Latest UK Episode Discussion (2006-2017 Seasons)

[H&Alover]

Sam may not be the first agent he has contacted which is why it's been going on a while. The others blew him out but Sam is the only interested, whether or not it's just his story she's keen on is yet to be seen. I can see why he hasn't told Leah he wants to wait until there is an actual book deal in the offing first. 

Kat and Ash's secret is no more Simmo is on to them and no doubt has blackmail is on his mind.

VJ really shouldn't have announced the news of his and Billie's engagement like he did, I think the reason Billie wanted it kept quiet is while it was just between him and her it wasn't real but now it's out there.  Can't remember how long it was that Billie and VJ vacated that caravan but surely that old note of hers would have been found before now when the bin liner was taken out.  I do recall her writing it, it was not long after she and he got really close and was going to leave because she decided she couldn't lie to him that the baby wasn't his, that bit of the note was clear to read unless like us you knew what it said.

Last one tonight so there will be  a couple of cliff hangers The Australian series finale is 19th December and they return, possibly, on  30th January.

[Red Ranger 1]

Alf's episode count:Suspended until he comes back.Roo was in all five, otherwise a very sparse week with only Irene, Leah, Marilyn and Justin managing three episodes.

So, bang goes any hope of Matt and Evelyn being a fun couple, as it instead gets buried in angst and more jabbering about Josh.It must be genetic, since Evelyn's fixation on him is only slightly more sensible than Denny wasting the rest of her life whining about Casey.I suppose at least Josh and Evelyn were together a while (on and off) and he's not dead (as far as we know).But it doesn't help that we've gone straight from "Evelyn treats Mason badly" to "Evelyn treats Matt badly".

And Raffy's a Morgan, as if there was any doubt.My sympathy for Hope is somewhat limited here.I get that it's a shock to find out that the sister you've known all your life isn't your biological sister, but they're still blood-related, they're still sisters in every way that matters and they'll be better off with the Morgans helping them out, they're not the sort to try and cut Hope out of her life.So Hope messing with Raffy's head for selfish reasons really isn't on.Roo was annoyingly self-righteous once again with her lecture to Justin and Brody without really knowing what's going on.Interesting that Brody and Mason are the ones most keen to tell Raffy the truth: As the ones least happy with the family's rules, maybe they like the idea of having someone other than the same three people as their family?Incidentally, I keep forgetting to mention that dates and ages given would make Brody 22.I had him pegged as slightly older:Mason doesn't seem much younger than that.

Really don't know why Zac was meant to be the bad guy in the storyline with Hunter.Last week Hunter was sulking and refusing to talk to him for trivial reasons, here he storms off in a tantrum and nearly buys a stolen exam paper just because Zac wants him to wait a few hours before he helps him.Newsflash, Hunter, world doesn't revolve around you.Or you, Leah.I'm assuming Zac isn't cheating, givien Ash's reaction. (Did no-one realise how confusing it would be having two characters called Samantha on the show though?Having Ben Murray and Murray Grainger was bad enough!)And since when did Roo go to uni?She flunked her HSC after getting pregnant in Year 12!

Ash and Kat is bordering on farcical."If we go on the way we have, it'll soon be over,"Kat says, by which I can only conclude she means that if they carry on making out in public and making everyone from Marilyn to Billie twig then she'll get fired within the week.Except I don't think she did mean that.It's hard to get worked up about Simmo's blackmail:The worst that can happen is Kat gets fired from a job that she should get fired from, certainly not worth Ash breaking the law for.Okay, I get that Ash might not want that to happen, but why should we care?There also didn't seem to be any reason for Ash not to show Kat Simmo's message after she saw him.

I'm glad VJ forced Billie's hand and announced the engagement, she needs to face up to reality and it's a shame he has to keep backing down.She's now at the stage of getting defensive instead of being honest: Couldn't she have even managed a half-truth and say she wrote the note when they fell out over him quitting school?(Did VJ really not notice her bags were packed at the time?)She seems to be torn between trying to sabotage the lie that her life has become and wanting to keep this fantasy bubble intact by going to any lengths possible.

So, that it's for 2016, even though the show's still on air for nearly three weeks in Australia and we've got 45 episodes of the season left.Oh well, I've been lobbying for years for a long break at Christmas instead of being taken off for a month mid-year, suppose I can't complain...

[Slade]

Very sorry to see Caroline go.  I really liked her and I'm glad Alf accompanied her and Bryce back to the US.

 

The Morgan's are seriously getting on my nerves.  It feels to me like they are a pack of vultures.  They seem to be quite similar with Raffy how they were with Decker.  I'm firmly on Hope's side regarding this.  She's had Raffy for thirteen years.  For all intents and purposes she's her sister as far as I'm concerned.  And I fully supported her decision to skip town with her and when that failed manipulate Raffy and turn her against the Morgan's.

 

Once again Phoebe makes it all about her i.e. Justin has some serious stuff to sort out regarding Raffy and she's upset that he didn't tell her.  So I wasn't happy when he told her afterwards.  She's starting to come across as a tease making out that she wants him and then deliberately withdrawing when he begins to reciprocate her advances.  I don't see any valid reason why if she likes Justin she can't be with him.  What difference does it make if Decker's there or not now?

 

Another almost jaw dropping moment with Hunter.  He was about to cheat on an exam and Leah almost excuses what he did to Zac when they found out.  In saying that I wasn't happy about Olivia blurting it out at the Diner like that.

 

Marilyn is really getting on my nerves eavesdropping and sticking her oar in regarding Matt and Evelyn and then Nate and Tori.  Oh and Phoebe the person giving dating advice goes to Marilyn to seek advice re Justin.

 

Thought it was really funny when Evelyn was trying to set Matt up with one of her friends and her friend ended up getting with Mason.  It was hilarious how her friend kept laughing at everything Mason said which is odd because I don't find him remotely funny.

 

Are they seriously going to go there with the Tori/Duncan/Nate love triangle again?  Nate had already accepted Tori didn't want to get involved in anything and moved on.  Tori and Duncan had cooled things so she was a single woman and all that time Nate shows no interest.  Now she and Duncan are back together and he wants her.

 

Nate is actually becoming one of my favourite characters at the moment.  I like the way he's helped/supported characters such as Kat, Caroline, Hope and the way he looked out for Leah and VJ regarding Billie.  And he's even put aside the fact that Billie tried to ruin his life and is doing the same thing to VJ for the sake of her baby.

 

Shaking my head at the Billie/VJ stuff.  Although quite understandable from his perspective he asks Billie to marry him, she is reluctant initially because she knows she's living a lie and then she accepts.  When VJ fount the note and quite correctly  questioned why she was leaving him she storms off and wants to end things.  Do these seem like two people who should be getting married?  I was cheering when VJ went against Billie's wishes and announced their engagement.  Couldn't believe the line Ash mentioned about VJ making an honest person out of her.  The words honest and Billie do not go in the same sentence.  As I mentioned before she is a compulsive liar.  Really hope they steal that storyline from Sunset Beach - give the baby and rare condition which only the real father can cure and that will really set the cat amongst the pigeons.

 

Haven't really commented on Zac going off to meet that woman but I never thought he was cheating on Leah for the simple reason that when they usually do affairs in soaps they will gradually build it up with the characters involved and not just do it offscreen with someone we haven't seen before.

 

Absolute masterstroke Simmo photographing Kat and Ash together.  Ash's face when he saw the photos and when Simmo blackmailed him was classic (I can't think of any other actor in the show that does the worried expression as well as Ash does).  I don't dislike Ash or Kat but in terms of entertainment I love the good old blackmail so this is quite wonderful.  Can't wait to see Kat's reaction when she finds out.  In saying that she really only has herself to blame.  The times where she's gone to meet him for a quick one she's come across as quite irresponsible.  Although I do find it hard to believe given how many years she put into her career and how badly she wanted back in the force she can't even wait three months where presumably she can do what she likes with him then.

[christine king]

18 hours ago, Red Ranger 1 said:

Incidentally, I keep forgetting to mention that dates and ages given would make Brody 22.I had him pegged as slightly older:Mason doesn't seem much younger than that.

No Brody is 24 as he was 17 when they went into witness protection and Mason is 20 years old as he was 13 when they went into witness protection.

[Red Ranger 1]

4 hours ago, christine king said:

No Brody is 24 as he was 17 when they went into witness protection and Mason is 20 years old as he was 13 when they went into witness protection.

I thought they said that, but then they said that he was 9 when Raffy, who's 13, was born, so I thought I was misremembering it.

[j.laur5]

Brody looks older then 24!.

[c120701]

32 minutes ago, j.laur5 said:

Brody looks older then 24!.

Probably because Jackson Heywood is 28.

[samdanfan]

1 hour ago, c120701 said:

Probably because Jackson Heywood is 28.

Same old story in the business I once met one of my American heroes at a convention and she was 25 playing a role where she was to be 18! She wasn't going to get the role until the star of the show stepped in and gave the producers a talk about how great she would be.

 

[atrus]

So, there we are for 2016. I must admit that after seeing the lengths C5 and Fremantle have gone to to sync Australian and UK pace for Neighbours, and to have 'UK finales' in previous years, it's quite surprising to see that H&A still isn't even attempting some kind of mini-finale timed to the date of the UK break. I'm not saying they should feel obliged to - it's an Australian show - but you'd think it would make sense to try and hook as many viewers as possible in both countries. Perhaps the dates aren't known that far in advance?

I don't have a great deal to say about the last two episodes of the year. There's been a notable shift in Billie's character, as she moves from previous positions of guilt and denial over what she's doing to VJ, to a quite pronounced resentment of him. It seems like a very natural reaction really, but rather sad to watch things fall apart. Agreeing to the marriage feels like a real last-ditch attempt by her to salvage the situation, but to my mind it can only make things worse at this stage. I would have expected a little more opposition from Leah to the idea of VJ getting married so young, but I suppose he already has a pregnant girlfriend so I guess she'd rather they had some stability. It's becoming more and more obvious from the Zac story that he isn't having an affair, or else we wouldn't only be seeing the snippets of it that we are. H&Alover, I hadn't realised that Zac had been writing a book in the past (or if I had, I'd forgotten about it) but yes, that makes a lot of sense and chimed with my own instincts about the way their conversation was going.

The rest was pretty dull, to be honest. The Nate/Tori/Duncan triangle doesn't interest me; I think Duncan would be better off with Caroline and that Tori's probably too good for Nate, so that's any engagement in that one out of the window. I find myself not caring in the least whether Kat and Ash are found out by her superiors - she made the decision to leave the force because she couldn't live with the lies she'd been telling, which I felt was a relatively noble decision, but now she's just picked up exactly where she left off with another catalogue of untruths. The soap rule of karma suggests that it will all come crashing down for her at some stage, and in terms of viewer engagement I'd rather it happened sooner than later.

 

[samdanfan]

Dull explains Aussie TV for me as well