2019 Season - UK Episode Discussion

[baywatcher]

1 hour ago, H&Alover said:

I wonder if the fact Penny McNamee being  pregnant for real is making the scenes more emotional than they would if she wasn't.

I often think that. It must be difficult for her.

So Mason didn't go through with his purchase and Raffy finally got accepted into the trial.

John got some more home truths from Roo but he is still acting like a galah.  No sympathy from me.

[UK_fan]

I'm having Ziggy withdrawal symptoms.

[c120701]

I’m loving all the stories for the “olds” at the minute. We’ve got Alf, Irene, Leah, Roo, Maz and John right in the thick of things.

[Red Ranger 1]

It's good that Mason didn't go ahead with the drug purchase but I can't help thinking he was still doing things for the wrong reason and would probably have been back there sooner or later if Raffy hadn't got on the trial. I would have liked a longer scene of Raffy sharing the news with Justin and Mason but take what you get, I guess.Again, it feels like there's a basic similarity between John and Marilyn which we're expected not to notice and which made me feel a bit less sorry for her than I should: He's helping Jett even though he doesn't really need it to make himself feel better, she's helping Raffy even though she doesn't really need it to make herself feel better (even pulling a sad "Oh, Raffy's better, that means I'm not needed anymore" face).I do feel sorry for Alf and Ryder, having to deal with John's ineptitude.

I'm glad that Irene seems to be demonstrating a bit of flexibility with Bella and realising that treating her like just another stroppy teenager isn't going to work.That said, I find myself on Roo's side when she said they shouldn't give up on trying to teach her.Yes, Bella's finding the work difficult and wants to concentrate on what she's good at, and it's good that there is something that excites her, but she's not going to be able to do what she wants when she grows up if she hasn't got the basic qualifications.What she needs is someone to guide her through the work, meaning the help needs to be available and she needs to be convinced to accept it.

9 hours ago, H&Alover said:

Red re Samantha/Doctor Andrews I refer you to Robert/Aiden - though no-one of importance has seen him yet. 

Not really the same thing: If Aiden does turn out to be Robert Robertson (which I'm not expecting for a moment, any more than I'm expecting Colby to suddenly turn out to be that mate of Tank's who injured Roo's boyfriend or Ben to reveal he used to be Stafford McRae), that would be a pretty major plot development. In this case, Alyson Standen was playing exactly the same character, an obstetrician at Northern District Hospital, and giving her the same name would show that they actually pay attention to these things.Imagine if Socratis Otto comes back in three years still playing a counsellor, and instead of saying it's Aiden, his name's Herbert.

[Dan F]

39 minutes ago, Red Ranger 1 said:

In this case, Alyson Standen was playing exactly the same character, an obstetrician at Northern District Hospital, and giving her the same name would show that they actually pay attention to these things.

Do you know the most annoying thing? She was wearing her Dr Samantha Benson name badge. So it was completely avoidable.

[c120701]

5 hours ago, Dan F said:

Do you know the most annoying thing? She was wearing her Dr Samantha Benson name badge. So it was completely avoidable.

If they didn’t mention a different first name though, it’s possible that Dr Benson got married/divorced and is now Dr Andrews, but was awaiting her replacement ID.

[baywatcher]

Great episode.

I can't bring myself to even speak about John.  Well, except to say at least he apologised to Maz by preparing dinner.  (Note to prop people - must do better with the wine, it always looks disgusting).

I can understand why Ben was suss about Dean's money.  Willow talked sense to Dean about the situation though. When Dean was counting the money out, I wondered what he was going to do when he got past the fingers on both hands  (sorry, I can't resist saying that).

Enjoyed the scenes where Roo dropped in to see how Bella was getting on with her assignment.  I think Bella was appreciative of Roo's efforts and it's nice to see them getting along better.

Don't think Irene would be too happy with Bella referring to her as an old lady 

[H&Alover]

I'm confused .com and it's making me dizzy.  I suppose it's because Robertson made such an impact such a short while ago and I have to confess doctors come and go for me and I don't take much  notice of them. 

Mason decided not to go ahead with the drugs deal all by himself - thank goodness considering the good news Raffy got - more of which later.  Are you suggesting he was doing it as he was the only one who could rather than actually doing it for Raffy?  It did kind of come out that way when he was telling Justin "It's only me who was doing something about it" Was it John stopping on his way to the bay and then Justin keep ringing him that gave him pause for thought?  I don't suppose drug dealer guy was happy, especially as Mason had  insisted it was urgent, but hey he can easily off load it.  Btw where did Mason get the money  for the stash he got before and how would he have paid for this lot, he can't earn that much in the gym?  Say he had managed to get a new stash without anyone finding out about out about it, he'd have been lumbered with it wouldn't he?  Of course he could have always shipped it over to Emmerdale for Doug to use to ease his back pain, except he has his own home grown supply.

Didn't Leah say Justin and Mason were just outside at the Diner yet she had to go all the way to the Surf Club to find them at Salt?

Going back to Raffy and her getting the good news, though it's only at the first stage, getting assessed etc.  I'm guessing it happened later in the day as earlier when Ryder run into Bella he told her Raffy had had a seizure the day before so was resting, then they went off with Bella taking her photos at the caravan park, no expert myself, but she does seem to have a good eye for a shot.   It is good news and will stop her stressing thus, hopefully, stop her having any more seizures. I thinks she does still need Marilyn. Only three of them at the Morgan's now and obviously Tori is going to need to rest more so more on Justin and Mason's shoulders, not they they would complain but they both have work to go to.

Ouch that must have hurt Marilyn when he said he'd only popped in at home as he'd heard about Raffy's seizure, he knew what he said and how it would have sounded as soon as he said it but too late. John got a swerve from a  lot of folk and rightly deserved too. What was Alf supposed to do with the keys and paperwork for Salt, say to Mac 'sorry I can't give them to you, we've got to wait for the manager to show his face'?  As president doesn't Alf outrank John?  None of them, even including Ryder who's really stepped up to the plate, can keep working in a kind of limbo, waiting for him to turn up to make decisions, sign things off etc.  Alf's parting warning, if he can't hack it, they'll find someone who can stopped him in his tracks. I think maybe Marilyn did get to the crux of the matter and what we've said on here, is it John needing Jett rather than Jett needing him? It didn't seem to matter to either or them Raffy was standing right there playing eyeball tennis watching their faces as they argued, but she's a bright kid as we already now and can suss out a situation, maybe even have her own idea as to how to solve it.

Things did look a  lot easier between Irene & Bella and things were going swimmingly until Roo told Irene about  the English essay that Bella had 'forgotten' to mention. I can see Roo's point of view, Bella may not be the academic type but she will still need to get  a grasp of the basics even if she follows a photographic career. Not knowing the book Roo has set Bella to study I can't see the connection that Roo can between the character in the book and Bella and I'm guessing Irene hasn't  a clue either.  All it needs is someone who does to give her the nudge in the right direction, she isn't stupid, once she gets it, she'll be fine.

Seems Dean tries to do the right thing again, but is met with suspicion  again, though you can't blame Ben.  Someone who comes across as never having  any money offering him a loan - nothing off about that at all.

 

[D.B]

Mackenzie's becoming a bit more mysterious, with her refusal to answer her dad's call and her rather insistent questioning of Dean's past with Colby and Willow. I don't know if she's a forgotten past acquaintance of his or what. I still like her but for once, she ought to listen to Colby about where she parks her car. For all her efforts in the previous episode to make a good impression, it would all be wasted if she keeps up antagonising him. 

Dean today way exaggerated his argument with Ben, it's not as if Ben doesn't trust him, but the fact that he just shows up with that much money and yet refuses to tell Ben where it came from would make anyone suspicious, even though it would be very useful for the boards. Ben was nervous enough with the order without anything dodgy coming into it. That said,  I am surprised that the money from Dean's father was remembered, and I felt that Ziggy rather excepted Dean's explanation rather quickly. I expected that Dean would have told the truth about the money, so I was a bit bemused that Ben just excepted it, but still, good for them. 

I really enjoyed the light banter between Robbo, Jasmine and Tori when it came to the baby's gender. But the news about Tori having a premature birth was very worrying indeed, though hopefully the hospital will do their best to prevent it. I was worried in the next episode that Robbo went AWOL again, but thankfully he did the sensible thing in calling Aiden to talk about his fears. I really felt bad for him this week, it's as if he can't get a moment of reassurance with nothing terrible happening, and for Tori as well. Again Jasmine was being great support for the pair of them, which is always nice to see. And I loved the scene at the end with Robbo and Tori's reactions to the baby's a girl.

As everyone else said above, Mason is well meaning, but an absolute idiot. Yes, the fact that Raffy had another seizure is concerning, but he really needed to be patient with her getting on the trial. And getting himself in trouble would not only mean throwing his life away, but causing more trouble for Raffy. I am glad that he didn't go ahead with it (though I thought the whole exchange was a bit awkward, especially when Mason drove away and his dealer went "meh" and just walked away). And while I still appreciate his concern for Raffy, I really do, he lost me with his attitude towards Leah and Justin.  Great news though that Raffy made it on the trial, thankfully it means that Mason will start using his head a bit more. 

Okay, after giving him the benefit of the doubt before, John's behaviour was terrible to everyone who was picking up the slack while he was away, especially Alf and Ryder. I feel bad for Marilyn, with having to deal with John not even able to spend less than a minute, though I am glad that he made it up to her and that hopefully he will be more organised with his comings and goings to and from the city. As a side note, I really admire Ryder planning to save his earnings for his car. 

Look, I'm still deeply upset over last week, but still the Roo and Bella scenes were actually enjoyable. Roo's refusal to give up on Bella's education and her patient attitude towards her work was refreshing to see and really worked for Bella, who really hasn't seen much patience from adults even after she came to the Bay. That said, I'm rather concerned about this new contact of hers on the student forum, which was a good idea (and I was rather impressed by the way they made the words float on the screen) but spilling everything about herself to a literal stranger is hardly the best idea. It will be interesting to see where this goes. 

[Red Ranger 1]

Alf's episode count this week:Five, for the second week running.

I was extremely proud of Roo today.She knew exactly what Bella needed and made sure she got it.Bella can do the work, she just needs someone to show her how and point her in the right direction, like anyone doing this sort of thing for the first time.And I'm glad that her defensive attitude was confined to one promo fodder line and that she listened and was pleased at what she did.Of course, then we find out she's made a friend online.I'd love it if he actually was just a friend online but he'll probably turn out to be evil because everyone on the internet's evil.Right, people on the internet?

I don't know if I can defend John exactly but it's never fun when everyone's piling on one bloke who's at least trying: I was especially unimpressed with the way Irene was happily badmouthing him behind his back but wasn't brave enough to do it to his face.His attitude towards Ryder wasn't on, but credit where it's due: He did sort it out without any further prompting, taking the wind out of Alf's sails a bit when he tried to leap to Ryder's defence.He's trying to be too many things to too many people and letting most of them down, and he does need to come up with a workable plan that doesn't involve everyone else having to run around doing extra work.But as with Mason, I think his intentions are good.

I'm a bit uneasy about the Ben/Dean thing and I'm not entirely sure why.Ben's initial reaction was understandable and I'm glad Dean eventually got that.But it feels like Ben backed down too easily, with nothing to go on but "Just trust me." The thing is, we know Dean's telling the truth and the money's legit, so I've no reason for thinking Ben shouldn't trust Dean and yet it feels like taking the money was the wrong thing to do.(By the way, just how much of that money has Dean loaned out now?! Did Colby ever pay any of it back?)

I'm slightly surprised thinking about it that my initial response to the news Olivia's got a show in London was "Good for her", but hey, good for her. I guess I still remember the character she was, and her good points, plus she did finally have the sense to get away from Hunter.And it ties in worryingly well with my VJ/Olivia fan fic, although I think the time scale's off...