Thanks for posting this, whale.

Is my vision playing tricks on me, or does his hair look more blond than grey in that photo? I notice it is dated only 5 days ago.

I know people have all commented on the award ceremony in episode 7. So I am going to flog ahead. Did anyone get the feeling Martin was being passive aggressive with Louisa?

By that I mean, he seemed like he was almost playing "Peter Krank," the child?
He almost seemed like he was out to deliberately annoy her, like one of the 6th grade boys. Martin (the child )was able to take the risk of showing himself to Louisa. He must in some level trusted her to to accept the negative school boyself. His inner child was finally letting go and expressing itself.

I]Imagine how many times Martin had to hush, say nothing and really had to listen to that awful woman. Everything was always about her needs. He really had no other recourse but to listen to her prattle or be pushed away.[/i]

In Martin's case though, when he finally acted like the real (boy)person, he was punished. All his childhood anger and resentment was bottled up and used to hurt someone he loved deeply.

In the end, it made him more guilty for even wanting to love Louisa. That's why he sits in the car with James Henry. On some level, he feels like he caused the accident and feels he needs to be punished.

I saw that too..I think it was the lighting...I'm afraid he's a total silverhair now.

My take on that scene is a little different, and I'm sure there are many different "takes" on it b/c it's not really clear what's going on.

I think it's pretty clear why he didn't take the opportunities Louisa offered him to get off the hook --he just didn't want to admit that he wasn't up to it. But he really didn't want to do it, and sometimes when people are stuck doing something they don't want to do, their behavior does become rather "passive-aggressive." And that's what I originally thought he was doing.

But after mulling it over, I'm not so sure. I think the scene really divides into two parts. In the first one, he is contradicting Louisa about the value of athletics and exercise. Just previous to this, he had reminded his mother that all he had won at school was a cup for chess. So, I think in this part, the unathletic and probably jeered at schoolboy was speaking out in defense of himself.

In the second part, his behavior becomes almost demented -- in his haste to get away and back to the surgery. I think he is frightened by the extent to which he is unraveling and needs to get back to the safety of his surgery and inside his own head, to quell his growing anxiety. It almost looks like a panic attack. At any rate, he is clearly out of control.

Louisa, of course, understands none of this, and probably assumes this is of a piece with, and virtually last straw outrageous, of his usual unhappiness at being forced to socialize. If she had had a moment to think, maybe she would have recognized that his behavior was cause for alarm, rather than anger, but he had deeply embarrassed her and I can understand why she was furious and in no mood to make allowances or excuses for him..

So there is a certain sense in which his behavior did precipitate Louisa losing control of herself, and then the accident. If he is guilty of anything, really, it is in refusing to acknowledge to those who might help him, how much trouble he is in.

I was wondering if the scene of him sitting in the car was showing him meditating a little on just what the consequences of his out of control behavior were, and recognizing that it was time to get help.

Good observation...I watched the episode originally as a "normal" Doc Martin. Martin has his wits about him and all the conversations and behavior have some basis in reality and logic. I watched it more lately using the premise that Martin is really off his rocker. It is very scary but makes things more clear. When he is in the car he puts the baby on the seat and zones out while the baby crawls or falls onto the floor. He is really out of it. His behavior at Sports Day very well could have been a reaction to Mummy's remark...he always asks patients if they take any exercise. And you're right, Louisa has no idea how bad he is or what is going on.

Oh my God!! I literally was just messing around on Google and I came across this thread- Part 17, oh my heavens!!!!! I spotted your name BG!!! I wondered if I could find one of the old school, I cannot believe how many years this has been going, absolutely amazing!! I hope all is good, gonna have a hunt through see if there's any more users I recognise..

So funny though how cross we were about the Doc and Louisa not getting hitched and now they are hitched they are pulling them apart, talk about full circle!!

WG!! Good to hear from you! Remember our Doc Martin themed cocktail party? A few of the old crowd have been on lately Wonder how the rest are! It has indeed come full circle I still prefer the way things panned out in our scripts!

So what's your bet, Mofromco, as to whether the shock of Louisa leaving him will jolt him out the state he's been in? In that trailer, he looked very sad but not nearly so agitated; far more together, really. Did you think so, or not?

I remember them well!! Many a bit if steam I vented on this forum back in the day, it's so fab to see it still going. I can't remember who it was but back in the day someone sent me an MP3 of some music from Doc Martin, not the theme tune but incidental music. I still have it on my iPod, I love it!!

I believe that was our CJM She sent all of the songs way back in S3. Do you remember when we were all in a state of denial after the non-wedding?

I think that his rage will be released when he has his discussion with Mummy. Like, wait a second...this doesn't make sense...why are you talking to me like this? Ruth will also bring about some insight. I wonder which of those encounters will come first? Then some competent therapy.

Oh God yeah! This forum became a therapy session for all our disappointments! However it did harden me to the many series of heartaches that we faced in the subsequent series. I remember the fanfics we did too, a lot of them where better than what was on screen, sooo much talent!!

It's so lovely that this forum is still alive 6 YEARS later!
It just shows that DM has loyal fans & is a series that is very much loved.......no matter how much they wind us up
I only got hooked on DM during S4, and I remember watching bits & pieces of S2 but I dodged all the rest up until that point including the non-wedding (Would that be a good thing? ) The one thing that I remember laughing out loud about in S2, was when Martin tripped over the boy on the school playground! I was 10 years old when S1 was aired and can't remember watching it at all. I could have played Peter Cronk's little sister hahaha!
Out of curiosity, how long do forums on telly programmes and such, usually last?

Jack Lothian wrote the last episodes of Series 2, 3, 4, and 5. (I am counting the Christmas special as the last episode of S2). Now, according to the List of Doc Martin Episodes of Wikipedia, Jack Lothian wrote the last episode of S6. Could go either way. Should he go incognito for the next two years?

I also thought he didn't back out originally as he really wanted to support Louisa, doing her a favour, but than being alone with his misery amidst happy sociable school children was really too much for him. He completely lost control and had to get away. He wasn't leaving, he was making an escape.

Louisa had no chance to understand even a tenth of it, so it became physically painful for all involved - including the viewers.

Which would give enough fodder for S7

Nothing to fear, Mofromco. Some folks call that the "ultimate blond." And don't forget he is on the ukhairdressers.com "Silver Fox List"!

Doc Martin Portland, Oregon area meet-up
Saturday, Oct. 26, 2013
3pm-?
The Chapel Pub (a McMenamin's) 430 N Killingsworth St, Portland, OR 97217
Phone: (503) 286-0372 There is plenty of parking on street and in a parking lot. And convenient just off I-5.
And I did think an old wedding chapel is appropriate to this series of DM and just a nice cozy place.

I have no agenda or other ideas for this other than to just meet and chat and share our favorite pastime.
I think all of us will probably have seen S6 by then.

Hope you can make it!
Susie Sagitarius

Agree in part and in part not, NewPark. My second viewing found me watching it more dispassionately and this is what I saw and interpreted:
[LIST][*]DM is taking his pulse as he arrives at sports day and as usual is oblivious to children around him.[/LIST][LIST][*]He asks LGE as soon as he arrives "will it take long because I couldn't cancel all my patients and don't have that much time at all."[/LIST][LIST][*]LGE responds it will take a bit more time (10 min.), he agrees he can stay, and then as she introduces him, he tells her twice quietly that he doesn't have time to speak. He agreed to give out "prizes".[/LIST][LIST][*]She insists on trying to get him to and he is truthful-Doc when he says there can be injuries.[/LIST][LIST][*]Then, yes, he does channel chess-playing-Doc, telling his own truth as well. (Brilliant the reference back to his previously mentioned winning of a "silver jug" for chess.)[/LIST][LIST][*]He gives out medals but when the announcer says "whole school...." is when he says he "doesn't have time (yet again), give me the medals, you hand out the cups....." (Taking over and trying to work an efficient system to still do what he said he would--give out medals.)[/LIST][LIST][*]And then LGE loses it. Because he is not doing the ceremony the way she envisions it for her students.[/LIST][LIST][*]He just needs to get back to the surgery for his patients.[/LIST]I don't see him as panicking or demented there. He seems in control of himself, trying to do what he said he would do, but trying to keep to his timetable of patients. I just simply believe him when he says over and over that he doesn't have time. He is a punctual man.

LGE says in the morning that he will be their special guest, give the awards. Did they have a more complete conversation before that where her expectations for what that meant were enumerated?

We see his unhinging in his forgetting that it was sports day, his lack of sleep, weight-loss, his not dealing with Dad's death, not being happy Mummy is there, etc. Otherwise he is still functioning at his job. He can do that.

But then the accident. He can't help but probably blame himself for Louisa's getting hurt ('If I hadn't hurried away so fast...'), but the blow of her going away, needing a break from him--that's cause for him to feel worse, all by itself.

(I do empathize with LGE for wanting to go on a little vacation, even just a weekend. That was always my first thought on school holidays myself, even as a teacher.)

In less than 24 hours (tonight actually) we'll see what happens!!! I'll have a hanky ready!!!

Rob

For all those in the UK, and who can channel DOC Martin, please keep us posted during the commercial sets. Our sanity is depending on you!

Thanks. I am crossing my fingers for a good out come.

Why would Hod post those clips from season 3 and 1 on the DocMartinseries6blog? Anyone?

Doesn't she give him the opportunity to back out when he arrives at the sports event?

Maybe the clips were posted to show us how far Doc and Louisa have evolved as a couple and to give us hope that they will continue to do so into a series 7

It is also good to see the people who were the first on this site checking in and catching up. What an interesting community Doc Martin created.

Series 5 and the first few episodes of series 6 forced me to watch the show out of habit. Midway in series 6, the old show returned and I am hooked.

I really hope there is a good outcome in tonight's episode and that it all works out well for Martin and Louisa I was not to happy as to the direction this show was going with these two characters so I'm a bit cautious about the outcome. Its hasn't put me off but it made me a bit wary. So fingers crossed it works out well. As long as Morwenna and Al get together I'll be happy

I don't have any doubt that Morwenna and Al will get together --if not in this series, then in S7. And they started out the best way, too -- as friends. That was not the case with either Pauline or Elaine, I don't think. So, it will happen and it will be fine.

Now, as to the other lovebirds -- hopefully we will see them become more supportive friends and partners, as well as frustrated lovers, in the next series.

I am wary also, and will be a bit annoyed if we have to wait until S7 for a resolution. But I have every faith that better days are ahead for the Ellinghams -- what is the point of the whole series, if there aren't? -- at least in my mind. I don't want to see DM "healed" but too late for his relationship with Louisa to recover, and I will not, refuse to, believe that will happen.