Red Ranger 1

Well, I guess everyone's reactions are understandable in the circumstances, we'll see how it works going forward.

And here it is! CHAPTER ELEVEN Some morning sunlight was shining through the cabin porthole as Ryder and Bella lay in bed, holding each other close and kissing.“Is this us ruining our friendship then?”Ryder asked between kisses. “Oh yeah, totally.” “Because we feel really out of the friend zone at the moment.” “Mmm, somehow I don’t mind.” “Me neither.” “I feel like I could do this all day.” The kiss deepened and they disappeared further into the bed…then Ryder pulled back.“I’m due on shift in twenty minutes.” Bella sighed.“Right, yeah.” “You, um, fancy coming along?Keeping me company?” “Unfortunately, I guess I’d better do some work.Take photos around the rest of the ship and all that.” “Okay.”Ryder clambered out of the bed and started getting dressed.“Maybe we could meet up later though?” “Yeah, maybe meet up after your shift?Have dinner or something?” “Great, it’s a date.”Ryder paused, slightly confused. “It actually is, isn’t it?We’re…dating?” “Well, yeah, I guess we are.When you put it like that it sounds weird but…also kind of nice?” “It’s a date then.” *** A waiter came over to Ryder and Bella’s table and served them their dishes.Bella’s eyes lit up.“Steak!I’ve been looking forward to this.” Ryder looked slightly crestfallen.“That’s the big attraction for the evening then?” Bella gave him an indulgent look.“That and the company, of course.” “I don’t know, I guess I thought we’d have something a bit more romantic for our first date.” “As I recall, our definitions of romance aren’t the same.” Ryder thought for a moment.“Oh, that date I arranged for you and Nik, with the boat and the picnic?” “That’s the one.” Ryder looked around.“We are on a boat.” “Yes, but one we can actually get up and walk around on.”Bella smiled slightly.“Don’t worry, it didn’t make me want to stop friends with you.” “Friends, yeah.”Ryder hesitated.“Feels like we’re more than friends now, right?” “Right, yeah.”Bella searched for the words.“Feels like we’re attempting a relationship?” “But whatever happens, we’ll always be friends, right?” Bella took his hand.“I will always be friends with you.”

I'm not sure how I feel about Mali. While I think he has a point that Mackenzie would be acting similar if it was Dean, I think his view is somewhat slanted: He still doesn't trust or particularly like the police, Rose included, and I'm not convinced the Allens would do anything to Iluka that they aren't going to do anyway if the police are involved.I can well understand Rose's frustration at being met with a wall of silence from people she thought were her friends.After appearing to be out of the woods, Levi is suddenly back in danger. Talking of frustration, Irene is completely blinkered now. She's so fixated on her supposedly genius idea to help out her supposedly sick project, and she can't accept that it hasn't worked, and she's just made things worse and stabbed Leah in the back for nothing (in more ways than one). Is she really convinced the money will magically appear if she wishes hard enough?

Thank you! Hopefully get another chapter up later.

I wasn't a huge fan of Hayley and Noah together, but I'm surprised Irene is so pleased at them breaking up! I do seem to recall Hayley and Jesse being close when he first came back, so I'm okay with that, I guess. I did like Mitch and Brodie together, even though it didn't last long, so that's nice. I was always a bit ambivalent towards Flynn and Sally but that's a personal thing. I think Nick and Kirsty cheating on their partners with each other is conceptually interesting but I'm not sure I'm too keen on where it's going. Still, nice to get a Don appearance.

I didn't think so but I couldn't find it in either of my dictionaries, and the first usage of it that Wiktionary's got recorded is in 2020.

Thanks, Zig. CHAPTER TEN Ryder and Bella had found themselves in the captain’s office.It was a place Ryder had never been before and he’d hoped that when it did finally happen he’d be feeling less nervous than he did now. Captain Smith looked them over.“So, let me see if I understand correctly.You have broken into staff members’ cabins in order to search them for money, which you followed by setting off a fire alarm without proper cause and putting staff in danger.” Ryder winced.“Well, when you put it like that…” “That was all my idea!”Bella attempted,“Ryder didn’t know anything about it!” “No, that’s not right,”Ryder replied,“I went along with all of it and the fire alarm thing was my idea.” “Well, your loyalty is commendable,”Captain Smith noted,“I suppose we might not have got as far as we did if not for the two of you being good friends.” Ryder and Bella exchanged looks, not quite sure if they’d been complimented or not.“Thanks, I think?” Ryder offered. “In the circumstances, I’ve told Mr.Beck that your existing punishment should suffice,”the captain concluded.It took Ryder a moment to remember that was Archibald.“I suppose in the circumstances we should be thanking you…whilst warning you not to do it again.” “Oh, we won’t,”Ryder assured him. “You know, unless there’s a thousands of dollars theft again,”Bella felt the need to add. “I think we’ll leave it at that for now,”the captain decided. Ryder paused.“Um, what’s going to happen to Chase?” “The police boat will be arriving tomorrow, they’ll take him back to face charges.Until then, he’s confined to his cabin.Which you two aren’t, so get going.” *** Ryder and Bella headed to the bar with a distinct feeling of relief.“I felt sure he was going to make us walk the plank,”Ryder noted. “Do they do that?”Bella wondered. “Not sure.I’d have to check the disciplinary procedures.But whatever they do, I thought they were going to do it to us.” Bella linked arms with him.“Don’t worry.You heard what the captain said:We’re heroes!” “I’m not sure that’s exactly what he said…” “Ryder!Bella!My heroes!”Denzel came bounding over and threw his arms round both of them.“Don’t worry, I’m a happy drunk this time.And you know why I’m happy?Because thanks to you I have my job and my liberty!I don’t know where I’d be without you!Come on, have a drink on me.” He led them to the bar where Wendy was serving.She nodded towards Denzel.“He’s been like this for the last hour.I should remind him he’s back at work tomorrow but I don’t have the heart.” “I didn’t know you worked in here,”Bella noted. “Usually I don’t but they’re suddenly a staffmember short.” Ryder winced slightly.“Oh yeah.Chase.Guess our good deed wasn’t good for everyone.” “Well, more shifts isn’t exactly a bad thing.It’s not like I can go for a walk in the country.And not all of us are lucky enough to have a best friend to hang out with.” Bella gripped Ryder’s arm tightly.“She’s right.We are lucky.” *** It was getting late.Ryder had made his way out onto deck and was staring out at the darkness, listening to the sound of waves.Bella came up to join him.“You sick of the attention?” “Something like that,”Ryder admitted,“Guess I just wanted a moment to myself.”He realised how that sounded.“Not you!I still want you here.” “Thanks for the clarification.”Bella smiled.“Just for the record, I would be totally lost out here without you.And you are not to repeat that to anyone!” “Don’t worry, I won’t let anyone know what a softie you really are.”He hugged her, letting her bury her head in his shoulder for a moment…and then suddenly they were kissing again, softly but intensely.Ryder hadn’t been expecting it but somehow he didn’t want to stop.“Isn’t this the thing we weren’t meant to be doing again?”he offered at last. “Mm-hmm, this is the one,”Bella agreed,“I think the phrase is your place or mine?”

Glad you liked it, I was worried I'd gone too far in introducing him and then making people forget him!

Levi getting stabbed continued to have a "It would be worse if it was someone other than Levi" feel to it: I guess the show came up with this to make us sympathise with him and Mac, but I don't think it quite hit the mark.The Allens came across as dangerous idiots, willing to risk a murder charge just to play mind games.So it appears Iluka was romantically involved with Nat, although given his lack of reaction to her here, I wonder if he always had his eye on the money.While I can understand Mackenzie's fury at him, to be fair to Mali, all he's really done is try and get his brother out of a tight spot in a way that seemed like a good idea at the time. It looked for a moment like we could have got a return visit from Ava, which could have been fun especially if she remembers to bring her sanity, but I guess the show isn't exactly set up to cater for school-age characters these days! With the news that her HSC is imminent, maybe with that done she'll be available for more regular visits? Irene continues to be so smug and self-righteous that there's a part of me that hopes Bronte rinses her for everything she's got, given her dogmatic insistence that everyone should hand over thousands of dollars to some woman who says she's ill but falls apart anytime she's asked for the most basic of details. At least we got to see her self-satisfied air punctured when Leah tells her that her stupid plan was stupid.

Marilyn was in the ep?

Georgia Taylor's in Coronation Street. Georgie Parker did a play and then, as you say, had a hip replacement. You know, I suspect that quite a few of the audience would have quite happily seen Mackenzie and Levi tied up and gagged for a while now, and I have to say I didn't feel as much sympathy for Mackenzie as I would have done last year.It was kind of amusing to see how little Mali actually cares about Levi, not lifting a finger to help while he was getting seven bells knocked out of him, and then looking as though he had to think about it when the Allen matriarch (or whatever the term for a big sister who's in charge is) refused to let Levi be helped until he got Iluka. It doesn't help that Mackenzie had firmly grabbed the idiot ball: For goodness sake, even Marilyn knows not to give out her address to random guest characters who are probably villains! Justin gives us an update on Ava, who seems to have regressed a bit since we last saw her: She seemed old enough to be able to live independently for at least a short while, but apparently no-one taught her how to budget! Iluka did manage to get lucky with Kirby (and vice versa), I wondered if they would after him being a terrible date last week. Harper really is coming across as a bit pathetic, especially when she was practically drooling at "the demigod" while he was looking at the laptop.

I'd say the show is a lot better at that than it used to be. Go back to the Braxton era, and the veterans seemed to have no idea what the newer characters were doing and were happy to keep it that way. Nowadays if Cash or Mali or Kirby had a problem, there's a very good chance that the likes of Alf, John, Leah and Marilyn would stop them in the surf club or the Diner to check in on them and offer some advice.

Dana backing off is probably a good idea, because everyone around her's clearly an idiot and frankly Irene deserves to get ripped off the way she's been acting.I get that we might feel differently if we weren't privy to details about Bronte that they aren't, but none of the arguments against her made much sense and basically amounted to "I know she's terminally ill because she told me" (heck, everyone seems to be accepting it as fact even if they've never met her and have only heard about it second or third hand!). We even have them seriously asking "Why would she pretend to be dying?" when Irene's handing her 50,000 reasons.I liked the way Justin managed to sound simultaneously supportive and bored at Leah's dramas. I did groan a bit when Tane was in the last episode's promo, but it is what it is and I guess I've kind of become a bit blase about the show's criminal bad boys evading the consequences of their actions and being treated like returning heroes.Roo flinging her arms round him like he's the messiah felt a bit off, but at least he does seem to be trying to do something worthwhile with this second chance.And it did give us the delicious moment of Harper thinking this is a big romantic reunion only to be treated like a one night stand who won't go away.That said, I did get the feeling Tane only drew a line under it because he thought that's what she wanted. Another case of one in one out, with Roo and Tane being ships that pass in the night! Mind you, now Justin's getting an ominous phone call...

It feels like we were definitely in the middle of the old soap trope of everyone believing the guest character they've just met over one of their friends and neighbours.To be fair, they've only known Dana for a year if that, so it's not quite the same as if, say, Roo was making valid points and being ignored.Irene's in full-on saviour complex mode and there's often no talking to her when she's like that.(From what we've heard of their first meeting, I imagine Bronte sat crying in the hospital and waited for someone to approach her and ask what's wrong.) John, somewhat frustratingly, seems to have used his knowledge of Dana's past to explain away her concerns, although he does at least not seem entirely convinced.Bree, despite having seen how evasive Bronte can be, is obviously too annoyed about not being able to get into Remi's pants to pay much attention to Dana's evidence: As a wise man once said, you can cut your throat on Occam's Razor.Xander was probably the most frustrating: You'd expect him to at least give Dana a fair hearing, but instead he seems firmly Team Bronte just because he felt sorry for her.I wonder if Harper, the only person that's known Dana a long time, will do the same: She does basically see Dana as her idiot kid sister.I guess you have to give Bronte credit for refusing to drop the act with Dana.She was obviously angling for that lawsuit, suddenly announcing she was poisoned too after hearing about the other guy suing the Diner.Irene does seem to have forgotten about Leah with her dogmatic "My money, my business" pronouncement. I guess they explained a bit better what Felicity was meant to have done wrong, she made up with Mackenzie a while back and didn't tell Eden. I'm not really sure that tracks though: Eden was aware they'd called a truce so I'm not sure what she thought the state of play was. I am glad they made up but it still feels like Felicity got far too much of the blame for something was mainly Eden's problem.At least Cash challenged her worldview a bit. Nice to get a reference to Ryder, and it makes sense that he'd choose Roo when invited to bring a guest! Also nice to get a reference to Roo's fostering plans, although sounds like we shouldn't expect anything to come of them any time soon...

Not only has Bronte not really thought this through, neither has Irene.Bronte seemed to think she just needed to say "I've got benzine poisoning" (even though she only briefly popped into the Diner before it was closed) and she'd magically be handed $50,000 without anyone asking any questions.And Irene seems to be assuming the insurance company will just hand over the money without receiving any medical records.So it seems Dana had met Bronte, just not very much? I guess she must have popped home between shifts. Kirby's attempt to get her housemates to act like grown-ups didn't go very far, since Eden's mentality is still in the playground.I'm not happy with the way Cash kept having a go at Felicity even though Eden's the problem.What exactly has Felicity done wrong, not torn strips off Mackenzie every time she's seen her?

Thank you for the comments, Zig and pembie! CHAPTER NINE Ryder led Bella down the corridor and pointed to a box on the wall…marked Fire Alarm.“There.” Bella examined it and nodded.“And it’s only connected to the staff quarters?” “Right.There’s fire doors that are meant to stop any fire in this part of the ship spreading.And for the next”-he checked his watch-“half an hour, no-one’s on shift so they should all still be in their quarters from last night.” Bella nodded slowly, taking this in.“Are you sure this is going to work?” “If you had $30,000, would you leave it to get burnt?” “Guess not.” “Okay.Give me five minutes to get to the assembly point, then set it off and join me up there.” “Right.”Bella paused for a moment before noting,“Ryder?” “Yeah?” “You were right.This is a crazy idea.” *** Ryder made his way up to the deck.The section he was in was mainly avoided by passengers, since it was marked as the staff emergency assembly area.There wasn’t really anyone else around but it shouldn’t look too suspicious if anyone saw him there. He checked his watch and hoped Bella would play her part. *** A few decks below him, Bella also checked her watch.She had severe reservations about this plan but Ryder was right that it stood a good chance of succeeding.It also felt like the sort of idea she’d come up with.She wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not. She took a deep breath and hit the fire alarm. *** The alarm was muted up where Ryder was, in order to avoid alarming passengers.He knew it would be ringing below decks though and sure enough, soon the first members of the crew and staff started emerging up onto deck. Ryder moved around as inconspicuously as possible, keeping an eye on everyone that came up.The plan was based on one assumption:That no-one would steal $30,000 and then leave it to potentially be burned in a fire.They had to have the money with them. Ryder saw Archibald directing staff into moving into neat lines for roll call and watched the staff manager as closely as possible but saw nothing.And he couldn’t exactly go up and search him.He looked around, picking out Wendy without seeing anything special.He examined every figure he saw without seeing anything. And then he did.Chase.He was clutching some sort of holdall to his chest.As if it was something very special…Ryder’s mind raced back to that night.He and Bella had seen Chase at the bar, but then they’d left him alone.Plenty of time for Chase to sneak down to the casino after Denzel left… Without really having a clue where he was going with this, Ryder stormed up to his colleague and shoved him.“What’s in the bag, Chase?” Chase had a panicked look in his eyes which confirmed Ryder’s suspicions.“What?” “What’s in the bag?”Ryder wasn’t really good at this physical stuff but he grabbed the bag, pulling at it. Chase continued to hold on to it for dear life.They both pulled at the bag until Ryder took a large tug which had the effect of causing him to fall over backwards and drag Chase down with him.The loss of footing was enough to make them both let go and the bag spun across the floor. Bella must have only just made it up there but she had quickly taken in the situation.The bag ended up at her feet and she quickly scooped it up and poured out the contents:Hundreds of bank notes.“You want to explain this?” Captain Smith came over, saw the triumphant looks on Ryder and Bella’s faces and the horrified one on Chase’s, and quickly reached the obvious conclusion.He looked hard at Chase.“I’d say you definitely have some explaining to do.”

Thanks, I'm glad you're both still guessing! Yes, that seemed like the sort of thing Bella would come up with on the spot and Ryder would have to run with!

Lots of stuff being set up here, interested to see where you go with it.

Thanks for the comments, pembie and Zig! CHAPTER EIGHT Ryder once again found himself following Bella down a corridor with an uncomfortable feeling that he was being dragged along on something he was better off staying out of.“Where exactly are we going?”he asked as they headed towards the staff quarters. “What do we know?”Bella replied challengingly. Ryder thought hard about this.“Not a lot?”he offered at last. “We know that the thief and the money are almost certainly still on board,”Bella answered,“Which means the thief must have hidden the money somewhere.Which probably means their cabin!”She held up a key. Ryder asked the question even though he wasn’t sure he wanted to know.“Where did you get a master key from?” “Maid cart.And I got a list of the quarters as well.So I know Wendy’s is right here.”She paused, unlocked a door and went inside. Ryder somewhat reluctantly followed her.“What makes you think Wendy’s the thief?” “Well, she and Archibald were the only ones I found who had anything suspicious in their history, so it’s probably one of them.Have a look around!” Seeing Bella opening up the wardrobe on the other side of the room, Ryder dutifully looked under the bed before checking in some drawers.“I guess we’re talking a lot of money here.It wouldn’t be that hard to find it.” “Exactly!”Bella was checking through a number of bags.“You can’t exactly put it in your pocket.If it was in here, we’d find it pretty much straightaway!”She looked round, before checking the cabinet on the other side of the bed, then sighed.“I don’t think it’s here.” Ryder nodded slowly.“So we’re checking Archibald’s cabin now?” The disappointed look on Bella’s face turned into a grin.“Now you’re getting it!” *** A few minutes later, they were in Archibald’s cabin, carrying out a search that was proving equally fruitless.“Nothing in here,”Ryder announced as he closed the drawers.He opened up a cupboard door set into the wall and stared in shock.“Woah!” Bella turned round at the exclamation and came to his side.They both stared at what opening the cupboard had revealed:a sturdy-looking door, with a keypad set into it.“Is that a safe?”she asked. “Looks like it,”Ryder confirmed,“Do you know how to open it?” Bella shot him an exasperated look.“How would I know that?” “You used to hang out with River Boys.” “They’re not exactly well known for cracking safes!” Ryder heard a noise out in the corridor and quickly slammed the cupboard shut.He and Bella spun round as the door opened and Archibald stepped in.He stopped at the sight of them, his expression suspicious. “What are you two doing in here?” Ryder tried to think of an excuse.“We, er, we were just…” “We were going to have sex!”Bella blurted out.Ryder stared at her but she just carried on.“We’ve done it in his bed but it’s really cramped in there…” “…and her cabin has all these really weird…teddies,”Ryder attempted,“Puts me right off.” “So, we figured, well, someone as important as you must have one of the best beds on the ship!”Bella grabbed Ryder’s hand and dragged him into sitting down with her.“Wow, that is really comfortable.” Archibald’s expression hadn’t changed.“How did you get in here?” Bella held out the key.“I kind of borrowed this.” Archibald took it from her.“I’ll be putting an official warning in your file, Ryder.And you”-he looked at Bella-“you don’t exactly work here but I’ll be telling the captain about this.Go on, get off with you.” *** As soon as they were in her cabin, Bella sat down heavily on her bed, looking despondent.“You were right.” Ryder wasn’t sure if he’d ever been less happy to hear those words.“I was?” “This whole thing was stupid.I mean, who was I kidding?I’m not a detective, I’m not going to solve a crime.It’s probably not either Wendy or Archibald, and even if it is, they’ve probably hidden the money somewhere I’m not going to find it.What was I thinking?” Ryder had been keen for Bella to drop the whole thing.But now, seeing how upset she was, he was realising he didn’t want that.“Maybe we’re going about this the wrong way,”he suggested. Bella looked up at him, suddenly interested.“What do you mean?” “Well, maybe we don’t need to find the money.Maybe we need to trick the thief into finding it for us.” He took a deep breath.“I think I’ve got a crazy idea of my own.”

...How would that work? Anyway, she didn't say what type she had, just that it had a really long name. Alf's episode count:Suspended. Eden grouses about how inconvenient it was when Cash and Remi didn't get on but fails to realise it would be equally inconvenient for Felicity to go on hating Mackenzie.I know they double-teamed Xander but it does feel like Felicity and Mackenzie have snapped back to being friendly a bit abruptly: I don't really mind, because they've been through a lot together, but it was a bit much for Felicity to suddenly be acting like she cared about Mackenzie and Levi's relationship troubles.Still, at least the hug wasn't about that but about Mackenzie's lingering trauma over her heart troubles.To give Eden a bit of credit, she didn't rant and rave about it to either of them, she just decided to get out of there.A shame that it comes right as she's realising that they can't keep living off Kirby's royalties and whatever she's making from Mali forever! While it was dumb of her to try and avoid the conversation, I wasn't too keen on the way Mackenzie was made out to be wholly in the wrong for being suspicious of Levi.He didn't offer any explanation for why he was being smarmy with someone who wasn't his patient at a hospital he doesn't work at yet, just got defensive and fired off platitudes.He might be sincere at the moment but I think Mackenzie's right to consider him another man making promises he can't keep. I guess you were right, H&Alover, about Bronte not wanting to appear on the videos, as she's quick to jump at Harper's offer to be the face of the appeal! I suppose I shouldn't be too hard on the folks of Summer Bay for taking her at face value, I think most people would just accept a story like that and they're not privy to the secret phone calls. I guess Theo must still be hot property to be able to refill the Diner like that!

Mali might be wishing Iluka had just been stealing cars at this point.It does kind of raise the question about how much of what he's said about the Allens is true: Did they get arrested for stolen car parts or not? I felt Mali was a bit harsh in saying Iluka has no chance of turning pro, but he certainly shouldn't be betting anything on it. I thought Iluka walking out on Kirby spelt the end of their romance but she still seemed interested later. Maybe Rose will take her to the gig! Xander asks some pointed questions about Bronte but still seems taken in by her.I guess "autoimmune disease" covers a whole range of things, which is what Bronte's counting on. The episode did at least do a decent job of giving us updates on John and Marilyn when they can't appear!

Well, as it turns out, Iluka didn't steal Justin's car: Never a good idea to take a promo at face value! Still, his suddenly producing a bag full of thousands of dollars hasn't exactly convinced Mali that he's on the straight and narrow.And apparently he doesn't know Rose is a cop? So, apparently Victoria and Elandra haven't been talking about her that much then? He does finally get to ask Kirby out though. I'd have thought Leah would have been able to hear Justin shouting after her, but maybe she thought it'd be quicker to ring him rather than to stop and explain. His mournful "I loved that car" was simultaneously funny and endearing. So, turns out all the illnesses are down to simple wear and tear in the Diner's pipes.Although it was kind of glossed over since most of the characters involved have used up their episodes for the week, at least that means John, Marilyn and anyone else who's ill can be treated. The Diner might have a bit of trouble rebuilding their customer base though... I had to roll my eyes at Remi saying this is Cash's last chance to prove Stevie was right to trust him and feel safe with him. Her being alive might be better proof!

Thanks, both of you! I needed to build up some suspects!

And? The show's makers outright said that they were ignoring Covid because no-one wants to see it on the beaches. Neighbours referenced the travel restrictions (albeit inconsistently) and showed facemask wearing and warning signs.

Other way round, I think. So, yes, as the promo suggested, it turns out that John opening the container didn't affect anything at all, although they don't seem to have got to the bottom of exactly what it is yet apart from it being something at the Diner.I don't think it's necessarily legionnaire's, that was just one possibility Bree suggested that matched the assumed method of contamination and the symptoms: She said there were dozens of others. Bree's incompetence turns out to be even greater than in the previous episode: Not only did she completely fail to trace John's movements and track down anyone he'd been in contact with, but she made assumptions based on a snap judgement and had better hope this isn't airborne, because she's just left Dana, who was perfectly healthy when she came in, shut in a room with a man who's infected for the best part of a day. Oh well, at least it gave us John and Dana's repartee... Incidentally, the guy that collapsed at the Diner previously played a new dad befriended by Rachel Armstrong in 2009! I was very unhappy with the way both Felicity and Eden bullied Remi into going and playing nicey-nice to Cash, as if that's going to be some sort of cure-all...and I really hope it isn't, because Cash knows he screwed up and whether or not Remi agrees should be immaterial, just as a report saying their people should have called his people is immaterial. We seem to be being told that Cash had no way of knowing she was in danger a lot, as if that somehow completely exonerates him. Well, sorry, but his job was to protect her. Was he only supposed to protect her from people who rang up in advance to let him know they were coming? What if some other crazed fan had been inspired by Wickham's actions and decided to take a potshot at her? Cash himself noted he got complacent and didn't keep a proper eye on the court proceedings. Remember when he had his phone set up to let him know if anything was posted online that related to Stevie (even if it was just her sleeping with Remi)? Apparently, at some point he decided not to bother doing any of that and thought he was being paid to stand around on the beach looking vaguely intimidating. And he didn't even get that right!