --- actually sunk in, and were helping them become unstuck?
  • Shop GirlShop Girl Posts: 1,284
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    NewPark wrote: »
    i think all the points can be worked in --

    1. He arrives, is uneasy, stalls and temporizes a bit but can't force the issue with Edith and find his own room, for whatever reason.
    2. the incident in the kitchen is deeply reassuring to him and he feels his own man again, more or less.
    3. He returns to the bedroom, sees the bed being turned down and the reality of what he is letting himself in for, is inescapable and not at all appealing.
    4. The final straw -- from behind, the chambermaid reminds him of Louisa, and that seals it for him -- it's just not on.
    5. We see him next packing, and for the first time in S4, we hear the love theme music, which tells us clearly that he chose Louisa. In other words, the decision was not primarily the negative one of rejecting a relationship with Edith, but the more positive one of staying faithful to his feelings for Louisa.

    Great list NewPark! I would add one point though:

    2.5. While he is in charge in the kitchen trying to save the man's finger, Edith arrives and attempts to belittle him in front of the "team" he has assembled to accomplish the task. She talks to him as if he were a 3rd grader. But she leaves, he ignores what she commanded, and he reasserts his authority - mission accomplished.

    After that treatment of him in front of the people he had working for him, I think she put "paid" to the night of passion she envisioned. I think his thought process at the moment was to go support her speech and then share the bed as he shared with Louisa in S5, just because it made no sense to try to see if there was another room available with the convention filling the hotel. And he had gained the confidence in the kitchen to know that he could bluntly turn down any and all offers from her. Seeing the bed being turned down and the ponytail made him realize he just had no desire to deal with it all - he just wanted to go home and sleep in his own bed.
  • Shop GirlShop Girl Posts: 1,284
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    NewPark wrote: »
    I absolutely love the opening sequence of this episode -- with DM precisely timing his egg, his immaculate white dishes, his toast soldiers and then the big close-up -- where, for the first and only time in the series, I think, DM looks directly at the camera, sighs, and then moves decisively out the back door.

    I think of it as a brilliant camera shot, showing him "facing up" to what he has to do-- i.e., confront Louisa

    I love this scene too. It reminds me of an opening scene from a movie. I also noticed that the next morning he had the exact same setup on the kitchen table with the egg, one piece of toast and the cup of tea when Al knocked at the front doBor asking for him to give Pauline a better reference. He was wearing a different shirt though ;)

    Other thoughts I had on this episode:

    Funny how he was hiding the CD from Dr Milligan in between books on the bookcase.

    He looks so young when his eyes are closed as he listens to the CD.

    When he was examining Ted, he said, "If you must breathe....." LOL! I guess breathing was an option?

    While treating Pauline's jellyfish stings it seems like he is only concentrating on the job at hand and not paying attention to her babbling. But he immediately responded when she said something he disagreed with. And he continued the conversation as he worked to pull the stingers from her foot, so it was obvious he was listening and taking in all she was saying.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 2,018
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    Shop Girl wrote: »
    We should keep track and see who guesses correctly - kind of like Bert setting odds on the baby's name :D

    I won't be surprised if Bert takes bets on whether the marriage will actually take place.
  • mmDerdekeammDerdekea Posts: 1,719
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    Shop Girl wrote: »
    Great list NewPark! I would add one point though:

    2.5. While he is in charge in the kitchen trying to save the man's finger, Edith arrives and attempts to belittle him in front of the "team" he has assembled to accomplish the task. She talks to him as if he were a 3rd grader. But she leaves, he ignores what she commanded, and he reasserts his authority - mission accomplished.

    After that treatment of him in front of the people he had working for him, I think she put "paid" to the night of passion she envisioned. I think his thought process at the moment was to go support her speech and then share the bed as he shared with Louisa in S5, just because it made no sense to try to see if there was another room available with the convention filling the hotel. And he had gained the confidence in the kitchen to know that he could bluntly turn down any and all offers from her. Seeing the bed being turned down and the ponytail made him realize he just had no desire to deal with it all - he just wanted to go home and sleep in his own bed.

    Wow, I really do not see things this way at all. I guess this discussion is another example of a good show, giving enough to hold interest but not enough to make all viewer decisions.

    I do not at all believe he ever wanted to, was willing, or was going to have sex with Edith. For me that was pretty clear. That at first he was going along with it, out of shock and confusion made sense. He was off his perch at that time, and suddenly realized what Edith had in mind having spent time with him repeatedly. Given his lack of emotional sensitivities, I think he had to play out their own relationship during the last three months in his head, including her judgment of LG and her suggestion he is not responsible for her, and realize she probably had had this hotel event in her head from their first meeting in his surgery when they mutually learning of their relationship availability.

    That is all DM cogitation time in the hotel room. That he was called away, handled the accident so well in the kitchen, and saw the ponytail, made him realize he just had to leave, not hearing her speech, not supporting her "big night", preventing the need for any conversation with Edith (as he had to uncomfortably put up with in his surgery the next day). He could just get back to packing to be the surgeon in London he now knew he could be.

    So, it was never that suspenseful for me. DM was not at all going to do make love to Edith. Not with all the emotions so still strongly tying him to LG. What we know about DM by this time is his strong sense of morals and ethics and we know that he has the capacity to be celibate for, well, years. His sex drive has not been any type of driving force in his life (except in his lust for LG which he put up with for years before being intimate with her), and I doubt it suddenly reared up in that hotel room, regarding Edith.

    What he learned in the hotel was that Edith wanted him back, emotionally and sexually, on her terms. I do not think he had conceptualized that at all during those months they socialized. And conceptualizing that, he knew in the hotel room he did not want to be a part of it.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 1,290
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    What are the digital spy interviews I've heard some of you guys talk about? When were they done? Where can I see them?
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 911
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    NewPark wrote: »
    5. We see him next packing, and for the first time in S4, we hear the love theme music, which tells us clearly that he chose Louisa. In other words, the decision was not primarily the negative one of rejecting a relationship with Edith, but the more positive one of staying faithful to his feelings for Louisa.

    Good catch, NewPark, about the love music! You know, for many of us on the forum, we have become detectives within the supposed detective series that is Doc Martin. You get the gumshoe award about the music!

    One more note about this being a detective, not a medical show - which is what the producers and writers said early on. I would recommend them getting back to that idea more, so we get away from falling back on the malady of the week or a fixation on eccentric old people. Sort of like the Doc investigating the accident-prone Eddie Rix, or the real story of John Slater. There could even be a bit of a mystery in the village, or a local superstition like in the Doc Martin movies. A neighbor's light that he notices keeps going on and off like a signal. I like where some of the fan fiction has taken us, and we could certainly reintroduce old characters or gain new ones, shopkeepers, babysitters, marriage counselor, doctors or nurses in a non-Portwenn expanded medical world for the Doc. I think as we narrow down on the DM-LG relationship, we need to expand the characters, the settings, or the other plot lines. It began to feel pretty claustrophobic to me in S5, but maybe we were all sort of meant to feel rather trapped, not just LG and DM. :)
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 911
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    ReneeBird wrote: »
    What are the digital spy interviews I've heard some of you guys talk about? When were they done? Where can I see them?

    I have thought this is one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLlUE367apw
  • NewParkNewPark Posts: 3,537
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    I have thought this is one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLlUE367apw

    Here's the cite: http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tv/tubetalk/a178058/more-from-the-doc-martin-cast.html

    This includes the one that Statesidefan cited -- plus others of the cast, especially including Caroline Catz.

    Plus: it sounds like KCET is going to keep an eye on things for us during filming season:

    http://www.kcet.org/shows/tvtalk/tv-news/spoiler-some-doc-martin-season-six-news.html

    But I still wish Hod would be doing a S6 blog like she did for S5 and earlier. But life moves on for us all, I guess.
  • NewParkNewPark Posts: 3,537
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    Shop Girl wrote: »

    While treating Pauline's jellyfish stings it seems like he is only concentrating on the job at hand and not paying attention to her babbling. But he immediately responded when she said something he disagreed with. And he continued the conversation as he worked to pull the stingers from her foot, so it was obvious he was listening and taking in all she was saying.

    She was asking to be taking back on again and apologizing. I can't figure out what his response was, if any. did he take her back?
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 455
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    NewPark wrote: »
    Here's the cite: http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tv/tubetalk/a178058/more-from-the-doc-martin-cast.html

    This includes the one that Statesidefan cited -- plus others of the cast, especially including Caroline Catz.

    Plus: it sounds like KCET is going to keep an eye on things for us during filming season:

    http://www.kcet.org/shows/tvtalk/tv-news/spoiler-some-doc-martin-season-six-news.html

    But I still wish Hod would be doing a S6 blog like she did for S5 and earlier. But life moves on for us all, I guess.
    That was a GREAT blog!
  • SusieSagitariusSusieSagitarius Posts: 1,250
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    NewPark wrote: »
    That should be a prediction too: Louisa is the one to propose this time, or, DM proposes again.

    I think it will be Louisa, but don't they need a day or two to get a special license? ino, not on the spur of the moment.

    Okay, NewPark.

    So I'm now recording responses to Prediction #4. I have mine, larablair's, and NewPark's.

    What do the rest of you think?:)
  • SusieSagitariusSusieSagitarius Posts: 1,250
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    Conniej wrote: »

    Thanks, Conniej. Always good to hear from you.
  • SusieSagitariusSusieSagitarius Posts: 1,250
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    My gag reflex was in overdrive as well. I'm pretty sure I have an acute case of Montgomeraphobia.

    Good one! ;)
  • Shop GirlShop Girl Posts: 1,284
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    NewPark wrote: »

    Interesting. A couple of thoughts:

    1. They are just starting construction and it will be complete just as filming ends for possibly the last time. I know they will continue to get DM visitors after production ends, but this timing seems a little strange.

    2. Wow - hefty donation from BP!

    3. Was looking for some DM videos on YouTube just last night and I watched one that a visitor filmed while that photo was being taken! How bizarre!
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