Doc Martin (TV Series) Listen with Mother (2013) User Reviews

Aside from Penhale's annoying antics, a decent episode.

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 10 May 2015]

For much of seasons five and six, Louisa and Martin have had a very difficult time balancing their careers with a baby. They've gone through several baby sitters and FINALLY have found one who is ideal...Mike. However, the obsessive-compulsive guy has a secret and this episode introduces it--he's NOT an army vet but is supposed to be active army but has gone AWOL! Much of the show consists of him hiding and PC Penhale behaving like a buffoon (too much at times). Additional plots involve Martin's mother sowing discord simply because she's such a cold and nasty creature as well as Martin's concern that perhaps Louisa is VERY ill and doesn't know it. However, he needs to hurry in addressing it, as she's just announced that she's leaving for a time to think and reassess the marriage. So, she's leaving the emotionally cold Doc and going to stay with her emotionally cold mother in Spain!

I am knocking a point off this one simply because as the series progresses, PC Penhale's stupidity gets worse and more annoying. He is simply the stupidest cop in history--too much so. Apart from this, a very good show.

Martin's health

[allandhicks · 8/10 · 23 August 2015]

A good episode..but agree with a previous reviewer..Penhale is a little over the top... (aKeystone Kop) What I found curious about this episode is that, on three occasions Doc exhibited strange comportment. First, he is shown breathing forcefully into a device..no explanation Secondly, he hands a vial to Morwenna, who exclaims, "this is for YOU"..she is instructed to send it off to the Lab..no explanation Thirdly, Morwenna bursts into his consultation room, to find the doc taking his own heart rate. No explanation (Not sure of the order) Given the above, and Martin's demeanour throughout the episode, I suspect something is up with his health. Looking forward to the next season

Mama Ellingham

[hazangel-89910 · 8/10 · 28 April 2022]

I just have to say that the actress who plays Martin's awful mother really resembles Linda Lavin. Every time I look at her I think of the old TV series Alice. They really could pass for sisters. Just came to say that. Otherwise the episode was decent. I hate that Louisa continues to put up with Martin's clear social dysfunction. It is literally affecting her health. Hopefully things improve for them and poor little James.

Also want to add that other reviewers see Louisa as being selfish but to me it seems more like she is trying to turn Martin into a functioning, feeling person and it is not as simple as she thinks. She either has to let him be and learn to live with it or move on. I think she is more naive to the type of upbringing he experienced. Even though she had a unique upbringing as well. I guess in her eyes she thinks he can "snap out of it" and become "normal". A girl can dream....

Get Rid of Penhale!

[Hitchcoc · 7/10 · 25 March 2018]

I won't even address my title. Let's face it. Martin and Louisa are such polar opposites that they truly should have nothing to do with each other. A previous reviewer claims that Louisa is an unfeeling, disassociated mess who doesn't recognize that Martin also has problems. There would be some truth to that if he acted in a conventionally human way. It is just the latter. His lack of even an effort to hand out the awards at the children's field day and then rushing off is beyond the pale. When Louisa is struck by a car and nearly killed, he overreacts at the hospital but shows almost no emotion at the accident scene. The last few episodes have been terribly bleak. The Doc is self examining and trying to find something. I believe it centers on his inability to sleep. The subplot at work is the discovery that Michael is actually AWOL from the British Army. And this leads to all kinds of idiocy.

This episode has about made me stop watching the series.

[edmeardon · 6/10 · 27 November 2022]

I don't think I can watch any more of this series because of the conflict between Louisa and Martin. Sure, he is very broken, but his upbringing (cold father, mother who loathed him, and a failed romance in college) obviously contributed greatly to it, along with his possible Aspergers. He's just not coping in a constructive way with it.

Louisa has also had some childhood trauma (with her mother leaving her), but she focuses so completely on Martin's faults that she doesn't begin to address her own (like running away every time they have trouble). To me, this shows how little she values marriage (for better or worse?). I think many women focus on the faults of their partners so that they don't have to deal with their own issues. On top of all this, she knew what kind of man he was when she married him. Why did she expect him to change?

The focus on the conflict between Martin and Louisa has drug on long enough without any kind of resolution (either stay or split already!) that I no longer care.

I checked a head, and the first three episodes of season 7 are about the conflict between Martin and Louisa. I could skip them, but I find I don't care anymore.

Louisa goes off ....

[mchnive · 5/10 · 3 April 2022]

Almost every female character Is unsufferable. Ruth Is holier than thou with Martin's mom. Morwenna Is ditzy and full of herself. And Louisa has turned Into a.harpy -not knowing what she wants and again putting Martin In an uncomfortable situation and of course blaming him for the results-he Is right -nobody Is happy all the time. So , what does she do, she selfishly leaves Martin to go her mom who Is as bad as Martin's. - hope the show gets better.

I cannot keep this up

[dabigplanet-96102 · 5/10 · 5 August 2020]

If recurring plot lines are going to keep putting a small child in peril/harm's way, I'm going to have to stop watching. My anxiety will not allow me to continue watching. This is worse for my nerves than Uncut Gems.