Gina Austin - Sonia Todd

[KirstyEkua]

I find it quite irritating that Gina just laughs and brushes aside John’s comments about Tony without challenging him about it. I admit at first it was pretty funny but now I feel John is pushing it a bit and his comments are way below the belt, especially when he mocks him in front of Xaiver during coaching. Tony’s her little brother and you’d think she’d ask John to cut it out a little. I don’t really understand her sometimes.

[beau_t]

^I'm pretty sure Gina has asked him to cut it out on more than one occasion.

Just glancing through various threads on this forum, I can't believe the level at which people are only seeing what they want to see with regards to Gina! It's like a witch hunt!

Edited May 14, 2010 by beau_t

[charmed60]

I like Gina, I like that she's flawed, I like that she's not this perfect earth mother with perfect kids and actually makes mistakes herself. But I agree with Kirsty, I didn't like her attitude with John either; John would constantly bully Tony and make fun of him and while she'd say "you can't help it can you" she'd also laugh it off, proving that she wasn't that bothered by it. I wouldn't let anyone speak to my brother the way John speaks to Tony.

[MeganSaturday]

Sonia Todd is doing a brilliant job with this new Hugo storyline!

[Mink22]

I think Gina is awesome, Sonia Todd is doing a great job with her. I really do not understand why people dislike her so much.

[Red Ranger 1]

Gina's an odd one.I can't really like her because there's so much about her that's unlikeable even though she's got her good points as well.I can watch one episode and think she's all right and then watch the next one and end up hating her again.She can be cold and arrogant and refuse to listen to anyone else's opinion then she can turn round and be caring and considerate and want to help someone.I think she's at her best when she's with adult characters like Tony, Rachel, Miles and John.When she's with characters that she views as the generation below if you like, such as Hugo, Xavier or Martha, there's a feeling that she thinks she knows better than them and she'll treat them harshly because she thinks it's for their own good.It's not quite as clear cut as that, there's overlap either way, but it feels like a useful rule of thumb.

[j.laur5]

I really like Gina as a character and feel the producers are doing a good job and giving her character more focus than just being a mother-type character.

[Jamey-Maria]

I LOVE her. I think she's such a complex character played by a fabulous actress. She can go from being completely beige, to a genuine mother figure to someone who comes across completely cold and uncaring. Gina does a lot of things that I don't agree with and some things that I downright loathe but I can't bring myself to dislike her as a person. I think it comes down to very intricate writing and great acting on her part. She goes through a range of different stages but manages to include them all under the same umbrella of one character- this I like. IMO, nothing about her is typical, Hope she sticks around for a long time to come.

Edited May 29, 2010 by Jamey-Maria

[charmed60]

I think she's a fantastic character, the way she's not portrayed as a 'perfect' mother like some of the other older women in the show's history have yet she's got a really warm and genuine side to her. I love that she's having a significant amount of screentime given to her and isn't just there to counsel her children and like Jamey-Maria said, even when she does things I really don't agree with I still can't deny that she is a brilliant character and I love that she's multi-layered. Her acting in Friday's episode was phenomenal! I hope she continues to stay in the forefront of the storylines despite the fact that I really don't like her with John, I think she deserves better. That's what makes exciting tv though!

[Red Ranger 1]

I kind of have the opposite view of Gina.She's one of those character who can do something that I like and approve of, I thought she handled the situation with Miles brilliantly, she was compassionate and understood what things were like for him but ultimately had to put the school and the students first.But I can't bring myself to like her as a person because I knew that a few weeks down the line she's going to do something that I hate.I agree that it's interesting to have a character on the show who's not a bad mother in the sense that she beats her children or gets drunk all the time but who just isn't that good at the job, who makes mistakes and gets things wrong despite having good intentions.But then you get storylines like the one with Mink, where she's portrayed as some sort of miracle worker who can sort out problem teenagers, and you wonder if she's actually meant to be flawed or whether they've made her that way by accident.She feels more like a Neighbours mother than a Home and Away mother and I don't like most of them very much either.