Maybe an idea for the online gift shop...?

However

Here in the UK you only need to follow a postie around on their route; lots of discarded free red rubber bands as they split their bundles of mail.

How many of us will be snapping during the final espisode of this series ?

Maybe we should make a block appt to see The Doc with our poor, raw wrists...You know how understanding he is...

. but you'd be smiling on the inside (maybe!)

Huh. Very interesting.
So this doesn't bring us back again to the idea that Louisa might not make it to S7, does it? Or is it just that time is running out for their relationship. Or did Martin just set the clock up there because he's no longer capable of concentrating enough to work on it. Anyway, good catch for whomever spotted that!

For me, there is less emotional attachment to the ending than there was to the beginning of this series, due to it being, for me, overall, so bad.

I don't know all the spoilers, but if DM has a emotional breakthrough, for me, who cares--he's had breakthroughs already. Too repetitive to be anything very interesting to me.

If LG winds up leaving him, who cares--she's left him before. Too repetitive to be anything very interesting to me.

If she dies? Well, that would be interesting and unique, anything. I would love to see SOMETHING, ANYTHING, original about this series. And, I would be again at least emotionally attached to another series, if DM is a single parent. Something fresh and new.

Penhale eats a magic bean and gains 30 IQ points? Could be interesting, but very unlikely! Notice that what we thought might be a theme for him this season, "no one likes him" went nowhere and wasn't developed at all. They instead made him a clown.

Al and Morwenna get together? Boring, been there before with Al (his struggles to get into a relationship with the office manager of DM), and that whole relationship was so predictable it never held my interest.

Bert and his fiancee? Boring, the quickest romance ever in Port Wenn and also very predictable and questionable. I mean, last season, what 7-8 months ago, Bert and his restaurant went bankrupt, and now his fiancee gives up her job to be supported by it with Bert?

So, this whole series has really lowered my emotional attachment to the ending. Whatever happens, at this point, happens.

BIFFPUPP, 24/7/2013. Post# 168. It says they were filming on Sunday, which is a surprise. That's an interesting shot.
Yes, apparently that is JH there with her. I guess it could be that DM arrives at the airport before Mummy Dearest gets on her plane (assuming she's flying out) and she ends up not boarding and takes care of JH as DM and LG go off in the police car to the hospital.
Do we have any medical types here who are reading the spoilers? Mofromco? What kind of illness or injury could result in LG seeming perfectly fine (except for the arm in the sling & the bruise on her cheek), going to the airport with Evil Mum, standing there arguing with her, and then, by the time DM gets her from the airport to the hospital, she's at the point where he has to carry her? And at the same time that she's gone off to the airport, DM receives a call from a radiologist [i]about a scan, apparently realizes there is something rong, and rushes off to the airport. Any ideas?]

"Invigorated by confronting his mother, Martin tries to book a flight to Spain to get Louisa back. Whilst on hold he sorts through his mail and finds the scan of Louisa’s brain. He spots a malformation. The pressure in an airplane could trigger it to bleed and Louisa has recently taken anticoagulants. If the malformation were to bleed, she could suffer a brain haemorrhage. Martin tries to call Louisa to tell her not to get on the plane, but she thinks he is just trying to stop her leaving and hangs up on him. Martin has to race to the airport to stop her. " (ITV Press release)

As you read Biffpupp's speculative synopsis and compare it to the ITV release, notice how FORUM members nailed the info. I wanted to bring this information forward from the earlier forums to demonstrate how 85% accurate the forum members are with their predictions and "sleuthing" members.

For the rest of the group, who cannot be in Port Issac during filming, you all give us a wealth of information. You keep our creative juices flowing with GREAT EXPECTATIONs before episode 1 series X is even released. Sometimes I think the forum has done a better job to unravel the story, than the writers!

What if doctors gave an electronic clock with their patient's predicted expiration date to everyone who's too-frequently plopped in front of their TV eating bonbons? Cable box, blu-ray, receiver, speakers, memento mori clock.

I'm sure you all must have commented on this, but in my haste to scroll through some of the acrimony I may have missed this - so please forgive.

I was horrified and fascinated by the quasi-sexual DM-Mrs Tishell dance. Him grabbing her, looming above her, staying closer to her post-examination than he's generally comfortable with - all creating a very intimate universe with the camera circling, a technique frequently reserved for romantic embraces.

Mona - I was discouraged to read this post (didn't quote it all).you, of all people, who saw many good qualities in Dr. Martin Ellingham as you have posted in the past and tried to be somewhat like him in your profession as a doctor. Please hang in there with the rest of us. Once you see the entire S6 you will understand why BP, especially MC, wanted to take this route. He is a very complex, difficult person, bringing forth much bad baggage from his youth.

I see from your passion how much you love Doc Martin.

These last 3- 3 1/2 series have been kinda like watching a big splinter work its way out (has anyone used that analogy yet?). When it finally gets close to the surface is when it's most painful. (not that that really has anything to do with your post mmD, I just wanted to say it. Hey, Season 4 of The Walking Dead just started last week. That's fresh and new! Well, not very fresh with all those zombies, but it's new!)

I agree completely that CC is under rated. As others have observed, no CC, no show!!!

She survives and is involved, at least as long as there is a show at all. And there is no point in doing her in as a method of ending the show. It would kill DVD sales if nothing else.

How it comes to an end (after ser. 7--or even a further series--though my bet is that ser. 7 would be the end) isn't clear. I think there is the possibility of a "Christmas special" after ser. 7 (or ser. X) would show them in later life with two school age children. Sort of like riding off into the sunset in a Western.

That really was strange....don't have that one figured out unless they were just playing with the filming technique with that unwieldy camera they use.......?

Does anyone know what has happened to the comments over on Hod's blog? They seem to have disappeared. Or is it just a problem with my tablet??

I completely agree. It was a tender scene, which also shows a certain degree of closeness between the two.
All in all, I had the feeling that during that whole accident and its aftermath, DM acted more like a husband than as a doctor.
Immediately after LE was hit, he shortly checks her vitals, but then he doesn't call the ambulance himself, he stays with his wife for comfort. He doesn't do anything.
When the paramedics arrive, we don't see him yell instructions to them, but softly telling LE that he'll come with her.
Even in hospital, he just checks the temperature and makes sure that the treating doctor has a closer look, something I would also have done as next of kin if one of my loved ones would be coughing like that. In S4 we've seen him as he frog-marched a patient to a scan in a hospital where he had no authority to do so. Here, he doesn't.
He brings JH to see his mother, and it is LE who is worried about hospital bugs.
He even allows being thrown out of hospital by LE and the treating doctor and quietly retreats into his car to wait.
Definitely not his usual behaviour.
I suspect, as I always have, that he simply can't play two roles at once - doctor and husband - and in this case he decides to be the husband. If he can talk about decisions in his mental state.
Maybe his biggest challenge will be to integrate ME into DM.

True to a degree, but Louisa shows a huge difference in her leaving this time.
She - I think purposely - avoids using words like leaving or break-up. She just tells him she needs a break from him, which indicates to me that it is a temporary thing. I agree, needing a break so soon after the wedding isn't really a good sign, but I guess it's safe to assume that at the beginning of the new term latest she plans to be back.
Second, she doesn't leave in a huff. It isn't an emotional reflex. She thinks about it. Pauses, before she uses the credit card to book the flight. She also breaks the news to DM gently and tenderly and calmly.
So, although it is typical Louisa-behaviour, it is changed Louisa-behaviour. Maybe that's a good thing.

And I am pretty certain Martin withdraws into his shell mainly to protect Louisa. He still has to learn that being married means she has a right to be bothered (or to quote the sponsors of Doc Martin "We can be bothered.")
Louisa has understood this when she told him "I'm your wife" when he confessed the return of his blood thing.


He surely would need to hear that, and often. However, I have my doubts that we will see that on Monday. My bet is more on some apologetic affirmation from Martin, and this time he has reason to be sorry, because her ending up in hospital was his doing.
At the end of S6E1 he told Louisa he was sorry, for the ruined wedding night, and she assured him it hadn't been his fault. Then it wasn't, but he made up for that.

He does everything practical which he defines as his duty somehow. His duty of care.
So he is able to treat his patients although he feels rotten - it is his duty.
He helps Louisa when her arm is in a sling with practical issues - it is his duty.

I also don't see him shy away from caring for her.
However, he cannot talk to her, because then he had to talk about his poor state and he isn't ready (yet?) to let anyone care for him.
I guess he had understood the concept of him caring for his wife, but it is unthinkable to him to have it the other way around.
He tries to keep Louisa away, as she tries to intrude into his dark place.
Maybe that's why he is more comfortable with JH, as DM can care for him and doesn't have to be afraid that JH wants to care for DM in return.
Just my take on it.

What else can she do? Making him drunk hadn't worked in S2, either. She is pretty helpless when he decides to keep his mouth shut. She had offered her help several times this series, to no avail. She isn't a professional counsellor.
And I can understand to some degree that she is sick of offering help over and over again just for him to refuse it.

I agree with your two posts previous to this, BodminDM. Great points, as usual.

What I do think here,however, is really what I said before: "I'm not happy, you're not happy" is really the starting point of a long and undoubtedly painful conversation, about "and what are each of us willing to do about that?" If he still doesn't recognize the gravity of the situation, and will not admit that there is anything wrong, then maybe hitting him over the head with a 2/x4, to get his attention (which is the equivalent of unilaterally leaving) is called for. But, at least to me, not until you've been explicit that changes are called for, or your marriage is in deep trouble.

You may be right though, that there's still no way he could hear this, and she just perceived that and took a short-cut.
I think he was entitled to be given a chance to hear it, though, despite his egregious behavior of the last several episodes. And she just might want to think a little harder about whether his current state is about her and their marriage, or something else is going on with him, that needs to be dealt with before any marital decisions can be made. It is about "in sickness and in health, for better and for worse."

Just my opinion, and obviously, I'm not Louisa. Or anybody else on here with perceptions and opinions.

And the whole situation would indeed be very difficult for anyone to deal with, so I can see where a break would be in order. But I do think she was suggesting that she might or might not return to him, and that is more than just a brief respite.

When Mrs T tore the clippings down, she thought she was done with the Doc, but she is not finished being infatuated by Martin. The Dance shows she still has hope in her lovelorn heart. Clive is gone, we can presume, probably in a caravan all by himself touring offbeat hotspots.

And what is not to love? Tall, imposing, powerful, knowledgeable, a scientist, healer, the smartest man in the village, one fit for 'Sal.' But loves dies hard in the chemist's heart.

Maybe we can sic Sally onto Mummy and have one take out the other?

Men. They always want a cat fight. Sighs.

Ha! It seems like we now have a cadre of Formidable Older Women in Portwenn.

On second watching, I saw that scene a bit differently. (I was a bit confused by it the first time through, I admit.) This time I saw it as a disorientation of reality for Mrs. T.-- Doc's quick orders to her, his taking her hands roughly, pushing her arms, touching her face, checking the eyes, his proximity to her, the circling of the camera and its angle -- all aimed at showing the undoing of the work she was doing to control herself. Quasi-sexual, yes, but for Mrs. T only -- Doc's still interested in nothing but her health. At least, that's what I'm thinking now.

Sorry, Rob, you forgot to include "handsome and sexy" on your list!

He had quite some time on his hand during the sleepless nights.
Besides, the clock can still sit on a mantlepiece even without working properly.


Is it of any importance that he is working on Joan's clock now? He keeps emphasizing it. Is it some sort of grief, trying to fix something that belonged to her, trying to make it valuable again to compensate for not having helped her enough when the budget was tight (I know she didn't let him, but that doesn't necessarily make you feel better about it).
Maybe it's also to cover that Joan had given him something more valuable than the clock - her love and care.
The farm, however, belongs to Ruth now. So his finances have nothing to do with it.

I know, I'm shamelessly over-analysing. But it's fun (for me)

Wasn't this the same clock he was working on at the end of S5E6, after Louisa walked out? I think the mainspring was broken....... there's a metaphor here somewhere, I feel sure.

Thanks for pointing that out. I wanted to comment on it since Monday, but haven't found the time yet.
I thought the camera was telling more than the actors in this scene.
We basically see a very cut-short examination of Mrs T. DM doesn't even let her sit down. He wants to get it over and done with. And basically, they simply talk about her health issue.
As a side note - how stupid can a pharmacist be to stop all medication including one against high cholesterol values to avoid any more psychotic episodes. She should know best which ones could provoke another episodes and which don't.
Back to the consultation - the scene itself as it is played and laid out isn't anything noteworthy, if it hadn't been for the dancing camera. It gives the scene a romantic feel - for me - which depicts Mrs. T reappearing crush.
And the poor woman was clearly crushed when the Doc refused her chocolates. At least he refused them openly and didn't accept them and binned them immediately like the unspeakable jumper.