‘Best Medicine’ Team Teases ‘Complicated Mess’ of Martin, Louisa & Mark Love Triangle

[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Best Medicine Season 1 Episode 2, “Bean There Done That.”]

The second episode of Fox’s new dramedy proves that Best Medicine is fun, yes, but it also has tons of heart.

Take, for instance, what it gives us for the love triangle of Dr. Martin Best (Josh Charles), schoolteacher Louisa (Abigail Spencer), and sheriff Mark (Josh Segarra). There are clearly sparks between Martin and Louisa, Mark and Louisa are struggling a bit in the aftermath of the end of their engagement, and Mark would just love to be best friends with Martin. And as Louis and Mark are trying to figure out the new normal after their split (Do they both attend the baked beans supper? What happens when he dates her teaching assistant?), she and Martin grow closer, to the point that he opens up to her about his sister’s death. He doesn’t, however, tell her about his blood phobia, meaning his assistant Elaine (Cree) remains the only one in the know about that.

“The blood phobia … he can’t really fully explain it, and that makes it kind of complicated and embarrassing. I think he’s embarrassed. He has shame about it. It’s not something he’s proud of,” Josh Charles tells TV Insider. “Obviously, having that issue and sort of freezing at the operating table, which we learned about in the pilot, has taken his ability to be able to do what he feels he was put on this earth to do, which is be a really good surgeon and save people’s lives. … I don’t think he wants to talk about it. I think he would like to get over it. I think in his head, maybe he’d get over it, stay here for a little while, get through this PTSD that he’s going through or whatever is happening, this sort of trauma that he’s buried in his life is kind of coming back and rearing his head in these ways that can happen to people who experience intense trauma as a child. And I think as it’s all happening, his plan is like, ‘I’ll do that, and then maybe I’ll be able to get back to what I do and maybe go back to the big city.’ But life, often as is the case, has other plans.”

Francisco Roman/Fox

That moment comes when Louisa brings by leftovers from the baked beans supper following the chaos that ensues there (more on that shortly). Her “being there and not really going anywhere, just the space to just sit there, made him comfortable enough to tell her” about his sister, according to executive producer Liz Tuccillo. “And, obviously, their connection was strong enough that she kind of got it out of him. And that was sort of the hope, is that what that means to us is that she’s good for him and that she brings things out of him that nobody else would.”

But as they’re growing closer, we can’t forget about Mark, whom Segarra says still loves Louisa. “Is he in love with her anymore?” he ponders. “I don’t know. We’ll have to wait and find out.”

On Louisa’s part, “There’s something inside of her that’s longing for something more or different outside of Port Wenn, but wants to stay in Port Wenn. And what do you do?” explains Abigail Spencer. “I mean, there’s nothing wrong with Mark, and there’s nothing wrong with Josh Segarra. So it’s a great love triangle, too, of people who grew up together and everything makes sense, but there’s something just not totally right, and how do you explore that?”

Complicating the love triangle is Martin and Mark’s own friendship, which is certainly stronger from the latter’s side. “Mark is hell bent on becoming Martin’s good friend, and Louisa and Martin are having this sort of deepening connection and attraction to each other,” notes Tuccillo. “And Louisa and Mark, yes, it’s not that she’s attracted to him or wants to be with him, but there’s so much love there that it’s just a nice, big, complicated mess, which is great for TV.”

Teases Segarra, “Louisa and Dr. Best are starting their thing, but nobody knows that Dr. Best and Sheriff Mark have their own thing going on. That’s a friendship made in heaven right there. And there are some times where you see Louisa seeing our friendship, which is a really funny reveal as the journey goes. And in real life, what’s funny is that there’s a similar thing going on where Abigail will be sitting next to me and Josh while we’re talking about whatever football game happened that Sunday or our fantasy team that we got to draft together.”

Related

'Best Medicine': Josh Charles & Boss Talk Martin's Blood Phobia, Opening up to Louisa & More

Elsewhere in the episode, Martin runs into his childhood bully, Glendon (Patch Darragh), and it’s quite satisfying to watch him get one-up on him when it turns out that his construction work has made everyone sick.

“I don’t think Martin’s someone that doesn’t suffer fools very easily. And I think because they do have a history of those two from when he was there as a child, there is this sort of memory of Glendon and who he is,” says Josh Charles. “For me, it’s fun. All those scenes are fun because also Glen is played by my very dear friend, Patch Darragh, who’s a brilliant actor, and I’ve known Patch for years. And so I’ve really loved watching what he’s done with this character, and he’s such a great foil, and it’s fun to do scenes with him and see that dynamic.”

Watch the full video interview above for more from Josh Segarra.

Best Medicine, Tuesdays, 8/7c, Fox