Love Doc Martin series-all

This episode had a couple of interesting story lines that I enjoyed…the “impetigo” cases and “the asthmatic woman who tried to deep fry her arm” (to quote Martin in S7), resulting in the Doc being temporary guardian for Peter Cronk. Both included a number of humorous lines.

One of the most memorable quotes for me from this show was Martin’s harangue to Louisa about the “impetigo”.
“What would happen if everyone in Portwenn ignored medical advice? Disease would rampage. Bodies will pile up in the streets, awaiting burial, rats scrabbling through cottages. And in years to come, when archaeologists unearth the ruins of Portwenn, someone will ask the question, ‘How did this unspeakable disaster occur?’ ‘How? ! Because Miss Glasson said!’ ”

And of course, it turned out that the infection was not impetigo at all and that the Doc had actually made a misdiagnosis. Admitting that he made a mistake is really not in his character and I don’t believe he ever quite came out and said that he did.

Also, Louisa takes another opportunity to make a statement that she seems to forget in later series, until she returns to her senses in Series 7. As she is speaking with him about Peter’s choice of video:
L: “You see, 10-year-olds don’t always know what’s best for them.”
M: “I did.”
L: “Yes, but um…you’re a bit different from the rest of us. I’m not saying there is anything wrong with that. I quite like the way you are.”
At the end of the episode, we see verification of another of Louisa’s comments from S1E6, when she was describing both Peter and Martin “…they’re never going to quite fit in…”. Martin is left standing on the steps of the surgery looking down on Louisa’s celebration at the pub, feeling like he would not fit in to join the activity. The writers do a good job of carrying these themes from episode to episode.

However, there was one moment where it seemed to me the continuity was forgotten. Kate has already addressed it elsewhere on her website, but I only just realized on my re-watch that Martin’s bedroom looked totally different in S2E2 from that in S1E6. The walls, headboard, decorations and linens are different. He even sleeps on a different side of the bed, which would seem out of character for someone as rigid with his habits as Martin.

I totally agree with Sue, this episodes is full of references that either look back to series 1, or come back in later series. Like Louisa’s statement about Martin not being completely normal. The poor guy, totally flabbergastered when Louisa stood up without finishing her coffee end left. He had a point though,thinking that she was trying to get an advantage on the other candidates. He probably had to deal with to many heal lickers in London, so he couldn’t imagine that Louisa’s speech was genuine.

I really liked the interview. Louisa mentions her strength, being a good listener, but she misinterprets as much situations as Martin does, simply because she doesn’t ask complementary questions. Instead of ecplaining her approach with the children, she justs lets him know thatshe will deal with the situation. Neither of them is a good listener in my opinion.

What stroke me really, was the fact that we see Danny in the beginning of the show, touching the dog and all. But no zoonosis is stated for him. Would that be a part that has been taken out of the episode because of lack of time, or would it be another example of discontinuity?

Good observations in the above comments. Louisa may be a good listener, but she doesn’t communicate or explain herself very well. Doc and Louisa always leave things unsaid to each other either by jumping to conclusions, interruptions, or just can’t be bothered talking it out.

I like how Doc showed a bit of dark humor when he told the “deaf” boy his head was going to explode and asking Peter if he felt the shot before he gave it. Also the exchange with Louisa about Peters choice of video…
Doc: “He told me it was educational.”
Louisa: “and he just said, virgin’s eyeballs.”
Doc: “That bad?”

I thought it odd that the Doc would cook fish for himself and fish sticks for Peter. Doc strikes me as the kind of person who would not cook processed frozen food, especially when you have fresh so available. Even fresh cooked fish and chips would have been better from Bert!

One interesting aspect to this episode was the recurring theme of villagers who can’t do this or can’t do that because they have to work. This is one of the things Louisa goes on about and it puts a barrier between her and Martin. Are we to see Portwenn as a truly strange place, so unlike the rest of the world where, well, yes, kids get sick and parents have to take days off from work and the parents don’t argue with their doctors as if by complaining “but I have to work”, the doctor will magically say, “Oh, okay, he isn’t sick anymore”? And where else on earth would a school encourage parents to bring sick kids to school where they would have their own separate area with a teaching assistant set aside just for them? Sorry to go off on that tangent, but this has always affected me in an odd way. It’s almost too unbelievable, even for Portwenn. The Doc is right to be concerned about this. After all, in two scenes we see Bobby Richards and Peter Cronk, both afflicted with what was thought to be impetigo, interacting with other students.

I loved the dog, Gremlin. He had such character I loved the noises he made, the grunts and groans. Much of the humor of this episode revolved around him. Doc’s “big doggie basket in the sky” was hilarious. For those who freaked out about Doc wanting to put Buddy to sleep in S7, here’s a previous example of exactly the same thing.

Back to Peter Cronk, I’ve been paying a lot of attention to this original young actor because in S7 the much older version of Peter was portrayed as a quite annoying teenager. I see now that the original Peter had a sweetness to him and soft, gentle-looking eyes, and a soft voice. The older version in S7 had a much more angular appearance, an annoying, nasal voice, and completely different eyes.

I’ve been wondering about Joy Cronk’s asthma attacks that are brought on apparently by stress. I hope there’s someone with medical knowledge doing this rewatch. In fact, just the mere suggestion that something mildly stressful might happen seems to bring on the beginning of an attack. Is this based on medical fact? Can an asthma attack be brought on by stress?

I also wanted to mention that the two interviews with the other candidates for head teach were so funny. “It goes without saying.”

So, I like The Doc as much as the next person…well maybe not just as much, but I’m certainly a fan of the character. When Louisa says in season 1 and 2 that he is a a “bit different” and she likes him that way, I buy that. He is like a square peg trying to fit into a round hole. By season 6 he has changed into a triangle, with much sharper points. He becomes ruder and much more difficult. I would argue that the Doc character changes more drastically than Louisa character and that this is done by design. By s7 Louisa seems to be catching up…she gotten pretty stiff too. Everyone changes, every couple changes. The key to the marriage holding is whether they change together.
My feeling is that the character arcs are cleverly written from 1-7, lets see where 8 goes… I hope they soften up a bit.
I liked this episode for all the Docs funny and sarcastic lines especially with the kids…and I think Cameron’s mom later becomes the babysitter with skin fungus in s5 or 6? Kind of ironic, another nasty skin disease for her to reckon with.

Going full-on English major here: the dog symbolizes messy, human emotions that DM can’t control. Its opposite symbol is the clock. Watch where the dog comes in — always symbolizing DM’s social inadequacy. At the end of this episode, after he has given the dog the penicillin shot, and he is looking down on the party on the beach, the dog slips into the house and the final scene of DM yelling “get out” is his frustration not only with the dog but with himself. He wanted to go join that party.

Probably even more frustrating in that he had witnessed Danny petting the dog at the very beginning.

Series 2 is one of my favourite series and this is one of my favourite episodes.

This episode gives us a glimpse of Martin and Louisa’s parenting styles when acting in loco parentis. By the time they have their own child, they are much more involved. Can you imagine Louisa shooing away James Henry or not noticing that he has left her house. Or Martin giving his child fish fingers or not carefully monitoring his screen time? This was the earlier version of Martin and Louisa, and as others have pointed out, they have changed dramatically — literally and figuratively

I hate what they did to Peter Cronk in series 7, so it was refreshing to see the sweet Peter who was the catalyst for furthering Martin and Louisa’s relationship.

The girl bevy was suitably disrespectful. Poor Martin — so cowled by their very female-ness that he can’t tell them to bugger off when they call him a pervert! Contrast his reaction to that of Al Large who glories in their flirtation.

Trivia from this episode:

– Who was Portwenn’s local GP before Dr. Sim?

– What was the title of the “educational” video Peter Cronk selected to watch?