I find myself sympathizing much more with Martin in this episode than with Louisa. She shows up on his doorstep, after being gone for six months, to tell him of their pregnancy. She gives him mere seconds to react and is offended when he doesn’t respond as she expects. We know Martin has limited inter-personal skills and it takes him some time to process certain types of information. We can tell later, once he has been able to understand the situation, that he really does want to help Louisa, but she has already rejected him. If she had been more understanding, their relationship could have become much better, but then we wouldn’t have all the remaining episodes in S4 to develop as they do.

I loved the scene between Martin and Aunt Joan in his surgery as he tells her about Louisa’s pregnancy and she badgers him regarding his responsibilities.

Since there are several serious topics in this episode, the humorous moments and lines are lightly interspersed, but one of the good ones was Mrs Tishell fainting off her stool in the pub, as she sees Louisa return, pregnant.

A disappointing moment for me was near the end of the episode when Martin gives Edith a slight smile. He smiles so seldom in the show, I am disappointed to see one spent on the likes of Edith, a character designed for us to dislike.

I am curious to know if the scene where Mr Strain walks into the sea was filmed at the same time as the rest of this episode. Since it is E2, I would assume the filming would have taken place early in the year’s filming schedule, which could have been as early as April. I would imagine the water and air temperatures would have been pretty cold at that time. I hope there were not many re-takes required or maybe they were able to shoot those particular scenes when the weather was warmer.

As usual, I puzzle over how we are intended to interpret the meaning of the episode title, “Uneasy Lies the Head”. Of course, it could simply apply to the Headmaster, Mr Strain, and his difficulties. To more closely relate it to the full quote “Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown.”, I suppose it could apply to both Martin and Louisa being worried over how to handle the additional responsibilities of a father and mother.

That’s a skillful answer to a diifcfult question