2018 Season - UK Episode Discussion

[Pierced Musie]

So... Colby & Dean... Which one got their heart broke?  I know the chances of that being their past is non existent but damn, my inner hoyay heart started beating for the first time in years. 

 

[c120701]

I’m all for exploring unexplored backstory, but if Martha had just gone missing rather than a body actually being found, there’s no way we wouldn’t have heard about that or the investigation that would go with it from Floss or Colleen. Whilst the Stewarts were a respected family, surely someone in the town would have surely suspected hot-headed Alf to have been involved.

[Red Ranger 1]

23 hours ago, Dan F said:

We've also pretty much established that Alf didn't know the truth when he actually married Ailsa

We haven't established that at all, quite the opposite: When Roo asked Alf last week if he'd known all along, he looked awkward, implying he did.Today, Roo told Alf it had been going on for "over 30 years" (emphasis mine), when he married Ailsa slightly less than 30 years ago.As for harrietjames' research...well, a lot of it seems not entirely relevant or from the wrong era, referring to laws in 1995 or 2009 or when there's an actual dead person there. Today, Roo stated outright that her mother's supposed death happened in 1984, which may be significant: Until 1985, a coroner couldn't hold an inquest in some states if there was no body, although possibly NSW wasn't one of them.As a result, some cases where death was presumed but not confirmed remained officially open for decades and weren't resolved until early this century.(It's ironic that they do this only 12 months after the Patrick/Luke storyline, which revolved around the fact that although he disappeared and was presumed dead in similar circumstances, there was no body and thus no death certificate!)As to Alf's legal status, at the very least he seems to be guilty of withholding information and legally and morally there seems to be a lot of avenues for fraud.For instance, did Martha have life insurance? Would Alf not be committing a crime if he kept quiet in order to hold onto it?

All of which is more interesting that today's episode, which mainly consisted of a lot more scenes of characters not talking about it and not telling us any proper answers.

You know, I heard people gushing about Willow when these episodes were shown in Australia and looked forward to an overdue bonding moment between her and Tori...but instead I found myself disliking her for the first time in a while.Her purpose here seemed to be to tell the increasingly annoying and pathetic Tori that she's wonderful, that it's totally okay to break the law for no good reason if you can justify it to yourself, and that she should just run away from the consequences of her own poor choices.I was glad Ash didn't want anything to do with her, even if it's hard to get behind him still wishing he could have killed Robbo (although it did feel like at least some of that was for Dean's benefit).I've more sympathy for Justin, who really was caught between a rock and a hard place and dragged into it by Tori.So...I guess we're meant to assume from that ending that Colby used to be a River Boy (which the promo confirms) and was the one-time best friend Dean was talking about.Mind you, this Second Coming of the River Boys is becoming increasingly hard to get straight.Are we to assume that Colby and Dean used to hang out with Brax and Heath when they were kids? Is Dean supposed to have been just off screen during the River Boys shenanigans of previous years?

[Homeandawayfan.]

1 hour ago, Red Ranger 1 said:

We haven't established that at all, quite the opposite: When Roo asked Alf last week if he'd known all along, he looked awkward, implying he did.Today, Roo told Alf it had been going on for "over 30 years" (emphasis mine), when he married Ailsa slightly less than 30 years ago.As for harrietjames' research...well, a lot of it seems not entirely relevant or from the wrong era, referring to laws in 1995 or 2009 or when there's an actual dead person there. Today, Roo stated outright that her mother's supposed death happened in 1984, which may be significant: Until 1985, a coroner couldn't hold an inquest in some states if there was no body, although possibly NSW wasn't one of them.As a result, some cases where death was presumed but not confirmed remained officially open for decades and weren't resolved until early this century.(It's ironic that they do this only 12 months after the Patrick/Luke storyline, which revolved around the fact that although he disappeared and was presumed dead in similar circumstances, there was no body and thus no death certificate!)As to Alf's legal status, at the very least he seems to be guilty of withholding information and legally and morally there seems to be a lot of avenues for fraud.For instance, did Martha have life insurance? Would Alf not be committing a crime if he kept quiet in order to hold onto it?

The timeline is so messed up in this storyline it is hard to know when to start. Alf married Ailsa in May 1988. Roo said "over 30 years" meaning Alf knew by at least the start of 1988. This does mean he was committing fraud when he wed Ailsa and was a bigamist. Even if he had got the letter from Martha just after he wed Ailsa, he would surely have to declare it. If that is the case, then OK, he may not have known at the time of marrying Ailsa, and he thought his wife was dead, but, and this is a big but, if you find that she is alive then that must mean you are still married to the previous spouse.

You get married, and it is suspected your previous wife is dead but then you get a letter from her saying she is alive then you cannot just withhold it.

[Dan F]

OK, so with the development of the storyline being so painfully dragged out, I forgot that one conversation hadn't yet aired in the UK (it's coming on Thursday), that places Alf finding out about Martha into very specific timeframe.

[630si]

6 hours ago, Pierced Musie said:

So... Colby & Dean... Which one got their heart broke?  I know the chances of that being their past is non existent but damn, my inner hoyay heart started beating for the first time in years. 

 

Hahaha I also thought this. There was a definite haze in each other’s eyes and would actually have been really good for these characters if there was some kind of romantic back story imo. A taboo in a gang world so to speak.

Roo frustrated me today a little. I completely understand her shock and her feelings towards Alf, and maybe she doesn’t want to go off at him because he’s just had a heart attack but to just run a round town avoiding him altogether I found a bit childish. I’d be demanding an explanation of some kind. You would imagine that she would have all kinds of questions. I did think though that when she went to the police station to get help from colby that she might have an element of doubt as to whether Alf was telling the truth. 

Ash and Tori are off again. Surprise surprise. She said it herself though, she knew the whole time it just doesn’t fit. I hope she just gets on with it now and leaves this whole thing behind. I’ve a feeling Robbos lies about his whereabouts won’t wash for long with the police though and Tori will have to answer a few questions herself soon enough. 

[Red Ranger 1]

I'm not sure I really connected emotionally with any of that. It now appears Alf learned Martha was alive a bit later than originally implied, but still a heck of a long time ago in the total time scale.Frankly, given the show's confusion over Roo's age and the status of her relationship with Ailsa, it's hard to be sure but I think they were trying to say Alf got the letter in 1988, since after that Roo had left school, was in a good place emotionally and was basically getting on fine with Alf and Ailsa, despite several episodes over the last three decades not seeming to realise that.But it's hard not to shake the feeling that instead of playing the truth of the situation, someone wanted the big dramatic moment of Alf bellowing "She's alive!!!!!" in the middle of a life-and-death situation and to somehow tie it in with the show's early days, with the resulting claim that Alf's been hiding this for about as long as we've known him hard to get our heads around.I do understand his reasons, that lobbing a grenade into Roo's life at that time would have caused more harm than good and the longer it went on the harder it would have been to tell her, but it's really hard to connect with.

Frustrating that Tori gets to duck out of the fallout of her choices and poor Justin is left to get it in the neck for something that was her fault.What's the bet that by the time she gets back, Brody and Mason will be over it and she'll escape the blame? Heck, Brody seems to be over it already.It doesn't help that it hits the exact same beats as the Alf/Roo storyline, with characters feeling betrayed that a family member kept something from them and announcing they're moving out.

It's beginning to feel like there's too many new characters around at the moment...and worse, they're all bland 20-somethings which has always been the show's weak point.I watch a scene between Colby and Jasmine and I've no idea who they are or what I'm meant to feel about them.It feels like we should be itching to know more about Colby's past but I just don't find the character very interesting and his apparently charged hug with Jasmine fell completely flat.Even Willow feels like someone we don't really know well enough to care about how well she knows Colby, and the implication that he's lied about his past to join the police is another dent in his credentials as a police officer we can get behind.I'm also increasingly beginning to feel that this River Boys storyline would work better if they weren't the River Boys: Alter a few lines of dialogue and they could just as easily be a bunch of guys that Ash knew from before his time in jail, without us having to try and reconcile them with the River Boys we already know.

[630si]

Interesting views on Colby there Red. I really like him actually, he doesn’t seem typical Roverboy ish and everyone in the bay comments on how much they seem to like him too. Going to keep an open mind I think. 

Now, Alf and Roo et al is a tricky one. The revelation of Martha being alive was exciting as you say, but the reality of trying to male this work all this time down the line is just not feesable in my opinion from what I have seen so far. It’s just not believable to me that Alf wouldn’t have told Roo sooner. Or whipped Martha into shape. Of course today was the only first real snippet we had of an explanation. There needs to be much more. 

Brody moving out of the Morgan house makes sense. Apartment above the diner maybe?

[Slade]

Jen seemed to want Hunter to help her with her homework as some sort of date but she probably doesn't want to come across as too keen.  She definitely likes him so I guess it was a rehearsal date.  Still I'm not too keen on it as it seems slightly manipulative.  I did enjoy Hunter seeking advice from Leah about it though.

Ash never would have been able to go after Robbo if he wasn't injured from the accident and affected by his memory returning.  We saw how easily he took Ash out at the police station and how he took on Zannis  and his henchmen even  though Zannis was armed but when Ash took them on he ended up in hospital.  I wanna see a rematch with a fully fit Robbo in the right head space!

So after telling Ash he's going  to be in trouble for interfering  with the investigation Colby lets Ash talk to Robbo whilst he was in a cell and lets him off?  Again really enjoyed the interaction with Robbo and Tori and I liked that he thanked her for everything he did for her.  I think Tori could see he wasn't a bad person.  But McCarthy confirms they are charging him for murder.  The problem is that he disposed of Novak's body.  If he had just left him there a decent lawyer might have been able to argue self defense.

Ash getting annoyed with Tori and Justin again was mildly amusing.  Thought he was being quite childish with Justin at the garage.  Justin was right.  He swans off with the River Boys to go after Robbo and leaves Justin to do all the hard work and I was glad he called Ash out with his hypocrisy with regards to him lying to protect people whilst blaming Tori.  Although if he can't get over this then one of them is going to have to sell their share of the business.  I am actually glad he and Tori are over.  I think Willow made a fair point in their conversation querying what she sees in Ash given that she's a doctor and he's an ex crim one that has a tendency to be violent but this can easily be explained by looking at Tori's mental age when it comes to relationships.  I do think getting away for a few days will do her some good.

Whilst I support what Tori and Justin did I'm glad they are maintaining consistency with the storyline and there's fallout with Mason and Brody.  Don't blame either of them for being annoyed and I know I would if I was in their position.  Brody obviously more understanding because of his drug addiction.  I was surprised he was the one that said he was thinking of moving out as I thought Mason would have been the first although the fact that Mason isn't doing anything means he's probably habouring resentment towards Justin and Tori which will come out in due course.

Similarly Roo now wants to move out of her home after being lied to for many years by her own father.  Thought she came across as slightly childish even though again it's quite understandable.

I guess Jasmine's stalkers getting arrested is a good thing but in terms of the storyline it would be better if we actually saw this guy assuming the whole thing isn't just a plot device to provide Leah someone to focus on with no VJ.

"Vegetarian Mr Stewart.  It's all low fat low cholesterol" - What about cheese and eggs Marilyn?

When Alf mentioned Ryder's name my head dropped.  I'd forgotten about him which means we're probably going to see him today/tomorrow.  *Sigh*

[H&Alover]

Being vegetarian doesn't exclude eating cheese and eggs.  As for cholesterol TPTB have decided eggs are now allowed and it can be low fat cheese.  

I blinked when Roo told Colby her mum was presumed dead in 1984 as according to her and Alf's profile page Martha 'died' in 1985. Once Colby tracks down the paperwork she'll be able to read through the investigation. The way I 'heard' him tell it Alf didn't hear from Martha until after he'd married Ailsa so at least he didn't knowingly commit bigamy which would so un Alf like. I'm glad Roo brought up the question of why he didn't tell Morag or Celia, I can imagine what their reactions would have been though.  Roo was a teen when it happened and may have been a handful then and we know from what they have both said she was trouble.  OK he didn't feel he could tell her when she was that young but as he rightly explained when she was older and feeling up he didn't want to bring her down and when she was down he didn't want to make it worse. I think she was avoiding Alf, until Maz cajoled her into talking to him, was because she was sacred of what he would tell her as in it was because of her.  Alf assured her it wasn't but I did get the feeling he was holding something back. You're right Red the longer you put off telling someone something dramatic like that  the harder it is because then you have to explain why you hadn't said anything before. I think Roo's choice to leave was because Alf believed he was about to die and wouldn't have said anything otherwise. It does bring you to the subject of him saying 'she's alive' begging the question as in now and how does he know, does he know where she is? 

Didn't take a genius to work out Colby had been an ex River Boy when Dean was droning on about how an old friend he'd looked up to had let him down interspersed with the scenes of Colby going into his van and taking his shirt off to reveal his Blood & Sand tat!  On that subject thought he told Willow he wouldn't have been allowed into the Police Force if they had known he had been affiliated with a gang - er excuse me wouldn't that tat have rather given the game away when he had his psychical?  I don't think Willow will say anything about his past, but Dean is another matter - do I get the sense of future blackmail on his part?  I wondered that Red, were Dean & Colby junior foot soldiers back in Brax's day, I'm guessing Colby could be in his late 20's so if we go ten years back, just before we 'met' the River Boys, it would put him (and Dean)  in their teens. It didn't look like any of the present River Boys recognised him. Must have been a somewhat tricky decision for him to agree to be posted at Yabby Creek as it must be quite close to Mangrove River.

Dean did remind me of the devil sitting on Ash's shoulder when Ash was wondering if he'd been too hard on Justin when he in effect told him the truth about he'd have done the same thing a hundred times.

Tori is not the first and certainly won't be the last professional to fall for a bad 'un even a reformed one.

Had to smile at Justin getting all jumpy around Colby considering he'd spent seven years of his life lying about himself and his family history to various people cops included.  That didn't arouse his suspicions at all.

I can see why Mason and Brody were angry that Justin (& Tori) who was conveniently away so didn't get any of the flak, hid the truth from them, they are adults. But at least when they were telling Dean & Ash that 'cross their hearts and hope to die' they didn't know where Robbo was they were telling the truth, one or either of them would have sussed if they'd been lying.  Good luck with not telling Raffy about any of it, that hasn't worked before so can't see it changing this time.

Still getting confused as to which blonde is which.   My answer to Jasmine still getting texts from David would be change her number but as she said she'd already done that and he'd found her again.  I'm supposing other people are phoning her/family, friends? I guess it could get obsessive to keep checking your phone, against your better judgement to see if he or she is still sending messages, texts.  Leah seemed to be surprised that Jasmine was 'down' when he hadn't called her, but I think I would be too as perverse as that sounds as it would make me worry what he was up to.  Her new address has been given as Yabby  Creek which David's lawyer would have to know which doesn't put me at ease.