‘Best Medicine’ Bosses Explain Martin Telling Town About Blood Phobia, Louisa’s Decision, and More (Exclusive)

“This town is very well,” a visitor remarks. “Yeah, but we mean well,” says Mark (Josh Segarra). That sums up Best Medicine perfectly.

It’s hard to decide what we love the most about the Season 2 premiere: the major moment for Martin (Josh Charles) near the end, the comedic genius that is Andrea Martin joining Annie Potts and Didi Conn in scenes, or Mark’s (Josh Segarra) love for the “mermaid” who washes ashore. TV Insider spoke with executive producers Liz Tuccillo and Rodney Ferrell about the episode. Warning: Spoilers for the Best Medicine Season 2 premiere ahead!

The “mermaid” is a young woman who, due to her medical condition, looks like she has scales on her legs, and to help her, the people of Port Wenn share things they don’t like about themselves, including Geneva’s (Conn) confession of murder rather than admit her husband left her, Louisa (Abigail Spencer) admitting that by trying to have a baby on her own — she turned down Mark’s offer — she worries she’ll never find love again … and Martin revealing his blood phobia in front of the entire town.

Meanwhile, Martin guest stars as Judith, a friend of Sarah’s (Potts) who can’t stop smoking, even though she has an oxygen tank, leading to her blowing up her house then Sarah’s guest room. But it also leads to a touching moment where Judith admits how much she wants to quit smoking, but it’s something in her life she hates about herself and can’t change (and Martin admits he knows how that feels), ultimately leading to what comes later with the whole town.

Below, executive producers Liz Tuccillo and Rodney Ferrell break down the Season 2 premiere.

Martin reveals his blood phobia and the way it’s done, it’s clearly something that he’s deciding to do. He’s thinking about it as much as he can in that moment as everyone else is confessing things. What had you wanted that moment to be, and did you consider anything else?

Liz Tuccillo: We just sort of felt like it was time for the town to know. He couldn’t hold the secret anymore, and we were just looking for the right way to do it, and the idea of him doing it in a way to help someone else felt like the perfect opportunity.

Rodney Ferrell: And I think it’s the DNA of our show, right? As much as they invade him, they also inspire him. So for him to be there with all of them and them seeing a little bit of look of pain on his face of not knowing how to solve this problem, they jump in and they reveal things and it’s inspiring to him.

But Sarah seems hurt that he hadn’t told her, that moment they have at the end. So what does that mean for their relationship? Because they’ve been slowly rebuilding it.

Tuccillo: I think she prides herself on being the one that he tells everything to. So, I think it’s incredibly painful and almost a little feeling of a little bit of a betrayal. So, I think that their relationship is injured just a little, but they still need each other.

Did you ever consider having Louisa say yes to Mark’s offer?

Tuccillo: We did think of all options on all the different ways that how she answered, how it could complicate the three of their lives. And at the end of the day, we decided to not do it for many reasons, but we did think of what would be the most — yeah, we did go down a road where if she did do it, how would that just complicate everything?

Yeah, because she could have said yes and then something could have happened down the road to change that.

Tuccillo: Yeah.

Martin and Eden’s conversation about what’s keeping him in Port Wenn, it wasn’t what she meant when she said Louisa’s name and I liked that whole bit, but is it her or is it mostly just her that’s keeping Martin there? Does he not really realize what’s keeping him there just yet?

Ferrell: I don’t think he knows yet. I mean, we might know what’s good for him in a way, but I don’t think he’s ready or can articulate all that just yet. And I think it’s a combination. It’s like Louisa is obviously an element of it, but it’s part of the whole. I think the whole thing of Port Wenn and these people and Aunt Sarah and her all contribute things that make him want to stay and also make him become a better person.

And the more that Eden brings up moving back to Boston and being a surgeon again, is he starting to realize that’s not the life he wants, the more he hears that?

Tuccillo: I think it’s the same thing. It’s like he’s almost not ready to consider what he wants, but he definitely isn’t jumping into that idea.

Then there’s Martin and Sarah’s conversation and she doesn’t think he seems happy with Eden. He says he is. Is he at all happy? Because he may not be the happiest he could be, but he could still be happy with her. Or is it just more like being comfortable with what that relationship is?

Tuccillo: No, I think there’s parts of it that he is really happy with her. I mean, I think it’s really true when he says she doesn’t ask him to change. She doesn’t reflect back all of his failings as a person because she’s got similar ones. So, yeah, I think they’re very similar and it’s nice to be with somebody who is so much like you.

Ferrell: There’s going to be moments you’re going to see where, especially in this season, where Eden does have human moments, and it does make you remind yourself of like, “Oh, now we see elements of what Martin sees privately. We’ve only seen the brash behavior, but now we get to see a little bit inside her.” And it does challenge your thoughts of, who’s he going to be with?

Danielle Mathias/FOX

Can I just say thank you for the casting on this show? Because the combination of Annie, Andrea, and Didi was so good. I mean, it’s funny, but there was also heart to those scenes.

Tuccillo: That was one of the best days of my life. Everybody on set was pinching themselves because it was such an amazing, what’s the word, what’s the word? Amazing opportunity to see three comedy titans together. And we knew that we were all very fortunate to be there.

Ferrell: And all we had to do was watch. Just one comedic moment after another. And we had the joy of just yesterday she was back and it’s more scenes with Aunt Sarah. And again, the comedy was just outrageous and the heart, too.

Elaine decides to move to New York with Al, but it’s hard to imagine her not being Martin’s assistant, and it feels like she’s going to realize that she wants to stay in Port Wenn more than she’d expected. Are we going to see that struggle in her as she’s realizing, wait a second, I actually do like what I’m doing here, I do like this town?

Tuccillo: Well, I think there’s going to be a struggle, yeah, between wanting to help Martin particularly and wanting to be with Al, because she’s going to be concerned about what will happen to Martin if she’s gone.

Best Medicine, Tuesdays, 8/7c, Fox