I liked this special episode because I got to learn a little about Louisa and her background. She hasn’t had an easy upbringing either but at least we know her dad loves her. The villagers must think highly of Louisa. Here she is head of the school and trusted with their children while they still don’t trust her father.

Well written interwoven storyline; guns, rare birds and their eggs, Doc investigated by a “friend”, bi-polar schizo crazy patient, explosions, drilling into the baker’s brain, this was a crazy fun and funny episode

This episode was a special treat, being an extra-long bonus story for Series 2. It would be so nice if BP would do something like this again for Series 8 and 9. Eight shows makes for such a short series.

This also was the first episode in which I was aware of a special guest actor. Chris O’Dowd did an excellent job portraying the bipolar Jonathan Crozier.

I know nothing about cinematography, but I wonder if there was a different medium being used for filming this episode. The images did not seem as sharp as in other episodes, especially interior shots. Perhaps it was due to my watching via Acorn or maybe it was simply my imagination, but something seemed different. Of course there was still the beautiful Cornwall scenery, which is one thing many of us love about the show.

There were several entertaining story lines, but I found a lot of humor in two particular plots. One was the interaction between the Doc and Gavin Peters, the “Doctor’s Friend”. The other was the main plot with Martin, Louisa and Pauline being held captive. There were so many great one-liners.

When Gavin encounters Martin on the surgery porch and begins explaining his purpose, the Doc says “Can I just stop you there?” and then walks away and shuts the door on him.
Then, when Gavin comes to his office to explain further and says “I urge you to help me to help you.”
Martin replies: “I’ll get the door.”

There was excellent physical comedy and snappy dialogue especially during the scenes with the captives in the surgery. There are too many to note them all, but some at which I chuckled were as follows:

Jonathan tells Pauline: “Get me some tie-up stuff.” and Louisa adds: “and a gag…for him”, indicating Martin. Then, follows it up with: “Martin, just stop annoying the man with the knife.”

When Gavin Peters shows up in the reception area and Jonathan tells the Doc to go out and send him away, the Doc says “You don’t think he might find it suspicious that I’m strapped to a chair?”

Jonathan: “…or I make a colander out of reception chick.”
Al: “What’s a colander?”
Doc: “It’s a type of sieve.”
Pauline: “It’s bigger than a sieve.”

When Terry Glasson tells Al to repeat the Spanish phrase he is to use when he approaches the ship, Martin and Louisa end up arguing over whether it is “la” paquete or “el” paquete.

It was also interesting re-watching this particular episode after having heard some of the behind-the-scenes interviews. The cast had discussed how respectful and quiet the fans are who come to Port Isaac to watch the filming. However, they mentioned the scene in which Louisa sticks the ice cream cone on Martin’s forehead. Apparently, it took many re-takes to get the cone to stick properly and when it finally did, the crowd roared, which was picked up on the sound track and meant that the scene had to be done again.

It’s like you’re on a miosisn to save me time and money!