On the Edge

Apparently, the various cast members for "Doc Martin" were off doing their own things and the folks who made the show were a bit ambivalent about making more episodes. Because of that, nearly a year after the last episode, they made this movie-length episode and no more for a while.

The episode begins with a crazed local, the Colonel, in a tizzy about some chough birds (some sort of birds that nest among the cliffs-- look 'em up on Wikipedia if you want to know more). The problem is that he's running around with a loaded gun--a gun which causes some much trouble throughout the episode. Folks get shot, nearly shot and the chough birds get the worst of it in the end. Other plots which are sprinkled throughout the show include a crazy man who becomes progressively more delusional and dangerous, Pauline deciding to go to college, a baker who is potentially passing about a gastrointestinal disorder and the return of Louisa's scum-bag father. See the show to see how all these come together in the incredibly strange finale.

Overall, this is a very good installment of the show. As a trained psychotherapist, I was a bit dubious of the Bipolar Disorder (as he was far more delusional than a typical case of the disorder--and seemed more like he had a Schizoaffective disorder, since he seemed like he had Bipolar Disorder AND Schizophrenia). However, this is a minor technical quibble. One more more obvious problem is the sloppiness of the hostage portion--as again and again, everyone made it EASY for a clearly insane man to get a hold of guns and explosives! Still, I could ignore this a bit as the rest was quite entertaining.

England has great actors and great shows this being one of the best but to have an entire "Season" or what's called in England a "Series" consisting of one 90-minute episode is just plain nutty because the original cast lineup including Aunt Joan were so great that it's sad she really was only on three seasons not four, but this is a good episode, or movie, or season, whatever... Chris O'Dowd goes fitfully silly and over the top but also plays dangerous pretty well, and obviously got on well with Kathleen since they'd both breakout on THE IT CROWD not long after...

There is so much going on that it moves into absurdity. It all starts when Louisa's father shows up with his bipolar partner. He was driven out of town after he absconded with a charity collection. Louisa has stood by him but the fabric is unravelling. The main subplot has to do with some nesting birds that have shown up, producing eggs that are of great value. Soon Bert and the townspeople (plus some out of towners) are focused on those eggs. Meanwhile, Chris O'Dowd, the crazy guy, goes off his nut and ends up kidnapping the whole cast. Also, a sickening bureaucrat has heard that Martin doesn't treat his patients very well. He feels Martin needs some sensitivity training. Of course, the Doc goes after him big time. But when the second half of the episode comes, things get totally off the rails and it's not satisfying.

I recently read a review and thought that the statements about Aunt Joan were rather harsh but the more I see her the more I understand the sentiment. She is a bit annoying and insulting to Martin. The man literally saved her farm and she continues to insult him every chance she gets. Perhaps her whole family were insensitive idiots (namely her brother). At least from what I can see she will not be in many if any more episodes...