2019 Season - UK Episode Discussion

[CaptainHulk]

Was it wrong to want Maggie to slap Ben? Not out of malice but to make him get a hold of himself!

[c120701]

I’m increasingly feeling that Justin & Leah’s relationship is basically to bring Leah/Ada into the Morgan fold as maternity cover for Tori/Penny. They seem to be treading water and she’s the one offering support to/siding with Justin/Mason as and when required.

[DialMforMorag]

Morag would be having a field day if she still around with all the legal doings in the Bay:

Irene - self defence storyline. Morag and Irene are good friends and Morag would most definitely be her lawyer, stand up and fight for her in court - both professionally and personally.

Raffy - CBD oil storyline. Morag and Leah are very close and no doubt Morag would have a lot to say about the proceedings.

Ben - drug case storyline. Would be on the case and be his lawyer.

Robbo - witness protection storyline. OK, maybe not but Morag and Dylan Carter had history and disagreements. 

 

I'm really, *really* surprised no-one has even mentioned her name with all this legal drama kicking off and not one person has even asked Alf or Roo for Morag's support... 

I understand TPTB probably don't know whether to let Morag go or not, but I wish they at least had the decency to mention her rather than say nothing. She is part of the show's fabric. It doesn't feel right when Alf/Leah/Irene/Roo/Marilyn/John are all part of the current dramas in the Bay and she's not brought up at all.

One thing is for sure - we all miss you Morag and Cornelia Frances. 

[Red Ranger 1]

22 hours ago, c120701 said:

Thinking back as I’ve been trying to piece all of the who did & didn’t know about Mick’s father/Irene’s rape, didn’t Morag know as she helped her track him down which makes me think that Alf might have been out of town. He was out of town for the Caravan Park explosion I’m sure, maybe visiting Sally.

Having looked it up, Alf was out of town for a month or so around the time of the caravan park explosion but seems to have come back very very soon afterwards.He was around while Morag was helping look for her child (Roo was fairly heavily involved too, as I alluded to earlier) and he was around the previous year when Leah and the audience first found out about her abuse and her having a child as a result: He was involved with Irene's relapse a bit.

13 hours ago, c120701 said:

I’m increasingly feeling that Justin & Leah’s relationship is basically to bring Leah/Ada into the Morgan fold as maternity cover for Tori/Penny. They seem to be treading water and she’s the one offering support to/siding with Justin/Mason as and when required.

It feels like there's more to it than that to me: I would be surprised if Justin and Leah suddenly broke up once Tori was back full-time.They've both been left a bit isolated:Leah doesn't have any family left and is something of a third wheel at the caravan park, who's only been foregrounded because Alf and Roo have been away a lot and she's been left looking after Ryder.Brody's gone already and with the Morgans having been there three years, there might be more going.Of course, Justin might go with them, but if he doesn't, then it makes sense to give him a connection to another character in anticipation.

Alf's episode count this week:Four. Tori didn't appear at all this time.

Ah, so Raffy's taking her exams on her own.Well that's better than her missing them entirely, and it makes sense since it'll make her less self-conscious.Everyone seems to be rallying round trying to help her but it remains to be seen whether it will do any good.Mason seems rather lukewarm, as if he knows they're fighting a losing battle.So Ryder was definitely out of the loop with regards Raffy.I can't quite tell if he's out of the loop with Bella or not.Despite Irene and Roo celebrating her getting her old spark back, discussion about her returning to school seems to have been pretty much abandoned by this point.It might have been better if she had, since Ryder's party really isn't the ideal environment for her to be around people again.

It's hard to tell whether Ben's meltdown was inevitable or not.Maggie had the sense to step in when people were crowding him early on, realising he wasn't ready for that step yet.Unfortunately, Alf and John didn't really get the message or realise how uncomfortable he was.At least Alf seems to realise that this is more than just being a bit overwhelmed:Maybe his experience with Martha has taught him a few things.

[baywatcher]

Really enjoyed the Dean, Colby, Mac, Ziggy and Willow scenes in Thursday's ep.  Really well played by all and Willow's smile lit up the screen.

I'm personally finding the Ben scenes quite difficult to watch.  Not because of the actor (Rohan is doing a fantastic job).  It's more that I myself struggle to know how to deal with people who may have mental health issues.  I just don't know how to respond to them.  Nothing seems to be working with Ben at the moment - leaving him be, moaning at him, being overly nice etc.  When he was I working at the Pier complex I expected him to see the For Sale sign and for that to have an adverse effect but it didn't happen.  Let's hope the AFP come up with some leads very soon.

[c120701]

Any ideas why they’re calling the AFP ‘the AFP’ for the Ben story but calling them ‘the Feds’ throughout the Robbo story? It took a while to click they were talking about the same people as Colby’s calling them two different things depending on which story he’s involved in.

[H&Alover]

I agree baywatcher Rohan is doing a great job playing Ben, he's teetering on falling into depression so hope TPTB treat it sensitively, I'm supposing they have researched the subject so know how to play it with the right amount of respect. It's not going to be an easy watch for people who have been there or their families but brave of H&A to tackle it. I reckon most families have tried Maggie and Ziggy's approach, shouting at him., leaving him alone, sympathising.  As far as they have been concerned until now, he's just a bit down or low, false hope him getting back to doing to some work at the pier.  I dare say we will get the usual moaners saying it's going on too long, but that's the thing with depression it does go on for months, even years.  The person going through it can come out of it but it'll always be there. Ben hasn't even reached the first stage yet so a long way to go, he's got to admit his is suffering from it, then admit he needs help. He's always been a proud man and I don't know if it's Italian heritage but that may come into it as well.  Alf was on the ball recognising  the signs.  He must know about the sale as he's rung the estate agent about any interest, he didn't respond in any way when he saw the sign.  I don't think either John or Alf meant to be insensitive suggesting a card game to 'cheer' him up as it helped John  when he was down over Jett.

Kind of good news that the AFP are tackling the Indonesian end so are doing something.  Colby was right they wouldn't keep a small town cop in the loop and if anyone would be it'd be McCarthy.

Ryder did seem out of the loop as regards Raffy but seeing as they haven't really spoken since they finished their assignment not a real surprise, it wasn't down to Roo to tell Ryder, it wasn't her place to say anything to him and a breach of confidence maybe.   She was a bit harsh telling Ryder he was pretending to care, he does care even if they aren't together as boyfriend/girlfriend/friends.  I suppose her taking her trials  on her own is part of this misadventure scheme, still seems a strange term.  Not a good start with that politician saying he couldn't help, so maybe a goof idea not to tell Raffy yet.  They - Justin, Leah and Mason -  obviously consulted her off screen as we only saw her folding up the flyers. 

He also doesn't appear to have seen Irene's vlog as it wouldn't have taken him long to work out who Irene was talking about, he was talking to Bella like he usually would.  Bella was OK as she could be until she heard about Irene's trial date then started panicking about giving evidence, would her written statement be enough or could she give it via video link so she wouldn't have to face Tommy in court, another way is for her to be screened off.

Good to get a bit of much needed light relief with Willow, Ziggy, Mac, Dean & Colby.  Loved the girls ganging up on Colby and Dean, victory for now.   Willow filling Mac in  why Colby seemed to bow to Dean's request/demand helped her to understand the tie between them.  She was surprised/shocked to discover Corby had been a River Boy.

I'm with you DialMforMorag re TPTB's reluctance to even let Morag get a mention.  How much she could do with Ben & the AFP is debatable, she would know the right people,  but in Irene's case definitely be there all guns blazing.  Cornelia's  family would need to be consulted on how and when  her character should be written out in a respectful manner, but the way she's just apparently been airbrushed out is in my eyes an insult to Cornelia and the role she played in the past.

 

 

 

[UK_fan]

I agree that depression just doesn't go away, you can seek help and hopefully there is light at the end of the tunnel for Ben and I do sympathise with him, but I thought he was really rude to Maggie today!  She's struggling to in terms of what to do about trying to help her Husband because she loves him and cares for him and everytime she tries to do something he just snaps at her like everything she does or says is wrong, so I do feel for her in that sense, plus she is trying to keep the family afloat financially, emotionally and she also needs someone to turn to and to confide in about her worries and about what to do in terms about trying to help Ben.

I get that he doesn't want to be pitied, but I did really feel for Maggie today and to be honest I was more on her side.

[Red Ranger 1]

Well, some characters didn't look as bad as they did in the promo.I wouldn't like to swear either way whether or not Ryder knows what's going on with Bella: I think if he did know then it's not unlikely that he'd just treat her like he normally does, and on the whole she did seem comfortable around him.The party was slightly less rowdy and a lot more mixed-gender than it looked in the promos, so perhaps it wasn't such an intimidating environment for her as I first feared.It also makes Alf and Roo being happy to leave her there more understandable.Colby started off trying to do the right thing and support Bella, but leaving her sat on her own for ages while he flirted with Mackenzie wasn't exactly being a good brother.A fair bit of peer pressure going on:Ryder apparently meant it when he promised Alf and Roo no alcohol, but was quickly convinced to sneak some in after him rather than have his friends think he was a wuss.He himself put a bit of pressure on Bella to attend the party, although in the end it was more her needing to let off steam.

Ben's still pushing people away:He regrets it when he does it too hard but he's still not willing to face up to things.In a way, neither's Maggie, since she chooses to accept him making a surf board as a sign that everything's okay rather than digging deeper.

[c120701]

Nice to see Summer Bay House for what seems like the first time in forever. With it being offscreen for such a long time I was expecting a bit of a revamp, but I guess it was down in studio due to the need for the Farmhouse, the Beach House and the Diner Apartment almost consistently in recent weeks. I guess the first two are pretty big sets, plus we’ve had bedrooms of them all and the Morgan house. It just seemed like Alf & Roo had moved into the Diner for a while.

Still no exterior.