Against all his instincts, Dr. Martin Best (Josh Charles) is entrenched in the lives of his neighbors in Port Wenn. It’s a nightmare for a misanthrope like him. As the only doctor in a small town, that will only become more true as time goes on. But FOX‘s Best Medicine Season 1, Episode 5 shows Martin that maybe that can be a good thing. “Hello Darkness My Port Wenn” also shows him that he isn’t as different from everyone else in town as he thinks. The emotional beats of this episode worked well for me.
MORE: Relive all the laughs and feels of last week by reading our review of Best Medicine Season 1, Episode 5!
“Fitting in is a refuge for the uninteresting.”
This week’s edition of “Everybody Hates Martin” begins when Aunt Sarah (Annie Potts) and some of the other townspeople ask Martin to check on the local recluse, Tom, who takes anti-anxiety meds. The man also happens to control Port Wenn’s electrical grid. Martin’s failure to relate to him leaves the town in the dark.
As Martin tries to fix the situation, he relates to Tom’s anti-social stance. This is the first time he’s met someone who feels the same way he does about people since he moved to town. Small-town residents tend to integrate into each other’s business, which Martin is uncomfortable with, and Tom avoids it, too. Martin expands his horizons when he realizes that all Tom needed was to spend time with someone one-on-one.
That’s not the only person Martin recognizes himself in this week. Martin is called to the school to help a student, Peter (Ben Lewis Doherty), who has an apple stuck in his mouth. The kid is intelligent but unpopular. He was trying to make other kids laugh. Martin assures him he’ll get friends later in life, and he even tells Louisa (Abigail Spencer) that he wishes someone had told him the same thing at that age.
The audience can just tell that Martin empathizes with the boy. This expands the doctor’s horizons as well, because it’s just one more example of a personal connection that Martin is forging in Port Wenn. He’ll probably never be overtly friendly, but Martin is growing. And I’m interested in watching it happen. Especially because a talent like Charles is portraying it all.
MORE: Read our review of Best Medicine Season 1, Episode 3 to remind yourself why Martin and sports don’t mix!
“Our voices blend like the colors of a glorious sunset.”
While Martin is doing that, other relationships are in the middle of a totally different process. Louisa ended her engagement to Sheriff Mark (Josh Segarra) when the series began. Since then, the tension between them has hurt them both, though the show often plays it for laughs. This episode allows them to talk in a way they haven’t yet and find some closure with each other.
At a karaoke party, the town cheers them on as they duet on Smokey Robinson’s “Cruisin’,” which they’ve clearly done before. (And though Spencer has always been a good singer, as seen on Timeless, so is Segarra. Wow!) Mark has a hard time feeling like a couple again and walks away.
Mark is usually so relentlessly cheerful, so that’s meaningful to begin with, but then the moment turns bittersweet. We never saw their actual breakup. To a small degree, this conversation fills in what we didn’t see of them as a couple.
Doc Martin tells us that Martin and Louisa will end up together. Martin’s expression as he watches Louisa sing with Mark is evidence of that. However, in this version, we need to see Louisa and Mark become friends again. Even Sarah says there may be people out there who are better for them than each other.
But this show is building Port Wenn as a cozy community one episode at a time, and that means Louisa and Mark have to be okay around each other again. “Hello Darkness My Port Wenn” gives them that chance. Best Medicine Season 1, Episode 5 focuses on the drama part of this dramedy in a way that works and makes me ready for next week.
Best Medicine airs at 8 PM on Tuesdays on FOX and streams the next day on Hulu.
