She's acting nuttier now than she did before the kidnapping. I don't care for the change in her character. I even thought she was okay when she first returned with the rubber band snapping. But as of the series' ending, it's a toss up as to who was more of a caricature: Penhale or Tishell. At times instead of being funny, they ARE the joke.

As a diversion from all the great analytical posts, one reason my wife and I watch every week is the Cornish setting.
We have holidayed very close to Port Isaac for many years and get a very warm feeling see the familiar scenery.
If the program was more studio based it would lose a lot of its magic.

Me neither - there's nowhere else she can go really. When she pinched the baby, it was because she hadn't taken her drugs - then we had a one-off of her not having taken her drugs again last week, which was just a silly waste of time. I cannot believe she's supposed to be a qualified pharmacist - they have to get some decent A levels and then study a pharmacy course for five years, for goodness' sake - I doubt whether Mrs T could get an O level in walking in a straight line. (And anyone who wears a neck collar for no reason is clearly unhinged, and would never be put in charge of drugs.) My heart sank when she got that letter saying she could be the chief pharmacist again - it was just SO unrealistic and stupid.

Having said that, the deluded Joe Penhale is just as obviously a useless policeman! He should be reporting to a sergeant in a neighbouring town on a regular basis, but we never see this (to the best of my knowledge) - and quite frankly he wouldn't even have made it to Constable. This brainless idiot wouldn't even have got into police training college, let alone finish the course!

To statesidefan - just saw your post. Agree - Mrs T and JP are the jokes now, but jokes are meant to make you laugh - these two just make me groan......

I think Mrs Tishell won't come back and Jenny is here to stay. I am glad because I like Jenny.

I agree that a special aspect of the show is that they don't film it on a sound stage.

Completely agree with these thoughts. I thought the return of ST was especially gratuitous because that led to the marginalization of Jenny, one of only two new regular characters this season. And we also saw the departure of the other one, Mike the manny, last week. I am truly puzzled about what kind of thinking must be behind these decisions, given that this show historically takes a whole season before really developing new characters: look at the differences we have seen in AR and Morwenna this season. This show definitely needs the energy of new characters, so I don't understand what is going on here.

Also agree that laughs have turned into groans; I haven't laughed at anything since E1.
Last edited by Zarwen : 23-10-2013 at 21:26

And I love that he apologizes to the musician later on.

I do so agree having been there myself. I can't watch the show without hearing the sea gulls (whether they are in the sound track or not), feel the presence of the sea (ditto), and know the feel of the pavement as the characters walk. Vacations can be magical times given what we see and hear, but one has never been as magical as the time we spent there. What a pleasure to relive it on the screen but know the real "feel".

Thanks, Mazzieblue! Right, even if something is subconscious or unconscious to a person, a trigger would be helpful if it actually related to what was going on in the person's life at the time. Your idea of a phone call of his dad's death, or a big argument with LG (again), or something along the lines of his wondering "can someone love me?" would have been much easier for viewers and just made more sense.

Yes, sure, Mona is fine. Thanks, Zarwen!

I definitely think we've read and will read better stories about all this than this season played out, (with a little sex thrown in by authors)!

Gotta agree here.

I loved Mrs. T up until E8 when she was just totally out of control. Too bad Lothian, instead of making her more sympathetic to the viewers, made her unbearable instead.

With Penhale, in E2 he is calling the radio show asking how to get people to like him, which touched my heart, actually. He's a good guy deep down just really "off" socially. But, in E8, seeing that he was made a joke of, by telling him it was a fancy dress party, when it wasn't, just to embarrass him, it was one character who did not have any healing or change occur in this season. He started off the season disliked by the villagers, was forced by MC's illness to become an idiotic buffoon, and ended by being humiliated. Quite sad, really.

Full disclosure: Mrs. T is not a favorite character but she has had her moments for me. And I appreciate the work of Selina Cadell doing it.

I thought her reappearance would be interesting and loved how DM and LGE dealt with it. Not so much the interactions with Jennifer. And I guess those alone could be said to foreshadow her eventual lunacy in the last bit of ep 8 with the Caroline crisis, even as we watch her infatuation return before that.

Mrs. T is a sad character for me as she seems to exemplify a person of unfulfilled dreams and yet one who goes after the wrong thing in life trying to fulfill herself.

My biggest question at this point is where can they possibly go with her in the next series? Can they hone her to a finer comedic tune again, useful to the village, or send her off with another more exciting man, or have her falling in love truly with Clive?

Wonder if that tune will be changed on the Acorn version, too?

I appreciated your other remarks but must correct something. Mrs. T. went loony in S5 due to taking a self-prescribed duo of medication that led to her break from reality and kidnapping James Henry.

I found it humorous, yet sad that in S6 she quits taking her heart medicine because she's afraid it will cause her to be shuttled off to the loony farm again. I'm just realizing that bit alone might be cause for Doc to report to the pharmacy board about her. But then he was kind of distracted and then busy in this last episode.

And I am glad after the buffoonery of the wilderness survival, that he got to save the day for the Doc at the airport.

He also apologizes to Louisa in the first episode on the way home from their unconventional honeymoon for the ruined wedding night.
Another frame in the story arc of this season.
Does that indicate his his way downward started at the wedding night. Maybe out of a feeling that he couldn't even get that right?


Good observation!

I thought that the behavior and characterization of Mrs. T in this last episode was qualitatively bad. It seemed to me that a scene or sequence to explain her behavior may have been cut from the script or left on the editor's floor (or computer screen these days). She came across as vague and flaky. I also thought that her part of the "shoot" didn't go well. I couldn't understand what she was saying because the sound was bad and she, Morwenna and Jenny weren't as broad with their movements and gestures for the viewer to clearly know what the dynamic was. I would have reshot the scene if it had been more important. As it was Selina Cadell just ended up looking foolish and insipid. Someone suggested she should start stalking Clive. I don't think her character has much more juice. I like Jennifer, though. I can see her as the town helper, like Joan or a babysitter or as someone who will call a spade a spade. There's some potential there.

Hmmmm...that he didn't deserve her, like AR said? Hmmmm....

Actually, suddenly I'm almost grateful to Margaret to take the clock.
It is high time that someone stops the family heirloom being passed on.

In general, I agree with this. And because there is no obvious, or even really guess-able reason why things should change so drastically, so quickly, the efforts of the creative powers that be to frame (or "gin up" a plot development that will keep up the "will they - won't they" tension even though they have married, are a little more visible than they should be. The plot machinery creaks a little. I appreciate that their solution was ingenious, but it was too obviously a solution to a problem they felt they had.

Three minor areas where I might disagree: In the first episode, Martin's demeanor ranges from very thoughtful to, when glimpsed through the car window as he is arriving at the church, the demeanor of someone arriving at funeral. The trailer that appeared before the 1st episode, was rather downbeat. So, I think they started to prepare the ground even at that point.

Second, four months is probably long enough for at least some honeymoons to be over. Sharing his living space with another person(s) for the first time, in a space that is too small, etc., etc., all the things we have said over and over. I would guess that the adjustment was stressful, and the effects are cumulative.

Third, the beginning of the breakdown, as it was depicted, occurred as Louisa went back to her job ( I still don't understand how long her leave was, but never mind). She then became stressed and tense and more prone to fly off the handle,. This had to add to the stress, and often, stress does bad things to people's emotional/mental well-being.

I and many others can spin out, all day long, psychological theories as to what was happening with Martin. But the point is, that we are only shown these particular stimuli, and his reaction does seem disproportionate, and only explainable in terms of a plot device, never a good thing,.

Sorry folks...just watched...he did NOT reset his watch so the significance of Doc's watch being one minute slower than the antique clock remains.

Report what? Dropped litter?

Oops, sorry about that - I think I got the episodes mixed up! (But anyone who messes with drugs so disastrously should/would not be put in charge of them ever again! The writer dropped a real clunker there.)

I don't mean report incidents, but report in to a superior officer on a regular basis. I'm sure a mere constable wouldn't be allowed to just rattle about on his own with no supervision - he must work for somebody somewhere. (And the police are so bureaucratic these days, he should really be sitting at home writing out hundreds of meaningless forms, so he can achieve his 'targets' come appraisal time! )

Over-analyzing again:
S1E1: DM diagnoses LGs acute glaucoma, and she responds "Are you kidding?"
S6E1: Martin remembers when they first met. Acute glaucoma. "It's a joke, Martin. Very good."

How much can we assume Louisa knows at the end of S6E8? Does she know Martin did the surgery himself?

She must do - amusing bit with the nurse when she says L's husband isn't there but the surgeon is, and L just smiles. And when she says at the end, "Thank you" and "This doesn't change anything". Or perhaps I'm assuming too much? It seemed obvious to me but I could be wrong.

(And he was standing over her gowned up just before the op, and they were talking?)
Last edited by SapphicGrrl : 23-10-2013 at 23:25