2018 Season - UK Episode Discussion

[Slade]

I will say I like Justin a lot more since he broke up with Willow.  Playing the confidant and keep secrets for two of his siblings.  His face when he found out Tori went through with the IVF against his advice was priceless.  I still don't like what Tori did but what's done is done and if she is going through with pregnancy I do think she should now tell Robbo.  Will be interesting to see what Justin does next now that Robbo said he wanted to marry Jasmine (I assume he went to tell Robbo the truth although whether he would have gone through with it is a different story).

Brody took far too long to get rid of Simone and even then he was extremely reluctant.  I do think Brody should have had more awareness with regards to how Simone felt beforehand.  As I said before if this had been a guy that did the stuff Simone did there would be on question about his motives.  The alarm bells probably should have been ringing when she paid $750 to spend time with him and offered to do work experience for free.  Although to be fair to him other people thought it was harmless as well and Ben seemed to take Ziggy's side when it started to bother her and she confided in him.  I think initially Brody was flattered by the fact someone thought he was such a great chef and wanted to learn from him so it did his ego wonders.  But at some point he obviously developed feelings towards her as indicated initially by the way he told Dean to back off when he was hitting on Simone, then of course he didn't pull away when she kissed him and even still just dismissed it  and and didn't let her go then and there.  Even when he went to give her the references you could see he was using every ounce of will power he had to fight how he felt.  He really should tell Ziggy the truth but it kind of felt like he didn't want to, not because it would upset his wife or he would get the I-told-you-so speech.  But because he wanted to hold onto what he had with Simone.

[Red Ranger 1]

On the whole, I think Brody did the right thing.Perhaps especially as he seems to have feelings for Simone himself: These things happen and he hasn't acted on them.But yes, they can't keep on working together and he's managed to get Simone out of the way with minimum fuss.Bit hard on Justin, who's keeping everyone's secrets at the moment, but hopefully that's the end of it.

We finally get the missing pieces of the puzzle with Mason when he says he can apply again next year.And it turns out Justin wasn't far off the mark with his "first round, second round" idea, as there might still be some posts available once the first choices have made their decisions.I'm now wondering if this might be held in reserve as a potential exit for Mason: Say, Orpheus wants to leave next year, Mason can reapply and get a posting away from the Bay.

I'm not sure where Justin's got it from that this isn't like Tori: This seems to be a pattern from her all year, she gets an idea in her head, she presses on regardless of who might be hurt as the result, and she remains unrepentant when Justin (and it usually is Justin!) calls her out on it.I must admit I've warmed to Robbo and Jasmine a bit, which I guess is what they're going for when Tori's about to throw a grenade into their lives.

[H&Alover]

Brody did take a while to recognise he had feelings for Simon, part of him as already been said flattered someone thought he was  a good enough chef to be tutored by, anyone would be, he's only human, and he probably enjoyed showing Simone the ropes.  I'm glad he rethought his earlier short dismissal of her and said a proper farewell and gave her names of other restaurants, despite her, maybe, ulterior motives she was obviously a good cook otherwise she wouldn't have lasted as long as she did.  Whatever his feelings he did the right thing by ending it now because he does love Ziggy.  Justin's still not happy Brody is not telling Ziggy about the kiss  but keeping quite as he doesn't want to be the messenger who gets shot.  Technically I suppose you could say Brody isn't lying he's just not saying anything about it, but yes that would be lying by omission.

So now Justin is keeping two secrets, one with a lot more far reaching consequences than the other. I like how he confided in Leah without telling her what the problem was, but it's too late now the deed has been done.  All Leah could do was to repeat what Justin had said that she has to tell Robbo.  She also put up the same counter argument it may be legal but not moral, at least not in my eyes. Fair enough once Tori gets an idea in her head she won't let go off it, I guess, Red,  you mean helping Robbo when everyone was warning her off him, they were all  adults and could look after themselves, but this time an innocent  baby is involved.  Maybe not the best time to tell Robbo 'the' news when he was full of telling her he wanted her advice on an engagement ring, but sorry T there is never going to be a right time.  Amazing how she & Justin, does he have a 'nickname' J/Jus?, have managed to keep it from Mason, though he has been preoccupied with his own troubles. 

Although not pulling strings exactly at least  Mason has agreed that T can put out feelers for him in other districts.  I think he said there were five hospitals in this District?   There could indeed be drop outs so leaving a local posting available.  At least he'll be keeping himself occupied by dong extra shifts at the gym and the money won't hurt either.  Neat little mention about not having to worry about paying off his student loan just yet.

I think Justin was just about to tell Robbo ,when he told him about his plan to ask Jasmine to marry him and was saved by answering Robbo's question, 'you wanted to say something?' when Colby, SG and Bella rocked up.

Great SG did take Bella clothes shopping!

I'm loving the Jasmine/Robbo story, after all the drama they have both been through, did enjoy Tori squirming when Jasmine was telling her how well things were going between her and Robbo.   It would have been fun seeing how Robbo may have settled in at Irene's, he would have had to get up very early to make sure he got in the bathroom first, good job they have now a lock on the door. He obviously has been thinking about the accommodation at the flat as he broached the subject to Colby first.  Depending on how long the transfers take it's still going to be very cramped with the four of them (I take it SG has moved in) and one a teenage girl.  So currently all moves on hold but maybe Robbo staying over at Irene's more.  Btw can you get on with it and propose already!

Although SG is right Bella does need to be assessed to find out what educational level she is at she had no right going behind Colby's back when he told he would sort it.  Bella is already feeling uncomfortable about the thought of returning to school, she's obviously bright but has missed out on six years of full time schooling, quite how Ross managed to pull that off is unknown as yet, unless they moved around a lot.  She certainly wouldn't be the first teenager to have missed out on schooling for various reasons, one recent one being Ryder. Colby did say she, Bella, still felt unsure around strangers but was getting used to living a normal life. I suppose while  there is no reason why they would have  still a surprise  it was Maggie and SG 's first meeting.  I don't think Colby & SG meant to let their argument get quite so heated but it must have been torture for Bella overhearing it, bringing back so many bad memories especially when she had no-one to turn to.  Seems Ryder comes to her rescue though.

[Red Ranger 1]

Tori, not for the first time, seems to have lost all perspective. At least Leah seemed to get through to her a bit although she again backed out of being honest with Robbo. I am glad that Robbo was honest with Jasmine, even though it technically meant breaking a confidence, rather than pretending he just didn’t want to live with her. And I loved Alf’s phone conversation and the reference to Mr Bojangles!

I simultaneously can see both Colby and Chelsea’s point of view and think both handled it badly although recent events mean I have difficulty trusting Colby’s judgement on anything. Bella still seems pretty withdrawn for all the attempts to claim otherwise and Colby was doing his best to make her feel comfortable even if it meant burying his head in the sand a bit. Chelsea was being more practical and thinking about what was best for Bella in her own way: In a sense, it’s not her place, but if they are going to be a family then Colby can’t just overrule her whenever he feels like it, while Chelsea doesn’t help just barking orders at Bella (right as Colby came home, naturally, to make it as bad as possible). And yeah, Maggie touting for business in the Diner was a bit weird. I’m glad Colby quickly realised that Chelsea was right, although a bit too late to stop scaring Bella. I’m also glad Dean didn’t give Ryder too hard a time, since he’d have done the same thing if Colby or Willow asked him not to tell anyone where they are, even though the responsible thing would have been to tell Colby. I grimaced at Dean looking longingly at Willow: Don’t go there again. I guess if Ross can hide himself and Bella from everyone for six years, keeping her off school would be pretty easy.

The mess-up over telling Coco underlined that Raffy should have stayed at home rather than get taken to Canberra so Marilyn can play dress-ups with her. I thought for a bit that Ben and Maggie knew Raffy and Ryder were together and were keeping Coco away but apparently they just wanted her to themselves for a while. Ryder was a bit rude ushering Coco out by I guess he’d have to do it for Bella. (He’s getting quite the harem! And incidentally, why did Raffy say "Tell me about this girl" when she knows Bella?) Again, it feels like Ryder and Coco with a different girl, as he bombards Raffy with voicemails because she hasn’t called him for an hour. So after all that Coco finds out the wrong way, although I’m hoping she doesn’t take it too badly.

[H&Alover]

Going to seem really thick here, but who is Mr. Bojangles? Does ring  a bell.

Colby & SG come across as treating Bella from completely different perspectives - Colby's too lenient, SG too hard  and who is she to tell Bella she is having the assessment.  That old cliché, 'doing it for her own good' was brought up, but Bella is 16 and I guess is pretty independent, so she should be included and not have things decided for her, been a lot of that lately with young people.  The argument harsh and loud as it was over pretty quick but not quick enough for Bella for whom in the past raised voices meant nothing but trouble.  It seemed it had been Colby's idea back in the day that if she heard her mum and dad arguing to hide away until it was over so that is what she was doing.  It did finally get sorted with Bella agreeing to the assessment and Colby jokingly saying about them having a row without any raised voices, not to say there won't be more in the future. Until now Belle hasn't known any 'friendly' arguments seeing as she hasn't been part of  a normal family.

Aside from the fact it seemed to take a whole day for Ryder to go to the Diner, bait shop and clean the vans, as it was daylight when he set off and dark when he came across Bella, he was casual, yet concerned, didn't push it as to why she was sitting there.  He, of course, found out more when he went to the Diner and heard, SG, Colby, Willow & Dean talking about her.  Then he went back to her, gave her his jacket and gently probed why she was hiding, he does have experience of doing the same thing after all.  He may have been annoying to her but he did coax her to go back to the house and wait until he got a key to a van.  No ulterior motives just wanting to help someone who needed it and he did keep advising her to ring Colby.  He didn't really deserve the flak he got from Dean, Colby was just glad Bella was OK.  Talking of Dean he is a lot more astute than I think people give him credit for, he certainly sussed out that Ryder knew more about Bella than he was letting on so followed him and nabbed him talking to Bella at the van.  His not so quick thinking - it's my girlfriend before Dean opened the door nearly came back to bite him when she told Colby & SG he was her boyfriend.

Raffy has only seen Bella twice both briefly.

I think Raffy being away has done her a lot of good, she certainly seemed a lot more upbeat than she has in months and looked like she was enjoying herself.  I loved her talk with Ryder, her ordering him not to speak to Coco until she came back as he was rubbish at lying and Coco would suss something was going on.  The old rule about girls don't date their best mates ex is debatable, Ryder and Coco's breakup was mutual and they hadn't been dating that long.  It's not as if Raffy and Ryder got together the day even the next week  after he and Coco broke up.  Have they been watching the meerkats promo ads? 'you hang up, no you hang up' until Alf moved in and decided for them.   Actually it wasn't just the fact he was hiding Bella from Coco it was him keeping his word to Raffy by not being alone with Coco  that made him usher her out.  Smiled at the response from Ben & Maggie when Coco said Ryder was being weird.  Yes, the best laid plans of mice and men etc. etc  just incredible bad timing  all round, it would have been  a lot better for all if Raffy & Ryder could have broken the news  to Coco on their own somewhere quiet rather than her walking in on them kissing at Salt. Some eye rolling from Alf when Coco went merrily running upstairs blissfully unaware of what she was about to see.

I noticed that about Dean giving Willow wistful looks - I don't want Dean hurt again he's in a good place - sorry about using that cliché - but he is, doing his community service, got a job, place to live, keeping out of trouble. 

Is that a brand name of wheelbarrow or has Alf's got it's own -Sherlock.

[Dan F]

1 hour ago, H&Alover said:

Going to seem really thick here, but who is Mr. Bojangles? Does ring  a bell.

He's the possum that hangs around the caravan park (he got into Matt's van when Maddy had moved in). Think he was last seen when Scarlett was living there.

[D.B]

2 hours ago, H&Alover said:

Going to seem really thick here, but who is Mr. Bojangles? Does ring  a bell.

A possum, that Matt took care of when he and Maddy moved into the caravan park. He stayed in a caravan after Matt left and scared the s*** out of the Astonis when they first arrived. So yeah, I was very happy to hear Alf's reference to him.

So, Justin appears to be the most sensible out of the three eldest Morgans this week (a rare occurrence when you get to say that), and I did feel sorry for him having to cover for his siblings. Brody did much better here, I think I may have been too harsh on him before, because even if he had those feelings he didn't act out on it, and he gave a proper discussion with Simone, leaving both sides content (well Simone probably not much but she was the one who crossed the line first), but I still think he should tell Ziggy. And I fear that Slade's assumptions that he wanted to keep on a connection with Simone may turn out to be true. 

Tori though is made to much less sympathetic here, just blindly following her own selfish desires and ignoring all the sound advice from Justin and Leah. I hate that she's doing this and not considering anyone else this will affect. Robbo and Jasmine's scenes continue to be sweet and lovely, which I enjoy more if the show wasn't building up Tori's scheme to crush it all. I found Irene being critical of Jasmine wanting Robbo to move in a bit ridiculous. I'd understand it more if she hadn't let a psychotic arsonist live in her house more than once, but she did, so here we are.

So Colby and Chelsea both realised that dealing with Bella wasn't going to be all that easy. While I could see both sides to the argument, neither really behaved well here, with Colby just shutting down Chelsea's ideas with little/no consideration and Chelsea just yelling at Bella. Though, in all fairness to him, Colby was very perspective here on thinking of why Bella ran away, and both he and Chelsea were mature enough to admit their mistake. Bella claiming that Ryder was her boyfriend was a bit random, I don't know how she came up with that, but thankfully Colby and Dean didn't react badly to it, or else didn't believe him. 

Meanwhile, while I'd usually cringe at the 'No- you hang up first' cliche, I couldn't do it here, because a) I really like both Raffy and Ryder, and b) the way Alf shut it down, literally. But now that Coco's back, there's bound to be tension, even though I don't really see why she would have a problem with this, because Raffy is probably going to treat Ryder better than she treated him. 

 

[Red Ranger 1]

9 hours ago, H&Alover said:

Raffy has only seen Bella twice both briefly.

They played a game of pool together, I wouldn't call that brief!

Alf's episode count this week:Four.

Well, I'm glad Coco's irritation didn't last long.I can see why she'd be upset at the way she found out: There probably was no better way to do it given it all happened when all three teens were in different states, but Ryder ushering Coco out like that rather than being honest didn't make things any better and maybe they should have texted or Skyped her rather than having radio silence.And they definitely should have made sure she wasn't about to walk in on them before kissing! I can understand also Coco worrying about being the odd one out, because that is what happened to Raffy when she and Ryder were together, until they (Coco more than Ryder, it has to be said) made an effort to include her.Still, it seems she's got Bella to hang out with now!

Sorry, but as both Colby and Chelsea have pointed out, in this case Bella doesn't have a choice.I had to smirk though at Colby's indignant "I'm a cop": He'll cover up manslaughter and kidnapping but not truancy? Anyway, they all seem to be back on an even keel...so obviously that's the moment where Ross makes a reappearance.Well, he was never going to let Bella go just like that, was he?

[Slade]

"Mr six syllables a week." had to smirk at that one when Jasmine suggested to Irene that Robbo move in with them.  As if that was ever going to work.

I don't blame Bella for the remark about Maggie.  The way she was asking Irene about her in the Diner, came over, jumped into her and Chelsea's conversation and was prying about Bella's education, I didn't like that at all.  I'm glad Colby put Chelsea in her place for trying to act like Bella's mum telling Bella she was going to do the school test.

Found Leah telling Tori off about the IVF really funny.  I also found it funny when Justin came in to ask Leah to talk to Tori beforehand.  I was wondering when he first came in and he wanted to speak to Leah whether it crossed anybody's mind him hitting on her a few weeks ago, especially when Alf was there.

It's interesting that Ryder said to Raffy his breakup with Coco was mutual when they were discussing telling her about them.  From what I remember Ryder only agreed to break up with her because he knew Coco didn't want to be with him any more so rather than being dumped painfully he thought it would be best to do it on his terms.  Loved the way Alf called it just before Coco went up to Salt and saw Raffy and Ryder kissing.  Found the aftermath immediately afterwards when Coco ran off frustrating.  It was all about poor princess Coco and Raffy didn't want to be intimate with Ryder because she felt guilty.  As if Coco was some sort of victim in all of this and Raffy and Ryder should beg for her forgiveness.  She's not entitled to want forgiveness.  She treated both of them like crap previously and I was actually quite relishing the fact that she was hurting.  It was really annoying when she went round to Ryder's just to have a go at him as she was the one who didn't want to go out with Ryder any more and even acknowledged to Maggie that they broke up months ago.  I felt when Coco said she wasn't happy that they weren't honest (even though they didn't get the chance to tell her before she caught them) it was really just secondary.  In saying that I guess it was something she 'apparently' seemed to accept them but it will be interesting to see how it goes.

I quite enjoyed Bella's response to Coco when Coco first saw her with Ryder and asked who she was.  I will admit though I did actually quite enjoy their interaction at the Diner the next day after the formalities were out the way.

I was always expecting Ross to put in an appearance eventually so glad that the writers didn't wait too long.  Will be interesting to see what his plan is for getting Bella back involves.

[H&Alover]

Thanks for the clear up about Mr. Bo Jangles.

Still only a brief meeting between Bella and Raffy, they didn't exactly have an in depth conversation.

We know why Ryder ushered Coco out, (1) Raffy had told him not to say anything without her being there and (2) he was hiding Bella.  If my best friend had started going out with my ex I'd rather be told face to face than by text, Skyping.  Raffy wanted her and Ryder to tell Coco together, unfortunately with Coco's eagerness to see them it blew their plan out of the water.  She only acted like any girl would.  Maggie's  very pertinent question to Coco about how Raffy felt about being a spare wheel when she and Ryder were an item (twice) made Coco rethink her strop. She then went back to Ryder's to ask him to explain because as Raffy herself said he wasn't  to lie as he was rubbish at it, they both certainly know him very well.   He must have convinced her they hadn't been hiding anything from her because she was fine when they met up with Raffy at the Diner.

I liked that talk between Coco & Bella and yes she would be a welcome addition to that little circle seeing as Colby, SG & Bella won't be moving away just yet.  Bella to Coco revealed that Michelle home taught her for a year but didn't say she had died, just had left, maybe too a complicated story to go into with someone she'd just met.   Just remembered - I think - didn't Bella use that argument for not going to school and that SG & Colby could do the same.

I think we have already worked out Bella isn't stupid and quite intelligent, it's just she's lacking in the education department - no pun intended - she knows her way round a smart phone which is more than I do.  If she does end up at SBH Abbi had better watch out Bella won't take any of her bullying.

Had to laugh when Willow 'volunteered' Dean to help with the wedding plans the look on his face!

He seemed to take it OK when Colby said he and SG were moving to the city after the wedding, but it was apparent by his face after Colby had gone he will miss him.

H&A managed to avoid the usual plot device of having a character - or in this characters - being watched by an unknown figure though the foliage from a distance - we saw right away it was Ross!  Seeing as it this week is the run up to the Australian end of season there's bound to be a lot happening leading to the traditional cliff hanger.