Irene/Barry

[Foxy]

I know there's lots of "Bareen" fans out there so I thought I'd make a thread for everyone to discuss their positives/negatives and anything else you may wish to discuss!

[Cal]

I wasn't a fan of Barry, to be honest. There was something about him that I disliked and I still can't put my finger on it. But the relationship between Barry and Irene was solid and realistic, which made me like it.

I think Barry was good for Irene. And I loved how Beth (RIP!) unintentionally got in the way. Nice bits of Bareen drama right there!

[Floella]

They were very solid and realistic Cal, I do agree. I think the minute Barry arrived it was obvious at some level they would end up together. They had a connection even when they appeared to hate each other, just like Jack and Martha I felt Barry just somehow lost that haunted look with Irene; he was no longer in his self inflicted prison as he allowed himself to love and be loved for the first time in years and it was so tender and touching that it made him so much human. She made him. He also balance her in a funny sort of way, by challenging her when she went off the deep end, and being there whenever she went into bat whether it was advised or ill advised. I was heartbroken when he left, more for the fact that they split them up than anything else. If they ever pair Irene up with any one else, it will not be the same at all.

[Claire]

Irene and Barry were such a good match... of all the men that we've seen Irene with over the years, she and Barry fitted so perfectly.

I'll admit I wasn't watching in those later days, and when Barry left H&A, but I saw the foundations of their relationship and there was something special there. It's just a shame it didn't last - after all, I think Irene needs a solid love interest. She seems to spend her life trying to sort other people's problems/relationships out!

[Bareenfan]

I was devastated when Barry left and I do agree Claire that they fitted perfectly. For me they fitted in a way that none of the others with whom Irene has been paired(and here have been quite a few) ever did, because neither of them were perfect and because they had that something special, a spark and a chemistry which elevated it beyond the norm.

The thought fo them bringing in someone else for Irene fills me with dread, for me Barry and Irene were and are soul mates just like Kirsty and Kane, Sally and Flynn, or Micheal and Pippa. Any one else will be second best, and if there is even the remotest chance they could get Ivar Kants back I would hope they go for it.

[Corey]

There are some couples who you just KNOW are meant to be together. Shane and angel, Will and Gypsy, Sally and Flynn, Vinnie and Leah, Kirsty and Kane, Jack and Martha, Pippa and Micheal. Irene and Barry were in this category. The minute they met it was obvious even if it took forever for the writers to cotton on. Chemistry, comedy, class, they had the lot. I loved the episode when Collen and Robbie played cupid, and their last goodbye was sooooo sad.

[Wal Harisse]

I was very fond of them as a couple, and as you say they were one of those couples you know were meant to be together.

I am not impressed by the spoiler news that Irene will be getting a new romance. This is sacrilige!

They worked on a level you could not put your finger on, it was just right in so many ways I suppose.

[chatter box]

I have always felt that it is precisely because they are opposites that they work so well. Irene wears her heart on her sleeve, generally everything she thinks and feels is evident on her face and in her reactions to the people around her. She is warm and outgoing, and connects easily with people. Barry on the other hand, due to his upbringing and to his guilt over Kerry, has for years kept the world at arms length. He is however a passionate person. He is passionate about his work, about his son, and about Irene. Somehow she has got through that wall which he had built between himself and the world. Consequently when he is with Irene we get to see the kind and thoughtful man, the passionate man, the man with a sense of humour, the loving caring man. He had also begun to make friends in Summer Bay, something which I suspect he had not done for a long time. He is very complicated and Irene could very well have been his salvation IMO. That wall was still there and had a way to go before it was totally demolished, but they seemed to me to have an almost instinctive insight and understanding of each other which often did not need words. Irene knew when he was worrying about something or blaming himself for whatever Kim was up to, without him saying it. He knew when she was hurting and worried about her flock of kids.

One of the things that I liked about Barry, as well as that come to bed voice is that he was not a one dimensional character, there was so much more to him, and so much more to learn about him.

Relationships are all about "fit" in the end and I have always they thought that they "fit" perfectly. I share the fear of others that putting Irene with another man will feel almost like a betrayal, and it will not feel right. Relationships which reach iconic status on Home and Away have to have several things, fit, chemistry and that extra something which puts them a cut above the rest. They had all of these and more. It was a great great pity that the writers wasted them both individually and as a couple.

[Floella]

The latest cryptic clue spoiler for Irene has seriously disturbed me, I will find this an extremely difficult relationship to accept if it is true.

[Jimbo]

What annoyed me vey much was how under used they were. I understand tat the majority of HAA viewers are teenagers and may not be interested in a middle aged couple or their relationship; in fact they may think any one over 35 should not be on the radar. However, HAA is a family show and there are a lot of middle aged and older viewers and and I do know also that a lot of viewers, including some younger ones, loved Barry and Irene, so it annoyed me that the writers went with the accepted view that middle aged couples are not worth the bother. They had two really good actors who clicked, they had great chemistry which is half the battle with these things; they were often funny as well as romantic and the little things which they injected into the situation made it all very real and solid. What a waste. They could have done so much more. A lot of people were sad when they split up and when Barry left, but how much more heartbroken would they have been if they had made far more use of them as a couple of longer standing with a more complex history. Barry's leaving would have been tremendous in those circumstances and the implications for Irene would have been enormous. There was a lot left unsaid between them as far as I am concerned, and they really need to bring him back. Irene is lost without him, she needs him to anchor her and he needs her for so many reasons.