Doc Martin (Part 17 — Spoilers)

1119120122124125246

Comments

  • SemillionSemillion Posts: 612
    Forum Member
    ✭✭
    Shop Girl wrote: »
    I do agree that rudeness is never acceptable. I guess what I was trying to say was that there is often justification for him to be upset with people. Most of us deal with it in a more socially acceptable way, but that's just not DM's MO.

    It's the times when his rudeness is completely unprovoked that I document it. And of course, it's just one person's opinion! :cool:

    I like this show because I like how Doc deals with complete idiots. And he deals very often with complete idiots in this show. He is very like our old family GP - he did not suffer fools among his patients and if he saw them as wasting his time then he told them so.

    I love this show but I have to say that I wonder why so many of the female characters are so bloody annoying i.e Mrs Tishell, PC Penhale's ex-wives and girlfriends, Louisa (by far the most annoying), any receptionist Doc employs, aunty Joan (from time to time), Louisa's mother, all his female patients....
  • NewParkNewPark Posts: 3,537
    Forum Member
    ✭✭✭
    dcdmfan wrote: »
    Last night I watched eps 7 &8 of series 6 and I have a few thoughts.

    Episode 7

    1. Louisa's behavior at the sports day is pretty over the top. They gave us a glimpse of this when she confronted the school governor in ep2. Also, she was pretty crazy with that gun in ep1 which I thought was funny.
    Side note: Before I had seen the whole series last fall I thought they were leading up to a brain problem that occurred maybe even before she hit her head on the glass door. It was so uncharacteristic of her to be so aggressive in the school governor scene. But they didn't go there - her brain problem was from the car accident and they didn't even address that there was any connection to the earlier injury.

    2. So any way, that begs the question of what are we to think about her? And him storming off? I think his mom's comment about the trophy cup just put him into a tailspin. It dredged up all that pain. Boy it seemed fresh in his mind what she was talking about. The pain was still fresh even though it happened a long time ago. Louisa is hurt because of his withdrawal and refusal to address his problems?

    3. Boy these two human beings are in such emotional pain and turmoil.

    4. But did the writers (and etc.) give us enough exposition to see them both have public breakdowns?

    Also, let's not forget that is mother refuses to call his wife by her correct name. That is supremely disrespectful. I have an unusual name and sometimes people get it wrong the first few times they say it. But if my mother in law had never said it correctly I would be deeply hurt and insulted, as would my husband. Then it would turn to anger. The name thing was pretty brilliant by BP.

    Episode 7 of series 5 was a doozy and I spent many hours trying to figure out that one as well.

    You're braver than I, dcdmfan. I haven't rewatched this episode -- found it very painful watching the first time.

    Your comment about the brain injury for Louisa and whether they were leading up to it in any way is interesting. Did she not complain to one of the children or another teacher that she didn't feel well, or had a headache or something -- before Martin arrived and they had the big blow-up?

    Her behavior was over the top, but explained in large measure I think by several circumstances. First, perhaps she was already not feeling quite right.

    Second, she was not to know that Martin's mother had dredged up hurtful memories just before he left -- if you think about his whole "speech" there, he was responding to that comment. You don't have to excel at sports to be recognized, athletics isn't all there is, etc. But to Louisa it probably seemed like he was inexplicably but deliberately humiliating her in front of her colleagues and students -- many of whom probably wondered why she married him in the first place.

    Third, I think she'd been growing increasingly frustrated and unhappy with him, but by E7, at least, trying her best to get through to him, and he rejected her efforts.

    Fourth -- his behavior at Sports Day was (at least in my view) really outrageous. I certainly would have been furious with him. Whether, in my 30's, I would have had enough self-control to contain that rage until we were in private, I don't know. I think she had a "see red" moment, just lost it.
  • SusieSagitariusSusieSagitarius Posts: 1,250
    Forum Member
    ✭✭✭
    So the discussion of Louisa's head problem in S6 has led to this question in my mind: Was her diagnosed condition a result of her hitting the patio door, OR the car accident OR something to do with her hospital stay and having to be put on warfarin OR is it perhaps a congenital problem that just was spotted because she had the brain scan due to her accident?

    Would the doctors in the house care to help out with the real medical aspect of this?
  • SusieSagitariusSusieSagitarius Posts: 1,250
    Forum Member
    ✭✭✭
    Shop Girl wrote: »
    I do agree that rudeness is never acceptable. I guess what I was trying to say was that there is often justification for him to be upset with people. Most of us deal with it in a more socially acceptable way, but that's just not DM's MO.

    It's the times when his rudeness is completely unprovoked that I document it. And of course, it's just one person's opinion! :cool:

    Thanks for this clarification of your decision making regarding the rudeness.

    I'm still intrigued and may have to do a rewatch again just for the purpose of looking at the justified anger question I originally asked. Some great examples have been given here, but I still wonder if there are more.
  • MofromcoMofromco Posts: 1,339
    Forum Member
    ✭✭✭
    So the discussion of Louisa's head problem in S6 has led to this question in my mind: Was her diagnosed condition a result of her hitting the patio door, OR the car accident OR something to do with her hospital stay and having to be put on warfarin OR is it perhaps a congenital problem that just was spotted because she had the brain scan due to her accident?

    Would the doctors in the house care to help out with the real medical aspect of this?

    It was congenital, had nothing to do with her accident or the window. Must have been the first CT scan she'd ever had......but the fact that they didn't read it after the contrast was injected.........Sloppy...not good.
  • SusieSagitariusSusieSagitarius Posts: 1,250
    Forum Member
    ✭✭✭
    Mofromco wrote: »
    It was congenital, had nothing to do with her accident or the window. Must have been the first CT scan she'd ever had......but the fact that they didn't read it after the contrast was injected.........Sloppy...not good.

    Cool beans!!!! Thanks for the info. I've been wondering about it and just never thought to ask the question. :)
  • dcdmfandcdmfan Posts: 1,540
    Forum Member
    ✭✭✭
    Mofromco wrote: »
    It was congenital, had nothing to do with her accident or the window. Must have been the first CT scan she'd ever had......but the fact that they didn't read it after the contrast was injected.........Sloppy...not good.

    So was it dangerous for her to fly because of the medicine she was on? Or was it something that could have killed her out of the blue if they had never found it? If she wasn't on the medicine would it have been safe for her to fly?

    Would this problem cause changes in her behavior?

    I may be trying to connect plot points that aren't meant to be linked.
  • MofromcoMofromco Posts: 1,339
    Forum Member
    ✭✭✭
    dcdmfan wrote: »
    So was it dangerous for her to fly because of the medicine she was on? Or was it something that could have killed her out of the blue if they had never found it? If she wasn't on the medicine would it have been safe for her to fly?

    Would this problem cause changes in her behavior?

    I may be trying to connect plot points that aren't meant to be linked.

    She could have gotten on the plane and blown the AV malformation and been dead or disabled. There was evidence that she was possibly leaking already......her headache certainly would seem to point to it. The warfarin she's taking will keep her blood from clotting so with it she won't be able stop the early bleeding and will have have a huge intracranial bleed. I'd say, truly, by hind site.........flying was not a good idea, but she didn't know that.

    Re. Behavior.......I'd say she would be crabby and irritable like if any of us had a headache for 3 days. She didn't quite get to the nonfunctional stage... The behavior would only be affected by the level of pain.
  • Shop GirlShop Girl Posts: 1,284
    Forum Member
    ✭✭✭
    NewPark wrote: »
    You're braver than I, dcdmfan. I haven't rewatched this episode -- found it very painful watching the first time.

    Your comment about the brain injury for Louisa and whether they were leading up to it in any way is interesting. Did she not complain to one of the children or another teacher that she didn't feel well, or had a headache or something -- before Martin arrived and they had the big blow-up?

    Her behavior was over the top, but explained in large measure I think by several circumstances. First, perhaps she was already not feeling quite right.

    Second, she was not to know that Martin's mother had dredged up hurtful memories just before he left -- if you think about his whole "speech" there, he was responding to that comment. You don't have to excel at sports to be recognized, athletics isn't all there is, etc. But to Louisa it probably seemed like he was inexplicably but deliberately humiliating her in front of her colleagues and students -- many of whom probably wondered why she married him in the first place.

    Third, I think she'd been growing increasingly frustrated and unhappy with him, but by E7, at least, trying her best to get through to him, and he rejected her efforts.

    Fourth -- his behavior at Sports Day was (at least in my view) really outrageous. I certainly would have been furious with him. Whether, in my 30's, I would have had enough self-control to contain that rage until we were in private, I don't know. I think she had a "see red" moment, just lost it.

    I agree with all of this New Park. And to add to your third point, don't forget that it was that morning (just a few hours before) that she took breakfast into him and he wouldn't eat any of it, refused her offer to go away for the weekend, and couldn't even carry on a conversation with her. She looked so despondent as she carried that tray out of his office that it seemed like she was ready to throw in the towel. And yes, as she was walking out of the school, the bottom of the box broke and she sat down and put her head in her hands. Not sure if it was emotional turmoil or if something was already going on in her head.
  • NewParkNewPark Posts: 3,537
    Forum Member
    ✭✭✭
    Mofromco wrote: »
    She could have gotten on the plane and blown the AV malformation and been dead or disabled. There was evidence that she was possibly leaking already......her headache certainly would seem to point to it. The warfarin she's taking will keep her blood from clotting so with it she won't be able stop the early bleeding and will have have a huge intracranial bleed. I'd say, truly, by hind site.........flying was not a good idea, but she didn't know that.

    Re. Behavior.......I'd say she would be crabby and irritable like if any of us had a headache for 3 days. She didn't quite get to the nonfunctional stage... The behavior would only be affected by the level of pain.

    Is it possible that this malformation was starting to leak even before the sports day blow-up? If so, what would cause this to happen? just random?
  • MofromcoMofromco Posts: 1,339
    Forum Member
    ✭✭✭
    NewPark wrote: »
    Is it possible that this malformation was starting to leak even before the sports day blow-up? If so, what would cause this to happen? just random?

    Oh yes, I think that's what was happening. Probably random.....unless perhaps stress and discussion had sent her systolic blood pressure to new highs...just because the release of norepinephrine not just because she was stressed. Primarily, it was just the time the blood vessel wall decided to tear. Just because.
  • dcdmfandcdmfan Posts: 1,540
    Forum Member
    ✭✭✭
    On the topic of episode 7. It is kind of ridiculous that Louisa decides to go to Spain. It's really not a good idea. Does she really think it is going to be different this time with her mother? After a few days her mother is going to get tired of having Louisa or the baby in her house. Louisa is doing the same thing and expecting different results. Louisa won't ask her to babysit or anything, but I think it would cramp Eleanor's style having them in her house.

    On possible future scenarios. Louisa is not the best at picking nannies. In fact, she is downright rotten at it. If she decides to move out of the surgery, is she going to start dumping the baby on Martin when her lame nannies don't show up? Does she think that Martin is going to be okay with that if he doesn't have input about whom to hire for the job?

    I know she is not happy and I know she has done all she can to help Martin get some help. I realize she is at the end of her rope. They did give me more of her in S6 than in S5 and I applaud BP for their efforts. That said, they still didn't provide enough exposition to explain her motivations for me.

    Why do they make her a bad decision maker? We had two times where she was successful. The back to school night went on without incident, and the sports day seemed well organized in terms of the competitions. But it was a bad decision to start unplugging the power sander on the rooftop with the school governor and to not prepare Martin for giving out he awards.

    (Side note - He had forgotten about his sports day commitment. Do you think it is implied that he also forgot that he was supposed to make a speech?)
  • BloodphobiaBloodphobia Posts: 448
    Forum Member
    Supposedly in the last year, Louisa has had a baby as an unmarried mother with the expectation that the father would leave her in Portwenn, had the baby kidnapped, gone back to work with a young child and had to manage work and home life, had her mother leave her again, gotten married, had her nasty MIL show up, hit her head on a plate glass door, been struck by a car and found that her longed for husband is cold, depressed and non-communicative.

    She has no friends other than Caroline who probably told her she was a fool for marrying Martin and Holly who could not accommodate a baby and Louisa in London. I don't think it was so much that she wanted to see her mother but that she had no place else to go. It also shows her level of desperation to visit her mother who even Martin said she doesn't like. Eleanor seemed as it she did know how to run a restaurant so she may have been busy in the upcoming tourist season leaving Louisa to herself. Remember Louisa would not be working so she would not need childcare help from her mother

    I am surprised that Louisa doesn't find a more organized daycare provider but wonder if it is Martin who insists on an in home nanny as he had. With his concern about germs, he may not want James exposed to other children in a daycare setting


    My take on the sports day is that Martin agreed to it to please Louisa and tried to weasel out of it at the last minute. Her reaction implied to me that he had done it before. Whether Louisa told Martin he would make a speech is uncertain. She may have thought that giving awards implies a speech. Martin is inexperienced in school situations and may not have understood a small talk was part of presenting awards. He was also chaffing from his mother's comment about his non-athletic award and was not interested in waxing eloquent about sports. After his eulogy for Joan Norton, I am happy he did not give a speech. To paraphrase Roger Fenn, he is not a natural
  • NewParkNewPark Posts: 3,537
    Forum Member
    ✭✭✭
    With the nanny that we first saw in S6, it seemed like they were scraping the bottom of the barrel. I think they were using an agency, as Morwenna said something like, they have no more available right now -- after that nanny stalked off in a somewhat justified huff. I got the distinct impression that they had trouble keeping nannies b/c Martin was not an easy man to work for and it was him they would be interacting with most of the time.

    My guess is that Martin was probably told about Sports Day, maybe even understood he was to say a few words, and absently-mindedly agreed to it, and then forgot all about it, which he might have done anyway but even more because he was so self-involved with his psychosomatic complaints, and the return of his phobia. She did try to let him out of it a couple of times -- maybe he felt a little guilty b/c he had turned her down for the weekend, or something, and he agreed to it, though he clearly didn't want to.

    Perhaps Spain meant more to her than just seeing her mother. It's a common vacation place for English people, and she talked in pre-op about beaches and warmth -- it may have seemed a place to just get away to a vacation spot, sit in the sun and try to pull herself together.

    She has had a stressful 18 months, hasn't she! I felt, when I first saw E7 and E8, that she should have recognized how distressed her husband was and stuck around to try to help him deal with that, but I've changed my mind. He had refused offers of help, shut her out, and probably she didn't much like what was happening to her own self when she was interacting with him -- the over-the-top behavior at Sports Day being the last straw.
  • SusieSagitariusSusieSagitarius Posts: 1,250
    Forum Member
    ✭✭✭
    dcdmfan wrote: »
    On the topic of episode 7. It is kind of ridiculous that Louisa decides to go to Spain. It's really not a good idea. Does she really think it is going to be different this time with her mother? After a few days her mother is going to get tired of having Louisa or the baby in her house. Louisa is doing the same thing and expecting different results. Louisa won't ask her to babysit or anything, but I think it would cramp Eleanor's style having them in her house.

    On possible future scenarios. Louisa is not the best at picking nannies. In fact, she is downright rotten at it. If she decides to move out of the surgery, is she going to start dumping the baby on Martin when her lame nannies don't show up? Does she think that Martin is going to be okay with that if he doesn't have input about whom to hire for the job?

    I know she is not happy and I know she has done all she can to help Martin get some help. I realize she is at the end of her rope. They did give me more of her in S6 than in S5 and I applaud BP for their efforts. That said, they still didn't provide enough exposition to explain her motivations for me.

    Why do they make her a bad decision maker? We had two times where she was successful. The back to school night went on without incident, and the sports day seemed well organized in terms of the competitions. But it was a bad decision to start unplugging the power sander on the rooftop with the school governor and to not prepare Martin for giving out he awards.

    (Side note - He had forgotten about his sports day commitment. Do you think it is implied that he also forgot that he was supposed to make a speech?)

    LG did relent some at times in dealing with her anger at her mum in S5. The last time we see Eleanor is when LG arrives on her doorstep in S5 with JH and Eleanor takes her in, realizing there is trouble. So there is at least, it seems, a partial truce between them. Even though DM in S6 says "You don't even like your mother. " Remember in S5, LG asked her mother not to tell Martin about her sip of wine. And so she may also not have fully disclosed her partial truce to DM, leaving him under that impression into S6. But I also see Louisa the teacher ready to take some hols, for her own good, as well as it being exacerbated by DM's behavior.

    As to nannies, I think that ship has sailed. It was a definite storyline in S6 and doubt to see it replayed in S7 as that would be a huge repeat. I think that issue will get or be settled without much story given over to it.

    LG has pretty much always been portrayed as a very competent professional in her field, who advances in it as well, to head teacher. The insecure little girl doesn't seem to exist in this thing she is good at. (Sounds like Martin, right?) And that profession is core to her sense of well-being and from which she derives challenge and satisfaction. She is good at doing "school" which is a place that virtually demands good planning, organization, and follow-through because she is dealing with children. On the other hand, her interactions with adults has shown many sides to LG, who has many reactions to them and what they've said or done. And we certainly, know the LG who has flown off the handle many times in the past, including at her beloved Martin. And be a bit inept in adult situations as well, jumping to conclusions, and such.

    And I think (and I seem to be alone in giving credence to this part of the script), that her biggest mistake was not listening to Martin (gee, what's new) when he told her on arriving at Sports Day, that he couldn't reschedule all his patients, and repeatedly said, "I don't have time." He tried to communicate that more times than almost anything else he's ever said to her. As a teacher, I would have expected her to honor that when her guest shows up and adjusted the expectations. (In the education world, it is called "monitor and adjust" with students.) She does not apply that to her guest though because he's her husband, I guess. The whole thing was a classic collision of two careers problem.

    And I can't help but think she is still more focused on being a career woman than her home life. But then, would we say the same about Martin? By default of living and working in the surgery, Martin seems to take the brunt of being available to handle any and all problems. But then again, I guess we must remember the show is called "Doc Martin".

    I was puzzled at first viewing about his forgetting Sports Day, but on second viewing took it very much as a symptom of his deepening psychological problem or depression, as memory issues often occur as part of depression.
  • NewParkNewPark Posts: 3,537
    Forum Member
    ✭✭✭

    As to nannies, I think that ship has sailed. It was a definite storyline in S6 and doubt to see it replayed in S7 as that would be a huge repeat. I think that issue will get or be settled without much story given over to it.


    And I think (and I seem to be alone in giving credence to this part of the script), that her biggest mistake was not listening to Martin (gee, what's new) when he told her on arriving at Sports Day, that he couldn't reschedule all his patients, and repeatedly said, "I don't have time." He tried to communicate that more times than almost anything else he's ever said to her. As a teacher, I would have expected her to honor that when her guest shows up and adjusted the expectations. (In the education world, it is called "monitor and adjust" with students.) She does not apply that to her guest though because he's her husband, I guess. The whole thing was a classic collision of two careers problem.

    And I can't help but think she is still more focused on being a career woman than her home life. n.

    I think you're right about the nanny issue -- they will have it sorted. I've been playing with the idea, also, that Martin closes the surgery for a few days or gets a locum, in order to devote himself to taking care of Louisa, or in aid of getting himself some help and demonstrating to Louisa that he is serious about wanting to remedy things. But them, we wouldn't have the medical mystery of the week, and I guess that would go against the show's premise. But maybe for an episode or two.

    Yes, I think you are the first to have the insight, but quite correct. Even if Louisa had recognized and acknowledged that he really, truly, was feeling very pressured for time and not just trying to get out of something he didn't want to do, the dire outcome that followed could have been avoided.

    Here is where I think it's helpful to look at a situation not so much as to assign blame (although I don't think you're blaming Louisa here) but to try to understand the dynamics of it, which are always multi-person. In this case, Louisa is not feeling well, is stressed, and more than a bit disappointed and unhappy with Martin, who has already tried to get out of the exercise. So she is in no mood to cut him any slack. It's unfortunate, but it follows logically from what has gone on before.

    I think you're right also that Louisa had shifted her focus from being a romantic partner, to her career as head teacher, and being a mother. They'd had those three premarital "honeymoon" months, presumably, and now school had re-started and we are definitely told that the two week honeymoon after their marriage is over. So the shift of focus is in some sense natural. All those roles hard to juggle at the best of times-- when they all come together, with a partner as difficult and non-communicative as Martin, it's a recipe for disaster. But I do think that because her focus was elsewhere, she was not sensitive enough to what was happening to Martin and did not make enough of an effort to zero in on what he was actually feeling. Also, neither was sleeping well. That in itself limits the energy one has to juggle these multiple aspects of her life.
  • mmDerdekeammDerdekea Posts: 1,719
    Forum Member
    ✭✭✭
    dcdmfan wrote: »
    Last night I watched eps 7 &8 of series 6 and I have a few thoughts.

    Episode 7

    1. Louisa's behavior at the sports day is pretty over the top. They gave us a glimpse of this when she confronted the school governor in ep2. Also, she was pretty crazy with that gun in ep1 which I thought was funny.
    Side note: Before I had seen the whole series last fall I thought they were leading up to a brain problem that occurred maybe even before she hit her head on the glass door. It was so uncharacteristic of her to be so aggressive in the school governor scene. But they didn't go there - her brain problem was from the car accident and they didn't even address that there was any connection to the earlier injury.

    2. So any way, that begs the question of what are we to think about her? And him storming off? I think his mom's comment about the trophy cup just put him into a tailspin. It dredged up all that pain. Boy it seemed fresh in his mind what she was talking about. The pain was still fresh even though it happened a long time ago. Louisa is hurt because of his withdrawal and refusal to address his problems?

    3. Boy these two human beings are in such emotional pain and turmoil.

    4. But did the writers (and etc.) give us enough exposition to see them both have public breakdowns?

    Also, let's not forget that is mother refuses to call his wife by her correct name. That is supremely disrespectful. I have an unusual name and sometimes people get it wrong the first few times they say it. But if my mother in law had never said it correctly I would be deeply hurt and insulted, as would my husband. Then it would turn to anger. The name thing was pretty brilliant by BP.

    Episode 7 of series 5 was a doozy and I spent many hours trying to figure out that one as well.

    This isn't what you were probably looking for, but I think S6E7 came out as it did as it was very poorly written; a failed episode to me. They tried to create this huge moment that E8 would be directed at, but it was wrong all the way around. It did not draw me in, but instead pushed me away from the show.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 54
    Forum Member
    This is an interesting perspective. I didn't react to the episode that way at all and would be interested in hearing more specifically how it failed for you.
  • lemsterlemster Posts: 196
    Forum Member
    mmDerdekea wrote: »
    This isn't what you were probably looking for, but I think S6E7 came out as it did as it was very poorly written; a failed episode to me. They tried to create this huge moment that E8 would be directed at, but it was wrong all the way around. It did not draw me in, but instead pushed me away from the show.

    I agree with you mmD - why they had to show DM marching across the kids race, knocking them down without seeming to care, plus his passing out of the medals was just too much for me to understand, except he is one sick puppy. Using children as foils for adult issues seem a pretty low road.
  • Shop GirlShop Girl Posts: 1,284
    Forum Member
    ✭✭✭
    NewPark wrote: »
    My guess is that Martin was probably told about Sports Day, maybe even understood he was to say a few words, and absently-mindedly agreed to it, and then forgot all about it, which he might have done anyway but even more because he was so self-involved with his psychosomatic complaints, and the return of his phobia. She did try to let him out of it a couple of times -- maybe he felt a little guilty b/c he had turned her down for the weekend, or something, and he agreed to it, though he clearly didn't want to.

    I agree with this, but I'd like to add to the reasons why I think he insisted he would do it.

    I think he is a man who believes very strongly in honoring commitments, so when Louisa told him that he had agreed to do it, he felt the obligation to honor that commitment. In addition, I think he was slightly embarrassed at his memory lapse (not to mention that he was sloppy enough not to put the appointment into his diary) and that also contributed to his insistence that he would be there.
  • mmDerdekeammDerdekea Posts: 1,719
    Forum Member
    ✭✭✭
    Hester_52 wrote: »
    This is an interesting perspective. I didn't react to the episode that way at all and would be interested in hearing more specifically how it failed for you.

    Hello, Hester:

    1. Well, I'm one of those fans who disliked the entire series but for E1.
    2. In E7, we have it all out of control--DM, whom we know is a brilliant ex-surgeon now brilliant physician, who can diagnose the most rare and unusual conditions with just a few key symptoms/signs, is STILL, in E7, checking his pulse while walking through the kiddie course, knocking kids down, and not noticing that. Really? By E7, after he had checked his pulse 100x and done an EKG, the "it's my heart" idea was old and ridiculous.
    3. The whole school award scene was terrible, just an annoying screechfest. This was 1000x worse for me to watch than the "you have bad breath" taxi kiss, which wound up being humorous and kind of endearing in its cringe-worthiness. But, in this scene, I just wanted it over and there was no redeeming value to it.
    4. The car crash should have either killed LG, or broken bones, or something. It was not credible as filmed with physical consequences; she being plastered against a car wind shield usually does more to a person than slightly injure one's shoulder. I felt it was gratuitous and unnecessary.
    5. I can't remember where DM weighed himself after his mother told him how much weight he had lost, but that was also the height of stupidity. Was it in E6, 7 or 8? I mean, clothes are clothes--lose ten pounds and they are falling off you. That this brilliant diagnostician could not have realized he had lost 30-40 pounds was impossible to believe. Plus, you'd think LG would have said "Honey, wow, you're looking a little lean there."
    6. The DM who doesn't need to eat or sleep like any other human on Earth. If we are to believe DM wasn't sleeping and DM wasn't eating, how did he have fantastic energy all throughout the day, never have to nap, never yawn, not live on caffeine, etc? We just see a perfectly fine functioning DM all day long, who apparently is not eating or sleeping. So unrealistically portrayed.
    6. Last, I find S6 very repetitive to S5 and S4, especially the endings. They are living together and not getting along (S5/S6). LG is mad at DM and is going to leave him to go back to her mother (S5/S6). LG is pregnant and in a toxic car/has an aneurysm (S4/S6). She is in a cab and DM tries to call her to warn her, but she has a bad connection/she hangs up on him (S4/S6). DM is frantic and dashes after her (S4/S6). DM has a big revelation about how much he loves her and wants her (S4/S5/S6) and how he will be a better man for her (S5/S6).

    I just pray with all my heart that S7 will be original, fresh, creative, innovative, full of sparkle and humor. Otherwise, I'll hammer a nail in its chest and call the show dead. :)
  • mmDerdekeammDerdekea Posts: 1,719
    Forum Member
    ✭✭✭
    lemster wrote: »
    I agree with you mmD - why they had to show DM marching across the kids race, knocking them down without seeming to care, plus his passing out of the medals was just too much for me to understand, except he is one sick puppy. Using children as foils for adult issues seem a pretty low road.

    Exactly, Lemster. It wasn't humorous, at all, just badly done, like much of that episode and series.
  • carol_averycarol_avery Posts: 232
    Forum Member
    I found DM's knocking over kids on the playground - and being oblivious to it - hysterically funny and spot on his character, consistent to the arc his personality has taken over the entire series. The man concentrates like a laser - and he was concentrating on his pulse and how bad he felt, not where he was walking. Kids be damned! Made me laugh out loud.

    But the awful grotesque and graphic shot of L hitting the windshield... oi vay. Total whiplash of emotions and out of context, for me. Not consistent w/ Portwenn, IMHO. Was it "jumping the shark"? Only S7 will tell. But it seemed that way upon my first viewing of it. and the many changing writers seem to hint that they really really struggled to get the story arc of S6 down.

    NewPark and DCdMfan - I think we were separated at birth! My take on Luisa's inner life and motivations was pretty much identical to you's two.... So many seem to think she should be DM's "fixer". Somehow I don't see her ?any wife's role that way.... Especially not after having given birth, struggled to sleep (her DM gave her ONE LIE IN DAY!!!), eat/brush hair/get out/and return to work w/out reliable child care and a husbie who is leaving it all up to her (like so many of them, no?) AND who is checking out emotionally from the marriage. Phew! She deserved a trip to Spain and her mommy. No matter how strained her relationship was w/ Eleanor, she is her mommy. L always hopes for a meaningful relationship. Whether with Eleanor, with DM, or with anyone....

    Such complexities they've gotten themselves into for S7!!!
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 2
    Forum Member
    Vetinari wrote: »
    Don't forget that she would still have been under the influence of quite a lot of medication.

    Plus, she already knows he's (usually) a good doctor.

    But I think you're right in essence; they wanted a cross series 'cliffhanger' but couldn't be bothered to think up decent one.

    Anyway, we all know the LG will be in the next series (assuming there is one) and if she is she can hardly be in Spain so we'll have just the same amount of LG/ME interaction, whatever happens.

    But, let's face it, Martin isn't going to change, because if he did the programme would lose its raison d'etre.


    I am happy to be reading, and now posting on, this blog. I am sooo glad to have found it! I have been fascinated with the people of Portwenn, with the place, and now with the thoughts and comments of fans and viewers.

    Aside from its comedic features, which are spot-on funny and striking, this show's secret seems to be that it is so reflective of real life and real people that we become wrapped up in it and indeed feel a part of it.

    We would like it to go on forever. But we know deep down that it must eventually go the way of all living things. It has had a long run, the ages of the actors are clearly showing, leaping ahead of the time passing in the story, and the nature of life itself makes a status quo in any area unlikely. We have come to know and love the protagonists so well that replacement with younger actors, or with series' storylines which jump from future era to era would result in a completely different time and place.

    So, one more series (if there is to be one) would allow Doc to make significant changes and would give many of its fans the ending they hope for. Of course, it would be unrealistic for Doc to undergo a complete metamorphesis---probably even very untrue to real life if Doc makes any change at all. But Doc could make a good deal of progress and still be our Doc, as one of you described in an earlier post.

    So---do we want a realistic or fairy tale ending? I live in the real world and see enough real endings. Because I care so much for them, I would like the denizens of Portwenn to have a fairy tale ending. No doubt, however it ends, the entire series will be available and honored in archives and libraries, to be viewed by old and new fans long into the future. A fairy tale ending would wrap up loose ends of the plot, and just make us feel good about how things turned out for our friends in Portwenn. Just as fairy tale books are read over and over by subsequent generations, I think this series will be viewed for many, many years to come as the classic it is.

    A question: In Series 5, Episode 2, Aunt Ruth says to Doc Martin, "I never thought you'd do serious medicine again---makes me very proud." Which is she referring to as serious---general practice or vascular surgery?
  • BloodphobiaBloodphobia Posts: 448
    Forum Member
    We have had fairy tale endings in the birth and castle scenes. We have had fairy tale beginnings in Louisa reading the fairy tale scene, the earthquake scene and in the wedding scene. Maybe realism will work out better.
This discussion has been closed.