Latest / Podcast Portwenn: Doc Martin & Best Medicine / Best Medicine S1E10 Port Wenn-ings ... | Did Martin and Louisa seal the deal? | Fan Deep Dive
Transcript
- Chesla Wechsler: We're just about to move into the Doc Martin spoiled section of this ⁓ episode. So if you are a Medicine Only person, this is where you would want to bail. I don't want you to be spoiled by some things going to be and believe me, there are many, many Doc Martin things to discuss from this episode. So thank you for viewing. Please sign off now if you don't want to be spoiled. This is your final warning. Okay, fresh off watching Port Wenn-ings and a Funeral, episode 10 of Best Medicine. I'm joined by Chris in person again. welcome back to Podcast Portwenn. Yeah. Nice to see you in person again. Yep. Good to have you here. So I know when I was watching the trailer, I had a whole bunch of plot arcs in my mind, like the birds when we saw a bird watching. When I saw older sisters, I was thinking of Janet and Beth Sawle. What about the arsenic? Yeah, in the original Doc Martin. Yeah, a neighbor of... Aunt Ruth steals her hubcaps. And she to find out about that. his mother is actually having problems. She thinks her is trying to kill her. And it is traced back to the wallpaper, green wallpaper, in her house. And her house has a leak. Peter Cronk with all of his, potentially misdiagnosed problems. I'm thinking his spleen. He needs a surgery. So that was pretty much what was coming to my mind on the trailer. But, we saw even more than that. What'd you think of the episode? Oh, the episode I thought was very good. I think they're getting better and better. I agree. It's hard to get better than the ninth episode with Martin Clunes, but... and her son is trying to patch it up and is the wallpaper and eventually, yes. I think he's just stripping it in the original. It's of the projects that he starts that he never finishes. Whereas in this one there's a leak. And disturbing the his getting exposed to arsenic and is going off the deep end. She seems very paranoid. This was pretty good. think characterizations are pretty good. Right, well that's one of the of her arsenic exposure. But that, ⁓ don't have paranoia. Well, she's becoming unbalanced. certainly right? Yeah, her mental processing is not working well. They hint some poisoning. The storylines are good. ⁓ very similar in some to Doc Martin. But I think characterization of the people, I think is good. And they did have a times in the episode where they did have the whole village gathering together. But. Now, do they do blood tests? I don't remember. Well, they do. think so. Well, it sounds like they did a blood test in Best Medicine. That's how we found out about the arsenic. Right, right. But it wasn't... I mean, it seems like in Best Medicine, I thought they were hinting at poisoning. That seemed okay. I mean, it's somebody's funeral. So ⁓ it's, well, she died and they have to do this. ⁓ Well, were hinting at poisoning, but ⁓ we were expecting ⁓ bad mushrooms. We were expecting bad mushrooms until we bump into... What's the dude with the gun in the forest? Clark, is it? Clark. Clark Flanagan. Yeah. Clark Flanagan. Okay. Right. And he's been their groundskeeper. it seems like he is potentially... ⁓ It was not pre-scheduled. seems to arise from the people inside, ⁓ the village. ⁓ hopes this is not an annual event to have someone throw themselves off a cliff. When the birds come. The the birds. So yeah, that. Yeah, that worked. ⁓ And we have the second kiss of... ⁓ chesla: Here to discuss Port Wenn-ings And A Funeral, episode 10 of Best Medicine from the unspoiled by Doc Martin perspective are Erica and Patty. Welcome back to Podcast Portwenn. Chesla Wechsler: getting ready to got a motive, right? Yeah, take over. He wants the mansion. He's in the will. Yeah. So maybe he's popping off these sisters. Yeah. patty: Hi everybody. chesla: Good to see you. So Patty, since you've been out for a while, I'm just gonna like simulate the lunch table conversation here and say, hey, did you watch Best Medicine last night? All right. So tell me. patty: I did. Actually, I watched it today, but yes. Chesla Wechsler: Martin and Louisa. Ah, right, right. This was a much more passionate kiss. Yes, yes. And it was him to her. Him to her. And she gave right back. Yes, she did. And poor Mark got to watch. Yeah, that's too bad. Poor Mark, yes. Poor Mark. Which of course, you know, Mark had a thing for Louisa in Doc Martin. Yes. I think he thought... patty: What did I think? Okay, the long awaited to kiss. Let's see. Okay, Chesla Wechsler: He knew in Doc Martin that he didn't have a chance, whereas this Mark actually had eight years of a chance. don't know how he had a chance if he thought his goldfish ran off and joined the band. Anyway. He a little strange after seeing Martin and Louisa kiss, but that could put you in shock. Kind of hoping that style ⁓ changes over time, you know, creative choices and all. Much better than the first couple of Yes, yes, yes. When he was in his hurt and macho phase and all that. yeah, this is a Mark that I can live with. Anyway, different plot. Well, yeah, but there is the the arsenic plot. patty: In some ways, I was actually surprised with Kiss. I thought they might drag it out longer. Yeah, there were definitely some funny moments. It was fun guessing what was gonna be the thing that caused the behavior. Was it gonna be something in the tea? Was it gonna be, I thought of mold and that was close because it was something with the wallpaper. And when they showed the wallpaper, I said, oh, that looks like mold. That's definitely it. And then that wasn't quite it. Chesla Wechsler: we see Agnes and Millicent Cloofe. The first thing I thought of, actually even with the trailer, when I saw Agnes Cloofe and she was kind of making her move on Martin, was thinking of, is it Carrie Wilson? The Wilson Hotel lady with the dog that Martin runs over? But she was way too old for it, but I just was thinking, old lady, know, pillar of town, like somebody well known in the town, ⁓ rich lady. chesla: Right. ⁓ because it was green? patty: Yeah, that wasn't quite it, yeah, so that was kind of interesting. guess we, you know, he's told... Chesla Wechsler: That might have been what they were riffing on. But then I really am convinced that were giving the Janet and Beth Sawle a little hat tip. Not the plot that we're used to where Janet is experimenting on Beth. The old bat. Well, she's a spooky old bat in the original. She's a crazy old bat in this one. So that was a reference. But the plot line different. Right? But what about the arsenic? patty: Louisa now about the blood thing, but we still don't really know exactly, if was this way all the time, because I still wonder, you how could he ever have been a surgeon if he's that bad? Because I'm super great with blood, but I can handle looking at a when I get a blood test, I can look at that and I don't faint. It's if I saw a ruptured spleen, I might have some with it, ⁓ yeah. chesla: Right. bright. Right. Right. Yeah. patty: And I too thought the kid was, you I wouldn't have taken his symptoms seriously either, that boy who cried wolf thing. So yeah, I thinking myself, because earlier on I kind of complained that is this going to be formulaic where, Chesla Wechsler: So, you know, we have the Peter Cronk arc, which is a huge thing in this, right? Right. Right. Right. So when Peter ⁓ starts diagnosing himself with all these strange things and patty: You know, he gets, the doctor gets misunderstood and everybody's ganging up on him and then he saves the day so everybody has to be nicer. This one wasn't quite like that. ⁓ So that was kind of nice because I don't think I want the same thing week after week after week. chesla: Right. Chesla Wechsler: But Martin says, you're just a hypochondriac, which he kind of is. And then, but I have this and I have that and I have this other thing. And then ⁓ he starts to get to the symptoms of his ⁓ spleen problem, yeah, says, well, ⁓ my is kind of orange or ⁓ it's And Martin says, well, yeah, he's just thinking he's coming up with more and more of same things. It's just part of what he's been doing. He doesn't really seriously. chesla: I mean, we did end up with sort of a community gathering, but it was a funeral. These things happen. So to me, that's okay because it's not like they don't schedule a person to take a flyer off the cliff with the bird migration every year. So it's not a townwide thing, right? patty: Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it's not it. A funeral is quote, a quote normal thing, not some quirky thing that this weird town dreamt up. So, yeah. Chesla Wechsler: I thought it funny that the... Aunt Sarah thought the house was going to be left to her and left to Clark and you think maybe he is poisoning them. Right, so he could get the house. So you kind of have that poisoning plot line. And he's not doing it, which is like the son of... Right, true. he doesn't want the house anyway. Right, what's he going to do with it? ⁓ falling down. chesla: Right. Yeah, so it wasn't as formulaic because it was an organically occurring thing. Chesla Wechsler: pay much attention with regard to that in front of the house Peter is lying down and Clark says he was never in the house. Right. So those symptoms can't come from the house can't be part of the arsenic poison. Right. And then he starts to put it together pain in the left shoulder and patty: Yeah. Yeah, but we've talked before about the couple that owns the Salty Breeze, and I'm still not super excited. I like the one a little better than the other, but I still feel like they're a little too stereotyped and don't know. chesla: Mm-hmm. Chesla Wechsler: one thing that I didn't see this one that we saw in original was I think Martin Ellingham tells Louisa of the whole cause of his blood phobia. yes. Right. Right. seeing the patient, understanding that it was actually somebody's ⁓ We see Martin and Louisa making a very awkward date. Yes. Well, and that harkens back to Louisa and Martin Ellingham being awkward several times. chesla: I don't think you've had the opportunity to look at all the podcasts. You've looked at all the episodes, right? Chesla Wechsler: pain in the abdomen and then he puts it together as, ⁓ this could be a spleen problem. then he starts to take Peter seriously ⁓ realizes that he needs to get to the hospital. Yeah, and Martin, he never had the benefit, like in Doc Martin, of there had been an accident that they knew about. Right. Yeah. patty: No, I have seen all the episodes. I'm caught up on the episodes. chesla: Yeah, yeah, so my take has been I really like George and I think Greg is something of a primadonna But, But I definitely like George better. How about you, Erica? We just sat down at the lunch table and what did you think of the episode? Chesla Wechsler: somebody's wife, that there's a family involved. And was the thing that ⁓ prevented from ⁓ operating. And sort of froze him up. Yeah. ⁓ Yeah, right. that's sort of an explanation, a hint of why, of what's on inside Martin Ellingham. Right. That's all we ever get in the whole series. Right. That's... Are they going to do something? I would say there's much more realistic awkwardness in Doc Martin. I agree. Yeah. Completely agree. And that kind of like is my, I always feel like Doc Martin is a documentary of real people, whereas Best Medicine is a sitcom. So we're watching a TV show. So that was very awkward, but, then Peter gets foisted upon them, which is a plot arc, right? Peter getting foisted upon patty: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. erica2aligned: I like the episode. I was a little bit nervous when Agnes came on and I thought, my God, another character that's just so out there and overdone. not that I'm happy that she jumped off a cliff. But was happy to realize it was not writing or scripting. was more obviously the arsenic ⁓ in the Chesla Wechsler: And then ⁓ obviously have to get Peter to the hospital right away and then as they're trying to drag Millicent Cloofe away she says no I can't go and runs back to the house and ⁓ into Peter who ⁓ flying onto the ground and probably ruptures his spleen. And then we have to take him to the hospital in the ambulance. That's as much as you get. And in this one, Well, I guess I'm still a skeptic ⁓ that we know the root cause of Martin Best's. Has to do with his sister. Right. mean, we or his sister being killed and we know why he couldn't operate. it's because operating on somebody who was basically same age as his sister was with the same problem. He takes him to Louisa and then then he escapes from Louisa's ends up at Martin's. Hmm. So there's there's a similarity there ⁓ I didn't even think of that until this now. Yeah, The golden-winged warbler is a replacement the chough. Right the choughs. but we didn't have chesla: Mm-hmm. erica2aligned: kind of like went back to that initial frustration and you know, I got on board. So I got back on board with the episode. thought it was interesting ⁓ if anybody ⁓ listened to the podcast from last week's episode, I did mention what was gonna happen with Mark calling Martin his bud all the time and increasingly so. Chesla Wechsler: There's an EMT is not really that useful as an EMT. He's a trainee. He's a trainee. But they do take him in ⁓ or do travel with him. And then Peter's blood pressure drops. that's ⁓ part and of this is they don't have the benefit of the accident. throw themselves willingly off of cliff. No, but somebody did go over the cliffs but survived. we know his name? it the baker? Was it Mike? Could be. I remember if it was Mike, but I think it was the baker. And the chough eggs were valuable. Right. lot of blood. But we don't know, it just the presence of the blood of the surgery that needed to be done then that gives him a blood phobia? Like we don't know how things go from, I froze because this is similar, to now I can't stand blood at all. we didn't get that explanation in Doc Martin either. erica2aligned: and he's gonna eventually find out that there's this thing happening with Louisa and Martin. I predicted it, I knew it was gonna happen, that there was gonna be some kind of fallout that. I'm interested to seeing how they're gonna play that. they kinda just, he walked away at this moment back into the hospital, but ⁓ I think next episode we might see something. ⁓ Chesla Wechsler: But Martin Best kind of misses things, but it's because it's buried in the hypochondria or the self-diagnosis from the internet. Martin Ellingham knows about the accident, but he did get sent to the hospital. He did have tests, but they only did rib cage, like bone things. he puts it together. I'll never forget seeing one of those behind the scenes Doc Martin things where Martin Clunes is actually rappelling down that cliff. Really? Yeah. Woo! Yeah, so doing his own stunts. Well done. then he drills the hole. Right. Right. So. For the... Wait second. Brain bleed. Yeah, so the Chough Birds is the same. It's On The Edge. ⁓ It's ninth episode of season two. Maybe we'll get more of an explanation here. I suspect we will. Maybe. based on the left shoulder and the abdomen and immediately jumps to this is probably your spleen, finds out from his mom, yes it is the spleen and you know they want to fly them, there's no air ambulance available, it's going to take 45 minutes to be there, similar to the EMT here, no 30 minutes I think, 45 and best. it's a long time and there's not enough time. So the BP drops. chesla: And we have to, that has to be followed up on. erica2aligned: Yeah. And I that Elaine Martin were like working on his IV stuff trying, like he's trying. And then in the ambulance, it was Louisa that kept him together. I ⁓ will say I my eyes a lot during this episode because I hate needles going through skin. So that was a tough one for me. But I get the concepts. I know what happened. chesla: Yeah Chesla Wechsler: Because it has one of my favorite scenes in it where Jonathan, he's got the gun. Oh! You know what I'm thinking of? Yeah. So he comes out and Gilbert Spencer's there. And so he's the Colonel, right? And it's like, the Colonel, the Baker, don't you people have names? Anyway, great scene. substantial difference between Martin Best and Martin Ellingham. Best, as he's confronted with this, he's much more human. He's aware that he may vomit and try and make arrangements for that. But ⁓ his for the surgery, he looks. chesla: Mm-hmm. patty: That's funny. I can watch that. Yeah, I can watch that. But if I had seen the blood splurting from the spleen, that would have been too much for me. So everybody's got their thing. erica2aligned: So I. That, yeah, that I handled, that was fine, but the needles I didn't love. But I thought it was great that Louisa brought him through that whole surgery and she kept him together and he did it. So major progress. patty: It's funny. Chesla Wechsler: Like he's stealing himself up for this. knows what he has to do, he knows what to do. Of he has the blood problem, which he's not sure how to deal with ⁓ yet. he's himself up for that. So Martin Ellingham though, he's got ice water. chesla: Major progress. And we saw her in the closet with him last week, sort of, Martin focus on me, right? So she seems like she's going to be a cheerleader for him. patty: Yeah, that scene I thought was pretty realistic. It just seemed believable. And I have a high bar for that, so. ⁓ Chesla Wechsler: I don't really agree with that. I mean, Martin Best passes out with blood. He has a much worse problem with blood ⁓ Martin Ellingham has at this stage ⁓ the game. This is the end of season one. All So he is vomiting. He's not passing out. He doesn't pass out for seasons. So they both are like, okay, they now they have to do surgery. So... ⁓ chesla: Right. Now are you talking about the scene in the closet from last week or the s- patty: No, not the closet. Well, maybe that too, but I meant more in the ambulance. The way she was helping him didn't seem contrived. It seemed believable to me. Chesla Wechsler: Martin Best is like, I may vomit, which is interesting because I don't know if we see him do a lot of vomiting. We see him more passing out than anything. But we got Louisa doing this whole thing about getting him a bag and all this other stuff. Whereas Martin Ellingham is just after he gets the blade and he's stealing himself, he's like taking a breath and he's like, I may vomit. But then he just goes for it. So like, Louisa's not helping at all. Louisa's an observer here. Yeah, in chesla: what do you of Peter Cronk? patty: He fooled me, I thought he was, it was definitely, the boy who cried wolf and, you know, some of the things that he looked up were kind of ridiculous. think, that kid's really smart. So when they got to the one where it's an ectopic pregnancy, come on, he's like 11, 12 years old, he knows he can't get pregnant, but in general, chesla: Mm-hmm. All right. patty: Yeah, they fooled me that he was ⁓ really sick. And when the caretaker said, hey, he didn't go in the house, he wasn't exposed to that, and ⁓ been like this all day, I was like, ⁓ wow. ⁓ Chesla Wechsler: Best Medicine, Louisa is a much more active participant they're making her a much more concerned person. So she is aware ⁓ Martin's problem and chesla: Mm-hmm. Yeah, we got something else going on here. What about you, Erica? Chesla Wechsler: does what she can to help him deal with it. So, even as his fingers are inside Peter Cronk's body to try and help with the spleen, artery, she's telling him to look at me, just trying to Because he's like fading. Yeah, right. Whereas Martin Ellingham's not fading. He's competent, he's able to do it, he's just hoping he doesn't throw up. Right. But the two of them did have to steel themselves for doing it. You could tell the lead-up was erica2aligned: Yeah, I thought he was a hypochondriac at first. When they were up on the top of the mountain though and he came out and said his pee looked brown, I caught on that there was definitely something ⁓ to this story. I thought that at first, maybe not even a hypochondriac so much as just ⁓ seems to really have an affection for the doctor. And I thought perhaps he was trying to find something that the doctor and him could connect on and focus, you know, being care of or paid attention to. Chesla Wechsler: was like, oh God, I'm gonna have to do the surgery. Like, I really don't wanna have to do this, but I'm gonna have to do it to save this kid. Yeah. It shows through more in Martin Best. Because he's got a worse problem at this point, I think. But you can sort of see him sort of stealing himself. It's more apparent. It's more physically outside. erica2aligned: But once they got up to the top and he said that about his brown urine and I knew there was more to the story And I was just waiting for it to unfold Yeah, I feel bad chesla: Yeah. I mean, they did get a little, they got a little distracted there when Agnes takes a flyer off the cliff. I was very glad that Peter was behind the tree at the time, you know? erica2aligned: Yeah, I loved when said to Elaine, ⁓ believe the sister, Agnes' sister was in the house, and he says to Elaine, and he did this like thing with his fingers where he was walking and like jumped off the cliff. Chesla Wechsler: just you can see on his face. He ⁓ has more Yeah. So Martin very little ⁓ And thing I noticed was different, or two things actually, there's so many plot arcs in Best Medicine that they mix up from all sorts of different seasons, right? They do. In ⁓ Doc Martin, ⁓ chesla: I thought that was very effectively done. erica2aligned: Right, instead of saying it out loud. chesla: The two women, I thought, were pretty convincing in a way. You know, for a sitcom, like for a sitcom, I thought they did a very good job of being batty. Chesla Wechsler: This episode has had the development of Peter Cronk as a character who gets picked on in school and who Louisa, you can tell one of her favorite students. She's favorite teacher. ⁓ she him, if they tease you, you have to laugh and then you can be one of them. And you really get this parallel, right? That ⁓ the of the world and the Peters of the world are very similar and she's partial to them. chesla: following their little birds around and stuff. you knew something was up right off the bat when she calls Martin Dr. Reese. So you're thinking, like a dementia aspect or something. patty: Right, right, but I just thought it could be a dementia. But the thing that I found surprising was They came, to me they came across as batty but not particularly mean or demanding. And so to hear Sarah's story about how they treated her and expected this, and the other from her and didn't remember her in their will and everything didn't seem to jive with, you know, otherwise just being batty. Chesla Wechsler: They've used the whole episode as an opportunity to do character development amongst Martin and Louisa by introducing this Peter Cronk guy who's the bullied kid. So you start getting more of that. Whereas in Best Medicine, you've got the arsenic thing. You've got like all these different plot arcs. You know, the Beth Sawle and Janet Sawle nods and all that. Well, you can still tell that in Best Medicine, Peter Cronk is still a... chesla: Yeah, and spitting the omelet like she didn't like the omelet so she spit it into her hair. patty: Yeah, that's, that's. And I'm like, why did you go back? know it's a small town, but boundaries chesla: Sarah seemed genuinely pleased that there was going to be a finite amount of time between how longer she, because it seems like she was gonna, I guess she wasn't going to bother taking care of Millicent because she said starvation ought to in by Christmas. patty: Yeah. Chesla Wechsler: She kissed him first a couple weeks ago. favorite student of Louisa. she knows that he's very bright. And knows he's bright too because we've seen Peter far more in Best Medicine than we've seen. And we have in Doc Martin, we've got the whole Adrian Pitts angle. also you've Louisa defending Martin. And you do see her, this is the first time that he's performed surgery the show. When she won the blueberry thing, she's obviously interested that was a very comparatively quick... Well, he wasn't ready for it. This one certainly extended certainly Mark got to see a lot of that. And, you know, they leading up to it because they kind of... Yeah. They were gonna sort of have a date with the bird watching. Right. patty: Yeah, I thought that was a little inconsistent because it seemed like if she's not going to go back there and take care of her, why does she care what happens to her? She could last forever or not. it seemed like, ⁓ chesla: Probably guilty conscience. Chesla Wechsler: And this is really when you see Louisa kind of get that initial, this guy's medical prowess is amazing. And she starts with, you you did something very special today. And then she goes in and she reams Adrian Pitts. he's 10 times the man you'll ever be. So you're starting to see this and attraction by the medical prowess. They weren't going to go to special lengths to prepare anything and yet she made meatloaf, he made fresh squeezed lemonade, which we find out after the But we find that out before this, so you know they're both kind of going out. And they did say they were going to have a real date and then that's when all this stuff started happening. So stage was set. I they're indicating interest. What the heck is he doing? Why is he backing off? The attraction in Best Medicine sort of been alluded to in the past couple episodes. we're starting to see that has definitely some attraction ⁓ ⁓ ⁓ Martin's attraction for Louisa ⁓ there as well. And we saw that in the whole first season of Doc Martin too. And of course, I mean... Maybe he doesn't want to take advantage of her. extraordinary situations. He wants a little bit of cooler to prevail. But don't say, we'll laugh it off. I'm sure that's what we both want. I mean, very inartfully if that was his intention, was to just say it was the adrenaline. mean, he could start with that like... chesla: Patty was just about how it was inconsistent to see the Cloofe sisters, who seemed like, you know, nice, although delusional, ended up being so mean to Aunt Sarah. Chesla Wechsler: In Doc Martin, you just get the... He blows it with medical stuff, right? Yes. So, I mean, we were cheering in that scene in the cab where his hand is moving over and then we're like, and he moves back and you're like, come on, come on, And then he touches her and then bam, like there's an opening and bam, she's in. And then he her Yeah, she kisses him, he kisses her. And in Best Medicine, flip that. Right. So... EricaPortrait: Yeah, I thought that was interesting. I don't really understand because it sounds like Aunt Sarah did a lot for them. And yet the groundskeeper did take care of the grounds, but didn't seem to take care of them individually and personally. So I don't know if we'll touch more on why. What was that? Chesla Wechsler: It's been a long night. Yeah. patty: Yeah. Chesla Wechsler: I think it's his reticence to get close to anybody. patty: He didn't seem to like them either. I'm sorry, he didn't seem to like them either. said that woman's crazy. He wasn't sure if it was just the poison ⁓ if they were to him and he just didn't go on and on about it like Aunt Sarah did. Chesla Wechsler: Could be. don't know. Because he does say something in the very first episode about when Louisa says something about her heart being broken and he says something like, like I don't have any experience with that or something, but maybe he does. Maybe he doesn't want a broken heart. Maybe he doesn't feel worthy of her or something. I don't know. We're just theorizing. Or that he doesn't think that, well, as I said, that she's that interested in He's got to know. He's not that clueless. Martin's at the end of this, sitting in the ambulance, a breath. Louisa comes over. He's saying he's upset that he didn't recognize these symptoms sooner. And saying, well, you just saved his life. ⁓ And these other things that could have distracted you and know you came right through. And ⁓ he realizes she is a supporter. ⁓ her. chesla: Yeah, I'm not sure. EricaPortrait: Right, I'd be interested to see about Aunt Sarah there's more to it. I she's such a giving person. I can't imagine she would allow these two women to take that kind of advantage of her, but at the same time be so upset about the whole thing happening. I don't know. Chesla Wechsler: Or that maybe he doesn't feel, as you said, worthy of her. then sort pulls back and then she kisses him. ⁓ So that's okay a little flipping of how things go because in Best Medicine That's right when the ambulance gets there. So the surgery hasn't been done Peter Cronk just they know he's gonna be okay Whereas in Doc you don't know he's gonna be okay and the surgery has to happen. It's not until they're on the cab on the way home that their chemistry really ⁓ chesla: I Chesla Wechsler: I gotta admit, the tea me think of Eleanor Glasson with her little or and the stuff getting into James Henry's bottle. The fact that was all natural. Because right off the bat, I thought there's something in that tea. But it ends up was nothing in the tea. Right, right. Besides mushrooms. Right, which were non-hallucinogenic, they were fine. But they were certainly teasing the whole time that there's something those. chemistryreally hits. chesla: Yeah, I it seemed like, I mean, I could Aunt Sarah continuing to do things for people. Chesla Wechsler: So poor Martin is an idiot , Martin Ellingham, and gets himself kicked out of the cab. Yes. What the hell with Martin Best? Well the best explanation is he's they walk home We do find out that the Cloofes although seem sweet, they're taking of Aunt Sarah. absolutely, yeah. So not very nice Yeah. I was wondering they're in the woods, Mark and Martin, and they're for the mushrooms, ⁓ and Mark's like, you know, on a real manhunt here, Doc, and Martin's like, chesla: even if they're mean to her. mean, she's got a spine to her, but I could see her continuing to do it because she's just that kind of person. But I it's to think that these little old biddies were so mean. Chesla Wechsler: up to her door and talking about what a crazy long night it's been. patty: Yeah, I didn't quite see it that way. I see her as she would work it out, but she would stand up to them and say, hey, you want me to come? You treat me better. And they would. That's kind of how I see Aunt Sarah. Chesla Wechsler: they've kissed, a passionate embrace, and is clearly expecting Martin to come in. ⁓ And says... She's for to come in. And Martin says, don't want... ⁓ He quite finish thought, but my impression is that He's not sure. He doesn't think that Louisa meant it. we're hunting mushrooms, not men. But I'm thinking on a manhunt. It was on a little Clunes, little Clunes thing. don't know. ⁓ he was in a called Manhunt. Yes. ⁓ Yes. chesla: Yeah, so she might do something like that. patty: Yeah. chesla: Yeah, I'm not sure. But she certainly was thrilled when Agnes died poor Martin was like, I am appalled. ⁓ patty: Yeah. EricaPortrait: For a moment, I thought she did it. For a brief moment, I really thought she did it. Chesla Wechsler: He doesn't think that he's good enough for her. I think you're right. And so he's clearly got Something like that. Like you wouldn't want like me right. Right. A broken down doctor with this blood phobia problem. And who knows? Like you don't know why. patty: I think we saw that she didn't, you we saw her kind of jump. chesla: Yeah. EricaPortrait: No, the arsenic poisoning. patty: fleetingly crossed my mind, I eliminated that one pretty quickly. Chesla Wechsler: You don't know anything that's, because maybe it's something from his past that's haunting him too. A Rosemary related thing which I'm still waiting for. Come back Robert and Vanessa. there is something there. Yeah, there's something there. Yeah. EricaPortrait: Yeah, but there was a point where I was like, wait, is this like a big plot twist here that we're going in a different direction? Aunt Sarah is not so nice. patty: Yeah. I the sister might have done it to the other, like something in the tea to the other sister. And I was trying to figure it out because it seemed like arsenic and old lace only ⁓ arsenic and old lace the two old ladies work together to ⁓ other people. So if they were poisoning each other, yeah, maybe that was the twist, but not close. ⁓ chesla: And you do see Agnes sort of, I even know what the adjective is, but when Millicent is in the waiting room and she's just munching on crackers and Agnes is like, have you been eating crackers? like she seemed like a scold to Millicent. patty: Yeah, well if she's an older sister maybe that would be normal. chesla: Yeah. EricaPortrait: I like the reaction with Martin when He got the call and he or he called to check on the tea. And then they said that he did they detected arsenic and he like immediately ran over and very aggressive and dramatically knocked the bottle out of Elaine's hand. And obviously he's a doctor, so he's going to want to make sure he takes care of people. But at the same time, I thought it was almost like a loving, like I think there was a little love behind that, like a little bit of terror that somebody he cares for. You know, hurting themselves on not on purpose, but. chesla: Yeah. Right? Because I'm trying to remember the proceeding of things. So we've got Agnes who drinks the tea and throws herself off the cliff. And then we get Millicent in for a blood test. And I guess, did she have her blood tested because she was also having some stomach pain? That's right, she was following the bird around. Right? So it's her blood that gets tested with the arsenic. But then he's thinking, well, the tea might have just. safe mushrooms in it, but that arsenic's coming from somewhere so it must be the tea. And then he whacks the tea out of Elaine's hands. But it was, I agree, was also good to see Elaine working with the doc on, basically him to take her blood. EricaPortrait: Right. patty: Yeah, but I think that's, she knows that that's her ticket to staying there and getting paid. If I do this for him, I can do all my different, streaming shows and whatever crazy thing I want. chesla: Yeah. Yeah, I mean, you since you haven't talked about last week, we've got ⁓ Vanessa coming in with her radical honesty and giving Elaine a little talking to about just creating more garbage. And you can see the effect in this thing of her potentially doing a new career, patty: Yeah. Yeah. Chesla Wechsler: I liked it. I thought it was a good episode. me, because was much I when there's a of drama, I guess. I like when there's medical stuff going on that needs to be resolved by the doc. EricaPortrait: Well, and she did refererence herself to garbage again in this episode in the beginning. patient said, what are we filming today? And she said, nothing. So, you know, it's weighing on her. patty: think that's gonna last though, think something will come, in some way she'll it to herself or something, ⁓ see. Chesla Wechsler: ahead maybe. Elaine, an applying for drama school in New York, ⁓ presume New City. Does that mean we'll have a new secretary? Well, she's always wanted to get out of Port Wenn. She has and what just occurred to me was is Al going to volunteer to mail her application? ⁓ chesla: Yeah, I think she would be great. I mean, she's clearly ambitious, right? And it seems like she's picking things that are careers, right? Says the podcast host, But I could see Elaine patty: Yeah. Chesla Wechsler: getting back to another parallel with Doc Martin. will he fail to do that? Because he wants her to So that would actually give us a little piece of information as to whether when was complimenting her last week on how good her show was, whether he was just trying to keep her in Port Wenn or if he really love ⁓ don't know, this Al much sweeter and... Yeah. chesla: you based on acting out her poem, she kind of feels like maybe she's got a calling. And if you combine that with Vanessa telling her, you could be creating art, but instead you're just filling the internet with garbage, you know? She might go the art route. EricaPortrait: She did say she was going to apply to drama school in New York City. chesla: Yeah. And you figure she's only got three episodes left to see this out and you know maybe that's what happens to Elaine at the end of this season. off she goes and we get a new receptionist, who Chesla Wechsler: I don't know if he would not submit an application for her. I don't think he would her that way. We see. We shall see. And plus we're making all this up based on... Elaine is certainly... Elaine for Best Medicine. chesla: I like the actress. EricaPortrait: Maybe she goes during the break. they always have between seasons, They fast forward a few months or something. So maybe they will have her go away to drama school and come back for some reason. Whether it wasn't successful, didn't like it, missed home, I don't know. chesla: Yeah. patty: Yeah. Chesla Wechsler: There's no comparison with Elaine in Doc Martin. But that was Pauline who he wasn't going to submit the nursing school thing. right. Yeah, because Pauline could have been a fine receptionist. Plus she went to Phlebotomy School. Well, Pauline had a lot of initiative. I still want to see Elaine in this show. I want her to stay. chesla: Yeah, yeah. So, Patty, if you were to rate this episode against all the episodes you've seen so far, where does it fall? Chesla Wechsler: I like the actress quite a bit and I think she's got a ton of range. We've already seen her be so upset about her mother marrying Dum Dum, the principal, and how sad she was about it. I really think she can be anything that they want her to be. So she already kind of... patty: I think I liked I'm not sure if it would the very top, I liked it more than some of the others, so it would be near the top, above the median, I don't know. chesla: Are you in agreement with ⁓ that the last, like, three or four episodes all seem to be kind of getting better versus the early ones? Chesla Wechsler: She doesn't necessarily have phlebotomy training, but she deals with wounds, right? There's no reason she couldn't learn to be that type of assistant and turn into the mature person that Morwenna is. we'll see. But yeah, just thought about that I'm gonna apply for ⁓ acting I hope doesn't do that. patty: Well, yes and no. In some ways, I think they may not just be better, but because it's building, by the time you get to the eighth or ninth episode or wherever we're on, we've learned some of the clues and so now it connects better just because it's the eighth episode that I think there's some benefit there. yeah, Chesla Wechsler: I agree. seem... That ⁓ Yeah. we'll I I like the fact that they're still talking about the house being sold out from ⁓ Aunt Sarah because that means Vanessa and Robert need to come back and resolve that. Yes. I would like see those two again. They could resolve it off screen. Yeah. patty: I would say I think I like it better and even though pretty much everybody is quirky, ⁓ to have some affection for their quirks which in beginning, ⁓ know, took while to get that. They had to earn it. ⁓ chesla: Yeah. Yes, yes. Erica, where does this one rate in yours? EricaPortrait: I'd say towards the top. mean, last week still stands as my favorite so far with the depth and the growth of the characters. And I liked the storyline on top of it anyway. I would say this would Chesla Wechsler: Yeah, I don't think we'll see them this season. I'd like to, but I don't think we will. But we don't know how that's all going to work out. So, yeah. EricaPortrait: rank two, three, chesla: Yeah, I agree. It's, ⁓ EricaPortrait: I yeah, I liked the storyline is starting to unfold. We're seeing much more character development. As Patty said before, we broke last week, finally we broke that pattern of this weird town event that's huge. then Doc has some strange disease. He wants to cancel everything and everyone's mad at him. And then we come back. So this week and last week, we kind of broke from that and I appreciated that. Chesla Wechsler: Where would you rate it? from 1 to 10? ⁓ I'd give it a 9. Well, very good. ⁓ Any predictions on what you think is going to happen next? Well, There's to be ⁓ my prediction. more tension between Martin and Louisa about what happened, what will happen. Yeah, they have to discuss that. So, yeah. Well, how much did they discuss that in Doc Martin? Well, that was the end of the season. chesla: I was also of the impression that this one of my favorite episodes, and I think ⁓ both of your points are good. I like the fact that this one was a more than anything. ⁓ And I think that... patty: There were a couple of moments where we laughed out loud, but yeah. definitely mix drama and comedy in this show. Chesla Wechsler: So prediction is, unlike Doc Martin, Louisa ⁓ and Best will actually discuss this. Yeah. They have Yeah. They have three more episodes. And ⁓ will not have a sip of wine and clunk chesla: Yeah. But the drama prior to, I think, maybe the Bog, the Bogfather or whatever, it seemed like that sort of contrived Martin screws everything up and then he does something miraculous and then everybody likes him again. I think starting with the Bogfather, you get this, he's really kind of hurt and doesn't want to be the Bogman and you get some pathos there. And then when you go into the episode with his parents, that to me, I was just a huge interest to me just because the Rosemary thing, I need to the Rosemary thing and we still don't know it and it's killing me. ⁓ But, and I sounded like Mark there, oh no! ⁓ he's rubbing off on me. Chesla Wechsler: ⁓ But I wouldn't be surprised to that this season. Because though that's the last episode of season two, ⁓ So that would be season, that would be the 14th episode of Doc Martin. So that's 14 and they're gonna have 13 in here. there 25 episodes? There's 12 next season. that's season two. So we end on 13 here. I'll accept the word of one who ⁓ I make a point of It is your Podcast. That's true. There're still details I don't know. folks, hope you've enjoyed this. This is your Doc Martin section. yeah, we'll see you guys in two weeks. A hiatus coming up in the schedule. And ⁓ if you've enjoyed this, I would... Ask that you like the episode, subscribe to the feed, and leave comments you've got ideas. Especially Doc Martin people, if you have some Doc Martin ideas, I'm open to hearing what they are. Judy the Newbie has finished up her series, so could use a new Doc Martin Newbie. And ⁓ we're on psychology of Portwenn for ⁓ seasons eight, nine, and that should be coming out soon. ⁓ And I could use ideas for what you'd like to see me do next. That's all for now. See you in two weeks. Bye bye. Thanks Chris. Thanks folks. Bye. chesla: So that's why that episode to me was like, I ⁓ couldn't wait to hear what they were talk about, then they still don't talk about it, and now I'm like, I wanna know. patty: Well, you know, they did let us have the kiss, so they're holding out on all the facts about the blood and all the facts about his sister. chesla: I still believe that, know, there's no way given his current inability to even take blood from someone that he had this phobia this whole time. and ⁓ I think we can take that as an assumption that he did not have all the time. Because there's... patty: take one. Yeah, yeah, maybe got triggered in that surgery that didn't go well. Yeah, it's got to be. chesla: Yeah, and I think, if you put it together, right, with the fact that this family ⁓ talked about it, so something traumatic happened, a six-year-old cannot process that, the parents don't talk about it, yeah, right? EricaPortrait: Okay. patty: Right. He went back to being six. Yeah. And a six-year-old would be afraid of blood, maybe. Yeah. chesla: And you figure now he's, he doesn't know how to handle it. I don't know what he did with it. I don't know how his parents treated him, right? We know they parked him with Aunt Sarah for the summers at least. did seeing this girl who looked so much like he was eight year old girl who was in a car accident, who had the same thing that his sister and he was in the car and probably saw his sister, right? My thinking is, EricaPortrait: Okay. Okay. Okay. chesla: That just brings back everything that he repressed. And I don't know why he developed a blood phobia that keeps going, but it could just be as simple as all of a sudden he had all of these flashbacks and what was in his eyes and what was in his nose. that's what was there and that's what he's connecting it to. And now every time he sees blood or something, he experiences whatever it was that he repressed. patty: Yeah. EricaPortrait: My guess is that the on the table, the kid on the table had some kind of like massive bleed out and blood just got, or like they were finished with the surgery and the heart, they were closing and the heart artery just bursts and blood sprayed and. there was, like they show on some of the other medical dramas how it just keeps coming and people are covered in it. ⁓ I went, then the dies and he's covered in it. And that triggers something. I don't know. That's just my guess. chesla: Mmm. Yeah, sure. I mean, we're all still guessing because they haven't told us. patty: Yeah, they haven't really given much of a hint on that. All they've done is had him admit it to two people, and that's it. chesla: Right? Just that he has a phobia and not really, and he didn't talk about Rosemary, right? He told Aunt Sarah about the surgery, but I don't think Aunt Sarah even knows he's got a blood phobia. Louisa knows he has a blood phobia. And Elaine knows he has a blood phobia. patty: He has the phobia, right? Right. Well... I don't think he's told. Yeah. chesla: Yeah, who knows? What did I, ⁓ what did you guys think? ⁓ Last, at the end of the last episode of nine, Mark is talking about moving on, which, you know, I take to mean moving on from Louisa. patty: Yeah. chesla: But he now sees, as we were discussing last week with Doug, he now sees Martin and Louisa are gonna be a thing and is that something he can manage? Do you think Mark hangs around? EricaPortrait: Mm-hmm. patty: I think he just meant, it's not going to work with Louisa. I'm going to move on. And I don't think he had any clue at that point that she might move on with Martin. chesla: Do you think he stays in town now that he has seen this developing or do you think he looks for greener pastures in some other town? EricaPortrait: All right. patty: What is he capable of? sheriff, you mean? Move on? ⁓ I could see him trying and then having to come back because he's not really a good sheriff. He doesn't ever have to do anything. chesla: Yeah. EricaPortrait: I don't think he's going to move on. mean, he's been here his whole life. he's knows every single person in town. His mom's in town and apparently has something wrong with her neck for the entire season because she wears that weird neck brace. As Patty said, he's not the sharpest tool in the shed. So don't know that he has a lot of prospects, but. patty: You chesla: Yeah. EricaPortrait: curious to see are they going to take the avenue of him pretending he doesn't know and seeing if they'll confess to him or if he goes in true Mark fashion and over reacts and goes a bit wonky. don't know. don't honestly I don't know which one is going to be the way it works, but I don't think he's going to leave town. chesla: Mmm. Yeah. patty: I'm gonna guess that he like, you know, that he doesn't fess up to them that he knows. And it's gonna explode one episode. We'll see. ⁓ chesla: Mm. Well, So Martin, they have the kiss and then... What? What was that ending? patty: Well, why did he think it was necessary to say, let's pretend it didn't happen? She clearly didn't want to say that. chesla: Yeah, and she wanted him to come in! EricaPortrait: Well, in fairness, kissed her, right? So he kissed her. Perhaps he's feeling like maybe he pushed himself on her. I mean, I didn't take that as a viewer. Right, right. But he seems to be a very stand up man. And he seems to do things kind of by the book and tries to be respectful. And wonder if he thinks like, well, maybe I crossed the line. So I'm going to give her an out. patty: Yeah. chesla: She kissed him back. Mm. EricaPortrait: not realizing like, not, mean, listen, he doesn't pick up on social cues as well either. She did invite him inside, but I kind of got the sense like he was giving her the out as a respectful thing. And when she didn't say anything ⁓ opposing him, he assumed he was on the right track. Although if you can see any woman react, she obviously had like, she was choked up, glassy eyed, like it should have been clear, but. chesla: Yeah. EricaPortrait: he's a guy and, you know, I'll get chastised for this in the comments or something, but they're not as observant of those types of things. chesla: and she had kissed him at the blueberry thing. So it's not like she wasn't willing here. EricaPortrait: Do think he just panicked? chesla: I'm trying to figure it out. mean, I have a theory, but I'm gonna keep it to myself. you know, she just, just was surprised when he said we should laugh it off, which is what we would both want. Like, he could have stopped at, it's been a long night, that was lovely, but let's just go home, get a good night's regroup. to say, let's just laugh off because I'm sure that's what we both want. I was like, you patty: They want you to say, the writers want you to think that. chesla: Yeah. EricaPortrait: Maybe he really wanted her to pursue. Maybe he was feeling vulnerable and I mean, she saved him from the blood thing. She essentially brought him. He was the most vulnerable he's ever been because here he has to deal with the blood thing. Thankfully, she knows this kid would have died. He's beating himself up because he misdiagnosed or, blew him off as kid who cried wolf. chesla: Yeah. EricaPortrait: And obviously the adrenaline did help him go in for the kiss. Maybe he was the one just feeling really vulnerable and was like wanting her to say, no, no, no, no, I wanted it, you know, and I chesla: Hmm, yeah, I don't know. I'm looking forward now that we gotta wait two weeks. Very annoying. all right, is there anything else you can think of about that episode or about the series so far that you'd want to bring to the attention of our viewers? EricaPortrait: I had an interesting observation. So we've seen Martin with the dog and the dog clearly wants ⁓ to be around Martin, follows him around like a is in his home, is in his space. No matter many times he says no, the dog keeps up. We also have Mark who the doc keeps ⁓ kind of pushing away where Mark keeps coming back and keeps begging for his attention basically and following him around. And I don't know, was just so, it was, for some reason it hit me this episode and maybe it was because of the whole kiss, but it's interesting that he tends to push people away or animals away that like almost unconditionally love him. Like he doesn't know how to handle it. chesla: Mm-hmm. Yeah, true. Yeah, interesting. Yeah, interesting thought. Yeah. EricaPortrait: If he called Mark his best friend, Mark would be, his head would explode. He would be, right, like overjoyed. But he can't, he can't let the dog in, he can't let Mark in. He doesn't totally turn them away, but he keeps them at arm's length and keeps telling them no. chesla: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Patty, did you have anything? patty: more than what you've already said. ⁓ chesla: Pretty well covered. All right, cool. Well, we'll be back. We'll have a little hiatus here for two weeks, we decide to do something, know, a little catch up session with folks who've missed. But yeah, so folks out in watching land, if you've enjoyed this, please like it and subscribe to the feed. If you have comments, drop the comments in and I do respond to them. In the meantime, ⁓ thank you guys for being on the podcast again and thanks everybody for watching. ⁓