Kate Kennedy

While the previous episode was one of my least favorite, this is one of my favorites. So many good scenes. One thing that surprised me was noticing so much rude behavior in this episode. Especially in the middle – Bert, Al and the whole pub being rude to Martim, Martin being rude to Peter, Louisa, Roger and Aunt Joan. The villagers being rude gossiping about him on the radio. And then it was all capped off by Martin’s over the top phone call to the radio station.

In the last episode, Melanie said that Martin fancies Miss Glasson. In this episode, Peter asks Louisa if she’s giving up on Doc Martin and then later asks if she loves him. Seems the whole village knows what’s going on long before they’re ready to admit anything.

One thing that struck me rewatching this series (and especially in these last two episodes) is how young both Martin and Louisa look. They don’t yet seem to display the gravitas that we’ve come to see of the village physician and the head teacher. I think the difference is partly to do with time and their aging, but I think there’s more to it. Martin by now has had several years of dealing with the crazy villagers and that has required him to have a firm hand with them. Louisa attained something I’m sure she always dreamed of – head teacher in her little village. But not long after she had to resign when she decided to move to London. She managed to get the position back, but then had a baby and has had a rough time of it with the demands of motherhood and the difficult relationship with Martin. Martin has become a father and is trying to learn how to be a good husband and partner – not to mention sharing his home with a wife and a baby. So, it seems to me that they have both had a lot of difficulty in the last few years that’s necessarily hardened them. Watching them both look so young and innocent is now a little startling. But it’s not unreasonable to me because they have both been through a lot and have lost that innocence they had when they first met.

Finally catching up after a couple of busy weeks. This is one of my least favorite episodes because I just don’t like John. I know he resents “Marty”, but I still don’t like him. But I do love the Melanie storyline.

My observations from the rewatch:

Martin is walking up Fore a Street when Louisa emerges from
Rose Hill with the surfboard. He is a good distance away and there was no reason to call out, “Good morning Louisa!” We should have seen that as a good indication that he really was smitten. And I had forgotten that when Melanie visits him in his office that she says, “Miss Glasson’s a patient. Doesn’t stop you fancying her.” So I guess it’s pretty common knowledge in the village?

And while Melanie is saying that, Martin has told Elaine to put his call on hold but next thing you hear the person on the speaker phone. Boy, Elaine is really not very good at her job. Pauline and Morwenna are both very much upgrades.

Martin’s pooch, Mary, did a credible acting job. This is the first time I noticed while watching that when they appear at the door, Mary is very calm when she sees Martin. Any other dog of his would have been going nuts – or at least wagging the tail. Good job Mary!

When Aunt Joan throws her arms around Martin as they conclude their talk his kitchen, he reluctantly puts his arms around her. But then he sweetly pats her back several times. I found that little move quite endearing.

I’m pretty sure this isn’t common knowledge, but Stephanie Cole actually has a stand-in for part of that last scene when they are standing on the coast watching the ship sail away. Several years ago, a woman who was in one of the FB groups (I can’t remember her name and not sure if she’s still active) told us that she was the stand-in for Stephanie. After studying the scene, I think I know why they may have needed her. The two times she appears are the two shots where we see the two of them standing there and we also see the sailboat with the red sail. I suspect that the day they had the sailboat available to film that Stepanie wasn’t available. So they just made sure they did long shots from behind so we didn’t need to see her face. One of the shots is the final one that fades to the credits.

I loved how Louisa checked him out as he walked away from The Platt after turning down her invite to the dance.

I realized during this viewing, that we see his rudeness to a patient for the first time in this episode. In the previous episodes he was pushed by the patients and they really deserved the rudeness, but the mechanic just couldn’t understand why he couldn’t get an antibiotic because Dr Sim always gave them to him. Martin’s rudeness in describing why he wouldn’t prescribe them seemed a little too harsh.

The first time I saw the episode I caught the significance of Stewart’s line about “If you’re going to be fragile, this is the place to be.” That was a direct reference to Martin’s reason for being in Portwenn. But, as Sue mentioned above, I hadn’t caught the line about how he was affected by smells – and Martin telling him he understood. I think that was really the moment that he decided follow Mark’s advice about using creative solutions. It’s similar to how Martin was reminded about that same thing by Aunt Joan after his first impressions of Joe Penhale.

This is the first episode where we really start to see the attraction between Martin & Louisa. Louisa checking him out as he walks away, Martin looking absolutely bereft thinking that Louisa may start dating Mark, the hurt look on his face when he sees them dancing and then walking away together after dealing with Stewart. And Louisa’s reactions when she realizes he has misunderstood her relationship with Mark. Things are heating up between these two.

A couple of additional things I noticed:

When Martin and Caroline are walking out of the hotel, you can see the Rix house right over their heads across the harbour.

Another callback to the previous episode when twice he responded (to Louisa and Roger) with “Thank you.” This time it was Elaine, “You was rubbish on the radio.” “Thank You.”

Love how he described finishing up his work on the computer, “Check for stray swabs and stitch her up.” Miss surgery much?

Bert was smoking? I don’t remember seeing that again.

Martin’s first meeting with Mrs T is very cordial and professional. He seems to give her the professional courtesy that he feels she deserves, including shaking her hand and apologizing for not visiting sooner. By the time he leaves, he’s figured out that she isn’t quite the professional he was expecting. Interestingly, this is her only appearance in S1. The next time we see her in S2E1, she has moved the chemist to the corner of Middle St and Dolphin St and Louisa is trying to buy out her stock of mouthwash!

Martin prescribes a lot of rehydration salts – we see this all through the years. I had never heard of this remedy, and I can’t think if there is anything here in the US that’s equivalent?

Martin reprises the idea of Daphne du Marier and her connection to Cornwall when he tries to convince the reporter that the water is just fine.

I just noticed something else while working on the trivia page for this episode. Martin shares more with Roger about his parents than he ever does with Louisa – possibly until the day his mother shows up at their doorstep.

In this second episode, Martin tells Roger that his parents are “vile” and that they don’t speak. Does he ever tell Louisa any of this or does she finally figure it out the day Margaret comes to stay with them?

I finally had a chance to sit down today to watch the episode. My thoughts:

Martin looked so proud to be greeting his first patient. Almost like the first day of school, everything bright and shiny.

My biggest laugh of the episode was when Pamela told him the other driver had pumped diesel, he snapped the candy bar into the other driver’s chest, and stomped out.

When Martin and Roger were arguing after Martin ran into his car at the petrol station, you can see the Headlands Hotel in the distance, right between their faces. That hotel, of course, was used as Radio Portwenn, Wilson Hotel and the restaurant where Martin & Edith had dinner.

When Martin & Aunt Ruth are talking at her farm (when he delivers the dog to her) you can see all the way down the coast (past Port Isaac) to the place called “The Rumps”, which is a long way away and a place they have used several times for filming.

I think in the scene where Louisa visits Roger in the hospital she has never looked lovelier.

There was a little parallel exchange in the episode. When Louisa says, “It’s so male.” Martin says, “Thank you.” When Roger says “You are a miserable bugger.” Martin replies, “Thank you.”

• This reply was modified 10 years, 7 months ago by  Kate Kennedy.

While doing the rewatch I’m going to be finishing and updating the trivia pages at PortwennOnline. Here is the completed trivia page for this episode – they will all be pretty extensive so there’s a lot to see. The individual trivia pages (Easter Eggs, Action Martin, etc) are still a work in progress, but I’ll be updating them as I go along.

http://portwennonline.com/TriviaS1E1.html

I was working on the quotes from this episode last night. I grab ones that are either funny or tell us something about the characters or village. One I hadn’t noticed before that I think is supposed to be a double entendre: Martin and Gilbert are walking into the lifeboat house and Martin tells him that he’s found an unrelated case. Gilbert tries to find out who and Martin says, “Young lad. Surfer type. Probably wished too hard for the perfect swell”. Just then they notice Ross and Susan through the window. I can’t believe I never caught the humor in that line.

You’re right. There is a door there, but it’s only been used twice – this time and when Aunt Ruth walks in on the morning of her birthday and Martin is in the consulting room rocking James.

If you look at the outside of the house, that side is right up against the base of the large building next door and completely overgrown.

There were also a couple of times during the years that people walked up to the kitchen door from that direction, but in reality, there’s no “there” there.

I had the same thought when I watched this time. He made assumptions twice that were wrong, so why was he so certain that Bert was to blame? And Bert just accepted his proclamation. I did think it was nice that he never revealed to anyone that Bert was (apparently) behind the whole debacle.

That’s the one Roscarrock. The Rod Stewart song from the wedding is “Sailing”.

Regarding the raincoat – maybe we don’t ever see it again? We’ll have to keep an eye out as we continue the rewatch. If we don’t see it again, that would be a great bit of continuity because he was wearing it when he arrived in Portwenn and maybe lost it for good when it ended up in the trash can at the hospital?

Good catch on the “won’t last five minutes”!

I was thinking about Martin’s personality changes as I watched this episode. I know that MC has talked about making him grumpier after S1, but I think it’s also believable. In this episode we saw that he was often rude and short with people, but we also saw him being a bit more personable. Maybe the reason we will see more grumpiness and less “nice Martin” has to do with his frustration at being stuck in this village filled with nutters. He wants so badly to leave and find a more civilized place, but he can’t bring himself to leave Louisa. That starts right from the end of E1 when he changes his mind about leaving and it’s obvious that Louisa is the reason. Later, when Louisa has moved to London, he does finally make the decision to leave. So, as long as Louisa (and later James) is in Portwenn, he is stuck there because he want to be with her or at least close to her. That makes him grumpier and less interested in being personable.

Absolutely! Are you on the PI/Buckham Fair FB group? Everyone going puts their dates there so hopefully we can have a get together for everyone in PI during those weeks.

Pam – that WAS Mrs Tishell’s pharmacy in S1. There is only one scene in the pharmacy in S1 and that was the location they used (at the corner of Fore St and Back Hill, right across from the school). The only appearance of Mrs Tishell in S1 was E3 (Sh*t Happens). In S2 & S3 the pharmacy had moved to the corner of Middle St and Dolphin St. It finally moved to the spot right by
The Platt in S4.