Best Medicine Season 2 Premiere Recap: Port Wenn Learns Martin's Secret — Find Out How

Take that, Glendon!

The secret of Martin's debilitating blood phobia becomes public knowledge during the "Best Medicine" Season 2 premiere, but in the best way possible: on Martin's terms, and in service of helping a patient who's having a really rough time.

In a moment, we'll want to hear what you thought of the episode. But first, here's a quick rundown of what happened in "Be Careful What You Fish For." (Editor's note: The premiere will air again in the show's regular timeslot on Tuesday at 8/7c.)

In the time since we last visited Port Wenn, Maine, Martin's monitor from the state medical registry has been watching him to make sure things are on the up-and-up. She's highly annoying (boo), and she hasn't found anything yet that concerns her (yay). Speaking of highly annoying: Eden is still in town, as we saw in the trailer, and she hasn't gained many fans by putting her fingerprints (incongruous waiting-room seating, a more professional-looking uniform for Elaine) all over Martin's practice.

Eden is about to head back to Boston when she asks Martin if he wants her to start looking for apartments for him there. He's confused as to why she would do that. "What's keeping you here?" she wonders, assuming that once the state board clears him, he's going to run back to Beantown. When Eden suddenly says Louisa's name, Martin worries that his pining hasn't been as secret as he thought, but it's just a coincidence: Eden has suddenly remembered that she has an appointment to see the wannabe-mother-to-be.

Yep, Louisa is moving forward with having a baby on her own after deciding that co-parenting with Mark would be "too complicated." (The doofy cop is fine with it.) But fertility treatment is expensive, so in addition to her new role as school principal, Louisa is working some side gigs, including waitress at the Salty Breeze.

This episode introduces Judith (Andrea Martin, "Evil"), a friend of Sarah's who's just gotten out of the hospital after being treated for bilateral pneumonia. Judith's biggest current problem is that she's a compulsive smoker who can't seem to stop, even though the oxygen she now needs is highly flammable. She causes an explosion at her house, then at Sarah's (where she's a guest), making Martin irate. In turn, Sarah is irked with her nephew at how little he seems to have absorbed about the importance of community and taking responsibility for neighbors — no matter how boneheaded and frustrating they are.

Anyway, the case of the week turns up as Martin is helping Sarah near the shore; he winds up diving in and swimming out to a woman, dressed as a mermaid, who is struggling near a buoy. At first, the woman can't speak intelligibly and has a seizure. Later, she is able to tell them her name is Cecilia and to confirm what they've already witnessed for themselves: She has a condition that creates thick, scaly skin on her legs. (The reason for the garbled speech, seizure, and wheezing she eventually suffer? A toxic algae bloom in the water she was bobbing in for a while.)

At first, Cecilia says she's a cruise-ship performer who fell overboard. But eventually, Mark learns that she is a missing person reported from a party boat; Cecilia sadly confirms that she drank too much when she was on a boat with her friends... and none of them were concerned enough to stop the party and look for her. In her despair, she climbs to the top of the lighthouse. Once Martin realizes that maybe Cecilia jumped off the boat instead of fell from it, he — and the rest of the town — congregate at the base of the lighthouse and try to talk her down.

Cecilia doesn't believe them when they say that they like her and don't care about her skin condition. To prove it, they all start yelling embarrassing truths about themselves to make her more comfortable. Louisa, for instance, pipes up about her fertility journey. Eventually, Martin realizes that it's time for him to come clean.

"I have a blood phobia!" he yells, nullifying Glendon's threat to tell everyone. And generally, the townsfolk don't care. Well, all except for Sarah, who is hurt that he didn't share it with her before he told the general populace.

"This town is very strange," Cecilia says to Mark, who used the crowd's distraction to sneak up and sit next to her on the lighthouse's balcony. "Yeah, but we mean well," he says, shrugging. Given that Cecilia's mere presence makes Mark smile like he's on laughing gas the whole episode, do we detect a new couple on the horizon?

As the people of Port Wenn disperse, Louisa congratulates Martin for being so upfront about his challenges, and he can't control his heart-eyes as he tells her the same.

Now it's your turn. What did you think of the premiere? Grade the episode via the poll below, then hit the comments!