I really didn't feel sorry for Louisa until she got hit by the car. That scene when she came home and Margaret is at the table CC did a superb job of portraying Louisa as one beat up, defeated woman. But I would have even been more sympathetic had she not been such a witch before.

St. Louisa she ain’t. I see her as a stressed new mother having to raise two children; one new born and the other in his 40/50s. This would seem to me to be a full time job, but on top of this she is running the local primary school. So when she comes home from a hard day’s work she has to deal with two children. Oh that’s right she volunteered for this by getting married and knew what she was getting into so I’m not going to cut her any slack. Really?

Louisa seems to be trying to deal with all of the problems to the best of her ability. We have seen some actions that heretofore would be out of character – her dealing with Bert over the newspaper article, her dealing with the head of the school board, but she is under stress also, not just DM. She seems to recognize DM is having some sort of issues but DM’s lack of communicative skills overwhelms the communicative skills LE has.

My assessment of the problems are 75% DM 15% LE and 10% Port Wenn.
Some may have a slightly different distribution.

I am looking forward to S7 when BP puts a bow on it and we all leave smiling.

Here's an interesting format and view of a S6 review for the DVD.
http://www.dvdverdict.com/reviews/docmartin6.php

Agree with you Lemster. Louisa seems like a shrew because Martin really pushes her buttons. Part of his change is to grow up emotionally. As Ruth told Martin, shape up or leave Louisa in peace

I don't think many people care.

Yes, but I still can't forget what happened the last time he tried to change for her: she found fault with him just for trying! I think DM was on to something when he said, "I don't think you know what you want!" Granted DM is a poor communicator, but LE isn't much better, and I often think that he simply can't do anything to please her.

I totally think you are right. She got better as the series went on when she was gentle with him about his blood phobia, suggesting he go to the psychiatrist, and wanting to go away with him. She focused on his father's death quite a bit.

The Doc gets to redeem his difficult behavior by saving lives and solving the medical crises. Louisa doesn't have that one thing she does well. In series 5 they even took away her professional abilities with the disaster at the school. Therefore we never get to have a moment where we can forgive her and become able to overlook her shortcomings. There hasn't been any hard evidence that she is capable of helping him become a better husband. They were better to her in series 6 than in series 5, but I think they could have shown us a few of her assets.

I liked the way she handled Bert with the school thing! It is only a school newspaper. The meal didn't make the girl sick, and they can put a retraction about that. Bert seemed to like her solution of putting an ad in the next edition. I felt no harm done with that resolution. That was actually a good moment for her IMO.

Another one was her idea of going to Dennis to apologize, only she didn't apologize which seemed odd to me, and she handled the situation as poorly as it was possible. She was probably mad at herself because she blew the chance for the kids to get a new playground. With the subtle clues clues like this, we are forced to read very mild nuances that for me were easily missed. Her recklessness shows that she was beside herself about that.

I suppose you can make a parallel between the construction scene and the school sports day. It was reckless to just run out into the street, and shows that she was totally stressed out. His calling her hysterical was the last straw because of the implications that implies. Doctors especially know that word is one of the most derogatory words you can call a woman. He knew what he was saying and the writers did, too. That was brilliant on their part.

If you are referring about Martin trying to change for Louisa when Holly was hurt and he became "smarmy," that is very different. . Martin was acing nice in a very in unbelievable way and in my opinion he did it to be nasty to Louisa instead of nice. She immediately picked up on his insincerity and asked what was wrong with him.

He did change around James and became at least a halfway good father to him.

Where he has not changed is internally and until he does that he will not UNDERSTAND what Louisa wants. He sees no value in being nice to people because he is so miserable

I think CC has the most difficult role in the entire series from a writing and an acting standpoint. It is important how she comes across in a multitude of different scenes and in different situations as counterpoint to DM's character. The way the audience interprets her character seems to register widely across the board. Do the writers want us to feel sorry for her or do they want us to feel disdain for her? Maybe the audience is like DM in wondering what in the world is going on in her mind, saying one thing but really wanting something else.

She never picks the right approach when confronting him with issues, doesn't go far enough in pushing him, or just grunts in frustration. If they would just show them talking things through more....but then again it wouldn't leave us hanging or wondering either (yawn). Sometimes I wish someone would kidnap both of them, tie them together and force them to TALK to each other! Dump them on a deserted island and force them to work together in order to survive. It's not that there wouldn't be rows, but it might help them see how much they depend on each other to make it through!

We've already seen him admit he can't bear to be without her and that he was wrong about her and leaving her, but we've never heard L say that and in S7 need to hear that from her. The most we've ever gotten was at the end of S6 when she said "thank you for coming after me." Although I guess at the end of S5 she did say that she appreciated hearing the nice words he had to say and that is all she ever wanted to hear from him.

Perhaps we are being set up for Louisa's redemption? She was preparing to leave for Spain...to get away...but she really, really didn't want to go. She was waiting to be asked to stay. Martin clearly has to go seek help because I think Ruth finally got through to him. It was a miracle that he went back to see and apologize to that grubby old folk singer (the medical part of that sequence was incredibly poorly done! Sorry). He knows now....Ruth told him there is something wrong with him and he finally knows. A great moment for Louisa would be HER asking to come home....for her to declare her love for him and to ask forgiveness...I'm sure he will ask her to forgive him.

Oh, just an aside, I don't buy the stressed out part..most of us who have kids and worked full time and had husbands (even difficult ones like me) didn't resort to shrewishness. It's hard...but not impossible. I can only be thankful that it passes and you can come through to the other side intact (or mostly).

That would be a tear-jerker, but M would have to be in the right frame of mind to accept L apologies and she really needs to mean it. Mean what you say woman!

I think they both need to come to the realization they screwed things up and that it wasn't one or the other who did.

Mofromco

I don't think Louisa's shrewish behavior comes from her stress at being a working mother, I think it comes from not being able to get through to Martin.

I'm with Lizzie Force them to talk with each other. Maybe that is why Louisa wanted to go away with him to Spain. She knows they have to have the talk she alluded to 3 series ago when she got him drunk so that they could "talk." They still haven't talked, ye gods, why can't they just talk????????

M never shows fear when treating a patient, but he always seems to dance with fear around Louisa. Not fear in a physical sense, but fear in fearful to open his mouth and express how he feels. Aunt Joan was always good at pushing him to with some luck.

He's fearful because he doesn't think he deserves her. Aunt Ruth got it right. In everyday stuff, he dances around her a lot. Only in dire circumstances, can he move past his fear as we've seen a few times (rescuing the baby, L having the baby, after Holly's accident).

If that was the motive, then why bother expressing concern for Dawn Lamb when LG wasn't even around? It was clear that DM's behavioral changes were triggered by the discussion with AJ the previous evening, when she told him he couldn't change and he insisted he could. You're right about his heart not being in it, but perhaps you are unfamiliar with the expression "Fake it 'til you make it"? He took a first step in the hope of winning her back. I can't believe that nastiness was the motive; if anything, it seemed to me that LG was being nasty to DM.

Sounds like a good plan, but Martin has to explore who HE IS before he can talk to Louisa. His armor is incredibly thick. The challenge for the writers and powers to do this....or not do this without Martin having to change his basic character. No one really wants to see a warm and fuzzy DM so these guys really have a task ahead of them

And that challenge for the writers and producers makes me very excited. Just as we seldom came even close to what we expected to see in this new series, I suspect I'll be equally surprised at what they come up with.

And on that note, on to Prediction #6 review........

I agree that Aunt Ruth did get it right. I wonder if that is part of the reason that he concealed his anxiety about his health/phobia from her -- that if she knew how "weak" and vulnerable he was, she would realize that he in fact did not deserve her.

Meanwhile, I guess we are left to surmise that Louisa believes that his withdrawal and shut down is about his unhappiness with her and their marriage, and that belief is behind her decision to leave him.

But this is the point about which I really have problems with Louisa this series, and what the creative powers that be have done with the plot. (I don't find Louisa "shrewish" -- frustrated and snappish sometimes, but not shrewish.)

It seems inherently implausible that Louisa could believe that in the space of roughly 3 months after the wedding, that her husband could regret their marriage and/or stop loving her. Because that's just not a credible scenario, which Louisa, aside from the necessity of the plot, would have recognized.

But leaving aside whether or not it's plausible, if that's what we are meant to believe, it suggests that we also have to think that Louisa is either remarkably insecure, or very self-centered (because in fact, it's not always about her, contrary to this belief) or both. And that really doesn't fit with the way that Louisa has been presented prior to this.

And what I really have problems with, is that she flips from wanting to go away with him for a long weekend, trying to console him and get him to open up, right to "I'm outta here. With your son. " Surely, there's a middle ground before she bails -- namely, a conversation where she tells him that they cannot continue like this, that he has to share with her what the problem is -- either decide that it can be fixed or not, but unless he can begin to open up to her, she'll have to think seriously about whether they can stay together. As shaken and contrite as he was after the accident, I think that might have begun a process that ultimately would have brought them to a better place.

But the fact is that she did not do that -- that she made a unilateral decision, without any further input from him, based largely on a misjudgment (apparently) of what was going on with him, on a matter that affected them both, deeply. Shrewishness or not -- that's a minor issue to me. The impulsive decision basically to take their son and abandon her husband in the midst of a breakdown (hateful Margaret had it right in this instance) is what I fault her for. And I don't like that they made Louisa into someone who would do this.

I know this is awfully censorious and judgmental of me, and actually, I feel bad about that, but that's how I've been feeling about Louisa, so I thought I would just get it off my chest!

NewPark--OK -- maybe we need a prediction for Mrs. T. Will she show up as a chemist again, at some later point in the series, having somewhat recovered from her bout of Doc Martinitis? Or has she vanished for good into the same limbo as Pauline? My bet is on the latter. (I agree with everyone that she's a wonderful comedic actress, but I think they've wrung just about everything they could from that character and time to freshen up the cast a bit.) 1262

SusieSagitarius--I think Mrs. T will be back as the Telegraph article's last line said all regular cast members would be returning. I do think there is a possibility of fresh story still there with her. 1302

Adelie Manchot --She still owns the shop but I suspect she can no longer be a chemist due to her self medicating and going Bodmin, thus the new chemist. So my guess is that she may appear occasionally to check up on her business while the new chemist essentially runs the place.

largenincharge --They will mention the Tishells, maybe more than once throughout the series, but we won't see Sally again 1385

Golly gee, Honorable Mention to Me and Adelie!

Thanks for playin', folks. It's been fun for me to look back at these.

I want to see the old crusty DM but perhaps a more relaxed and warm ME. He has shown that side to his son but not his wife. It may help bring out the more gentle and compassionate LE.

When you study what was going on with her leaving,it was largely a posturing..waiting for him to ask her to stay. He is so oblivious and self flagellating that he would never know that. This man views himself as detritus..never deserving what he has...a gorgeous wife, a fine and healthy son...he most certainly viewed her leaving as, "well, it was going to end up that way anyway, because I am involved" Perhaps Louisa doesn't understand how low his self esteem is. I thought her attempt to leave was half assed at best. That "decision to go" was so wishy washy.

When Martin became smarmy first with Dawn Lamb and then with Holly, he was about as sincere as Adrian Pitts. Not sure if it was being nasty to Louisa, but it was certainly duplicitous. You scold me and I'll pretend to be nice, but I don't mean it and you can't make me mean it.

He was acting like a bratty little kid, which in some ways, fits perfectly. As MC said in an interview on Alan Titchmarsh...a lot of the frowning and fussing comes from that dysfunctional little boy persona. It's perfect. When he went to see Aunt Ruth he had an absolute childish persona...even to the way he sat, with his legs straight out in front of him as a small child might do. The portrayal of the persona was perfect...as MC has been known to do.

Also, I didn't get the feeling that she intended to leave forever. She had just had her husband humiliate her in front of the students and her colleagues, and had just gotten hit by a car. We see that she is holding out hope that he will ask her to stay.

She is an enigma wrapped in a riddle. I am still holding out hope that she will do something remarkable in series 7. The character deserves it after all these years.