Doctor Foster (Series 2, Episode 2 Review)

What comes up must come down and after last weeks’s stunning cliffhanger, Doctor Foster drunkenly stumbles under the weight of it’s own hype. More to the point. Gemma spends most of the first forty minutes plodding about as she spies on her child in a plotline that has an uneasy edge. Despite all the previous craziness,  episode two somehow stretches the bizarre beyond a mark the show has set itself. First she’s skulking around Tom’s school and then tracking him down to his mysterious appointment at the surgery. By night she finds herself standing in the pitch black of his friend’s garden, looking at him through the window and in a drink-induced state sups wine in his living room. If that wasn’t weird enough, the Doc returns to Simon’s house and stares into her child’s bedroom. It feels all a bit laboured and doesn’t move the story on significantly. Until now we’ve been rooting for Gemma no matter how mad her actions but is this a deliberate attempt to sway the public’s support away from our leading lady?

There is great stuff around all the the stalking weirdness and the best moments supply plenty of intrigue. We get to know the prim and proper Sian (Sian Brookes) a lot more. As the wine flows at dinner the new co-worker drops her personal guard and morals regarding patient confidentiality. Gemma seems to be gaining a rare friend but we learn Sian has a connection to Simon (as everyone seems to) and has been acting as a mole reporting back her movements. Mouth movements rather than bowel hopefully.

Former conquest Neil is sent on a mission for Team Gemma so he too acts as a mole. A randy mole. As the drinks flow (if nothing else, this programme acts as a good anti-alcohol campaign) Neil easily extracts information from his target but Simon sees through it all, offering nothing but lies and pushes an attractive women into Neil’s eyeline knowing he’s as easily distracted as a Meerkat on heat. By the morning he is without a burrow because Anna unceremoniously kicks him out. Simon should just wear a t-shirt with ‘Marriage Wrecker’ written on it.

So to Simon then. Is there the possibility that the character is turning into a caricature? Does his constant evil intent and smugness render him the equivalent of a pantomime villain? In series one we saw his wrong doings from a distance, things were all from Gemma’s narrative but with the show is now a straight out battle of wills between the two we are seeing a side that was hidden from us before. For now it’s worth offering the benefit of doubt but Simon, as well as the show needs to tone down things slightly.

Trust is a major theme throughout and in James , Gemma may finally have bumped into the right man at the wrong time. For the second week in a row she’s dragging him into a place he doesn’t want to be and this time it’s the toilets of a grotty club but he’s a gentleman and rebukes her advances. Next morning the smoothie even shows up at her house with breakfast, bless him. Things start to take a weird turn here (obviously, you’ve seen the show right?). No matter what Gemma says or does he is unswerving in his dedication. His liking for her could be classed as way too full on and his bright smitten eyes might be hiding something very dark. Has he been sent by Simon as well? If so then he must be enjoying the mission because he ends up in bed with her in what is quite an awkward bedroom scene. There’s no romantic music or dimly lit niceness, Gemma goes on top in front of a massive mirror. It’s a moment that brings to mind words Simon uttered when sharing intimate details about his ex wife. The two scenes together hint she might be a narcissist of the cerebral type while Simon displays somatic narcissism. Something to ponder.. and then ignore.

We find out that Tom might have anxiety. What are the chance, eh? In the closing stages he is suspended from school and we have to wait a week to find out if he chooses to go home with Mum or Dad. If he’s any common sense he’ll find a bloody refuge instead. This may have been the weakest episode to date but there are so may thrills and spills to come it’s impossible to stop watching – albeit through our hands. 6/10

Doctor’s notes

• There is no way Gemma has forgiven Sian. No way
• And was the fish actually any good or not? If we’re questioning this no wonder the main plot is sending us mad
• Neil is both a Mole and a Meerkat. Or a Molecat? Meermole?
• Is Kate having an affair? Would you hang round in your dressing gown kissing your Godfather? Be honest. Maybe Kate’s having an affair with her Godfather? The way things are going lets not rule anything out.