2018 Season - UK Episode Discussion

[Gerard]

On 16/03/2018 at 19:44, Red Ranger 1 said:

I share John's thought of "Why would Ashford [or Lucy Addario and whichever script producer it is at the moment] bring those clowns back to the bay?" It seemed almost ludicrous the way we got this really long introductory shot of a bunch of random blokes in utes with Blood and Sand tattoos as though we're supposed to care that it's the River Boys but not any of the ones we actually know.It does make sense given that Brax made a point of introducing Ash to them before he went to jail but still.

Today's episode felt like a throwback to the bad old days of Brax & co. It's a matter of opinion of course, but H&A had just about repaired the damage done by that era, and now it feels we're right back there. They just can't let Brax and the River Boys go, and move on.

[Homeandawayfan.]

The show has totally regressed itself again with the new River Boys. Back to square one and the River Boys rabble.

And...

Spoiler

This whole retcon surrounding the upcoming UK pace storyline regarding Martha and Alf, which has destroyed the shows legacy and history.

 

[Dan F]

2 hours ago, Gerard said:

Today's episode felt like a throwback to the bad old days of Brax & co. It's a matter of opinion of course, but H&A had just about repaired the damage done by that era, and now it feels we're right back there. They just can't let Brax and the River Boys go, and move on.

*cough*

 

[Red Ranger 1]

On ‎18‎/‎03‎/‎2018 at 15:29, H&Alover said:

Raffy is 15 so not too young at all to attend

Depends on how you view things.I seem to recall my mum saying she didn't go to her grandmother's funeral when she was 16 because her parents thought she was too young.

Not sure what to make of Dean on first impressions.I agree this did feel like a re-run of the River Boys' first coming with them causing trouble in Salt.And Dean does feel very like early Brax for better or worse: He keeps the boys in line (and so far without resorting to the extreme "discipline" that Brax favoured) but also has the criminal mentality of viewing police as The Enemy, with the result that Ash seemed the more measured one despite yelling abuse at Murray for no real reason.Meanwhile...I'm giving Tori a pass for now but I'm going to be watching her closely.I can understand her treating Robbo's wound and I can definitely understand her keeping his presence a secret from Ash given his current state of mind, there's no telling what he'd do.But if her next call isn't for the police or an ambulance, I'm going to want to know why.Mind you, it seems Robbo's now a regular so we're presumably going to get some contrived excuse for him to stick around.To be fair, I remain to be 100% convinced that he's Beckett Reid so see how that works out.

I continue to enjoy seeing Leah's counselling of Jasmine.I really thought she was going to do a runner when she nipped outside to use the toilet but it seems Leah has got her trust.Sounds like she was basically driving down a motorway exit so you'd expect her to be going at high speed: That's why the Stop sign was there, because cars are going to be going fast and if you drive straight out then there's going to be an accident.Kat was 100% at fault.Nice use of Leah's history with Jamie, which I'd practically forgotten about.(Mind you, her solution was to leave the country for about eight months so probably not the best person to give advice.)

[c120701]

They have 30 years worth of character history to draw from and they bring back the River Boys. I suppose we should be grateful as ****ting on their history won’t make any difference.

[630si]

So, I know I was surprised at Leah not being at Kats funeral on Friday but now I have seen more today I’m pursuaded to the thought of some people on this thread. It’s in Leah’s caring nature to help and having seen more of that with jasmine in today’s episode I’m satisfied it wasn’t as strange as I first thought. Jasmine’s story sounds pretty awful but I feel there must be more to it...

The riverboys are literally everywhere. And I’m not feeling it. 

Tori had to help Robbo with his wounds didn’t she. First and foremost she’s a doctor and he literally is about to pass out in front of her. I feel like she’s in an impossible situation now. Ash has already told her he isn’t on board with the decisions she has made thus far in relation to Robbo, what with her holding the address back from Kat, and now she’s got to treat him as a patient and keep it From Ash. Tori and Ash are too far gone now, she mentioned to Justin that he’s slipping away last week, it seems he’s gone. 

[Slade]

Until Tori changed into her casual wear I'd forgotten what nice legs she had.  Not as nice as Scarlett's but still nice nonetheless.  I think she did the right thing not telling Ash.  Hopefully she'll be able to give him sufficient help so he can escape but it's going to be unlikely given that she lives in a full house.

 

Whilst I'm not sure about Leah missing Kat's funeral, it's interesting that they've allowed Lea and Jasmine to bond using Jasmine's stalking.  Ah Jamie.  I quite liked him.  I recall at the time she slept with someone quite a bit younger than her and used him so when he got obsessive with her I had very little sympathy.

 

Found the River Boys really annoying although I was slightly interested in Dean.  Thought he handled Ash quite well given how Ash was acting towards him throughout most of that episode.

[pembie]

I liked the river boys era but I don't think it really works having them back again does feel a tad boring I expect they are hanging around though 

I think Dean kind of looks like Brax too. 

[H&Alover]

I'd have thought the Morgan's were more relaxed about allowing Raffy to go or not, she's not a fragile flower after all she's witnessed.   Brody had a reason for not being there, he was at Salt getting the food for the wake ready, but where was Mason? Tori thought he was at home when she got the sense she wasn't alone. Buddy doing his usual 'I'm not very good at being a guard dog' routine letting Robbo break in, route about in the bathroom, steal food.  Later I got the feeling he was more standing guard over Robbo than about to savage 'the intruder'.

We got to see the granny flat (or converted garage) which is where Tori has decided to hide Robbo while she patches him up.  As 630si said her doctor instincts dictated she had to help him.  It appears that so far she's overlooking his other injury - broken ribs - at the moment and concentrating on his leg. Robbo is a very tough fit and that is meant in more ways than one guy but even his strength and determination had to give out at some point. Why would he risk going all the way back into town and specifically to the Morgan's to grab food and medical stuff? He could have chosen any home miles from the bay. Justin has been put in an impossible position he wants be on Tori's side as she is his sister but Ash is his friend and he knows what pain he's going through and what it would do to him if he finds out.

New River Boys, we, or rather, the Morgan's got a brief breakdown of who they were and their connection to the bay courtesy of Brax and Heath.  Dean, to me, didn't seem to have quite the control as Brax did with his gang, I thought it was Ash who gave them a tongue lashing when they acted up.  Someone, anyone should have told Ash that the day was about Kat and their baby, one day not looking for Robbo wouldn't have made any difference. Besides while the Boys where looking for Robbo out in the bush little did they know how close to home he was, so effectively they didn't do any more of a better job than the police are, I have said before Robbo is well skilled at eluding people when necessary.

Dean really got antsy when the penny dropped that Kat had been a cop, but Ash managed to change his mind.  They weren't that much of The Enemy back in Brax's day he fell in love with one!  Seems Dean and Willow know each other.

While still giving Ash the benefit of the doubt over his current behaviour because of what he is going through, I didn't like that one moment he was unwilling to talk to Tori but as soon as Murray suggested a hospital may have Robbo in their ED department and maybe a doctor could find out what they, the police, couldn't  immediately rings Tori. As he hadn't been shot a hospital wouldn't be obliged to tell the police at once. Not exactly police protocol Murray telling Ash that I would have thought.

I had completely  forgotten about Jamie so had to go over Leah's profile page. Totally different way of meeting their stalker for both of them so using internet dating can't be blamed. No excuse, whatever the guys (or gals for that matter) age for stalking someone! Jamie had problems before he met Leah, she was nice to him, something he wasn't used to. Jasmine said she pushed the guy away/over so maybe he was knocked out or, stretching it here, died. Good in theory taking her back to the hospital and telling staff that no-one should be told she is there and that only Leah and Irene  be allowed to see her, but there is always going to be one member of staff who doesn't get the email.

Not looking healthy for Alf!!!!

Oh Red -

 

 

[Red Ranger 1]

Okay, I'm flinging my hands up in disgust now and wondering what the hell Tori is playing at as she well and truly crosses the line. Yes, treat Robbo's wounds, yes, keep his presence secret from Ash.But this is the point where all the hard work done repairing the show gets trashed: We went through years of Nate acting like an underworld doctor and fixing criminals up on the quiet, finally had him pulled into line and disciplined for it, and now we're right back there with Tori.Justin's first instinct, rightly, is to call the police and then somehow he doesn't, despite Tori not giving one reason for him not to apart from whining "I'm doing this for Ash!!!!" about eight times.Yeah, no-one wants Ash to kill him but the logic that that'll somehow be the result if he gets taken into custody was seriously lacking.I'm guessing her rationale is meant to be that Ash doesn't know where he is at the moment and if he's arrested he will, but in theory at least he should be safer in hospital under police guard than getting improvised medical treatment in the garage of a house that the guy who wants to kill him visits all the time, even if the police haven't been too good at that in the past.As a treatise on the differences between justice and revenge, the solution seems to be to have neither.(That is to be commended on one ground.Many times in the bad old days we had Brax going out to kill someone for similar reasons and us expected to believe that's okay because they deserved it.But here, we're encouraged to see both sides and ponder whether the fact he caused the death of Ash's son actually makes it okay to murder Robbo.)And now we have Justin seemingly deciding to help Robbo escape just so Tori doesn't get in trouble for helping him, even though she'd likely just get a slap on the wrist.

Not much else going on except the reveal that Dean and Willow dated, and a fairly successful attempt to solidify Brody and Ziggy as a couple (although I'm glad he pointed out she doesn't work there).I'm not too bothered about the River Boys: Last time round we got a couple of months of them turning up everywhere causing trouble then they faded into the background except for the main ones, so see how it settles down once we get over the "Look, it's the River Boys, isn't that great?" phase.