I think Louisa was just fine this episode, but she didn't respect his boundaries when she dragged him from his consulting room to talk to Mommy Dearest, and it could be said she didn't respect his boundaries when she pushed him to show his mother the village.
I guess I would be a bad wife then. She doesn't know the whole story of his childhood and how horrible his mother might be and she's difficult to be around. I would most certainly go get my husband if he left me alone with a difficult and discomfiting relative of his. In fact I probably did it more than once...significantly more than once in my marriage. When my parents visited he would go to work and stay as late as he possibly could to avoid spending time with my Dad especially. He WAS a piece of work. You can choose your friends but you can't choose your relatives and they are your responsibility. Sometime so called boundaries need to be crossed.
Copperhill, just to clarify, I agree with what you've written here. For me, the insecurity came into play when LE rejected DM's assurances: "Are you sure? You're not very convincing," stuff like that. If that was her trying to draw him out, I think she (or the writers ) chose her words poorly. In my experience, that sort of response tends to put the other person on the defensive.
I totally agree, Zarwen, and in some post I wrote I defined that as "the word game". And, as a woman, I have to admit I have played it myself. It's not pretty and lends and an air of desperation and, Zarwen, as you have said, puts the other person on the defensive. And....as I have done it myself...I find it totally appropriate for Louisa to have in her repertoire. No I don't it was't pretty when I did it either....it's just one of those things we do when we're hurting.
I'm being tongue in cheek here for those who don't realize it.
I guess I would be a bad wife then. She doesn't know the whole story of his childhood and how horrible his mother might be and she's difficult to be around. I would most certainly go get my husband if he left me alone with a difficult and discomfiting relative of his. In fact I probably did it more than once...significantly more than once in my marriage. When my parents visited he would go to work and stay as late as he possibly could to avoid spending time with my Dad especially. He WAS a piece of work. You can choose your friends but you can't choose your relatives and they are your responsibility. Sometime so called boundaries need to be crossed.
Not talking about you, Mofromco. I was responding to an earlier poster who said Louisa in this episode respected the Doc'e boundaries. I think she's just been trying to figure things out, but cited these examples of her attempting to get Martin to do some things he did NOT want to do.
I know a couple who lived together for 20+ years, got married and split up less than a year later. For some folks, marriage can have a wholly different feel than living together.
I think DM wanted to love and be loved and upon first seeing LG she was the goal he had. He had wanted to marry her since Season 3. And, he also wanted to marry Edith way back when in medical school, so yeah, I think getting married was very important to him in life.
Also, as has been mentioned on the Forum, DM comes from a conservative background and mindset and marriage does seem to be part of that if you are living with a woman you love and had a child with her. Look at Margaret disparagingly saying how "modern" it was for the nanny to be a man.
I imagine knocking up a woman and then living with her like she was his "kept woman" was not really in DM's personal repertoire (or LGs!) and getting married and setting up his own family was indeed a deep need he had.
Ergo, the beginning of his blood phobia, seeing her family clutching the woman he was to operate on. Exactly what he did not have in life. So, to finally get it all, and then have a hemophobia reaction is not quite (psycho)logical to me. But, as I said, the writers may bring it all together for us in the last two episodes which would be wonderful.
Ergo, the beginning of his blood phobia, seeing her family clutching the woman he was to operate on. Exactly what he did not have in life. So, to finally get it all, and then have a hemophobia reaction is not quite (psycho)logical to me. But, as I said, the writers may bring it all together for us in the last two episodes which would be wonderful.
I really do not understand this, also. I know many here have expressed their opinions about what has caused the homophobia originally, and then caused it to return - but it has not resonated with me. Why hemophobia now again? Thanks for your patience with me.
8) I like Morwenna. She's the most efficient of all receptionists. She also gets the Doc best. She admitted at the date with Mike that DM has to stand morons. She clears the waiting room efficiently and translates what the Doc means when he's talking to Malcolm. All in all - GOOD WORK!
Yes, LOVED her translating between DM and Malcolm!
I agree with you Zarwen and Bodmin. I loved Morwenna translating between DM and Malcolm, too.
I don't think it's a sign of insecurity that Louisa asks DM if she's the reason for the return of his blood phobia (or was it his insomnia?). Nor is it self-centeredness. I think it's only logical. What's the one huge change in his life recently, coincidentally at the time of the return of his blood phobia -- his marriage. She would have to be an insensitive idiot to not think that there might be some correlation.
So, um, was anyone else pleasantly surprised to see that Bert's hair was fluffy and clean under his hat?
(I am not using quote because the quote thing has gotten derailed, and it has to stop somewhere!)
I think Margaret is a woman very used to using her sexuality as a way to manipulate men. I agree -- the tie-straightening was definitely creepy and pseudosexual. As for the sexual abuse -- an intriguing suggestion, as that stuff definitely happens -- but my sense from the S2 episode is that she viewed him with such contempt that it's unlikely she'd hit on him.
Interesting, but I didn't see it that way, Mofromco.
I saw it as a mother fixing the tie of a child, the kind of attention Martin would have loved when he was younger. His psychological walls are up pretty strongly now, and he's not falling for it although I think from his face you could see it was a wish he had had many years ago, for a caring, doting mother. But, he sees her monster side very clearly now.
I thought it was definitely creepy. I have three sons and would never straighten their ties quite like that. I'd do it to my husband maybe but not the boys.
Perhaps. But, they had already been living together for four months before the marriage. And, apparently getting on well, as per their lovely relationship in E1, and apparently both wanting the marriage.
So, to suddenly be married, which DM wanted all his life, and have a wife, and a child, again, dreams he had his whole life--people to love and people to love him back--and have it suddenly traumatize him is not wholly logical to me.
But, if it all relates to deep profound lack of love in his childhood, I sure hope the writers will find some effective and believable way to connect all that together.
I know a couple who lived together for 20+ years, got married and split up less than a year later. For some folks, marriage can have a wholly different feel than living together.
Yes I can really see the sudden pressure of marriage. Suddenly things are permanent and you are "stuck" in a situation you can't control. DM has lived alone for 20 years and suddenly he is confronted by a crying child, a messy wife (not as messy as me! but I think that's what they're trying to tell us) and still the constant pressure of the demands of the villagers.
His usual stress relievers (working on the clock) is denied to him because of the demands of family.
I think Louisa was just fine this episode, but she didn't respect his boundaries when she dragged him from his consulting room to talk to Mommy Dearest, and it could be said she didn't respect his boundaries when she pushed him to show his mother the village.
I don't agree stateside fan because LG didn't know that Mommy Dearest is a witch. She only knows that she's DM's mother. In a normal family situation he should be socialising with his mother, not leaving it to LG. Also she was trying to think up "fun" thinks for DM to do with his mother. He needs a push to do "fun" things. :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:
Hello everyone.
I mostly lurk but just jumping in to say how I love to read all of your posts.
Just a few thoughts.
Yes, he is!
BocminDM - really liked your whole post about this last show. Very insightful and close to how I saw things.
Well, I hope Louisa figures Doc's mother out quickly and kicks her out! Yikes, that woman is creepy and dangerous. Great acting there too! I wanted to reach into that TV and take that baby out of her clumsy arms! Was so glad when the Doc did that and took control.
Her presence might certainly escalate the Doc's unravelling. Interesting storyline.
Probably Ruth will be the one to put mother in her place.
I really am enjoying this whole series.
Two things I wish there were more of though,
1 - more humor, it is a bit serious this time
2 - more physical, tender natural moments between DM and Louisa.
For someone as in love as Doc seems to be, and who was so proud even to have her hold his hand at one time, I would think he would be taking every advantage to be close to her and share a touch - like a hand hold, a touch on arm when passing each other, standing closer when she tries to talk to him, holding her when he cant sleep at night. Something more than what has been offered. A little happiness I guess. I did love how she kissed him goodnite though! LOL
I loved the first show. It showed they were comfortable with each other, even though they could scrap or be irritated, they still were touching and comfortable and even kissing.
I actually really like Penhale! His intentions seem good even if he is a bit of a flake. He is a great actor and pulls it off and makes me laugh. I like the guy and it would be nice if Joe too found a woman who appreciated him and could put up with his foolish side.
Am very glad that Bert has found a lady love and I hope they let him keep her.
I would also love to see Al settled with Morwenna.
Obviously, what I want is a "happy every after" type ending to this terrific series.
(good luck with that, huh!)
Of course, I would rather the show went on a few more years cause regardless what happens I find myself glued to the screen and will certainly miss it when they end it.
me myb
This is exactly what I thought - even including the enjoyment of BodminDM's post.
The thing that strikes me with this series is that there was no real indication of what happened between episode 1 (lovely) and episode 2 (bickering). Always before, they have they have shown us a reason behind a huge change like this. Even if the "showing" part entails the collective minds of 10 people to decifer it.
I guess I would be a bad wife then. She doesn't know the whole story of his childhood and how horrible his mother might be and she's difficult to be around. I would most certainly go get my husband if he left me alone with a difficult and discomfiting relative of his. In fact I probably did it more than once...significantly more than once in my marriage. When my parents visited he would go to work and stay as late as he possibly could to avoid spending time with my Dad especially. He WAS a piece of work. You can choose your friends but you can't choose your relatives and they are your responsibility. Sometime so called boundaries need to be crossed.
Copperhill, just to clarify, I agree with what you've written here. For me, the insecurity came into play when LE rejected DM's assurances: "Are you sure? You're not very convincing," stuff like that. If that was her trying to draw him out, I think she (or the writers ) chose her words poorly. In my experience, that sort of response tends to put the other person on the defensive.
Ah, yes. I agree. She could-should have left it after he said it wasn't her.
Hello, NewPark. Right, I know the MC quotes on what is happening to DM, but I do think the writing could have clued us in more on his lack of sleep, and its effects on him, which so far has been pretty minimal if anything. Just having him be very grumpy isn't really convincing he's unraveling, and he had the blood phobia for years previously without "unraveling," either, so that's not really proof either.
While it may be a dramatic second to pose MC standing with his eyes closed, or alone at his desk with a clock he (temporarily) cannot work on, it's not really enough to see "unraveling" when he can work competently and live without travail. He is communicating well to LG to the best of his ability, (and she the same); he simply does not know why the phobia came back.
One can only assume he starts more overtly falling apart next episode, so we aren't required to search for tiny clues here and there as proof something like that is indeed happening. Good viewers can be spoonfed quite a bit, but a rousing meal at times serves the fan base well.
I really do not understand this, also. I know many here have expressed their opinions about what has caused the homophobia originally, and then caused it to return - but it has not resonated with me. Why hemophobia now again? Thanks for your patience with me.
Well, the last two or three episodes are certainly going to provide plenty of fodder for further unraveling. Mom showing up, whom he evidently hates, and the death of his father -- even more stressful in a way, given their estrangement at his death. Because now, all chance to get what one needed from that relationship, or to repair the breach, is gone. I don't think that need or wish ever goes away, really, though it is not anywhere near the surface.
As for what might have caused his unraveling before these things even happened: I have my ideas, or what it looks like to me from the outside, but no idea whether the writers/creators are telling themselves the same story. Pretty psychologically acute, though.
To me, he looks like a person with a huge defense system, amount almost to "character armor." The fact that he needs to do this suggests a lot of vulnerability underneath all that exterior, and a strong need to wall himself off from any emotion that might make him vulnerable. Because his primary experience of love has been with his awful, rejecting parents, and a certain point, he has to deny that he needs that love and care from them. Now he is surrounded by people drawing on his emotions, giving to him (or trying to give to him) what he has long denied he needed. And they want from him, some expression of his love and care. In other words, exactly the situation he has spent a very long time building defense against. And he really desperately wants to be in these relationships. But even the experience of being a father has to call up for him, very strongly, what he didn't get as a child. So he is experiencing enormous inner conflict -- continue with the defensive system, or relax it and chance that it will be OK. But once those strong walls are breached, the results aren't pretty, until there is some kind of "reintegration" to a new and better functioning level. If he's lucky, AR will help him to start that process, before he loses the family he's always wanted.
Anyway, given the clues that we have so far, that's how I would begin to conceptualize what's happening to him. But these formulations always have to be flexible, readjusting as more information becomes available, which may or not be provided here.
If there ever is a Doc Martin fan convention, I sure hope there's a panel of mental health professionals discussing, "what the h--- is the matter with this man?" I imagine there would be quite a variety of opinions.
Looking forward to how Margaret and Ruth are going to get on next week seeing that Ruth doesn't even know that her brother has died.
I think I saw from the clip next week they both bump into each other in the village. I noticed that Ruth caught a glimpse of Margaret and looked a bit concerned.
Maybe we will find out more about the doc's father next week.
I don't agree stateside fan because LG didn't know that Mommy Dearest is a witch. She only knows that she's DM's mother. In a normal family situation he should be socialising with his mother, not leaving it to LG. Also she was trying to think up "fun" thinks for DM to do with his mother. He needs a push to do "fun" things. :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:
I didn't say she was "wrong," just trying to get him to do things he didn't want to do. She didn't know why, but she knew he did not want to be forced to talk to his mother. This is not a criticism of LG, but a disagreement about whether she should be credited with "respecting his boundaries."
To me, he looks like a person with a huge defense system, amount almost to "character armor." The fact that he needs to do this suggests a lot of vulnerability underneath all that exterior, and a strong need to wall himself off from any emotion that might make him vulnerable. Because his primary experience of love has been with his awful, rejecting parents, and a certain point, he has to deny that he needs that love and care from them. Now he is surrounded by people drawing on his emotions, giving to him (or trying to give to him) what he has long denied he needed. And they want from him, some expression of his love and care. In other words, exactly the situation he has spent a very long time building defense against. And he really desperately wants to be in these relationships. But even the experience of being a father has to call up for him, very strongly, what he didn't get as a child. So he is experiencing enormous inner conflict -- continue with the defensive system, or relax it and chance that it will be OK. But once those strong walls are breached, the results aren't pretty, until there is some kind of "reintegration" to a new and better functioning level. If he's lucky, AR will help him to start that process, before he loses the family he's always wanted.
Great synopsis, NewPark! So can you tell me how the reemergence of the hemophobia fits in?
DM fears exposing his heart and become vulnerable with anyone. The barriers are a defense mechanism that protected him as a child and worked for much of his adulthood. His love for Louisa and James began to crack the facade. The fact that people around him love him back even is an even greater influence. He has never been in a safe environment to express his feelings.
The entire village is holding him up. The posse of villagers follow him into the church encouraging him on. They are well meaning in their efforts to give him advice because they want the best for him. Morwenna tries to protect him from Mrs Tischell and then goes in to check on him after she leaves. Lorna wants to make him cuff links. We don't see the villagers making fun of him for throwing up on Penhale. In fact, the woman who tells Louisa about it is inquiring how he is doing, not making fun of him. Everyone is showing him that he is valuable. Their love is unconditional, it's not just because they want something from him. He has never experienced unconditional love.
I do think on the whole Louisa tries to respect his boundaries. Is she not allowed to have moments of doubt and fear that she is causing his blood phobia? If she has a misstep, it is not out of malice like it is for his mother. When she does cross a boundary it is not because she is trying to manipulate him or get something for herself. She is trying to let him know that he is in a safe place to express himself.
I expect people on this forum to shoot holes in my opinion. Especially the ones about Louisa. There sometimes seems to be a vendetta against her. I know what I attribute it to, but I am not going to say it here. I am reluctant sometimes to post. I know it probably isn't personal. But sometimes it feels that way.
My god! I've hijacked the forum. I will go to bed and let someone else get a word in. Sorry. :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:
Cookie, since you're in Australia we know you have the opportunity to hijack the forum every evening while most of us are sleeping! Thanks for being the kind and thoughtful soul you are.:)
DM fears exposing his heart and become vulnerable with anyone. The barriers are a defense mechanism that protected him as a child and worked for much of his adulthood. His love for Louisa and James began to crack the facade. The fact that people around him love him back even is an even greater influence. He has never been in a safe environment to express his feelings.
The entire village is holding him up. The posse of villagers follow him into the church encouraging him on. They are well meaning in their efforts to give him advice because they want the best for him. Morwenna tries to protect him from Mrs Tischell and then goes in to check on him after she leaves. Lorna wants to make him cuff links. We don't see the villagers making fun of him for throwing up on Penhale. In fact, the woman who tells Louisa about it is inquiring how he is doing, not making fun of him. Everyone is showing him that he is valuable. Their love is unconditional, it's not just because they want something from him. He has never experienced unconditional love.
I do think on the whole Louisa tries to respect his boundaries. Is she not allowed to have moments of doubt and fear that she is causing his blood phobia? If she has a misstep, it is not out of malice like it is for his mother. When she does cross a boundary it is not because she is trying to manipulate him or get something for herself. She is trying to let him know that he is in a safe place to express himself.
Wow, that's about as unflattering a photo as you can get! The lighting is actually designed to emphasize his wrinkles. Every woman knows never to do make-up with side lighting.
Well, yes, but when you see a person/character as their actual self, I think, it's really powerful. Here we see the even more uncovered DM, in his gorgeous suit, with a profile like an ancient Roman Emperor, who ran his life just that way until emotions did him in. Fascinating study portrait of DM.
I really do not understand this, also. I know many here have expressed their opinions about what has caused the homophobia originally, and then caused it to return - but it has not resonated with me. Why hemophobia now again? Thanks for your patience with me.
Oh, I agree, statesidefan, there has been no reason presented to us why it returned. We are still in the dark about why it came back after four happy months and a happy marriage.
I was talking about the initial onset of it.
If the return relates to his lack of love as a child, why it would spring it back to life out of the blue as it did is still a mystery. Should be an interesting last two episodes.
I didn't say she was "wrong," just trying to get him to do things he didn't want to do. She didn't know why, but she knew he did not want to be forced to talk to his mother. This is not a criticism of LG, but a disagreement about whether she should be credited with "respecting his boundaries."
I have to agree. LG could walk into a room where her husband is fixing a clock, his mother, whom he has not seen in years in the kitchen, and instead of ordering him to go see her, close the door and ask him if there is some reason he doesn't want to join his mom in the kitchen? She's picked up that he isn't entirely happy she's visited. How does he need her to be in this situation, etc?
Great synopsis, NewPark! So can you tell me how the reemergence of the hemophobia fits in?
I guess I have no opinion on whether that's how an indication of a coming crisis would actually happen in "real life." There's so many ways to become symptomatic!
I think we are shown this particular symptom because it is a) plausible that it would upset him and in view of his past history and b) it is a way of referencing back to what he said, in the first series, had triggered it in the first place. That is, a glimpse of strong family feelings between a patient and her family. He said then that they became real to him. Now, I think, he is actually experiencing those same family feelings, and, because at some level, they are threatening to him, the same familiar defense comes back.
But as I say -- I think that's BP's take on it, insofar as they actually have a theory, and I'm not sure one way or the other whether I agree with it. How's that for waffling?
Comments
I guess I would be a bad wife then. She doesn't know the whole story of his childhood and how horrible his mother might be and she's difficult to be around. I would most certainly go get my husband if he left me alone with a difficult and discomfiting relative of his. In fact I probably did it more than once...significantly more than once in my marriage. When my parents visited he would go to work and stay as late as he possibly could to avoid spending time with my Dad especially. He WAS a piece of work. You can choose your friends but you can't choose your relatives and they are your responsibility. Sometime so called boundaries need to be crossed.
I totally agree, Zarwen, and in some post I wrote I defined that as "the word game". And, as a woman, I have to admit I have played it myself. It's not pretty and lends and an air of desperation and, Zarwen, as you have said, puts the other person on the defensive. And....as I have done it myself...I find it totally appropriate for Louisa to have in her repertoire. No I don't it was't pretty when I did it either....it's just one of those things we do when we're hurting.
I'm being tongue in cheek here for those who don't realize it.
Not talking about you, Mofromco. I was responding to an earlier poster who said Louisa in this episode respected the Doc'e boundaries. I think she's just been trying to figure things out, but cited these examples of her attempting to get Martin to do some things he did NOT want to do.
I think DM wanted to love and be loved and upon first seeing LG she was the goal he had. He had wanted to marry her since Season 3. And, he also wanted to marry Edith way back when in medical school, so yeah, I think getting married was very important to him in life.
Also, as has been mentioned on the Forum, DM comes from a conservative background and mindset and marriage does seem to be part of that if you are living with a woman you love and had a child with her. Look at Margaret disparagingly saying how "modern" it was for the nanny to be a man.
I imagine knocking up a woman and then living with her like she was his "kept woman" was not really in DM's personal repertoire (or LGs!) and getting married and setting up his own family was indeed a deep need he had.
Ergo, the beginning of his blood phobia, seeing her family clutching the woman he was to operate on. Exactly what he did not have in life. So, to finally get it all, and then have a hemophobia reaction is not quite (psycho)logical to me. But, as I said, the writers may bring it all together for us in the last two episodes which would be wonderful.
I really do not understand this, also. I know many here have expressed their opinions about what has caused the homophobia originally, and then caused it to return - but it has not resonated with me. Why hemophobia now again? Thanks for your patience with me.
Yes! No hat hair.
Yes I can really see the sudden pressure of marriage. Suddenly things are permanent and you are "stuck" in a situation you can't control. DM has lived alone for 20 years and suddenly he is confronted by a crying child, a messy wife (not as messy as me! but I think that's what they're trying to tell us) and still the constant pressure of the demands of the villagers.
His usual stress relievers (working on the clock) is denied to him because of the demands of family.
I don't agree stateside fan because LG didn't know that Mommy Dearest is a witch. She only knows that she's DM's mother. In a normal family situation he should be socialising with his mother, not leaving it to LG. Also she was trying to think up "fun" thinks for DM to do with his mother. He needs a push to do "fun" things. :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:
me myb
This is exactly what I thought - even including the enjoyment of BodminDM's post.
The thing that strikes me with this series is that there was no real indication of what happened between episode 1 (lovely) and episode 2 (bickering). Always before, they have they have shown us a reason behind a huge change like this. Even if the "showing" part entails the collective minds of 10 people to decifer it.
Really agree with this! :cool:
Ah, yes. I agree. She could-should have left it after he said it wasn't her.
Well, the last two or three episodes are certainly going to provide plenty of fodder for further unraveling. Mom showing up, whom he evidently hates, and the death of his father -- even more stressful in a way, given their estrangement at his death. Because now, all chance to get what one needed from that relationship, or to repair the breach, is gone. I don't think that need or wish ever goes away, really, though it is not anywhere near the surface.
As for what might have caused his unraveling before these things even happened: I have my ideas, or what it looks like to me from the outside, but no idea whether the writers/creators are telling themselves the same story. Pretty psychologically acute, though.
To me, he looks like a person with a huge defense system, amount almost to "character armor." The fact that he needs to do this suggests a lot of vulnerability underneath all that exterior, and a strong need to wall himself off from any emotion that might make him vulnerable. Because his primary experience of love has been with his awful, rejecting parents, and a certain point, he has to deny that he needs that love and care from them. Now he is surrounded by people drawing on his emotions, giving to him (or trying to give to him) what he has long denied he needed. And they want from him, some expression of his love and care. In other words, exactly the situation he has spent a very long time building defense against. And he really desperately wants to be in these relationships. But even the experience of being a father has to call up for him, very strongly, what he didn't get as a child. So he is experiencing enormous inner conflict -- continue with the defensive system, or relax it and chance that it will be OK. But once those strong walls are breached, the results aren't pretty, until there is some kind of "reintegration" to a new and better functioning level. If he's lucky, AR will help him to start that process, before he loses the family he's always wanted.
Anyway, given the clues that we have so far, that's how I would begin to conceptualize what's happening to him. But these formulations always have to be flexible, readjusting as more information becomes available, which may or not be provided here.
If there ever is a Doc Martin fan convention, I sure hope there's a panel of mental health professionals discussing, "what the h--- is the matter with this man?" I imagine there would be quite a variety of opinions.
I think I saw from the clip next week they both bump into each other in the village. I noticed that Ruth caught a glimpse of Margaret and looked a bit concerned.
Maybe we will find out more about the doc's father next week.
I didn't say she was "wrong," just trying to get him to do things he didn't want to do. She didn't know why, but she knew he did not want to be forced to talk to his mother. This is not a criticism of LG, but a disagreement about whether she should be credited with "respecting his boundaries."
Great synopsis, NewPark! So can you tell me how the reemergence of the hemophobia fits in?
The entire village is holding him up. The posse of villagers follow him into the church encouraging him on. They are well meaning in their efforts to give him advice because they want the best for him. Morwenna tries to protect him from Mrs Tischell and then goes in to check on him after she leaves. Lorna wants to make him cuff links. We don't see the villagers making fun of him for throwing up on Penhale. In fact, the woman who tells Louisa about it is inquiring how he is doing, not making fun of him. Everyone is showing him that he is valuable. Their love is unconditional, it's not just because they want something from him. He has never experienced unconditional love.
I do think on the whole Louisa tries to respect his boundaries. Is she not allowed to have moments of doubt and fear that she is causing his blood phobia? If she has a misstep, it is not out of malice like it is for his mother. When she does cross a boundary it is not because she is trying to manipulate him or get something for herself. She is trying to let him know that he is in a safe place to express himself.
I expect people on this forum to shoot holes in my opinion. Especially the ones about Louisa. There sometimes seems to be a vendetta against her. I know what I attribute it to, but I am not going to say it here. I am reluctant sometimes to post. I know it probably isn't personal. But sometimes it feels that way.
Cookie, since you're in Australia we know you have the opportunity to hijack the forum every evening while most of us are sleeping! Thanks for being the kind and thoughtful soul you are.:)
My thoughts/feelings, exactly!
Well, yes, but when you see a person/character as their actual self, I think, it's really powerful. Here we see the even more uncovered DM, in his gorgeous suit, with a profile like an ancient Roman Emperor, who ran his life just that way until emotions did him in. Fascinating study portrait of DM.
Oh, I agree, statesidefan, there has been no reason presented to us why it returned. We are still in the dark about why it came back after four happy months and a happy marriage.
I was talking about the initial onset of it.
If the return relates to his lack of love as a child, why it would spring it back to life out of the blue as it did is still a mystery. Should be an interesting last two episodes.
I have to agree. LG could walk into a room where her husband is fixing a clock, his mother, whom he has not seen in years in the kitchen, and instead of ordering him to go see her, close the door and ask him if there is some reason he doesn't want to join his mom in the kitchen? She's picked up that he isn't entirely happy she's visited. How does he need her to be in this situation, etc?
That's respecting boundaries.
I guess I have no opinion on whether that's how an indication of a coming crisis would actually happen in "real life." There's so many ways to become symptomatic!
I think we are shown this particular symptom because it is a) plausible that it would upset him and in view of his past history and b) it is a way of referencing back to what he said, in the first series, had triggered it in the first place. That is, a glimpse of strong family feelings between a patient and her family. He said then that they became real to him. Now, I think, he is actually experiencing those same family feelings, and, because at some level, they are threatening to him, the same familiar defense comes back.
But as I say -- I think that's BP's take on it, insofar as they actually have a theory, and I'm not sure one way or the other whether I agree with it. How's that for waffling?