Yes, absolutely, a very enjoyable conclusion to S6. It's a little ironic that Jack Lothian seems to be the writer who best "gets it", gets the emotions right, understands the characters, and who knows how to bookend a series best, yet he's the one who was demonized at the end of S3. He's written the concluding episode for the last four seasons, hasn't he?

Like you, I enjoy episodes with lots of "dashing about" (great way to describe it), and lots of action and movement.

Not sure I agree with your sadness about AR having to give Martin a clear narrative explanation. I think it's what he had to have. He's been in denial for most of his life and when he came to Ruth in desperation, he was most open and ready to receive the advice she had to give. But we know Doc doesn't do subtle. She had to clearly spell it out for him. It worked. It was in that scene that Martin's outlook and the mood of the episode changed and it's why we had hope rather than pure sadness at the end.

I'm glad you enjoyed the finale. Lothian is really, really good at this.

Bella, only 3 of this season's episodes were by new writers. The writers of the other five have been with DM for a long time, including Jack Lothian, who wrote both the season premiere and the season finale.

Hello All, Haven't posted in quite a while, but have been lurking. I must say I loved all your posts throughout the filming this summer and appreciated all the pictures and spoilers. My thoughts are very similar to Bodmin's and Robs, I loved the first and last episodes. The middle not so much. But still glad to watch. I love my DC and LG and as for on screen chemistry: I do believe they have it.

Here's to another year or more of obsessing and waiting. I will be right there with all of you in spirit.

Hi Biffpup, just want to respond to your comments about Lothian. Yes, he gave us an unhappy S3 finale, but that was because BP told him to. The fact that he gave us E1 this season shows how talented he is and how he sees, as we do, what DM and LE could be like if only BP would allow it. That episode truly was a jewel, because the romance and humor were completely there without losing the characters at all. I wonder often if the writers get as frustrated as we do. . . . I think the writing team has been hamstrung by the fact that MC and PB have consistently seen a wedding as an ending, rather than a new beginning, as it should be.

On a somewhat tangentially related note, the scene in the OR when DM was looking down at LE on the table just prior to starting the surgery somehow reminded me of a scene from S3E1 in DM's own surgery when he was treating LG for anemia. As I recall, that episode culminated in "Time for something new"---as perhaps this one did too, in a way? But after this season, I'm not gonna hold my breath for it---see my thoughts in post #524.
Last edited by Zarwen : 22-10-2013 at 20:14

Yes, this episode was constructed differently, wasn't it? It kept us on our toes because it wasn't what we had grown used to in DM finales. This new direction was fun, but also a little scary (which is not a bad thing in drama). I hope you're right that in S7 we can expect to see real conversations between M & L. I know it won't happen, but if ever there was a couple that could use couple's counseling, they are it!

The fact that Martin was about to go after her, anywhere in Southern Spain would do, shows us more than anything that the breakthrough had happened. I've always believed that Louisa has wanted him to come after her each time she's marched down the hill. Now we know, thanks to AR, why he has never done it. He never felt deserving of her. Poor guy. Evil parents. And now it's happened. Not down the hill, but on a plane, almost.

OMG, the smiley toy! Martin touching foreheads with JH. Martin's tears in the bathroom. His little speeches to Louisa before and after the surgery. Seeing such emotion in this previously locked-up man was beautiful and heartbreaking.

Interesting too, as others have said previously, that Martin has now closed the circle, in a way. In the beginning, he could no longer do surgery because he saw the female patient with her family clinging to her and suddenly he couldn't do it. Now in this ep he's the family clinging to Louisa, but he does do the surgery, barfing along the way, but making it through.

I love this show. I'm not sure what I'll do with myself the next two years.

Almost forgot, yes, yummy in scrubs! My, oh, my, oh, my!
Last edited by Biffpup : 22-10-2013 at 20:20

Right, it's BP that calls the shots, plot-wise, and, well, everything-wise. Good question about the writers' possible frustrations. I wouldn't be surprised, especially among those who, like Lothian, have been with DM for a good, long time.

Hey, you're right. That scene just prior to surgery was similar to the anemia scene back in S3. Brilliant that they reminded us of that, and also that they managed to make that scene both emotional and funny (big head, full moon, swimming trunks and flip-flops). Yes, once again, time for something new. You're right.

Big events in both episodes also centered around a clock. Martin was working on a clock when it became time for something new. In this latest episode, his mother stole his newly repaired clock. And now it seems it's time for something new again.

Martin has to resolve the issue of any return to surgery. Even if his hemophobia is suppressed through other behavioral modifications, will he want to or be able to return to surgery? Interfering with the surgery on Louisa and clearly violating several surgical protocols may end his surgical career for once and for all. Then he can concentrate on changing himself so that he can have a good marriage and career in Portwenn as more than the reluctant GP

Someone said he may have privileges at the hospital in Truro. He didn't have privileges when Louisa was pregnant per Edith Montgomery. Why would he have privileges about a year later -- particularly for surgery -- when his hemophobia is still plaguing him.?

Also we haven't heard the last of Martins mother. I think she will be back in series 7, at least as part of the clock theft. What really happened to his father, if anything, is an unresolved thread too

What happened to Martin between age 4 and age 6 when he was dispatched to boarding school is another open storyline.

I am ready to dodge rotten tomatoes on this thought but one reason BP may have taken Do c in a more dramatic direction is his rapid aging, possibly because of the weight loss. He seems too old for perpetually young Louisa and may be another reason there was less affection between them. His bare chested scene was creepy

He's told her before that he loves her and, as you pointed out, she knows he loves her. So that wasn't what she needed to hear this time. She has heard it before - now she needed to hear that he understands that it isn't working this way and that he wants it to change. Whether she remembers what he said before the surgery or not (I suspect not), I think she got an inkling of it in his response.

And I think the tears in Louisa's eyes as he left were hearing his firm "You are my wife" (firm but with a bit of emotion) as he left.

Just my luck recorded to watch it tonight and only got 20 minutes of it stopped when Al was giving his business proposition to Ruth at the lake. Hoping the sister has the whole episode or will have to be patient and wait for it on DVD.

No rotten tomatoes here, Blood. He must have rectified the privilege problem in the interim. It's really no big deal...you fill out a form, they check your credentials and give you privileges. His blood phobia may not be alluded to in the record as they are primarily interested in your licensure, your training and the presence or absense of patient care incidents. The young surgeon wouldn't be able to allow Martin to assist without him having privileges. I guess the question is why he didn't have privileges in the time of Ruth....that's more the irregularity and definitely made that storyline more dramatic. Whatever

Just watched on ITV Player.

First I do love Doc Martin, but this series they seemed to have played all the extra villagers as buffoons, which I didn't like, and i'm sure that doesn't amuse those that do live in Cornwall! I appreciate there has to be a comedy element, but it was like every villager was an idiot, way OTT.

Second, I could not believe Louisa, Martin put himself through performing a surgery for her and she is like "this changes nothing". Was that not a cataclysmic change for Martin?? That surely would give her hope the husband side of him could change. I am gobsmacked honestly.

I think a couple of years ago he would have said just "you are my patient" and said nothing about their relationship. I think that he mentioning "wife", although last, is a huge step forward.

Thirdly, after playing PC Joe as a fool all season as usual he comes through when needed Been waiting several episodes for this!

I also think they should have just rung the airport, a GP and a Policeman are going to be familiar with emergency channels of contact. If not directly then the procedure to follow. In this day and age, they obviously exist- can you imagine a suspected terrorist getting onto a plane, the police deciding they want him off and being unable to speak to anyone

But Doc Martin is not always very realistic

I am 90% sure that it will be. If S7 sees them together at the end, then, what remotely plausible plot device would screw up the relationship again in a S8? If they are still apart, or reconciled to being apart, I do think significant numbers of fans would bail, on a S8, and they (BP) probably don't want to push their luck.


On the whole, I am optimistic about a reasonably positive resolution to S7. In fact, I hope they don't drag it out for the whole series but give us a few episodes with them back together. However, I think there's a part of Martin Clunes that likes "dark" and he's always stubbornly insisted that "this is not that kind of show" where "that kind of show" presumably means fairy tale, happy ever after. so I wouldn't put it entirely past the creative team to leave us with a much wiser but much sadder Martin, sharing custody of JH with Louisa, but no more. He did say in an interview before the series aired that they had to "find a way to keep the relationship alive, even though they weren't a couple." I suppose we'll see that play out in a courtship scenario in S7, but maybe they do give up on each other. What a twist that would be: Martin is finally reaching his emotional potential, but he's lost his family. In the end, b/c it really makes nonsense of the whole emotional pull of the last 6 series, I don't think they will do that.


Indeed! Also very odd. Especially on the morning that his wife is leaving him. A newspaper's blog made the very acute point that throughout the series, he was mistaking emotions for illness. Your heart is breaking -- do an EKG.

I'm pretty sure the folk singer's house was Al's fixer-upper back in "On the Edge"? (pretty sure it was On the Edge). Shop Girl, I bet you already spotted that, didn't you?

Also, I actually wished Martin had said yes when the singer asked if he wanted to hear the song he was writing about Louisa leaving.

With her long dark hair and her crooked little smile.....

Isn't he always - like selling the Kensington flat or helping the girl who wants breasts, or even covering for Bert poisoning the whole village.

Sorry, I don't think Margaret has such complicated motives for her actions. Even revenge is too much of a feeling as I can imagine her capable of.
I simply think she thought she could sell it for a good price.

...or before such an incompetent idiot is butchering a member of my family.

Sorry, Bloodphobia, I really don't understand you. Since when does aging force an actor away from comedy? Also, I expect I'll get my own share of rotten tomatoes for this, but I don't see CC as "perpetually young." She does look older to me than she did in earlier seasons. The age difference between DM and LE has been speculated as anywhere from 5-10 years; in real life it is 9 years. I suppose some folks might consider that "too old" but in my experience it is not uncommon. (Full disclosure: my husband is 11 years older than I.)

And I'll gladly dodge some more rotten tomatoes for opining that the bare chest was not creepy! We've been waiting for that since S1, although I know we would have preferred it in a room other than the surgery. . . . I think MC looks terrific for almost 52.

Yes it was - good eye! I recognized it immediately and noticed the holes in the walls seems to be all fixed now.

Seriously, you have been waiting since season 1 to see a skinny man on an examination couch with probes attached to his hairless chest?

Martin Clunes....skinny...he'd love to hear that. Of course I've been waiting...the man's physicality is so sensual. And it's not the structure of his body....it's the whole package and has always been that way.

See Mrs. Merton Show 1997.....

I agree. LG has aged too., She just has the advantage of make-up and hair dye that 40-something women tend to use. Not a criticism, just the way things tend to be. To me, they look like a suitable, attractive couple. I actually think he's looking better and better as he ages. Of course, I won't state my age right now or that might explain it.

Also, I wasn't bothered by the shirtless scene at all, not once in all of the six times (so far) I've watched it (& freeze-framed). I suspect they may have intended it to be creepy, however. The big cat eyes on Morwenna's top were perfect for the scene (I missed that at first; wasn't looking at Morwenna so much, but someone mentioned it)
.

Um, I have actually.

I, for one, am glad that Series 6 is over. That was so stressful!

No kidding. It's the first time I've watched a series unfold in real time and I had no idea it would be such a tense, scary thing.

When my little brother and I were very young, one of our favorite TV shows was "Lassie". It was a kid-friendly show, but in each episode something scary happened (think Timmy trapped in the old well) and the dog had to save the day. My brother always watched the scary parts by standing in the hallway, occasionally ducking back into the living room and glancing at the TV, then retreating again, with his hands alternately over his eyes or his ears. Then once Lassie rescued Timmy (or whoever) I would signal him and he would come back in to watch the rest of the episode.

I think a lot of us watched S6 in a similar way.