r/DocMartin

I am a long standing DM fan. I have rewatched the entire series so many times. Does anyone have any recommendations for what next? I love easy watching shows like this.

my regular streaming sites do not have it. :(

Going through this sub, I see so so so many posts bashing Louisa's character. It's one thing to critique the flaws of a character-- but the way her haters go about it is so vitriolic and misogynistic.
Martin and Louisa are literal mirrors of each other, the show takes great care in expanding the kind of social norms expected of both Neurodivergent men and women. This is not even me grasping at straws to come to this conclusion, when many other people who have watched this show agree that both Louisa and Martin are neurodiverse. I feel like the people on the sub still perpetuate those social norms in the way they discuss Louisa.

"Misogyny is hating women-- look up the definition" I want you to look up the definition of Covert Misogyny then. The kind of misogyny that seems sooo small and innocuous that people can pass it off as critique because it's just that slyly worded to seem so.

Genuinely, I cannot fathom the way people put Louisa under this magnifying glass. She had faults and she has flaws, talking about them isn't wrong, talking about her shortcomings and discussing her own dynamic within herself is not misogynistic. That's not my point.

It's the way she is talked about that is entirely misogynistic.
"I laughed when she got run over!" Covert misogyny.
"She's nothing but a nagging harpy!" Covert misogyny-- though, this is more overt than anything. 'Harpy' is a word used against women in place of other words like 'B*tch'.

Some people on this sub have a genuine problem with misogyny. It makes me sad to think that their only takeaway from a show so meticulous with the portrayal of their characters would say such flagrantly awful things about Louisa.

I recently subscribed to Britbox. We are enjoying many new shows. While watching other shows we see many Doc Martin actors on other shows and the person who first identifies them gets a point.

Sadly Doc Martin isn't on Britbox.

Joe Penhale is basically Michael Scot from the office

Both are deeply, sincerely convinced they are exceptional at their jobs, despite mountains of evidence to the contrary. Michael thinks he's a masterful manager and beloved freind. Joe thinks he's a razor-sharp law enforcement professional who commands the respect of Portwenn. Neither reads the room. Both are genuniely baffled when people don't take them seriously.

The key similarity though, is that the delusion comes from a place of real loneliness and a desperate need to belong. Michael's whole thing is that the office is his family because he doesn't have much else. Joe is exactly the same. He latches onto Martin, Louisa, PC Penhale's imagined "cases," and the village community because Portwenn is his whole world and he wants desperatley to matter in it. When Joe is shown even a scrap of genuine affection or respect, he almost doesn't know how to handle it.

They're also both, against all odds, occasionally and accidently competent. Michael sometimes lands a real moment of leadership. Joe, when the stakes are genuinely high, steps up in ways that surprise you. The show lets them earn it without undermining the comedy.

The difference is context. Michael Scott's incompetence has real proffesional stakes; people's careers suffer. Joe's bumbling is mostly harmless in a sleepy Cornish village where the worst thing that usually happens is a minor medical emergency and a missing sheep.

But strip away the setting and you've got the same core character: an emotionally needy, professionally deluded, secretly sweet man who just wants to be needed.

Anyone else see this? I feel like I've broken my brian.