Out of the Blue

[Slade]

Not just Poppi and Daniel what about Poppi and Deborah. They absolutely hate each other and have much more of a history. It would have been really good seeing Deborah trying to talk Poppi round.

I hated the first couple of episodes from last week. Not so much because they were bad but more because they were sad - Poor Angela, poor Kirsten, poor Kyle and poor Stephen. Don’t really want to dwell on it to much but I will say that again Becka’s been great but I did get the impression that Angela wanted Stephen to be happy and get back with her.

I’m not sure to make of this storyline of Tess’s addiction to sleeping pills. I can’t really feel it with this character. Perhaps with someone else the storyline would be better.

I quite liked the karaoke night though. The last time I recall they had something like this was with the speed dating when I believe that Addo or Jarrod (can’t remember who) was interrogated by the journalist. I quite like Staffa’s embarrassment beforehand at the prospect of watching his parents perform.

Tamara’s face seems familiar. I’m sure I’ve seen the actress before from somewhere. Every time Gabi looked at her I kept laughing. She looked as though she wanted to strangle her. I’m not sure I’ve seen he like that before. I can’t really blame her though as Tamara is clearly up to no good. Ah, if looks could kill…

Still disappointed with Daniel’s attitude towards Jason. And I didn’t like the way he tried to bully him into signing the contract to relinquish any claim to their father’s inheritance.

Again in OOTB terms (relatively speaking) not a lot’s been happening. Some of the episodes felt like stop fillers.

[Martin]

Tamara is played by Jacinta Stapleton, the actress who played Amy Greenwood in Neighbours and has since appeared in many other Aussie dramas including a major role in Stingers a few years back.

Slade, it's great to read your views though I must admit I loved the Jason is Deborah's child twist after all the hints it was going to be Poppy, I think it kept it all fresh.

[Slade]

Thanks Martin. I thought she was in Neighbours when she was younger.

Still a week behind but anyway…

Did Deborah call Staffa Ian? I didn’t realise that was his name. I thought it would be Stefano or something like that.

I quite liked the day Jarrod devoted to Tracey and it was good to see them with Zoe together as a happy family. Shame it was ruined by the disagreement regarding Deborah. I actually felt a bit sorry for her when she saw them and when Jarrod came round to have a go at her after he found out that Tracey took Zoe round. To be honest I didn’t really like the way he was but I can’t blame him. At least he agreed to let Zoe spend time with her. Again that was ruined by Deborah effectively trying to buy her.

I liked Paul’s chat with Kirsten. He actually seemed to get through to her. Maybe he’s not so useless after all. To be honest I really didn’t like the spoilt princess – I’m going to get into a strop because I can’t have my own way – melodrama initially when she didn’t want to leave Manley.

I’m disappointed Stephen’s gone but realistically he couldn’t really turn down a job opportunity like that. Shame I can’t say the same for Kyle. He’s probably the most pointless character in the show. There was a positive though - A massive one in fact. Becka and Kirsten together…yeeeeaaaaahhhhh! I always enjoy any scene between these two and feel they have great chemistry and really look forward to seeing Becka play the role of Guardian and believe me Kirsten’s going to be a handful.

I’m getting increasingly fed up of Daniel’s attitude towards Jason (although I did find the act he pulled at the marina and Jason’s reaction quite funny). Lucia was right. It’s getting extremely boring now.

I could not stop smiling through the Dinner party Gabi had to try and set Addo up with Tamara. Did you see Gabi’s face whilst she was cracking jokes with Jason and reliving the good times? Again she looked like she wanted to kill her. Wasn’t she made to look like the idiot when she accused Tamara of trying to steal Jason (she was right of course but simply outsmarted)? Tamara had to blow it by trying to kiss him the next day and then telling Addo (or was that on purpose?). Either way Gabbi totally lost it again. Funny that Poppi always seems to defend Tamara though.

Interesting inclusion Peta’s brother but another cooper. And already we see that Becka seems to have taken a liking to him.

[Miranda]

Yes, the Angela scenes were terrible [in an upsetting way I mean], such good acting.

Stavva [can't remember how to spell his name now ] 's real name is Ian, not surprising he took a nickname instead. I've alwasy thought Ian was such a pointless name, like a suffix.

Just remembered a really funny scene with Daniel coming up...!

[Slade]

I liked Becka putting her foot down with Kirsten. She was taking liberties. So funny on her date with Nate when she was giving him a peculiar look when he was eating and she made a remark about it not being anatomically possible to fit that much food into one mouth. First impressions of him are he’s an arrogant jerk who seems quite unlikeable. Not sure what Becka sees in him to be frank. Maybe it’s his confidence. So Kirsten’s got into trouble less than a week after Stephen left. It was good to see him back again but I don’t think this setup with Staffa, Becka and Kirsten is really going to work.

Daniel showed quite a nasty side when he threatened Tess about telling Debra regarding the paper Jason signed. I’m glad she sort of stood up to him and effectively forced him to tell Deborah anyway but the way he spiked her tea afterwards quite disgusted me. And even when Staffa confronted him about it despite what could have happened to Darcy he didn’t seem to have an ounce of remorse. And just his general attitude towards Jason, trying to bully him into leaving, forcing Deborah to choose between them, moving out and trying to sabotage his mother’s business really annoyed me. He’s acting like a jealous, immature, spoilt brat and I’m really disliking him at the minute.

I see that actor that plays Shaun is assuming the role of another dodgy character. Kirsten seems to have taking an immediate liking to him (and there was me thinking that she and Paul were going to hit it off). I know we’ve only seen him with Poppi but I wonder if he’s got anything to do with that guy Marcus was blackmailing Peta about a while back. Funny how when he broke into Poppi’s and copy the information from her notebook he managed to get in without a password. You would have thought that with Peta being a lawyer they would have had better security than that.

I’m really enjoying the bitchiness between Gabi and Tamara. Firstly again I loved the look of disgust on Gabi’s face (and the rolling of the eyes) when Tamara offered to help Jason with the deliveries. Then the next day when Gabi found out Tamara sent Addo on a wild goose chase, went around and found Jason bare-chested helping Tamara to move the stuff into her apartment. And finally when she confronted her about wanting Jason and Tamara admitted she did to her face. The fact that she was playing their favourite song, in her wedding dress and seems totally delusional about Jason still being in love with her leads me to believe we’ve got another one of those crazed/obsessed/ex girlfriend/stalker/fruit-loop type stories.

[Slade]

Still playing catch-up.

Loving the scheming, calculating and manipulative nature of Tamara. Looks as though she’s prepared to pull out all the stops and doesn’t care about any collateral damage i.e. Addo. Thoroughly enjoyed the b*tch fest with her and Gabi and their dive in water.

I defiantly don’t like Nate. Although I think Hugo from H & A is ok now he reminds me of him when he was unlikeable. I know it’s a different character but it’s really hard to differentiate them for me. I’m glad Becka gave him a serve regarding Tess but at least there was an explanation for his actions.

I knew Shaun breaking into Poppi’s had something to do with Greg Burnley (I forgot his name at the time). So not only has Peta dragged Poppi into this mess she’s also got Nate to risk his career as well. I’m not sure if Shaun would have harmed Kirsten, I think he broke into the flat to try and find evidence to acquit Greg. I’m guessing there are going to be repercussions else, why would they be dragging this up again.

I’m glad Tess and Staffa decided to remain just friends. There was never any chemistry between them to be honest.

As strange as it may seem I actually didn’t blame Deborah for reporting Tess to DOCS. Can’t really say I’m sorry to see the back of her though. I thought she had promise near the beginning but she didn’t really interest me. I did like it when she told Deborah that her form of love was control which wasn’t love. I felt really, really sorry for Deborah when she was holding Darcy and crying. She must be pretty lonely right now.

Re the wedding rings, is Gabi trying to beat Tamara at her own game?

[Slade]

THEY CAN’T DO THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Firstly I’m glad Tracey wanted Deborah to come to Zoe’s birthday. Still wanting to put the past behind her (or should I say feeling guilty about Philby). I thought the conversation Deborah had with Jason was interesting in that Jason honestly couldn’t understand her. In one sense she was prepared to report Tess to DOCS for being a bad mother (even though she wasn’t) but in the other prepared to sacrifice her relationship with Daniel at a shot at forming one with Jason.

I suppose at least Tamara came clean about being in love with Jason but that was only because she got caught out. TBH I couldn’t really blame Jason for sacking her or Addo for giving her a serve. When Daniel went up to her in the bar it honestly didn’t occur to me what his intentions were. After Lucia heard he’d reconciled with Deborah and went to his hotel room, I copped on that Tamara was there. And I knew she would hide, not to protect him but to use it for her own personal gain so it was no surprise when Daniel and Lucia started going out again, she sent him the photo of them together and subsequently blackmailed him. Just what I like, someone prepared to take Daniel on. I think in Daniel’s mind he and Lucia were over so it didn’t really bother him, sleeping with Tamara and then when she said she wanted to give things another go he did a U-turn. He should have just come clean and told her the truth – They were on a break!

I think Nate’s ok. Even prefer him to the character he plays on Home and Away. Once you get past the arrogance and cockiness he seems like a pretty genuine person.

It’s ironic, Peta’s been a character that I’ve immensely disliked and have had no real interest throughout most of her time. Didn’t really like her relationship with Poppi either. At the start, all they seemed to do was argue and once she’d quit working for Deborah they just bored me to be frank. However for the first time I was very interested in her and especially this storyline with Greg Burnley. I’m in two minds about this. Part of me could completely understand why she did what she did and I take what the Detective’s (can’t remember his name) point about her being a good person. On the other hand she broke the law and I still haven’t forgotten about her calling Deborah out for framing her accountant so I found it difficult to sympathise with her. I thought the actress played the scenes out REALLY well i.e. the realisation that not only was her career over but she would have the book thrown at her, she would almost certainly go to jail, Greg Burnley’s release was imminent and her days with Poppi were numbered. I could also sense real chemistry between them in the penultimate episode and the whole scene just before Peta ran off was really intense and blended perfectly with the background music (It was the same tune they played in the episode before the reveal after Daniel found out who the killer was, stormed off and the episode ended). I have to say though I don’t understand why she even kept the witness statement. Why didn’t she destroy it?

I thought the wedding seemed a bit rushed but completely understandable as Peta and Poppi’s time was limited. Again I really liked the stuff between them and have to say in regards to her Poppi, Gabi, Tracey, Becka, Kirsten etc they all looked great.

I thought Becka was really harsh with Nate beforehand. IMO he was genuinely concerned for her. I suppose her getting pregnant was poetic justice or a final irony (it completely slipped my mind that she'd slept with Jarrod BTW). For years Jarrod raises and loves a child who isn’t his as if it were his own. Tracey and Jarrod want to try to have their own baby but unfortunately Tracey can’t conceive anymore. The love of Jarrod’s life Becka falls pregnant with his child when after finally getting an opportunity to be with him after so many years seemed to accept that they were over for good after he decided to give things another go with Tracey.

I actually really liked her conversation with Gabi. Gabi’s light-hearted remark when she told Becka her and Jason were getting married (not sure what to make of that to be frank) was good. I also really liked when Becka opened up and Gabi guessed that Jarrod was the father. I thought it was really good acting.

The reintroduction of Sam was a great idea! I never would have predicted that. Isn’t he supposed to be in jail? Don’t tell me he escaped. Anyway that whole scene was set out perfectly. I loved the fact that virtually everyone was petrified for their lives but Daniel didn’t even flinch. The best thing about it was that the whole of the main cast were there, almost in a line up. It actually reminded me of the Sarah Lewis saga in Home and Away a few years ago when there was a gunshot and you didn’t know who died.

It’s such a shame it had to end on a cliff-hanger and on a general high and it’s disappointing because there are so many possibilities for future storylines that we are never going to see. So many questions need answering. What is going to happen with the whole, Tracey/Jarrod/Becka love triangle? Will Greg Burnley finally catch up with Peta? Will she go to jail for perverting the course of justice? Who lives and who dies?

I honestly can’t see how they can remake the show again as quite a few of the actors have moved on (how many BBTB people have we seen in Home and Away over the past year or so?), although with the gunshots going off at least they would have a plausible way to explain the absence of any characters that were there. Also they would probably have to resume several months after the event.

During the first week, I didn’t like it but people here compelled me to carry on watching it in the end I really enjoyed it. Even more than Home and Away in fact. I’m so disappointed that it’s over during a time when Home and Away is not in a very good place for me and part of me is left wishing that I hadn’t started watching OOTB to begin with...

[Martin]

Well Slade, we have reached the end of your mini-reviews and I must say I have enjoyed reading them week by week, glad your latest missive was a long one!

Yes, I think the ending was superb, such a clever idea bringing back Sam when everyone was expecting Greg Burnley. It was reminiscent of a season cliffhanger in Sons & Daughters - it was this that the whole Sarah Lewis Olympics cliffhanger was based on (Bevan Lee was the man behind both). For me the show ended with a massive surprise, continuing on the constant trend of twists and turns the whole way through.

Through the whole series the acting was top notch and I think this has been reflected in the cast's ability to find work in a wide variety of other films and television shows in a relatively short time, especially when you take into account the massive unemployment rates amongst Aussie actors at any one time.

As I have posted before I was very impressed the whole way through the series with the acting talent of Charlie-Rose MacLennan who played little Zoe. I think she has a bright future ahead of her and I hope that her discovery will be one of the lasting legacies of Out of the Blue. And just think we'll all be able to say we saw her here first!

Anybody else got a favourite from OOTB who they think will go on to be very famous?

[Slade]

I’m still suffering severe withdrawal symptoms and decided to read through this entire thread from the beginning (well most of it anyway). Firstly what a shame I didn’t watch the show when everybody else saw it the first time round. I would have really liked to have discussed some of the characters with people. I'm glad some people’s comments echoed my sentiments. i.e. concerns about Tracey and Jarrod’s relationship and the fact that he was still in love with his ex. Kirsten’s striking resemblance to Matilda not just in terms of appearance but in personality and behaviour. Not liking Becka at first because she seemed cold and lacking in empathy but warming to her after she put herself on the line twice, first for Kirsten and then for Blade (when she had absolutely everything to lose). Something I didn’t spot was that Daniel and Fletch were actually playing Robbo and Gibsy together at the same time. I think the reason for that was when I first saw Fletch and Daniel, Robbo had since way left but I still should have made the connection. Also a lot of stuff that didn’t made sense before (because I hadn’t seen the characters yet) now falls into place reading it again.

Anybody else got a favourite from OOTB who they think will go on to be very famous?

I’ll come to that later but firstly in direct relation to a post about my thoughts on the characters at the start and as Miranda wanted me to make another post at the end I felt I just couldn’t resist.

That is interesting Slade, I like to know what people think of the characters As I've said before to others, your opinions will definitely change by the end of the series! Will you do another post then and tell us what you think of them then?

I’ll try and remember to do another post about my opinion of the characters after the series has finished Miranda. Assuming of course that I’m still watching it by then…

I'll predict you will be. You might even prefer it to Home and Away after a while.

Excellent prediction and completely right on both counts.

Assuming of course that I’m still watching it by then…

You'd better be, Slade. Or I'll send Philby's murderer round to beat you up :whistle:

Yes please...

Anyway apologies in advance because this is probably going to be pretty lengthy but I love talking about OOTB. Anyway here goes (I try and only mention the characters I said before but I might add one or two more. I’ve also tried not to look at my original comments):

Jarrod – Never particularly liked him. Although he loved Tracey it just felt he was always in love with Becka and married her because he couldn’t have the former i.e. settling for second best and stayed married to her because of Zoe. I do however admire him for the way he treated and raised Zoe as his own knowing full well she wasn’t his daughter and didn’t hold it against Tracey that she basically lied to him for the duration of their marriage. Also liked the way he was prepared to give the marriage another go after his wife’s amnesia.

Tracey – Loved her. All aspects of her character. Loved the sweet caring wife/ mother but at the same time loved her insecure side re Becka and the fact that she was revealed to be a cold blooded killer. Even after the reveal never got tired of her and really enjoyed her selflessness when she was resigned to going to jail (knowing Jarrod was in love with Becka and wanting them to be together because it would make him truly happy). And after the operation loved the memory loss and the fact that she started again from scratch to rebuild her family. Did I mention that I found her really attractive too?

Becka – Really, really liked her. Don’t get me wrong there were times where I wanted to throttle her. At the start thought she came across as quite arrogant, cold and seemed pretty much like the outsider of the group. Even when she was going out with Stephen, like Jarrod it was obvious she was in love with her ex. She made my blood boil regarding her attitude towards Tracey after the reveal. She kept banging on about the fact that Tracey tried to frame her. Didn’t like the fact that she initially refused to treat her after she fell of the cliff (I don’t blame her for Tracey being paralysed BTW) but was prepared to do the same thing for Kirsten’s kidnapper even though that was worse. It felt as though she was releasing years of built up resentment because Tracey was the one who claimed Jarrod – not her. In saying that once we got to know her, I thought quite often her actions resembled that of a Samaritan. She helped Kirsten even though she pretty much treated Becka like crap. She went back and assisted Blade even though that could have been a trap, he’d just Tasered her and could have cost her, her career. She let Angela move into her flat (when she was terminally ill) and tried to help out where she could even though Angela tried to break her and Stephen up. And she took Kirsten on even though she had a full time job which quite often involved working late shifts and she did it to make Kirsten happy not because it benefitted her.

Steven – Had a lot of time for his character. Liked the fact that he was a true professional at work i.e. the sessions with Tracey and he knew how to sort other people out but his home life seemed pretty much a mess.

Tess – Thought she had potential from the start but in the end wasn’t really doing anything for me so I didn’t mind too much when she left (although I think she would have returned had there been a second season).

Deborah (I said Sandra at first) – An excellent character and the actress seemed so perfect for the role. Cold, calculating, manipulative, scheming. A true business woman. I liked the fact that there were multiple parts to her. On the one hand quite prepared to shaft other people for personal gain (e.g. Ron, her accountant etc). But on the other we saw a very caring motherly side. Such as the way she welcomed Tess into the family and treated her with kid gloves. Being overprotective of Daniel and the fact that she was prepared to sacrifice her relationship with him to try and form one with Jason. And finally the fact that she forgave Tracey for killing Philby to get to know her granddaughter. A true family woman.

Daniel – Great character. Loved the fact that there were two sides to him. The badboy/criminal/thug/bully, i.e. getting heavy with Staffa, threatening Addo, hospitalising Blade and his mother’s accountant, his pathetic jealous attitude towards Jason. However when he was with Lucia he was a completely different person. Also liked the way he was with Pia when Deborah invited them over for dinner and when he helped to save his girlfriend’s family from Sam. Loved in the final episode how most people were scarred for their lives but not him.

Addo – Seemed to be lacking in intelligence but there was just something about him that I found endearing. Essentially a good person but one of those people that kept landing himself into difficult situations because he just seemed weak willed (i.e. Emily/Amber, Reynolds and Project Pegasus). Really liked him with BOTH Emily and Amber.

Gabi – Stunning and really liked her at the start (mainly because of her looks, shallow I know) but I don’t think her storylines were that big and I feel she was mainly a support character. Still think she added something to the show though.

Peta – For her duration couldn’t stand the woman. Thought for the most part she was a smug, self-righteous, pretentious cow. Absolutely hated her holier-than-thou attitude with Deborah after framing her accountant for fraud and taking the moral highground with Marcus after his desire to stay married for money. However she broke the law and framed Greg Burnley previously and involved Poppi and put Nate in a very difficult position. Having said that unlike Kyle I would still have liked to have seen that storyline progress and thought she was ok as a character just didn’t particularly like her as a person.

Poppi – Another person I didn’t like at first. Didn’t like her relationship with Peta either. Couldn’t really sense the chemistry and as I’ve said on several occasions all they seemed to do was argue. I did start to warm to her because of her attitude towards Tess who you could tell she really cared about and she was one of the people prepared to give Tracey a go. Did finally sense chemistry with her and Peta in the penultimate episode.

Stavva – On paper should have been a ladies man but never seemed to really deliver on that. The three relationships he had all failed miserably. i.e. the woman that worked for his dad, Amber and Tess. Liked how he was overprotective of his sister and really liked his double-act with Addo. Why on earth did Brian call him Ian? He should have been christened Stefano.

Lucia – Again another support person. Didn’t really get any major storylines but didn’t mind her with Daniel (as I always thought she brought out the best in him) and scenes with Deborah and her family.

Kyle – Completely useless character. Glad to have seen the back of him when he left for Tasmania. Didn’t bring anything to the show. I wasn’t entirely convinced by the actor and he had no influence whatsoever over any of the major storylines.

Kirsten – Ah Kirsten, dear Kirsten. As I mentioned above bared an uncanny resemblance to Matilda and I thought initially she was the spawn of Satan. Really disliked her (even almost go as far as saying I hated her). She was just horrible and completely vile. I still remember the episode where she got Kyle to help her stuff up Becka’s CV and ruin her chances of getting a job at the hospital. My attitude started to change towards her after the disappointment when Angela wouldn’t let her come to Europe and it was obvious she just wanted her mother. Absolutely LOVED the relationship with Becka and I really started to warm to Kirsten after the stuff with Blade because not only did she actually treat Becka like a human being but actually wanted to spend time with her. She even sided with her over her own mother eventually. I was sad when she was leaving to go Tasmania with Stephen and Kylie but over the moon when he agreed to let her stay with Becka. It’s very disappointing never being able to see how their relationship would have progressed further. I would have liked to have thought in a few years when Kirsten was older she would always look at Becka as someone she was very close to, would like to have remained in touch with as she supported her after her mother tragically died.

Anyway I felt a lot of the OOTB characters have the potential to move onto bigger and better things and how many of them have appeared in Home and Away over the last year?

In case nobody’s guessed by now my absolute favourite characters were Deborah, Daniel and Tracey. I also really, really liked Becka and Kirsten followed closely by Addo, Stavva, Detective Wilson, Emily and Amber. I also thought Sam and Tamara were excellent bad guys (or girls in Tamara’s case).

[Nathan.]

Gabi – Stunning and really liked her at the start (mainly because of her looks, shallow I know) but I don’t think her storylines were that big and I feel she was mainly a support character. Still think she added something to the show though.

Really? I always found her to be the centre of the entire show considering she narrated the first episode.