Here's a thought, which is not entirely unrealistic, psychodynamically speaking:

The blood phobia returns actually as a way of NOT facing up to the fact that he has made this decision, and in so doing, sacrificed a lot -- if he now develops a blood phobia, he doesn't have to face up to the implications that he made this decision in order to stay with Louisa, and meanwhile, on other grounds, married life is proving more problematic than he imagined, and it is true, he has given up a LOT more than Louisa has. In other words, he doesn't have to rethink this decision, b/c now he CAN'T go back on it.

Because sometimes we ask...OK, what's the payoff for this particular symptom, behavior, etc.

Well, and it didn't help that Louisa was constantly exasperated by his behavior. She was practically pulling her hair out in every scene. After episode 1, she became cold and frustrated while he became cold and unfeeling. Not until the end of episode 7 and all of episode 8 did they both seem to take stock in what was happening and realize what they were doing to each other. Perhaps series 7 will bring back some of the lightheartedness as they work to fix what went wrong. Maybe the realization that you can't sweat the small stuff because they both know the serious stuff is much bigger. Follows along side the maturity and growth over time for both of these characters as others have pointed out.

Aunt Ruth asked,"You loved being a surgeon?" And "You love Louisa?" Both questions very important in Martin's identity of himself. As a romantic, I have been paying way too much attention to the latter...yay, he does love Louisa....and not so much to the former. The tear in the bathroom stall? A tear of relief, a tear that his wife is fine...yes....but more a tear for HIMSELF. He finally cries a tear for himself that he hasn't cried before. He's crying because of the pain that incidents in his life have caused and hurt him so much.

His resolute gait and determined ness walking out of the hospital is not just to "fix" himself just to get Louisa back (as I was preoccupied with) but as to get help and to help himself become what he can be....which also includes the satisfaction and fulfillment that go with being a skillful surgeon.

NewPark, I so agree with your realistic and true to the story and common sense take on this. But then I guess how it is seen by anyone is through their personal experiences, knowledge, and understanding -- and the ability to fill in the gaps that this story so adeptly gives us.

Having gone through a clinical depression earlier in my life, Martin's downhill slide seems very familiar to me and understandable. It only took 40 years for certain life experiences to come crashing down on me. And many people have had the good fortune never to have experienced depression like that and can't really understand it. So that is my lens for looking at S6 and much of the rest of it. It is also why I hope for some help and good relief for Doc--help is out there, if you're willing and will work at it. I look at the last scene of S6 and hope that tall figure striding toward the door is a man who has developed enough courage to do just that.

I often think it is the best written and acted audience participation story I've ever seen. Or at least the one I enjoy the most. I find I can much more passively watch so much other TV.

Exactly.

Exactly, too.

I really like the idea that one of the things that was going through Louisa's mind as she considered what to do, in the hospital, is the idea that her behavior in their marriage, and the whole situation, was also damaging to him and a major source of his unhappiness. And it must be doubly hard to reflect that not only was he unhappy, but he had given up a lot to be with her.

And if we follow that idea a little farther, perhaps her behavior as she was leaving was more understandable -- that is, she was waiting for him to tell her that how much he wanted her to stay and that whatever was bothering him, it wasn't her. But she didn't hear that.

Yes, yes, YES!!

I look forward to seeing the change in behavior in S7 and hope the writers and actors can do it without completely changing their characters personalities.

I also hope in some way they don't glance past JH's first birthday either. His birth was a major turning point with the story. By 2015 though it will have been how many years (6?) since it actually happened? At this rate, MC will be 80 by the time the kid turns 2!

Another reason for S7 to be the end, I'm afraid. All through the S6 shows I had to listen to my hub bitch,"He's way too old for her." "He looks like her father." "I don't see any reason she'd want to be with HIM." I got really sick of telling him to shut the f*#*k up and told him if he didn't he'd have to leave the room! I can't do that any more. What a pain he can be! So let's get to it!

Neither MC or CC are getting younger. Both have aged quicker than the storylines and it's even more obvious now than it was before. Probably due in part to MC illness. He needs to gain back some weight in order to look normal again. The May/December romance doesn't bother me.

I don't care at all either and I do think he looks much better now than last Spring.....I just couldn't resist complaining about my Kenny and what a pain in the butt he is. I really think he is jealous...and he should be...MC is delicious and I know he smells really good. ( I really don't know...I just imagine I do)

"May/December romance?" They are less than a decade apart off screen, and I think we are meant to assume it is less than that onscreen, based on the info we have been given in past seasons.

Mofromco, does your hubby know that CC is well into her 40's??

I told him that she was 43 (I think that's about right) and that Martin was 52 (for a little bit longer) but he answered back in that mumbly way where you can't understand the words but you know your conversational partner is blowing you off. You know, MC does that very well in his acting! Kenny cracks me up sometimes. It's hardly May-December but it might be getting to be Viagra time.....joking....joking....

Just FYI, MC will not be 52 until the 28th of this month.

You're right, my math....50 in 2011...51 in 2012...52 in 2013...duh....I'll have to make sure to tell Kenny!

As S 6 so clearly demonstrated, there was no need for Viagra in their relationship. Although speaking of husbands, when my husband heard Louisa moon on about Martin's lovely "big head," you can imagine what my husband thought she was talking about......

MC Birthday Party DM Meetup
Saturday, Dec 7, 2013
3pm
O'Connor's Pub and Restaurant (in the heart of Multnomah Village)
7850 S.W. Capitol Hwy
Portland, OR 97219
503.244.1690
http://oconnorsportland.com/

Please let me know if you plan to attend.

Party like Martin, not the Doc!

What is it that caused you to think they were being sexually intimate throughout S6?

I construed that remark to mean no need for Viagra because of the lack of sexual activity.

I've been channel surfing and just found Eileen Atkins on the PBS show Charlie Rose talking about her new Broadway play. Nothing said yet about Doc Martin.

I had to read it a couple of times too before I realized it was a sarcastic remark.

Let's just say by physical appearance, it looks May/Dec even though the age difference on/off screen isn't that much. I think MC illness aged him a bit. If he hadn't been sick, perhaps it wouldn't seem as dramatic. Maybe it was on purpose? The makeup people could have created the illusion of it being more pronounced considering the psychological issues that played out this series.

I know that anything's possible in Portwenn Land, but does anyone feel that it's at all plausible that Martin might be OK with or actually choose living separately (as much as I feel that would be a mistake) until he gets himself together enough to decide that he probably won't screw it up this time?

NP I think Martin would jump at the chance to live separately. But that can't be his ultimate goal. Part of what he has to learn in therapy is that he cannot be in control at all times as he was in surgery and in his neat and tidy pre-Louisa and James days. He can't control the imbeciles in Portwenn, fine he snarls at them. He can't control the hemophobia, fine he stays in Portwenn. He can't control James being a baby and Louisa being a bit messy and scattered, fine he --- no wait a minute he can't do what he has been doing. Shut down, not communicate with Louisa, sink back into his phobia, become a hypochondriac rather than facing his emotional issues. I know we have beaten the Asperger's issue into oblivion, but one marker of the condition is difficulty living in an environment one can't control.

As you say, anything is possible in Portwenn Land. But it would be more interesting if the writers actually worked through Martin's issues rather than glossing over them as they did with the improbable surgery on Louisa.