2019 Season - UK Episode Discussion

[Red Ranger 1]

I was not entirely happy with the way things were resolved with Bella.Irene acknowledges early on that she needed a different approach and that she could have saved everyone a lot of pain if she'd just let Jasmine wash up the dishes a week ago.I guess she kind of did take a different approach later on, but only after Bella had backed down and agreed to become a mindless drone.I found Willow rather self-righteous and spent most of my time nodding in agreement with Bella: It's all right for Willow to say that she has to follow Irene's rules, but as Bella pointed out, Willow's there by choice and Bella was forced to move in.Well, I guess she's chosen to stay there now, which includes an acknowledgement of Irene's rules.Again, it was marred by the myth of Saint Colby with Alf and Roo fawning over him and acting like he's a good brother.More "She was cold just like Ross when he shot me", while the fact that Colby was just as cold when he shot him is ignored, apart from Willow's comment to him about anyone being capable of anything which soon turns into him acting like he's better than Bella again.I'll take Bella deciding against moving back in with him as her realising she needs a better role model than him.So long as Irene realises you don't help an abused child by bullying them.

Marilyn really lost me when she made her staying all about Raffy: As ever, she overestimates her importance to that girl, one conversation on the wharf does not make her indispensible.(She also told John that Mason's trial was coming up, so either she was lying or she doesn't actually know what's going on with Raffy.)Of course, John's overestimating his importance to Jett, and I think they both need to take a step back and stop turning this into a competition and find something to do other than mollycoddling people who are doing fine without them.

Robbo and Jasmine kind of...walked around talking about nothing interesting.I was mildly intrigued by Robbo recalling building a cradle before: A reference to the one he built for Kat's baby? (Because that ended well.)

[H&Alover]

Irene was really scared by Bella's reaction and Irene has dealt with some tough kids, but Willow would understand why Bella is rebelling, she knew Ross, Irene didn't.  I don't remember Irene terrorising her kids to the extent Ross mistreated Bella, Colby & Michelle.  I loved Willow's challenge to Bella about making that swing count!.  It did need Willow giving her some straight talking to shake her up  as once again Willow did know what Ross was like and he did end up on his own, in fact he died  alone. Willow did say she didn't always  like following Irene's rules (smuggling in booze behind her back being one of them) but she buckled down as it wasn't just her living there and Willow did have the choice of moving out if she didn't like it! How has Bella become a mindless drone?  Her and Irene may have had that bonding moment in the Diner but I don't think all is going to be roses from now on.  Quite a sad tale about her and Michelle making a Birthday cake for Colby then when Ross found out he binned it so Colby thought they had forgotten his birthday, standing up to Ross and getting his arm broke, that was the last time she made a cake as Ross took her and her mum away soon after.  Now she has the choice Bella opted to stay with Irene, things are always different when you have the choice.   Good luck with Bella taking on Robbo!

John was riding rough shod over Marilyn's feelings, just not wanting to listen her so concerned was he on getting back to Jett.  Yes Raffy is feeling a little lost now Brody has gone, Marilyn must know Mason had his trial, error on TPTB's part?  The Morgan's were holding the party at Salt when Brody broke his news and Raffy stormed off. But without talking to Raffy how would Marilyn know how she would feel about Marilyn and John moving to be nearer Jett.   They are both being stubborn and need their heads knocked together - Alf, Irene!   John even said Raffy has the Morgan's - her actual family - to be there for her, Jett just has them.  He is an adult as Marilyn pointed out and doesn't have epilepsy which can strike at any moment and yes fine to be nearer but not physically living with him and doing everything for him.  John's forgetting, again, what happened last time.  Jett will learn to navigate his way to the shops, but anything he can't reach, he'll ask for help, assuming of course shops where he lives are wheelchair friendly. 

Did seem  a bit of drifting about with Jasmine & Robbo, it did appear her list of guests way outweighed Robbo's.  He actually mentioned his mum and dad to her, how about hers though - her foster mum and dad that is? Rather poignant that mention he'd made a cradle before - yes it was for Kat & Ash's baby  for their cabin in the woods.  It was good one if I remember.  Whoa there Robbo, you and Jasmine aren't even married yet and you were talking about building one for your own child.  Just had a rather wicked thought would Dean be on their guest list considering the way Robbo and he first met?

 

[baywatcher]

I'm glad that Maz and John have reached an understanding on their way forward.  It's not as though the city is hundreds of miles away anyway.

I enjoyed the Justin and Leah scenes.

Maggie is a nice person.

Looks like

the new owner of Salt has arrived in town

[D.B]

I have too much respect for this website, it's rules and everyone who uses it, (many of whom I'd like to think I've become friends with) to truly express how I felt about Thursday episode, so this is more moderate rant of my thoughts, as well as this emoji:  

I started watching the show back in 2007, and while soaps weren't my thing, I fell in love with it. I lost interest for a time around 2009, but came back in 2013. And while there were many stories that made me want rant and rage, I still held onto it because there was still something enjoyable to watch. I came close to leaving it for good after the endless, boring, endless love-triangles in 2014, the deaths and/or ruination of many of my favourites like Hannah, Oscar, Josh, Ricky and so on back in 2016 and often when many characters, time after time, got off for a happy ending receiving no consequences for their crimes, but I still held on. But yesterday... actually made me want to puke, I was so disgusted by the dominating storyline. In fact at the point that Bella had to apologise to Irene, I, for the first time in my history of watching Home and Away, turned the TV off early, so I had to catch up on what happened afterwards with everything else. The fact that the majority of the characters (some of whom I've enjoyed to watch throughout the years) treated a poor girls' mental issues and trauma like the behaviour of a brat and psychopath, believing like she was just going to end up like her father, a murderer, is just appalling, and nothing like I would expect and want to see in H&A. The main instigator for this, whom I hated the most this episode, was Willow, who was just a hypocrite for two reasons: a) that she insists that Bella should follow Irene's rules when she broke the main rule involving alcohol not three weeks ago?! And b) acting like Bella's the villain in all of this, just while Willow's standing next to the sociopath corrupt killer that's the main reason for Bella's issues. And while I'm talking about him, Colby being treated like the "poor brother who's been trying soooooooo hard" has gone from being irritating to disgusting. And I can't even get behind the whole re-bonding between Bella and Irene, mainly because no-one has even thought apparently to apologise to Bella, who is the victim here, despite all of her bad behaviour. The main reason this gets me, is because while there was no trauma behind it and thankfully their circumstances weren't as near as bad as Bella's are, I had a really close friend who had similar 'behavioural' issues as a child and had felt the same frustration that Bella is feeling around people. They were suffering for a long time, though they didn't want anyone to see. And if they could see how Bella was being treated, they wouldn't have hold back as I have. The fact that no one is giving Bella any professional help for herself just makes everything more frustrating (though I am glad at least, I'm not the first person on the forums to express this opinion). God! As I've said above, I watched this show for a while, not as near as much as most other people here, but for a while, and I honestly think I have never felt so repulsed (though Hunter and Charlotte come close) by a storyline. If this is what Home and Away has become, I'm not sure I want to continue. 

Sorry about that guys, got really emotional there, just needed to get this off my chest, but I am very disappointed with the show. Anyway, let's continue.

Well, at least today John and Marilyn resolved their argument well. While before I was unsure of John's motivations and whether or not he would end up making things worse, I felt more on his side, because as he said to Alf, he help Jett deal with the day-to-day stuff while Jett himself looks after his recovery. Of course it might be better if Jett was able to handle things on his own, but still, some moral support would go a long way. And while before I inclined to take Marilyn's side about Jett's independence (he most likely would do better without John watching over his shoulder), she lost me when she obsessed about whether or not she would be there for Raffy, because it's not as if Raffy would be left on the streets alone if Marilyn left. While I did find their scene at the pier cute today, I would have appreciated some sort of recognition that the Morgans are her family as well.  The Robbo and Jasmine stuff was sweet as well, though I am surprised about Jasmine not wanting to have kids, I could have sworn that Jasmine and Robbo had a small argument about kids in the future last year after what happened to Tori. I am glad that Jasmine was up front and honest about it, and I really liked that Robbo didn't make a big issue out of it. I felt that Ben is unnecessarily holding onto a grudge with Justin, who was an unwilling bystander to what Brody did, and I look forward to see Maggie and Leah trying to bring the two together again. 

 

[Red Ranger 1]

I'll try and keep this brief, but I tried making this point a while back and didn't quite seem to get it across so I'll try again: One of the biggest stumbling blocks to Bella getting help is that she's been lumbered with the secret of Colby having murdered her father.So whether it's a counsellor or her teachers or Irene, they can't truly help her because they're always going to be ignorant of that and not able to help her deal with it.

Alf's episode count this week:Five!

I had my rant about Marilyn making it all about Raffy yesterday so I'll try not to repeat myself, but it did mean that some of her comments to John about convincing yourself someone needs you in order to feel useful seemed to apply as much to herself.I accept that, rightly or wrongly, they have made a commitment to Raffy, so I guess she does need to factor into things, if perhaps not as much as they seemed to think.Anyway, they've made an awkward compromise for now, with John spending most of his time with Jett and Marilyn sticking around in case she's needed in town.John does seem to have abandoned the idea of moving to the city permanently, just commuting until Jett can cope on his own.The problem is, who decides when that is and will John ever be able to make that break?

Another subtle callback with Roo telling Jasmine to be honest with Robbo before walking down the aisle: That is, of course, the moment when she decided to drop a bombshell on Frank! In a way, it's not an issue since Robbo's having a child anyway and they dealt with it well.

Ben does need to grow up now. I could understand him being angry with Justin at first but it's reached the point where he's just doing it for petty reasons.If the positions had been reversed and Ben had found out Ziggy was cheating on Brody, there's a good chance he'd have handled it the same way.I wasn't too pleased with Justin being referred to as being as bad as Ben just because he wasn't in a rush to go there again after extending an olive branch and having it refused.

And yes, the arrival of Mackenzie as the credits named her: Her taking down the Sold sign was a big hint that she's the new owner of Salt, and then I think it got confirmed in the promo.(I'm suddenly doubting that and wondering if it was a bit more vague than that...)

[pembie]

I don't know what Grant did really to Bella because I have just been reading about the show for awhile and not watched much. But surely having Colby murder him would make him the bigger danger Not the sort of long lost hello from your brother that you really want and would make you run for those sand dunes screaming that is till you calm down and find Billie hiding out there of course

[j.laur5]

3 hours ago, pembie said:

I don't know what Grant did really to Bella because I have just been reading about the show for awhile and not watched much. But surely having Colby murder him would make him the bigger danger Not the sort of long lost hello from your brother that you really want and would make you run for those sand dunes screaming that is till you calm down and find Billie hiding out there of course

Colby is not a bad person for killing someone that would have killed others. It’s no worse than when Josh killed Charlotte as Charlotte would have killed half the town by now. 

[D.B]

3 hours ago, j.laur5 said:

Colby is not a bad person for killing someone that would have killed others. It’s no worse than when Josh killed Charlotte as Charlotte would have killed half the town by now. 

He is a bad person when he kills an unarmed man in cold blood when he could have done his job, like he's suppose to, and arrested him. 

[pembie]

1 hour ago, D.B said:

He is a bad person when he kills an unarmed man in cold blood when he could have done his job, like he's suppose to, and arrested him. 

Cops are abit dim on his show though. 

I liked Charlotte Hunter waa the bonkers one 

[CaptainHulk]

10 minutes ago, pembie said:

Cops are abit dim on his show though. 

I liked Charlotte Hunter waa the bonkers one 

Charlotte killed Denny so, points off!