Latest UK Episode Discussion (2006-2017 Seasons)

[H&Alover]

A switch that Alf is more sympathetic to mystery man than Roo given he was the one attacked.  Probably sensed in some way he wasn't a real danger.  Both Kat and Tori dealt with him very well, better than having half a dozen cop cars roaring up spooking him even more. He was certainly very calm and handed over Alf's knife with no problem.  Kat not being in uniform helped too and no awkwardness between Tori and Kat just two professionals doing their jobs. It seems I did get that wrong about MM 'remembering' Kat from before. If he isn't local which Alf, who knows everyone, seems to think maybe not a surprise he isn't on a Missing Persons list, Australia is a big country and he could have come from anywhere. Good news, so far, he's not on the police database but they have only looked locally so maybe the national database is next. Wouldn't there be a way of tracing him through his distinctive tats?

Ah that near kiss between Scarlett and Justin which after even more misunderstanding he explained - he isn't as over Phoebe as he thought - in fact he is still in love with her.  First proper mention of Phoebe since she left!  At least Scarlett knows where she stands now and hopefully they can still be friends though given time there could be something there, refreshing that a character hasn't leapt into a new relationship after the end of a serious one.  She is a good friend to all the Morgan's and Kat, she just comes across as someone people can confide in and talk to and she can talk to them. She certainly managed to persuade Brody to change his mind about his feeling he would be letting his mum down and deciding to sell Salt, it's his living family and himself he's got to think about. I'm sure she meant well but Ziggy did give Brody the wrong advice, but not fully knowing the Morgan's history maybe she thought suggesting he swop one addiction, drugs for another, cooking was the way to go.  Ziggy and Brody have agreed to be friends for now, he'll need them, and like most rehab places he can't contact or be contacted for the first two weeks. 

Surprise that Zannis doesn't have an alibi for the time the accident happened, wouldn't you know no  traffic cameras on that stretch of the road, even then you couldn't tell who was in the car. In fact it's only us the viewers who know for sure it was him because when Zannis looked through the passenger window both he and Masson were unconscious. Tori has now to admit that maybe Brody was telling the truth and may be feeling guilty about the way she's treated him and not saying goodbye.  In her defence her being a doctor she would be more aware of not only the damage the drugs can do to Brody but what Mason's injuries can mean long term.

Made sense Ash would ring Irene knowing she'd be downstairs in the Diner and chance Leah would be there too to tell them the news about Luc.  Poor Maz - "I'll stay here shall I?"!  How old is Luc now? I wondered after about VJ being kept out of the loop, though given he would have been at school they couldn't have contacted him, but Leah could have left a voice mail message!  Like any new 'parent' when your child crawls for the first time you would want to tell the world - especially given her recent health scare. In his defence Ash couldn't have known Kat would not only be at the hospital but standing right next to Tori when he rang her to tell her the news.  It put Tori in a very awkward position and she must have been squirming.  Her 'maybe he, Ash, rang and left you a message' was the only thing she could think of on the spur of the moment.  Tori was Luc's doctor when she was ill so maybe Ash felt she'd like to know the news. Had to laugh at Alf when he told Ash off for expecting Luc to crawl every time someone come along - "She's not a performing animal"!  It's the Diner it's a given people are going to overhear supposedly private conversations!  Given that Kat has been giving Ash mixed messages over Luc maybe not a surprise he didn't tell her straight away - he did say he was going to tell her face to face.

Alf gave Ash good advice about getting that earache sorted out, my stomach was in my mouth when he was walking down the stairs carrying Luc and looking dizzy then collapsing in agony.  Guess that is something surfers/swimmers can expect getting an inner ear infection.  An examination by the only doctor in town - Tori - was normal, then it moved onto Brody, her getting upset and him suggesting a cheer up meal back at his.  All that stress over Brody and Mason, being ND Hospitals sole doctor finally caught up with her and she fell asleep on the sofa. Was pretty much a given Kat would catch, no that implies wrongdoing, sees Tori leaving Ash's the next morning and he's wearing just a towel!  We and they know that once again (Coco PJ's, VJ top off)  it wasn't what it looked like. Maybe after she's clouted him round his bad ear he'll be able to explain.

Another strained ladies lunch with Maz, Irene, Leah and Maggie.  Maggie did tell them they were Ben's plans, she hadn't even seen them, and it had been agreed nothing would be done without consulting the people affected. Thanks to Maz's resolve they did sit down and eat and talk.  Maybe it would have been a bit complicated bringing Alisa and Bobby into the Diner story, enough history with Leah and Irene. Though of course Ailsa was Alf's wife, even if the Diner of today wasn't the Diner of back then, I apologise there. I would imagine hearing Leah's story for the first time would leave you wondering how she is till functioning that's without her mentioning she thought she was a widow for x amount of years as your husband was in WP before actually becoming one. Maggie hasn't heard Irene's life history yet. Ben obviously is just looking at the pier and it's surrounding while wearing his business head and not thinking about the people, the community, hopefully Maggie can persuade him otherwise and find a compromise. No-one will be completely happy with whatever is decided but that is the way it is with change,

 

[Angelica]

19 hours ago, Red Ranger 1 said:

Olivia was sort of friends with Billie, and of course there was Tabitha but that didn't go so well.But actually, yeah, I think Olivia is more of a guys' girl than a girls' girl: She pretty much viewed both Skye and Billie as people who were taking the boys' attention away from her until she finally got told to pull her head in.

On which subject, now that Tori is suddenly Kat's love rival, she needs a new confidante so is magically best friends with Scarlett.

Oh Tabitha. I miss her and her crazy ways. 

You have highlighted a problem that I have with the show at the moment, I feel a lot of the newer characters suffer from not really have any real friendships and therefore, only interact with romantic interests. Olivia may be friends with VJ but do we ever see her interact with anyone other than Hunter? And aren't those interactions always about Hunter's issues? At least with crazy Tabitha, Olivia had more going on (even if it wasn't positive). The same goes with Tori and Kat who probably suffer from Phoebe having left and are now pretty isolated friends wise especially now that they cannot be friends with each other. Even Ash doesn't really have many true friends - when he referred to Tori as his "best friend's sister"- I was at a loss to whom he was referring to. Didn't think Justin and Ash were that good friends (plus surely Brax would still be Ash's bf even if they no longer live in the same place). I prefer Scarlett to any of the aforementioned characters, and I think the decision to have her friends with Alf is a good move for both characters.

Seeing as this Tori and Ash thing seem inevitable, I wish they would just get it over and done with (even if I am not keen on the development). Maybe if Tori had friends who weren't her brothers, she might have someone other than Ash to give her support during this time. Tori may have good insticts as a doctor, but her instincts suck in relationships. Instead we have Ash playing hero/protector to Tori, which, after all, was how his romance with Kat started too. Given that Kat has made it pretty clear how she feels, I don't think Tori and Ash can plead ignorance anymore. If they cared about Kat, then they should have had some space for the while. Poor Kat - looks like she is going to have the Nate thing happen all over again (although I guess in fairness, she got with Ash not that long after he had broken up with Phoebe)

Maggie and Ben annoy me. They chose to move to the Bay before they knew about the Pier - so were interested in the small town lifestyle and the community. So I don't know why they seem so surprised that they may need to consider the community when making any renovation plans, if they want to be part of said community. Afterall, they could have opted to buy the Pier and stay in the city, but they didn't. But then they make decisions without any regards for their family, so I shouldn't be surprised.

[harrietjames]

37 minutes ago, Angelica said:

 characters suffer from not really have any real friendships and therefore, only interact with romantic interests.

And you have highlighted one of the shows problems - not enough friends...

[Red Ranger 1]

Even though it was mentioned when BTTB announced the new family at the start of the year, it's only clicked this week that Ben is Stafford McRae from 2004.Then I whimper a bit as I realise how long ago that was.Anyway, I kind of liked Ben and Maggie's "hug time" idea, even if it has caused Maggie to back pedal a bit on her ideas about the renovations.So, we'll see how this new compromise of cutting back the ideas a bit and consulting with the tenants/locals goes, and whether there's actually some give and take or whether the Astonis listen and then do what they want anyway.Meanwhile, John and Marilyn decide to send Raffy back to school on the spurious grounds that she isn't going to visit Mason today, which mainly felt like a plot device to have her interact with Coco...or rather virtually ignore her in a way that didn't quite ring true. (Is she really still annoyed about Coco snapping at her last week?There is more important things.)

Well, I note there was absolutely no explanation for why Ash didn't have any clothes on when he was shooing Tori out.I notice too that VJ still didn't get an invite to come and see Luc crawl despite being in the episode.(Let's hope it happened off screen, hey?)To be honest, aside from the question of whether anyone over the age of about fourteen actually says "best friend", I've no objections with Ash calling Justin that: Justin's the one that was there for him when Billie died.But yeah, despite his assurances, he still doesn't seem fully committed to Kat and it looks like she's lumbered with another feckless male who says one thing and does another.

[H&Alover]

I spotted that about VJ sitting in the Diner and no mention of him having seen/heard about Luc crawling Leah was right there so like you said Red it may have happened off screen. He was more concerned about Hunter flunking his HSE's, lucky Roo was right there to offer mentoring.

The only explanation I can think of Ash being in a towel was he'd just got out of the shower  and we did get to see his rather fit bod though. I don't think Ash means to hurt Kat deliberately, it's just the way he is, he likes helping people be it male or female.   Maybe a woman thing that Kat would remember that Ash feeding her spag bol and letting her kip on the sofa was how they spent their first date. Wise words, this time from Marilyn prompting him to see it from Kat's point of view.  Just as well it was John and Marilyn got the rough end of Kat's tongue rather then another innocent driver, it wasn't professional, any other time she would have just told him to get his back light fixed. Kat did get one over on Tori in one respect that she got to see Luc crawl whereas Tori only heard about it, but then Ash went and boobed by not only replying to Tori's text but added a x!!!   

It may have not seen it to Raffy but it was nothing personal to her about not being allowed to see Mason, no-one was being allowed to see him, although I suppose she and the others could look through the window to his room. Things still frosty between Raffy and Coco when trying to build bridges she enquired after Mason, I'm putting Raffy's indifferent response down to her worry over Mason. Coco is still living two lives, the one she wishes she had on the profile and the real one where she is pretty friendless. Mum and dad of course have no idea, but that is nothing  new in soap land or in real life, she's got good at hiding things.

Any new character, if they don't already know people in the bay, will take time to connect with the residents and make friends, some do it quicker than others.  Scarlett seems to have that knack of making friends, Alf, Roo, Tori, Kat, Justin, Mason, Brody.  Ash's initial meeting with Justin wasn't the friendliest, squared up to each other, but it warmed up and in the absence of Brax it's the next best thing and of course Matt has gone too. It would seem best mate would be a more grown up term for two blokes but hey ho.

Do parents really think their kids are stupid, Coco walks in on Ben and Maggie having a row and she, Maggie, denies they were rowing.  Be honest, she's 16 not six, just let her and Ziggy know what's it about and nothing major. Despite Maggie's U-turn over persuading Ben to drop all his dreams I hope they both consult Alf, Leah and Irene on any future changes, if done right it'll benefit them all.

Seems like Roo could have another position at the school after Maggie spotted her mentoring Hunter and he thanked VJ for suggesting it too.  Then Wally shows his face again revealing he is Hunter's dad, we didn't see anything in writing but I can't think why he would say he was if he wasn't, there is no monetary gain to be had.  He neatly dodged Hunter's question about his wife felt about it, but as we saw she doesn't appear to know where he is, he used  that good old get out - a conference. That's the down side with mobiles you can ring or take calls and the person  at the other end hasn't a clue where you are.  As I remarked before now that he knows he can father a child so that the fault has been with his wife all these years, even though he took the 'blame',  it's going to rankle.

[Slade]

Ash is seriously starting to annoy me.  I just think he's being completely out of order.  I found it hard to believe how oblivious he is as to why Kat would take such exception to the way he's acting around Tori.  I mean come on.  Kat even pointed this out to him herself more than once.  So I was surprised he had to ask Marilyn about it.  And only got it after she explained the situation from Kat's perspective to him.  I did try and give him the benefit of the doubt when he apologised to Kat and showed Luc crawling but then I saw the reply text he sent to Tori.  I think some females will default to appending an 'x' or more at the end of their messages so I'm not sure if that was meant to be romantic or not from her perspective but you can bet Ash's definitely was as guys generally don't do that unless there's a reason.  Have to say Alf is really getting on my nerves as well.  Can't he mind his own business.

"We made these decisions together"  - Thought Maggie decided then Ben went along with it.  I can't decide out of the two which one I dislike the most.  Just everything about Maggie annoys me although she has been slightly better over the last couple of episodes.  A point was made earlier in the thread with regards to Ben's behaviour towards VJ and it possibly being something that could occur on a fairly regular basis.  Even watching him with Leah and Maggie I am starting to wonder if that's the case.

 

19 hours ago, Red Ranger 1 said:

I kind of liked Ben and Maggie's "hug time" idea

Do you wish you were in Ben's position?

Unfortunately as much as I like Coco, I can't really blame Raffy for the cold shoulder.  She wasn't very nice to her last week when (although there was a certain level of deceit) Raffy was just trying to help with VJ.  I would probably be the same

Quite liked the stuff with Hunter and Roo.  Shame Maggie had to come along and ruin it.  I also liked the interaction with Hunter and VJ.  I always like it when these two joke around.

[Red Ranger 1]

Alf's episode count this week:Four. Mason was in two (three if you count the obvious body double on Friday) but was comatose throughout (and, indeed, only appeared in one brief dialogue-free scene on Tuesday).

So...can't say I'm honestly that interested in Hunter's long lost father and their stilted attempts to get to know each other, or whether or not Wally has told his wife... I'm not sure where the show's going with this. If Wally's going to be a permanent part of Hunter's life or someone who dips in from time to time, then I guess there's a point to that, at least if you happen to care about Hunter, but otherwise... The show obviously wanted to keep Hunter around with Zac gone (I'm not sure why but okay, go with it) but I'm not sure they absolutely had to reveal they weren't father and son after all in order for it to happen.By the way, I'm wondering if we're meant to assume that Olivia's theory from last week is right and the mumps somehow left Wally with a low sperm count, meaning he could be the problem between him and his wife and he and Charlotte just got "lucky".

What else?It's a shame John and Marilyn have lost the baton over the fostering, not that I think that they should keep Raffy especially when their handling of her has been rather hit and miss.(Sending her back to school happened way too abruptly, hence her mistrust of them.)The last time John suggested having a baby the show kind of skirted around the fact Marilyn's meant to be infertile so hopefully it won't get ignored a la Leah's unexplained pregnancy.At least Raffy made up with Coco, who wasn't even cheered by the semi-recreation of her first conversation with VJ.(Is Jennifer meant to be Year 12, by the way?Hard to imagine VJ would care for her much.)

[Slade]

I liked the way Coco was with VJ on the a beach, shy but trying not to act like a 'kid'.  Hopefully VJ will come round given a bit of time.  I also liked the way Coco covered for Raffy (even thought it was dishonest), if only to try and square things.  So I was glad they made up.  I really liked Raffy standing up to Jennifer when she was bullying Coco and I liked their scenes afterwards.  I appreciate Coco is in a difficult position because if she's shy or reserved she's unlikely to stand up for herself and she can't go to Maggie because grassing on Jennifer would be like the cardinal sin.

Whilst it's disappointing John and Marilyn can't foster again, it's hard to argue with the decision although I don't think it's a good idea for them to be considering having kids especially at John's age.

Despite everything I like the way Leah is still protective over Hunter although seeing how Hunter was when Wally confirmed he was his dad does make me feel kinda bad for Zac.

[H&Alover]

I think it was pretty apparent Wally hasn't told Karen about Hunter, lying he was at a conference and putting Hunter off from visiting him.  So he and Hunter don't have much in common, not written in stone dad and son have to. Definitely an  awkward goodbye, hug, shake hands?  Could be a possibility that Wally has a low sperm and Karen also has a problem. It's nice that Leah still feels a responsibility towards Hunter, Wally doesn't know any of what Hunter has been through and what he has done to others.

Was pretty much a given John and Marilyn would be turned down, but John's out of the blue suggestion they try for a baby floored Marilyn, even if Maz wasn't infertile she must be in her 40's which would make it harder to fall pregnant. Actually I don't think they are doing too bad a job with Raffy, sending her back to school was well meant shame she still had the idea she was being excluded from seeing Mason and skipped school and the lesson with Maggie to go and see him. Once she got there and saw for herself she accepted  it. At least her and Coco are friends again. 

I think Ben would be like that with any lad being friends with Coco but add to the mix VJ has been married and 'had' a baby would be an added worry.   He was down on Jarred, though with just cause there and Ziggy is 19. Still no indication as to  if VJ has seen Luc crawl. Got a bit more info on Ben that he used to be a surfer and gave it up to become a builder to provide for Maggie and Ziggy.

[Red Ranger 1]

Wow, suddenly Kat's getting it from all sides, it really does feel like she's the show's new punchbag. Ash continued to be insensitive towards her while having special cuddles with Tori, and Tori really shouldn't have yelled at her for something that's not her fault at all, although in all fairness she did apologise later.Ash almost seemed to take Tori's side which underlines his priorities again.Not sure why the episode bothered with a failed attempt to bring Mason round only for him to spontaneously recover at the end of the episode anyway.(Also, what was this story about Mason wrecking Justin's date to have a family dinner? Is this meant to have happened while their parents were alive because it's hard to imagine it while they were in witness protection?In which case, wouldn't Mason have only been about ten?)Despite Kat toeing the official line, Ash using his contacts to track down Zannis wasn't too bad an idea and hopefully he'd have given the information to the police but Zannis randomly decides he's going to take revenge on some guy he's never met before and who he didn't even know was connected with the Morgans. Why?!

Alf suddenly seemed a lot less sympathetic towards Robbo (beats calling him Mystery Man, I guess, and they could hardly call him John Doe when there's a John on the show already) even if he did let him stay at the caravan park.

Marilyn was extremely childish towards John, refusing to talk to him, with Alf naturally taking Marilyn's side like he always does whether she's in the right or not.Even when she sat down and talked about it, she just patronised him instead of actually taking it seriously. "Do you think that's a good reason to have a child?"she asks in a smug knowing manner.What, wanting to be parents? Seems reasonable to me.I really hope this is leading up to the "reveal" that Marilyn is infertile and doesn't want to tell John rather than it simply being a case of Marilyn being an overgrown brat.