2018 Season - UK Episode Discussion

[H&Alover]

Seems to be just us two Red most of the time.  Justin wasn't exactly bigging it up why Raffy should be at home, though to be fair to him he only asked if she was OK and she jumped down his throat! I may be way off here but it does seem that Raffy has stayed away, three nights now, ever since the morning Tori had her miscarriage, though she would have been at school anyway,  and has been avoiding her ever since, not even wanting to see her when Justin suggested it, when normally she'd be right there for her.  Obviously told off screen like Marilyn, Leah & Irene.  Does she feel guilty for some reason, though there is no need for her to, that she wasn't there that morning so couldn't help or maybe she feels all the stress of her epilepsy brought it on? Anyways getting back to her staying with Marilyn & John and whether she's being coerced, brainwashed, not encouraged to go home, she's 15 so Justin can hardly drag her home which wouldn't solve anything.  As someone suggested everyone needs to sit down together, again and talk about Raffy and include her this time.  But you're right she has changed, being generous I'm putting it partly down to her still adjusting to her new meds messing with her head, but she has become very reliant on Coco and pushing Ryder aside when he tries to help.  She was not a happy bunny when Coco got the news she and James were going on this two week course, in the trailer she suggests Maggie did it out favouritism by 'picking' Coco. Off course a tad, loved how Buddy was lying on the bed with Tori, lovely boy.

I know I suggested Simone was a stalker type, but I'm ready to giver her the benefit of the doubt, her actions could be taken two ways, a really into cooking young woman who is keen to learn more from someone, Brody, who is just as keen to teach someone or it could be something more sinister. Ziggy by her own admission is not into how a meal is prepared just likes eating it, but she's behind Brody and letting him enjoy his passion, likewise he's not into anything mechanical like she is and lets her get on with mending cars.  I don't think Brody has any idea Simone is keen on him if she is, he's just pleased he's got a willing pupil he can talk about food to. I'd like to think Simone locking them in the store room was an accident, she'd have no idea it was on a time lock would she and she said she didn't like confined spaces so another reason, maybe, it wasn't deliberate.  She did bring up about cooking with her mum when she was growing up which made Brody look pensive, is she aware of what happened there?  She's a teacher so not some air head who's looking for a distraction.   Ziggy isn't handling her suspicions/jealousy at all well, but then she's hardly known for her restraint, wonder where she gets that from, and just storms in all guns blazing, she's certainly been very vocal about her feeling towards Simone.  There are more subtle ways she could play it, but she doesn't do subtle either.   Good actually that Justin was there when Simone & Brody were 'discovered'  otherwise it could really have kicked off. I did like Ziggy's earlier quip when Brody said something about a menu - "and you're on it".  Ziggy did have a point her name is Ziggy not Zigg, well at least not to a stranger!

Then there's Robbo/Tori/Jasmine.  Although I sympathise with Tori I feel it is too soon for her to want to try again, can see why Robbo bailed on wanting to go to see the specialist, he's obviously not ready whereas Tori is worried time is slipping away from her to delay waiting to try again. Justin's going to see him could be viewed as him being a big brother looking out for his sister and reminding Robbo of what she did for him, but equally it could be seen as guilt tripping. Though no mention of Leah's miscarriages was made, it was nice she went with Tori, she could understand more of what Tori is going through.  Bit of an oh gosh moment when Robbo  told Jasmine he didn't want to try for any more children - ever!

It's been bugging me since she joined but I knew the actress - Emily Eskell - who plays Simone reminded me of someone, then I had a light bulb moment - it's Eleanor Tomlinson who plays Demelza or is it just me thinking that?

[D.B]

14 hours ago, Red Ranger 1 said:

Double post, where is everyone? I try not to do this but I need to rant.

Sorry Red, I've been incredibly busy this year and will continue to do so, but I'll try and comment when ever possible. But I have noticed that in a whole, a lot of other forums have gone quiet as well. 

Well, this Simone seems to have trouble written all over her in my opinion. Maybe I'm speaking too soon, as she just arrived, but she just seems like she desperately trying to flirt with Brody, who surprisingly hasn't noticed, as to my memory in his first year, he seemed rather good with this kind of stuff. And while I agree with Ziggy that Brody should really draw the line (Which he thankfully did) with Simone, Ziggy should give Brody more trust than what she is giving him. I'm all for giving people the benefit of the doubt, but I do have a rather sneaky suspicion  about how the door was locked. But in any case, the situation was settled- for now at least. Now Justin and Willow breaking up- never thought I say this, but it's probably for the best, since that relationship has gone extremely toxic. Mason tried to be a good brother (though I think in the morning afterwards he could have done more than just look at his brother's drunken state and leaved Tori to actually wake him up), but honestly the state Justin was in, flirting with Leah and getting completely wasted at Irene's, while sad, was hilarious. 

Spoiler

So it appears that this is the apparent start of Justin/Leah, which will probably be less as bizarre as it sounds. Well, to the writers at least 

Tori loosing the baby- terrible, honestly tragically terrible. I honestly didn't expect the show to take this route with this story (mainly because they've done it many times before), but still horrible. Robbo's reaction to it was so sad as well, I mean, this is the third time something along this line has happened to him (and two of them happening with less than a year between them!). Still, thankfully they both had Jasmine to look after them, who is still continuing to show what a lovely person she is (so much I'm really failing to understand all the hate she gets). Tori just wanting to try again just immediately after the fact is surprising, but I wouldn't be surprised that Robbo isn't all for the idea. It was nice that she had Leah, Mason and the rest of her family- with the notable exception of Raffy. I actually have to agree with Red here in terms of her and Marilyn, why I wouldn't go as far and say she was brainwashed, I do think that Marilyn seems to take every option available to keep Raffy in her arms rather than her actually going back to her family, and the attitudes of the older crowd is not helping. Raffy saying that there's so much drama going on in the Morgan's house is overdramatic, to say the least. Seeing her struggle in school is sad but realistic, so good that she has Ryder and Coco to rely on, though Coco's new news may cause some friction. I wouldn't go so far as to call Raffy a brat with her behaviour, she has just dealt and is still dealing with a traumatic event, so I can understand that her emotions tend to run a little high,  but I do think she can be more accepting of family and friends who just want to help her rather than just stick onto to Marilyn and John. Her kiss with Ryder...while I do understand why the writers would go with it,  given how much chemistry there is between them, but I would like it for once where there is a friendship between men and women without feelings emerging, 

Spoiler

Which probably would happen now, given the rumours of Coco leaving. 

 

On 01/02/2019 at 00:02, Red Ranger 1 said:

Maybe I’m being harsh on him, I often am, but Colby bullying a mental patient was another reminder of why I’ve never really warmed to the character. It also underlined that he should have left it to Chelsea who would have handled things a lot better. I was shocked by the new of his mother’s murder but I didn’t really feel anything for him, mainly because it’s hard to believe he cares that much. He’s spent so much time banging on about “finding Bella” that you’d be forgiven for not realising he doesn’t know where his mother is either, and frankly I got the impression he saw his mother as a weak person who couldn’t stand up to Ross and would have gladly taken Bella away from her too if he had to. Maybe that’s unfair on him, but as it turns out she was protecting him while he was doing his usual job of making things as bad as possible by joining a criminal gang and stealing a car. And if he hadn’t left his friends for dead and disappeared for years, he might have got that recording sooner and maybe she’d even still be alive. The fact that he and Dean even considered gang warfare as a response underlines my feeling that he’s a River Boy first and a police officer second at best, however much he might claim otherwise, and that really isn’t a set of priorities he can stick to. At least Chelsea managed to make them see reason but I do wonder what a nice girl like her is doing with people like this. 

Now time for Round Two of Red vs D.B.'s arguments about characters (though this won't be much of an argument, given that I do agree with a lot of your assessment of Colby, just not with a few points): While I do agree that Colby was wrong to, as you said, bully Karen (who does seem very much better than we last saw her and thankfully we saw a nice scene between her and Dean) before he found the truth about his mother; everything after that, to me, just seemed the emotions of sorrow that was affecting him when he asked it after Karen told them. As for him not caring about his mother, I'd have to disagree with that one as well, given the state he was in when Chelsea gave him a hug when they came back, him "banging on about finding Bella" was, in my view, as him, in his time for grief, making sure that Bella wasn't murdered as well; if she had, he would have definitely lost it, and as for the claim that he saw his mother as weak, has this been confirmed before? (though I would admit that Colby has barely given his mother in his search a thought at all, if I remember it clearly). You are right in that he did a very bad job in trying to find them before and if he just got the recording it would have been better (though we're not entirely sure when she died, so it might have been too late for her), and going around the 'River boy' approach is definitely  (even if I think that Ross, after all he said in the recording, deserves a punch) the absolute wrong thing to do (and it makes you think about whether allowing him to wear the uniform is a bright idea), but I'm more sympathetic towards him- he just learned that some harrowing about his parent's deaths, no-one would be thinking rationally at that moment, so while it's wrong, it's sort of understandable. Police can't just take off their emotions when they put on the uniform. But thankfully Chelsea prevailed as the cooler head, so now we just have to see if Murray's lead will lead to any results- or will it just be another waste of time? 

[Red Ranger 1]

7 hours ago, D.B said:

Sorry Red, I've been incredibly busy this year and will continue to do so, but I'll try and comment when ever possible.

Sorry, D.B., didn't mean to guilt trip you! It's just I don't like double posting and when I come on here and find no-one's commented since me the previous day, and I have a lot to say, it's a bit of a dilemma!

Anyway, I think I'm going to rant a bit: Why did the show have to get people's hopes up by having Raffy move back in with the Morgans? I really thought that they'd decided that was where she should be and John and Marilyn would fade into the background...but, no, it seems the plan was to "prove" to us that she should be with the Palmers.Yet it didn't do anything of the sort, except demonstrate that the only reason she's there is because the people making the show want her there, as we get no concrete arguments, just banal statements like "I'm happy and relaxed there", "I can be myself with them" and Marilyn's pathetically self-centred "Please don't take her away from us again" when she's spent months taking Raffy away from the Morgans at every available opportunity, the most recent being less than 24 hours earlier.But no, John and Marilyn get their own way and break up a family, and we have to sit through them celebrating while Justin stands there heartbroken.Why do the Morgans always have to be the ones who are noble and do what makes Raffy happy even when it hurts them, while the Palmers only care about their own feelings?My overriding feeling is that Raffy living with the Morgans would have worked fine if not for John and Marilyn constantly sabotaging it: Intruding and interfering in matters that should have been left to family so Raffy had no chance to properly bond with her siblings again, using the flimsiest of excuses (Justin got drunk! Tori's pregnant!) to take her home with them without consulting her or anyone else so she gets confused about where her home is.Far more than Willow, Raffy has been changed for the worst by being with John and Marilyn.I remember just a few months ago she insisted on being with her family when Ava was kidnapped: When Marilyn did what she's doing now and tried to tell her to come home with her, she insisted on spending the night with the Morgans. Now, Raffy's the one wanting to stay with the Palmers instead of supporting her family.The only good thing she did all episode was refuse to let Coco give up her opportunity for her sake (and I really didn't like that Ryder pressured Coco into doing that).It's a shame she didn't do the same for Justin: He doesn't want her to leave, he's only making the offer because he wants her to be happy, but screw him, huh? For that matter, given how upset Tori was at Raffy refusing to stay with her last week (before the miscarriage), and how much Brody's tried to make her feel supported, and how fond of her Mason's been, I imagine they'll be upset at losing her again as well.But hey, apparently their feelings don't matter, so long as John and Marilyn get what they want and Raffy gets to be turned into even more of a mini-me for Marilyn.And just to rub it in, we get John acting like a petulant bully towards Ben.He's really meant to be a better male role model for Raffy than Justin, Brody or Mason? For that matter, Marilyn's really meant to be better than Tori? You can just bet there'll be no reciprocation.No involving the Morgans in major milestones in her life, no sleepovers with her family, back to keeping her as far away from them as possible and not letting her be involved in their lives.I just remember when it was the Palmers making Raffy's life miserable with their dramas and she wanted to go back to the Morgans, and Justin told her she couldn't just switch homes when things got difficult and let John and Marilyn guilt trip her into staying with them, not because it was best for her but because it was what they wanted.One rule for some and one rule for others.I don't know what would be worse: If her epilepsy and stress gets magically cured by living with John and Marilyn (a la Ryder's sleep problems vanishing overnight once Roo took him off his mother), or if the drama continues and it's obviously not down to the Morgans but we're meant to ignore that.

Honestly, even more than making criminals into heroic figures, it shows that the people making the programme can't grasp what it's meant to be about that they've taken a sure-fire winner of an idea like making John and Marilyn foster parents and messed it up so badly.We've had a conveyor belt of foster children who would have made decent long-term characters (Skye, Jordan, Ty) only to be shunted off after months or less, while a girl who's already got a loving family gets used as a plot device to make them feel relevant.Yes, it's always been a theme that family is about more than blood, but that doesn't mean living with your biological family is automatically a bad thing, and any foster parent who doesn't realise that a child being happily reunited with their family is a success and meddles with and undermines the relationship has no right looking after children. I've seen people calling for John and Marilyn to be axed and I've resisted it up until now, but if keeping them around means wrecking one of the best teen characters and best family units in years, then they need to go.

Talking of making criminals into heroic figures, yet more evidence that someone like Colby should never have been allowed back into the police.If he has as little respect for the force as it seems he has, then he's no right to wear the uniform.He's just proving Neil right about him.(And incidentally, why, other than as a plot device, did Neil text Chelsea the information instead of going through official channels?)I know Summer Bay's finest don't always cover themselves in glory, but you're talking about a Homicide investigation into the murder of a police officer.Does Colby seriously think that, instead of sending armed police in to secure the area and arrest the armed murder suspect, they'll send one officer to have a conversation along the lines of "Excuse me, sir, are you Ross Nixon, chief suspect in the murder of Constable Thorne?"/"No, never heard of him"/ "Right you are, sir, thank you for your time"?Especially when his own tactic is just as bad, seemingly with no plan other than "Go there and find them", and he needs Dean, who thinks involving the River Boys is a good idea, to stop him making an even bigger mess of it than he already has.Ebony really knew how to push the right buttons: He's so deluded that despite Bella being with Ross six years, seemingly having an okay relationship with him when they were living in Mangrove River and things being so fine on the surface that Neil determined she was in no danger, he probably assumed she'd spent all that time just waiting for him to turn up and was going to run into his arms and tell her to take him away.(Incidentally, she looks nothing like those photos he was flashing around for months.Always a bad idea to do that when you're going to cast the character in the near future.)

Incidentally, although he isn't credited, Ross was played by Justin Rosniak, who had two significant guest roles last century, as the McPhees' grandson in the 80s and as a classmate of Jack, Selina et al who lodged with Irene with his mother in the 90s.Which underlines the fact that he's barely older than me (he's 41) and therefore doesn't really seem old enough to be the stepfather, and same age as the mother, of the apparently mid-to-late-20s Colby!

[Trudy Heine]

Did Justin Rosniak also play the boy who teased Sally over Milco? I remember they said he was.

[D.B]

Okay, after me giving him some leave way yesterday, I am absolutely fed up and disgusted with Colby's behaviour. He literally shows no consideration or respect in the police force he was so eager to join up again and to manipulate and abuse their trust of him, and shows no respect for Chelsea, who he's getting married to and promised not to lie to, and yet he brings Willow into his plan to distract her. "They'll just send in a single stupid cop to arrest him; we have to do this ourselves!"- yeah, Colby, because you going alone in the past has gone so well before, you moron. Red said it true, this is a murder investigation of a senior police officer, it's not investigating littering! I think that the police, no matter how useless they have been in the past, would be working their arses off to give their murdered comrade justice. Dean's been no help either, either not realising that sending in the River Boys would only be worse and 85% most likely result in the two of them being arrested (making all of Ziggy, Willow and Justin's hard work to keep him out of jail pointless), or just doesn't care, which makes it worse. And as I expected, things haven't gone as smoothly as they had hoped, with who I'm presuming to be Bella holding him at crossbow-point. No matter how stupid and criminal they are, I didn't expect that reaction from Bella when Colby said his name. There's probably more to it, which the writers will probably get into- while ignoring any real-life consequences for Colby and Dean, because...why not, at this point? 

As for Justin giving Raffy back to John and Marilyn- no. Just no. I refuse to comment on this ridiculous situation other than Raffy should be with her family. Marilyn's words "Oh please don't take her from us"- that just proved mine and Red's confirmation. Shame on you, John and Maz. And shame on the writers for persisting on this. 

 

8 hours ago, Red Ranger 1 said:

Sorry, D.B., didn't mean to guilt trip you! It's just I don't like double posting and when I come on here and find no-one's commented since me the previous day, and I have a lot to say, it's a bit of a dilemma!

No, no it's fine! I didn't take anything from it at all. I understand why it would be frustrating on how quiet the forum can be, which I have noticed as well and was slightly disappointed by it. All I meant was that with all the stuff that I'll have to do this year, I won't be able to comment as much as I had last year. But don't worry, I'll still show up.

[H&Alover]

I knew that development would please you Red!  I am a bit confused on how Marilyn & John are grooming Raffy and for what purpose?  I'm not saying either of you are wrong about John & Marilyn wanting Raffy all to themselves, but wasn't it Justin who asked them to take Raffy in in the first place when the syndicate reared it's angry head again so as to keep her out of harms way? The fact she was Decker's daughter adding to the danger.  Can't remember why Irene wasn't asked but that's besides the point. She's had quite a few moves since she came to the bay and let's not forget she had a pretty turbulent time before that.  She's been at John & Maz's, Kat & Ash's, back to John & Maz's, back to the Morgan's after she left hospital, no wonder she feels unsettled in fact I've lost track. A lot of the time Raffy has been at the Palmer's the Morgan's never seemed that bothered in checking to see how she was doing. How Justin came to the decision Raffy would be better and happier at John & Maz's  I'm not sure, but I don't think he's been brainwashed. Nothing stopping any of them visiting her and inviting her over for dinner. Wasn't the whole point of the Morgan's deciding where Raffy would be living after she left hospital, without consulting her, was because as there are five of them they could spread the care that she would need, someone always there for her as she shouldn't be alone?  Whereas at John & Marilyn's there's just the two of them so isn't that going to be a stretch, even allowing she will be at school during the weekday but there's still evenings, weekends and holidays. Didn't see any interaction between Tori and Raffy before she left which was sad.

Btw has Hope been airbrushed out of Raffy's life, there has been absolutely no mention of her in any shape or form.  I feel it's a bit of an insult to the late actress who played her.

May seem like an excuse but Raffy's brattishness could be down to her still adjusting to her new meds. Ryder only spoke to Coco asking her to stay as he was worried about Raffy as she said she wouldn't be able to cope without her for two weeks. It was good to see Raffy saw through Coco's explanation and yes Coco is a rubbish liar. Good to see Ryder and Raffy become friends again, he's been trying so hard to make up for that near kiss, but was there a spark between them when the shook hands?

Not wanting to split hairs Red, but you can be any age to be a step dad, but yes he is supposed to be around the same age as Karen and Michelle so unless Michelle and Karen were young mums it does throw up a query, but you know what H&A is like with characters ages.  Dean did say it was six years ago he & Colby last encountered Ross which was when Dean was left by Colby in the car injured and later jailed,  which may have made them 16/17 not actually been specified. 

It started off well with Colby letting the cops do their job, but went downhill quick this week. I'm going with the thought he wasn't so worried about his mum as she was an adult which I have said before.  I shook my head when Colby made that statement about the local cops just blundering in to Ross's place, has he no faith in his fellow cops, as you have both said it's a  murder investigation of one of their own, of course they aren't just going to wander up to his door and ask an inane question.  Was an odd response from Neil considering he is supposedly so gung ho on following the rules that he texted SG.   I do feel however Dean dealt with it well once he & Colby got to where Ross was living, he restrained Colby from just barging in because as Dean said they had no idea of how many where in there, plus he gently reminded him of how it worked out last time. We don't know anything  about how things are between Bella and Ross, but it doesn't look the cosiest of homes, shotguns on the wall along with an animals head. If I remember right she was eight when Ross took her away which would now make her 14 which at a stretch she could pass for.  Not exactly the warm welcome Colby was expecting, but as I have said before, we don't know what Ross has been telling her about Colby.

Willow is a slightly better liar than Coco fobbing SG off with the story Colby and Dean had gone on  a boys night out but it's next day now so is she going to plead ignorance about their whereabouts?

Getting to some lighter moments with John keeping a beady eye on Ben while he does his renovations at the Surf Club, just waiting for him to make an error so he could scream 'infringement of the guidelines' if he was one millimetre out on his measurements and overturning the decision. Ben, so far, has kept his temper well in check, how long it will last though....?  Alf seems to be staying well out of it. Marilyn wasn't as helpful as I thought she would be about all this, as in telling John he was acting like a big kid.

[Red Ranger 1]

8 hours ago, H&Alover said:

wasn't it Justin who asked them to take Raffy in in the first place when the syndicate reared it's angry head again so as to keep her out of harms way? The fact she was Decker's daughter adding to the danger.  ... A lot of the time Raffy has been at the Palmer's the Morgan's never seemed that bothered in checking to see how she was doing. .... Nothing stopping any of them visiting her and inviting her over for dinner.

No, the Morgans looked after Raffy while the syndicate were around.Kat set up a makeshift safe house at the farm at one point but they were still all together.As is their wont, it was John and Marilyn who initially decided they were the best people to look after Raffy and involved themselves with her uninvited.It's the fact that there's been so little involvement from the Morgans whenever she's been with John and Marilyn is frustrating, it feels as though John and Marilyn make all the decisions and don't show her family any consideration, sometimes (like when Raffy was put up a year) not even bothering to let them know what's going on. It wouldn't be so bad if we saw them still having contact, making visits and having her over, but the show/the Palmers don't seem to allow that.They tried to involve her when Tori told the family about her IVF and just got a blunt "She's doing something with Marilyn." I agree about Hope though, that's two families that seem to have been removed from Raffy's life.Even before the actress died, she should have been released but she hasn't been mentioned since the first half of 2017.

15 hours ago, Trudy Heine said:

Did Justin Rosniak also play the boy who teased Sally over Milco? I remember they said he was.

Having checked the episode...I've no idea. It could be him but he doesn't seem to be credited and we don't even get a proper look at him.

Alf's episode count this week:Four. Leah was only in one, although she was credited on Thursday for no appearance.(So was Roo, while Maggie appeared but didn't speak.)

Well, Colby made as big a mess of that as his theoretical lone uniform would have done.To be fair to him, he has got Bella with him, so it wasn't a complete failure, but he really has just made things worse for everyone involved.I was disappointed that Chelsea let Willow talk her into sitting on the information about the address, another case of a police officer being compromised because she's hanging out with dodgy types.If she'd made the call straightaway, then the police could have got the situation under control and got Bella proper help, instead of her being kept locked in a car by two ageing River Boys, and possibly grabbed Ross into the bargain.Colby's now tipped him off that he knows where he is, and he can only hope that Ross doesn't know that he's in the police and knows he killed his parents, and is therefore expecting the River Boys to turn up rather than the police, so he might just wait around for them instead of making himself scarce and trying to track Bella down.I'd be more willing to accept Colby handling things the same way Brax would if he was just another River Boy (this isn't that dissimilar to what Brax did with Evie and I didn't mind that) but given that he's a police officer he can't just ignore the law he's meant to uphold whenever it's inconvenient.But no doubt he and Dean will suffer no legal consequences as usual.

I'm afraid I can't deal with John being used as a "comedy" bully after everything that's happened this week.I couldn't even enjoy him getting put in his place by Alf that much since it seems to be a lull at best.I just keep wondering why we're meant to think this tool deserves to have Raffy live with him and the Morgans don't.

Going right back to my earlier comments, I don't blame Colby for making Bella his priority now he knows his mother's dead, but she seemed to be his one and only priority even when he thought his mother was alive. For instance, when he found out about that hereditary allergy Bella might have, it didn't even seem to cross his mind that his mother might have it as well (indeed would have to be a carrier for them both to have it).But I do acknowledge I've been indulging in unfounded speculation in my attempt to make sense of his lack of concern for her.

[H&Alover]

I suppose it's what angle you view the Morgan's/Palmer's/ Raffy situation from.  Is it a case of the Morgan's ignoring Raffy when she's at J & M's or J & M preventing any contact between Raffy and the Morgan's while she's at theirs? 

Colby and Dean 'rescuing' Bella, in his defence Colby is keeping SG out of it so she's not compromised in any way when the cops start investigating, shame he doesn't know about Willow informing her that she knew what he & Dean were planning, but neither of them know about him holding onto Bella and not taking her to the police. In her current state of mind she would tell the police she'd been snatched from a happy home by her mad brother.  In terms of brain washing I'd say Ross has done a much better job, after all he's had six years to fill Bella's head with all sorts of rubbish, he may well have told her Colby didn't care about her and he was glad she'd gone away.  She seems pretty feral, methinks there's not been much schooling involved. She kind of looked undecided when hiding in that shack and listening to Colby remind her about him, Dean, Willow and her, seemed they knew each other very well.  Also from what Willow was telling SG she and Dean helped Colby a lot by hiding and patching him up when Ross let fly with his fists. The cops can't have  had Ross' place under surveillance otherwise they would have moved in before Colby & Dean left with Bella.  How lucky Ross didn't know that is was Dean's car that he passed.  Tori checked any hospital admissions to see if Bella had been admitted any time when it was discovered that Colby had that genetic condition.  It could be it's only male offspring are affected by it like haemophilia. 

I'm trying to work out the age line between Colby and Bella, if I remember correctly she was eight when she was taken six years ago so assuming Colby is in his mid 20's there's an eight year difference so he was 12  when it happened making him eight when she was born which also brings up the question how soon after his, unnamed dad, died did Michelle marry Ross?   It may not be correct what Colby is doing but who can say what we'd do if we were in his position?

[atrus]

On 07/02/2019 at 00:25, Red Ranger 1 said:

Double post, where is everyone? I try not to do this but I need to rant. 

I've had an exceptionally busy few weeks too, but things have calmed down now, as evidenced by the fact that I've binged 20 episodes over the weekend. I will try to get back into my sometime-habit of posting at least once a week now I'm quieter.

The whole Marilyn/John/Raffy situation: well, I think the time has come to simply sigh with resignation and accept that Raffy is wanted at the Palmers' primarily by the writers, and that they think they are doing it for good out-of-universe reasons - mainly, I imagine, to keep the Palmers busy and to help balance contractual match-ups. I don't happen to agree with them, but by the same token I'm not sure how much more energy I'm prepared to expend dissecting it when this is the result after every wrangle over her accommodation. I think the argument that Marilyn and John are being selfish and putting their own interests above all others' has an awful lot of weight behind it - but equally, I'm not sure I'd go as far as to say grooming, brainwashing or witchcraft are involved. By that I mean that the "Morgans = chaos, Palmers = calm" thing is really a writers' conceit rather than just Marilyn's, which Raffy and the Morgans have mentioned almost as much themselves over the years, I reckon, as John and Maz have. Still, it is inaccurate in that, by definition, Raffy's in a soap and therefore wherever she lives there will be chaos - so I kind of wish the producers had found a different repeat-justification for the living arrangements if they are indeed absolutely hellbent on it, as it appears. I'd still certainly prefer her to live with the Morgans as I reckon the dynamic is more interesting; but, I suppose if Raffy concedes herself that she is happier with John and Maz (even if the reasons don't make sense to us as viewers, which they don't) then it's difficult to see the point of anyone forcing the situation otherwise in-universe. Justin had his token 'affected by this' five-second pause when she was packed off again, but once again he facilitated the whole thing rather than finding constructive reasons for her to stay - while none of the other Morgans seemed to have much involvement, which is just an extension of how involved they are with Raffy the rest of the time. Chances are they'll be back to not mentioning Raffy again within a week.

Raffy herself has admittedly been a bit of a pain in the bum since her diagnosis, although mitigating that is the very difficult set of circumstances she faces, so I'm not out of sweet forgiveness there. I did question the sense of Brody buying Raffy what looks like a dog tag when she's having enough trouble accepting her epilepsy already. She was a bit harsh to him and to Ryder, but I loved Justin's chat with her - once again proving how well Raffy can work dramatically within her biological family unit - and how she came around to make things right with them. Unfortunately Scabby and her backing singers (let's call them the Blisters) were on hand in the following episode to provide the inevitable school-douche-character factor. Wasn't expecting Raffy to lunge at her like that but kind of glad she did if I'm honest. Harsh that Raffy was suspended under the circumstances, but Maggie obviously didn't have a choice, and I didn't much see the point of appealing other than on principle - it's only a week. I don't see why Scabby can't be suspended as well, though - surely it's not only violence that can attract a suspension, and the bullying she was doling out was really nasty. Hopefully the fact that Scabby's parents have taken her away means that Raffy will now have a chance to settle in again without too much hostility. I didn't get why Ryder needed further approval from The Department after passing his exams when they'd already agreed for him to resit them, but anyhow he got it, so all's well etc etc. I like the idea of Ryder and Raffy as a couple much more than Ryder and Coco, so let's see where it goes. It might be good dramatically for when Ty triumphantly returns to town to claim his man (once I'm producer), as we'll then be in a maximum angst situation. Not that I wish any more pain and torment on poor Raffy...

What else? I was glad that things (initially) seemed to be working out for Robbo and Tori with the pregnancy, but decidedly less enamoured with Robbo going into macho mode and imposing round-the-clock 'protection' by lingering around Tori's house at night and smashing her windows. He definitely crossed the line into creepy there - and while I understand there are deep-seated underlying issues, projecting them onto the Tori situation wasn't helping, and if he was in that much distress then he needed to be seeing a mental health professional. Alas, in the end, it wasn't to be anyway - which I was genuinely sad about, as I thought having a child together would be something that both characters would benefit from.

Jasmine went way up in my estimations, meanwhile (having apparently passed the Passive-Aggressive Partner Baton onto Ziggy instead) and was an unconditional pillar of support for Tori when she needed it the most.  For Tori's part, I loved how she reassured Jasmine by making it explicit that she had no interest in Robbo, rather than continuing to tiptoe around the issue as they all had been for weeks. That said, I wasn't sure from that hug in the dark between Tori and Robbo how long that situation will last. Either way, I hope Tori can talk Robbo around to give the IVF another go.

Let's put it this way - if Simone really is evil, then Ziggy is being far too observant in picking up on it this early, because to my mind Simone hasn't done anything vaguely wrong other than being ever so slightly pushy about doing work experience - and even with that, she was as nice as pie. Probably Simone will turn out to be the evil love child of Colby's stepdad and Ebony (or something) who is just slowly luring Brody into her web. But until we have more evidence on that score, I'm going to insist on giving her the benefit of the doubt, because I rather like her and, while I like Ziggy too, Simone is being by far the more reasonable of the two so far.

Speaking of Colby's stepdad - well, all shadow of a doubt has left the room on this one. He's apparently killed both of Colby's parents and has trained Bella to seek out Colby with a crossbow should he ever show up, so clearly the writers have cranked evil up to maximum setting when creating this character. As such, I can forgive Colby for losing it with Karen, inappropriate as it was - that was a pretty major blow she delivered him. Still, I'm hoping there's more complexity to all this than meets the eye. For example, perhaps Colby's parents weren't whiter-than-white themselves, and the killings are not what they seem to be: done in self-defence, perhaps, or not actually done at all? But no, my instinct is that Ross will prove to be a villain of the meanest calibre. As such, I shudder to think of Ross's motivations for keeping Bella with him once the mother was out of the way - let's hope it's not something grim and horrific. And my suspicion - and it's only that - is that he's probably told Bella that Colby killed their parents, and that's how he's succeeded in getting her to hate him so much. Can't deny that Colby made an absolute dog's breakfast over the so-called 'rescue', though. Chelsea was right - he should have left it to the police - although I'm guessing he might manage to sweet-talk Bella into his point of view before he's done for abduction.

Was becoming increasingly frustrated with the Justin/Willow situation, so I'm kind of glad they're on a break - albeit I do hope that they can reconcile eventually once they've sorted out their issues. As Red has said, though, it's not entirely clear what the writers think their issues are supposed to be, and the character's understanding of why the schism was happening was seemingly changing with the wind. I know Justin means well, but ultimately I think his problems with Willow are because of the ultimatum he issued, which I still hate. With Willow still vulnerable over the recent gambling addiction and all the consequent drama, he was in a position of power over her when he issued the diktat about Dean - for all her unreasonableness more recently, Ziggy was right: it was controlling behaviour. And once he'd said it, he couldn't just take it back and expect Willow not to still feel bound by it. Indeed I'm not sure he really wanted her not to feel bound by it. So I supported Willow finally telling Justin that she didn't need his permission to have friends. As I say, though, the wider picture for me is that I think Justin is good for Willow more generally, and so hopefully they can start a clean slate once they've each had time to regroup emotionally.

Meanwhile - another year, another case of Leah bustling into someone else's life because she doesn't have one of her own. Bad enough that she didn't get Maggie's approval on the fundraising poster, but then plastering so many all over the place? And while Maggie is to blame up to a point for not vocalising her reservations earlier, how does someone take 'I don't mean to be ungracious, but...' as an invitation to redouble their excesses? However, I'm inclined to think a proper storyline could finally be on the horizon for Leah after seeing Justin drunkenly flirt with her. Am I reading too much into it that Justin said what he said to her, and that she didn't immediately #metoo him on her blog afterwards? Interesting, as I definitely think there could be worse pairings - although again, I'm not done with Justin and Willow potentially working things out yet, so we'll see.

Elsewhere, John was an absolute prat to Ben over the surfboard shop thing - and what made it worse, he clearly only did it out of spite because he didn't like the way Alf handled things. Loved Roo calling Alf Machiavellian, and him pretending not to know what she meant. And confusingly unnecessary filler with Willow turning out not to be qualified to work at the gym, which was all cleared up within half an episode. I wish they'd made more of it and used it as a stick to beat John with (perhaps over the surfboard shop), since as far as I recall he never even asked her if she was qualified, which seems like a fairly big dereliction of duty if it's a requirement, as it appears to be.

[H&Alover]

Now Colby has told SG Bella isn't at the house, using the term loosely btw,  the Yabby Creek cops can move in as she isn't in any danger of getting caught in any crossfire. Though of course he needs to be taken alive so the cops can question him about what he said on the tape, he can't be asked about Michelle's death as there is no proof killed her only what he told Karen five years ago.

John was just nit picking over Ben and his refurbishments, what is 5 mil in English money not even a inch?  John has always been full of bluster, do hope he doesn't decide to look up rule 26 sub section whatever. Ben showed remarkable restraint by not losing it with him.  Having said that I can see John going completely the other way and being a real pain in wanting to help Ben.

Is it just my TV or does anyone else have trouble hearing Georgie Parker plug the prize on the ad break?  I find the music completely  drowns out her voice on mine.