UK Episode Discussion

[Red Ranger 1]

Yeah, as I sort of said I can't really argue that Natasha was being malicious, because I suppose she was, but she was still the one I sympathised with most.It seemed like she said she was pregnant to sabotage Andrew and Summer's plans and then got stuck with the lie, part not wanting to end it and part not knowing how.I don't think she wanted Michael involved and I don't think she planned for it to go as far as it did.There was an episode where she and Andrew went to an antenatal class together and seemed to genuinely enjoy each other's company, then the workman turned up with the watch and she realised Andrew was with Summer when she went to help her during the fire which was what prompted her to escalate the revenge by getting Andrew to buy loads of stuff for the baby.I think it's possibly giving Summer too much credit to say she was the better person:Sure, she went and apologised to Tash but when Tash didn't accept it(and not in a nasty way, just by shrugging and walking off)she started behaving in a very petty manner, telling Chris not to help her when Lisa was having a go at her and not wanting him to be her friend.She only really extended the olive branch again when she realised she'd lose Chris' friendship otherwise.Okay, Tasha hasn't apologised to Andrew but I don't think he'd apologise to her either so I guess they're quits.It does seem like she's trying to look out for him and I do find it interesting that she's spotted he's worried about something and Summer apparently hasn't.With my shipping glasses on, I do still think they're a better match.

[Slade]

So they’ve amended the credits to now include Jade, Kyle and Chris and removed the actors that had left previously.

Jade is so annoying. I don’t particularly like Mark but Jade wanting to hook up Kate and Kyle was purely because Mark decided to move in with Toadie so Jade saw that as some indication from Brennan that he was taking sides when the truth is nothing of the sort. His place was infested with insects so Lucas did him a favour by convincing Toadie to let him move in. Jade just wants to mess things up for him as some sort of payback. Although not the worst person on the show as a person I struggle to see any redeeming qualities with Jade. Even when she’s doing something for someone there always appears to be some ulterior motive and most of the time she reeks of smugness, arrogance and self-admiration – although I have to say she looked hot in a bikini. I actually don’t blame her for the way she was acting towards Toadie though as I don’t like his attitude towards Sonia (As an aside I have to say that photo of her and Sonia when they were younger looked VERY real). I do sympathise with Sonia as I feel she is someone who has made a mistake and is desperately trying to change and I hope she and Callum can rebuild their relationship and I’m glad she decided not to leave as it would have meant Toadie effectively bullied her out of Erinsborough. Although it wasn’t Sophie’s place I didn’t have too much of a problem with her giving Sonia a serve. She’s young and is only looking out for Callum.

Summer has annoyed me intensely this week. Most of the time she seems like a miserable cow. It’s funny how I’ve done a U-turn with her and Tasha. Tasha seems to be making an effort whilst Summer is just moping around feeling sorry for herself and generally being unpleasant to Andrew for no good reason. Another thing but for me personally it seems as though the actress overemphasises most of her lines. I don’t know whether the character is supposed to be like that or if that’s the actresses style. Either way I’ve decided that I don’t want her and Andrew together now and rather just see them as friends provided Summer cheers up.

Now that Rebecca and Declan are out of the way I’m quite liking the stuff with Paul and Andrew. As always with Paul there is almost always some sort of hidden agenda behind anything he does as appears to be the case with the new deal he offered for Lassiter’s to provide the school lunches. And it would see that he’s determined to exact retribution on Michael.

[Red Ranger 1]

This whole thing with Toadie, Sonya and Callum is starting to feel a bit dragged out.I guess it makes sense that they don't all immediately get over it but it does seem to have reached the point where if people actually talked to each other they'd sort it out pretty quickly.I'm not too happy with Sophie's attitude towards Sonya but I suppose it's to be expected when supposedly adult characters like Toadie, Jade and Susan are just as bad.I'm not really sure about Jade.I do find her annoying a lot of the time but sometimes she's quite fun, even if there is usually an agenda to it.I certainly don't want her to leave but I'm not sure if that's for shallow heterosexual reasons or not...

I've been finding Summer pretty annoying lately too and, while I like her and Tasha's friendly interaction, I wasn't entirely happy with the way Andrew and Lisa were portrayed as the villains of the piece.Okay, Lisa was a bit of a cow, especially with the way she tried to get Tasha to leave the coffee shop, but it seemed like Summer and Tasha gave as good as they got.(Frankly, the way the whole thing played out, you don't need goggles on too much to think that Summer and Tasha are going to forget about Andrew and run off with each other...)

Glad that Mark and Kyle seem to have stopped being stupidly macho towards each other and become sort-of friends.Mark trying to sabotage Kyle's attempts to get an invite off Lyn was actually rather amusing.I'm still not sure why Mark's still on the show though:He moved onto the street then left straight away so I'm not really sure why they bothered.And it might be significant they didn't add him onto the credits with the others.

[Slade]

I was a bit surprised about Jade and Brennan’s one night stand. Not sure what to make of it TBH. Mark feels guilty whereas Jade sees it as a bit of fun not really thinking about how this would affect her friendship with Kate if it came out. I’m still not liking Jade but I did quite like the scenes with her and Kyle and their wingman competition. Interesting for someone who obviously doesn’t do relationships she’s taken a liking to Kyle. Presumably based on what other women have said she’s attracted to his looks and personality-wise his easy going, “uncomplicated” nature.

I never thought I’d see the day when I liked Lyn more than Susan but that’s how I feel at present. I’m sick and tired of Susan’s holier-than-thou attitude towards Sonia and at the moment I’m really, really disliking her. I really wish that something would happen that would take her down a peg. Even Karl who is on Toadie’s side was trying to be objective.

Initially when I found out Harold was returning I wasn’t too happy about it TBH (For the most part I feel if a character’s left they shouldn’t return unless there are exceptional circumstances and from what I recall he seems to have recovered from his terminal illness) but I’ve quite liked the way he’s tried to mediate the situation between Sonia and Toadie. Unlike Susan he’s been impartial and made an effort to do what’s best for everyone. Not sure if that’s going to make any difference now especially as Toadie found out Sonia promised Callum she wouldn’t relapse which as certain people quite rightly pointed out is impossible to guarantee. At first I thought Toadie overreacted but I wasn’t so sure after Lucas had a chat with her about it. So Callum’s dad enters the equation. That’s the first time I’ve seen Dieter Brummer in years (I think I’ve seen clips of Angel and Shane since they left Home and Away so it’s not as long as 15 years or something like that). First impressions are he seems OK. I have to admit I quite liked the scene where he was outside the Coffee shop, saw Harold call out to Callum, put two and two together, realised Callum was his son then the grim expression on Harold’s face when he realised Troy had figured it out.

I suspected when Charlie went missing it had something to do with Steph. I did feel a bit sorry for Lyn when Paul threatened her but she shouldn’t have blamed Sophie like that.

I haven’t minded the stuff with Summer and Andrew this week but I think they work a lot better as friends. Shame the same can’t be said about Summer and Tasha who have been at loggerheads regarding the non-uniform policy. At times I’m not sure what to make of that quartet. Chris seems to be the only person that everybody gets along with all the time and the other three veer between being OK one minute then arguing the next, to reverting back to the old ways i.e. Tash. The whole wanting to get Lisa back because Lisa gave her a serve makes you wonder if she has really changed. I have to say I really enjoyed Andrew telling Tash it was because of her vindictive nature why nobody liked her.

I’m quite enjoying the school politics and what appears to be an internal struggle between Michael, Paul, their egos and stubbornness. I think Libby going into league with Paul and forming a secret alliance is interesting. Although if they are trying to keep any partnership secret maybe they should be a little more discreet about it as Karl already suspected something was going on.

I have to say Friday’s episode was brilliant where Karl tried to set Libby up on a date with one of his colleagues to take her mind off work and in order to get Karl off her back Libby brought Lucas home for dinner took him into her room and gave Karl and Susan the impression that they were at it. The best part was the turned stomach expressions on both Susan and Karl whilst they were eating and Susan’s suggestion to turn the music up to dampen the noise.

[Red Ranger 1]

I've kind of been up and down about Jade this week.I started off being really annoyed with her and Toadie and their attitude towards Troy.They seemed perfectly prepared to lie to Callum, even though they both criticised Sonya for doing the same.Then, when Kate found out about Jade and Mark sleeping together and went off on one, I found myself sympathising with Jade and not really liking Kate:Whatever residual feelings there might be, Kate and Mark broke up long before Jade slept with him so invoking some sort of Friends' Code felt a bit childish.Then at the end of the week, Jade seemed to be sabotaging Kyle's efforts with Kate and I ended up annoyed with her again.

Not sure what to make of Troy, I wouldn't be surprised if he turns out to be a wrong 'un but until we get firm evidence I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt.The bit where he lost his temper with the guy in the pub felt like it was screaming "This guy is bad news!" but, whilst over the top, it's hardly conclusive.I'll be annoyed if this ends with Toadie and Jade proved right with their snap judgement and Sonya looking like an idiot for giving him a chance.

Presumably we're meant to be worried Summer might leave.Personally, I hope she does.She doesn't seem to do much except moon over Andrew and make self-righteous rants about people.She feels like another character who's been ruined because the writers think she's wonderful and don't bother showing the viewers any evidence that she is.I find Tasha, who's clearly flawed but probably a nice person deep down, a lot more watchable and it's a shame that every now and then you seem to get an episode that forgets to give her any redeeming qualities and makes her hard to like.

I liked Libby and Lucas' pretend relationship when it was Libby versus Karl and Susan.Once it changed to Libby and Susan versus Karl, we were back to the show's usual misandristic attitude with Karl as the butt of everyone's jokes so I was cheering when he turned the tables on them and came out on top, it makes a nice change.

[Slade]

Been about 3 weeks but I was actually glad Jade got some backlash even though I saw no problem with her sleeping with Brennan. And I was disappointed that she was let of so easily. The only other thing I didn’t really like about it was that it was Kate if I’m being honest. See I see her in the same group as Susan and Summer in that all three have a tendency to be incredibly sanctimonious although at times I do like Summer.

I have to admit I couldn’t stop laughing when Lyn was driving off with Summer, Andrew was chasing after them down the road, Summer got Lyn to stop the car got out then Andrew and Summer embraced. And there was her “I’m not leaving him” line to Lyn. The whole thing just seemed so clichéd. They could have at least done something a little different. At first I wanted them together then I didn’t but now they are I’ll wait and see what happens but I have to say I really didn’t like the way they were wrapped up in their whole world and were kind of ignoring people such as Chris and Tash in particular. It’s also worth noting that Andrew seemed to go out of his to buy stuff for Summer to help her with her studies because he wanted to do something nice for his girlfriend and she reacted as if to say there was some sort of ulterior motive when it was clear there was nothing of the sort. So I do wonder about her sometimes.

As Summer wasn’t leaving with Lyn I suppose it's only natural that she stay with Susan and Karl but Susan really should have cleared it with him first before telling Summer and Lyn it was OK for Summer to move in. Susan’s a character that I really dislike mainly because of her holier-than-thou attitude but she hasn’t been too bad this week mainly because of the stuff with Summer although I don’t like the way she’s been neglecting Karl.

It’s funny I’ve actually sympathised with Tash quite a bit this week. The whole reason why she’s hooked up with that Ivan guy (the same bloke that did work for John Palmer in H & A and got his head kicked in by that fascist mob) was because as I mentioned above Andrew and Summer were so wrapped up in themselves they had sidelined her. She also tried to do Chris a favour, admittedly given the situation it was probably the wrong move but her heart was in the right place and her turned on her so she was feeling extremely lonely and hardly surprising that she got together with him. Personally I couldn’t care less about the age gap but Michael’s actions are completely understandable. Now that Summer, Andrew and Chris have realised what’s going on at least they’ve finally made an effort but it’s too late as Tash is already infatuated with Ivan. So she’s not going to want to stop seeing him anytime soon.

Brennan is a character to me who doesn’t seem very likeable. A lot of the time he seems to have a massive chip on his shoulder and I haven’t particularly liked his attitude towards Kyle although I did like the way he tried to help him out with this week at the car yard. I do respect the way he reported that cop who was trying to extort money from Kyle too – even though he didn’t like Kyle at the time. He seems pretty much like a person who will do everything by the book except that time with Kate but I do feel sorry for him now that he has been effectively ostracised by his colleagues. Anyway I am quite liking the dynamic with Mark, Kyle and Jade now that they’ve moved in together.

At times I really dislike Jade and this week is one of the reasons why. OK so Troy clearly has a screw loose which she knew but she deliberately wound him up so he would go off the deep end. So I feel she was indirectly responsible for Troy punching Toadie and putting Callum at risk. TBH I’m not sure what the point of Troy’s character was. Surely it would have been better to have made him more moderate to make the Sonya, Toadie, Callum thing more interesting but it seems now like his purpose was to facilitate a Sonya/Toadie reunion.

Extremely displeased that they brought Lou back and judging by the opening credits I’m assuming he’s around to stay at least for the time being. I cannot stand the guy. He’s probably the only person I dislike more than Susan and this week with Kyle and the car yard was a prime example.

[Red Ranger 1]

As someone who didn't want Andrew and Summer together, I was kind of imploding when Andrew ran after the ridiculously slow moving car and started making out with her and then when Summer threw a tantrum and announced a boy she'd literally been dating five minutes was more important than being with her family and got her own way.Having said all that, the show has avoided the trap I thought they'd end up in, of focusing too much on their relationship and letting other characters suffer.So while I still inwardly roll my eyes when they start kissing, I'm actually enjoying the current Tasha centric storyline.I didn't realise that was the guy that played Hazem in HA.He's obviously a bit of a sleaze but I think everyone would have been better off letting the relationship run its course than trying to stop Tash seeing him.She doesn't seem entirely comfortable with the whole situation anyway.

I was disappointed with the way the Troy storyline played out.We were presumably meant to see him as the bad guy but everything he did up until he tried to get Sonya to fall off the waggon was the result of extreme provocation:Harold trying to drive him out of town when he hadn't done anything wrong, Jade taunting and goading him in a very unpleasant manner, Toadie arbitrarily deciding he can't see Callum anymore.So it was a shame they went down the route of Callum deciding he wants nothing more to do with him because of one incident that wasn't really that bad and everyone being happy about it.

Susan's been as annoying as usual lately, what with inviting Summer to stay without telling Karl and against Lyn's wishes, then going off to hassle Billy because Summer won't let her play parent.It does seem though as though her insistence on running everyone's life and lack of respect for Karl, which in the past have been treated as virtues or played for laughs, are now being recognised as flaws.

I think the fact Lou's never been taken off the credits is a good sign he's not gone for good, he's been part-time for a while now.I do rather like him, he might have been a bit off with Kyle but we found out why in the end.I actually found myself disliking Carolyn, who seemed to be another character who went around interfering with other people's business and who took an instant dislike for Lou even though he was being perfectly friendly towards her, if a bit coarse.Not sure why we should have been happy about Harold marrying her, although she did get better near the end.Lou having a health crisis while Harold was there was a bit contrived but it was nice to see the focus back on their friendship and Carolyn taking a back seat.Harold's had so many "final" exits it's hardly a surprise they didn't make a fuss about this one, but not having a farewell between him and Lou felt like a big omission.

I've never been particularly interested in Mark and he's always seemed rather pointless, especially since he and Kate broke up.This current storyline is a case in point:We get one episode of him getting a hard time at work then no follow up for weeks, which made me think the storyline was over. Then we just get a few vague references to police corruption without any real idea what's going on.Maybe we'll get the answers later but it seems like the writers just can't be bothered.

[Slade]

I’m not really a continuity buff and don’t particularly pay attention to the closing credits so wouldn’t have noticed Lou’s name to be honest.

If I’m being truthful I’m struggling to like the show at the moment. Apart from the thing with Tash I don’t think there are too many decent storylines and whilst I like some of the characters I don’t think they are that great. If it hadn’t been for Paul or Jade (who is good eye candy) I probably would have stopped watching by now.

Really not liking Kate at the moment. I thought her and Brennan were completely selfish. Brennan expecting Kate to leave her friends and family just like that and Kate expecting a girl of Sophie’s age to be fine to just up and leave without so much as a goodbye. And she had the gall to blame Sophie afterwards when she took too long to decide whether she wanted to go.

I had mixed feelings about Brennan leaving. Whilst I’m not that bothered I did quite like the whole dynamic with Kyle and Jade and wouldn’t have minded seeing how his character developed. And I actually really liked the way Kyle wished him luck and gave him a brotherly hug. The flip side to that is that he was very much a loner and it did seem as though the writers struggled to integrate him into the show at times. There was the relationship with Kate but for me it kind of felt forced. When he interacted with other characters such as Lucas and Toadie it didn’t feel natural either. Ironically, Kyle the person who he was at loggerheads with the most was one relationship that did feel natural. I think Brennan was a good person overall and perhaps that was what ultimately led to his departure.

The whole business with Michael finding out about the photos and discovering that Tash lied about how Ivan got hold of them was reminiscent of the fake pregnancy. And when he walked off and just left the house with her standing there it seemed like a carbon copy of the scene several months ago. However although Tasha has made bad choices again I don’t feel anywhere near as frustrated this time round. Granted Michael told her to stay away from Ivan but things aren’t going too well for Tasha, she’s quite an unpopular person at school, has very few friends and the ones she does have were neglecting her so she felt lonely. Given her age it’s perfectly understandable she could fall for the first decent looking guy who paid her attention. It was a really bad move sending Ivan pictures of herself but I put that more down to naivety than anything else and she obviously didn’t want him to show them to his mates. I don’t have kids and so can’t say what I would do in that situation but if Ivan had decided to press charges against Michael for hitting him then Michael’s whole career could have been in jeopardy so he’s lucky. Interestingly Paul not only agreed with what he did but decided to call off the meeting with the school board so perhaps there is a line he won’t cross. I’d like to think that Tash is going to learn from this but she’ll probably keep her head down for a bit then slip up again in a few months.

Felt sorry for Karl. Susan invites Summer to stay without asking him first then ups and leaves her with him. I was starting to think he deserves better than her but to be fair as much as I dislike her, she did listen to him, take onboard what he said and had a complete change of attitude so fair play.

I’m quite enjoying the scenes with Summer and Paul with respect to her internship and it will be interesting to see how that pans out.

[Red Ranger 1]

I'm pretty non-plussed by the whole Mark storyline.It's ironic, given that a few years back every main character death in Home and Away was greeted by insistence that it was all a set-up and they were in witness protection, that we've got a storyline in Neighbours where that could well be the case. If they were going to kill him, why not actually show it rather than just casually mention it in passing?It's hard to shake the feeling that they're hedging their bets and leaving it ambiguous in case they want to bring him back and the actor's broke enough to agree.The uncertainity and the fact Mark was pretty dull and pointless anyway make it hard to care.I never really believed his relationship with Kate was anything special so I'm finding her behaviour towards Sophie thoroughly unlikeable and hope that, now she's burnt Mark things, she's finally going to get over it.It was pretty selfish of her to expect Sophie to leave everything she knows with only the clothes she was standing up in and probably never see any of her friends or their brother again anyway.

I meant that Lou's always been on the opening titles(his appearances in the end credits are rather hit and miss).Whilst I basically like him, there does seem to be a bullying edge to his character.I wasn't keen on the way he hung around the gym just to make fun of Karl, with the effect of actually making Jade, who fulfilled that function in the previous episode, seem reasonable in comparison.I really didn't like the way he used Kyle's shower to teach him a lesson and scared off his housemate, without showing any remorse, and then started using him to do odd jobs, so I was glad Kyle turned the tables on him.

Susan's a bit hard to put my finger on at the moment.There are times when she seems very inconsiderate towards Karl(practically ignoring him when she came home, not taking his calls when she was with Jim and standing him up)but just as I think she's crossed the line she seems to realise and make an effort with him.

Nice to finally meet Chris' father.(Well, he had a one scene cameo last year with no lines, played by an actor about five stone lighter and with a different skin colour.And he had a different first name then.But...)Colour me stupid if you like but given he looks and sounds Australian I hadn't realised Chris was meant to be Greek, so that threw me a bit.

I like Tasha but...I'm not going to say she hasn't had any character development because she has, she's softer since she came in, she thinks about others more, she admits to thinking about others more.But if she keeps on making the same mistakes, it's going to get wearing, so I hope she learns something from this incident.Not sure what to make of Andrew and Summer at the moment, like I said in my last post they've been thankfully free of relationship dramas so far but we've had two episodes recently of Andrew being annoyed that Summer wants to do something he doesn't really understand instead of make out with him, while Chris gives him the "That's what Summer's like, we all love her for it" speech, so I'm not sure if that's going anywhere...

[Slade]

I think it's reached the point where I actually quite like Jade now. I've really liked her scenes with Sonia and their relationship. I especially liked the way Sonia teased her about liking Kyle and whenever she's gone to Sonia to seek advice about what to do with regards to her feelings towards him. As someone who comes across as extremely confident I'm surprised Jade is unable to tell Kyle that she likes him. Although if they didn't live together it might have been different. I can see why she came onto him as a strictly no strings attached thing (and I actually don't blame Kyle in fact I quite envy him in a way) but going along with this on a regular basis is only going to end up with her getting hurt. I suspect if she simply goes along with this for the time being, the like will turn to love with Kyle remaining completely oblivious. She really should tell him so at least he can decide how he feels.

I thought Michelle was OK at first. I didn't even mind when she had a go at Kate about her sleeping with Dr Rhys and thought her moving in with Kyle and Jade made for a nice dynamic but now she's gotten all clingy and obsessed with Lucas since she started dating him I can't really see her being around for that much longer which is a shame. In saying that I did feel sorry for her when Lucas tried to finish with her at the garage and she started crying and cuddling him.

I was actually glad Sonia wasn't pregnant especially after Toadie switched jobs to get a loan out to buy the garden centre where she worked. Not sure if it is a viable business however. I think things are going pretty well for them. They both seem happy, and Callum called Sonia 'mum' when he was ill. The main thing of concern is how this new job of Toadie's which involves working long hours and weekends will affect his personal life.

I thought Paul pulled a masterstroke at Andrew's 18th, making him think he was going to buy him an Audi sports car then bought him an old banger. Andrew really didn't have ANY reason to complain. He did something illegal behind his father's back, used his house then lied about it. Andrew was lucky that Paul even threw him a party and bought a car in the first place and Tasha quite rightly pointed that out.

I really don't know what to make of the situation with Tasha and Michael. I do feel as though Michael has exhausted every possible avenue and he had no choice other than to send her to boarding school. Every time Tasha does something wrong and is called out on it she'll be OK for a little while then slip up again so I don't know what else he could have done. In saying that I did feel sorry for Tasha as she seemed lonely again and obviously wanted her dad to pay her more attention. After hitting her head and almost drowning it will be interesting to see if Michael does make her going to boarding school now.

Kate is so annoying. Firstly one thing that really gets me is the way people think the sun shines out of her backside - Brennan, Kyle, Dr Rhys. So as I mentioned above I was glad Michelle gave her a serve even though she didn't deserve it. Then there was her attitude at first towards Sophie and her guitar, storming into Paul's house and blaming him for buying her the guitar even though it was Lucas and then not wanting her to practice with it although admittedly she had a change of heart. I think the problem is a lot of the time she comes across as self-righteous and I don't find her very likeable.

Mal's back. I can't remember how many years it's been since I last saw him. Anyway I really, really dislike Susan at present. I'm almost starting to hate her. She's been treating Karl like cr*p. Getting annoyed with him anytime he DARE suggest that they spend anytime together. And if he objects to her spending time with Jim she acts like he's being unreasonable. Don't get me wrong because I feel really sorry for Jim but you have to ask why considering how her marriage is on the rocks she wants to spend every waking moment with a man that she's only known for a few weeks. Almost if she doesn't want to be around Karl or is using Jim for some sort of emotional substitute. It's frustrating because Karl is in an impossible position and deserves better. He can't say anything because he looks like the bad guy for denying a dying man the only support he has. I really wish Mal would take a hardline approach and tell Susan what affect this is having on Karl and their marriage. The way I'm feeling right now when this is over hopefully Karl will cut his loses and simply divorce Susan. One thing I did like however was when Jim was in his bed and Karl said to him "It's been a pleasure knowing you!".

Oh and Drew from H & A turns up as one of the doctors.