Red Ranger 1

As in, does he know Tori was in protective custody at a safe house at the time and then had a stroke and nearly died? Leah needs to get over herself. To be frank, the whole thing about Leah and marriage has become exaggerated over time, she hasn't actually been married that many times or had that many disasters, but she is making the same mistake she made with Zac, treating Justin badly over some insult that exists only in her head.Justin would probably marry her if it was what she wanted, but he's accepted that she's happy to go on living together and is committed to her.That doesn't mea

Alf's episode count this week:Three. Colby was in two but spent most of Monday comatose and didn't have any dialogue. John's date with Susie veered between sweet, funny and simply excruciating.Inviting Irene along was probably not the best idea he could have had either.Oh well, it doesn't seem to have put her off since she agreed to a second one. James Stewart is matching Shane Withington for the comic timing, as Justin spends most of the episode (in fact, most of the week) in a state of utter bemusement.At least there's good news for him at last with the pain only being a pulled mus

Tom and Pippa wanted Alf and Ailsa as godparents, although as I recall, Roo went into labour (initially faking it, later for real, long story) on the day of the ceremony and Alf didn't make it there, so I'm not sure what happened in the end.

Well, five minutes after John decides to find a date the old-fashioned way, it seems he can't move without running into an attractive woman, although he seemed a bit rabbit in the headlights when Irene carefully explained what had just happened.Susie doesn't seem that good at her job though, given the way Tori and Christian seemed unimpressed at her housing selection.Justin definitely overstepped the mark inviting Christian to move in with them and has left Tori in a difficult position.Marilyn seemed to be only hearing what she wanted to as well. Ziggy bawling her eyes out and giving Just

Good that Emma got to pay tribute to David. A lot going on here!

When the cavalry coming over the hills is the River Boys, you know to check your brain at the door. That sequence couldn't have been more cartoony if Heath had come swinging in dressed as a bat. (Or indeed the Black RPM Power Ranger, who I recently discovered was played by Dan Ewing as basically Heath Braxton in spandex.) But what the heck, it was actually quite fun to see Heath wander back onto the show, take down a Big Bad Wannabe and wander out again (even if the shots of a bunch of guys in hoodies fighting a bunch of other guys in hoodies were almost impossible to decipher).It's a shame he

I'm back to being vaguely confused by Kieran.It felt like battle lines had been drawn between him and Alf on Monday, but they're back to being reasonably civil.We now know that he's drinking (well, assuming it really isn't Ribena) but it feels like something he needs to do to cope rather than something that sends him crazy.In fact, it seems more like he's inherited his mother's traits than his father's, being constantly on edge as though it's an effort to be "normal".I was expecting him to blow his top at some point but his temper seems to be under control.It might have been a different story

When you open a season with a recap that includes stuff from the season opener two years ago, you know a storyline's been going on a long time.I'm afraid I was back to finding Jasmine annoying, with her continued belief that Colby's somehow a special case.She was also apparently fine with her colleagues being menaced by street thugs just so Dean and Bella could stand by Colby's bed looking upset for a couple of minutes.Christian's reaction was nice:He didn't debate the morals, just pointed out that they could make things worse for themselves by breaking the rules.And after all that drama, Colb

Thanks: I wasn't entirely sure if people could tell who it was, but after thirteen years on here, I've finally twigged how to make screen caps so thought I'd try it out...

Well, there did seem to be a period where the 18-30 age group was almost entirely unrepresented, in sharp contrast to these days: Nearly everyone was either a teenager or the parent figure of a teenager. The show didn't quite seem to know what to do with characters once they left school and quickly wrote them out (Sally of course being a notable exception). But at the same time, yes, family obviously played a big part in it, the parent figures weren't just noises off or rarely seen authority figures, they were a big part of the storylines.

Possibly because they wanted the character to be younger, possibly because they felt it would be too big a betrayal for Martha to have not only hidden the fact she had a son but Alf's son, possibly because it allows for the drama of Kieran's dad turning up down the line. Alf's episode count this week:Four.Otherwise, rather sparse for a finale week, with Colby and Nikau only appearing in one. Both a lot going on (in terms of characters and storylines) and not a lot (in terms of big developments).So I'll start with Kieran, who becomes the latest person to demonstrate it's only Sally wh

As H&Alover has said, Dean did come back on his own: Ari tracked him down, made a few pertinent points about how Bella needed him and how he was making a mess of his life, then left him to make the decision. Today! Nice to see a bit more of the more vulnerable side of John in his talks with Irene.I wondered at first if their dinner was meant to be a kind of practice date but it looks like they just decided they needed to get out more. Ziggy didn't really do her case any favours by sloping off with Tane like that! It looks as though Justin's going to forgive her anyway.Tori f

That was probably not the smartest thing Roo could have done...

Well, some stuff seemed to be hitting the fan here. I kind of felt for everyone.Justin's obviously an innocent bystander caught up in this, and he's understandably angry that Ziggy got the garage mixed up in this: The personal comment was perhaps uncalled for, but also perhaps not too wide of the mark.And I can understand Ziggy being reluctant to report Tane...who's likable enough and gets credit for owning up to Justin, but still doesn't quite seem to get it at times.I'm glad Ari had the same idea as me about calling Paul's bluff, although they could use a more bulletproof scheme just in case

Well, that's Hunter getting his comeuppance and seemingly Kat too... It's very understandable that Zac would still want to help him though and maybe he can.Olivia was believably obnoxious. Evie still can't recognise that people care about her.Hopefully Zac and Leah getting some advice will help.

There wasn't really any context. Colby was in hospital for a bit and, having always been fairly relaxed around her up until then, Dean abruptly decided that there was a vacancy for an overbearing big brother and started telling Bella what to do all the time and kicking out her friends on a spurious "I don't want you having boys in here" pretext. Anyway, it looks like we're unlikely to see that revisited.Ari is the only one to notice, or at least the only one to say, that Dean's keeping it together for Bella's sake, but I think that's a good thing: If he needs a reason to keep things toget

I get the impression Martha didn't actually marry Kieran's father, although I could be wrong.She didn't tell Kieran about remarrying at the time since they'd lost touch, but she told him when she was in Merimbula so he knows now. Today! Dean was pretty rubbish as a guardian for Bella the last time Colby was unavailable, constantly yelling at her unnecessarily and kicking Nikau and Ryder out of the flat for no good reason, but she doesn't really need someone to parent her, she just needs company.It would have been awkward to have her staying with Ari and Tane without Nik, and she'd al

Alf's episode count this week:Three, and he was credited on Tuesday for no appearance. It kind of looks like Taylor's only looking at Angelo again because Thorne's in jail and therefore not an option, which isn't exactly flattering. It feels like quite a few people owe Angelo a conversation, but I liked his little chat with Alf, which reminded me that Alf was one of the few people decent enough to say anything after Angelo was cleared of attacking Belle all those years ago.(Irene, as I recall, called him all the names under the sun and then quietly disappeared.)Bella finally gets to see T

Discussion of today's episode follows: Well, that was a pretty abrupt 180 from Jasmine regarding Irene retrieving the present, but I'm glad in a way that it wasn't an ongoing issue between them.It does of course make Tori's guilt complex and refusal to believe that Jasmine is fine even more frustrating.It is slightly amusing that Justin is now the one insisting Jasmine isn't a problem.Christian's right that Tori needs to stop living in the past, but Jasmine is always going to be around. We haven't seen Jasmine apologise to Angelo but she does at least seem to have modified her views

Hmm, almost every relationship here looks to be on shaky ground!

I really liked the chats between Ari and Tane today.It does feel like Tane has finally grasped where Ari's coming from all this time.It's interesting to know that Ari was equally at loggerheads with Mikaere before he died.I guess going to jail gave him a perspective on whether or not this kind of thing was worth it that his brothers lacked.Nice that Bella did the noble thing and told Nikau to go and be safe, but it feels like the show's had to go to some pretty extreme lengths to portray her as left on her own: No sooner does Colby go to jail than Willow, Ryder, Dean (more or less) and Nikau a

I think turning up at her place of work hours at most after she's said she doesn't want to get back together is crossing some sort of line. I really don't understand that: What happened to Mackenzie saying all her debts to Rick were paid off all those months ago? Discussion of today's episode follows: Well, Tane interrupted Dean's latest attempt to get Ziggy to talk to him, but in the end it seemed as though Tane was the one most concerned by Dean's grim (or not so grim?) prediction of his future.It does definitely feels like history repeating itself, although at least there'

Discussion of today's episode follows: Well, Tane did well in getting Dean home but otherwise he should have kept his distance, because him acting like Ziggy's bodyguard was just inflaming the situation.That said, Dean needs to wake up to the fact that acting like a stalker is not going to make Ziggy take him back.It's like he's latching onto her because he's got no-one else, but that's too much to put on her.He knew right from the start that there was a possibility of it ending this way, even with Colby taking the blame:He saw it happen with Chelsea, who could never look at Colby in the

I think it was eventually (and I do mean eventually) mentioned that he found out after he married Ailsa. The vow renewal might be another matter. Alf's episode count this week: Five! I was getting as fed up as Dean at the constant "How's Colby?", so him finally snapping and saying he didn't know and didn't care largely echoed my thoughts.In his case though it's probably more frustration than anything else.Didn't Willow visit Dean when he was in jail, or is the new backstory that they were estranged then, hence him turning to Amber when he got out? We got to see a bit of Ryder with Be

Sorry, I meant people make Ross out to be some sort of ultra-powerful Mr Big when he was a nobody. Possibly should have made that clearer. And I'm sure they didn't mention Bella.Hannah was in a wheelchair at one point.Tori seemed to recover from her coma within a couple of episodes.Not sure how long Leah took. Anyway! Justin's recovering a bit too quickly for Tori's liking, resulting in yet another clash between her and everyone else, with Leah and Christian continue to support Justin's decisions and not really agree with her anyway.Hopefully Christian's covered everything with Justin thi