Red Ranger 1

Thanks, pembie! CHAPTER SIX Ryder and Bella had retired to a corner of the deck with a laptop.They were unlikely to be disturbed so they had plenty of time to come up with notes on their investigation.Unfortunately, at that moment, their page was blank.“Why is this so difficult?”Bella moaned. Ryder thought for a moment.“Well…I guess one first step would be to write a list of suspects.” “Great idea!”Bella agreed, before her enthusiasm disappeared slightly,“So…who is there?” “I guess everyone who was working in the casino that night and knew about the takings?” Bella paused over the keyboard.“Names?” “Apart from me and Denzel, there’s, um, Frank, Ewan, Tracey, Glenda, Mike, Travis and, um, Brad.” Bella dutifully wrote the names down.“What about the cocktail waitresses?That Wendy?” “Yeah, she was there,”Ryder agreed,“And a couple of others.Er, Liz and Hannah.” “Anyone else?” “Archibald,”Ryder realised,“Hates it if we call him Archie.He’s in charge of the casino, he must know everything.” “What about the captain and the other officers?” Ryder shook his head.“I doubt it.They don’t tend to get involved in the entertainment side much.” “I’ll put them down anyway.”Bella did so, then looked at the rather long list.“Okay, now we’ve got this, what do we do with them?” “Interview them all?”Ryder suggested. Bella thought about this, then shook her head.“No, you can talk to people if you want but I’ve got a better idea.”She closed up the laptop and tucked it under her arm.“See you later!” *** Bella waited until she’d got back to her cabin and checked she’d got a phone signal before dialling a number.“Emmett?Hi, I need some help.”She opened up her laptop and found the list of suspects.“I need you to run background checks on all these people for me.” Emmett’s confused voice came over her phone.“Sorry, what?” “It’s something Ryder and I are looking into.” “You know I’m not the police, right?” “Yeah but you know people at the cruise company.You can ask around.” She heard Emmett give a resigned sigh.“All right, I’ll see what I can do,”he offered. Bella smiled.“Great!Okay, these are the names…” *** Ryder had headed down to the bar, confident Denzel would still be there.Sure enough, he was sat at a table, nursing a drink.Ryder sat down opposite him.“Hey there,”he greeted him awkwardly. Denzel lifted his eyes momentarily to look at him.“I wasn’t looking for company.” “Shouldn’t have left your cabin then.” Denzel seemed to concede the point.“You’d better be careful.They might think you’re my accomplice.” Ryder looked round nervously.“Why do they think it’s you?” “I don’t know if they do.Just want someone to blame.” Ryder lowered his voice conspiratorially.“If there’s a way to clear your name, I’ll find it.” Denzel actually looked amused as he met his gaze.“Well, that’s all right then.”

Alf's episode count this week:Five! So, yes, the usual trope of them spending weeks claiming a character's going to jail and then they don't.I guess I should give them credit for holding back on their usual "Pretty boy gets upset on witness stand so everyone feels sorry for him" trick.But as usual, it's ridiculously slanted: We don't see Tane get cross-examined (which was the main fear about putting him on the stand), in fact the prosecutor doesn't speak a word all episode and we just get Marshall's usual spin.(If Tane really wanted what was best for Poppy, he'd have let her go to the foster family, not hidden her away in a back room.Harper, of course, is too busy having sex with him to remember all the effort she went to find Poppy a safe home only for him to wreck it.)I'm glad that at least Felicity has moved on from constantly begging Tane for forgiveness and instead gave him a straight-talking "This actually helps you so stop being precious and suck it up." Harper, meanwhile, gets "rewarded" for acting like an utter twit in court by being his latest rebound hook-up.Tane finally admits he and Felicity are only separated so Harper has to face the awkwardness of facing up to his wife afterwards.No doubt Tane's "strict conditions" will be ignored going forward and he'll just do whatever he likes. I'm still not really comfortable with this desire to go "Stevie who?" as if a young woman being murdered is mostly an inconvenience that's getting in the way of everyone's surfing.(And Cash and Remi have used up their episodes this week so aren't around to argue.)But it was nice to get some more Aboriginal cultural details, Home and Away continues to be one of the best soaps at including this kind of thing.

She didn't make any effort to tell him as far as I could see, just made unhelpful statements like "I can't" and "I'm sorry". Even at the end, she was incapable of giving him a straight answer and left it to Marilyn. Maybe I'm being harsh on him but I was spectacularly unimpressed by some of Alf's actions here.Sure, get rid of the bloodsucker trying to make money from a tragedy.But what exactly gives him the right to ban all floral tributes to Stevie from the beach just two days after she died because...what? It's bringing the mood down? It's making the town look bad? For all his attempts to say it was just so they could set up a nice memorial somewhere warm and dry (and out of sight), it came across as massively disrespectful and I was disappointed that everyone except Mali let him railroad them into it. I was amused at Felicity's force of nature in just getting into Tane's car and refusing to budge, less so at her smug look of approval at Harper's pathetic display.If Tane and Harper weren't main characters and thus above the law, they'd both have been chucked in a cell until they could behave like grown-ups.(The judge even threatens to charge Tane if he speaks again, then he does and she just issues more impotent warnings.)Cash outright told Harper the court wouldn't tolerate anyone playing the fool with a sudden attack of amnesia, so why was she acting like she'd come up with the perfect way to beat the system that no-one had ever thought of before? As it was, she managed to spin the facts to show Tane in a favourable light anyway, so what was with playing silly beggars? It's frustrating that Felicity has let Tane get in her head and convinced herself that somehow her lying about wanting children justifies him deciding to go and take someone else's. If Dana had really been trying to help Tane, she might have mentioned it was her idea to sneak him into the hospital. Is it me or were both Rose and Dana somehow the first witness?

Hmm. Possibly, but I kind of assumed Crystal's character died in the movie.(She doesn't look in a good way in the bits we've seen.)Even Stevie seemed to stop insisting it was murder after the coroner's verdict came back, although that would make it a startling coincidence.

Was there any reason why Dana didn't tell John she had to be in court, instead of just pulling out of her shift with no explanation?Other than so he could keep pushing until she snapped? Bree was behaving really inappropriately here, appointing herself Remi's go-to person and then kissing him.Hey, he's never even brought up her promise that Stevie would be all right and she still has to keep pushing her luck! Theo was a much better choice. The Bay's pretty much in shock, and seems to have replaced the film crew with a combination of genuinely distraught fans and tasteless ghouls.

I rolled my eyes at Rose telling Cash he did a good job today.As both Remi and Cash himself pointed out, he had one job and he was an epic failure at it.A lot of the blame has to lie with the idiotic judge who let a dangerous criminal loose (Does a mistrial even require that? Couldn't he be kept in custody while a retrial was arranged?) and the idiotic police who decided to just let him roam free, somehow with full access to a rifle, but if Cash had actually been with Stevie doing his job when he got the call instead of listening to Harper and Dana's whining, there might have been a chance to get her to safety in time.I'm not sure I'd have been willing to indulge Wickham as much as Cash did, but I suppose that's police officer training when dealing with a sicko with a gun. I did feel sorry for Nelson here.I guess Bree stepped up eventually but she still seems to be more interested in hanging around Remi in a way that's understandable but vaguely inappropriate.At least he had Alf on hand.

At least in real life the forces of law and order managed to stop the plot against Holly Willoughby.In Home and Away world, they're so criminally incompetent that they don't lift a finger to protect Stevie, and even when Cash hands them the stalker on a plate, they let him out so he can kill her.Again, I'm left wondering why the show felt this was needed.At least when we had Vita Nova pop up for an unnecessary encore last year it ended with all the good guys fully recovered and them shut down for good.This is the worst case of a satisfying ending being replaced with a rather tasteless one since Robbo caught his family's killer only for his minions to kill Robbo, Mason, Lance and however many others.Did they write themselves into a corner by committing to having Stevie filming in the Bay for three months and decide the only solution was to kill her? Why couldn't she have just gone off to live her life happily after the stalker was caught? There are times when this show seems overly fond of putting young women through hell and then killing them. And the guy doesn't even do us all a favour and polish off Tane, who decides that instead of doing something useful like reporting the sighting to the police, he's going to behave like a macho idiot and go chasing after the shooter on his own and get whacked on the head (so nothing vital), leading to Felicity and Cash putting themselves in danger to help him. That said, I suppose I need to reflect on what would have happened if Felicity actually had stayed in the house with Wickham having made it his next port of call: Would she have been safely locked inside ready to call the police when she saw him, or would she have ended up as a hostage or worse? (As ever, people locking doors in Summer Bay is a sign things are serious!) Bree was daft to make that promise.You could tell from the look on Levi's face that he knew it too.

Thank you for the comments, John, Zig and pembie! CHAPTER FIVE Bella slowly woke up.She took in her surroundings and realised they were in Ryder’s cabin.Ryder was sleeping next to her.She glanced under the covers and saw she was in her underwear.It could have been worse.Memories, disturbingly evocative memories, of the previous night came back to her. She considered sneaking out of there but somehow that didn’t seem like something a friend would do. Instead, she nudged her bed companion in the side.“Ryder.Ryder.” Ryder blinked awake and stared at her.She could see the same memories were coming back to him. “Bella.Hi.” Even though they both knew what had happened, Bella still felt the need to verbalise it.“We did more than sleep, didn’t we?” “Yeeeaaahhh.”Ryder seemed determined to draw the syllable out as long as possible. “We should probably get up,”Bella decided, trying to avoid any further conversation.She began to get out of the bed, then stopped awkwardly.“Do you know where my dress is?” Ryder gestured towards the far corner on her side of the bed.“I think we threw it over there..?” Bella quickly located it and pulled it on.Ryder was on his feet as well by now.“Meet in fifteen minutes for breakfast?”she suggested. “Yeah, I’ll see you in the galley,”Ryder agreed. Unsure of the polite thing to do, Bella gave him the briefest hug possible, putting her arms round him and resting her head on his shoulder for what seemed like a fraction of a second.“See you there.” *** Ryder made it down on time and found Bella sat at a table, nursing a cup of coffee.He sat down opposite her, not making any attempt to get anything for himself.She looked up at him.“So, I guess this is what they call the morning after.” “Guess so,”Ryder agreed,“I’m not quite sure what happened there.I mean, we’ve always been just friends.” “Right, yeah.”Bella hesitated.“Except…” “Except what?”Ryder prompted. Bella rolled her eyes.“Do I need to spell it out?I had noticed before last night that you’re a boy and that you’re kind of cute in a dorky way.” Ryder blinked in surprise.“You never said anything.” “Because I didn’t want to be Raffy!”Bella sighed.“Do you not remember the two of us going to the movies with Willow, right after you dumped Raffy?We came back and she’s there yelling at us, accusing you of moving on and saying you always end up dating girls you’re friends with.Everyone I spoke to said you and her were good friends once but you could barely manage to be in the same room after you broke up.Same with Coco, you were meant to have dated once but you never looked that close.And I saw you with Chloe and I couldn’t even tell if you liked each other while you were dating half the time, let alone after.” She took a deep breath.“So, no, I didn’t want to be another girl that dated you and ended up hating you.I liked having you as a friend too much for that.” Ryder nodded slowly.“I remember Dean telling me once that girlfriends come and go but your mates are always there.And he was talking about Raffy, ironically.Maybe I should have remembered that.” “We’re taking life lessons from Dean now?” “If it works, use it.” Bella fixed him with a piercing gaze.“So come on then, your turn.Did you always find me utterly hideous so you were happy to have me in the friend zone?” “No, I guess I always thought you were pretty…in a scary kind of way.”Ryder thought for a moment.“I guess when we first met, you’d spent all your life living in a cave…” “It was a log cabin!” “…and you seemed younger than you were, like you weren’t ready for dating.And then, by the time you started getting all flustered over Nikau, I guess I’d realised that you had enough people in your life that wanted something from you, that wanted you to be what they wanted you to be.Your dad and that Tommy guy and even Colby and Irene.Maybe even Dean and Willow.So I figured I’d just be your friend and enjoy having you as mine.” Bella nodded slowly.“You know, in a way, you’ve always meant more to be than just about anyone.” “Same here,”Ryder agreed,“And I always thought the fact that we were so uncomplicated was a big part of that.” Bella reached across the table and took his hand…which felt like a bit of a mixed message but he went with it.“So, put last night down to experience and just be uncomplicated friends?” Ryder smiled.“Sounds good to me.” *** Despite their resolve, Ryder and Bella ended up heading to the bar together for Ryder’s shift.Ryder was surprised to see Denzel sat at one of the tables, nursing a drink.From the look of him, it wasn’t the first one he’d had.Ryder went over, while Bella hung back.“Hey, Denzel, what gives?I thought you’d be resting up before your next shift.” Denzel gave a shrug.“Not much point.I’ve got no shift tonight.I’ll probably never have one again if Archie has his way.” Ryder wasn’t any less confused.“What?Why not?” “I’m suspended until further notice.Guess I’m lucky I’m allowed out of my cabin.”He glanced past Ryder for a moment, noticing Bella.“I hear your friend got you off the hook.Congratulations. Shame I don’t have a friend.” Ryder was trying to piece this together.“They think you did it?Why?” “Because I was the last one out!I told them again and again that the safe was locked when I left but it makes no difference.They need someone to pin it on and they’ve decided that’s me.” *** Bella found Ryder standing by the side of the boat outside the bar, staring out to sea.She had gone to take some shots of table tennis games, arranging to meet Ryder at his break.He seemed in a pensive mood and she suspected she knew why.“You feel sorry for him, don’t you?”Ryder looked at her quizzically. “Denzel.” Ryder nodded.“I just can’t help thinking that if I didn’t have you here to back me up, that could be me. And he hasn’t got anybody like that.” “Do you really think he didn’t do it?” Ryder shrugged.“I dunno.I don’t know him that well but he seems like a decent guy.” Bella thought for a moment before coming to a decision.“Well, there’s only one way to help him, isn’t there?” “What’s that?” “We find the culprit ourselves!” Ryder looked at her sceptically.“You and me as some sort of detective duo solving crimes?” “Why not?After all, how hard can it be?”

Alf's episode count this week:Three, and he was credited on Wednesday for no appearance. Far too much of the episode taken up with Tane's Pity Party. And worse, we get it in stereo with Harper and Dana, seemingly competing for the post of head fangirl, whining about how it's "not fair" that Tane might go to jail.Of course it's fair, he kidnapped a child and tried to deny her a loving home and family for selfish reasons. Fifteen years might be extreme but anyone saying he doesn't deserve to go to jail (which now even includes Rose!) is living in fantasy land. Roo was severely slappable with her smug "It can't help to have a conversation" to Rose, who really should have told her to get lost instead of giving in. Tane's reasons for signing the gym over to Felicity were a bit odd (she's got her own business, she doesn't need his) but I guess she's the only family he has left in the Bay and he wants it in good hands. I guess there was far too much "I'm so happy" and "We have all the time in the world" (always a harbinger of doom) for there not to be some drama coming up. This show really does struggle to notice that a storyline's over sometimes: Was there really anyone clamouring for Stevie's stalker to lurch back to life like a bad horror movie monster and have another shot at her (literally)? It might have helped if Cash had been on hand doing his job rather than babysitting Harper and Dana. I know hindsight's easy but all he really achieved by running down there bellowing her name like a madman was make her an easier target, since it led to her turning round and standing still.

A bit of a filler episode but fun anyway.Justin actually was a pretty good actor, even if he did need Stevie to explain to him what "steel" meant! Leah really did act like the embarrassing aunt. Nice for Theo that he passed his apprenticeship. (No doubt Kirby will be wondering if that means he's free for Lyrik again!) Meanwhile, as indicated in yesterday's promo, Remi has apparently decided to make a go of things with Stevie, although ironically it ended up being Bree that he had the deep and meaningful with. Stevie seemed a bit scary at the end. Between her, Eden and Felicity, Cash is getting very good at shepherding highly-strung women. Eden probably landed on the right note: Staying angry at Levi isn't doing her any good, but that doesn't mean all is forgiven and she's going to go back to being the loving sister.

No, he was going to take her off to another country so her family would never see her again! I've got this horrible feeling that the show's trying to make Eden out to be the unreasonable one so we'll sympathise with Levi and Mackenzie. I do think she crossed a line expecting Felicity to sacrifice her business just to hurt Mackenzie, and I wonder how she'll feel about Felicity crossing the picket line and accepting she and Mackenzie have to work together. (I loved Xander's reaction at them both turning up in full hurricane mode: It was like the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse just rode through his flat!) That said, I was fully on Eden's side at the end.Sure, her rant at Levi wasn't entirely coherent, but he needs to suck it up. It's all right for him to say that he doesn't need her in his life, but as she pointed out, he's the one that's moved to her town and is getting in her face all the time.Her barking at him when she sees him is part of his not-so-fresh start. Is it worth commenting on Theo's mega-quick recovery from...whatever his problem was? I did enjoy the interplay with Remi, Eden and Theo. The question of who Remi's waiting for was basically answered by the promo!

Despite both John and Mali thinking that "everyone" knew about Mackenzie and Levi, I got the impression Harper and Dana didn't have a clue or they'd probably have filled Xander in.His attempt at laying down the law with Mackenzie and Felicity fell a bit flat and I think most of the audience were as irritated as him at their (mostly Felicity's, I admit) insistence on taking things the wrong way.It's interesting that Felicity seems more concerned about him quitting than Mackenzie is. Looks like Roo's pretty much a convert to Team Tane then.It is a bit silly that Mackenzie's getting more flack for shacking up with a married man than Tane is for kidnapping a baby, but I guess that's small town parochialism for you (and maybe they've convinced themselves that no harm was done since the victim in Tane's case got a happy ending). Talking of small towns, how big Is Summer Bay? John says he had to park a mile away: I wouldn't have thought he lives much further away than that! He did save the day for all Marilyn's eye-rolling, albeit by doing exactly what Justin told him not to and blabbing to Leah. Kirby was being a bit too casual, although to be fair, it was a bit hard to put a finger on just what she was doing wrong.Mali's attempt to repeat Alf's boating metaphor was a bit cringe-inducing but fortunately he found a way to get the message across eventually!

I don't think Stevie was trying to claim ownership of Cash, she was trying to remind Eden how much Cash thinks of her. Anyway, Stevie was in full-on drama queen mode here but I guess John isn't the only one that gets stage fright! She seemed to pull it together once she'd got the war paint on, so to speak. Harper was in full-on needy mode here, trying to get Tane to still be friends with her, while Dana was being typically immature in trying to find a way out of all the grown-up stuff. Tane should be grateful that Marshall seems to know what he's talking about. Kirby and Mali haven't quite worked out their employer/employee status yet. I can't help thinking that Mali chose the wrong point to put his foot down on: Sure, Kirby was being a bit gossipy, but Xander did need to know what the issue is between Mackenzie and Flick.

Thank you! I had an idea to do something with Ryder and Bella for quite a while, because I liked them a lot both as individuals and as friends, but it took a while for me to hit on a plot that I thought I could make work. Glad you like it! I just thought that if you wanted to show that a character's a bit pompous, having them insist on being referred to as Archibald seemed a good way of doing it. (No offence to any Archibalds out there!)

Thanks for the comments, Zig and pembie! CHAPTER FOUR Bella stirred slightly, finding herself lying alongside Ryder with sunlight streaming through a porthole.The sunlight had obviously woken Ryder too, since she saw him blinking into wakefulness.“Where are we?” she asked. Ryder took a moment to register the surroundings.“Your cabin, I think,”he said at last. “How did we end up here?” “We went back here to look over the photos you took.Guess we must have fallen asleep.”Ryder decided not to mention the fact that he’d stayed with her because she’d been drinking.Old habits. Bella nodded.Some of that was coming back to her.“So what are your plans for the morning then?” “Er, I have a shift in the bar.”Ryder checked his watch.“Which I should be getting to.” “I’ll come with you,”Bella decided. “What?But I need to get back to my cabin and get changed.” “Great!In that case, you do that and I’ll meet you out here.” There were times, Ryder knew, when it was best to just agree with Bella.“Okay, but ten minutes at the most, right?”Bella nodded with the air of someone who knew he’d wait either way.“See you in a bit.” *** When they arrived at the bar, Chase was there to greet them anxiously.“Where have you been? Archibald’s been looking for you.” Ryder checked his watch.“I’m on time, right?” “No, it’s not about that, it’s because…” “Ryder!”Archibald interrupted before Chase could continue,“I need you in the casino now.” Ryder was confused.“You want me to work another shift?But it’s not open for hours!” “Staff meeting,”Archibald said succinctly,“Come on, everyone’s waiting.” Ryder made to follow him and Bella fell into step behind him.Archibald noticed her.“We don’t need you.” “But there might be something for me to take photos of,”Bella argued, brandishing her camera,“And your head office did tell me I had full access.” Ryder had no idea if she was telling the truth.He suspected Archibald didn’t know either and didn’t seem to care.“All right, fine, you come too.You might even be useful.” *** When they got there, they found everyone who had been working at the casino the previous night waiting for them…along with Captain Smith.Ryder went to stand with the other staffmembers, Bella still following him.Archibald went to stand by the captain. “Some time during the night, the casino safe was emptied,”Smith told them,“An estimated $30,000 was stolen.No-one’s left the ship, so chances are the thief’s still here and so’s the money.” “The police have been called,”Archibald added,“They’re going to send someone out here to carry out an investigation within the next few days.” “It would be helpful if we could tell them exactly what happened,”the captain continued,“So if anyone knows anything, they’d best speak up.” Wendy spoke up.“Are we suspects?” “It may have been one of the guests,”the captain observed,“But it’s more likely to be someone with knowledge of the casino workings.A member of staff.So if any of you have information that could eliminate you from our enquiries, now’s a good time to speak up.” “Ryder couldn’t have done it, he was with me!”Bella blurted out. Ryder shot her an awkward look before embellishing.“We left the casino together after it closed.We went to the bar, Chase served us there.We left there about 11.15 and went back to Bella’s cabin to look at the photos she’d taken, then we…fell asleep.” Smith accepted the explanation without comment.“Thank you, we’ll make a note of that.Anyone else?” *** Ryder had had to head back to the bar to do his shift after the meeting.Bella had said a quick goodbye and then slipped away without explanation where she was going.He didn’t see her again until that evening, when he saw her standing by the side of the boat, taking photos of the sun setting over the water. He came up alongside her.“What have you been doing?” She glanced around and smiled.“Turns out my assignment means I can sit by the pool on a lounger, occasionally take a photo of something and call it working.” “Really?I think I’m in the wrong job.”Ryder laughed slightly before looking at her seriously.“Thanks for helping me out with the captain.” “Only fair.So, what was with you being so quick to fill in the details?Are you really that keen for everyone to go on thinking we’re just friends?” Ryder laughed.“Well, I didn’t want to ruin your reputation.” “Oh, you think I’ve got one of those, do you?”Bella sobered up slightly.“Anyway, if I did, it’d be worth risking it to help you.Do you remember pretty much the only proper falling out we ever had?”Ryder looked at her in confusion.“When I believed Jade’s stories about you.I really should have trusted you.Not sure if I ever apologised for that.” “There was no need.I know it brought up a lot of stuff for you.” “Mmm.Well, now that we’ve sorted out that bit of ancient history…would it really be that bad for people to think we spent the night in the same cabin and did more than sleep?” Ryder tried to think of a safe answer for this.“Well, if it was something we both wanted, and we weren’t hurting anyone else, and no-one was taking advantage of anyone, and no-one’s reputation was getting ruined, then yeah, I guess I’d be fine with people thinking that if you were.” “Well, thank you for such a flattering response.”She grinned at him. “My pleasure.”He grinned back.And somehow the grin got frozen in place.He looked her in the eye and had the oddest feeling that somehow, just bringing up the possibility had placed a thought in both their minds. Slowly, they leaned in and kissed, wrapping their arms around each other.

Alf's episode count this week:Four. Only Leah, Marilyn and Justin managed three. Well, a bit of an embarrassment conga for Stevie.I guess we don't know much about her relationship history, but despite her claims to the contrary, it does seem like she'd come to rely on Remi as a stabilising presence and now she's lost that.I don't think she was particularly angling for that dinner invite from Cash, and despite Eden's annoyance at having to share him, she got an insight into her and Cash's relationship, so all good...until Stevie experiences some stage fright of her own! Xander and Dana's row seemed like a storm in a teacup and, with a lot of pushing, Dana eventually got the idea.I'm glad that Harper didn't go into overprotective sibling mode and recognised where Xander was coming from.Sinister women looking at photos of characters usually do worse than serve them legal papers, so I guess they got off lightly! So, with Theo having made an inevitably speedy recovery from his issues, any chance of Leah and Justin remembering Valerie and bothering to check if she's all right too? No, thought not. I should probably comment on Marilyn's sudden eagerness to be at work but it'll probably turn out to be a lot of nothing like most of Marilyn's storylines.

Well, I guess today was the equivalent of that episode of Emmerdale where Philip Schofield and Holly Willoughby popped up.Alf finds himself in the uncomfortable position of John's stunt double but seemed to actually quite enjoy it and discover that film stars are people too. Despite both Bree and Eden trying to rewrite history, I think Remi has every right to feel aggrieved about Bree's double standards after giving him a "Get rid of the bike or I'll get rid of you" ultimatum.But otherwise, yeah, he doesn't get to get prissy about Bree sleeping with Nelson when he's been getting it on with Stevie for weeks, and him then taking his frustrations out on Stevie didn't say much for him either. Talking of which, Xander is apparently finding Dana a bit clingy, and maybe shouldn't have tried to reassure her over Bree giving her a telling off.

Well, I wasn't expecting John to be the first of the mainstays to cross the picket line and give Mackenzie his support, but thinking about it, it makes sense. None of the others are especially broad-minded, and Mackenzie is one of the people least likely to give John a hard time. And he got a free coffee out of it, so everybody's happy! Did Eden really not tell Kirby that Mali had known for ages, or was she just stirring? Things move faster than I expected between Bree and Nelson...but to be fair, they moved even faster between Remi and Stevie! If Mali had to cancel his classes because of the publicity shoot, why are they only deciding where it's going to be filmed now? It's times like this that I'm amused to realise that thirty years ago Alf would be the first to get excited about a film crew coming to the Bay, before he got turned into first a kindly grandfather and then a grumpy old "get off my lawn" type.

Tane continues to make me wonder why the heck anyone is bothered about him.Despite attempts to invert it and somehow blame Felicity for Tane's wrongdoing, she's pretty much the only reason why he isn't cooling his thick head in a cell long-term, which he pretty much deserves to be, and he's still using her as an emotional punchbag.She really needs to accept he isn't worth it and get on with her life...which apparently consists of sniping at Mackenzie these days, although Tane's treatment of her isn't helping there, because I think there's a degree of her passing the attitude on.Meanwhile, Mali is in an equal opportunities head-biting mood, snapping at Felicity for talking to him about Tane, then snapping at Rose for not talking to him about Tane.At least he apologised, I guess? Leah getting prissy towards Justin annoyed me.She's not still playing the victim over Zac, is she? It's not remotely the same situation: She was treating him like dirt long before he cheated, he immediately regretted it and did everything he could to make it up to her and she didn't want to know.

I wonder if Mali will start having a go at Rose again for picking on poor ickle Tane, even though he was literally asking for it.Even Tane said it's time for people to stop feeling sorry for him, sadly no-one listened to him.He's lucky Felicity does still care about him, because if she wasn't there to keep pleading his case, everyone else would have given up by now.Marshall's comment about Felicity breaking up with Tane because he's got too much pride was telling: It was, of course, Tane that did the breaking up, but I think his pride did play a big part. Sadly, even with Harper telling her it's not her fault and Tane's just looking for an excuse to self-destruct, Felicity just carried on self-flagellating over it all. I can see why Leah and Justin were concerned about Theo, who really wasn't acting like someone who's calm and relaxed, but ultimately I think their fussing was just another source of stress.Alf seems to have decided to ensconce himself in the Diner and play Statler and Waldorf.

Never been to a casino and you may have just shattered my illusions... I think we all have this odd fascination with getting characters drunk! Glad you like it.

Yeah, that crossed my mind as well. To be fair, Harper did come and see Tane at the gym and say she knew he was close to his family because he showed her a photo of them once(!), but it felt like Tane had chosen to give most of the credit to Harper for an argument that was mainly Felicity's. Incidentally, I keep forgetting to say that at least this $50,000 payment will save Alf having to make another huge donation next year!

Thank you for the comments, Zig and pembie! CHAPTER THREE Ryder sagged as he sat down behind his table in the near-empty casino.“That was intense.” Bella was enthusiastically flicking through the photos on her camera.“I got some great shots though. These should really impress your bosses.And anyone who fancies coming here for a flutter.” Denzel looked over from his own now closed table.“Yeah, it was a good night.” A tall blonde woman wearing a variation of Ryder and Denzel’s uniform with a skirt came over to Bella. “Did you get any good ones of me?” Bella flicked through the shots.“Er, maybe?Which table were you working at?” “All of them.I’m the cocktail waitress.Keep everyone well supplied at their tables.” Bella found a shot.“Ah, I think that’s you there.Serving that guy at Ryder’s table.” The woman looked at it.“I’m not in focus.” “Well, yeah, I was concentrating on the game…what’s your name?” “Wendy,”the woman replied tersely. “Right.I’m Bella.Um, I’ll be shooting photos all over the place during the visit so…maybe I’ll get some better shots of you another day.” From the stiff way that Wendy left, she didn’t seem mollified by the comment.Ryder grinned at Bella. “Still learning how to make friends?” “I made you, didn’t I?You’re enough.You want an after-work drink or something?” “Well, I would but you just scared off our waitress.”Ryder couldn’t help smiling at how crestfallen Bella looked.“I guess we could see if Chase is still there.”He looked over at Denzel.“You want to join us?” Denzel shook his head.“I’ll finish off here then I think I’ll try and get to bed at a decent hour for once. See you around.” *** “Smile!”Bella announced.Ryder and Chase indulgently posed as she took a shot of Chase handing Ryder a drink.She checked the photo and then nodded approvingly. “Can you make that the last one?”Ryder asked,“I don’t fancy being photographed all night.” Bella considered the matter before nodding.“Don’t want to use up the memory card on the first night. You’ll have plenty more opportunities to model for me!” “Is she all right?”Chase quietly asked Ryder. “She’s not used to drinking much,”Ryder admitted,“Neither am I, actually.When we do, it tends to end in disaster.” “Good to know.So how long have you two known each other?” “Ages.We used to live in the same town.” Chase nodded.“So were you two ever, you know..?” “No,”Bella said quickly,“No, no, no, no, no.” Ryder nodded in agreement.“No, she’s like my…” “Do not say kid sister,”Bella warned him. “Like my…best mate?”Ryder offered. Bella looked appreciative.“Aww, you too.” “Maybe you should get her back to her cabin?”Chase suggested. Ryder nodded.“Good idea.”He put an arm round Bella.“Come on, best mate, time to turn in.” *** Ryder had followed Bella into her cabin and the two of them had ended up sitting up on her bed, their backs against the wall.Ryder flicked through the pictures on Bella’s camera.“These are really good?” “Is that a note of surprise?”Bella asked, her eyes narrowing slightly. “No way,”Ryder promised her,“I’ve always known you were talented.Just giving you some encouragement.” Bella seemed to accept this and snuggled up to him, resting her head against his shoulder.“I’m really glad I’ve got my best mate back,”she said, sounding on the verge of falling asleep. Ryder knew he should get back to his own cabin but it had been a long day and he was feeling tired.And actually, he was pretty comfy where he was.He leaned so his head was resting on the top of hers.“Me too.”

Alf's episode count this week:Four, although he only appeared briefly without dialogue on Thursday, as did Marilyn. I continue to wonder why Tane has so many intelligent women running around making allowances for him.His attempt to be mature and face up to his problems (and even apologising to Felicity for being a tool) didn't last long, as he's soon throwing a childish strop and blaming Felicity for his own hang-ups. Objectively, there's not really any reason for him to make a fuss about her sleeping with Marshall, and his attempt to come up with one just sounded like an excuse, so there's a distinct feeling of "Don't want her, don't want anyone else to have her" about it.And now he's been so busy sulking that he's put Rose in a difficult position again. Irene seems the closest to joining Alf in thinking the film crew's more trouble than they're worth, despite the increase in custom and Kirby briefly going back to her day job.I hadn't realised that it wasn't common knowledge that Levi was married, unless Irene's been especially lacking in paying attention: I'd have expected her to be at least a bit concerned about Mackenzie hooking up with her doctor anyway, rather than gushing about how romantic it was. Does no-one in the Bay understand professional ethics?! Well, building Theo a desk is relatively harmless compared to some of Leah and Justin's interventions, although he wasn't in the episode so we don't know if he appreciated it!

To me, the issue isn't whether or not Levi was technically still Mackenzie's doctor when they got together (although it's worth pointing out that their first kiss was while she was still a patient in the hospital): It's the fact that they first met when he was her doctor, and forming a romantic bond in a situation like that, where someone could be mistaking gratitude or dependency for something else, should be a big no-no.But the show only seems to be paying lip service to that detail, so we're probably not meant to think about it too hard. Anyway, after a chat with the until-now silent and absent Tane, Mackenzie decides to stick with things as they are. But they're not going to be getting a round of applause any time soon...unless you count Felicity's slow clap. I was really not very happy with Leah and Justin here.Okay, they made a big speech about how much Theo meant to them in the end, but it felt like they took a lot of power away from him along the way.Theo was absolutely right to call what Justin did "snooping" and then he doubled down on it by showing it to Leah when it wasn't his to share. It's not a surprise that Tane didn't respond well to Felicity and Harper's ambush, which has seemingly resulted in Harper deciding to take it upon herself to harass Tane.Objectively, yes, it's probably right that he sees a lawyer and has a proper defence, but I'm not sure why he has so many people determined to "save" him.I guess Tane can't complain given he was hooking up with random women when they first broke up (not that I imagine he's self-aware enough to realise that) but that was a really bad time for Felicity to decide to move on.I don't think there's ever been any direct reference to Tane and Felicity getting divorced (wouldn't they have to be separated for a year or something?), yet Tane's calling himself her ex-husband in the promo.