Everlasting Love

This series has been slightly below par until now but it was back to it's best here with Martin having an old flame of his making for a awkwardly funny moments with a jealous Louisa.

Joe Penhale tries romancing the woman he fancies while she has problems with some fishy business which causes unexpected problems.

Martin thinks that Daisy is a young mum bringing little Emma to see him but it turns out that she is not quite whom she seems when he goes to her caravan and finds out that the mother is actually a herbalist that has set up practise in town a is giving his patients problems with her prescriptions.

A load of scallops!

Having penned the first of his nine "Doc Martin" episodes back in Series Six, Julian Unthank has learned to apply creative consultant producer Jack Lothian's train-wreck template into a number of complex, nuanced, multilayered scripts that provide dimension to the regular cast and the guest stars alike while skirting both caricature and repetition.

Indeed, his "Everlasting Love" delivers a gem laden with disasters large and small that avoid both contrivance and exaggeration, humanizing their victims instead of targeting them for risible contempt, which enables the regulars to flex their ranges, with Martin Clunes, whose Doctor Martin Ellingham bears the brunt of the disasters, especially expressive within his straitjacketed demeanor that epitomizes the best and the worst of this medical comedy-drama set in the Cornish seaside village of Portwenn.

True, three red flags go up almost immediately, two of which involve a pair of Portwenn's usual punching bags, chemist Sally Tishell and police constable Joe Penhale. When Sally's friend Irene Moore (Lesley Moore), who has resumed her swimming regimen, sees Martin for her migraine headaches, who tells her to stop swimming until he can rule it out as a trigger, she realizes that she really misses the water, so Sally devises a way to get them both out onto the waves, and no surprise that her plan goes unexpectedly awry. Then Joe, hoping to rekindle the flame with former fiancée Janice Bone (Robyn Addison), first agrees to try her "fish pedicure" of red garra "nibble fish" before enticing her to his romantic dinner, where he appears to inflict food poisoning on her.

The third red flag involves visiting herbalist Jane McRae (Dorothea Myer-Bennett), and by now regular "Doc Martin" viewers know that she is automatically marked for negation as a rival healthcare provider whose non-traditional remedies endanger a pregnant woman (Sophie Ford) and business owner Caitlin Morgan (Angela Curran), who rented her shop space. But here's the kicker: Jane's teenage daughter Daisy (Hattie Gotobed) poses as the mother of infant Emma, who is actually Jane's daughter, to see Martin because Emma is sick despite Jane's herbal ministrations--and her anti-vaxxer stance is certain to come back to bite her.

Things on the home front aren't much smoother for Martin and Louisa. Yes, Ruth has returned from Mexico as Eileen Atkins makes her first appearance since the series opener, but James's (Elliott Blake) new dog Chicken's seeming hostility toward Ruth may portend a concealed concern about her. More troubling is James's hostility toward infant sister Mary Elizabeth as his jealousy manifests itself in various, rather creative ways. However, Louisa's interest, if not jealousy, is piqued when a hitherto-unknown old flame of Martin's, Sophie Trent (Hermione Norris), visits unexpectedly.

That's a lot of plates to keep spinning in-air, but Unthank's rich, interwoven narrative stays aloft thanks to smooth helming by director Philip John, displaying a surer hand his second time out. Guest star Myer-Bennett has the unenviable task of standing in the crosshairs of Martin's wrath as an alternative health provider although she strikes credible sparks in her scenes with Clunes as Gotobed generates admirable dimension in a catalyst role and Norris's brief but meaningful appearance is sure to herald a return in an upcoming episode.

As for the regulars, Clunes delivers a surprisingly rich range of emotions given Martin's limited palette--even Ruth makes a remark about his behavioral growth--as he spars with Jane in a pointed highlight regarding vaccinations, among other sly, varied interactions with Portwenn's denizens. Atkins makes her previous absences feel keener with assured command of her character. And even if Morwenna's presence is strictly background support, Jessica Ransom continues to make every expression and gesture worthy of full attention.

But as might be fitting for a working mother unsung as she carries her heavy burden, Caroline Catz continues to underscore how crucial she is as the backbone alongside Clunes, whether it's Louisa's subtle yet variegated byplay with Martin, her seamless interaction with Elliott Blake's James both in character as a mom informed by her training and burgeoning experience as a child counselor needing to educate her son--who, don't forget, bears traits from his on-the-spectrum father--and as an actor working with a young child actor. In essence having to play the straight woman to Clunes, Catz carries "Doc Martin" as much as he does. And check out her reaction shot to Penhale's crack about "fishie heaven" in Janice's salon.

(Un)thank your lucky stars that, at its Series Ten midpoint, Julian Unthank's "Everlasting Love" puts "Doc Martin" back on track.

POINT TO PONDER: Confirmation bias is the tendency to accept only facts and opinions you agree with. It is extremely difficult to avoid. Are reviews "helpful" only if they validate your confirmation bias? Are they "not helpful" if they contradict it? Thus, a simple thumbs-up or thumbs-down is essentially useless as an indicator of whether a review is or isn't "helpful."

Generally, "Doc Martin" will have a couple plots in an episode and possibly one minor one. However, this one seems to have many, many small ones. Among the plots are a new anti-vaxer herbalist who is risking not only the lives of the residents but her own kids, a new shop has opened in town by one of Penhale's old flames and it is spreading illnesses, an old flame of Doc Martin arrives to ask him to be a guest speaker, Ruth returns from Mexico and has some medical issues, a woman is having strange migraine-like symptoms when she swims, and the Martin's young son hates his little sister and wants her to disappear.

I appreciate how the episode takes on herbalists and anti-vaxers though I am sure some viewers will hate this and most TV programs seem unwilling to broach these subjects (apart from stupid daytime talk shows). I only think that perhaps the should COULD have had a few less plots and investigating the few left a bit more. It's NOT a major complaint...and it's a decent episode.

While I still like the show, I'm not completely taken with the Tenth Season. There are a couple interesting things going on. As is usually the case, Martin treats people who don't listen to him and then he needs to rescue him. First, we have an herbalist come into town. She haphazardly prescribe potentially dangerous things to people. She is also an Anti-Vaccer which makes for some deadly possibilities. Joe tries to make time with the local manicurist and thinks he has poisoned her. We also have a lady who passes out when she goes swimming. The pharmacist lady with the neck brace is on the screen too much, as is Louisa with the new baby. Her character has become really boring. OK but lacking something.