Red Ranger 1

Hmm, didn't think of that but you've got a point. Then again, maybe Tane's not all that hot on paperwork!

Going to be away for a week, so watching ahead on First Look. Again, good intentions from Tane, and there's nothing intrinsically wrong with teaching someone about the culture they were born into, but he can't plonk Perri in the middle of all this and expect it to instantly mean something to him. As it was, there was a specific reason for his meltdown, but he was heading that way anyway. Interesting that Mackenzie was the one that spoke to him and tried to understand, almost as if she's taking on the "mother" role that Harper seemed earmarked for. More of Remi and Bree complaining about the lack of alone time. However did they keep their relationship quiet for so long yet now they're incapable of being in a room alone for more than half a scene? A shame Felicity isn't talking to Cash, although she's not in the episode and they seemed fine in the promo so maybe it's not as bad as he thinks. She was never going to be pleased about Rory going to jail but Remi gave Cash some good advice. The proposal: What the hell, Cash? There was no build-up to that at all!

Yes, we saw her unpacking a new box of them when she was setting the table. Hindsight's 20/20 and John has good intentions but that didn't work. I wondered if he'd confront Irene or go to her friends first but either way, I don't think that would have been my opening gambit. There was a brief moment when he produced the bottles where Irene had this horrified look on her face at her facade collapsing, but she quickly doubled down with the defensiveness. I'm glad John managed to shut Marilyn up because she was kind of talking nonsense. Justin probably has a point about them not being able to help Irene unless she wants them to, but it's hard to just sit back and do nothing. Irene did seem to snap back to her old self next morning with her apology to Harper, although how much that was part of the act I'm not sure. I don't blame Tane for not knowing Perri's birthday, it's a bit early for them to be having that conversation! Perri seemed a bit clueless at times: Mackenzie tells him you don't drink before work so why did he tell Tane he had done, especially when he didn't? (Not that he ended up doing any work!) Tane's well-intentioned but Perri's a bit overwhelmed and lost as it is. Okay, so Harper's last excuse for keeping the pregnancy from Tane was that she wasn't sure if she was keeping the baby or not, but now she apparently is so what gives? Alf's appearances are a bit weird at the moment: He only seems to appear in a scene or two each episode, usually in or around the surf club. I suspect Ray Meagher was on limited availability when these were filmed.

Well, you know, I'm sure a lot of people could come up with lists of iconic characters from the 80s and 90s that they'd like to see again, but most of them would be pipe dreams, whereas Ava being around does feel like a possibility (especially given we've seen her this year) and having her in the household would shake things up and let us see a different side to Justin and Leah. With John returning to take over the role of chief naysayer, it seems Leah's more or less fallen in line with Marilyn's approach of "Go along with it until you're absolutely sure it's the wrong thing." I don't blame John for making a stand, but it's not going to penetrate Irene's defensiveness. It's hard to see how much of her manic behaviour is down to the drink and how much isn't! I'm glad Mali acknowledged he's made some poor choices lately, and he didn't even mention the fact he withheld evidence related to a murder case from the police.So, off to another set of lectures from his family, maybe these ones will sink in. Bree was being precious again and it was frustrating seeing Remi seem to change his views again to fall in line with hers, at least until she remembered where they live and accepted that of course people are going to want to know if they're dating again or not.

I think Cash did the right thing taking Felicity to see Rory, because otherwise she was just left in limbo.She seemed calmer in the aftermath, and even though there was still a trace of bitterness towards Cash in the aftermath, I think she recognises that the situation is what it is and Cash did the right thing. There did seem to be a bit of regret from Rory towards her: Maybe on one level he did care after all. We've mentioned in the past that he was at least interested in her before he had an agenda with her. I both am and am not pleased to see Justin back.I like him and all, but I was kind of hoping that he'd bring Ava back with him once she'd finished her exams, it seems a bit of a waste to set that up and not deliver.I understand Leah's concern (and we see that, for all her protests, Irene is doing extra drinking in secret) but it wasn't a smart idea to send Justin to talk to her and it was an even less smart idea to have him try and trick her into it. I thought Xander was really sweet and funny trying to be a supportive boyfriend and expectant father to Dana without letting it on that he "knew". I'm glad that it wasn't strung out too long and the penny dropped quickly about it being Harper who was pregnant.Hopefully Dana will manage to stress that Xander needs to keep that one quiet.And hopefully he manages to find something convincing to tell Rose!

To be fair, I think you have to give Rory credit for sticking to his values and throwing himself into the lion’s mouth with his “brother”. That puts him way ahead of Brax, who used to treat his “Boys” as cannon fodder and happily throw them to the police as a scapegoat if it kept him, and occasionally his family, out of trouble. Of course, it would have been better if Rory hadn’t murdered someone in the first place, which has got Dingo into a lot more trouble than if he was just up on a GBH charge. His relationship with Felicity has never really rung true so I don’t really buy her being heartbroken over a guy that she’s been dating five minutes. Why the hell did Cash choose Rose of all people to interview Mali? It was obviously going to be a damp squib, unless that was actually Cash’s plan, to keep his mate out of it. Given forensics would tie him to the bag of evidence, Mali’s very lucky not to end up charged as an accessory, for real this time. This isn’t like when he only went to Tane to get him to give himself up, he was quite happy to keep quiet about what Dingo had done, and indeed has done. At this point, Rose really should stop caring about his whiney attempts to play the victim because he really does seem to be heading down the wrong track. I’m not sure why they spent a week pretending Harper might not keep the baby only for her to decide that actually, she will. Ironically, it feels like we’re in the same situation as back when Felicity was with Tane and Cash was a wreck, where the supposedly wild and irresponsible younger sister is more together than her older sibling: Dana has a good job and a steady relationship while Harper’s pregnant by a one-night stand with a technically married man who’s shut down her attempts to be with him!

Alf's episode count this week:Two. Well, all sorts of things coming to a head.I'm not convinced these River Boys are any worse than Dean's time: Before they decided to make him and Ziggy the Golden Couple, I remember Dean offering to prepare a "welcome" for Robbo in prison.I'm finding Felicity's suddenly head over heels attitude towards Rory rather annoying and unrealistic: I guess she was the same with Tane, but it feels like it's just there to make the betrayal when she finds out what he's keeping from her hurt more than it would if he was just someone she was casually seeing.Cash insists on strict security and then decides to brief Rose in the surf club within earshot of Mali... To be honest, it's probably a good thing he did, because if Mali hadn't chosen that precise moment to get cold feet and turn up at the River Boys' hideout with the bag, his raid would have been a bit of a damp squib.(Mali obviously wasn't going to hand it in himself...)To be fair, the police arrived mere seconds after we first heard sirens, so they probably just turned them on at the last moment for effect, and Cash did have at least one extra car hidden to block Dingo's escape. As for Mali, despite getting his fingerprints over everything else in the bag, he did at least make sure not to touch the crowbar. Mackenzie was being a bit annoying so it's a shame Levi apologised to her: Does she really expect everything to be plain sailing and hearts and flowers?

Credit to Tane for clocking that Perri has trouble reading and writing, it was admirably perceptive of him.I assume he was being polite when he said it was "clever" of Perri to get into trouble at school rather than admit he needed help.I guess that's a battle for another day. Well, Dana basically said what I said to Xander: It might have been the accident that brought them back together but they're together now because they want to be. Sometimes we all need dumb luck! The honeymoon period seems to be well and truly over between Mackenzie and Levi. It was a bit odd that we just jumped to her knowing Perri was staying there, as if something got cut. I don't think Leah's handled things particularly well in being so confrontational with Irene. While Marilyn's policy of sitting back and seeing what happens might not work in the long run, it's pretty much all they've got for now: Apart from being a bit snappy (and you'd be hard-pressed to notice the different there), Irene isn't showing any obvious signs of problems.

Leah didn't snatch John's phone from him, she asked for it and he made an excuse to end the call. So after a few fairly half-hearted attempts, Harper seems to have decided to give up on telling Tane about her pregnancy and make the decision herself.I'm slightly surprised: Given how she acts like a dog on heat around him (even Perri seemed to pick up on it), I'd have thought she'd jump at the chance to snare him. After all Tane's jumping the gun, it seems Perri isn't interested in school, which is a good job because there isn't a set anymore! Perri seems surprisingly cheery at all this. To be fair, Tane's been firm with him when he needs to but the hard parts of parenting may be to come. Bree's excuse for not wanting anyone to know she was back with Remi was incredibly weak, and I'm glad Remi acknowledged that he was doing something he didn't like just to keep her happy, which is no basis for a relationship.It looks like they've sorted things out for now, see how it goes.Xander was being a bit overly literal. Dana could have phrased things better, but does it really matter how they got back together if they're happy? Irene's argument wasn't entirely without merit: I'm reminded of 20-odd years ago when she tried to interfere with Flynn teaching Noah to control his drinking rather than give it up completely and was told to stay in her lane. So if she could do that, then fine, but she doesn't have a very good track record of being able to stop, so Leah's concern is understandable.(Marilyn seems determined to have as little of an opinion as possible again.)Irene being an alcoholic really does seem to be a secret except among those who've known her for decades: Was it Olivia who didn't have a clue last time round? Not sure why Harper and Dana haven't asked more questions about her not having alcohol in the house. Irene once said it was dangerous to hide it but apparently she's forgotten that lesson as she got older.

Having criticised Kirby for pushing Remi about his new lady last week, I was firmly on her side here.I think Bree was being utterly ridiculous and actually rather selfish and hurtful. It was clear that Remi has lost the appeal of their relationship being treated like a dirty secret yet Bree shut down all his attempts to discuss it and looked utterly disgusted at the idea of people knowing she'd lowered herself to dating him again. I really hope she's got a good explanation for this, and certainly a lot better than the facile one Theo gave, because I think it's finally dawned on her just how much she's been hurting Remi. I did like Kirby dropping that bomb and Theo's "Really?" reaction. Was it me or did Theo say he was giving Justin a hand at the garage? Isn't Justin still in the city? Or was Theo not being careful with his language and meant he'd agreed to give Justin a hand by running the place? Leah seemed to be being more than a little pushy, but maybe it only appeared that way because we know something she doesn't and because John's been put in the awkward position of keeping her friends away from the truth.(And because Irene isn't in the episode, so she can't go and see her.) Leah trying to grab John's phone to talk to Irene was a bit silly: Why not just phone her herself? So...Harper's going for intense training sessions with Tane without letting him know she's pregnant? Good grief, if there's anyone in the show deserving of the label "dumb blonde", it really is her, I think she must have performed a self-lobotomy before her daft behaviour in court and has never got over it. And now of course she's fainting: Well, what does she expect after going on a workout and then just picking at her food in the Diner? I would probably be agreeing with Tane's "Some people don't deserve to be parents" speech except he said virtually the same thing about Poppy's mother, and even though he's probably right in this case, it just leaves me thinking who the heck Tane thinks he is to stand in judgement on who gets to be a parent and who doesn't without even meeting them. I think he's going a bit far in getting Perri's school records without even talking to Perri about it. Boy, Mali really is suffering the consequences of his macho behaviour with the Allens, isn't he! Cash obviously knows he's hiding something but can't do anything about it.

So it sounds like Rory and Dingo disposed of Franklin's body at the very least.We've known for a while they've been involved in something dodgy but this is next level.Felicity does seem very smitten with Rory but at least she hasn't let herself be dragged in as much as Mali has! John did do a good job with Irene, very much in firm but fair mode, but as soon as she's got over that crisis, there's another upset with the newspaper article.At least it didn't make the front page! I'd be interested to know exactly what was said, just how much did they need to gloss over to make Irene sound worse than Bronte?

Alf's episode count this week:One! It's not even like the other characters were picking up the slack, only Irene, Leah, Marilyn and Cash managed three. Cash went in too strong and had to back down, but he's not going to give in to Rory's blackmail.Cash did privately acknowledge that Rory wasn't originally interested in Flick because of the connection to him but is probably using her now.Which raises questions about whether Rory's bluffing or not: I suspect part of the reason he talked Felicity out of moving in with him was that he needs her where she can pass on gossip about what Cash is up to.Felicity lugging that huge suitcase around everywhere was vaguely amusing.I'm not sure Cash needed to apologise to John, who was being a bit annoying.I'm pretty sure we've seen large groups of River Boys before, especially in the early days when they spent their time hanging around the beach indulging in vaguely homoerotic wrestling. Yes, Leah, this was not your brightest idea ever.I had to admire the journalist's cheery self-interest and utter delight at Irene doing something other than giving the usual carefully-worded rehearsed responses.Still, it seems John's onto her now. Remi and Bree were kidding themselves thinking Theo was fooled by their "I'm going to go home and make use of the empty house" innuendo.He cottoned on quicker than Cash though!

A lot of tension between Cash and Felicity here. I think the problem is that, rose-tinted as her view might be, Marilyn actually has a point: Sure, Cash has plenty of circumstantial evidence that the River Boys were involved in a murder, but there's no clear evidence that Rory is any worse than Dean. So Cash doesn't really have any arguments to get Felicity to stay away from them. His assertion that she'll end up running drugs for them was absurd: Felicity's always had a wild side to her, and she seems to be going through a self-destructive phase at the moment, but there's not really anything in her history to suggest she'd get messed up in that sort of thing, so it came across as over the top. Meanwhile, Irene's hell of well-meaning friends continues, with John, Leah and Marilyn all, in their way, pushing her to do something she doesn't really want to and probably shouldn't...and that's before we get to the drinking.I'm reminded that, while Irene's always been a nasty drunk, she's not always that pleasant sober! I wish someone would point out that her real problem wasn't believing Bronte, it was the fact that once she got fixated on the idea that Bronte was ill and she was going to save her, she refused to listen to anyone presenting her with facts and viewpoints that didn't fit her narrative.

Cash pushing Eden really wasn't a good idea, he should know by now that she feels things in extremes. I do feel that James/Jimmy gave in to a bit too much: What's he going to do, never visit Levi while he lives there? Bit of a flying visit from him then! I did like the chat between Cash and Eden, showing what a good unit they are, even if Jimmy did seem to wind up the Eden and Remi shippers (assuming there's any left that still haven't given up!). Leah and Marilyn seem to be demonstrating that hell is well-meaning friends as they take away Irene's coping mechanism and then push her into a limelight that she's really not ready for. So, yes, it turns out there is more than three River Boys.A lot more.

Harper might not have physically dragged Dana away from her post but she turned up while she was on duty, saying she needed to talk in a pretty intense way and blurting out her pregnancy news.I'm guessing she didn't actually mean to discuss it in on the beach? Anyway, tension aside, it seems to have done Xander and Dana a favour since it forced them to stay together and talk things over.They were very cute here as they talked around things with each other ("It was kind of involuntary"). Xander was nastier to her than most of the disbelievers, but it was him, not Irene or Harper who were conspicuous by their absence, who was worried enough about her disappearance to poke holes in Bronte's story and track her down. Anyway, neither of them are perfect but they're better off together than apart, so I'm glad they've put it behind them. If Harper's going to wear as few clothes as she did today, her pregnancy's going to be obvious to everyone pretty soon! So, it turns out Perri actually didn't go back to his father, he was just worried his father would find him there, or possibly find other people there with him.There's no real reason for him to go looking at Tane's, but I'd love to see Mackenzie's reaction to Tane following in Mali's footsteps and moving a guy with volatile people after him into "his" place. That was a pretty extreme reaction from Eden, marching all the way over to Levi's place and punching him.(Did she walk out of work, again? While they were short staffed?)Levi's dad couldn't exactly judge him given his own family history and instead seemed to validate his choices. I wondered if Cash leaving his uniform behind when he went to Mangrove River was a blooper but seems he's hanging around while off duty. Alf and Rose give Mali some unwanted prods about his apparent deal with the devil...

Yes, Perri said last week that his mother died when he was young and his father brought him up.

Shame no-one mentioned Harper being so self-absorbed that she drags Dana away from her lifesaving duties right before there's an accident to babble about the mess she's made of her life.It's a shame that Theo's beating himself up too much: I'm not sure there's anything else he could have done in the circumstances, he probably saved Xander's life.Xander demonstrates that ex-paramedics make bad parents, with his mind constantly going to the worst case scenario.I thought it was a nice touch that Rose sent Dana in to Xander: Despite Dana's flaws, Rose knows Xander's happier with her around. I was worried it would backfire but fortunately he accepted it. Harper actually thought Perri would respond well to sending Rose round? Wow, she actually is inept. ("I'd tell you if I hooked up with some random!"she declares here, as if that's worse than "I hooked up with a technically married man who'd firmly friend-zoned me and only did it because he thought he was going to jail.") I'm not sure Tane could have done more at winning Perri round (although the huge mixed messages he's been giving him didn't help), it seems like Perri still has a strong connection to his dad despite everything. If Remi and Bree want to keep their relationship on the downlow (which I get the feeling Bree is more keen on than Remi is), they should stop the romantic lunches at work given the high probability one of their friends will be a patient there.

Alf's episode count this week:Four. Maybe they're making up for Roo, Justin and Mackenzie all being on the absent list now! So, yeah, it turns out that Tane giving Perri some generic advice without really knowing the situation was not the best thing he could have done, but he knows the details now, or at least most of them.He's back to getting over-involved with other people's children, but at least this one's old enough to make the decision for himself.(The constant references to him needing to be careful do feel a bit like the show hoping we won't notice if Tane does anything reckless.)I suspect she was mostly looking out for Tane rather than Perri, but Harper's advice to get Rose to pay a visit, even in an unofficial capacity, was never going to go down well.(Isn't it only a short time ago that Mackenzie was saying there weren't going to be any more randoms staying there?)Oh, and of course neither Tane nor Harper is smart enough to get birth control right.Despite the ashen face, I suspect there's a part of Harper jumping for joy that Tane finally has to see her as something other than a convenient sympathetic ear (and the rest). Well, Kirby seemed to have turned her annoying meter up to maximum. (Honestly, if she'd referred to herself as Agatha Kirby one more time, there's a good chance Remi would have snapped and thrown a heavy object at her.) She's got at least part of the truth out of him but fortunately she was too far away to recognise Bree. Given that Bree was happy to, ahem, go for a ride with Nelson, I don't think she really had any right to carry on being dictatorial about Remi's bike, but I'm surprised there wasn't more of a discussion of it.It's a shame that both Bree and Harper bailed on Kirby's single girls afternoon. I wonder if Marilyn was angling for an invite?

Tane seemed to keep putting his foot in it with Perri (it must be something in the water in that house and again, why did Harper leave crucial details out of his family history?) but made progress in the end, although Perri wasn't keen to give the full story of how he ended up asleep on the beach. It's hard to say whether Alf's advice helped or not, really. Dingo turns up with fellow amusingly named River Boy, Spanner (because he's a mechanic or because he's got a face like a bag of them, no offence to the actor?). It's a wonder Rory has a reasonably sensible name. At least Dingo told him to put a shirt on, so some things have improved since the Braxtons' day! Actually, Spanner ended up being the voice of reason stopping Dingo from pushing his luck too far. Would even Felicity really be totally fine with Eden just walking out of Salt mid-shift? (There didn't even seem to be that many other people working there, just one extra who was staying out of it.) Levi seems to have decided it's the day for small victories: I did like his little smile of "Okay, I'll take that" when Tane let him watch the game with him. Remi and Bree continuing to sneak around. Remi's lucky that Theo and Kirby enjoyed the gig, although maybe they're not that fussy. Kirby seems to have made at least some deductions, although how close is she?

She was in yesterday's episode! (She's easy to miss, you could mistake her for one of the chairs in the Diner.) Frankly, I doubt Marilyn donated anything, she seemed to be determined to be Switzerland. I forgot to say yesterday: Alf actually complimented John! Did I miss hell freezing over? Anyway, not many compliments for John today: He's running around trying to break up fires, bless him, but everything's still burning. Despite holding out through her dark night, Irene decided it's time for her relapse of the decade and I'm mostly wondering who she'll hit this time to make her immediately stop drinking. And despite everyone having an opinion, Dana's finished things with Xander. I suspect there's a big part of her that didn't want to do it: She knows she's being unfair to him but she can't get over the feeling of betrayal, however irrational it is, so she thinks it's best just to draw a line. Levi's attempts to befriend Tane, who obviously couldn't care less were kind of painful. He was doing okay at the gym until he said all the wrong things about Ari. (Seriously, does Mackenzie never tell anyone anything?) So, is Tane doing one-on-one sessions with the youths now, or has he taken Alf saying he only needs to make a difference to one of them way too literally?

At first certainly but he was the one most suspicious about Dana's disappearance (Irene just believed everything Bronte said, while Harper pretty much shrugged her shoulders and disappeared for a week), which was really what set the ball rolling for Bree admitting what she'd found, Rose being presented with evidence, and Xander and John following Bronte to the silo, leading to her arrest. That's a pretty big hand, I'd say! I sympathise with Dana but I do feel sorry for Xander being the one singled out to get the blame for not supporting her, which isn't really fair. At least Dana spoke to him eventually but she didn't really give him that much reason to feel optimistic! Hell turns out to be well-meaning friends with Leah pressuring Irene into giving up the wrong thing that's distracting her, and their rather empty platitudes not doing anything to stop her feeling like an idiot. I grimaced a bit at them going down the drinking route with Irene again (because those storylines are never particularly good) but at least she called the helpline. It's really hard to know what to make of Rory. He's told Dingo he's using Felicity to get information, but he was interested in her before he found out she was a police officer's sister. It doesn't help that his rose-tinted view of the River Boys is exactly the sort of thing Dean used to spout, and we were apparently meant to see him as a suitable boyfriend for Ziggy. Or that Eden comes across as a bit of a hypocrite when she says she was working on different facts when she pushed Felicity into seeing Rory, those facts basically amounting to "He's good looking and has a pulse so you should go for it." On the other hand, Joanna Devlin seems to be painting a far from rosy picture of him.

I was talking about the bad old days of Brax and Heath running a drug operation, putting Angelo in hospital and having Liam beaten up when I said the River Boys haven't been portrayed as this villainous since 2011. Their antics here, vandalising Cash's car, are on a par with what they've been up to since then, although if Cash is right and they are involved in the murder of a police officer, that's something that even Brax would have thought twice about. (Even Colby only murdered a murderer.) Rory did at least get the smile wiped off his face momentarily when he discovered just who "the new cop" was, but he quickly seems to have turned it to his advantage. Okay, fair play to her, we did see Harper apologise to Dana.Dana is indeed being extremely selective in immediately forgiving Irene, Harper and everyone else who pooh-poohed her but leaving Xander out in the cold.I wondered if it was because he was the nastiest to her (ignoring the fact he was the one that did the most to make up for it), but it seems it's mostly down to her seeing him as another boyfriend who's let her down and "betrayed" her. It could be argued she could have expected loyalty and respect from Harper at least as much as him, but I guess Harper has years of history of being there for her when she needed her, and Xander doesn't have that. I think people are pushing it a bit saying it's down to Irene that people are going to get their money back: If she hadn't had people around her to see what she couldn't, Bronte would have run off with hers and everyone else's cash. It's down to Dana, Bree, Xander, John and to a certain extent Rose, not Irene. I scratched my head a bit at Rose saying the other victims didn't know they'd been conned and thought Bronte was in Canada getting treatment and then that Bronte had sent them letters saying she was getting better: Did they not notice the letters weren't from Canada? I didn't even think about the fact they've been going around telling their customers they're raising money for charity when it turns out to have been a con. Maybe Felicity and Mackenzie could donate the returned money to a genuinely worthwhile cause?

I just meant that he was the one that came to Tane, rather than Tane having to make the effort to get the others involved again.

Uh, no. Just because the article calls them River Boys doesn't mean the episode did.

Yes, well, things can change from character outlines, and most people are still just going to watch the show rather than reading all the supplementary material.