Red Ranger 1

When Leah said she wasn't Lacey's biggest fan at first, I thought "You weren't her biggest fan yesterday." At the start of this episode, we were still only a day on from Friday's episode with Leah defensively asking Justin if Lacey was there when he took Theo's stuff round: That's quite a turnaround! But anyway, Leah gave her some good advice. We get some more hints about the rift between Lacey and David: They disagreed over the driver that killed her mother and Lacey feels David didn't support her. Still, if her mother died two years ago and she only moved out six months ago, that suggests she stuck at it for quite a while. So, Leah is now in the awkward position of knowing more about Lacey than Theo does... We saw a bit more of a human side to David but he still thinks a "clean slate" involves putting Cash on traffic duty, even if he did admit he abused his power to bring Lacey to the station. When Eden was talking about the amazing coincidence of the new sergeant being Lacey's dad, I thought "Yeah, that'd be like the hospital getting help from a top heart surgeon who turns out to be your brother." Cash gives Tane a "That's another fine mess you've got me into" look on seeing him at the station. Elsewhere, Kirby has a new arch-enemy. It did seem a bit odd that they were basically trying to put Lyrik back together without putting Lyrik back together, so I'm glad Eden thought it was weird too. Kirby really should have let her answer and I'm surprised Remi and especially Cash didn't notice she wasn't particularly enthusiastic for it.

That has to be one of the most bizarre cases of a reused actor ever, on a par with Vinnie's dad playing a random homeless person, Aden's dad being the new school principal and Robert Robertson turning up as a random counsellor. I've seen enough spoiler photos to get used to it but when I first saw him I immediately thought "Dylan Carter's back?!" And he's even playing another arrogant and corrupt police officer, although he's listed as a regular (not on the opening credits yet, have to keep an eye out for that!), so presumably there's a heart of gold in there somewhere. We didn't see much evidence of it here, with him being a hypocrite with Cash, needling him about breaking protocol while blatantly abusing his position, and coming across as rather controlling with Lacey. I'm not sure what Tane thought he was doing turning up at the station: Did he really expect New Sarge to go "Oh, okay then" when he said it was all his fault? He's obviously good at twisting people's words. I remember Lacey saying a while back about having been let down by the police in the past. I would guess Lacey is around the same age as Theo, yes. (25?) I did like Justin getting Leah to be his new gaming buddy in order to stop her dismantling the house and putting it back together again, and despite his protests last episode, Theo seems to be fine with just walking in as if it's still his home. (Mind you, most people do that on this show.) I was kind of expecting Dana and Sonny's storyline to continue, we've kind of been left hanging there!

It was good to see Leah back to her old self, I guess it finally dawned on her that she'd pushed it as far as she could. Theo seemed to be the one making the most waves, reacting in a defensive manner to fairly innocuous comments from Leah and Justin. But once Leah had offered an apology, things seemed to go well between everyone involved, with Leah and Lacey soon bonding. So we learn a bit about Lacey's background, her mother's dead, it sounds like her father's still around and she has a sister. It's kind of ironic that, when Theo was there, Leah and Justin couldn't wait to have the house to themselves, but now they've got it to themselves all the time, they're miserable about it. I actually found myself cheering Marilyn here as she was the only person willing to speak up for Sonny and Dana being together while Harper had a permanent sour face on and Irene was once more judgemental about someone she doesn't seem to have spent nearly enough time with to form a considered opinion. (Her baby snatcher tendencies resurfacing over Archie, not so much.) I think I've been thoroughly won over to Sonny and Dana by Harper's constant bleating.

Lacey only got added on Tuesday, around the time she was added to the main cast on the closing credits, so yes they're updating them, and probably fairly promptly.

Alf's episode count this week:Three. Well, Remi and Kirby's spat ended up being a bit of a storm in a teacup and it feels like they've already had this conversation once.I found myself leaning more towards Remi's point of view even if he didn't handle it well at times.Kirby's claim that Remi's never had to worry about money didn't really hold true: A year ago, he was supporting himself and paying his contribution to the household by picking up whatever music gig he could manage. And did she forget when their electricity got cut off? He might come from a rich background, but he's never liked accepting handouts any more than she does. Leah seemed to have lost all touch of reality here: She's moved from blaming Lacey for everything that's happened with Theo to blaming anyone even tangentially involved, including Justin and Bree. At least Bree's got a couple of new flatmates out of all this: Is Lacey intending to stay at a backpacker's indefinitely? Anyway, a bit of friendly advice from Alf and Marilyn, and some bluntness from Justin, and Leah's at least approaching Theo in a calm manner, but I guess we'll see if having to accept Lacey is a step too far. I liked that spectacularly awkward meeting between Sonny and Dana, especially Archie giving Sonny a totally-not-impressed look.

It's a tricky one because in many ways these things are almost undefinable. Sometimes a couple click, sometimes they don't. (The experts call it chemistry.) It was based on a long-standing close friendship: Even when they were still with other people, they seemed to be each other's go-to person. They seemed to be better people together. They were together about two years and were very solid during that time. They felt like a couple that you could imagine staying together forever. I guess sometimes a couple captures the audience's attention and for some of us, they were one of them.

I mean, I agree with you on one level. I think Sophie will always view David as the love of her life and have an idealised version of him that no-one else can live up to, although I don't think that's necessarily the only reason she was single for so long. Worth pointing out that the reason Blake didn't get a say in naming their son was he bailed on her while she was pregnant and seemed to have very little contact with them. It's a bit weird but again, a standard soap (and wider fiction) trope to name a child after a dead loved one. (Hayley naming her son with another man after her dead husband springs to mind.)

I mean, she's hardly unique in that regard. Blake came back single too. Roo was apparently single for the best part of 20 years after breaking up with Frank. So was he, for that matter. If they didn't leave with someone and stay with them, and there isn't a particular reason for them to have a partner when they come back, departed characters' love lives tend to be non-existent. In Sophie's case, I think it was at least partly down to needing to focus on being a mother to Tamara and not having time for dating.

A bit of creative tension between Remi and Kirby then.I kind of got where Kirby was coming from with not feeling comfortable spending more money than she had to, and Remi got it too once Bree managed to spell it out to him. I guess we'll have to wait and see how Remi's new plan works: Is the idea for him to stay completely clear of the recording and just sign the invoices? We did get a brief explanation, but Theo and Sonny being absent from the flat all day because they're not in the episode did feel a bit contrived. Another reference to Liz Shaw then, last seen as Harper's obstetrician. Mackenzie's kind of opened a pandora's box here, so I guess she and Levi need to have answers. Abby went closer to leaving than I expected, but I'm glad Mali managed to talk her round in the end and show her that her life in Summer Bay is worth keeping. I wasn't expecting Debra to appear but I would have liked some sort of reference to how she reacted to it. Instead, I suspect we won't see Mali and Abby again until next week, by which time the momentum will have been lost. ETA: As an aside, the actor playing the clobbered bodyguard actually did play one of Cash's bodyguard colleagues last year, but he had a different character name so it's probably not the same one.

I must admit I've got out of the habit after 17 years of checking to see if someone's been added to the opening titles, I've just been looking to see where they are in the cast list. I noticed straightaway on Monday that Lacey was now listed with the main cast, but it's only now I've looked back and checked that I see she was actually added to the opening titles yesterday! Anyway, aside from John celebrating the River Boys getting locked up (well...about six of them, anyway, unless the rest got found with the bodyguards), we're onto other matters.In normal circumstances, it might have been a bit early for Mackenzie to worry about not having got pregnant yet, but after she explained the background to Levi, he realised there might be cause for concern after all. She must have been stringing him along even longer than Cash did John: She tells him there's something he doesn't know when they're walking through a park area, then when we cut back to them, they're on the beach and she's still going "I should have told you this before" instead of spitting it out! So my guess about Debra was right then! After Eden has been threatening just about everyone in town. It was definitely a jolt to her to realise that her parents can actually be grown-ups about this, although she's still insisting on casting Jimmy in the worst light possible. John angling to be celebrant was pleasingly endearing. It's nice that everyone's fond of him and realises his good intentions even though he irritates them at times. I'm guessing Debra had good intentions but she seems to have done a number on Abby, her confidence is absolutely shattered after that character assassination. Any relief I had that she wasn't blaming Mali had dissipated by that final scene, so I guess he needs to step up now.

Well, the resolution was a bit better, with only the bad guys demonstrating a copious lack of intelligence. (Why leave Sonny and Theo on their own if they're just going to go back and kill them? Why wait to kill them if that's the end plan? It's not even like they were using them as leverage, were they really just going to give them a lift back to town if Gage was found not guilty?) But anyway, a combination of Sonny, Cash, Tane and a bit of Lacey gets them out of there. Diesel, Wheel Brace, Unleaded and Tool really would have been better off just dropping it and walking away, because they've just landed themselves in the same wing as Gage. So I guess that the River Boys' annual depletion of their ranks over with, and we'll see them after the next recruitment drive? Having been worried about the bodyguards last episode, I must admit I'd forgotten about them here but good to hear they're okay. As Theo said, how does Leah still not get it? She doesn't have to like Lacey, but constantly attacking her and treating her like the devil and insisting she be locked up isn't going to win her any friends, much less get Theo back onside. (Ironically, she's got a point about Lacey leading the River Boys to Theo and Sonny, but not in a way that would get her arrested.) I was glad Tane put Harper in her place, but unfortunately Dana let Harper get in her head, in a way that was spectacularly hypocritical given Harper doesn't tend to date boy scouts herself. (And I notice she's back making goo-goo eyes at Tane.) Eden did eventually explain why she doesn't want Jimmy around, but part of me does wonder why she's so determined to hang on to this one. She's forgiven Levi, twice, she's made peace with Abigail, Debra thinks it all turned out for the best, so she really needs to cross that last frontier. My first thought was "Did you post it on social media?", and I even wondered if Debra had shared the news, but Cash was always a possibility as well.

Well, I guess it would be too much to hope that it was as simple as Theo and Sonny going to court and giving evidence.I know it's easy sitting here, but it did feel like the episode relied on the good guys doing exactly what the bad guys needed.Why didn't the security guys radio in that the road was blocked? Why didn't their passengers make any attempt to warn them of the ambush, even though they saw the River Boys several seconds earlier? Why do they act as though they're helpless just because the road's blocked both ways, when they could have probably gone off road or at least driven into their attackers? Not that the River Boys do much better, as instead of getting rid of the witnesses, they leave Sonny and Theo unguarded and just leave Dana and Lacey behind so Lacey can go and give evidence after all. Does the River Boys' new field commander (named Diesel in the credits...what with him and Spanner, you wonder if the others are called Wheel Brace, Bumper and Unleaded) have a soft spot for her? It's not clear how Cash knew where Dana and Lacey were either. (Did they flag down someone, who lent them a phone to make a call and then drove on?) The episode does its best to explain the sudden disappearance of the security detail, but it feels a bit weird anyway. Of course, the worst thing is that we're probably now going to be treated to Leah and Harper getting on their high horses.I'm glad Eden at least made an attempt to defend Sonny to Harper. Someone should have a word with her about some of the people Tane's hung out with over the years. I loved John producing a big dossier on his being a celebrant, and loved even more that he then managed to win Eden over by just sitting down and showing an interest in her. I notice Lacey was credited as a regular for the first time, so looks like she's sticking around.

I watch live, so skipping them isn't an option. But I don't tend to skip anyway, they're part of the programme.

Alf's episode count this week:Two, and he was credited on Friday for no appearance. It feels a bit like Theo and Lacey have gone from 0 to 100 in a short space of time, but I guess Theo is the type to fall fast and fall hard, and I can understand Lacey being enamoured by a boyfriend who's actually kind to her after being with Gage.It's hard to see anything good about her deciding not to testify though. Maybe there's some forensic evidence, but it means it basically comes down to Theo's word against Gage's, plus the little Sonny saw, which may not be enough. Attempting to work out what's going on with the River Boys is a ticket to insanity like most of these storylines. Are we to assume they followed Lacey to Theo and Sonny? If so, how did they know where she was? And why not just follow Theo and Sonny home from the hospital if they're after them? Sonny meeting Dana in public was a spectacularly bad idea though which has just got her on the River Boys' radar. Even though she was partly vindicated, it was hard to get behind much of what Harper was saying. How is this the same as before? Dana's pre-Bay boyfriend was an out-and-out wrong 'un, since which she's dated Xander, a basically decent guy, and now Sonny is another basically decent guy with some less-than-decent guys after him.So it mainly come across as her being a bossy big sister. The Parata-Newman house has had four bedrooms in the past, so even if Cash is back from Gary's, there didn't seem to be any reason for Harper and Dana to share. Unless they wanted to, which they have in the past? I'm glad Justin's keeping Leah in the loop about what he knows, even if it's not gonna make her happy. I wondered what had happened to Theo's car so that's one mystery solved!

Roo had already told Alf she was going to see Martha and he thought it was a good idea. Well, Leah did get escorted from the building, even if they did take their time a bit. Irene and Justin did only have limited success getting her to back off, but at least she restricted herself to food drops. Of course, I imagine Leah will be even less pleased Lacey is back, having seemingly walked out of police protection again.It's a bit odd that what the promo confirms are River Boys seemed to be just hanging around in a random street hoping to catch sight of her! Did they have those ubiquitous black vehicles stationed all over the area? Meanwhile, Dana is also paying social calls to Sonny. Bree did an even worse job than Mali of twigging just how much Harper knew. Given it was pretty obvious Harper hadn't been told anything about Sonny, and she'd already put her foot in it once by mentioning him being in hospital, why proceed to babble on about security and court cases as if she really loves digging a bigger hole? Harper decides to channel Leah after talking to Leah...who was being a bit of a hypocrite frankly, as she'd be all over Theo if she could regardless of the danger. With Abigail not in the episode, Mali's left to make a contractually obligated appearance worrying about her.

Weren't many of the others about the same age as Leah is now as well? (Except for Marilyn, who was considerably younger!) Roo might be a closer match for Pippa in some ways. Actually, other versions that I've seen online do seem to have the older characters scattered about more. I think most of the blame has to lie with Abby here. Instead of a panicky message telling Mali to stay away, all she needed to do was leave a message saying "My mum doesn't know about my addiction so don't mention that" and everything would have been all right. I don't think Mali should be expected to blindly obey an order to stay away without any explanation. I'm guessing Cash and Eden would have stayed on with Gary? Because otherwise, Eden's absence kind of stood out. While I'm glad Alf and Roo have agreed to disagree, I continued to find Alf unnecessarily hardline. He seemed to misrepresent what he'd said to the ever-cloying Marilyn as well: He didn't tell Roo not to take a break from fostering, he said she shouldn't be doing it again at all, and he still seems to have stuck by that at the end. We seem to have missed the chance to see Roo and Deb together then, with them both apparently having left town. Maybe at the wedding? No surprise that Leah took the wrong message from what Roo said. She didn't twig that she's the Alf in this scenario, laying down the law to an adult relative who needs space from her.I really hope Levi is on his way to get security and hasn't just given in to her.

Poor teddy. So yep, the Fowlers' mother turns out to be played by Tammy Macintosh, who I mainly know from Farscape and All Saints, the latter of which saw her appearing alongside Georgie Parker. (I had completely forgotten until someone else alluded to it that she and Peter Phelps played a couple on the show...somewhat controversially, since she was meant to be a lesbian!) I think Eden had pretty much twigged what Cash was doing, and that is one of the few occasions when a public proposal is justified! I think Abigail's kidding herself somewhat by thinking she can hide everything from Deb, especially with Deb now heading back to the Bay with her (to coin a phrase). I thought her dismissing Imogen as dull was a bit catty, if not entirely inaccurate. Meanwhile, things don't sound good for Eliza and it's hard to see what the option is. They can't keep her locked up for her whole life so maybe they can teach her how to control her impulses in a non-destructive way? But yes, we're back to Alf and Roo being the too extremes. Roo needs to face the fact that she did the best she could and it's up to other people to look after Eliza now. But Alf writing off the whole idea of fostering because of one bad experience just underlines how far he's come from his "This house always takes in those who need it" days: The only waif and stray he cares about these days is Marilyn.

To be honest, I think Kirby really did need some proper feedback rather than Justin acting like a man whose wife has just asked him which of outfit she should wear and going "They're all great" repetitively. The song she was trying out here felt a bit...average. (Maybe he's having flashbacks to Phoebe!) Maybe his rant will have some effect, although she still seemed to be a mess and needing Remi to drag her out of her funk the next morning. Remi representing Justin and Leah to Theo didn't go much better.Theo's lucky he had friends to provide him with a bolt hole, otherwise he'd be sleeping in his car again. He really is struggling with the concept of Lacey being in witness protection, isn't he? Cash is steaming ahead with his reproposal plan, getting Mackenzie on board and seemingly Kirby and Remi too. (And the promo shows that we finally meet the Fowlers' mother and get a name for her! Now we just need to meet Mackenzie's mum...)

Alf's episode count this week:Four. Leah, Justin and Cash were also in four. I thought there was an interesting contrast in the parallel complaining scenes:Leah was just ranting and not interested in anything Irene had to say, while Justin actually seemed to listen to John.Leah continued to be insufferable, blaming anyone convenient for Theo's injury, while Justin just blamed her for putting Theo offside.Anyway, she seemed to calm down and listen by the end, so hopefully that sticks. Mali continued to stick his head in the sand, sometimes for noble reasons, sometimes just out of stubbornness. Abigail was right to tell Kirby the truth, and Kirby grabbing random people on the beach and trying to get them to apply was probably the daftest thing she could think of. (Mind you, it's pretty much how she got the job!) Anyway, Mali seems to have come up with a plan that could work, so I understand Abigail choosing to support this. Cash was another one being daft, choosing to sit in the police station like a zombie chasing up pointless leads (and not thinking of the obvious solution, to get someone to keep an eye on the River Boys). Anyway, he managed to tear himself away and spend time with Eden eventually, and may even have found something else to focus on.

Lacey finally gets her safe house...and Cash suddenly loses his shadow, which is slightly worrying.It came right after Cash getting the call that Lacey was at the safe house, although thankfully even he doesn't know the location.Do the River Boys have a contact?(In which case, why haven't they been tipped off before?) Were they somehow listening in on the phone call? Or, less dramatically, were Gage's legal team informed? I liked the phone conversation between Theo and Lacey, with Lacey especially coming across as grown-up about it. I don't know what the chances are of her coming back after the trial? Would she be in witness protection indefinitely? Leah isn't completely wrong that they should have kept a closer eye on Theo, but her insistence on blaming everything on Lacey has become as frustrating as Justin trying to spin everything as being Sonny's fault, and didn't make it easier for Theo to listen to her.And now she's apparently taking it out on Justin just because he's not wholly in agreement with her! Meanwhile, just as Justin softens towards Sonny, Remi snaps back to seeing him as a screw-up. I'm glad he got more-or-less the whole story about Bree being the one to put them in contact, but it didn't seem to make much difference.Sonny shutting down Dana's hints about staying the night was the right thing to do and maybe shows some growth on his part. So, Mali's inevitably getting a backlash over the article.Kirby's between a rock and a hard place here: Mali's made it pretty clear he doesn't want help, and probably wouldn't appreciate her approaching him with an offer, yet it's hard to just sit back and do nothing.

Well, with Roo and Harper off screen dealing with the fallout of Eliza, and Alf and Marilyn getting a couple of (mildly annoying) contractually obligated scenes, it's onto other matters.Which basically means the River Boys, who continue to follow Cash about.They're not even really being subtle, or particularly useful, as evidenced with them parking up a few yards away out of earshot while Cash chats to Remi and Bree. So Sonny gets his own bodyguards.Hopefully they're not from the same firm Cash worked for or he could be in trouble.It was Bree who gave Dana a way of finding him, although to be fair, she doesn't seem to know what Remi was planning. I'd have thought Marilyn would have learned about enthusiastically getting vicarious about someone else's romance after Tane and Harper! Meanwhile, Leah comes clean to first Justin and then Theo. I'm glad Justin extended an olive branch to Remi and Sonny and shook Sonny's hand (and that Sonny acknowledged he wasn't entirely wrong), otherwise he would have seemed like a bit of a hypocrite. He really didn't seem to grasp Cash's "You can't tell anyone" instruction since he immediately tells Theo he's seen Lacey! Levi did a pretty good job getting Theo to play ball. No, Cash has just been staying away from her while the River Boys are after him. Well, 1996 started with Pippa, as pretty much every version for the first ten years did (but ironically not the first version, where Tom's on his own with her following) although I accept Alf, Ailsa, Irene and Marilyn are right at the end (Donald's kind of in the middle). Fair point on original 2000, which starts off with a bunch of youngsters and has Alf, Ailsa, Donald and Irene virtually at the end.

I feel obliged to point out that Harper never said she wanted nothing to do with Eliza. Tane went behind her back and told Alf and Roo to keep Eliza away from her like a heavy Victorian patriarch. Alf, being something of a heavy Victorian patriarch himself, falsely attributed the words to Harper, because god forbid she be allowed to have a different opinion to Tane. Anyway, that's it for Eliza it would appear. Harper tries to soften the blow by saying she'll only be institutionalised for "the short term" but it's hard to imagine her suddenly being all cured of her destructive impulses in a matter of days or weeks. At least she's not facing criminal charges, but other than that, she's likely to end up on the same ward as Heather. Some questions remain unanswered but I'd rather that than the show suddenly pulling a load of last minute reveals about how awful she is out of a hat. We don't know whether she started the fire at her old house or not, we don't know whether there's more to what happened her to her grandmother, we don't know if these dangerous fixations have happened in similar circumstances at the past. And without that, Irene, Marilyn and Tane continue to snip about her as if she's the devil's spawn makes me think badly of them rather than Eliza. Again, despite lots of predictions that she'd stab Harper or set fire to the house with Marilyn and Roo tied up inside, the only time she actively hurt someone was when she punched Scott. She didn't drag Harper into the bush or cause her to go into labour, she didn't make Alf have heart problems. Yes, she stopped them getting help, and that's dangerous behaviour, but people both on screen and off have been acting like she's a serial killer, which is ridiculous. Oh, and another reminder of how utterly incompetent and unprofessional social services have been: They're apparently "not surprised" at what Eliza's done, yet gave Roo no warning or support, which is downright negligent to a level on a par with Eliza's own. I'm glad Harper was there to support them all at the end rather than staying away like a little woman, and while Roo and Eliza don't end on a good note, I hope Roo realises she did all she could. Eliza remains ambiguous up to the end, with it unclear how much of her upset about being sent away was real. (She did, after all, have time to prepare after eavesdropping on Roo.) Elsewhere, we have Mackenzie's cluckiness and Cash being rather casual with Lacey, although his straight talking is probably the best way to handle the situation. Justin doesn't seem to share Leah's myopic belief that it's all Lacey's fault, but it's not clear whether he still thinks the same about Remi and Sonny. I understand Theo being worried about Lacey but he still needs to look after his recovery.

I kind of wonder why Tane waited until now to mention the phone call. Was he waiting until he thought the storyline was nearly over?

Yes, even after reading on here that it was coming, I was still surprised by the intro. I haven’t gone through it with a checklist seeing who’s there and who isn’t but there were definitely some individual and couples shots of Levi and Mackenzie on the beach in the middle. (I think it started with Remi and Bree.) Bit odd that all the oldies are bunched together at the end. Having first learned we weren’t going to have them, I’m trying to work out what this means. Have we now got them for good? Did someone send out the wrong copy of the episode by mistake? Did Channel 5 get bombarded with e-mails and make a special request? As to the stuff after the titles, you have to admire Roo trying her best to be the person Eliza needs, even if she’s clearly out of her depth by now. Aside from usual TV “the main characters do everything” rules, the question remains as to why it’s down to Roo to call the department, who appear to have dumped Eliza and vanished. Her only support is a seminar she had to arrange herself and a social worker on maternity leave who’s her neighbour. I did quite enjoy the opening scene of Eliza being ultra-nice. Her expression while watching the video was interesting again: It was like she was trying to fight off any emotional reaction to it and keep the stoic detached mindset in place. No word yet on her motivation with Alf, and even though she says the stories behind the box item were lies, we don’t get the truth. Ironic that she kept missing Harper and Archie even when they were in the same building. I continue to find Tane’s Leah-like attempts to dictate who can and can’t see Harper frustrating. I was disappointed that Harper wasn’t there with Roo and hope she’s been held up rather than bowing to the will of the patriarch like a good little woman. I still find it hard to believe Eliza would actually do anything to hurt Harper or Archie, her actions have been mostly passive. Aside from a couple of scenes of John worrying about the River Boys, the only other thing of note is Mali and Abigail’s latest spat. The show seems to be using a trick Neighbours is fond of: Dealing with an age gap relationship by making the older party immature. The result being that I’m left wondering if Mali is mature enough for Abby.

Geoff/Melody - It was very disappointing that she got written out so soon after they got together, and even more so when they brought her back just to make her an obstacle to Geoff being with Nicole, which didn't last long after Melody left again anyway.Looking back, they were obviously the better pairing and it would have been nice to see more of them. Dexter/Lottie - Probably the nadir of the show's habit of introducing girls perfect for Dex as guest characters.They had a nice slow build up to getting together and were a strong and sweet pairing...and then almost straightaway, the show had Dexter go off her and start mooning over supposed "soul mate" April. Despite Lottie being Roo's stepdaughter for a while, she seemed to get forgotten about very quickly aside from the odd reference.