Slade

Well if as you say he beat someone up weeks after the court case and unless it was self-defence then he should have DEFINITELY gone to jail because clearly he is still a threat to society and hasn’t learned anything but I will reserve judgment until I see the circumstances of that event. Whether you like Aden or not you can’t deny that he is an extremely complicated character. Nothing is ever really black and white with him. He kind of reminds me of Kane in a way (except that he never raped anyone of course). Abused as a child causing him to become quite disturbed as he got older. Your typical run of the mill bully/bad boy turned good (I’m guessing this is the direction the writers will eventually follow). I do feel he has some redeeming qualities such as his relationship with Roman and now Nicole and of course Belle. Regardless of what has happened it’s clear that he cares for her. I do however hope one day he decides to visit his dad in jail.

Just to pick out a couple of points in Symphony’s first post: Firstly Aden’s dad did not knowingly murder someone. It was an accident. He was drunk. I agree it was definitely his fault that Axel died and he deserved to go to jail but it was not premeditated. Aden beating Axel senseless and leaving him for dead without showing one ounce of remorse is premeditated. Secondly Axel did not rape Melody. He tried to rape her and she fought him off. Yes this again was premeditated and he deserved to be punished but he did not deserve the bashing Aden gave him in my opinion. Just because Aden’s been abused it does not give him the right to take the law into his own hands. I've never been in Aden's position so I could never understand what he went through but I’m sure there have been other people that have been abused that haven’t acted in the same fashion. Don’t get me wrong because I actually quite like Aden but I don’t its fair to excuse all his behaviour because of the abuse.

I was wondering how long it would take you to post on this thread Red Ranger. I’ll start by disagreeing that the more enjoyable episodes are the ones he isn’t in because I actually think Aden’s a good character and believe he’s been the focal point for lot of controversy and drama. That aside is difficult to argue with some of your points as I feel they are perfectly valid. The whole thing with Axel quite annoyed me to be honest. After Belle got back from the hospital and she was sitting on the sofa with Annie, she actually seemed quite mortified. Her words were “it was horrible”, obviously referring to him just lying there. Then as you said at the end of the episode when she was taking photos (near the rockpool I think), he went up to her and said “I’m not a loser”, “then stop acting like it” was her response and that was it. The warning signs should have been there from then. It’s not so much what he did what bothers me but the total lack of remorse. And when he when he saw Melody’s dad in the phyc ward he went up to her and said “I wouldn’t hurt Melody I’m the one who put Axel in hospital”. He was actually bragging about it. Can you believe it? I agree that Axel definitely deserved to be punished for what he did to Melody but the police should have been called into it. He had no right to take the law into his own hands. Lets move onto Larry. Larry obviously wasn’t a good Dad. But after he told Aden that he was abused as well, he actually should have empathised with him, as he should have realised the reason why he was such a failure as a person was because he was abused as well. But no he wanted to kill him. He actually wanted his own dad dead. And if Belle or Rachel hadn’t been there he probably would have killed him. Then when he was being assessed in the ward initially I didn’t like his attitude as well. He came across as though he was extremely cocky and quite up himself to be honest. He was acting as though the Psychologist had no right to question him because he was better than everyone else in that place. I don’t think he realised how lucky he was because if Larry hadn’t begged Rachel to have pity on him he would of wound up behind bars for sure (and things could have turned out very differently). Again extremely bothered at the complete lack of remorse shown - Totally unrepentant. Another thing was how he criticised his father for leaving Axel to die and I remember the remark “What about Axel and his family?”. Hmmm. Very hypocritical if you ask me. I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt with Belle and Rachel because I was pretty sure that at no point was he ever planning on harming either of them. But still even though I don’t like Rachel she did go out of her way to help him. I’m only at UK pace at the moment but suspected he was going to get off (as he’s too popular a character to write out the show at this present time). But if as you said he got a community service order then that in my opinion is not realistic. The whole reason why he avoided jail in the first place was because he was playing the temporary insanity card but usually if that comes into play you transferred to a mental institution, not let out. I actually think the writers messed up big time. Because in spite of everything I felt that should have tried to make Aden take ownership for what he did. I’m not saying they should have sent him to jail but I would have like to see him actually feel guilty and perhaps empathise with his victims. And maybe have a scene saying he was sorry for what he did to Axel and Larry (that could still happen). I would have also liked to see him continue to have counselling sessions to basically try and sort him self out and become a better person. That was one of the reasons why I liked Kane because he did seem to show genuine remorse for what he did to Dani, admitted he was wrong and tried to change for the better.

I used to really enjoy Belle’s character about a year and half to two years ago. She was your typical run of the spoilt brat; everything’s about me type character. I thoroughly enjoyed her relationship with Amanda and the episodes that it produced. One day they were arch enemies (who could forget the episode when she let herself into her house and poured the stale milk over her $15000 rug) and then they became very close and bonded as mother and daughter. Now that Belle’s grown up and is not as selfish or bratty anymore, I don’t find her character anywhere near as entertaining although I still quite like her. I did like the stuff with Aden but am definitely not a hardcore fan. So for now I think she’s ok - Nothing more, nothing less.

OK so perhaps I overestimated Charlie’s position. In the UK I think it goes something like this: Constable Sergeant Inspector Chief Inspector Superintendent Chief Superintendent Higher than that I believe its Commander, Borough Commander, Commissioner etc. Not sure how Charlie would tie in with that lot.

WHAT A BITCH! Those were my exact thoughts when Charlie first came into the show. I really disliked her mainly because of the way she was acting towards Morag. It’s funny because I knew she would tone done and now I can’t get enough of her. I absolutely love her at the moment and look forward to every episode that she’s in. The whole way she conducted herself through the Martha/Jack/Roman situation. Jack and Roman were practically at loggerheads and she very rationally diffused the situation for the sake of Martha and the baby (even though her boyfriend was having a child with someone else!). And then when she went to the trouble of arranging for a helicopter to track Nicole and Geoff down - All for the sake of her boyfriend who at the time was not really showing much of an interest in her. I like how they’ve shown different sides to her. The professional side of Senior Constable who tries her best to deal with things calmly and rationally (although I’m not sure how convincing it is having a woman in her mid 20s as a senior constable) and the other side with Roman, where at times she seems very sensitive, almost vulnerable actually. Since she’s entered the show she’s gone right up in my estimation and she’s currently my second favourite character (behind Nicole).

Martha’s a difficult one. Initially I just couldn’t stand the woman. She seemed to have a serious attitude problem and she came across as though she was up herself and better than everyone else. There were times to be honest where I could have swung for her. I disliked her even more when she married Jack (the person I dislike most out of everybody incidentally). I didn’t mind her when she was with Cam as I found that whole storyline reasonably entertaining. I then found myself disliking her intensely when all that stuff with Sam happened (which I don’t particularly want to go into). It’s funny because as much as I’ve said to myself I could never like Martha, since the cancer storyline, I have warmed to her and I now actually quite like her (*hangs head in shame*). I know! I am the sort of person that can change my mind about characters very quickly. I’m only at UK pace at the moment but I feel now that she has a whole different attitude. It’s quite refreshing actually. I would prefer her not to be with Jack as I feel that she is a far better character on her own and there is potential for better storylines. On another thread I said I was glad that she lost the baby (because I wanted Charlie and Roman to be together without any interference) but even though this storyline has been explored before it would be interesting to see her raise a child as a single parent and how she copes with that.

I see! So what they are saying basically is that they can have as many breaks as they wish as long as they don’t go over the total number of minutes that each station is allotted for a particular program, which is of a particular duration.

Funny. I thought that was Lisa. Wasn’t that the episode where Dan and Leah had popped out leaving Drew and Lisa on their own? She wanted to (you know what) on the couch, so they started making out and Drew kept imagining Lisa was Belle and then he withdrew and then Lisa asked him what was wrong (obviously suspecting that something was up). Maybe I'm wrong.

no it is legal because legally he no longer exists. Hmm, much as I would like to believe this, the show opened up a can of worms a few months ago by pretty much having Leah say that the marriage was illegal(or at least sinful).I really don't see how it can be legal for Leah to marry a second husband in full knowledge that her first husband was alive and well. There are plenty of examples in other soaps of a character being declared dead, turning up again and still being legally married to their spouse.Leah was offered a chance to join Vinnie in witness protection and the implication was that she was still his wife. Yeah I was thinking the same thing. I think Leah said something like Dan’s death was her punishment for marrying him whilst she was still married to Vinnie. I still don’t get why the producers even brought Vinnie back into the frame when it is unlikely that the actor will ever return.

no it is legal because legally he no longer exists. Oh, OK thanks. Although he came back for Vijay’s party, I’m not quite sure if it served any real purpose for the writers to do that unless they were planning on bring Vinnie back properly. I would have imagined it would have been easier for him to remain dead from the prison fire.

Thanks Red Ranger 1. Yes there definitely was something amiss. This leads me onto another question which I’m hoping somebody will answer and that is if Vinnie wasn’t actually dead but simply in a witness protection program……then surely Dan and Leah’s marriage isn’t actually legal as Vinnie and Leah never actually got divorced. Or did I miss something again?

Watching Dan and Leah’s wedding the other day reminded me of another episode in 2006. It was the one where Amanda returned with Ryan after a trip to Europe. I recall Amanda making a remark about Dan being in her bed one minute and then jumping in to Leah’s the next. Leah then told Dan it was ok as they weren’t together. Did I miss something or were they separated for a period? It may sound like a stupid question but I have to ask because I actually stopped watching home and away for about a year (from 2005-2006).