2018 Season - UK Episode Discussion

[Razabaza]

Bella looks like a young Vanessa Paradis (French singer/Johnny Depp's ex girlfriend) Anyone think so?

[Trudy Heine]

Bella reminds me of Bobby from the first year of the show

[H&Alover]

5 hours ago, Trudy Heine said:

Bella reminds me of Bobby from the first year of the show

Bella reminds me of Jemima Rooper an English actress who was in Lost In Austen, it's her mouth.  Also the actress who plays Simone reminds me of Eleanor Tomlinson  aka Demelza.

Wow there are more than two teachers at SBH  who'd thunk it.  Maggie said the reason she couldn't let Roo go was because of Raffy needing extra tuition but the other invisible teachers know about Raffy's condition so would help her out.  Could Maggie just block it like that?  There was Alf & Roo - well mainly Roo - fretting about Ryder taking it badly, but he was as Alf thought fine about it.  Smiled when he asked if he was in trouble as the only time Gramps called a family meeting was when he was in trouble.

The Morgan's seem to take Raffy's reason why she couldn't come to the  party pretty well and she wasn't being held prisoner at the Palmer's either but in plain view in the Diner and not chained to the table. It was Marilyn who had to drag John away from bothering her when she was trying to put her assignment together, well to actually get started on it. In her current state of mind I suppose her submitting the work was more important.  Raffy & Ryder would hardly be a bunch of school kids, seems it wasn't a  school day seeing as Raffy was in the Diner most of the day and Ryder wasn't at school either along with Roo & Maggie.  Yet having said that the next day Ryder & Raffy were in the classroom finishing off her assignment so maybe it was a Sunday?  I'm glad Raffy finally let Ryder in and let him help her, he did have some good arguments, he was able to look at it from a different direction.  It was a good idea of his to submit it as a slide show but it was Raffy who put it together and the praise she got from Roo must have really boosted her confidence. It was nice that Justin was there to share it with her.  Just my thoughts but she keeps saying her brain doesn't work like it used to so what she needs to do is to use it in a different way like Ryder was encouraging her to do. Ooh  another nearly kiss in the classroom, then an actual real kiss later on.  There is I think an attraction there but is Raffy in the right frame of mind for a romance?  She did dash off again after the kiss, leaving Ryder looking confused.  After what seems an age we see him interacting with Dean asking  his advice on friendships becoming something more e.g. Dean & Willow and how it affected them.  Though he's been there already with Coco twice and they eventually got back into friends mode.

Justin managed to keep his mouth shut when Mason asked if everything was OK with Tori, to use a well known phrase 'it's not his place' to blab.

How much more obvious could Ziggy get in her trying to fix Mason & Simone up?  Was it me or did Brody look a bit jealous when he saw Simone and Mason talking? OK maybe not too suspicious her behaviour in Ziggy & Brody's place, and why did Justin suggest Simone use their loo, I got it wrong he did,  and not the one in the house, bit of a cheek really.  Simone soon seemed to have not needed it.  But then when she went back to Salt later on to prep for the next day, now that is eager to please, she did seem to be lingering over that photo of her & Brody.

That's been my thoughts Red about Ziggy playing it cooler, the more she has digs at Simone the more Brody will defend her and get closer.  Ziggy has changed tactics though following the keep your friends close and your enemies closer ruse and decided to be 'friends' with Simone.  I had to smile at the look on Justin and Brody's faces when Ziggy asked Simone if they could start again and shook hands with her. Yes guys be afraid, be very afraid.  Ziggy was right in one aspect Brody is the only person Simone really knows in the bay, she needs to know more people.

[Red Ranger 1]

9 hours ago, H&Alover said:

Raffy & Ryder would hardly be a bunch of school kids

Well, my point was there was no reason for there to be any school kids there apart from Raffy.You were taking the absence of school kids as evidence that Raffy wasn't invited when there was no reason for anyone else her age to be there.

Alf's episode count this week:Four, and he was credited on Tuesday for no appearance.

Were we actually meant to be on Dean's side here? I mean, I guess it's good that he's looking out for Colby and he certainly wasn't wholly to blame for Colby barging into Ross' place (although his constant refrain of getting the boys together didn't help) and probably stopped things being even worse.But his attitude towards Chelsea was so completely obnoxious and I was frustrated at how often she let him get the last word. She's given Colby far more leeway than she should have done and far more chances than he deserves when he keeps lying to her, letting her down and doing the wrong thing.Dean's smug "Why did you turn up then?" was particularly idiotic: She turned up because he promised to stop pestering her if she listened.He even has the nerve to snipe about the police not catching Ross when it was him and Colby charging in like inept commandos that hampered their efforts to find him.And just how long did Colby and Dean think they could keep a whole person hidden from the police?The fact that Bella's with Colby is pretty big evidence that they were there before the police.No word as to where exactly they are, just together and not answering the phone.

There was a certain karma in Raffy blowing out John and Marilyn for pizza with Justin: Here's what it's like to be on the other side of it.No idea where the rest of the family were but pleasingly Justin did a good job of advising her and stopping her flying off the handle.My thoughts on Raffy and Ryder remain much the same as yesterday: They're quite sweet together so see where it goes.

And after Maggie withdraws her objections, Roo's off for her third or fourth lengthy absence in recent months.Is it me or has she spent more time away than home this season, so to speak?

[CaptainHulk]

On ‎15‎/‎02‎/‎2019 at 01:55, Razabaza said:

Bella looks like a young Vanessa Paradis (French singer/Johnny Depp's ex girlfriend) Anyone think so?

All I can think of now is that Joe le Taxi song

[H&Alover]

Funny I saw it differently about Dean fighting Colby's corner, I thought he put a very good argument for the way Colby had been acting, he's achieved what he been trying to do for the past six years and got his sister back. He's not going to go looking for revenge, that would just put Bella in danger.  She could never understand the bond between Colby, Dean and Willow, she had a good, happy upbringing.  To be fair the police did know where Ross was so why didn't they move in sooner, they could have nabbed him when he went storming back to the house after he got Bella's call. Colby & Bella do need to come back now before the cops do find them.  The fact Ross buried Michelle at the house shows how much he cared for his daughter, poor kid has been living there all these years with her mum's body close by.

Raffy's decision was partly or maybe mainly down to the fact Marilyn & John invited Ryder along, they weren't to know they had shared a kiss and she was feeling awkward, confused about it.   To give them their due they didn't put up any objections. Is it me or has Justin been sharing more screen time with Raffy than he, or any of the other Morgan's ever did before when Raffy was staying at Marilyn & John's?  I loved that big brother and little sister talk they had and Justin's look when Raffy said 'promise me you won't get angry' before she told him about Ryder kissing her. He did give good advice as in stop avoiding him and talk to him. No way would Ryder kiss Raffy because he felt sorry for her, he's a better person than that.  So sweet when she kissed him after they waved Roo goodbye.   I'm sure they will take it slow.  Be interesting to see/hear what Coco has to say. Had to smile when Ryder was asking his advice, though admittedly in  a ham fisted way that Dean clocked he was talking about Raffy.

I had the feeling and it was confirmed that Maggie was doing a Raffy by depending on Roo to cover her since she's been back. I know they are friends but it doesn't say a lot about her confidence in her other teachers.

At last Ben's Boards is open, I hope it does well for him and Dean, he's really into it and suggesting running a surf school shows he's thinking  of his future.

After all our wondering what 'title' Mason has now, he gave us the answer he's an intern.

 

[atrus]

While I wouldn't normally condone abduction of any kind, obviously these were difficult circumstances - and given Ross had already killed two of Colby's family already, who's to say he wouldn't have killed Bella (and then possibly himself) as a final rebuke to the world, if he'd found his house surrounded by police? When the stakes are potentially so high, I tend to have sympathy with the maxim that if you want something done well, it's maybe best to do it yourself; therefore I can kind of understand Colby shunning official channels and taking her against her will, for her own safety. The haunted house probably wasn't such a hot idea given what happened last time; although happily, no crushing injuries were sustained this time around. I guess my main problem with the whole story was suspending my disbelief as to how quickly and easily Bella was won around, having been prepared to put a crossbow bolt in Colby at the start of the week - but in-show, the fact that he did win her around so swiftly arguably vindicates his decision to take her. I liked her scenes with Willow in particular, and the way this unorthodox family unit has been gradually reunited - for it's clear hearing their stories from her childhood that that's what Dean, Willow, Colby and Bella are.

Is it just me or was the Friday continuation of the storyline a bit odd? First we had Dean and Chelsea having more or less the same conversation over and over for the entire episode, with no Colby or Bella in sight - and then the cliffhanger that Chelsea had told the cops where Bella was seemed completely overblown. I mean, she's obviously okay with being there now, and so I didn't understand the significance of the cops finding out she was there. Sure, it shows that Colby beat the police to Ross's address, but Chelsea sought the info from her dad in a personal capacity, not via official channels, so there was no reason as far as McCarthy and co are concerned for Colby not to have acted on it - and the police surely aren't going to blame him for getting his sister to safety as his first priority. Sure, he'd be in trouble if they knew he abducted her, but based on where things are right now, it doesn't seem likely that Bella is going to drop him in it. Unless she's faking all the reconciliation in order to get away from him, although that seems unlikely. As for Chelsea ending the relationship, well, I sympathised; ultimately, Colby shouldn't be expecting her to harbour secrets of this kind given the impossible position it puts her in, and as such I fear their worlds are probably going to prove irreconcilable.

Robbo and Tori: hmm. It's a difficult one, this; they've already created the embryo and now Robbo wants out. Obviously if they'd created it in the old-fashioned way, he wouldn't have a leg to stand on in telling her she couldn't carry it to term. As for what the legal and moral situation is with the IVF, I have no idea - it's not in Tori's body yet, so I think that does make a significant difference. Presumably this was all covered in the paperwork and/or in the counselling they underwent before the process. But I do feel for Tori; as she said, he signed up knowing what was potentially involved, and it feels unfair for him to pull the rug now. I feel for Robbo too, although I do wonder whether the best solution for his problems is not to veto any further IVF attempts, but to keep up/redouble his counselling regime - as I feel that unresolved grief over his children continues to be his primary roadblock.

Ziggy continues to behave pretty childishly over Simone, although I must admit that I'm starting to get evil vibes from the latter so maybe it's not all in Ziggy's head. Well, maybe not full-blown evil, but it does feel like she possibly idolises Brody to a slightly unhealthy degree. Then again, her love of the job seems to be genuine, so who can say; I kind of like the ambiguous way the show's presenting her at the moment. Either way, Ziggy has nothing like the requisite evidence that anything's amiss, and so trying to set Simone up with Mason just to keep her out of Brody's orbit is way out-of-line. As Mason said himself, if she suspects Simone of being iffy, it's hardly fair to foist her onto him instead.

Ryder and Raffy - yeah, I'm on-board. I think they're much better suited than Ryder and Coco ever were, and there's a feeling that their existing friendship goes a lot deeper, whereas with Ryder and Coco there was a distinct sense of going through the motions, and that Coco in particular didn't even seem to like Ryder most of the time. Coco has definitely taken a level in maturity more recently, but nonetheless she's probably going to hit the roof when she comes back and finds out. I don't really care about that, though; she treated Ryder pretty horribly for the most part, so she can't reasonably expect to have a say when he finds someone new.

And Roo's off again. Of course when Maggie was talking about the suitable teachers she'd lined up to replace her, what she really meant was that it will be Maggie herself standing in in all classes now until Roo's return in order to save on guest cast, so I suppose you can kind of see why she was hacked off! I guess there must be real-life reasons for Roo's comings and goings recently, although in-show, it does somewhat have the effect of making her original appeal to Quinn to let Ryder stay in the Bay so he'd enjoy more stable guardianship look slightly questionable, particularly after he went so far off the rails last time she was away - although on the plus side, he still has Alf this time, and he did seem happy enough about her decision.

[D.B]

Well, let's start with the easy stuff- I was reluctant to see Ryder and Raffy's friendship turn into a relationship, but they have been very sweet so far together, so yeah, I'm thinking on getting on board. The talk with Alf and Marilyn was... interesting to say the least. And Roo's gone again,and while I can't help but feel that Maggie acted extremely shifty when she refused Roo's request, at least in the next episode we were given a reasonable reason for her behaviour. The banter with Ben and John was fun to watch, and it'd be even more enjoyable if John wasn't being unbearable only to turn his attitude whenever he needed a favour from Ben.

The Brody/Ziggy/Simone storyline is a whole lot more trickier to conclude a decision about, because Simone does appear to be innocent looking, but there just seemed something off with the way she was with Brody's shirt. Though in all fairness to her, Brody and Ziggy aren't exactly being the Einsteins in this situation, with Ziggy's attempt of setting up Simone with Mason was as obvious as it could get, while Brody's care-free attitude about Ziggy's concerns doesn't really seem to be resolving the situation, only making things worse. I did feel sorry for Mason here, with another example of a girl that's not into him or into someone else, though thankfully both him and Simone cleared the air quickly.

Tori, I think, is just making things worse for her, Robbo and Jasmine. It's hard not to feel for her, because she's going through an awful time and she is right in that Robbo signed up for this knowing the possible outcomes, but going behind his back like this, especially since this is a really sensitive issue for him and also that he is allowed to change his mind about it, especially since this tragedy became real, just for her own needs... no, I can't really be on her side about this, all of this would just cause more hardship for all three of them. 

Speaking of single-minded people going behind friend's backs for their own needs and expecting to come out on top...Colby and Dean. This storyline just seems to be going downhill for me, as the writers are just hoping that we're praising the two of them messing up a murder investigation and believe that McCarthy and Chelsea are the 'big bad villains' for just doing their job. While I do appreciate Dean's loyalty to his best mate, I'm really not getting his point of view here- his claims that both he and Colby did what the police couldn't have is just false, because the two morons never gave them a chance, did they? Chelsea dobbing them in was a surprise, but honestly, given Dean and Colby's attitude towards her and the police as a whole, I honestly couldn't blame her. This episode also left me with a strong impression that before they rocked up to the station, Dean and Colby made sure that Bella knew what to say to avoid getting arrested, which is precisely what Ross has been doing all these years. While Bella's realisation about her mother's death was terrible for her to remember, and also Colby does get some points for being the good big brother, him blaming Bella's distress on Chelsea and McCarthy just doesn't have the ring of truth for me; as horrible as it was, it was just their job, and also crucial to finding Ross and stopping him for good. And also, even if I'm sounding like an annoying broken record here, if Colby had followed proper procedure and done his job which was so gratefully given back to him, allowed the police to find Ross and Bella, which would have allowed Bella to get proper treatment and help instead of being held in a possibly dangerous abandoned building guarded and not being allowed to leave (though I'd happily admit that the three amigos of Willow, Dean and Colby would have more success in reaching out to her, though the surroundings were far from reassuring), they would all be better off, and the fact is it's was on Colby, and to some minor extent Dean and Willow, not Chelsea. I don't know, this story seems to be going down the path of Hunter, in which someone does something wrong (Colby, Hunter) and we're expected to cheer them on, when 9 times out of 10, they don't deserve it, while characters who call them out on it (Chelsea, VJ) are made to looked ridiculous for their 'righteous attitude'.  And that's not something I'd want to see more of in this show. 

On 17/02/2019 at 15:43, H&Alover said:

To be fair the police did know where Ross was so why didn't they move in sooner, they could have nabbed him when he went storming back to the house after he got Bella's call. 

Chelsea's dad gave her the address to tell the police, because given the location, Summer Bay police would be the closest responders. He didn't expect Colby to find it and go off on his own accord. And even if, there were other police units on the way, the moment he returned and noticed the empty house, it's extremely unlikely that Ross would have stayed around, therefore Colby's actions had compromised the investigation and gave Ross a chance to escape justice. 

[H&Alover]

I know I'm nit picking but Summer Bay doesn't have any police it's Yabby Creek where the station is located. 

[D.B]

59 minutes ago, H&Alover said:

I know I'm nit picking but Summer Bay doesn't have any police it's Yabby Creek where the station is located. 

Okay, that was my mistake, I should have said the Yabby Creak police, but still the same thing.