I don't think the honeymoon ever started. DM wanted to go back to his surgery after the reception until Bert arranged for the married couple to spend an overnight at the lodge. As soon as DM started the fire in the fireplace and they both ran out for some fresh air, that was the end of the honeymoon!!

On your previous post, you mentioned about S6. Well, I liked S6 in its mature writing, the different feel to it, deeper thought about each episode (apart from the one with Penhale, which I think we agreed he stepped in to draw it out when MC was recovering). I am convinced one thing this series is NOT going to give us is contentment of DM-LE relationship. Yet, despite this, I feel their relationship is stronger and more loving--does that make sense? I suspect most of us are looking forward to S7 and where it takes us. I think alot of the appeal of this series is MC the actor, his outdoor image as a real person, and who he is in this role. Also, I like the fact that he gives his wife Philippa alot of credit on a number of ocassions for her smarts and getting him interested in the world of horses and how he can unwind with them.

Thank you so much Mofromco - I, too, am hooked on Martin Clunes. Been watching anything and everything that's he's done - what a great actor he is. But of course Doc Martin is my favorite - don't know how many times I've watched all the Series/Episodes And I agree, great work from the writers/producers - hope they outdo themselves on Series 7.

I enjoyed Penhale's missadventures in the great outdoors. Maybe because I have done a lot of survival courses and outdoor leadership training. Thankgoodness with no guns. Injury accidents happen so quickly and are game changers - a ski accident 2 miles from the highway took bone chilling hours for rescue. Tents flying off mountains, yep, been there. Those new pop up tents fly like kites, hilarious. And that little bunny peeking out from the rocks - I've spent many hours watching wildlife watch me. That was a great piece of fill in work by Penhale charactor.

I know they didn't have a real honeymoon (although we can use our imaginations as to the period after the castle) but I thought perhaps the "two week anniversary" was a marker for things being about to turn darker. Maybe just a coincidence.

I wonder if how one views S6 as a whole doesn't partially depend on how inevitable one views the outcome. I have read now a lot of posts, here and elsewhere, where people feel that in retrospect, of course they couldn't really make their marriage work unless and until Martin had a pretty complete breakdown, hit bottom, and then they could work their way back together on a more solid footing. Or not. That basically, he was just too impaired, and they were just too badly matched, without some kind of crisis forcing them to start over.

It is a real tribute to the power of the writing and acting that people have come to that conclusion. Was it one that was foreseen (by most, not all) of us after the ending of S5? I don't think so. I have my doubts that it was even foreseen by the story's creators, until they realized that a) they couldn't have them continually bickering without going anywhere and b) they needed a fresh infusion of dramatic tension, and what better than breaking them up again, and what better to accomplish that goal than bringing Martin's dysfunctions to the fore?

Owner of Doc Martin Dog Actor Complains: Buddy's Lines Were Chopped!

"London - While John Marquez as PC Penhale got more and more screen time this series, our amazing little dog's scenes ended up on the cutting room floor. I don't understand how such. . ."

Perhaps I am being too literal but I just saw that as another way of Martin's being obtuse and a pain in the arse. He was literally translating the word anniversary , with it's root of "annum" as being the date at which something has existed for one year. Hence, it's not an anniversary then...having been married two weeks. It's things like that that makes one want to smack him and tell him to lighten up. He is as literal as the day is long as perhaps I am too.

Martin was being a PITA Just as he was when Louisa read the article to him from the school newspaper saying how grumpy, gruff and "dis-empathetic" he was. He could not accept responsibility for being grumpy and gruff but had to point out that a 10 year old girl did not know that "dis-empathetic" was not a word. He cannot see his faults but has to point out those of others?

I chalk that up to his "little boy" emotions. That's why S6 going in the direction it did, makes all sense to me. He needs to grow up emotionally as that is where the stunting of his growth is. His body grew, his brain grew, his emotions did not for all the reasons we know. He's psychologically stuck at a young age--which Ruth gets at so laudably in S6.

If Penhale is prime comic relief, then Buddy is the canine relief. I fear his smiling doggy grin, and happy wagging tail, did not fit with the dramatic and depressing turn of events.

New Park. Thank you for your perspective. I agree with so much you said, except that your thoughts are childish or you suffer a character flaw by being caught up in the narrative. How coul you not?

I'm with you, NewPark

On an unrelated note, lgike, welcome to the forum.

I found the first episode of "Doctor Mateo" on YT. Look for the "sister city" (around 6:30)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MoeNOi28jb4

My Spanish is almost nonexistent now, not that it was any good at all, but the adventures of Dr. Mateo Sancristobal and Adriana Pozuelo in the village of San Martín del Sella are very recognizable.

Adios!


Rob

As much as Buddy was spot on in his part in this series, I think BP needs a rethink as to whether a jack russell breed fits in as a stray dog. He ceased being funny and is now just cute. I don't think that is what they want. What they need is another dog along the lines of Dodger - a mongrel or mutt - a dog of unknown ancestry that is not the result of selective breeding - much like alot of the inhabitants of Portwenn! I would love to see a dog with a hound dog expression on his face, now that would be funny.

I completletely agree on your take of the motives of Mummie Dearest. I don't think this woman has other motives than money and her own conveniences.
I also don't think she knew her dear son was married. I suppose she thought him to be so damaged that no woman would touch him, even if he'd be the last man on earth.
So I think she was genuinely shocked to find a wife and kid, dampening her funds.
Boy, was she glad to see Louisa go!

There are quite a few videos from that series online - I watched all I could find about a year ago. I only know a few words of Spanish, but it was fun to try to figure out what was happening. What made it easier was that they used a lot of the stories/plots from the original. But one difference was that Mateo & Adriana were in a relationship for awhile (although off & on) and she lived with him for quite awhile.

I searched all over to try to find a way to purchase DVDs because I figured they would have the option for English subtitles, but only found some obscure sites that I wasn't comfortable purchasing from. Damn!

I think you meant shaggy old Gremlin....just for those who may not figure that out.

I stand corrected. . .and by the way what did you do to my "quote"? I detect some "modifications".

I truly lack the skills to do anything to your quote..I just pushed quote...it must be some internet "demons". I swear I didn't do anything....
I don't even know how to set up a "link" or "cut and paste". Though I'd love to learn.

What does anyone think about the way that Martin and Louisa interacted in S6E1? They seemed to be attracted to each other...talked to each other...joked with each other..ie. a parrot applied to your shoulder or...this is my final warning....this was where they were. What the hell happened to break that relationship down? I don't get it. I know it couldn't stay that way for the series to carry on, but what broke down? Just asking....

Martin's realization that he will never go back to surgery or London.

But he knew that before.

It is more than a bit contrived that a relationship which seemed to have progressed to where they were comfortably intimate (e.g., at the altar where they were only interested in each other, rather even than the ceremony) broke down after their honeymoon of two weeks was over and she headed back to work, where is where E2 picks up. Which is why I think that people are having trouble understanding it.

Still, if I had to guess at the thinking behind the downhill slide (besides, that we have to do something to keep up the interest) it is what I tried to say earlier: The honeymoon, such as it was, is over, and the realities of married life and fatherhood and intense domesticity are finally getting to Martin, I just think that being married has a different weight than cohabitation. And also the fact that, as Zarwen points out, there he is in Portwenn, and a GP, not a surgeon. There comes a point, doesn't there, in all relationships, where the honeymoon is over and there you are in real life, and that's a critical point. I don't think Martin was emotionally equipped to work through this, anxiety was aroused, and not being able to acknowledge it, it got displaced onto the blood phobia's return, and then we were off to the races.

It is when he got queasy from seeing Robert's blood in the vial. It knocked him for a loop because it seemed to come out of nowhere. He keeps it a secret from his wife. Secrets are never good for a relationship. Then the insomnia which worries Louisa. He is in a bad space and then his mother returns and his father is dead.

They imply that his problems are caused by his parents and his upbringing. AR says hemaphobia can be related to a childhood trauma.

Mostly I think he is upset about his phobia because he will never do surgery again. Even though he isn't doing it now, and has no plans to, it is always good for the psyche to feel your life situation is a choice. If there is no blood phobia, Port Wenn is a choice, and he could tuck the surgery in the back of his mind that he might go back to one day. I know there are barriers to him going back (too much time away from it), but it's a possibility, however slight.

Anyway, that is what I attribute it to.

Agree with DCDMFan and I guess my previous post. Although Martin functioned as a GP, he was the GP who had been a surgeon. His entire identity was that of a surgeon. It is not clear from season 6 that he has abandoned the idea of surgery, but by marrying Louisa he has tacitly agreed to remain in Portwenn. That forecloses him from surgery, so he must subsume his entire identity as a surgeon. I think this is an important element in his problem and one season 7 will address

Louisa really hasn't given up much for the marriage -- she happily head teacher in a village she loves. Martin unhappily remains a GP in the village he hates. How could this not be a problem?

Your comments reinforce the problems I have with series 5. On the one hand she says that she will move to London with him and on the other he says he wants "to be here, because of you, because you're here." Even though she left him in series 5, the reconciliation could have included her willingness to return to those plans. I assume that his comments about staying meant he didn't want to go either. That is what we had left when series 6 began. Which one is it, producers? They didn't address the London issue at all in series 6 but they easily could have. I can only assume that London was off the table for both of them - and the producers - by series 6. He didn't bring it up and neither did she. I can only go by the information that is given to me in the plot to understand this issue.