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Everything posted by Red Ranger 1
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They've been using that word in Coronation Street for donkey's years.I remember Jim McDonald calling Liz that which must be about fifteen years ago now.I had to look it up...
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Wow, that was a really powerful chapter.Well done.
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Okay, here at UK pace we've just had Aden say he's only ever slept with one person(Belle).They're just making up his back story as they go along, aren't they? I'm opening up a can of worms, I know, but here goes.If he was telling the truth, and we've no reason to suppose he wasn't, then as I said before that gives a very unpleasant subtext to his encounter with Tam.In retrospect, it looks as though he arranged to take someone his own age to the formal, then panicked and realised he couldn't handle it.So this guy who's essentially impotent decides to satisfy his sexual urges by taking out an underage girl, getting her drunk(ie.providing her with alcohol and encouraging her to drink it)and then taking it as far as he could with her.(I checked out the clip on YouTube and I'll swear there was more to it than that but I'll leave off with specifics.)It's as if the writers are so determined to present him as this scarred little boy that we should feel sorry for(or possibly that Belle's "the one")that they haven't thought about the implications or how consistent it is with what's gone before. I wish they hadn't said it because I preferred it when it looked as though his intimacy problems were a recent development rather than something that's been an issue as long as we've known him.It just makes the speed of his recovery seem even more ridiculous.
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Oh, good, this seems to have settled down a bit.I'm not going to ruin anyone's Christmas by starting another argument(I'll save that for another thread).Chelfso, you made a good case even if I don't agree with everything you said.I'd just like to say that, thinking about it, my arguments weren't as contradictory as they first appeared.Belle didn't help him immediately after the breakdown and she shouldn't have done without a fuller discussion of what happened.I can reconcile that. Anyway, best wishes to anyone who holds any opinion on the subject and see you after the break.
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I'm tempted to opt out of this conversation because it is going round and round in circles and making me behave in a way I don't like and say things I don't really mean to score cheap points.I apologise to anyone who's been annoyed or upset by my posts. Aden, for whatever reason, felt able to confide in Belle.Fine.That's good.He needed someone supporting him and it probably helped him.However, I don't see why that meant they needed to go back to being a couple again.He needed a friend and, although Belle handled the situation sensitively and didn't push him, trying to have something romantic possibly wasn't what he needed at the time. Since Aden came out of the clinic, I can only think of two occasions when Belle has genuinely helped him.The first was when she talked him into speaking out in court(Roman tried and so did Morag to an extent but it was Belle he listened to).The second was when she went with him to see his father.(Which was a bit random in itself since nothing was really resolved and he hasn't been mentioned since but I digress.)Aside from that, up until the point they got back together, the conversations mainly consisted of them arguing about their relationship and making each other miserable or her trying to involve him in her development investigation, encouraging him to break the law and risk his job and his liberty.I personally would consider bringing him along for a spot of breaking and entering far more irresponsible than playing truant with him.I think Nicole giving him a dose of normality and Roman providing him with a family situation is a lot more likely to help his recovery.Maybe Nicole does spend a lot of time talking about her and Geoff but listening to other people's problems can be quite therapeutic.That's probably why he likes hanging around with Melody. The way they got back together...Well, I'll say it again even though no-one really disagrees with me.If Aden and Belle love each other and want to be together, that's fair enough.But there are right ways and wrong ways to go about it and they definitely chose the wrong way.It's all right feeling guilty but if it's not going to stop you doing the wrong thing and if you're not going to learn from it then it's not really to your credit that much. Oddly, given that they seem incapable of being friends, I can actually see them going that way a lot more easily than I can see them getting married and living happily ever after.I can see them with other people but still fond of each other and aware that their time together was special to both of them. I guess we'll have to wait and see what happens.
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I was actually impressed with the way Nicole handled things with Aden.She liked him but she wasn't prepared to just be a drunken fling, she had more self-respect than that.Okay, calling him disgusting wasn't very nice but she was still willing to be there for him and instead he turned on her and called her a tease.Compare that with Belle:Some guy she hardly knows comes staggering into her room drunk and crawls into bed with her and she doesn't seem to mind that much.Hardly what I'd call self-respect.Maybe she did it in a jokey way but Nicole did seem to be trying to get him and Belle back together.And yes, I agree helping him skip school was a bad idea and I'm disappointed that that was one of many occasions when the consequences of Aden's actions were just ignored. Maybe Morag and Roman weren't helping Aden much prior to the kidnapping but then he'd pretty much removed himself from them and spent all his time hanging out in Belle's room.Like I said before, there was a lot more going on than we saw.Roman and Morag kept saying they were going to visit Aden at the clinic but did we see those scenes?No, because it wasn't about him and Belle.For that matter, he and Nicole went away together after the trial and her finding out about his abuse but do we get to see what they discussed?Of course not. Maybe I overstepped the mark by accusing Belle of walking away from Aden but one of the things I really hated about that storyline was that the whole thing was never resolved.Belle had every reason not to stand by Aden, I agree, but then she went and did exactly that without anything happening to make her change her mind.There was no scene of them discussing what had happened and the effect it had on her.The closest we got was a bland scene of him apologising to her.Her attitude pretty much seemed to be "I still fancy you so let's forget about the whole kidnapping me and trying to kill your father and just get down to it."It reached ridiculous heights when she was sitting there in the court saying Aden would never hurt her.She tried that at the time and look how far it got her.And then she tells him she always knew this was the person he was deep down which was obviously a lie-six months previous she hated him just as much as everyone else.
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Um, no we haven't.We're watching at UK pace, got about four weeks to go.And, hey, maybe there's something in those four weeks that's going to convince me what a really great couple Aden and Belle are but given that all the other episodes that everyone raved about went shooting over my head I doubt it.
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As if I would...Although that incident did prove one thing to me:Belle and Aden are stupid and not just about leaving money lying around while they nip upstairs.Let's leave aside Belle's curious decision to hand over her life savings to a guy she's been dating a month and skip forward to her insane plan to pay off the mortgage on a house Aden doesn't own so he can sell it, despite not owning it.(Did I mention it's not Aden's house?)It never got mentioned again, presumably because someone else noticed it didn't make sense. Having said that, I'd like to apologise for some of my comments in that post.I tried going away for five minutes and trying to think of something reasonable to say but it didn't work.Yes, Belle supports Aden and(much as it pains me to type this)she does it because she loves him.But when people say "Belle's the only one supporting Aden", what they mean is "Belle's the only one we see supporting Aden."Does his interaction with Roman and Nicole really consist of a two minute conversation every now and then when Belle's busy elsewhere?For that matter, does Belle really manage to go weeks without talking to Geoff or Annie?Of course not but we don't get to see those conversations because Aden and Belle's relationship has pretty much taken over their characters(and, indeed, the show with at least one, usually two or three Aden/Belle heavy episodes a week)to the detriment of other character pairings. One last thing.There's been some comments on the Melody thread about her being unable to make decisions for herself and becoming reliant on Geoff.Well, there are times when Aden seems to be the same.If he's incapable of facing up to his problems or even saving himself from jail without Belle telling him to, then what exactly does that say about him and their relationship?
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Okay, I'm going to come out and say it even though people are going to hate it.Belle prostituted herself to Angelo so that he'd help her.The guy obviously cared about her and worried about her and she was stringing him along and using him while sneaking off to be with Aden behind his back.It's all right saying "People were dying" but were they?!The waste had been there for decades and, okay, people had died because of it but it's not as though the entire Bay was being wiped out or the cases were severe enough for anyone to notice the connection.I get that Belle's young and that explains why she felt so strongly about it but what was with the urgency?Half the time it just seemed to be an excuse to spend time with Aden.He didn't behave any better, turning up in her room, kissing her and seducing her while she tried to point out she was with Angelo.After that, any moral stance feels like hypocrisy. As for Belle supporting Aden, well, yeah in the sense that she seemed to be in every scene he was in. It's not as though she was being altruistic, she got copious amounts of sex out of it.Seriously, these two are incapable of being friends and it's friends who offer genuine unconditional support.Roman was the one that offered him a place to stay, twice, after he fell out with his dad.He was the one who went to the police station and the clinic to support him and asked Belle to visit him when she seemed quite ready to wash her hands of him.Nicole's the one who stood by him through it all without asking him to explain anything.Before Morag left, Aden thanked her for being the one person to have faith in him when the rest of the town(including Belle)felt he wasn't worth knowing.To me, that meant a lot more than any of his childish "We're meant to be together, you're the best thing that's ever happened to me" speechs to Belle.I get that she's his first love so it's understandable he'd feel that intensely about it, but that doesn't seem like the kind of attachment that's going to develop into a healthy adult relationship in the long run.
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I actually agree with the earlier comment that Aden and Belle are more interesting and likeable when they're apart.Aden works a lot better in scenes with Roman and Nicole than when he's mouthing empty platitudes at Belle.I can't remember the last time Belle had a scene when she wasn't pining after Aden, mistreating Angelo or hassling the developers but when Aden was in the clinic and they gave her a couple of scenes with Geoff and some stuff with Irene I thought those were much better relationships. I'm not sure that "they'd do anything to be together" is a particularly healthy way to live, a life needs more in it than just one other person.
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Well, the Kings are definitely cursed since they moved to Emmerdale, that's three of them have met violent deaths now. Finding it very hard to warm to Aaron, especially when he was threatening to beat up a fourteen-year-old girl.Wish they'd let the mob take him out now.
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Aden apologists usually claim that Aden reacted the way he did, and treated her a lot worse than he did Nicole, because he cared about her.It's another example of him making bad choices in order to be with her, she'd discussed it with him maturely and wasn't pressuring him but he ended up forcing the issue and getting into a situation that neither of them could handle. And I'm not sure why it was Angelo's responsibility to stop Belle cheating on him, he was always fair and honest with her.Even when Aden turned up at Belle's house in the middle of the night demanding to see her when she was asleep and Angelo chased him off, he told Belle about it in the morning instead of trying to keep them apart.
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Oh, that was really good.I like how you've made what's happened to Nicole something random and arbitrary.
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I'm not entirely sure about Belle and Aden having a positive effect on each other.Aden had already begun to improve before Belle took an interest in him, if he hadn't she wouldn't have looked twice at him(and didn't).They actually seem to bring out the worst in each other(ie.the skank incident, their treatment of Angelo).They're both guilty of tunnel vision at times, not caring how anyone else is affected as long as they're together.
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Oh dear...Want to see their reactions when they find out what's happened.
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Oh my...Looking forward to reading more.
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Stockholm Syndrome (by Louise_2983) - comments
Red Ranger 1 replied to monkeysmoke's topic in Comments
Loved the Aden/Nicole material.And everything Belle said was absolutely spot on.They really do need to be a proper couple before taking things further. -
I too was impressed by the ending and must add by heartfelt thanks to those already proffered for keeping us suitably entertained.
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Life On The Inside (by Red Ranger 1) - comments
Red Ranger 1 replied to Taniya_K's topic in Comments
Once again, thanks to everyone who's been commenting on this fic and reading it.I started it in a rush before I could think about it hard enough to stop myself and expected it to have at best a niche readership so the response has been overwhelming.And I probably overstepped the mark for a T-rating on at least three counts but I was fed up of giving all my fics As. And having refuted one count of plagiarism, I should probably confess that one scene was heavily "inspired by" an earlier HA storyline.But thankfully no-one seems to have noticed that. -
Ooh, it's been a while since I've looked at this page, things have hotted up a bit.Still don't like them, in case anyone's in any doubt.Two characters who only know each other to scowl at fall in love in the space of a couple of days?Yeah, right. Two of the more curious comments I've seen from the pro camp:If Belle had rejected Aden after he'd confessed his abuse(and, you know, called her a skank), he would have been sent on a downward spiral.Well, leaving aside the fact that he pretty much went on one anyway, is that really a good enough reason for going out with someone?I always thought she should have supported him and been a friend to him but not suddenly decided it made him decent boyfriend material.Did Aden really kidnap Belle?Well, he locked her in a shed and wouldn't let her out.He might not have tied her up but I've a feeling he did shove her.I remember her going to open the door, saying "I know you won't hurt me" and he physically prevented her from unlocking it.And she did seem to forgive him very quickly.She was still angry with him at the police station but by the time she saw him at the clinic she was unambigiously on his side. I'm not convinced either by the argument that "Yeah, Aden's counselling didn't last long but it would be really dull if he was having months of counselling and couldn't sleep with Belle."Why would that be dull? Why do Aden and Belle have to sleep together?It's as if either society or the mechanics of television mean a relationship somehow isn't valid if they don't have sex.I'd actually respect them more if they were capable of having a loving relationship without it. Belle being with Angelo.Aden's behaviour during the whole thing seemed to be a bit erratic.(Which is, I suppose, in character.)In some episodes, he seemed to have accepted he and Belle were over.But in others...I remember him coming on pretty strongly with Belle before the trial and acting as though he wanted to kiss her, then storming off in a huff when she didn't respond.And then he wandered into the Diner kitchen, straight past Irene and Roman(who for some reason didn't object to him going in there even though he didn't work there), and invaded Belle's personal space in a way that was frankly worthy of a restraining order.And then in their so-called reunion scene he has the gall to say "I let you walk away once."When did he do that?Even in that scene, Belle's telling him she's made her choice and she's with Angelo and he is clearly not going to take no for an answer.If it wasn't for the fact that Belle supposedly felt the same way, his behaviour would be downright creepy.Okay, I'll accept that, for whatever reason, Aden and Belle want to be together.But what they did to Angelo was wrong and whatever happened subsequently does not change that fact at all. I'm sorry, Adelle fans.I like to think I gave them a chance.But there didn't seem to be any thought put into this relationship and I long ago added them to the list of Pairings I Think Don't Work.It wouldn't be so bad if they weren't suddenly supposed to be the show's golden couple.Meant to be together?I hope not.
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Stockholm Syndrome (by Louise_2983) - comments
Red Ranger 1 replied to monkeysmoke's topic in Comments
Fluffy highlight: "You're right, you do love me more." Comedy highlight: "How was the sex?" And I love that it was Geoff that got Aden and Belle back together. -
Do not distress yourself unduly, my dear, your fiction is a worthy addition to those contained within regardless of its length.Another fine chapter, I particularly enjoyed the conversation between the Major and Miss Belle.
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I liked that one, the way you showed how they were both feeling.Looking forward to a proper discussion between them.
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Yes, those were two scenes that really should have been covered on the show, especially the second one.I thought the way the only question she had for him was if he was okay was very sweet.Good job!
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Yes, I agree about Audrey and I'm surprised no-one's mentioned the fact that everyone thought she was crazy when she accused Richard.Although Maria's not really doing herself any favours by just wandering into Tony's office and going through his stuff looking for evidence.(Like what?A checklist marked "My plan to kill Liam"?)Although I loved the way Rosie didn't know what to do and started screaming for her mum. I don't really mind Tyrone and Molly, I think Tyrone's actually quite sweet and funny.I loved that bit a few episodes ago when he said he was going to work and Molly told him not to be sarcastic and he, in all seriousness, replies,"I'm not, that's genuinely where I'm going."