2020 Season - UK Episode Discussion

[H&Alover]

I'm thinking as we saw Tori in her jimjams she and Christian did make it to bed.  They may be dedicated doctors but not I think that dedicated. That was quite a date, from doing yoga on the beach, back to the Morgan's, Tori making or rather not making dinner, all light hearted, no pressure or expectations.  Christian seemed happy to meet Grace again and looked very comfortable with her.  Typical big brother reaction from Justin the next morning with him not wanting to see Tori and Christian in perhaps a state of undress. 

Justin must have had a comfortable night as he showed no signs of pain until he stood, and lucky Christian did stay over and any embarrassment on his behalf was soon forgotten.  Christian, not being that close to the Morgan's yet, could give it straight to Justin, hospital now or leave it 24 hours and maybe end up in a wheelchair.   Guess his fall took his mind right off that need.  Saw in the trailer Tori and Christian having a row (again) about Justin's treatment and the fact Christian had 'allowed' Justin to leave hospital.  Tori is of course acting as his sister where Christian is acting as his doctor.  Hospital isn't prison and all a doctor can do is strongly advise a patient that leaving wouldn't be in their best interest.

I think there is a lot more to Alf and Martha's bickering that there looks and are using Roo's problem with  Owen to cover it.   Her selling/not selling her house in Merimbula being one issue.  I noticed in the Diner Irene backed away when the talk about Roo was getting heated.  Roo may well be in her 50's(?) but Alf is still playing the protective dad.   At least Owen played the gentleman  and refused to tell Alf what the problem was and told him to talk to Roo therefore respecting her right to tell   people when and if she wants to. 

Those mind games can back fire on the people playing them.  I'm guessing Angelo didn't hear anything Colby and Taylor were talking about that morning.  I don't think even he could have played it that cool.

Annoys the life out of me when people call others on their mobile and when it goes to voice mail NEVER leave a message!   At least we had Willow and in some part John being the voices(s) of reason  calming Dean down.  That was so sad when he found the drawing Jai had made and Amber had thrown away, but on the plus side, he does have that to keep now. This is one thing he can't blame  Colby for, this was down to Francesca. I'm glad he didn't go charging off trying to find them as he hasn't a clue where even to start.  I was glad Amber finally answered him, I'm thinking by then she'd had time to cool down herself and think more calmly.  May have been a drastic move to make but in the bay she and Jai would have always been in the middle of Francesca and Dean which wouldn't  be healthy for the little lad.  I spotted she'd taken the bike Dean had brought Jai, not being mercenary but it wouldn't have been cheap and been very wasteful to have left it behind and Jai loved it.  Still wondering though about Jai, he's going to be asking about his dad and why he can't see him.  He had worried Amber would miss him if Dean and had taken just the two of them away, so he's going to be thinking the same about Dean missing him now it's just Amber and him.  Are we, maybe, going to see a runaway story? John is going to miss his little mate too.

 

[CaptainHulk]

Voicemail can be a pain in the arse. No guarantee the person's gonna listen to it!

[c120701]

I couldn’t help thinking during Alf & Martha’s argument, what’s keeping Alf in the Bay really, his businesses manage without him 6 months of the year anyway on and off.

[Red Ranger 1]

So, bit of an impasse between Alf and Martha.Whilst I think he's being stubborn, I find it perfectly reasonable that Alf expected them to live together once they were married, and I'm a bit bothered that Martha's reason for maintaining her own house isn't solely because it's her home now but because she wants her "independence": Choosing to spend big chunks of your marriage away from each other because you don't want to see your spouse all the time isn't particularly promising. They should have discussed this beforehand though instead of Alf assuming Martha would move to Summer Bay full time.Have they even considered the idea of Alf moving to Merimbula?

Jasmine seems to have been reading these forums, given her ironically referring to her behaviour a few months back as "crazy Jasmine".  I was as alarmed as Irene at her saying she didn't want to give Grace back, but standoffish behaviour with Christian aside, she seems to be handling it okay.Justin didn't seem to be in any hurry to tell Tori about going walkabout... Also loved the improvisation around the fact Grace seemed to be death glaring Christian!

I'd have thought that Colby possibly not knowing Bella's leaving was a good reason not to invite him to the farewell, certainly not without consulting Bella. I hope you appreciated having your question about her passport answered, H&Alover! I was amused that Mackenzie actually carried on with saying something daft to prove Ari wasn't listening. And then we get some dodgy bloke asking questions about Tane, when I was trying to forget about that storyline. Do we really need another bunch of interchangeable gangsters causing trouble? We had this last year. I was convinced it was the actor that played Dom's uncle back in 2006-7, but the name's different so I guess he must just look like him...

Edited January 15, 2021 by Red Ranger 1

[H&Alover]

Yes, my previously ignored question was answered - thank you Ari!  She must have laid her hands on her birth certificate and another proof of identity to apply for it. To be fair Mac doesn't know Colby doesn't know, she was just assuming he knew because after all she doesn't know what has been going on.  I can completely understand Ari not wanting to invite Colby to the barbecue  and would he want to go anyway?  Tane and Nik won't be putting out the bunting either.  From what we saw there's a showdown between Nik and Colby with Colby telling Nik Bella wasn't going anywhere, not that he can stop her seeing as she is 18, then Nik drops the bombshell he knows about Ross.

Did like that exchange between Ari and Mac on the beach and her starting to strip off to jolt him back to the present, then the teasing later in Salt. Hold onto those light hearted moments, you're going to need them.   Look alike interchangeable baddies as well eh Red?

I had to smile at that, though when Jasmine said she didn't want to give Grace back I think she meant it in the same way as if Irene or Marilyn would  have said it, Grace is a little darling.   Jasmine is still cool around Christian but not causing any waves just keeping her distance but give her due she doesn't let  it interfere with her professional duties when she has to work alongside him.   Hey Grace is a method actress! The cast have to react to what she is doing.

Good to see Tori and Christian sort out the Justin problem, Tori recognised  she was over reacting again and should leave the doctoring of Justin to Christian and she apologised to Justin for not treating as a adult.   Christian was cool about it too so he must really like Tori. 

To be honest both Martha and Alf are stubborn.   Maybe he did assume Martha would move in permanently after their marriage, Alf is an old fashioned guy which Martha should know full well, he's mellowed a bit but he still has his set ways.  Couples are separated by circumstances due to one or the others job or occupation, like being in the forces during which you get used to being on your own and doing things your own way and you both have to readjust when they are on leave.  With Martha she's choosing to.   It'd been 30 years since Martha had lived with Alf so a huge readjustment for them both and she has changed a lot since then.  Alf talking to Justina and Martha talking to Irene didn't really solve things.  He had a grump about driving up and down the coast. 

 

[c120701]

I must admit, I’m quite enjoying seeing Colby’s World gradually fall apart.

It’s a shame, I liked the idea of him being a cop getting away from the River Boy World but they’ve given him the reverse of the typical River Boy story - the good River Boy gone bad.

[English Invader]

On 14/01/2021 at 19:56, c120701 said:

I couldn’t help thinking during Alf & Martha’s argument, what’s keeping Alf in the Bay really, his businesses manage without him 6 months of the year anyway on and off.

33 years and the sole remaining character from the original pilot episode.  I think Alf moving to Merimbula is the best compromise all round and the only way for his marriage to survive but I don't want it to happen.

[Red Ranger 1]

Alf's episode count this week:Three.

While they didn't know for sure, Mackenzie and Ari pretty much guessed in the previous episode that Colby didn't know Bella was going, so letting him know via an invite to the farewell really was asking for trouble.Thorne once again demonstrates that he might claim to be the son of a police officer, but it was Ross that raised him and it shows.Much like Ross, he was treating Bella like she was his property and wasn't allowed to leave him, resorting to blatant police corruption in order to get rid of Nikau.(I wonder if it's crossed his self-centred mind that if he hadn't stopped the Paratas leaving town all those months ago for petty and ultimately pointless reasons, Nikau might have left for good and he and Bella would never have got back together...)He always seems to need to beat someone: He needed to beat Ross which is how he's ended up where he is, he needed to beat Ari which is also how we're here, he needs to beat Angelo and he even seems to need to beat Ziggy and Nikau, both of whom gave him zingers here.So, it seems Angelo is closer than he appeared: I'm not sure if he was bluffing about having a witness to start with, but it seems he's got one now, since there'd be no point having that statement file for show when no-one could see it.

Nice that we got a moment between Bella and Irene, although Jasmine just seemed to be there to fill out her episode count.It was a nice touch too that despite his frustration, Ari knew there was no point having a go at Tane and instead had his back.Ryder really was a fish out of water: He wasn't exactly a model citizen when he first came in but he really seems to have turned into one.(Much like another grandson of Alf's.No wonder I like him.)

[H&Alover]

Hasn't Bella accused Colby of being Ross Mark II before?  There are some differences, Colby let Bella go to school and have friends, the exact opposite of Ross.  Ross may have 'raised' Colby, using that term very loosely, but Colby was always fighting against him, defending his mum and Bella, which Bella, Dean and Willow would confirm.  Colby may have got away with keeping Bella with him while she was a minor, wasn't he appointed her guardian(?) but now she's an adult nothing or no-one can stop her.   Besides wasn't there a time not that long ago where Bella was desperate for Colby not to leave her alone for any period of time? Not the best way for him to find out, would have got anyone's back up, been better if Bella had told him face to face first, but it did come as a shock it was down to him that she was leaving.  As an aside she got her passport back very quickly or does it really only take a couple of days in Aus?  That remark re Ross from Nik to Colby, was that a "I'll keep quite if you let us go" challenge?  Rather a perfunctory goodbye to Irene after all she had done for Bella - guess Irene never will see the note Bella wrote her.

Rosetta was trying to convince his boss to let him arrest Colby but as he has no proof she said no, even if he has this witness statement.  In my eyes, and in law I think, a witness would have to be someone who saw what happened, not someone who heard something or was told something by someone else as that would be just be hearsay.  We do see a lot of this Witness Statement file

Anyways the Parata's have a heap of other things to worry about!    Couldn't decide who was top dog amongst that lot of bad boys, the guy who asked Mack to pass his message on or Lee?  Apart from his initial "here we go again" look from Ari he did back Tane.  He knows, Tane despite what else he has done, would have nothing to do with drugs.   Ryder looked like a rabbit caught in the headlights, but was surprised he did actually call the police.  John was at work but  he would have seeing all those cars pull up in the close, were all the other neighbours at work too?   Might be an easy cop out but the only one with enough dosh is Mack.  Would she do that to help Tane and by extension Ari, Nik and Bella.  Jut a thought.

 

Edited January 17, 2021 by H&Alover

[Slade]

On 15/01/2021 at 00:30, Red Ranger 1 said:

Jasmine seems to have been reading these forums, given her ironically referring to her behaviour a few months back as "crazy Jasmine". 

I have to admit, you are still quite funny sometimes.

Well you heard it folks.  Straight from the horses mouth.  Jasmine looking after Grace is potentially asking for trouble.  It's a shame we didn't get to see Justin's running commentary on it this time.  I have to admit, I laughed at Irene's reaction when Jasmine said she dreaded giving Grace back just before reassuring Irene she wasn't back to let's say..the..previous Jasmine (the c-word re Jasmine is prohibited around here).  Also, she was mentioning to Colby when she went to spend time with him, how she enjoyed spending time with Grace.  I wonder what she would make of him killing Ross and disposing of his body, although Robbo did the same thing, admittedly there's an argument it was in self defence.

Whilst Tori can be funny, she can also be annoying especially on her childish reaction to Christian not having her back although at least she apologised afterwards.

Whilst I'm not a fan of Nikau, I have to admit I loved the scene when Colby confronted him about taking Bella to New Zealand, Colby threatened him and Nikau told him about Ross.  The look of disbelief on Colby's face was wonderful.  I mentioned before that there are times when Colby has been sociopathic and I think it's worth mentioning again.  Watching him on Friday's episode, even putting the lack of remorse aside for killing Ross, he still has complete lack of empathy towards Bella.  So I was glad Bella told him she was leaving because of him.

I was surprised Ari didn't complete lose it when Tane told him about the trouble he was in.  He actually handled it really well.  Interestingly, the drug dealer made clear his issue was with Tane and gave Ari every opportunity to stay out of it.  Most of the time these people will go after family and close friends.