2023 Season - UK Episode Discussion

[CaptainHulk]

Mac and Gabe may as well have had a "We've been shagging like Rabbits" neon sign over them lol.

Alf seems wary of Mali. But more in a way that he would nick off with his prime bait rather than cause any REAL harm!

And oh, Lord, Karen. 

Wouldn't be surprised if the scenario was on the table:

Delivery Room

Karen: Come on, Girlie! I gotcha! Give it a good one!

Ziggy: *in EXCRUCIATING pain* Dean! 

Dean: Babe?

Ziggy: *grabs him, through gritted teeth* Please get your Mum outta here before I kick her from here BACK to Mangrove River!

 

 

[Red Ranger 1]

Mackenzie seemed to um and ah about taking things further with Gabe but eventually came down on the yay side.I take people's point about Mackenzie's past financial difficulties but, to be fair, she couldn't have anticipated the chemical attack, which was what really pushed her over the edge.

It's a shame that things didn't work out between Xander and Stacey but he probably did the right thing calling it quits now.I think both of them really wanted it to work, but neither was really comfortable changing for the other.That goodbye seemed pretty final, even though in theory Stacey would still be working at the gym.(I wonder if Tane will offhandedly mention she's quit? At least that stuff with Dean thinking she was neglecting her work seemed to come to nothing.)

I would say that Alf's initial irritation with Mali was more down to him being caught in a bad mood than anything personal.He did seem to be civil at least when they met up again later.

[c120701]

I wasn’t entirely sure where they were going with Alf & Mali, it certainly didn’t come across that Alf was suspicious of him and so Mali came across as unnecessarily defensive and rude. Glad they sorted it though. 

[atrus]

Agh, I'm behind again - thought I'd kicked that habit. Caught up with last week - will have to do this week at the weekend.

Last Tuesday - Well, a quick reverse fall-from-grace for Gabe. It all seems a little too good to be true, and I'd expect Mackenzie to hold out for longer than that before giving him another chance, but hey-ho. Feels like pride before a fall for Cash with all his posturing against the crims, but we'll see. Nice to see Rose offering Bree a place to stay.

Last Wednesday - I'm finding Felicity a tough watch at the moment. I know that she's been through a trauma and in any other circumstance I'd be empathising, but the problem is she's been moping about for much longer than this - about the wedding, about Gary before that, about the engagement before that... it's just getting tiresome. The relentless focus on Cash isn't helping matters either.

On 16/03/2023 at 00:17, Red Ranger 1 said:

And, yes, as someone said in another thread, nice to get a reference to the fact that Irene's grandchildren would be pretty old by now! (Or some of them anyway.)

Now if only we could meet them.

Last Thursday - Relieved to see Leah back; I too was sure the accident would mean a weeks-long offscreen convalescence, so wasn't expecting her this soon. I'll take the obligatory Justin-fussing storyline if it means a break from the moping/stomping around of the twentysomethings. Theo's stan is a more interesting story - knowing H&A it'll turn out to be a predatory older man, so I'm hoping for a more original twist. I guess Jacob is off my list of suspects, at least. Be funny if it was Kirby. Glad to see Mali sticking around (and celebratory incidental music tells us that's the right way to feel) - although it was obvious he would from his credits status.

On 17/03/2023 at 00:23, Red Ranger 1 said:

Theo's fan girl seems to be bubbling away in the background and Mali is convinced to take a job in Summer Bay pretty quickly.

For a moment I thought you were linking the two things!

Last Friday - So, Kirby is first (in the show) to posit the idea that the creepy stan might not be a she, which they probably wouldn't have had her say if it really wasn't. Plus it appeared to be a blonde female at the end there - the return of Jasmine?

Stacey's gone down a lot in my estimations having been wooed by that bloke's dreadful chat-up lines.

Edited March 22, 2023 by atrus

[Red Ranger 1]

So, with depressing predictability, Tane gets a text within the first minute of the episode basically saying "My storyline's over so I've left." It feels like that should have been covered in her goodbye to Xander instead of being mentioned in an offhand manner here.Of course, Felicity isn't really paying attention, as yet again Cash and Tane decide to keep her in the dark for no good reason, just so she can misinterpret everything: Even when Tane sort-of puts her straight about Cash's reason for moving out, he still refuses to tell her the full story.At least he finally got there by the end of the episode.And the police show a pleasing level of competence in keeping an eye on Cash, stopping him doing anything dumb and using him to catch the culprits.So, all's well that...oh. Thinking about how this storyline started with the preposterous idea of Ari stealing money from bikers and them taking a decade to do anything about it, we're now faced with the prospect of it ending with Tex out of jail...somehow (which seems completely unnecessary, given how he's been successfully pulling the strings from inside).I can't wait to see the show try and make sense of this.

I am now utterly bewildered at the Oz pace comments complaining about Alf being nasty to Mali because if people think that's Alf being nasty, they've got very short memories! (See the way he spoke to Cash for not immediately breaking Marilyn's confidence if you want to see what Alf being nasty looks like.) He was frosty at worst and it seemed to be about him being wary of what "old friends of Dean" are normally like (although Dean seems to have passed the trouble magnet baton over to the Paratas by now). Anyway, finding out Mali knows about fishing seems to have sorted things and he's rolling out the welcome mat.

Karen seems to have taken an extra dose of obnoxious pills, given her inability to take the hint that dumping herself on Dean and Ziggy and insulting their and Ziggy's family's taste is not "helping". There were some humorous moments but Ziggy going into labour kind of seemed like the least important thing happening in the episode!

[H&Alover]

On the Oz pages many people did not like Stacey at all so will be delighted now she's gone.  I did like her even if she did 'cheat' on Xander, she was a good worker  and had made friends with Rose so I was disappointed she just left overnight thereby dumping Tane right in it.  Xander gave her promise it wouldn't happen again a good overnight think but as I said before he would always be doubting what she was up to and with whom  when she wasn't around and maybe cancelling a date.  Better now than him getting in further and getting more hurt. Nice that he asked Nik's advice but his 'cheating' on Bella was completely different, he was used by Sienna.  It took him a good while to get back with Bella.  Stacey  did accept his decision but far too soon to suggest they could be friends, she did look very upset when she walked away.  Does he, Xander, know she's left yet?  It would be very awkward for both seeing as she teaches on the beach and the green so wouldn't be able to avoid seeing each other. 

That was hilarious with Mac's "It's not what it looks like" line.  Not only were she and Gabe three quarters undressed, her jacket and bag where dumped  in the hallway.   He works a lot further than Sydney, he's from Brisbane.  If Mac  was unsure about his sincerity, she could always look him up and see how his businesses(s)  are going, check if he is with someone - as in wife and or children.  It shouldn't surprise her if he'd had other ladies after all she's had a few romances, Colby, Tane, though that wasn't totally serious, then Ari which was.  Then when he dumped her she had a few randoms, including the lovely Emmett which  did get pretty serious.   Maybe Gabe thought he couldn't re-unite before then as it would have been too soon. 

The first encounter with Mali and Alf doing their dance in the Diner didn't go down well, the second  one didn't go that much better either. Alf's request that Mali complete the insurance forms made perfect sense if only to protect Dean's business and Mali's brushing it off would have niggled Alf.  Dean, through no fault of his own, had to rush off and leave him to it, though he did let him know.   I'm supposing he can't actually get anyone in the water until he's been cleared and the insurance has  been signed off.  Alf can't have been looking at Mali's tats that closely otherwise he would have seen Mali didn't have any Blood & Sand tats, they were all ethnic ones - if I'm allowed to say that.  Mali was a bit vague about how he knew Dean so perhaps that was why he was suspicious, but once he got the fuller story he was fine, Mali didn't come from Mango River and especially when he found out Mali's granddad was a fisherman.   Alf has always been suspicious of newcomers, the Morgan's came under  a lot of flak when it was found out they had been in WPP, Robbo was unsurprisingly, not trusted by him.   

For someone who hadn't any experience of teaching people to surf he did pretty well, shutting down that girl who was keen to get in the water by telling her his story.  Who is going to be offering Mali a place to live seeing as he has such a long journey getting home and back.    It could be seen, depending how suspicious of him you are, that he does come across as ultra friendly to disarm people.   Anyways he's got JP and Alf on his side, I can just see them both vying to be his mentor and offering their sage advice. 

Seems they chopped Monday's promo appearance of Karen in half.   We saw her turn up on Tuesday, then Ziggy shouting "Pregnant lady going into labour" last night.    It's certainly going to be lively in that labour ward - I do feel sorry for Dean.  There is a reason for Karen being so hyper - .

At last Felicity was told the truth!  It wasn't Tane's secret/story to tell, it had to be Cash telling Felicity, I did  at the "It's complicated"  comment, which initially it was, but now it isn't.    At least Flick now knows it wasn't anything to do with her being late and Eden having to speed. Did the Task Force know abut the bikers bugging the Parata's or was it just Cash's phone they were monitoring which I guess was after his last encounter with them and his visits to Tex.   I did think it was very unprofessional him and Rose having that huge row in front of Eden, I get  she was in a coma, but it is known they hear things and there was a nurse there.   I did smile about Cash getting  a babysitter to stop him going off and doing his thing on his own.  

Rose is a bloody good cop and not afraid to put herself out there by tackling these big tough bikies.  Not a good image for them being taken down by a girlie.  Not the end though as it seems Tex has another contact out there who he's ordered to take down Cash, he/they may not be a bikie.  How does he get out, we'll have to wait and see.  It may not be the right thing to say, seeing what a bad guy Tex is, but he is HOT!

Have we jumped  a few days as suddenly Leah is well enough to go out for lunch/dinner.   

 

Edited March 23, 2023 by H&Alover

[Red Ranger 1]

To coin a phrase, "So...is that it now?" It kind of feels like everything was wrapped up last episode and there was no need to have Tex escape from jail just to go straight back, having him learn his plan failed would have been enough, they could have done a last confrontation with Cash in jail.Instead, we get a vague "Fake stomach ache...hospital visit" explanation.So...no-one noticed he was missing?And if they did, they didn't bother to inform Cash (or Rose, presumably)? Ah well, at least it gave Tane a chance to demonstrate he's lost none of his ability to take down several opponents without difficulty.

And Eden's awake, which should be good news and for the main part was, until Cash didn't get the reaction he was expecting and then lost the ability to read the room.Does Eden not remember they'd been sleeping together then? If she's got amnesia, it seems to be very selective, since she apparently remembered that Bree was missing last she heard.(Maybe Cash is just very forgettable!)

Next ward along and Dean and Ziggy are also getting some good news.I like the idea of Dean getting John to babysit Karen:Threatening their doctor was not really helping!

[CaptainHulk]

Tane's actions weren't so much Chan/Van Damme/Segall but more Power Rangers/Cobra Kai (Hai! Heyyuurgh!)

Tex being caught so quickly without a real fight makes the likes of Revhead (who couldn't fight for toffee) seem more of a worthy adversary.

The little grommet is finally here. Loved the Palmer/Karen interplay. And as standard with the backstory, Even She and Rick were a proper thing, he likely wouldn't been within a mile a hospital.

I would like Alf/Mali to strike up a friendship. Just shoot the Breeze in a Dinghy, whether the fish are biting or not. But knowing today'sproducers, they'll have Sea Pirates menace them or some dick with a jetski who charges the Dinghy sending one of them overboard and half drowning... 

 

[H&Alover]

Cash thought it was all over  last episode, this bikie gang just seems to grow and grow with more and more chapters popping up.   That random guy turning up in SALT to escort him away to - of course - a waiting van complete with blacked out windows.   Tane was very sharp there picking up on Cash's unspoken call for help. He did well as he had to go get his car and managed to follow them to wherever it was.  Oh  so Tex played the old "I played sick and got taken to the hospital" card.  He certainly is determined.  Cash was otherwise engaged when/if the message that Tex had escaped came through and maybe it had got through to the Task Force and Yabby Creek cops.  Tane's timely rescue has sealed the friendship between Cash and him. 

Memory is a funny thing, seems Eden remembers some things about Cash but not the most recent thing that went on between to them.  I guess she will be informed the accident wasn't her fault.  Perhaps Bree will be able to talk to her tonight and we'll find out what she does and doesn't recall.  Remi filled her in about Bree.  Talking of whom, it appeared she hasn't heard what action, if any, the police will be taking. Do they have the equivalent of the CPS in Aus?

It may have been an odd choice for Dean to call John but he and Karen do have a friendship strange how that may seem.  He was able to talk her down and she opened up to him how it was for her when she had Dean.  Wow a 25 hour labour all on her own, that would be tough even  if you had someone there.  I liked how John told her Dean had turned out OK.   Dean and Ziggy had a gromitte then, beautiful moment when Ziggy gave her to Karen to have a cuddle.  At least she had one nanna/granny there.   Aunty Mac will be over the moon. 

[Dan F]

27 minutes ago, H&Alover said:

Talking of whom, it appeared she hasn't heard what action, if any, the police will be taking. Do they have the equivalent of the CPS in Aus?

The DPP - they're still deliberating at this moment in time, but news will come soon.