2020 Season - UK Episode Discussion

[Red Ranger 1]

9 hours ago, Nephlim14 said:

 

Okay:

1. Nikau isn't a man-child. He's in the same age group as Bella ergo a TEENAGER. He noticed she was sad and was trying to cheer her up.

2. You do recall that it was BELLA who decided to run away right? Nikau just went with her to back her up. Do you really think it would've been right for him to just sit back and watch her leave on her own. Plus, heaven knows that girl needs SOMEONE to help her mental state since Colby's more worried about their cover story. And that carjacking thing was reckless, but he didn't do anything to Grace that would have hurt her. As soon as he noticed her he stopped and made sure Tori got her back. And yes, his penchant for running away is a flaw of his but it didn't come out of nowhere. Which leads me to-

3. Ill admit I missed their intro episodes, but from what I understand the Paratas are trying to make up for a past that they USE to raise the kid in. From my understanding, he had to deal with his dad getting killed in a bank robbery, and had to move (numerously?) because they were getting harassed by police and locals, which they're sort of getting from Colby. So of course he'd have some habits, especially since Tane's barely trying to keep the illegal stuff away. Plus, it can't help that they are sort of treating him like a gang recruit more than a nephew.

1. Who says Nikau's a teenager? Well, Mackenzie on Friday. Are we meant to take that literally? Because he was brought in as a young adult character in his 20s who'd apparently been drifting for some time after leaving school and was having casual sex with Ryder's nemesis, and then somehow he got paired up with a girl of high school age and the show tried to make out they're the same age group rather than him being the same age as Ziggy, Amber and Willow. Result: A man-child. But then this seems to be the result of the show getting rid of the high school and the teenage characters but writing storylines the same way, meaning we have a bunch of young adult characters acting like they're sixteen and think holding hands a bit means they're as good as married.

2. Much as it pans me to say anything in Colby's favour, there's no way he'd have let Bella do something stupid like this and make things worse for everyone.If Nikau's not grown-up enough to stop Bella making stupid decisions, then he should have told someone who is.But no, instead he gets caught up in some childish romantic idea of them running away like Romeo and Juliet and lets her stuff things up for everyone, including the two of them.As for Grace, given how dangerously he was driving, he could have crashed the car with her in the back.Or he could have failed to notice her and abandoned the car with her still inside.He didn't make any attempt to get her back to Tori, just rang Tane like a silly little boy wanting a grown-up to tell him what to do.Result? They dump Grace on the Morgans' doorstep and hope for the best.

3. Ari and Gemma have done everything they can to keep Nikau on the street and narrow. He's the one that's committed a crime in the Bay and given Colby a good reason for being on their backs. He's the one who spent months thinking this idea of working for a living is dull, and wanting to bail and go back to having constant parties paid for by illegal earnings. He's even self-aware enough to know his father did the wrong thing, yet he seems to be quite happy to head down the same route himself. He's got a job and yet he's unable to go more than a couple of weeks without throwing a strop and storming out or just not turning up because he's found something more interesting to do. He's ignored every good influence in his life and every chance he's been given and treated the law like something to be ignored when it suits him.

Aaaand today.

So, all Nikau needed to do to make Bella want to sleep with him was go on the run from the police with her and provide a convenient tent? Bet he wishes he'd known that earlier... Neither of them have thought this through. Ross might have been able to get a decent house for them, but he likely had it planned out in advance and money saved up. Bella has a few thousand dollars (and that was only because Nikau tagged along at the last minute), most of which has probably gone on the flights and the car. Which is a bomb. Nut and berries it is, I think. Meanwhile, Nikau is still treating it like a fun romantic adventure that they can abandon if it gets too hard.But Bella doesn't have any better plan than calling for help, putting them at something of an impasse.She seems to be simultaneously over-estimating the likelihood of them being tracked and under-estimating how much of a trail she's left for Colby to send someone after them already. Talking of which...I don't want Mackenzie to cheat on Ari with Tane, but she seemed pretty relaxed in his company here. Any chance they could just be friends?

I'm not sure it was Willow's place to tell Colby that Dean has a son, but it did stop him wanting to knock his block off. (Oddly, she didn't feel the need to tell Dean what his son's name was, since he had to wait and ask Amber!) So, we hear that Jai's five or six.(Were Dean and Amber's hook-ups that spread out that he can't accurately count nine months?!) Ziggy's basically doing the only thing she can in supporting Dean's decisions. It must have been a jolt to Dean to realise his son's felt the same sort of uncertainty about where he came from that he felt when he was that age.I guess there was no way he was going to allow that to continue.

Although it was amusing, I'm not sure Alf making himself scarce whenever Marilyn insists it's ghosts is entirely in character.Maybe he just doesn't want to offend her, but you'd expect him to either be dismissive of the idea or, given what he's experienced over the years, be open to it.That's the thing: Part of me wants to pooh-pooh Marilyn's suggestions, but it wouldn't be the first time we've seen a ghost in Home and Away.That said, it probably wouldn't be most people's first thought...

[CaptainHulk]

Rewatching the body discovery ep... I was alarmed to discover Ross was only 2 wks older than me, according to his license! 

 

[Nephlim14]

On 22/09/2020 at 00:33, Red Ranger 1 said:

1. Who says Nikau's a teenager? Well, Mackenzie on Friday. Are we meant to take that literally? Because he was brought in as a young adult character in his 20s who'd apparently been drifting for some time after leaving school and was having casual sex with Ryder's nemesis, and then somehow he got paired up with a girl of high school age and the show tried to make out they're the same age group rather than him being the same age as Ziggy, Amber and Willow. Result: A man-child. But then this seems to be the result of the show getting rid of the high school and the teenage characters but writing storylines the same way, meaning we have a bunch of young adult characters acting like they're sixteen and think holding hands a bit means they're as good as married.

2. Much as it pans me to say anything in Colby's favour, there's no way he'd have let Bella do something stupid like this and make things worse for everyone.If Nikau's not grown-up enough to stop Bella making stupid decisions, then he should have told someone who is.But no, instead he gets caught up in some childish romantic idea of them running away like Romeo and Juliet and lets her stuff things up for everyone, including the two of them.As for Grace, given how dangerously he was driving, he could have crashed the car with her in the back.Or he could have failed to notice her and abandoned the car with her still inside.He didn't make any attempt to get her back to Tori, just rang Tane like a silly little boy wanting a grown-up to tell him what to do.Result? They dump Grace on the Morgans' doorstep and hope for the best.

3. Ari and Gemma have done everything they can to keep Nikau on the street and narrow. He's the one that's committed a crime in the Bay and given Colby a good reason for being on their backs. He's the one who spent months thinking this idea of working for a living is dull, and wanting to bail and go back to having constant parties paid for by illegal earnings. He's even self-aware enough to know his father did the wrong thing, yet he seems to be quite happy to head down the same route himself. He's got a job and yet he's unable to go more than a couple of weeks without throwing a strop and storming out or just not turning up because he's found something more interesting to do. He's ignored every good influence in his life and every chance he's been given and treated the law like something to be ignored when it suits him.

Aaaand today.

So, all Nikau needed to do to make Bella want to sleep with him was go on the run from the police with her and provide a convenient tent? Bet he wishes he'd known that earlier... Neither of them have thought this through. Ross might have been able to get a decent house for them, but he likely had it planned out in advance and money saved up. Bella has a few thousand dollars (and that was only because Nikau tagged along at the last minute), most of which has probably gone on the flights and the car. Which is a bomb. Nut and berries it is, I think. Meanwhile, Nikau is still treating it like a fun romantic adventure that they can abandon if it gets too hard.But Bella doesn't have any better plan than calling for help, putting them at something of an impasse.She seems to be simultaneously over-estimating the likelihood of them being tracked and under-estimating how much of a trail she's left for Colby to send someone after them already.

Spoiler

2. It wasnt a matter of anyone letting her do anything. If you saw the episode then you know she was taking off at that moment and even if Nikau had chosen to run off to try and get Colby or somebody else I doubt it would have helped. Firstly because they wouldnt have been able to catch up to her given how she managed to make it to a road by the end. And secondly, she likely just would have gone underground. The whole reason she thought it was a good ideaa to run was cuz she was raised off the grid and knew how to hide herself. Heck, the only reason they managed to bring her back is cuz Nikau lured her back with a phone message.

3. I know Gemma has done everything. I know Ari is trying, but that doesnt change the fact that he WAS as bad an influence on the kid as Tane is sometimes. The only reason he's this way now is because he was traumatized in prison. Im not gonna claim to be a psychologist, but I doubt you can raise someone in their past circumstances and expect them not to have issues with being lawful

My point being that Ari and Tane havent been COMPLETE positive influences on Nikau. Like I said before, they seem to treat Nikau more like a recruit in a gang instead of a nephew who needs guidance in honest living. Specifically, theyre more focused on keeping him off police radar instead of anything to do with moraliity. To date, their living in a house they know Tane bought with shady money. Tane was still doing shady crimes when things got bad, which is why Nikau managed to get the 5,000 to start with. They flat out encouraged Nikau to lie to his mom and keep her in the dark on things. Before Nikau left with Bella, Tane was about to run away himself just cuz he had a crush on his brother's girlfriend. Nikau can be impulsive and hot headed, but he's still a guy who wants to do right for people he cares about and he just has issues due to his past upbringing, just like Bella in a way

Speaking of which, what episode made Nikau seem like the law breaking party boy, cuz I was aware that the only Parata that fits that description is Tane. The only time Ive heard him complain about working was groaning a bit when Ari wanted to beg Alf for his job back. And I was under the impression that his issue with where he worked was because he had some beef with Alf. Which I dont blame the kid since Alf is basically the grumpy old man who thinks all kids are beneath him. And the other time he ditched his job was to back up his panicking girlfriend, which even Alf and Colby would go on to say was the right thing given the circumstances.

And I think you should remember that the only Nikau ended up commiting a crime.was because Colby was ALREADY getting on their backs. He was accusing them of the diner break in, without evidence, just because Gemma didnt volunteer their prints, Ari was dating his ex, and Nikau was dating his sister. Nikau panicked due to the pressure and made a mistake, but Colby was the reason he was panicking to start with.

 

[Red Ranger 1]

3 hours ago, Nephlim14 said:

 If you saw the episode then you know she was taking off at that moment and even if Nikau had chosen to run off to try and get Colby or somebody else I doubt it would have helped.

3. I know Gemma has done everything. I know Ari is trying, but that doesnt change the fact that he WAS as bad an influence on the kid as Tane is sometimes.

My point being that Ari and Tane havent been COMPLETE positive influences on Nikau. Like I said before, they seem to treat Nikau more like a recruit in a gang instead of a nephew who needs guidance in honest living. Specifically, theyre more focused on keeping him off police radar instead of anything to do with moraliity.

Speaking of which, what episode made Nikau seem like the law breaking party boy, cuz I was aware that the only Parata that fits that description is Tane. The only time Ive heard him complain about working was groaning a bit when Ari wanted to beg Alf for his job back. And I was under the impression that his issue with where he worked was because he had some beef with Alf. Which I dont blame the kid since Alf is basically the grumpy old man who thinks all kids are beneath him.

And I think you should remember that the only Nikau ended up commiting a crime.was because Colby was ALREADY getting on their backs. He was accusing them of the diner break in, without evidence, just because Gemma didnt volunteer their prints, Ari was dating his ex, and Nikau was dating his sister. Nikau panicked due to the pressure and made a mistake, but Colby was the reason he was panicking to start with.

 

Oh, boo-hoo, poor little Nikau, are the big bad grown-ups being horrible to him? Honestly, if you're going to throw spoilers at me to try and make your point... Just because he's conned Colby and Alf, that doesn't mean they're right about him.I did see the episode and what I saw was Bella telling Nikau she was going to run away, and instead of warning someone Nikau went home and packed a bag, and Colby actually had time to track Bella down and have a conversation with her and could have stopped her if he'd known what going on, which no doubt he'll keep to himself so everyone will be fooled into thinking it's okay for him to bail on them and encourage Bella to get herself into trouble. It seems like he was constantly hanging out on the beach and at home, and when Ari or Gemma challenged him on it, he gave them a load of attitude and said he didn't feel like going into work today. He threw a tantrum at Alf because he was in a bad mood, stormed out, rejected the hand of friendship when Alf offered it and somehow still got his job back.And now he's let Alf down again, by doing the wrong thing and helping Bella run away for stupid reasons with stolen money.

Given that Ari was in jail for a good chunk of Nikau's childhood and has been desperate to stop Nikau going down the same road ever since, I don't know how much of a negative influence you can say he was on him. In which episode was Nikau treated like a "gang recruit"? Neither Ari nor Tane have wanted Nikau to commit crimes, he's done that off his own back and they've covered for him.Are they wrong to do so? Quite probably, and yet from the way you're talking and making excuses for him, I doubt you'd be happy if they shopped him to the police for his crimes.The police think you committed a crime so you commit a crime? Yeah, that defence will go down well in court.Nikau stole Dean's car and dragged Bella off to one of Tane's dodgy parties in the city, preferring to stay there than have an honest life in Summer Bay.He's as dodgy as the rest of them.

[Slade]

Justin still is the only one thinking logically regarding crazy Jasmine - She's all cured after one session.  Of course.  Loved his comment about Tori sleeping with one eye open.  So according to Jasmine's shrink Robbo's death caused the craziness.  Who would have thought.

My main issue with this storyline at the moment firstly is with Tori.  When she took out the AVO, she should have ceased all contact with Jasmine but by being friendly with her she's been too ambiguous.  So it's no surprise Jasmine seems to ignore the fact Tori wanted to keep her away from Grace, especially when Tori is taking photos of them with her phone and saying Jasmine can have access to Grace if things go well.  The second issue I have is that (which all the other characters are apparently oblivious to) the only reason Jasmine is getting help is so she can have access to Grace.  When it should be about realising how she is and working on self improvement.  If she was bared permanently from seeing Grace she wouldn't be doing this (I'm not surprised Marilyn was trying to comfort Tori after Tori sort of freaked out when Jasmine offered to look after Grace, given that if Jasmine isn't looking after Grace, she is).

I don't think it was realistic to expect Bella not to tell anyone about Colby shooting Ross.  It's interesting Angelo being the one to investigate Ross's murder.  Both he and Colby cops, both killed someone although I think Angelo did a massive service getting rid of PC plod.  I found the testosterone when Colby was forced to join forces with the Paratas quite amusing.  And it just so happens that Mackenzie has to be the one to takes Dean's place trying to help Ari and Tane locate Bella and Nikau.

Looks as though Tommy has been resigned to the history books.

[H&Alover]

First off Nik didn't 'drag' Bella off to his uncle Tane's.   You're making it sound like he threw her over his shoulder, then threw her into the car and took her against her will, she was very willing if I remember. He did look after her and made no moves on her.  

I don't think he's the same age as Bella or Ryder, but he's certainly not as old as Amber, Dean or Willow.  Sure he was more savvy about Jade than Ryder was leading us to think he was older than he seemed, but then not long ago he confessed to Ryder he hadn't much to do with girls which was why he was asking his advice. 

His home life may not have been the most secure,  Gemma was it seemed the moral compass out of them all, dad into robbing banks, his eldest uncle in prison, his youngest uncle disappearing at the drop of a hat at the first sign of trouble.  But both Ari and Tane do care for him, isn't that why they are looking for him to bring him home?   Nik rebelled against Ari because he was the more strict one and in his eyes trying to replace his dad.  Ari didn't want Nik following his dad's path and either ending up in jail or dead.  What advice would Mikaere have given Nik if he had been alive, would Nik have listened?  Tane, it seems, was also in and out of his life hence the mystery and excitement about him to a young impressionable lad.  Tane did seem, when we first saw him was the one appearing to be the bad influence on him, hence Ari warning him off him. 

We all know how the conversations Colby had with Bella were going, he was causing her to panic more.   Nik did try and make Bella stay, but her mind was made up so in his  mind going with her made sense, she'd have someone with her.   A single, young girl on her own, open to all kinds of dangers.   She may have thought with her past experiences she'd be OK It doesn't work that way.  

I may have seen it wrong, but wasn't it Bella's idea that she was ready for them  to sleep together not Nik's, he asked several times if she  was sure.  It was also him who decided they needed to get help to fix the car when she kept insisting they couldn't ask for help from anyone, ever which had to be Ross' influence there.  She would have it drummed into her from an early age not to trust anyone but him. 

I think Tane and Mac have reached an understanding, she recognised it must be awkward for him being in the same car as her and Ari.  Liked the anecdote he told her about him,  Ari and Mikaere being stuffed in the back seat of the family car with him stuck in the middle and Ari and Mikaere teasing him. 

At least Willow telling Colby about Dean having a son got him off the hook for not going to look for Bella and we had the usual make up between the pair.   Slightly awkward talk between Ziggy and Amber about Jai, but as Amber made clear she wasn't expecting Dean to rehook up with her, she just wanted him to be part of Jai's life.  Of course now he has stared school - I'm going for five -  he would have heard other kids talk about their dad and wonder where his is.  At least he won't have to wait until he is in his 20's before finding  out who  he is.  I'm guessing as Amber was part of their gang back in the day she would have known Karen and the problems she had.  I'm wondering if Dean will mention what the real cause was, as that is the main reason why he didn't want kids with Ziggy in case he had inherited her condition.  It is something Amber deserves to know.  It's good Ziggy is sticking by Dean, who is still getting his head round the news himself. 

Jasmine is not cured after one session, she knows she has to carry on and she has now recognised it's not about Grace, it's about her abandonment  issues and how in a way Robbo abandoned her when he died which she needs to come to terms with first.  Do agree Tori is giving very mixed messages to Jasmine.  

I thought it was entirely in character for Alf to do a disappearing act when Roo and Marilyn started talking  all things spiritual.  He is such a down to earth character and just didn't want to be there to stop him himself pouring cold water on it.  Now, as it is no spoiler, I can safely 'say' I had to laugh when we see Alf's face when Evan's double appears at the Surf Club and he comes out with the line "Hogan's ghost"!  No, definitely not Hogan's ghost. 

 

 

[CaptainHulk]

Marilyn: It worked!

Please stay another 10yrs!

[Red Ranger 1]

Oh, did I stick with "dragged"? What I meant by that was that, as I recall, Bella didn't actually know where they were going until Nikau pulled up in Tane's driveway, and certainly didn't intend to stay there as long as she did. Anyway, Nikau was behaving like an immature idiot again today, and continues to present his choices as let Bella go on her own or go with her, forgetting that he could have not let her go. If Colby had known what was going on when he found Bella in the flat, he'd have taken her to the police station himself rather than let her talk him into letting her make her own way there, she'd have had the police interview, and whether it went wrong or not, she wouldn't have had any reason to run away. But no, let's just make things as bad as possible by taking off for another state, leaving the people she's trying to protect in even more trouble and putting a whole load of people in danger. Nikau's still not very good at reading Bella, who's probably smart enough not to stick to the roads.I wondered if Ryder knew they were missing: Evidently he does but that raises a lot of questions.How exactly is Colby going to keep the fact Bella's missing from Angelo if most of the Bay seems to know?

I can understand Amber wanting to ease into things rather than tell Jai that Dean's his father straightaway, but she needs to have some idea about a timetable, or she could end up spending another five years keeping secrets.Dean seems happy to go along with it: As Ryder said, who'd have known he was so good with kids? Ziggy remains uncomfortable.Amber promises Jai some fish and chips and they go to...Salt?

Are we meant to consider that Marilyn might be right when she said it worked? After all, it was the exact moment she was doing the séance that Alf and Ryder saw "Hogan's Ghost" in the surf club.Mind you, if he is Evan, you'd expect him to, well, know them.It was nicely played by everyone, with Alf and Ryder's confusion and Evan's double switching between being uncomfortable with the attention and realising exactly why they're reacting the way they are.

[Nephlim14]

17 hours ago, Red Ranger 1 said:

Oh, boo-hoo, poor little Nikau, are the big bad grown-ups being horrible to him? Honestly, if you're going to throw spoilers at me to try and make your point... Just because he's conned Colby and Alf, that doesn't mean they're right about him.I did see the episode and what I saw was Bella telling Nikau she was going to run away, and instead of warning someone Nikau went home and packed a bag, and Colby actually had time to track Bella down and have a conversation with her and could have stopped her if he'd known what going on, which no doubt he'll keep to himself so everyone will be fooled into thinking it's okay for him to bail on them and encourage Bella to get herself into trouble. It seems like he was constantly hanging out on the beach and at home, and when Ari or Gemma challenged him on it, he gave them a load of attitude and said he didn't feel like going into work today. He threw a tantrum at Alf because he was in a bad mood, stormed out, rejected the hand of friendship when Alf offered it and somehow still got his job back.And now he's let Alf down again, by doing the wrong thing and helping Bella run away for stupid reasons with stolen money.

Given that Ari was in jail for a good chunk of Nikau's childhood and has been desperate to stop Nikau going down the same road ever since, I don't know how much of a negative influence you can say he was on him. In which episode was Nikau treated like a "gang recruit"? Neither Ari nor Tane have wanted Nikau to commit crimes, he's done that off his own back and they've covered for him.Are they wrong to do so? Quite probably, and yet from the way you're talking and making excuses for him, I doubt you'd be happy if they shopped him to the police for his crimes.The police think you committed a crime so you commit a crime? Yeah, that defence will go down well in court.Nikau stole Dean's car and dragged Bella off to one of Tane's dodgy parties in the city, preferring to stay there than have an honest life in Summer Bay.He's as dodgy as the rest of them.

 

10 hours ago, H&Alover said:

First off Nik didn't 'drag' Bella off to his uncle Tane's.   You're making it sound like he threw her over his shoulder, then threw her into the car and took her against her will, she was very willing if I remember. He did look after her and made no moves on her.  

I don't think he's the same age as Bella or Ryder, but he's certainly not as old as Amber, Dean or Willow.  Sure he was more savvy about Jade than Ryder was leading us to think he was older than he seemed, but then not long ago he confessed to Ryder he hadn't much to do with girls which was why he was asking his advice. 

His home life may not have been the most secure,  Gemma was it seemed the moral compass out of them all, dad into robbing banks, his eldest uncle in prison, his youngest uncle disappearing at the drop of a hat at the first sign of trouble.  But both Ari and Tane do care for him, isn't that why they are looking for him to bring him home?   Nik rebelled against Ari because he was the more strict one and in his eyes trying to replace his dad.  Ari didn't want Nik following his dad's path and either ending up in jail or dead.  What advice would Mikaere have given Nik if he had been alive, would Nik have listened?  Tane, it seems, was also in and out of his life hence the mystery and excitement about him to a young impressionable lad.  Tane did seem, when we first saw him was the one appearing to be the bad influence on him, hence Ari warning him off him. 

We all know how the conversations Colby had with Bella were going, he was causing her to panic more.   Nik did try and make Bella stay, but her mind was made up so in his  mind going with her made sense, she'd have someone with her.   A single, young girl on her own, open to all kinds of dangers.   She may have thought with her past experiences she'd be OK It doesn't work that way.  

I may have seen it wrong, but wasn't it Bella's idea that she was ready for them  to sleep together not Nik's, he asked several times if she  was sure.  It was also him who decided they needed to get help to fix the car when she kept insisting they couldn't ask for help from anyone, ever which had to be Ross' influence there.  She would have it drummed into her from an early age not to trust anyone but him. 

1. "Oh, boo-hoo, poor little Nikau, are the big bad grown-ups being horrible to him?" That is not what I was trying to say. My point is basically that

• A) Just because he's made mistakes and has issues, it doesnt mean he's the irredeemable worst you seem to see him as.
• B) While they are making efforts to keep him on a good path, Tane and Ari  have been implied to be bad examples for him and still arent the 100% perfect people to be guiding him on honest living, especially Tane. Which lead me to- 
• C) While his mistakes arent excusable, they are understandable and preictable given the supposed background of his character. Especially on a show that, from what I understand is all about a beach town that helps troubled teens and has most likely had more than one teen character with troubled backgrounds and flaws to grow out of. (Cap: Since the show is presenting him as a teen-ish character, I'm seeing him as a teen-ish character). Given everything we know about the family, it makes sense he'd have issues with his emotions, his family, his grief and (in this case) the law. He's no more of a lost cause than every other troubled person thats lived in that town before him. Speaking of which, I think the arc youre referring to is the one where he thought his mom was sleeping with Roo and Bella had just broke up with him. 

2. As much as you want to blame Nikau, Bella decided for herself that she was gonna run away.

• Colby and Dean had ALREADY told her leaving was a bad idea, but she was stubborn in her belief that she could and should, hide from the law.
• Nikau has never been able to "make" her do anything and he couldnt do that now. I doubt Nikau telling Colby would have helped or made sense. Nikau had just found out that the dude who's been harassing his family, largely out of spite, had killed his girlfriends father (abusive or not), and is now putting pressure on her to lie in a police investigation. And even If he had decided to tell Colby or anyone, and she had been dragged to the station, Bella would have likely been in a worse state than before. She then would have messed something up, then likely run away afterwards, especially if Angelo had wanted a follow up.

[Red Ranger 1]

6 hours ago, Nephlim14 said:

 

Just because he's made mistakes and has issues, it doesnt mean he's the irredeemable worst you seem to see him as.

While they are making efforts to keep him on a good path, Tane and Ari  have been implied to be bad examples for him and still arent the 100% perfect people to be guiding him on honest living, especially Tane. Which lead me to- 

While his mistakes arent excusable, they are understandable and preictable given the supposed background of his character. . Speaking of which, I think the arc youre referring to is the one where he thought his mom was sleeping with Roo and Bella had just broke up with him. 

 As much as you want to blame Nikau, Bella decided for herself that she was gonna run away.

Nikau has never been able to "make" her do anything and he couldnt do that now.And even If he had decided to tell Colby or anyone, and she had been dragged to the station, Bella would have likely been in a worse state than before.

I'm not saying he's irredeemable. I'm saying that I don't like him, that I think he's selfish and childish and not a particularly nice person, and that if the show wants us to like him then they need to stop showing him doing bad things and hurting people without any consequence and without anyone really calling him out on it. Frankly, you could choose a number of "arcs": This isn't just one-off behaviour by Nikau, it seems like every other week he finds something to cause him to throw his toys out of the pram and storm off and cause harm, and he needs to grow up: His behaviour would be appalling even if he was a "teen character", rather than someone who even if he's the age H&Alover says is still closer in age to Ziggy than Bella yet wants to go on acting like "one of the kids".It's no use giving us a scene where he promises not to do anything stupid and irresponsible and put Bella in danger, then about a week later he does exactly that.

I believe that Bella does go back to town and talk to the police and

doesn't run away again afterwards, so why couldn't she have done that in the first place? Are we meant to believe that a few days hiding in the bush and having sex with Nikau in a tent made all the difference?