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A pretty abrupt decision for Harper to return to work but in a way, it's good that she'll have something to concentrate on rather then sitting at home fretting about Tane and driving else mad whinging on about him. She would have returned to work at sometime. It did come out when she was talking to Irene why she became a SW as they look after kids like her and Dana so can smypathise with them. It was very handy that it just had to happen as Cohen turned up and at least this time Roo has a SW actually there. Harper has been suddenly dropped in it with Cohen but him and his mum not being local TPTB behind her would need to do some digging into their history. David didn't get very far either with his investigations I loved, again how he was with Cohen, Roo being there as appropriate adult of course. Not sure if Cohen was telling the whole truth about his background, this lady he called nan for one, or whether his mum had drummed into him not to reveal too much about themselves. He did say he didn't know who his dad was, so either dad may have been a one night stand, brief encounter, died when he was very young, it could even be likely Samantha is a widow. Going off on a tandem, his name is Kingham but in the closing credits, which I admit I don't usually look at, his name was shown as David Miller. Wasn't that his wife's maiden name which Lacey changed her surname to? He and Roo did get on and although they may have had a transient background he's well read so Samantha has been able to educate him somehow. David did tell Roo Samantha was being sent down, did he say for how long, which may have been why she decided to give up any parental rights on him so it was a clean break for both of them. Maz seemingly got a good vibe from him unlike the one she got from Eliza. It does seem a good idea that Kirby and Avalon have teamed up, but I'm still not sure about her. It's putting more pressure on Remi though and Justin isn't helping by announcing he's got a venue for Kirby's Launch Party in a week's time. He's going to have to crack on too getting the fliers out, get it on Kirby's SM page. Kirby telling Avalon that Remi didn't any money problems re financing the album made ring for me. You know what TPTB are like letting us think one thing when something else happens. I'm hoping it isn't what they are suggesting. Avalon may be one of those people who can just take drugs as and when they want and don't get hooked.

Alf's episode count:Suspended. At least we know where he is, since it's Leah's turn to not appear at all even though references suggest she's in town. Tane only appears in one episode before going away, and even then it's only on a video call. Harper was annoying as ever in her first scene: Tane got on a plane to Japan because she told him to, and he left Archie behind because she kept him away. Even Irene looked fed up with her.Still, she actually worked well with Cohen despite having apparently no briefing, demonstrating she's a much better character when just doing her job rather than sulking over Tane.I guess we could add David in that category too.When Harper explained she'd put Archie in day care, Marilyn was probably thinking "Why not give him to me?!?!" That's an incredibly fast turnaround from Samantha, last time we saw her she was promising Cohen she'd see him tomorrow, now she's apparently decided she never wants to see him again. Even if she thinks a clean break is the best thing so he can be looked after properly, it's a pretty abrupt way to break off contact and leaves Roo in an awkward position. I'm not quite sure why Remi needed to stay up all night, he didn't even have Justin's deadline to deal with at that point. Kirby and Avalon have indeed done something of a 180. I'm not sure Justin did the right thing by getting Remi to agree to the duet. It isn't clear from the ending whether Remi's going to take the drugs or not but the promo suggests he did.

Can parents just abrogate their rights to their kids? Sounds weird to me.

Heh heh Jo did drop into Yabbie Creek cop shop. David did indeed act like "it's one rule for the rest of the cops and another for me" when Jo just called in to give him her good news. OK her dropping back in later was bad timing but she could have backed off when he was talking to Cohen. But then we did see a completely different side to him when he was talking to Samantha and Cohen, he was firm but treated her with respect and was gentle with them both. He persuaded her to go to the cop shop and took care of Cohen. Wow there is another cop who is allowed to talk, he was a tad OTT when he and his silent buddies were hassling Samantha. That did later involve him meeting Roo when he dropped Cohen off at hers. I'm guessing the phone call she took off screen was from the local SW's asking if she could take him in. I'm also guessing that is what that phone call to Maz was about. I didn't think the cops would just turn up. Hard to guess his age but I'd say he was 11/12? He's also mixed race not that has anything to do with anything. Was odd Roo decided she put her card from Eliza in her box to send to her, she could have put it in a drawer somewhere. I may be getting way ahead of myself and it not happen but I can see David and Roo getting close. She was giving Maz some faff about coming home as she was missing the place but Maz wasn't fooled and soon wheedled the truth out of her that it was Alf turning up at Martha's and giving her a hard time about fostering so she wisely left. He won't be a happy bunny when he comes back - depending on how long Cohen's going to be there, hope SS gave Roo more back story for him unlike they did - or didn't - for Eliza. Like you Red, I'm usually on John's side but he was on the officious side with Lacey after he was giving Mali such a hard time about lack of staff at the board shop. Him spying on her and Theo was a tad OTT. The lesson did go well though although did tire Theo out, good to see his injuries haven't been forgotten and are still bothering him, meaning ND's don't always perform miracles. Btw now Tane isn't around is anyone making sure he is keeping on track with his exercises? Theo did urge her to own up to Mali which did burst John's bubble somewhat. Mali made the right decision to keep her on to do the job Abby used to do. That will be interesting when they meet. Have Abby and Mali touched base with each other since she's been back? Lacey, it seems still hasn't told Theo her dad and sister are in town or near enough, that would have been very awkward if either or both had wandered by or gone into the Surf Club when they there. I giving Dana some leeway with the way she was with Jo, to her it would seem someone just drifts in and she got the job she went for. But once Jo told her she'd been a cardio nurse for x amount of years she backed down. Sonny had also had his ear bitten off but once he got Dana pinned down long enough to listen to him he did give good advice, the same thoughts were going through my mind. She could specialise, do they do rotations at ND's? That way she find out what really interests her and what she'd like to be involved in. That is how it works for docs after all, I dare say Levi was an ordinary doc when he first qualified then moved onto cardio. She is currently just a nurse - not meaning that in a bad way - mainly working in A&E so knows how ND's work, she could bend Bree's ear and get her advice. From what we saw in the promo Kirby and Avalon have had a right u-turn and have teamed up to sing together - pretty head spinning. Kirby's album is done Remi just needs to do a few tweaks and it's done. Said before and I'll say it again - NO NO & NO DON'T GO THERE REMI!

It feels like, as with Jo's blossoming friendship with Dana, this episode was designed to show us a softer side of David.All I could think though was "Hug your daughter in your own time", with another example of one rule for him and one rule for everyone else. Comforting Jo in his office when she'd been brought there on official business was one thing, but now she's dropping by for a gossip and a takeaway, and actually standing at his shoulder while he's dealing with a case..? Incidentally, we get a constable who isn't Cash or the departed Rose, and the actor was in two episodes in 2016 as a uni classmate of Oscar et al. Hilariously, he was in the same episode as Dylan Carter, although I don't think they shared a scene! Well, it was good timing that Roo came back and signed back up as a foster carer within 24 hours of another troubled youngster turning up! I wonder how Alf will react, given it seems he's being as unpleasant as ever on the subject. I was kind of disappointed to see what Roo did with Eliza's card. Keeping it on display wasn't healthy, but boxing it up with the stuff to send back to Eliza wouldn't be good for the girl's mental health, and I'd rather she'd put it away somewhere to remember it wasn't all bad. Still...was that a photo of Alf and Ailsa next to it?! It's not much, but after seven years of virtually pretending she didn't exist, it was very welcome! I'm usually on John's side, but I was glad everyone gave him short shrift here, given he was just tittle-tattling in a rather judgemental manner. Given how much he was on at Mali to hire someone to run the board shop, I thought he'd have been more motivated to keep quiet rather than trying to get Lacey fired just to crow over Mali. I'm glad Mali decided to keep her on: He was running what lessons there were himself anyway, so it makes sense to have Lacey run the shop while he does that and the boards. It wasn't until the credits came up that I realised Lacey was in the same episode as her family and didn't cross paths with them at all. I don't think that's a bad thing, she's benefiting from getting to interact with a lot of characters. Dana lost a lot of my sympathy by sniping at Jo like that. Ironically, when he took a deep breath and stepped up, Sonny actually gave her good advice!

Nothing's been removed - could be a case of unfortunate timing and you happened to post just as the forum was being switched to a new URL early yesterday afternoon.

So Mali hires Lacey without asking any questions about her experience or looking at her CV just to keep John happy.

My comments from yesterday seems to have disappeared. Short recap - I don't blame Tane going to Japan - he did pay for it after all. Hopefully he'll take the time alone to think about what Harper said. He does have Archie to consider so hope he won't want to break off contact with Harper completely. I wasn't sure if Jo's meltdown was a tactical move to get Levi to feel sorry for her, though she does have experience, but I think he is more professional than that and he was going to contact her referees. He does know Dana so knows she is a good, dedicated and caring nurse even if her cardio skills aren't that sharp. Jo commenting on the fact David hadn't grieved for the loss of his wife being the reason she had followed him to the bay - well none of them have. I did when Levi got that booty call from Mac when he was with Bree at Salt - not that Bree found it all funny - no honestly she didn't. Levi, seemingly, dashing Eden's wish to invite Jimmy to the Wedding didn't go well, the argument spilling into the street. Bloody hell Cash - that was one whistle - nearly burst my eardrums. It did shut them up though. Anyways as we saw last night Levi did admit to Cash, who was the only one prepared to listen, he did phrase it wrong. He meant and I agree with him inviting Jimmy to the actual Wedding would be a bad idea. Weddings are stressful enough without the extra problem of having a dad who you haven't spoken to for ten years, ignore the brief meeting last year, at your Big day. Eden did see the reasoning behind it and we did see Eden, biting the bullet and ringing Jimmy. I think Eden was taking the anger she was feeling against Levi out on Lacey though of course their last meeting was pretty acrimonious. I think Lacey would work well at Salt. She's still wary at working at the Diner because she'd be working for her boyfriend's mum. I feel Mali was pushed into offering Lacey the job by John who'd been nagging him about abandoning the board shop. John was a bit nonplussed that Mali had been reading up on the terms of his lease and that was no reason why he couldn't not open it. He did gabble those instructions as to what he wanted done. Lacey was thrown in at the deep end - so to speak - so had to call on Theo to help out. May not be very woke but I did when she fluttered her eyes at him. Not as if he'd be doing anything to injure himself, just take them through the basic initial lessons, we've seen those before, how to lie on the board, get the feel of it, stand up, get your balance etc. Actually those instructions are pretty world wide. I saw a travel prog with David Suchet and he went to Hawaii and the surfing instructor he met did the same things. What I did like about the newbie surfers was they were normal people, all shapes and sizes - not a Love Islander look a like among them. I'm guessing David was off duty or on a day off so that is why Eden was able to use the pop in shop - sorry Police Station - to see Cash. Do any of the other cops there have people call into see them, drop off food? On that point will Jo be popping in to see him now she's in the bay? Seems Jo may be local now she's got the job at ND's. Sonny wasn't very understanding about Dana not getting it, him saying something like well you weren't bothered about it before you knew it was up for offer but now you are. She did have a dig about when was the last job he did then storming off. It is a wonder Salt makes any profit at all with Mac serving up free food and drinks most of the time, not to mention mates rates ones too. Seems Roo is back, did she and Alf pass each on the road to Martha's? David turns up on her doorstep with this young lad called Cohen and tells her she's his emergency foster carer! Can the cops do that without any warning at all? BTW nought to do with anything - but where are all the blond blokes in the Bay?

There have definitely been times when we've had too-similar characters in the same era. The current batch of characters proves that point, but it's happened in other eras too. The mid 2000s group of Lucas, Matilda, Cassie, Drew etc all felt somewhat interchangeable. The character-types like the popular girl, the tomboy, the surfie, the nerd, the jock For me, Joey Rainbow is the geek character, but depending which teen gang you grew up with, they'll mostly remember Steven, Damien, Dexter, Oscar etc. Occasionally, teenage characters have "broken the mould", such as Edward, Tegan Brook, Justine, Vinnie etc. But mostly, they are interchangeable, even some that are more memorable than others.

If it was just based on whether they were attractive or whether I liked them the list would probably be longer. All characters have their place on the show to some extent, if anything because you need at least x amount of characters to make the show work. I understand the need for a teenage male character in the era of the school at least. But when you have a few male teens at the same time who are interchangeable which we did maybe 10 years ago they all seem pointless even if you need at least one of them to fill the slot. I only mentioned 2 nerds on there and the fact I mixed one up with the other kind of proves my point. There were nerds I didn't include such as Damien.

Levi did a really bad job of explaining himself frankly, repeatedly saying "You've not thought this through" instead of giving any reason why it was a bad idea. I think we eventually got to him thinking that it might lead to a family argument at the wedding, which was oddly specific, and meant it was down to Eden to come up with the idea of meeting Jimmy and hashing things out before the wedding.Well, she's got six months. I did like Cash desperately trying to break the awkward silence at the start but I don't blame Abigail for getting fed up and going into work. Eden was completely out of line with Lacey and there didn't even seem to be any real resolution to it. I thought for a moment that Mackenzie was going to tear a strip off her but then she just shrugged and let it go. Of course, Mali then went to the other extreme, hiring her without any attempt to explain what the job was or find out if she could do it. I know Kirby used to help out with lessons but Abigail was just manning the shop so I'm not sure why he assumed Lacey would do that. Talking of jobs, Dana spends the day stressing but cornering Levi wasn't the smartest idea.I grimaced when Mackenzie turned up at the hospital to see Levi, expecting her to start clambering all over him again, but looks like she's calmed down. Why on earth did we have Eden turning up at the police station for a personal conversation with Cash only a week or so after David putting a stop to that? It's like there are things, like Mackenzie giving away free food and drink all over the place, that are so ingrained that even if one episode says it's not going to happen anymore, the next writer will just do it anyway.

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The forum did indeed used to be on backtothebay.com, but it moved to .net back in 2013. When we first launched, the main site was on .com and the forum was on .net – and I've absolutely no idea why it all got switched around