It was cringe-worthy creepy, absolutely.

I think the other kind of creepy moment in S6 was when Morwenna came in on the doc half nekkid on his exam couch, doing an EKG on himself. And, for a fan who always eagerly looked for a little skin on the doc, to say it was, instead, kind of creepy, is a sad reality of the scene.

I agree that Margaret Ellingham touching Martin was more manipulative than sexual. However, the writers could be hinting that Margaret has a genetic sexual attraction to Martin. This may happen when a child does not develop an attachment to a parent as a child. Generally, it is found when a parent gives up a child and is later reunited with the child in adulthood. Although Margaret did not give up Martin physically, she seemed to be very absent from his childhood.

To me the scene with Martin's bare upper torso was not creepy but very concerning. I thought it might indicate that he was so ill that he was baring himself to the viewers so we could see the extent of his physical debilitation. I gasped when I saw it because he looked so unhealthy.

I cannot think of any circumstance where I would touch my 20 year old sons that way. It was totally creepy and inappropriate somehow.

Someone on one of the FB pages just suggested Judi Dench for the couples counselor that Martin Clunes says is going to help Martin and Louisa put their marriage back together. How I'd love to see that!

I'll tell you what would have been double creepy: If Margaret complained to DM about some unexplained pain in the chest area or stomach area and he would have had to examine her with his stethoscope with her blouse partially removed or press her tummy area with her skirt pushed down slightly. I don't think BP would have ever gone over the cliff with that scenario. The same is true with Mrs. Tishell. When she complained about her toothache-jaw ache and he finally examined her it was at arm's length with the camera circling the scene. In a scene in S1 or S2 when she took off her collar, he had to kneel behind her to hold her head in position and she looked like she was enjoying every bit of his hands. How different that would have played out if it happened after the kidnapping! That, too, would have been double creepy. On the other hand, no problem if Aunt Ruth had to be examined on the examining table by her nephew. Their relationship is total respect for each other.

I adore Judi Fench but I hope the counselor is someone in Martin and Louisa's age range. All of his guidance has come from older women like Aunt Joan and Aunt Ruth
A younger woman may have better perspective on work life balance for Louisa and Martin may be more deferential to a woman if only out of politeness. We saw his cavalier treatment of male psychologists Milligan and Oakwood not to mention the young surgeon in Truro. The counselor has to be able to stand up to both of them

Good point, Bloodphobia.

Oakwood sort of deserved to be treated cavalierly -- he was a jerk. I loved the way they had him brag about his position as some kind of low-ranking professor at a low-ranking college.

But I thought Martin treating Milligan so cavalierly was more on Martin than Milligan, who seemed perfectly competent, with the glaring exception of trying to go so quickly for the jugular vein in diagnosing what was going on with his client.

This week's episodes thrown out of the surgery:

S4E6 Midwife Crisis
S4E7 Do Not Disturb

New survey this week:

S5E2 Dry Your Tears vs S6E8 Departure

S1E6 Haemophobia vs S6E5 The Practice Around the Corner


Complete survey results: http://portwennonline.com/SurveyResults.html

New survey: http://portwennonline.com/SurveyCurrent.html

Episode title survey (suggestions for one or both eliminated episodes): http://portwennonline.com/SurveyEpisodeTitles.html

NewPark - did you feel that Milligan saying that he had talked about Martin with Edith might also have put him off? That seemed a bit wrong to me.

I know you didn't intend it this way, but I laughed when you wrote Milligan "quickly for the jugular vein" what with Doc's hemophobia

Edith seemed to be the first person whose advice Martin followed in seeking psychological help. I think it would be typical for two medical pros to discuss why a patient was being referred. Had Martin continued with Milligan and controlled his hemophobia, I wonder if he would be more likely to have returned to surgery.

I think that the age and power of someone like Judi Dench would be in itself ironic and comedic. For 6'3" doc Martin to be "directed" by someone as diminutive as Dame Judi has the potential to be hilarious. To have her say, "Shut your mouth!" Could be hysterical. And she is another "seamless" actor. When she has a role, she inhabits it so completely that you can't tell where she ends and the acting begins. Plus we "old crones" are wiser than young whippersnappers.

I quite agree, Mofromco, about the amount of weight he lost and his often looking gaunt. For a man his size, I believe he lost three or four stone anyway, maybe more - something he's downplayed. So I don't want him chubby - I'm glad to see the tummy and breasts gone - but his face looks so tired and sunken depending on the day and the angle. He's still handsome IMO, but the weight loss had aged him considerably.

ShopGirl, I think it would be really INappropriate to have a conversation about a patient/client with another medical professional without letting the client know. If the client has negative feelings about that, you can process it, but better not to let client think you're hiding things from him/her. So if, for example, a family member calls a psychiatrist to talk about someone in their family that the psychiatrist is seeing, the psychiatrist might listen (not contribute anything, one way or another) but I think he or she would be obligated to discuss with the patient that phone call (of course, first warning the family member). I suppose there are exceptions, but in general, you'd want to err on the side of being trustworthy for the client. Before a client leaves his/her first session (at least in U.S. ) he has signed at least one "confidentiality" form detailing who the therapist can reveal anything to, and what it would be limited to.

Bloodphobia, he did sort of continue with Milligan, in that he did the exercises from the disk that Milligan sent him. I think he would have gotten farther, and maybe even begun to work on some of his underlying issues if he could have stuck it out with Milligan, but I think Milligan, maybe feeling he had to do something quickly to keep Martin from bailing, scared Martin by going too quickly to core issues.

New Park: What is the difference between the way Edith contacted Dr. Milligan in S4 about DM's blood phobia before he saw him, and in S6E5 when DM mentioned to AR about his insomnia and blood sensitivity and she mentioned that she can make an introduction for him about a psychiatrist in London she recommends? Now, after the completion of the filming of S6 MC mentions that in S7 they will go to couples counseling. Are not these two forms of therapy separate with two different professionals? DM's had a blood phobia when he arrived in PW and before he met LG. .

It seems that the blood phobia and personality disorder that DM has is a separate issue, though intimately related to his marital problems. I don't see that couples therapy is the correct venue for the issues that he has with his childhood and blood phobia. He should pursue those issues on his own with individual counseling.

Yes, usually they are. SOmetimes if a therapist is working with one client, another person can be brought in from time to time -- a spouse, usually. It has a lot of pluses -- the therapist gets information about what the significant other is like, apart from the (very frequently distorted) account from the client, for one thing. Also, the spouse can contribute to the conversation, with the client knowing directly what has been said. Then too, if the spouse is involved, they can feel less shut out of the process, and less likely to sabotage or more likely to be supportive. But I think it's pretty hard to maintain neutrality -- or to get your client's s.o. to believe in your neutrality, if the client and therapist already have a working relationship.

So generally, different people would be doing individual and couples counseling. But it would be very important that they communicate, and be more or less on the same page. Because couples counseling can be more than just figuring out better ways to communicate, how to divide up household chores, etc. Let's say the couples counselor focuses on how family of origin issues are contributing to the problems they couple is having -- in a way, laying that all out in a neutral way, for both partners, helps a lot in explaining them to each other. But also, in couples counseling, sometimes one sees a partner individually -- again, I think usually cautioning the person being seen individually that since your "contract" is with both, what is discussed there cannot [permanently] be a secret from which the partner is excluded.

That's just the way I think about it, though. Many different practitioners -- lots of different views.

As I think you have said, New Park, one couple, with multiple issues....10 different approaches. I think Martin has an enormous number of grief issues that he needs to work through. It seems that some of them may be repressed...and he has to acknowledge them and work through them. I hope this doesn't sound like so much psychobabble.

Obviously, Mofromco, it can never sound like too much psychobabble to me. Others have the option of skipping right on over it.

Nothing in couples counseling precludes the grief work which you aptly point out that Martin needs to do. So many losses, with so little real acknowledgement of them.

I just think we're less likely to see the individual work, given that they've already mentioned couples counseling, and I don't think they would want to weight the season too heavily with therapy sessions. But who knows.

But if they choose to show us some individual Martin work, I can imagine them to be another astounding acting bit for MC, on par with his dismissal of his parents, JH's birth scene confession to Louisa, and the other S6 dismissal of his mother, to name a few -- powerful and emotional acting.

But I agree that they probably might not allow too much darkness in S7. I can see heartfelt and funny moments coming out of the couples counseling.

Agree about the acting, Susie, but not about the darkness. We've had darkness overload for the past 3 seasons, so much so that I can no longer call this show a comedy. Yet the ratings have continued to climb. I doubt that BP is going to tamper with a formula that has been so successful for them.

People do sometimes do individual and couples counseling at the same time. They're not mutually exclusive, except maybe on budgetary grounds. I agree that both are needed here.

I just watched Hazardous Exposure again, in which the closing scene is Martin and his mother. I have to say, as gifted an actor as MC is, I think that in these scenes with Claire Bloom (S2E6; S6E6). she brings out even more from him. Evidently she's one of those actresses for whom "us actors have to pull up our socks" as he said once.

That is why they need a powerful actor to be a therapist. When Martin had that scene with Claire Bloom, the tension in the air was palpable. They need to find someone as a therapist who is equally as powerful. John Woodvine as Christopher was awesome, as was Claire Bloom, as Margaret. I thought Stephanie Cole as Aunt Joan really kept her ground. I think that Dame Eileen Atkins can do it, but I'm not sure I've seen it yet.

I'll take that back. That scene in Departure when they were sitting in the grass was an incredibly powerful scene...she just summed it up...and he listened. Dame Eileen is right up there.

Saw "Maleficent" last night. Who should appear onscreen but Kenneth Cranham (Terry Glasson) as King Henry, a father who neglects his daughter while busy trying to get his hands on things that don't belong to him. Could this be typecasting???
Last edited by Zarwen : 16-06-2014 at 07:36