I simply saw his astonishment as a sign that this thought had never occured to him, that Louisa could be a kept woman.

I find another scene in S5 far more telling regarding their ability to talk about serious topics - the brochure of the boarding school.
I give the Doc credit that he explicitly asked for Louisa's opinion, giving her the brochure for information and then tells her he wants to have her opinion.
Louisa immediately hits the roof and yells at him that the whole idea is outrageous.
Admittedly, I think it is pretty outrageous to think about boarding schools for a newborn, but maybe Louisa could have studied the brochure, they could have sat down and talked about it in quiet.
Maybe Louisa could have explained her view to him.

I would suppose a surgeon could use a blade without causing too much damage.
Besides, if he would cut himself, he could use the sink immediately.

Like so many other incidents, if the subject had come up at a different time -- wasn't it when she was trying to get out the door for school? -- maybe the outcome would have been, if not different, at least less rancorous on Louisa's part. But she certainly might have taken a deep breath and suggested they discuss this at some other time, instead of blowing up.

But maybe it's about both of them getting the drive to change themselves to make a better partner for the other one?

I definetly see no indication that the Doc's dislike of sociaising is in any way connected to the lack of the right social circles in Portwenn.
We know from Chris Parsons that he couldn't stand the sight of Martin himself at the start, and that Martin would rub people the wrong way wherever he goes.
We know from Edith that she find it natural that she just have to follow the line of infuriated patients to find Martin.
We see Martin's reaction at the concert when his London colleague Johnny Bamford (?) is mentioned.
We see Martin completely uninterested in a conversation with the Oakwood, although he tells him he's a tutor at university.

So I don't think the Doc is snobbist, but rather solitary.

What I found significant was the title.
We have basically the same title as in the non-wedding edpisode S3E8 "Happily Ever After". But they are not getting married, and they are not happy.
Then we have S5E8, "Ever After". Maybe they have realised by now that they won't be living Happily Ever After, and with that huge expectation out of the way, which will never be met by any couple always - at least none that I know of, they can start living together "ever after".

Sorry, I wrote my response before reading yours.

I might add that I had another scene in mind when he anticipates the wedding vow.
In S3 when DM and LG are sitting at Bert's discussing their wedding, Louisa asks something and Martin answers "I do." and then he has some confused look on his face.

Thank you all for your birthday wishes.
My son actually made that charm bracelet - he went to Michaels, which is a chain of craft stores around here, bought the chain bracelet and British charms; he found a picture of DM and shrunk it down to a charm size. This was his way of telling me that my daughter, son and daughter-in-law are planning on taking me on a trip to England next Spring, which will include a side trip to Port Isaac!!!

I'm watching "The Lady Vanishes," and it has Selina Cadell in it along with Stephanie Cole!

[/quote]
Marchrand: That is such a wonderful, exciting and loving present. Such very thoughtful children. You are so very lucky.
I am so impressed and very happy for you. Wear that bracelet in good health and enjoyment. All the best.

When I originally posted this weeks ago I think I was waxing poetic on the beauty of MC's real skin. I will just entertain you with a little story. In Tucson we are housebound more or less from May to September. One must find indoor activities to keep one busy when it's 107 degrees outside. So today I invited my hub to watch "Dirty Tricks" with me as he was bored and had never seen it. After the first half hour or so he turned to me and said,"How many times have you watched this?" Fair enough...good question. I didn't give a direct answer. We watched a little more and he said,"Does
martin Clunes always have someone who shaves his whole body? No one really has a neck and chest that are as smooth and shiny as that." I told him no and that MC was just a guy who has very little hair. I told him maybe a sprig comes out around his nipple and that he could grow whiskers and underarm hair but otherwise he was just a smooth guy. "Absolutely there is no way he doesn't have himself shaved ." I told him that MC would never be so vain as to have himself shaved .

I know this is a weird story but it seemed really weird in view of my electric razor question. The moral is: Martin Clunes is an unhairy man with beautiful skin even if the hub doesn't believe it.

How many times have I watched it? Please....,

Hello, BodminDM.

Yes, I continued with that exact vein of thought in that same post, I believe. They both need to change, to grow, and mature themselves in regards to being a couple, and to work towards being happy themselves and striving to also consider how to enhance the happiness of their partner. Absolutely.

Hey, Mofromco! Some of us Arizonans are of the hardy type. I just hiked 11.7 miles in 4.5 hours in 100F heat. Ran across a rattling rattlesnake, and a tarantula on the trail and by mistake sat on a small cactus (which is why I always carry tweezers in my backpack....) Oh, if only DM had been there to help me, like Pauline's foot, pull out the thorns!

For a heat-tolerant sunlover summer up in Phoenix is my favorite season.

Back on topic....LOL at your funny last line...."please"...!

I bet there'd be a couple of volunteers on this forum

I have just discovered that my dh has been watching Strike Back for ages. He loves it! His words are "it's a great, action packed show!" He doesn't remember seeing MC in it though.

Not sure if this means I am obliged to divorce him or if it bodes well for him liking MC in future when he gets to see his episode.

Sounds a bit dangerous to me, Mona. I'm really a displaced Colorado mountain girl so hiking in the 100's doesn't appeal. Don't want the Search and Rescue to come out.

Now back to our favorite grey boxer brief hunk of a Doc.

Hope you don't mind me popping into this thread - I just wanted to say that the Doc Martin press pack is now available to read on the ITV website.

http://www.itv.com/presscentre/press-packs/doc-martin

I'm looking forward to its return!

No more Mrs Tishell oh that sucks

Naturally I jumped right for this, dreading what I might find -- but there is no detailed episode by episode summary -- only most of the recurring characters talking a bit about what happens to their characters in the series overall. The overall tone is somewhat reassuring, at least for this Eeyore.

Well, they've got Lothian writing the season finale, again. One hopes at least he's got the mood we audience want down pat again this time, hope and love, not frustration and disappointment.

You may have misread it, chris.

Wow! A few things are explained here, but more mysteries have appeared.

Welcome to the thread Thanks so much for the link!

I'm so excited about the new series that I've just written my first Doc Martin fan fic in 5 years!