#sally tishell

[redhatmeg]

Alright, this special really is one of the best episodes in the series, if only because it has such gems as:

Sally Tishell realizing that her orthopedic collar also symbolizes her crush towards Doc Martin, therefore her discarding it means she finally let go of her infatuation with him,

local Santa turning out to be a local Christmas-hater who started to appreciate it once his Christmas-loving wife died and he started to see that what he did was bringing children joy,

said former Christmas-hating Santa accurately deduced that Doc Martin doesn't want to leave him to see the lampoon parade, because he feels like his presence might ruin his family's Christmas; but since Santa isn't going to put up with his doctor's BS, he gives him a lecture and insists on driving him to the parade;

Doc Martin himself being confronted with his fear of James hating him in adolescence (a fear that was possibly triggered by his mother's death),

to the lesser extend - the subplots of Penhale and Janice getting engaged again and Al and Morwenna having a baby.

Amazning episode. If not for the fact that we've already had a finale, this special would serve as a decent one.

[redhatmeg]

I like two things about the scene when Doc Martin examines Mrs. Tishell for whatever she might have:

"Yes, you kissed me, a married man and object of your stalking in the past, and it was inappropirate, but more importantly: your breath tasted like blood and you choked twice yesterday, so I have to check what's going on."

He tells her that she doesn't need her orthopedic collar anymore, which is a call back to the episode when she shortly stopped wearing it, realizing it's her "emotional crutch".

[redhatmeg]

And now the episode with Mrs. Tishell's new help at the pharmacy.

Just like with the midwife episode, I think Mrs. Tishell's cousin who came to her for an internship, has some valid points, this time about doctors happily prescribing certain drugs. And unlike the midwife, the cousin itself is described as a reasonable person.

In fact, it's easy to see that Mrs. Tishell's infatuation with Doc Martin could give the girl wrong idea about the man himself. Especially because he's the only doctor in town, so if the citizens of Portwenn wanted to get second opinion, they would have to go or call to another town.

This girl doesn't know that Doc Martin isn't the type to carelessly prescribe drugs and that he treats his duties very seriously. Obviously doctor Ellingham made a bad first impression on her and Mrs. Tishell's gushing only deepened this bad impression.

But when Doc Martin confronts her about how her mistake could be dangerous for Louisa, she is very apologestic. This is not the standard "arrogant homeopath selling dangerous substances without second thought". This is a young girl who will become a medical professional in the future. And frankly I would gladly see her inheriting Mrs. Tishell's pharmacy.

[redhatmeg]

You know what, aside from her infatuation with Doc Martin, Mrs. Tishell is a competent character. As a farmacist, she never sold more addictive or harmful medicine without prescription from doctor Ellingham and if her clients wanted to get them, she immediately was sending those people to the doctor so they would come back with proper diagnosis. She also was sharing with Martin information that could help him determine what was wrong with his patient.

I really wish they didn't make her fall into this cliche of having a crush on the main character, especially because it brought the most ugly parts of her into the light and culminated in her kidnapping baby James... but at least they gave her some dignity after that - when she came back after going through therapy, she was shown trying to get over her crush and even started to rebuild her life with her husband.