Yes, Biffpup, good medical catch. I didn't want to comment on every medical oddity in this show, but thrush is just an oral manifestation of a fungal overgrowth (it may also go down the esophagus in very immunocompromised patients). So, DM saying that thrush can also live in the mouth is like saying urine can also be found in the bladder.
Are there different types of thrush? In Australia if someone has thrush it is usually the vaginal type. In fact i had never heard of oral thrush. (Which, of course, is not saying much cos i am not a doctor!) Could it vary from country to country? Do you think or not?
But I don't think i would call it nasty. Just part of Louisa's general thinking that she knows best how to handle the people of PortWenn and it's up to her to convey this to Martin.
I think this is her thinking. In this latest ep series 2 ep 5 she tells DM again that she can't keep apologising for him and he tells her he doesn't want her to.
She thinks, like anyone would, that if someone sees an obvious fault in someone they believe they are close to, they would want it pointed out so they could modify their behaviour. But, DM isn't interested in bring concilatory or changing.
She still can't understand that he doesnt want to change or be "nice". This comes up over and over again until they break up after the opera.
Yikes! You are correct! I will fix that when I get home.
Loved your comment about shouting at the television for Martin to call Louisa to say he couldn't make it to the pub. I do the same thing every time I watch it. When she calls him on it in the next episode, he responds, "Yes". I think we have determined this is his way of responding when he has learned a new social lesson.
I also noticed that it was 5 minutes to the hour when he was getting ready to leave. Tricia had to walk through his door at the hour (her watch must have been a little fast) so this means that he was leaving a the very last moment to meet Louisa while she was already there having gotten there early.
I wonder if this has some significance? Was Louisa more eager than Martin for this "talk"? Or was Martin going to leave at just the right time to be at the pub at the exact appointed time because he is so punctual?
"Yes", and yes. This is his way of telling her he's learned something, IMO. Unfortunately, he tends to say it in a businesslike manner, which doesn't satisfy her need for him to apologize and give the conversation more words. I imagine that when he was in med school, and a senior doctor explained something to him, "yes" was sufficient. It isn't necessarily sufficient when an emotional loved one has just told you you've screwed up. These two need a book of translation. Obviously even in S5 they need it. When LG explained to DM in an emotional way that he should consult her about important things like the christening of their son, he said he understood, that "it doesn't seem too difficult." The way he said it set her off even further. To her, it was a big deal, emotional issue. In the meantime, he was telling her he understood and had bookmarked it in his brain for future reference. The way he said it, however, didn't do the trick.
About the timing of Louisa's arrival at the pub, well, she was long through with work and he did have to finish up and close the surgery. We could assume that her early arrival meant she was more anxious or eager than him, but, on the other hand, it's apparent that he shut down the surgery early and sent Pauline home early, which is a big deal. I think this means they were equally anxious and ready to get to the pub and figure things out.
But, yes, Tricia's watch must have been a few minutes fast. It's bad enough that she suffers from an OCD problem related to time. But to also have a watch that isn't quite synchronized with the Doc's?
DM's courage comes and goes fairly consistently with his personality, I agree, which is nice and easy to understand. It's nice to have something easy to understand about DM!
If he is in his surgery, his control center, he does stand up to threatening or odd/annoying patients. I think only Mr. Gibson, taller than him, bigger than him, a karate expert AND the father of the teen who wound up nekkid in his bedroom at night, really terrified him (and rightly so!).
Outside his surgery DM is intimidated if there is no medical scenario playing out--such as with dogs, with John Slater's push, with Victor Flint holding him up against the wall, a shotgun being fired by him aimed at squirrels....
But, have a patient be at risk and DM is all there, his courage is controlled and he enters the situation: going to see "Mrs. Flint", going into the spooky basement to visit the antibiotic making senior sister, climbing a roof, entering the woods, etc.
That's a good explanation. Yes, thanks, I believe you've got it.
I think this is her thinking. In this latest ep series 2 ep 5 she tells DM again that she can't keep apologising for him and he tells her he doesn't want her to.
She thinks, like anyone would, that if someone sees an obvious fault in someone they believe they are close to, they would want it pointed out so they could modify their behaviour. But, DM isn't interested in bring concilatory or changing.
She still can't understand that he doesnt want to change or be "nice". This comes up over and over again until they break up after the opera.
CC has said in interviews in the first several series that LG thought she could change DM. Was it just before S4 that she said she realized she couldn't? There's also the factor that most people, having had a flaw pointed out, tend to go on the defensive and aren't really open to change. This could explain the problems they have in their screwy conversations. She tells him what he's doing wrong in so many conversations and offers advice to correct it. He's offended, goes into defensive mode, and they walk away.
They're drawn to each other, but like magnets switched to the wrong pole, they keep repelling each other. And that's what keeps me mesmerized.
DM's courage comes and goes fairly consistently with his personality, I agree, which is nice and easy to understand. It's nice to have something easy to understand about DM!
If he is in his surgery, his control center, he does stand up to threatening or odd/annoying patients. I think only Mr. Gibson, taller than him, bigger than him, a karate expert AND the father of the teen who wound up nekkid in his bedroom at night, really terrified him (and rightly so!).
Outside his surgery DM is intimidated if there is no medical scenario playing out--such as with dogs, with John Slater's push, with Victor Flint holding him up against the wall, a shotgun being fired by him aimed at squirrels....
But, have a patient be at risk and DM is all there, his courage is controlled and he enters the situation: going to see "Mrs. Flint", going into the spooky basement to visit the antibiotic making senior sister, climbing a roof, entering the woods, etc.
Looking back, this has been surprisingly consistent so you must have got it right! :):) Thank you for the detective work.
CC has said in interviews in the first several series that LG thought she could change DM. Was it just before S4 that she said she realized she couldn't? There's also the factor that most people, having had a flaw pointed out, tend to go on the defensive and aren't really open to change. This could explain the problems they have in their screwy conversations. She tells him what he's doing wrong in so many conversations and offers advice to correct it. He's offended, goes into defensive mode, and they walk away.
They're drawn to each other, but like magnets switched to the wrong pole, they keep repelling each other. And that's what keeps me mesmerized.
So she realised just before the wedding. That must have been the ambulance scene when she jumped in and told DM he didn't need to be a godparent.
You know this last ep shows that the writers do this with a lot of the relationships on the show - miscommunication - maybe I have only noticed in reference to LG and DM before.
I loved the little piece of business when Phil Pratt was laying on the ground, AJ and Al and DM were all there and arguing about who was going to call the ambulance -- which ended with PP saying he'd call the bloody ambulance himself. They must have had a lot of fun choreographing that.
Looking back, this has been surprisingly consistent so you must have got it right! :):) Thank you for the detective work.
Yes, I agree. Mona hit it right on the head. And this dovetails right into my theory about Dr Ellingham - Martin.
When he is in the surgery he is Dr Ellingham. When he is outside the surgery and a patient is involved he is Dr Ellingham. Most other times he is Martin. There have been a few exceptions, but I'm getting better at noticing when he has morphed into or out of one or the other.
As to the type of men threating harm to DM, I agree with mmDerdekea's explanation of Mr. Gibson's stature, superior strength and knowledge of Melanie in doc's bed. As to V. Flint, he had mental problems, posing super-human strength when angered, plus holding a shotgun and up against a stone wall. When confronted with a drunk Phil Platt, he was in a weakened- strength situation and the doc could easily overtake him if need be.
Now as to the vaginal thrush, I never heard of that, isn't that called yeast infection when the natural microorganisms become out of wack so that the yeast proliferates? The case of thrush that I heard of was in a newborn baby's mouth being breast-fed by his mother. I don't know that cause, but maybe either picked up in the hospital environment or something at home.
I apologize to anyone offended reading the aforesaid if I was a little graphic in my description.
So she realised just before the wedding. That must have been the ambulance scene when she jumped in and told DM he didn't need to be a godparent.
You know this last ep shows that the writers do this with a lot of the relationships on the show - miscommunication - maybe I have only noticed in reference to LG and DM before.
I think you're right about that moment, cc.cookie. And just a few minutes later they both decided they wouldn't make each other happy.
I loved the little piece of business when Phil Pratt was laying on the ground, AJ and Al and DM were all there and arguing about who was going to call the ambulance -- which ended with PP saying he'd call the bloody ambulance himself. They must have had a lot of fun choreographing that.
I love that scene! The fact that it ends with Phil Pratt, an unfunny character if ever there was one, chiming in with a hilarious line, nailed it. Perfect. Yes, good point that it was choreographed.
Now as to the vaginal thrush, I never heard of that, isn't that called yeast infection when the natural microorganisms become out of wack so that the yeast proliferates? The case of thrush that I heard of was in a newborn baby's mouth being breast-fed by his mother. I don't know that cause, but maybe either picked up in the hospital environment or something at home.
Now as to the vaginal thrush, I never heard of that, isn't that called yeast infection when the natural microorganisms become out of wack so that the yeast proliferates? The case of thrush that I heard of was in a newborn baby's mouth being breast-fed by his mother. I don't know that cause, but maybe either picked up in the hospital environment or something at home.
I apologize to anyone offended reading the aforesaid if I was a little graphic in my description.
I don't think you have anything to worry about considering that you're in a crowd of folks who like to analyze scenes in which the hero tends to talk about menstrual periods and urine-like odors.
So, the very first scene we see him snarling at a patient, whose house he is leaving. When he goes to the school on "emergencies" -- twice -- he is very rude to Louisa. She is quite brave to confront him and ask him to sit down with her and sort things out, so they can stop having "stupid, bad-tempered rows."
Martin continues to very dismissive of the need for a "bedside manner." Mona can probably speak to the difficulty of being as tough-minded and clinical as a treating professional needs to be, while at the same time conveying empathy and a little human warmth. I think AJ and Louisa are right -- he needs a better balance.
Julie is deceptive, Pauline is deceptive, Phil is deceptive -- only Louisa seems to be fairly straightforward here.
Okay, DM is rude to LG at the school because LG is very inappropriate with his time, and also a bit manipulative, trying to use her "relationship" with DM, completely confusing in this episode, to unfairly upset his schedule.
DM ran to the school in an emergency to pull out a fish bone out of a boy's throat, and has a crowded surgery of patients waiting for him to return. LG is way out of line thinking that Tricia's complaint should be discussed outside his office, right then, with all the scheduled patients waiting for him to return. DM has every right to refuse to see Tricia and to be irritated at LG for her inconsideration of him and all the other patients in the surgery.
It's also terribly unfair for Tricia to tell LG that "DM wouldn't see me" as the reason why her hands are untreated. LG is the victim of hearing folks distorting their interactions with DM, such as Tricia, (and also, eg., Holly her friend who would not show up during her visit with DM and allow him to look at her eye and who reports was rude to her), who comes to DM after hours and obviously at dinner time. He wants to schedule her for the next day, fitting her into his busy schedule but she can't come inside. Yet, she reports to LG that he won't see her! And then, on top of it, she crashes into his home again around 8 pm, and forces him to see her then!
Regarding their meeting, first we see LG sitting shoulder to shoulder with Danny on the bench, and then later see her trying to arrange a talk with DM at the pub. By then, I am confused as DM as to what she is doing--is she with "rubbing her back" Danny, does she want DM? Playing both sides of the field isn't good in general, and is especially hard for our somewhat thick DM to figure out.
We like to believe DM is so rude all the time, but really, the people around him do drive him to it at times! The initial patient who didn't read the instruction packet and required DM to come to her home for no reason; LG being out of line at the school and then later yelling at him for bedside manner (perhaps a foreshadowing of the Gavin Peters report on him in "On the Edge") after Tricia reported DM wouldn't see her; his yelling at Pauline when she would not answer the phone in the surgery. He was rude to Phil Pratt after the death of his wife, but only when Pratt inferred the woman died to DM's mishandling of the situation, always a button with him. When he went to talk to Phil later, after he had slashed AJ's tires (and that was a very good conversation with AJ), he stopped talking and felt empathetic when Pratt stated he knew his wife could have done better than him. That touched something inside DM and he walked away.
Yes, he is cranky, in the episode. But, I really don't feel its uncalled for all the time and that many of the other characters are acting inappropriately regarding him.
On a humorous note--I wondered if AJ carried an open bowl of soup all the way from her house to the Pratt's! If she did, I imagine half of it was left on the ground...or perhaps she brought it in a closed container and poured it into one of the Pratt's bowls when she got to their home. Either way, she left them at Pratt's and we're lucky he didn't chuck them through her window, too! ;-)
I really do not think Phil's lover was deliberately trying to kill AJ, but that he was just road raging and in a rush and trying to pass the slow car in front of him. I believe his innocence that he was not out to run AJ off the road, but nonetheless he is a pretty scary driver. Biff noticed DM and Phil called AJ's truck a "Jeep", which it is not. It's a truck. We wonder what "Jeep" connotes in England.
I agree that DM should simply have called up LG and reported Tricia showed up and he has to see her. Why he didn't do that, or even go over to her home the next day and report that to her, or even went down to the Pub after Tricia's appointment or walked to LG's home to report, one cannot fathom. Obviously, the writers/producers initiated that plot lapse to increase the tension.
Regarding being tough-minded and/or compassionate and clinically sharp, we have to remember that DM's entire medical history was as a surgeon, totally disconnected from his patients. Surgeons are not really that "into" having good patient relationships, oftentimes; they operate, they check the patient in the hospital, and when they are released the surgeon moves on to another patient, while the patient returns to their GP. At the moment DM, a surgeon for 15 years or so, connected with his patient--the mother with her family hanging all over her--he got his blood phobia and couldn't operate any more.
DM did his GP training, and became exceedingly competent but he has no personal or professional capacity to have a good bedside manner. It's certainly not natural to him; actually, I think it was natural to him as a child, that all too brief glimpse we have of the sensitive boy catching rare butterflies and so easily shocked by the continual emotional abuse of his father. But, that was fully stifled. Now, in his life, after all the sensitivity has been covered in his layer of thick emotionally distant armor, DM can barely chat civilly with a shop-keeper. His lack of sensitivity to Phil Pratt began immediately after Pratt questioned his competence. Once he figured out that AJ was Helen's friend, he TRIED to be sympathetic, he did the best he could, but for the audience it was both hilarious (we go on living, well, obviously, not Mrs. Pratt....LOL!), and yes, hopelessly awkward.
GPs do need to balance keeping one's emotions a little distant to be clear-headed clinically at all times, (which is not always easy to do hearing the stories we hear), but one can always be kind and considerate, supportive and sympathetic.
None of us need to be DM! Thank G-d there is only one of him.
In the US most people just call it a yeast infection.
But this may explain what Caroline's original problem was. Apparently it's a matter of semantics and illnesses being called different things in different countries.
Regarding being tough-minded and/or compassionate and clinically sharp, we have to remember that DM's entire medical history was as a surgeon, totally disconnected from his patients. Surgeons are not really that "into" having good patient relationships, oftentimes; they operate, they check the patient in the hospital, and when they are released the surgeon moves on to another patient, while the patient returns to their GP. At the moment DM, a surgeon for 15 years or so, connected with his patient--the mother with her family hanging all over her--he got his blood phobia and couldn't operate any more.
DM did his GP training, and became exceedingly competent but he has no personal or professional capacity to have a good bedside manner. It's certainly not natural to him; actually, I think it was natural to him as a child, that all too brief glimpse we have of the sensitive boy catching rare butterflies and so easily shocked by the continual emotional abuse of his father. But, that was fully stifled. Now, in his life, after all the sensitivity has been covered in his layer of thick emotionally distant armor, DM can barely chat civilly with a shop-keeper. His lack of sensitivity to Phil Pratt began immediately after Pratt questioned his competence. Once he figured out that AJ was Helen's friend, he TRIED to be sympathetic, he did the best he could, but for the audience it was both hilarious (we go on living, well, obviously, not Mrs. Pratt....LOL!), and yes, hopelessly awkward.
GPs do need to balance keeping one's emotions a little distant to be clear-headed clinically at all times, (which is not always easy to do hearing the stories we hear), but one can always be kind and considerate, supportive and sympathetic.
None of us need to be DM! Thank G-d there is only one of him.
That's a good explanation of him.
I found that line hilarious too, "Well, obviously not Mrs. Pratt". Maybe I'm a little warped. I tend to find some of his "worst" lines funny, especially in situations like this, when he's really trying to be helpful and sympathetic. He just can't help himself, can he?
Are there different types of thrush? In Australia if someone has thrush it is usually the vaginal type. In fact i had never heard of oral thrush. (Which, of course, is not saying much cos i am not a doctor!) Could it vary from country to country? Do you think or not?
Oh, okay, good question. In the US, thrush is only oral. Vaginal candiasis, or as Biff said, yeast infection, is the vagina one!
Perhaps in Britain or other countries, thrush is a general term for a candidal overgrowth and not specific to an area. That would make sense for the TV show, of course!
Okay, DM is rude to LG at the school because LG is very inappropriate with his time, and also a bit manipulative, trying to use her "relationship" with DM, completely confusing in this episode, to unfairly upset his schedule.
Yes, that plus the fact that he keeps running into LG and Danny acting all lovey dovey and he's fresh from the scene at the hospital, which hurt him terribly. This is what he does when he's hurt. It emerges as anger. But, yes, you're right, from the standpoint of a busy physician with a waiting room full of patients, definitely inappropriate. It isn't just LG; I think Joan has done this to him too.
It's also terribly unfair for Tricia to tell LG that "DM wouldn't see me" as the reason why her hands are untreated. LG is the victim of hearing folks distorting their interactions with DM, such as Tricia, (and also, eg., Holly her friend who would not show up during her visit with DM and allow him to look at her eye and who reports was rude to her), who comes to DM after hours and obviously at dinner time. He wants to schedule her for the next day, fitting her into his busy schedule but she can't come inside. Yet, she reports to LG that he won't see her! And then, on top of it, she crashes into his home again around 8 pm, and forces him to see her then!
I agree that Tricia reporting to Louisa that DM didn't want to see her was very unfair. He had offered to make her an appointment for the next day. Nothing wrong with that. I can't imagine expecting my doctor to drop everything and see to me right there and then if I just showed up on his doorstep unexpectedly, after hours, out of the blue, with a non-emergency.
I suspect that several of Tricia's statements are due to a misguided sense of self-defense, a need to cover up her real problem. She actually went on to throw Louisa under the bus when she called DM to the school after Tricia fainted. Suddenly she didn't really faint and suddenly she came up with a cause, she skipped lunch. She minimized everything that had happened once DM was on the scene. We understand why, of course, but her actions were unfair to both DM and LG.
There's a lot of that kind of thing going on. Over and over villagers report to Louisa that the Doc was rude or abrupt or refused to help when, in many of these cases, like with Tricia and Isobel, what they said isn't quite what happened. It almost seems that everyone is compelled to report these exaggerations back to Louisa, which makes things worse, and which may contribute to her need to offer unwelcome advice about relationships with patients, villagers, his lack of a bedside manner.
Regarding their meeting, first we see LG sitting shoulder to shoulder with Danny on the bench, and then later see her trying to arrange a talk with DM at the pub. By then, I am confused as DM as to what she is doing--is she with "rubbing her back" Danny, does she want DM? Playing both sides of the field isn't good in general, and is especially hard for our somewhat thick DM to figure out.
Yes, LG's behavior is confusing, and DM has trouble enough even when people act consistently, but I don't believe she can help it at this point. I don't think she knows what she wants (shades of DM coming up in S3). I think she wants to want Danny and wants to stop wanting Martin, but it isn't working out so well.
1. DM and LG interrupted right when they are going to have a good talk.
2. DM and LG interrupted right when they are going to get together.
That sort of thing.
Another theme I recognized watching our latest episode, was the fainting theme.
1. LG faints from anemia and/or skipping lunch.
2. Tricia faints from having to leave the school against her OCD timeline
3. Al faints from his sleeping disease
4. Penhale's brother faints from his paint poisoning
I'm sure there are a few others, but I'm drawing a blank. Can anyone help out?
1. DM and LG interrupted right when they are going to have a good talk.
2. DM and LG interrupted right when they are going to get together.
That sort of thing.
Another theme I recognized watching our latest episode, was the fainting theme.
1. LG faints from anemia and/or skipping lunch.
2. Tricia faints from having to leave the school against her OCD timeline
3. Al faints from his sleeping disease
4. Penhale's brother faints from his paint poisoning
I'm sure there are a few others, but I'm drawing a blank. Can anyone help out?
Martin faints when Edith presents him with a bag of blood.
Joan faints when she's being sued by the Wenns and Penhale shows up and alarms her even more.
Dr. Di Dibbs faints while running from Martin (or collapses, but I think it counts).
Sally Tishell faints when she sees a very pregnant Louisa at the pub.
Tasha faints while performing with the kids at the harbor.
Comments
Are there different types of thrush? In Australia if someone has thrush it is usually the vaginal type. In fact i had never heard of oral thrush. (Which, of course, is not saying much cos i am not a doctor!) Could it vary from country to country? Do you think or not?
I think this is her thinking. In this latest ep series 2 ep 5 she tells DM again that she can't keep apologising for him and he tells her he doesn't want her to.
She thinks, like anyone would, that if someone sees an obvious fault in someone they believe they are close to, they would want it pointed out so they could modify their behaviour. But, DM isn't interested in bring concilatory or changing.
She still can't understand that he doesnt want to change or be "nice". This comes up over and over again until they break up after the opera.
"Yes", and yes. This is his way of telling her he's learned something, IMO. Unfortunately, he tends to say it in a businesslike manner, which doesn't satisfy her need for him to apologize and give the conversation more words. I imagine that when he was in med school, and a senior doctor explained something to him, "yes" was sufficient. It isn't necessarily sufficient when an emotional loved one has just told you you've screwed up. These two need a book of translation. Obviously even in S5 they need it. When LG explained to DM in an emotional way that he should consult her about important things like the christening of their son, he said he understood, that "it doesn't seem too difficult." The way he said it set her off even further. To her, it was a big deal, emotional issue. In the meantime, he was telling her he understood and had bookmarked it in his brain for future reference. The way he said it, however, didn't do the trick.
About the timing of Louisa's arrival at the pub, well, she was long through with work and he did have to finish up and close the surgery. We could assume that her early arrival meant she was more anxious or eager than him, but, on the other hand, it's apparent that he shut down the surgery early and sent Pauline home early, which is a big deal. I think this means they were equally anxious and ready to get to the pub and figure things out.
But, yes, Tricia's watch must have been a few minutes fast. It's bad enough that she suffers from an OCD problem related to time. But to also have a watch that isn't quite synchronized with the Doc's?
That's a good explanation. Yes, thanks, I believe you've got it.
CC has said in interviews in the first several series that LG thought she could change DM. Was it just before S4 that she said she realized she couldn't? There's also the factor that most people, having had a flaw pointed out, tend to go on the defensive and aren't really open to change. This could explain the problems they have in their screwy conversations. She tells him what he's doing wrong in so many conversations and offers advice to correct it. He's offended, goes into defensive mode, and they walk away.
They're drawn to each other, but like magnets switched to the wrong pole, they keep repelling each other. And that's what keeps me mesmerized.
Looking back, this has been surprisingly consistent so you must have got it right!
So she realised just before the wedding. That must have been the ambulance scene when she jumped in and told DM he didn't need to be a godparent.
You know this last ep shows that the writers do this with a lot of the relationships on the show - miscommunication - maybe I have only noticed in reference to LG and DM before.
Yes, I agree. Mona hit it right on the head. And this dovetails right into my theory about Dr Ellingham - Martin.
When he is in the surgery he is Dr Ellingham. When he is outside the surgery and a patient is involved he is Dr Ellingham. Most other times he is Martin. There have been a few exceptions, but I'm getting better at noticing when he has morphed into or out of one or the other.
Good catch cc. That did seem to be a turning point.
Now as to the vaginal thrush, I never heard of that, isn't that called yeast infection when the natural microorganisms become out of wack so that the yeast proliferates? The case of thrush that I heard of was in a newborn baby's mouth being breast-fed by his mother. I don't know that cause, but maybe either picked up in the hospital environment or something at home.
I apologize to anyone offended reading the aforesaid if I was a little graphic in my description.
I think you're right about that moment, cc.cookie. And just a few minutes later they both decided they wouldn't make each other happy.
I love that scene! The fact that it ends with Phil Pratt, an unfunny character if ever there was one, chiming in with a hilarious line, nailed it. Perfect. Yes, good point that it was choreographed.
Thrush is just an oral yeast infection.
I don't think you have anything to worry about considering that you're in a crowd of folks who like to analyze scenes in which the hero tends to talk about menstrual periods and urine-like odors.
Okay, DM is rude to LG at the school because LG is very inappropriate with his time, and also a bit manipulative, trying to use her "relationship" with DM, completely confusing in this episode, to unfairly upset his schedule.
DM ran to the school in an emergency to pull out a fish bone out of a boy's throat, and has a crowded surgery of patients waiting for him to return. LG is way out of line thinking that Tricia's complaint should be discussed outside his office, right then, with all the scheduled patients waiting for him to return. DM has every right to refuse to see Tricia and to be irritated at LG for her inconsideration of him and all the other patients in the surgery.
It's also terribly unfair for Tricia to tell LG that "DM wouldn't see me" as the reason why her hands are untreated. LG is the victim of hearing folks distorting their interactions with DM, such as Tricia, (and also, eg., Holly her friend who would not show up during her visit with DM and allow him to look at her eye and who reports was rude to her), who comes to DM after hours and obviously at dinner time. He wants to schedule her for the next day, fitting her into his busy schedule but she can't come inside. Yet, she reports to LG that he won't see her! And then, on top of it, she crashes into his home again around 8 pm, and forces him to see her then!
Regarding their meeting, first we see LG sitting shoulder to shoulder with Danny on the bench, and then later see her trying to arrange a talk with DM at the pub. By then, I am confused as DM as to what she is doing--is she with "rubbing her back" Danny, does she want DM? Playing both sides of the field isn't good in general, and is especially hard for our somewhat thick DM to figure out.
We like to believe DM is so rude all the time, but really, the people around him do drive him to it at times! The initial patient who didn't read the instruction packet and required DM to come to her home for no reason; LG being out of line at the school and then later yelling at him for bedside manner (perhaps a foreshadowing of the Gavin Peters report on him in "On the Edge") after Tricia reported DM wouldn't see her; his yelling at Pauline when she would not answer the phone in the surgery. He was rude to Phil Pratt after the death of his wife, but only when Pratt inferred the woman died to DM's mishandling of the situation, always a button with him. When he went to talk to Phil later, after he had slashed AJ's tires (and that was a very good conversation with AJ), he stopped talking and felt empathetic when Pratt stated he knew his wife could have done better than him. That touched something inside DM and he walked away.
Yes, he is cranky, in the episode. But, I really don't feel its uncalled for all the time and that many of the other characters are acting inappropriately regarding him.
On a humorous note--I wondered if AJ carried an open bowl of soup all the way from her house to the Pratt's! If she did, I imagine half of it was left on the ground...or perhaps she brought it in a closed container and poured it into one of the Pratt's bowls when she got to their home. Either way, she left them at Pratt's and we're lucky he didn't chuck them through her window, too! ;-)
I really do not think Phil's lover was deliberately trying to kill AJ, but that he was just road raging and in a rush and trying to pass the slow car in front of him. I believe his innocence that he was not out to run AJ off the road, but nonetheless he is a pretty scary driver. Biff noticed DM and Phil called AJ's truck a "Jeep", which it is not. It's a truck. We wonder what "Jeep" connotes in England.
I agree that DM should simply have called up LG and reported Tricia showed up and he has to see her. Why he didn't do that, or even go over to her home the next day and report that to her, or even went down to the Pub after Tricia's appointment or walked to LG's home to report, one cannot fathom. Obviously, the writers/producers initiated that plot lapse to increase the tension.
DM did his GP training, and became exceedingly competent but he has no personal or professional capacity to have a good bedside manner. It's certainly not natural to him; actually, I think it was natural to him as a child, that all too brief glimpse we have of the sensitive boy catching rare butterflies and so easily shocked by the continual emotional abuse of his father. But, that was fully stifled. Now, in his life, after all the sensitivity has been covered in his layer of thick emotionally distant armor, DM can barely chat civilly with a shop-keeper. His lack of sensitivity to Phil Pratt began immediately after Pratt questioned his competence. Once he figured out that AJ was Helen's friend, he TRIED to be sympathetic, he did the best he could, but for the audience it was both hilarious (we go on living, well, obviously, not Mrs. Pratt....LOL!), and yes, hopelessly awkward.
GPs do need to balance keeping one's emotions a little distant to be clear-headed clinically at all times, (which is not always easy to do hearing the stories we hear), but one can always be kind and considerate, supportive and sympathetic.
None of us need to be DM! Thank G-d there is only one of him.
http://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/bhcv2/bhcarticles.nsf/pages/Thrush
In the US most people just call it a yeast infection.
But this may explain what Caroline's original problem was. Apparently it's a matter of semantics and illnesses being called different things in different countries.
That's a good explanation of him.
I found that line hilarious too, "Well, obviously not Mrs. Pratt". Maybe I'm a little warped. I tend to find some of his "worst" lines funny, especially in situations like this, when he's really trying to be helpful and sympathetic. He just can't help himself, can he?
Oh, okay, good question. In the US, thrush is only oral. Vaginal candiasis, or as Biff said, yeast infection, is the vagina one!
Perhaps in Britain or other countries, thrush is a general term for a candidal overgrowth and not specific to an area. That would make sense for the TV show, of course!
Yes, that plus the fact that he keeps running into LG and Danny acting all lovey dovey and he's fresh from the scene at the hospital, which hurt him terribly. This is what he does when he's hurt. It emerges as anger. But, yes, you're right, from the standpoint of a busy physician with a waiting room full of patients, definitely inappropriate. It isn't just LG; I think Joan has done this to him too.
I agree that Tricia reporting to Louisa that DM didn't want to see her was very unfair. He had offered to make her an appointment for the next day. Nothing wrong with that. I can't imagine expecting my doctor to drop everything and see to me right there and then if I just showed up on his doorstep unexpectedly, after hours, out of the blue, with a non-emergency.
I suspect that several of Tricia's statements are due to a misguided sense of self-defense, a need to cover up her real problem. She actually went on to throw Louisa under the bus when she called DM to the school after Tricia fainted. Suddenly she didn't really faint and suddenly she came up with a cause, she skipped lunch. She minimized everything that had happened once DM was on the scene. We understand why, of course, but her actions were unfair to both DM and LG.
There's a lot of that kind of thing going on. Over and over villagers report to Louisa that the Doc was rude or abrupt or refused to help when, in many of these cases, like with Tricia and Isobel, what they said isn't quite what happened. It almost seems that everyone is compelled to report these exaggerations back to Louisa, which makes things worse, and which may contribute to her need to offer unwelcome advice about relationships with patients, villagers, his lack of a bedside manner.
Yes, LG's behavior is confusing, and DM has trouble enough even when people act consistently, but I don't believe she can help it at this point. I don't think she knows what she wants (shades of DM coming up in S3). I think she wants to want Danny and wants to stop wanting Martin, but it isn't working out so well.
1. DM and LG interrupted right when they are going to have a good talk.
2. DM and LG interrupted right when they are going to get together.
That sort of thing.
Another theme I recognized watching our latest episode, was the fainting theme.
1. LG faints from anemia and/or skipping lunch.
2. Tricia faints from having to leave the school against her OCD timeline
3. Al faints from his sleeping disease
4. Penhale's brother faints from his paint poisoning
I'm sure there are a few others, but I'm drawing a blank. Can anyone help out?
Martin faints when Edith presents him with a bag of blood.
Joan faints when she's being sued by the Wenns and Penhale shows up and alarms her even more.
Dr. Di Dibbs faints while running from Martin (or collapses, but I think it counts).
Sally Tishell faints when she sees a very pregnant Louisa at the pub.
Tasha faints while performing with the kids at the harbor.
Morwenna faints when Doc brings out the syringe.
Me adding more.
If we count people passing out due to severe medical problems, we can add...
Danny faints when sanding a floor without a mask.
Caroline faints due to diabetes.