UK Episode Discussion

[Red Ranger 1]

I continue to find very little to like about Brad and Lauren.Lauren continues to act like a wholesome mother figure while breaking up a marriage, and Susan and her coven seem to think that's okay because Lauren looks like them and "She didn't mean to hurt anyone", very hypocritical given Susan's attitude towards Karl's other women.Brad briefly considers sparing his family the humiliation of moving in with his mistress across the road from them, then because Terese is rude to him he does it anyway, while three of his children are stood there practically begging him not to.Paige's smug attitude and self-absorbed "Why isn't anyone else happy about it?" behaviour are also hard to like.Her accusing Terese of vandalising the store, when she did it herself once without any real reason, was also massively out of line and, unlike Lauren, she doesn't even apologise.Once again, I find myself wishing Amber wasn't so nice, giving Brad and Lauren her blessing to make Lauren and Paige happy when she's obviously not comfortable.At least Terese is being written more sympathetically and Josh has stopped blaming her for everything.Piper has yet to grab my attention, she just seems like a carbon copy of Imogen, ironically when the show keeps trying to insist they're nothing alike.

I wasn't sorry to see Paul and Naomi break up.While his motivation was flimsy, I'd actually have liked Paul to send Josh down since Josh was actually guilty, a fact that seems to have failed to penetrate his thick skull.It's the sort of thing Paul does to guest characters all the time (in fact, it's near identical to something he did to Jayden once and everyone stood there nodding approvingly) but because Josh is a regular he gets painted as the victim.Sorry to see Naomi go but I was glad she got a positive exit.

And who replaces her?Steph flipping Scully.For goodness sake, why?The character is ruined beyond repair and wasn't even that good in the first place, it makes no sense for her to be back.The whole point of her last stint was that the rest of the world had moved on and Steph couldn't rock up and expect to get her old life back, she needed a fresh start.And yet once again the criminal returns to the scene of her crimes, with throwaway excuses about "strong support network".(Like, where?)She should be with her family, not hanging around Erinsborough for no reason except a cheap nostalgia kick.I actually like that a lot of characters seem to mistrust her and aren't willing to welcome her back as if nothing's happened.

Tyler, frustratingly, seems to have turned into another Josh/Imogen/Lauren type, hanging around the person he likes and undermining their relationship so he can have a shot himself.Not all that bothered about this school closure thing.Part of me thinks they'd never do that, another part thinks that Erinsborough High barely features these days anyway so maybe they would.The only current regular that goes there is Piper, and we've never seen her at school or even in school uniform.

I wasn't particularly happy with the way things were resolved with Liam.Paul grabs onto the Villain Ball so hard that he insists on manipulating things even when he'd have been better off sitting back and letting the police handle it.So, instead of Liam going to jail, Paul pays him off and does nothing to stop him coming back.

[Homeandawayfan.]

I think the Brennan brothers are trying to be the Neighbours answer to the Braxtons. We even joke about this on Nfans such as Aaron Braxton Brennan. At least Mark is a copper, albeit a rubbish one.

[bronson]

Neighbours is being fast tracked on 5 next year, beginning the same day as Australia.

Source

[Zetti]

14 hours ago, bronson said:

Neighbours is being fast tracked on 5 next year, beginning the same day as Australia.

Source

I'm literally loving this news, its been needed for a long time!

[Lesley Bee]

This is totally the best news ever! Don't have to see any more spoilers ;)

[Red Ranger 1]

I must admit I can't feel the urge to do more than shrug at the news of near-simultaneous broadcast (given the time difference, Australia will still get the premiere by a few hours).It does underline the fact that the programme is being made primarily for the UK market: Having prioritised the UK finales and anniversary episodes over the Oz ones, they've now decided to make them the same thing.

As to the actual show, I thought the fire was well handled, although there was a lot of Neighbours silliness, like a never before seen lift appearing solely so that Tyler and Paige could get trapped in it and characters displaying a staggering lack of self-preservation by just ignoring the alarms.I am surprised that Ben seems to be the culprit, since he seemed one of the least likely candidates...which I guess should have made me suspicious of him.I wonder what Piper's role in it was.I find myself hoping that the school doesn't miraculously reopen, if only because it would expose Susan's uselessness as an employer and administrator.

I am disappointed by the aftermath of Amber giving birth.After months of talk about how the baby's going to need immediate treatment, Amber and Josh have barely been on screen in what should be a major storyline centred around them.Instead, they're basically being treated as minor supporting characters in the Brad/Lauren/Terese triangle while their own storyline is covered in throwaway references to off-screen events.It feels like the show had no idea what to do with the storyline once they reached the climax point and is trying to get it out of the way.

Still, while I'm not wholly against the character, I am loving seeing Paige's carefully crafted fantasy fall apart.Her insistence on haranguing Terese when she's not actually doing anything duplicitous at all is making her seem very unlikable.It's just a shame that Brad seems to be able to mess everyone about with impunity: It feels like whichever family he mistreats, he's got a spare who are willing to take him in.

Kyle and Amy are past the point of "Just get together already!" Steph's return still defies all logic and her having an affair with her nurse doesn't seem the sanest course of action, especially since Belinda doesn't seem to trust her mental state either.Daniel's quest for a personality continues, not helped by more dull scenes with unlikely love interest Imogen.

[Slade]

I've done a massive catch-up session as I've been three weeks behind since I returned from going abroad.  Never thought I would say this but at the moment I'm enjoying Neighbours more than Home and Away.

I'm not sure how I feel about the whole Lauren/Brad/Terese love triangle.  Whilst I'm glad Brad and Lauren have split up and Brad initially moved back into the Willis's it felt like it was too quick.  I would rather things got really serious then it would have hurt Lauren even more.  Now that Brad and Terese have officially decided to separate, what we have at the moment is a situation where none of them are happy.  Lauren's unhappy because she can't be with Brad and vice versa and Terese is unhappy because of the state of her marriage.  It is good seeing that Paige's mum and dad aren't living happily together although I suspect that's only temporary.  It's interesting to note that Lou has also been sleeping with somebody else's spouse (whilst making some story up about a drug cartel being after him when in fact it was his mistresses husband who was stalking him).  Like father like daughter I guess.  One thing that has really annoyed me with Lauren is that she has been purposely portrayed as mother Teresa to excuse the fact that she has sleeping with her friends husband.  Almost as a way for people to accept the relationship (not me!).  Every time Terese got annoyed with her Lauren would just sit back and take it with her sweet butter wouldn't melt expression.  Almost as if we are supposed to side with Lauren because Terese is being completely unreasonable for daring to be annoyed with the fact that one of her closest friends screwed her over like this.  I really like the fact that Terese hasn't forgiven Lauren and doesn't want to be friends with her.  It also annoyed me when Piper confided in Lauren about her role in the fire.  Almost as if Lauren was the only person who could deal with that.

Can't really say I'm that interested in the storyline with Amber and her baby.  I do quite like the fact that the writers haven't paired her and Josh back together.  I actually think the relationship works a lot better like this.  Have to say I thought Amber was quite harsh initially when she said Josh wasn't allowed to spend any time with the baby alone but I was glad she acknowledged that herself so I was disappointed now she has decided to take the job like that and move to another state.  Not sure how I felt about Brad saying he wanted to go to a lawyer initially but I liked the way it upset Lauren.

Paige continues to annoy me so much so that even though Michelle is a criminal I didn't like Paige's attitude towards her at the police station so I'm glad she appears to have set Paige up.  Part of me is glad Paige appears to have been kidnapped.  This is promising.  It's an opportunity to make her suffer.

Whilst I hope Ben doesn't get into any real trouble, I'm actually glad he started the fire for the simple reason that I can't abide Susan's self-righteousness so it was good to see her reacting to someone in her own family doing something that she deemed wrong although it didn't stop her taking the moral highground in that instance.  Really don't like the attitudes of most of the characters towards Piper.  What she did was wrong but all she did was dare Ben.  She didn't actually force him to do anything.  It was his own choice.  This was reflected by the fact that the police didn't want to take matters further with her.  The attitude of her classmates has been pretty bad.  Although understandably it's tantamount to bullying.  What annoyed me was the fact that in class Susan didn't really do anything to stop them, just moved Piper to another part of the classroom when they refused to work with her rather than tackle to actual problem.  Almost as if she resents Piper because it was her fault Ben got into trouble, well certainly from her perspective.  So I really enjoyed it when Piper threatened some of her classmates with the cigarette lighter even though it was incredibly stupid, I just saw it as her defending herself.  I did actually really enjoy the scene where Terese lost it with Piper because I did feel that her attitude towards her mother stank.  Piper clearly fancies Tyler.  Initially I thought he wasn't interested in her at all but with his one night stand with the temporary lodger at Sheila's out the way and looking at some of their scenes there is a possibility something could happen.

Still really liking the fact that almost all of the male characters are team Steph now.  Didn't really like Vanessa's attitude towards her again even though it was understandable and I didn't like the way she got Lucas to let her go from the garage.  Sonia annoyed me when she immediately thought the worst although it was big of her to admit to Steph that she was jealous because Steph bonds better than she does with her own husband.  Not sure what she was thinking allowing Steph to move in with her.  It's going to cause Sonia nothing but problems and misery.  She did it out of guilt and to be noble but it's going to backfire I just know it.  I would normally be for a Steph and Belinda relationship but I'm not sure I can support it because of the whole premise.  You could argue that Belinda took advantage of a vulnerable patient then disclosed confidential information about this patient for a fee (I'm assuming Paul reported her as payback for Belinda decking him).  But the bigger problem is that her underhand behaviour and the way she threatened Toadie seems to indicate someone who is unhinged so I'm not sure Steph should be going out with her.

Paul is a character that I will probably always continue to love regardless of what he does.  I love the fact that he is back to his usual tricks and even though I actually quite like Aaron I loved how Paul blackmailed him re Steph.  Conversely while I could see his logic about wanting to protect Jimmy I thought what Paul did to her i.e. making her think she was going made and tampering with her medication was thoroughly reprehensible and I was absolutely disgusted with him.  When Doug ran them off the road I thought Steph would have been within her rights to leave him there to die.  But she didn't.  She showed that she is a good person.  I do have to be completely honest and say I love the fact that he appears to have gotten away with it (for now anyway).  As Steph has agreed to keep quiet and the other characters have simply shrugged the whole thing off as Paul being Paul.

I've found this change in Daniel quite fascinating even though in some respects it's hard to believe although the writers have addressed that by motivating him out of guilt for backstabbing his uncle.  I have wanted to strangle Imogen through this whole thing.  Firstly for telling the cops and grassing Paul up (has she thought about how this will affect her mother's job).  But her whole hollier-than-though attitude has made my blood boil.  She is a self-righteous moron.  She criticized Daniel re his attitude before when he wasn't taken things seriously and now that he is she is still criticizing him.  There just doesn't seem to be anyway to please her as she is one of those people who will  always find something to moan about.  When I saw the photo of Shay and Terese I was intrigued about her backstory.  But it is very interesting that this has all been part of some payback plan re Paul and her family have now taken everything from him.  It will be very interesting to see how Paul gets out of this.  I do think he actually deserves what is happening to him and it is good to see this every so often.  Regardless as he said himself he will be back.  To some people what will be the end for Paul is just a temporary setback.

[Red Ranger 1]

I'm pleased that Brad and Lauren broke up and even more pleased that Terese didn’t want him back and he’s end up stuck next door. I just can’t quite shake the feeling that this isn’t the end and Brad and Lauren will end up back together: It seems like she’d have been round there as soon as he’d moved out if Lou hadn’t held her back.

I was not happy about the unexplained last minute reprieve for Erinsborough High, which felt like a cop-out and meant Susan gets rewarded for incompetence. I wasn’t too happy about the way Piper’s (admittedly minimal) involvement got dismissed either, partly because I’m not a fan of Piper and partly because I’m getting sick of Ramsay Street residents getting away with everything (see also Steph making a unilateral decision to cover up Doug’s dangerous driving and instead trust Josh to make sure he doesn’t do it again). So at first I was quite glad that she got given a hard time. I did sympathise with her when she pulled the stunt with the lighter, which really did feel like she was pushed to breaking point, but I lost my sympathy again when she started wallowing in self-pity and cheered when Terese gave her what for. I do think the emphasis was all wrong: The scenes should have focused on the fact that other students were trapped in the fire and Piper was a convenient target for their anger, but instead they just came across as a bunch of two-dimensional “baddies” bullying her for the sake of it. She does seem to have a crush on Tyler but it seems to be one-sided. We saw a kiss in the promo but it seemed very brief and tame, so I suspect she initiates it and he pulls away very quickly.

I’m glad that Amber and Josh didn’t get back together, and if Amber does leave then I’ll be relieved that that would reduce the chances of it happening further, even though I like Amber and would prefer Josh left. I might have been bothered by her taking Matilda away if I actually liked Brad and Josh, but instead it just felt like Brad having another one of his macho tantrums. Objectively, it would be more interesting to have her stick around and see how the co-parenting thing worked out long term, but I’m reasonably happy if this is her exit, it’s a positive note.

I’m beginning to wonder if there is actually method to the show’s madness where Daniel and Imogen are concerned. It felt like there was a lot of fan pressure for Daniel and Amber to break up and him to get together with Imogen and I was disappointed the show seemed to give in to it. But actually, things have progressed pretty believably and it has been the disaster a relationship between two characters with nothing in common, one on the rebound and one caught up in months of fantasising about him, would be. There is some irony about things really imploding right as Daniel is turning into someone Imogen would date. Imogen’s on the right side of the law, but it’s hypocritical of her to moralise about misguided family loyalty when she covered up Josh’s drug dealing.

I’m very undecided about Belinda. I can see that copping off with a patient is unethical, but it feels like another example of a guest character being crucified for the sort of things regulars get up to on a weekly basis, and Toadie’s so smug in the way he’s stopped Steph dating an outsider that I find him impossible to side with. Even though she seems pretty intense, I’m hoping Belinda isn’t going to go into complete villain mode and sabotage the operation and she’s just there to do her job (and possibly give Toadie a fright for laughs).

Paul getting away with crimes tends to make me switch off but I was surprised and pleased to see him suffering some genuine blows, first losing the mayorship and then losing all his assets and ending up on the street. I’ve no doubt the show will hit the Reset Button sooner or later and have him back in charge of Lassiters and owning half of Erinsborough at some point, but I’m hoping it doesn’t come too soon and they string this out for a while. I’m hoping there’s more to Shay carrying around a photo of herself with Terese as a child because her being a spy for a rival hotel chain doesn’t really explain it at all.

Whilst I don’t particularly like Paige as an individual, I actually quite like her with Mark, she’s certainly more suited to him than Kate or Naomi were. So oddly, I’m actually onboard with the idea of them getting married. But I do also regret not seeing her get bashed over the head. Also glad Kyle and Amy are finally together, even if the way it happened wasn’t entirely satisfactory, and hope they have a good run.

[dncllpyk]

Now that UK will be getting Neighbours the same day as Australia starting on Monday they won't be too far behind Australia at all. I can't wait until the new season starts

There is this person on Facebook who has a few accounts who thinks Kate is coming back. That her death was fake and that Kate is in witness protection. I know in soapie land sometimes people don't stay dead. But honestly I think Kate is really dead lots of people though Dee was coming back after she died in 2003 including me and she hasn't come back. So I don't think Kate will be coming back especially now that Ashleigh Brewer has found success in America

[Red Ranger 1]

I think the person that insists Kate's in witness protection is the same person that was on this forum insisting Belle was still alive some years back, so their judgement is extremely questionable.

So, we got the first week of 2016 at the same time as Australia.Paige being kidnapped seemed to get wrapped up fairly quickly despite her being absent from the premiere.Or perhaps not, since the situation hasn't really been resolved.It does seem to have brought her and Mark closer together though, which I'm quite pleased about.

While there's been no reset getting Paul back in Lassiters, it's slightly disappointing that he was straight back to dodgy dealing and it seems like he's going to drag Amy down with him.Looks like that's the end of Shay, without any explanation for why she was lugging a photo of herself with Terese about.The show seemed to think that because we know why the photo was taken that explains everything.

Piper was massively annoying with her childish revenge on Tyler just because he doesn't fancy her, I find the character quite unlikable a lot of the time.I'm glad Daniel and Imogen are over and hope they stay that way, despite some worrying comments from Amber before she left.Yes, Amber's gone but I'm glad she got a positive exit and that Josh didn't go with her, even if it does mean we're stuck with him.