Kyle Braxton - Nic Westaway

[CaptainHulk]

Waterloo Road was pretty much the same in a lot of respects (character redemption)

[archer]

19 hours ago, jodlebirger said:

"he was so angry because Casey killed their father"... a father who never was a father for him, and he knew why he was killed. But the point is that the backstory was not used effectively, it wasn't realistic, it was full of holes.

But with Kyle we didn't see this at all... He changed overnight and the whole thing  was forgotten about, it was treated like a small thing. But Kyle almost killed Casey slowly and he would have if he hadn't been stopped by Brax.

Brax was angry for a little bit, and so was Heath, but it was over in a blink... No one else (except from a small stint from the police) confronted Kyle about what he had done. It wasn't realistic at all... 

Kyle is more like how Hunter has been treated. And I guess Hunter will suddenly turn out mad in two years of time... But it will not be a loss, because we did never see why and how he became a better person, and we have never seen really why he went bad in the first place. 

I don't know if this would count as a solid backstory but the thing with Kyle was that he was jealous of the Braxtons. They had their father in their lives, that family, they weren't some dirty little secret, but for Kyle, growing up he didn't have that. He was a dirty little secret, no one knew he existed, not very often did he get the chance to spend time with his father because the Braxtons were his actual family. Kyle only got bits and pieces, here and there, the leftovers. Kyle didn't really know what it was like for the Braxton boys to have Danny around, all he had to go by was his imagination, and I guess he imagined the Danny playing happy families with the Braxtons. He despised them for it, even though it wasn't really their fault. 

After Casey got his verdict, the Braxtons were celebrating at Angelos (almost typed Salt lol), and Kyle was sulking. Heath asked what his problem was and he replied "Your brother just got off for killing my dad" (this is a good excuse for me rewatch Kyle stuff on youtube again at 2am). Heath took Kyle to Danny's grave and they talked. Kyle talked about how Danny would take off and he wouldn't see him for months (Heath said that's because Danny had to get back to theirs to kick their butts). Kyle would beg him to stay, and never did get the chance to ask Danny why he always put him (Kyle) second, and Heath that's exactly what he wanted to ask their him. 

The main gist of the conversation was that they both felt like they were overlooked by their father, they both were desperate for his acceptance and/or respect. Brax was Brax, Danny saw Brax for Brax, and Casey, he was the baby. The other two were always overlooked and they didn't understand the why. When Casey killed Danny, Kyle felt that he lost the chance at getting answers. So he wanted to inflict some kinda pain onto Casey for taking his dad away from him and taking away that chance at whatever he was expecting from Danny.

You're right, they never really showed us how Kyle went from crazy angry dude to that calmer kinder guy he was when he left. However, I do believe that that particular conversation with Heath that I was referring to above helped put things into perspective for him. That anger he felt towards Casey in the beginning was really supposed to directed at Danny for being that deadbeat father and awful human.

And then he went on to overcompensate and be overly loyal and try really hard to fit in. He never really did fit in though because Brax, Heath, Casey, they were a nuclear unit. It was always them, and then Kyle, their other brother.

Plus he didn't want to be lumped into the River Boy category so he tried to act differently.

I feel that he was misunderstood and lost, not really a bad guy at the core. I love him anyway.

[Ludub]

On 04/10/2016 at 1:59 PM, archer said:

I don't know if this would count as a solid backstory but the thing with Kyle was that he was jealous of the Braxtons. They had their father in their lives, that family, they weren't some dirty little secret, but for Kyle, growing up he didn't have that. He was a dirty little secret, no one knew he existed, not very often did he get the chance to spend time with his father because the Braxtons were his actual family. Kyle only got bits and pieces, here and there, the leftovers. Kyle didn't really know what it was like for the Braxton boys to have Danny around, all he had to go by was his imagination, and I guess he imagined the Danny playing happy families with the Braxtons. He despised them for it, even though it wasn't really their fault. 

After Casey got his verdict, the Braxtons were celebrating at Angelos (almost typed Salt lol), and Kyle was sulking. Heath asked what his problem was and he replied "Your brother just got off for killing my dad" (this is a good excuse for me rewatch Kyle stuff on youtube again at 2am). Heath took Kyle to Danny's grave and they talked. Kyle talked about how Danny would take off and he wouldn't see him for months (Heath said that's because Danny had to get back to theirs to kick their butts). Kyle would beg him to stay, and never did get the chance to ask Danny why he always put him (Kyle) second, and Heath that's exactly what he wanted to ask their him. 

The main gist of the conversation was that they both felt like they were overlooked by their father, they both were desperate for his acceptance and/or respect. Brax was Brax, Danny saw Brax for Brax, and Casey, he was the baby. The other two were always overlooked and they didn't understand the why. When Casey killed Danny, Kyle felt that he lost the chance at getting answers. So he wanted to inflict some kinda pain onto Casey for taking his dad away from him and taking away that chance at whatever he was expecting from Danny.

You're right, they never really showed us how Kyle went from crazy angry dude to that calmer kinder guy he was when he left. However, I do believe that that particular conversation with Heath that I was referring to above helped put things into perspective for him. That anger he felt towards Casey in the beginning was really supposed to directed at Danny for being that deadbeat father and awful human.

And then he went on to overcompensate and be overly loyal and try really hard to fit in. He never really did fit in though because Brax, Heath, Casey, they were a nuclear unit. It was always them, and then Kyle, their other brother.

Plus he didn't want to be lumped into the River Boy category so he tried to act differently.

I feel that he was misunderstood and lost, not really a bad guy at the core. I love him anyway.

I think this is a pretty perfect analysis of Kyle's character development. Couldn't agree more. I think the events in the desert could be viewed as a sort of mental breakdown in the aftermath of his father's death.  He may not have had that close a relationship with Danny but that doesn't mean that he didn't want and crave one. Having good foster parents doesn't mean that he was well adjusted or that he had coped well with the loss of his mother. I think it's clear that he always felt lost and neglected, and like he'd been rejected as second best. Casey killing Danny, the only real family he felt he had left, proved too much for him to handle. The fact that Casey seemed to be showing no remorse (at least as far as Kyle could see) was what tipped him over the edge. It's not much different from Aden's meltdown really. Once he came to live with Brax and the boys though, we saw him desperately trying to fit in, and following them around like a lost puppy. Probably much like he did with Danny before he died. For me, Kyle was always a tortured soul, who was desperate for love from whatever source he could get it. The Braxton boys never really delivered on that either, and he was always scrambling about on the outside of their circle looking for scraps. He was a tragic hero, sad and lonely to the end, and that's why I love him so much.

Edited October 6, 2016 by Ludub

[jodlebirger]

I don't understand why it could be viewed as a mental breakdown. It really wasn't. I know that is what the writers wanted us to believe, but I really need better work to believe it. We didn't see the build up to it. We have never heard much about what happened to him before this, except from having foster parents (good ones) and having a girlfriend (Phoebe), and loving music. Yes, he probably didn't cope well with his mother's death, but still - he grew up with good foster parents, and normally that would have been enough not to fall that apart. I don't believe in a huge breakdown as that without a real solid storyline. 

 Aden  got a breakdown and that was belivable, because we saw a lot of the build up, and for me that is important. I don't want to guess the characters past, and if we have to it will only lead to unbelievable storylines.  I didn't agree with how Aden's breakdown was done and it was certainly parts of that storyline that should have been done in a different way, but still I believed that he could break down, because it was solid work build up to it... Kyle never had such a build up. We have to guess a lot of what's happened before the desert. And Kyle's so called "breakdown" or desert storyline was far more unbelievable itself as a breakdown than Aden not letting his father, Belle and Rachel go, and tried hysterically to speed up his father's death. It wasn't a planned kidnapping like Kyle kidnap Casey. 

At least they should have explored Kyle's past and past events a lot more, extremely lot more. Because it was just mentioned here and there that he had foster parents, that his mother had died... But did we really know how his relationship with his mother was? No.. we didn't. And he grew up with good foster parents, is very important. Of course his biological mothers death could be hard on him, but if he had good foster parents they still should be more important to him... And giving him the comfort and support. And if they didn't we should have heard more about that. 

I feel that Kyle was only brought in just to point out how amazing the Braxtons was, and put them even higher on a pedestal. It only lead to that Kyle felt totally out of place, and with no real personality except from that he sometimes was a tiny little bit smarter than the Braxtons when it suited the writers. But it could have been a good storyline if had been done in a decent way with much more depth. I feel that he sometimes should have fought more against both Danny and the Braxtons, given that he had been brought up in a different way. But he just followed them as a poppy, and that make the storyline about Isla and Kyle in character for Kyle for me. 

[Ludub]

17 minutes ago, jodlebirger said:

No.. we didn't. And he grew up with good foster parents, is very important.

I might be wrong but I don't think we actually got much information about these 'good foster parents'? I remember him saying that they were 'big on education' but that could mean a lot of things, and not necessarily good things. Melody's mother was big on education but she was also a crazy controlling nightmare who drove her daughter into a total nervous breakdown. Annie and Geoff's grandfather was big on 'education' too but he was also pretty handy with his belt. Kyle's time with his foster parents may not have been the best. Did we ever find out more than that? (I honestly can't remember). I know he told Tamara that he didn't care where his foster parents were, and that he didn't want to see them, so I'm not sure that he had the greatest relationship with them. That said, you're right about them not building enough of his backstory. We needed to understand him more, if only because I would have loved him to have more screentime. The show really dropped the ball in that regard.

[CaptainTed84]

In my opinon, Kyle's character was so underused. Throughout his 5 years that he featured on Home and Away, in the last 3 (2014, 2015, 2016) he barely had too much interaction with characters other than his family or family associates (People like Ricky, Phoebe, Ash and Kat towards the end). It seemed like straight after Tamara Kingsley left the bay, it was as if to the majority of characters he was just seen as "another resident of Summer Bay". He lived in Leah's house briefly in 2013, then dated Tamara who lived with Leah. As soon as Tamara left the bay, I don't think he properly spoke to Leah again. It's not just Leah though that he barely interacted with, he didn't have too much to do with Alf Stewart, Irene and I guess Marilyn. He probably should have been associated with John a bit more than he was (even though they didn't have a lot to do with each other), seeing as John owned the Surf Club that Angelo's (Now Salt) is located in. Staying on the topic of barely associating with the majority of characters, one thing that restricted him from this in the last 3 years especially was his lack of scenes in the Pier Diner. From what I can recall, he was only seen in the actual diner 3 times (probably a bit more than that) from 2014-2016. He was seen outside the diner as well but it still would have been a lot better if he was in the actual diner because to me, if you are a proper Home and Away Character, the diner is a place you go to alot. Another thing that I noticed a lot was with certain events, he was never there. Examples- Zac and Leah's Wedding, Hannah's Breast Cancer Night (that one really surprised me as he did have a bit of interaction with her and the fact that he shut Angelo's that night made me think that he would have been there), I'm not sure about John and Maz's Wedding but the fact that Casey would have most likely been invited makes me think that Kyle would have been too. Those are all the non-Braxton or Angelo's related events that I remember that occured when Kyle was a regular. Now the last thing I will touch on is his departure, I would rant about how bad it was but I see it has already been done to death on here so I won't go there. But after his departure occurred, aside from his family and family associates. Nobody really seemed to care or notice that the owner of Summer Bay's only licensed restaurant who worked his butt off 24/7 has been sent to jail. If he was a recurring/guest character who had only been there for a short amount of time, I would perfectly understand. But this guy was on the show from 2012, so I honestly could not believe it. What I find the most interesting about this is the fact that his character was so popular among viewers of the show so it really does surprise me how low-key his presence was to the Bay's residents. His character should have had a lot more to do with other characters.

On 10/5/2016 at 11:44 PM, Ludub said:

I might be wrong but I don't think we actually got much information about these 'good foster parents'? I remember him saying that they were 'big on education' but that could mean a lot of things, and not necessarily good things. Melody's mother was big on education but she was also a crazy controlling nightmare who drove her daughter into a total nervous breakdown. Annie and Geoff's grandfather was big on 'education' too but he was also pretty handy with his belt. Kyle's time with his foster parents may not have been the best. Did we ever find out more than that? (I honestly can't remember). I know he told Tamara that he didn't care where his foster parents were, and that he didn't want to see them, so I'm not sure that he had the greatest relationship with them. That said, you're right about them not building enough of his backstory. We needed to understand him more, if only because I would have loved him to have more screentime. The show really dropped the ball in that regard.

I think when he said that his family was "big on education" he could have been referring to the fact that he did his HSC, unlike the other Braxtons.

[KyB]

I agree, Kyle was severly underused and the show dropped the ball on many storyline opportunies regarding his non-Braxton family background and his time in fostercare (huge missed opportunity there considering the shows long history of fostercare characters).

I really thought that once Kyle was the sole remaining Braxton that Nic would finally get a proper chance to shine with some bigger storylines and a wider range of screentime with different characters but instead he got shelved and the storylines were given to unliked characters (Ash, Phoebe, etc.).  

Edited October 24, 2016 by KyB

[j.laur5]

I met Nic Westaway the other day and he is the most lovely and nicest guy .

[CaptainTed84]

On 10/24/2016 at 11:08 AM, KyB said:

I agree, Kyle was severly underused and the show dropped the ball on many storyline opportunies regarding his non-Braxton family background and his time in fostercare (huge missed opportunity there considering the shows long history of fostercare characters).

I really thought that once Kyle was the sole remaining Braxton that Nic would finally get a proper chance to shine with some bigger storylines and a wider range of screentime with different characters but instead he got shelved and the storylines were given to unliked characters (Ash, Phoebe, etc.).  

They should have had Kyle and Phoebe getting married, because it would have given Kyle a big storyline seeing as he was the only Braxton left

[j.laur5]

I would like to hear about him from Heath and see how he is going in jail!.

I thinkit's  unfair that Kyle, who turned into the nicest Braxton after he stop being evil, went to jail fora crime that for once he had not even committed.

Because I know Kyle seemed messed up and evil at first but once he calmed down he turned into the nicest guy and stayed nice unlike Hunter who one episode nicest guy in town and next episode back mess up evil boy he was when he started on show.

Over time Matt and Kyle become more like actors Alec and Nic and where's Andy and Hunter somewhat stayed bad at times but mostly were good once they clamed down but they sill could go back to being there bad self's.