Pippa's departure.

[j.laur5]

I just recently watched Pippa leaving in 1998 and I thought, we should have a whole episode devoted to her leaving and yet the whole episode had other silly storylines.

I was hoping at the very least we would have had a chat between Pippa and Sally talking about past family members but it failed.

Not even the whole town was there to say goodbye and I think Alf should at least have been there since he was there when Pippa first arrived.

No flashbacks what so ever and it was such an unspecial episode. You'd think they would give a character who was central from the start a better exit.

[beau_t]

I think the problem that the writers felt was that (in the storyline) Pippa believed she was only going on an extended holiday for 6 months or so. So there wouldn't have been a big party or as sentimental a send-off as we would have liked to have seen. I personally think they could have still given her a much better exit if they had just thought about it more, even if Pippa did believe she was coming back. There was no reason why they couldn't have had a final chat between Pippa and Sally, like you mention. And I also really believe Ailsa should have been there as well as Alf.

However I am glad before the Sutherlands arrived in 2000 taking the show into a new era, that the writers realised Pippa and the whole "Pippa era" of the show hadn't been given proper closure. So they went to the effort and they did that whole storyline with the reunion and the flashbacks and all the conversations about past storylines and characters. That was pretty perfect so credit where it's due. I have read posts before where viewers say they prefer to see that as Pippa's real exit.

One thing I do like about Pippa's 1998 exit is the chat she has with Sam regarding Michael's death. And when she is driving off, all the characters are smiling and waving goodbye, but then as she drives further off we see close-ups of Sam and Sally's faces to reveal they are quite obviousy worried deep down that she won't come back. I think that's a very small and underrated moment in the episode.

[Blaxland 89]

I actually really like Pippa's leaving. Not her last episode itself, but the actaully build up that they had for months and months. Who was gonna take over? how would it effect the Kids, Sally's emotions all over the place, Pippa not sure what the right thing to do was. Also I liked the story in that poor Pippa was just finding it all so hard now, by herself and Sally was all grown up and so great to have Sam back with his grandad. It brought a lot of stories and Pippa was only really going for a break at that time. They last ep had the right people there and it was a happy and light occasion. The was some of the best scenes ever between Pippa and Sally at that time.

[beau_t]

I actually really like Pippa's leaving. Not her last episode itself, but the actaully build up that they had for months and months. Who was gonna take over? how would it effect the Kids, Sally's emotions all over the place, Pippa not sure what the right thing to do was. Also I liked the story in that poor Pippa was just finding it all so hard now, by herself and Sally was all grown up and so great to have Sam back with his grandad. It brought a lot of stories and Pippa was only really going for a break at that time. They last ep had the right people there and it was a happy and light occasion. The was some of the best scenes ever between Pippa and Sally at that time.

Blaxland you make an excellent point. While I stand by my opinion that the episode itself wasn't as good as it could have been, you are correct in that the storyline as a whole was very good and one of the best storylines of the late 90s. You loved Pippa as a character and didn't want her to leave, but at the same time you wanted her to be happy and you could really see that she felt no longer happy in the Bay. Not that she hated the place but just that she'd had enough after everything she'd been through. Ian made her happy and made her face light up so on one hand you really wanted her to go with him but then you were like "No, Pippa CAN'T leave!"