I was reading the docmartinloversblog and there has been a discussion of S7, thinking that this most recent series has gone from a dramedy to a farce. Does anyone else have like thoughts? It did look and feel different, I must say. DM did a lot of slapstick moves, jumping into the sea when the boat couldn't get close enough to shore, falling into the pigsty, slipping into the brook in the Danny Steele episode, slipping down the ladder to his abysmal living quarters, bumping his head, etc. Although I thought the series as a whole was all right, I did not feel that, as MC felt, there were 4 episodes that were rock-solid-the-best of the whole series. I have to agree with Mona that Al has been left out of any meaningful dialogue. He seems to have been standing in the same spot for the last few series, no forward movement, the renovation of the B&B being the pits. Also, I never knew that AJ had a lake on her property suitable for fishing. I thought it was just a large home with a small plot of land on the side for growing produce and a chicken pen and some sheep which we never saw. This was the first series I did not get involved (you know what I mean!) in the embraces of M&L. Is that a good sign or is it the scenes themselves lacking that certain something? Well, despite my thoughts and feelings about S7, I am still looking forward to S8, God willing.

Poor Al...such a lost soul...hopefully he'll get his "sea legs" soon. That could be a storyline in S8. Martin's communication skills have come leaps and bounds from before. Just saying, "I'm glad you came back." was incredible, not to mention that he didn't mind if the house was loud or disorderly...amazing leap...If only Louisa had listened better.

You (the few that remain) resort to disparaging Louisa for her weight, her gray hair (what about his). No surprise...LOL you've disparaged and criticized, dumped on, and blamed her for all of their issues for as long as I've been here on this forum. She is too thin and old looking. What's next? Oh, right...you've covered all the bases.

How rich. How original. How catty. Bravo.

Caroline had a photo shoot and wanted to look at her best. When MClunes lost a ton of weight while ill, did anyone here complain or criticize? Nevermind. Did any of you refer to him as "old"? Gaunt?

Bloodphobia: You have absolutely no proof that she uses fillers or wrinkle cream but so what...? Why do you keep repeating that assertion. Nevermind. Louisa doesn't have a pretty girl attitude. Is it surprising that she didn't want this stranger analyzing her, her history, her marriage. She hadn't developed any relationship with her. Felicia knew nothing and Louisa rightfully felt sabotaged. Do any of you remember how quickly she came to Felicia's aid at the accident scene; she was protective and very concerned.
There wasn't a hint of a "pretty girl" attitude.

Morwenna (actress??) looks fine. Some of the wardrobe is questionable...

The Doc wouldn't know what to do with any woman. A blow-up doll would freak the man. Mrs. Tishell spooks him, Janice spooks him, his wife spooks him. Even Felicia freaked him when she stopped by that last morning.

Who is Felicia? This has completely slipped my now sieve-like mind.

I was going to ask the same question.

It's gone to SOMETHING. Farce, maybe. A parody of itself it possibly. Re-watching the harbor scene with Angela Sim in a crazed hallucinating state, it seemed a hollow, ham-handed attempt to capture the quirkiness of the early seasons.

As far as "Felica", I'm guessing it's a reference to the contemporary meme of "Bye, Felicia", maybe? A line from a mid-90s movie that is used today to dismiss someone you've had quite enough of. Just a guess.

Do you mean Dr. Rachael Timoney in S7E7 - a few minutes into the episode?

Excellent, Marchrand. That must be the reference.

Oh, come on Ms_Sarah. Please, not all of us bow down to the Louisa/Caroline Catz Is Perfect Pedestal of Love you seem to. Also, not all of us hate DM and find him to be the Most Awful Man Ever Invented On TV. You are welcome to your extremist views, I cannot disagree enough with all of them.

Mona

Well yes, obviously it's Rachel Timoney who's being referred to. I was guessing at why the name Felicia was used by Ms_Sarah.

As I recall people had some sharp criticism for Martin Clunes' 2013 weight loss. Some people just don't like change. Now we're used to his "new" size.

People "get cross" with Louisa a little too often for my taste. I didn't care for the discussion about Caroline Catz's looks/weight. I fear I may have set that off when I mentioned that I'm not crazy about the vintage dresses.

For better or worse, the couples therapy thing really took Louisa by surprise. She was totally not expecting that. She was a pretty good sport about it - willing and interested in trying out the exercises that Dr. T assigned to them.

I suspect that Louisa's fall back position will always be "it's Martin's fault". Some days she will dig in her heels more than others. We may have to accept that is what we have with this show. It would be nice if people would stop griping about it. But I may have to accept that is what we have with DM fans.

Well, didn't Caroline Catz have input in the selection of her wedding dress in S6E1? I thought the selection fit well with the small coastal village she lived in and it was a classic line dress. The first wedding dress in S3 in the non-wedding was too fancy and frilly and looked almost exactly like a wedding dress from one of MC's former shows, was it Staggered??. CC might have been asked if she wanted input in her wardrobe for S7. I have always liked the outfit she wore when she fainted at the harbor, it was S3E1--yellow cardigan, white blouse and light blue skirt with a small white pattern on it.

I like this forum for the different opinions expressed, but if you object to something, just accept we are all different with different views (I like to hear all views, but respect that the other person sees it different) - it would be a boring world if we were all same-ie.

You are right again, Marchrand. At least, I also spotted that same S3 wedding dress in Staggered. It makes you wonder about the size of their storage closet!

I have always been a supporter of Louisa Glasson and Caroline Catz. My perception of Louisa's reaction to Rachel Timoney was that she was slightly jealous that a slightly younger, pretty woman gained her husband's attention at a time when she felt very vulnerable in her marriage. The fact that he was reacting to her intellect -- much as he did to Edith Montgomery -- exacerbated Louisa's already deep insecurity.

Ms Sarah's reference is one she has used before in the popular culture "Bye Felicia'" or "good riddance."

If you interpret my comments about Caroline Catz's appearance as catty, so be it. I had three brief conversations with her during three days of filming and those were my observations. I have been impressed that many British actors have not followed the Hollywood example of being overly thin, but Caroline Catz, Jessica Ransom (Morwenna) and Robyn Addison (Janice) were very thin. I talked to Morwenna and Janice during the barbecue scene with Al and Penhale. When they removed their coats for the actual filming their shoulder blades protruded and their ribs were evident in the halter tops they wore.

My comment was more of a lament that actors seemed to be following the US example
of thin women in films.

For Caroline Catz's roots and use of face fillers: her children were coming to visit for the end of May bank holiday on one of the days I saw her filming. In our one minute conversation during which her make up was being refreshed, she made a comment that she was very anxious to see her children and laughed that they had aged her. Up close it looked like Catz's hair was dyed and her face is very taut. I am not an expert but I have a practiced eye.

At any rate, I like Caroline Catz in any form. I remain concerned that the writers, first, made Louisa jealous of Rachel Timoney which diminished her efficacy in dealing with Louisa. Second, the writers removed the psychotherapist too soon, just as Martin and Louisa were making progress. I fear that Series 8 will begin with Martin and Louisa in the same quagmire with only themselves to address their issues. With their limited therapy, they could succeed , but I think bringing Timoney back would be helpful. Of course that was foreclosed with her accident causing the breach of patient confidentiality. Unless the Port Wenn Effect operates, Timoney was given a "Bye Felicia" by Louisa at the behest of the writers.

Many many of us said that when Martin lost weight in series 6 that he looked "old" and "gaunt". Some fans totally hated his weight loss. Fact of the matter is that he had been tubby for many years and could use to drop the weight...and is likely more healthy now. Now that the loss has redistributed itself and we're used to the change he seems to look just fine, despite looking "older" in a way.

The people at BP and the writers have a huge task ahead of them. So many fans complained about not liking S5 and S6 that Martin even said in interviews that they were returning to the lighthearted "comedy" aspect of the show. The problem is that since we've seen the dark "drama" aspect, the physical comedy and humor seem like a 180° turn. So you can't please all the people all the time. I dare say, except for the storyline being wrong, if you could pur S7, say, between S2 and S3 it would fit in just fine...except that Martin's personality would be different. It may be that I really don't like broad physical comedy and have never watched the program for that reason, so I tend to dismiss those scenes thinking "Well, some people like this sort of thing".

So, what do viewers want? Do they want the characters to devolve and become what they once were? I sure do not. But that's what some are clamoring for. With these complaint about S7 being a "farce" BP must be thoroughly confused. Let's see what the dreaded S8 comes up with.

I have no knowledge of what CC picked out or didn't pick out. Thanks for sharing that about the wedding dress. I have no opinion about the costumes you mention, and I didn't refer to them at all. I was referring to her vintage dress styled costumes in series 7. I honestly don't see where I was not accepting of other people's opinions.

Oh, dear, I hope you didn't take my post as being critical and not accepting of you. I found out that CC picked out her wedding dress on the docmartinseries7blog site early on when they first started shooting and also that she was a collector of vintage clothing, but not knowing the decade. Just because I liked an outfit from S3 doesn't mean I don't like vintage clothing. I am up in age and was a child in the 40's and saw these dresses, and I do like CC's wardrobe in S7. I hope I nipped this misunderstanding in the bud.
As to the part of my post about accepting other people's opinions, I was generalizing - some posts sounded a little angry to me.

I just hope they can move on from the will they/wont they quagmire and do something entirely different.

The discussion about Clune's and Catz's appearance in regard to age causes me to wonder how they are going to handle series 8 & 9. It seems to me that it would be difficult to continue to portray Louisa as a 38 or 39 year old, even for some one who ages as well as Caroline Catz. Maybe they can shift gears and move the stories 4 or 5 years from where they left of in Series 7. In any case I'll be watching.

Well, what I would like is the show to be light-hearted first and then, sure, throw some pratfalls in. But, don't make a show where DM is dismally upset his wife is in Spain, desperately wants to talk to her, and then have him fall down the stairs, only to follow it with smashing the phone. What they hell is THAT? How can anyone supposed to like a supposedly humorous moment with all the negative, upsetting emotions in that scene? It's fire and water--it doesn't mesh.

I think the humor worked well with DM and Mrs. Tischell. For example, her surprising him in the alley was fun, as Mrs. T was healing and reconnecting with Clive, and so it was lighter and more enjoyable and so some comedy there did work.

Having DM stumble over Bert's tool box; that was okay, I guess. I mean, we know he was miserable in his nasty apartment, but if they want him to stumble over a tool box, well, it's not that incongruent, I suppose.

I just want the emotions of the scene to match the comedy, and not be opposite it.

Mona

I'm not holding out much hope for S8 with comments like S7 being "the best ever."

I've just been on a bit of binge read of past DM posts from this site and others like the docmartinlovers blog. Wow, people have been disturbed about the series direction for a LONG time. Years. The amount of discussion is staggering. I applaud you who are left here who still have ideas to kick around about the show. Anything I have to say seems has already been said... multiple times!

Anyway, here's a trivia question:

Which character did DM speculate was afflicted with the same malady as Ruth in a later episode?

The waiter at the hotel where Edith was going to ravish him....Polyarteritis rheumatica..actually he was room service...

Ding! Winner. (Polymyalgia rheumatica though, I believe.)

Roscarrock. Since the writers like to re-use maladies, who will be the next character to develop Sjogren's Syndrome like Aunt Ruth? Maybe Janice, the nanny, who will be dry eyed at her wedding to Penhale while Joe dissolves in a puddle? Others?