Red Ranger 1

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.

Well, inevitably this has turned into another thread for people to talk about everything they hate about the current show and blame it all on Lucy Addario, sometimes in completely nonsensical ways like claiming "Getting rid of children and school" is a recurring theme of hers even though she was in charge ten years ago when it seemed like at least half the cast were teenagers and high school children. As ever, I'm left thinking if people who say the show should get back to its roots even know what those roots are.Saying Alf and Roo are the only parent and child on the show as if that's somehow shocking: If we're being literal, they were the only ones when it started as well.(I guess, aside from rarely seen child characters, the next would be the retconned Bobby/Don/Morag parental relationship, followed by Michael and Haydn.)The show has never been that hot on introducing obscure relatives of past characters.You can still count the number of nuclear families in the last 36 years on the fingers of one hand.If the show actually did bring in young relatives of Alf and Irene, it probably wouldn't be long before people started complaining that they're just yet more "cookie-cutter" young people.Irene has always been closer to the Selinas, the Chloes, the Joeys, the Wills, the Tashas, and the Belles than her own children: It's entirely true to the character that, as she gets older, she's playing parent to the likes of Xander, Rose, Harper and Dana rather than to her biological family.(And I continue to applaud the show for recognising she's not in her 40s anymore and putting a stop to her acting as though she's only a generation older than teenagers.)The show brought in a nephew for Leah, a brilliant choice that gave her a purpose and a family unit after a number of periods when she's just been a background character, yet people are demanding children of her other brothers as if they've forgotten he existed. If you strip it down to the basics, it's still a show about families and found families living in a seaside town.The issue is that some people think they're the wrong families.Bringing back fostering wouldn't automatically solve that, because when they do that people often complain it's the wrong sort of fostering (Spencer and Maddy being the example that springs to mind).The cast's age has skewed older in recent years, and I can see why people would consider that losing part of its identity, but there's a feeling that that's the audience they have to cater for now, which may even be right. I agree there are some aspects I'm not happy with, notably the tendency to expect us to side with characters in the wrong, which the Braxton era heightened although it was an idea that had been growing for some time beforehand.In the earliest days, we'd get tearaways that needed taming and teaching right from wrong, but these days there's a tendency to have them start off worse and not get better enough.I thought they were moving away from that a bit and maybe they have, but it feels like we're sliding back a bit with the regression of Tane, and Mali, a character who was introduced as an anti-River Boy (a tattooed muscly young guy who's honest, hard-working and law-abiding), starting to head the same way. To try and answer the original question: I don't know. I think the worst thing a show can do is try and give the elder statesman fans the show they think they want, because they'll still find something to complain about. (It's what we do.) I enjoy the show as it is, but I'm very aware that other people don't.If there was some magic answer that could make the show appeal to the wider audience it needs, well, if I knew that I'd be making the show!

I continued to not really have any sympathy for Mali, or indeed for Levi when Mali passed the aggro on, although they seemed to have bonded over "We both like Mac" by the end.Mackenzie was being spectacularly obtuse in going round to try and get Eden to feel sorry for Levi and well-deserved that slammed door in her face: She'd have reacted the same if someone tried to paint Rick as the victim.Levi does have a point that Eden can't just keep rocking up to have a go, but even with him holed away up at the farm, it's going to be hard for her to ignore him completely.Someone in the Spoiler thread commented that when they did a similar storyline with Brody and Simone, they did at least move away for a fresh start not long after.To be fair, it's not like Levi has shacked up with Mackenzie a few streets away from Imogen, but he is not too far away from people who knew him when he was married and aren't entirely accepting of him moving straight into Mackenzie's bed. (Which, it seems, may include Mackenzie herself, but what else was she expecting?) I was amused at Dana's confused reaction to John claiming to have a sixth sense ("You see dead people?") and Irene managing to cut short his interrogation with the offer of free food.Still, it wasn't long before Irene was getting the thumb screws out as well, as Xander and Dana ponder not having been on a date yet.As nice as that set-up was, I'd have expected a date to actually involve leaving the flat, not just spending longer than usual in the front room, but that and the double-talk seemed to make them happy. Leah and Justin still haven't quite twigged how to respect Theo's boundaries.To be fair, Justin didn't initially know how personal what Theo was working on was, but he didn't exactly stop looking when he did. Well, she said she was surprised they'd left the bedroom, so I think she knew.

Stevie did seem to have her filter well and truly turned off today, first blurting out whatever came into her head with Remi and Bree, then barging into Cash's house determined to talk shop.She seemed to have got the message by the end but it remains to be seen whether it'll stick.Somewhat manipulative editing in the promo made it look like Remi and Bree were saying they loved each other, when they didn't say anything of the sort.Alf continues to be bothered about the disruption of a film being shot there but underestimated the effect dollar signs would have on John. I can see why Dana would think Rose didn't like her but I didn't like the way she was avoiding her or indeed the way Xander challenged Rose about it.I don't think it should have been Rose's job to clear the air but I see why she did it for Xander's sake.Whilst I think John overstepped in quizzing them, there's perhaps a degree of karma there. Eden's back from comforting Imogen and seemingly tired of the job.Her attempt to download to Cash kept being interrupted...so it probably wasn't the smartest idea for him to follow her back to her house, when there was a good chance Remi and Stevie would be right behind him! I can't complain too much about her giving Mali that serve, given how sanctimonious he's been lately.

Stevie was definitely in force of nature mode, with both Cash and Remi looking utterly bemused by her behaviour and Nelson not far behind. Still, she's clearly not as dumb as she sometimes seems, since it turns out she actually has a point.You could see Nelson thinking "Hey, this could work" as she acted out the scene on the beach.It's apparently just sinking in for Cash exactly what he's let himself in for.Stevie did seem to have trouble reading the situation when she set Remi and Bree up to watch their dates talk shop, but then Nelson didn't seem to twig either. Aside from a couple of scenes of Roo deciding to do a first aid course(seemingly as a way of writing her out for a few episodes), everything else fed into the main story.Roo is the latest Stevie Marlow fan and inevitable that Marilyn's dreaming of stardom, while Alf is being his usual grumpy self: His comment that he doesn't like change is very enlightening.

Yeah, I never saw the appeal.I wasn't that keen on him as a first boyfriend for her and I've no idea why the show refused to let her date anyone else and just kept having her go back to him no matter how badly he behaved. Ha! Yes, I think Ryder's charm with the ladies largely existed in his head at times.

I'm not sure you need to have watched it... Thank you for the comments, pembie and Zig! CHAPTER TWO Ryder had led Bella to the bar, guessing he was still meant to be off duty, and got them a table and a couple of drinks.“So, seriously,”he persisted,“of all the ships in all the world, how did you end up on this one?” “Right place right time,”Bella suggested,“Someone at the company knew Emmett and rang him up asking if he knew any photographers who’d do a good job on their promotional pics.” “And he couldn’t think of any?”Ryder asked teasingly. Bella gave him a mock glare.“Ha ha.So the job got passed onto me and I jumped at it.” “Especially when it meant you got to work alongside your favourite person in the world?”Ryder asked. “Oh, is Dean here?”Bella asked airily.She gave him a genuine smile.“I admit it’s not exactly a minus.” Ryder nodded before deciding he needed to venture into awkward territory.“Have you heard from Nikau?” “Last I know he was working at some luxury swimming pool complex.One advantage New York has over Summer Bay is that it’s big enough to avoid people in.” “I really thought if anyone had a chance of making it, it was you two.I mean, you kept on finding your way back to each other whatever happened.” “I guess maybe we should have thought more about why we kept breaking up instead of why we kept getting back together.Suddenly we were stuck out there on our own with no buffer and all the problems we had just got magnified.I guess that’s what comes from basing your whole life around one person.”She took a deep breath.“Anyway, what about you?Any girls been daft enough to fall for that dorky charm of yours?” Ryder gave an embarrassed laugh.“No, nothing.At all.I guess I’ve been too busy working.Plus, they take a dim view of us dating the guests and most of the staff kind of look on me in a maternal light.” “I’m sure it’s not maternal.They probably just see you as an idiot kid brother.”Bella smiled fondly and patted him on the hand.“Don’t worry, Ryder, I’m sure people will see the grown-up inside of you eventually.” Chase came over.“Hey, Ryder, are you working?” “Not at the moment?”Ryder guessed.He looked at his watch.“I’m due to start at the casino in an hour so I think I’m on break.” “You’re working in the casino this evening?”Bella asked,“That’s great!” Ryder smiled, pleased.“Thanks.” “It’s perfect:The casino is exactly where I’ll need to be to get the best shots and now I’ve got a model that I know!”She noticed Ryder’s disappointed look and gave him a placating smile.“Isn’t it great how what’s good for your career is good for mine?” *** “How long do I have to hold this?”asked Ryder, who felt as though he’d been posing with a big grin on his face holding a card in mid-deal for at least five minutes. “Just another second and…there!”Bella took a shot.“I almost make you look sophisticated.”She showed him the photos she’d taken. Ryder flicked through them.“Can you delete the one where I’m cross-eyed?” “I might keep it.Gives you character.”Bella took the camera back.“I think that’ll do for now.I’ll take some action shots during the night.” An olive-skinned man with a shaved head, a few years older than them, appeared.Like Ryder, he was dressed in casino uniform.“You starting early, Ryder?” “More like she is,”Ryder replied before remembering that the pair hadn’t met,“Bella, this is Denzel, he works here.Denzel, this is Bella, an old friend of mine who’s just been hired to photograph us.” Denzel nodded politely at Bella.“I’m running the craps table tonight.” “I’m sure it’s not that bad,”Bella said placatingly. Ryder shot her a look.“Craps is a dice game.”Bella glared at him.“You knew that, right?”She continued glaring. Denzel looked at his watch.“We’d better start setting up.” Bella grinned.“Don’t mind me.Just act as if I’m not here.”

Alf's episode count this week:Three. Well, that's definitely a piece of lateral thinking by Stevie! She and Remi make an oddly good match, with him giving her good advice on how to handle Cash.Still, he seems to be reading things less well with Bree, taking her claims to be fine at face value until Kirby gives him a metaphorical bash round the head.Bree's unaware that her attempt to move on has just brought her further into Remi and Stevie's orbit, although the promo suggests she finds out quickly! Despite his claims to the contrary, Alf never really apologised to Roo and it was a bit rich for him to claim he tried to talk to her when all he did was dodge the conversation and hope Marilyn would do his dirty work for him.Still, he gave Roo his support eventually.Hopefully she'll answer Martha's calls now too! In the show's earliest days, there used to be three big bedrooms and a smaller one upstairs and possibly one downstairs as well, but that's fluctuated wildly over the years and there now seem to be four of the big bedrooms up there.

So Theo's desire to leave Lyrik didn't even last one scene! Justin showed an even greater inability to shut up but did at least come up with a decent solution in the end.Kirby's suggestion that Theo just do gigs didn't seem too unreasonable but it's good that she was supportive of his decisions in the end.Leah talking about Theo being their responsibility did momentarily leave me frustrated that she couldn't show the same consideration to Valerie, but I guess I've beaten that horse enough. Well, Bree pretty much gave away the fact that she's still hung-up on Remi with her rant to Rose the other week and she kind of showed it again here.Remi finally finds out that she knows about him and Stevie but was too distracted to really follow through. So, yes, Marilyn was just being childish and making up a problem that wasn't there (is she still suffering PTSD from Roo, shock horror, not immediately forgiving her for the mess she caused last year?), but Roo did have a secret to share.Alf didn't really come across at all well here: He seemed to avoid the issue by passing the buck on to Marilyn (who was inevitably in favour of it, having already agreed to having Poppy there) and then retreat to his man cave to whine about it on the phone. I think Roo's being realistic about this, she knows it's a long journey but that doesn't stop her taking the first step.

Well, Mackenzie's finding out the down side of breaking up a marriage: Once the thrill of the affair is over, you're stuck with a mopey guy snapping at you. I'm glad Eden went to see Imogen and got a fair hearing and has decided to stay and support her: It'll probably only last until next week when they need her for some more episodes, but it'll be a shame if her and Imogen's friendship is a casualty of all this. I kind of got Eden's point in stopping Imogen calling Levi but part of me thinks Imogen needed to find out for herself. Mali did indeed seem like a third wheel.I quite like him and Rose together when they're like this. (I assume Xander and Dana had left and weren't still in the bedroom the whole time they were there!) I think both Leah and Justin had trouble realising that Theo wasn't in the talking mood.I understand his rationale but I really can't see Theo quitting Lyrik for good.Is this the latest setback to stop them hitting the big time, which they seem to have been on the verge of doing for about two years? I'm not sure if we should really be worried about Roo or it was just a case of Marilyn being a drama queen.It smacked of the show's makers needing to have Alf and Marilyn in an episode so they gave them this non-story.

Well, after yet another interruption with Rose coming home at the wrong moment (and then Xander's conversation with her gets interrupted by Mali!). Xander and Dana finally manage to have a talk.They've got good repartee and maybe he'll be a moderating influence on her impulsiveness, so yeah, I think I'm in favour.I liked her interplay with Harper as well. When Tane was whining about prison changing Ari, I just thought "Didn't it change him for the better?" It seemed like that (coupled with Mikaere dying) was what gave Ari the push he needed to stay on the right side of the law (well, unless Tane or Mia was dragging him into their mess).I'm okay with Felicity supporting him and even quite like the idea of her and Harper teaming up, but it feels like she's crossing a line by insisting on helping Tane when he doesn't want her to.Still, guess she's used to being in his bad books by now.I agree it's mitigation but Tane not knowing the mother had come forward doesn't exactly let him off the hook entirely: Poppy was still going to a safe home with caring people who had been vetted by social services and he chose to take that away from her. Levi indeed came across as pretty contemptible.His apologies and concern were meaningless because he's still making the choice to go and shack up with the woman he's been cheating on Imogen with.No sympathy for Mackenzie either, who's been asking for that serve from Eden.I did like Felicity once more being in the unfamiliar position of being the grown-up(shame she had to resort to "She's not worth it" cliches).Mackenzie was also incredibly rude kicking Rose out so she could moan to Mali: Maybe she didn't want to get into it, but if this is going to be public soon, why not let Rose in on it? Oh well, at least she had the decency to send Mali after Rose when he's too daft to think of that himself.