Red Ranger 1

As someone who only ever has the basic package of free channels, I'm again rather bemused at the idea of 5* not being as easy to watch as Channel 5. And failing that, there's always the website! Anyway, for those of us who found the episode (I almost always watch the 6pm showing on 5* so it's business as usual here!), I must admit I forgot that moment of Sonny meeting Gage, the apparent new River Boy leader, yesterday, but he was hard to miss here.Theo realises these aren't the sort of people to mess with but quickly gets reeled in by a pretty face, not that I don't understand him liking the look of Lacey (as the credits named her) despite her odd choice of boyfriend! Sonny made a decent foil for him. Has Theo told Justin and Leah that they've got a new house guest? (And where is Leah? An episode with Justin, Theo, and Irene started back at the Diner, and she's conspicuous by her absence!) Irene seemed to be doing well until she went missing on the trip back to the Diner.She assumed that everyone knows she's been in rehab, which begs the question of does Eden know if Irene's hoping to be served alcohol at Salt. Cash gets the promotion and Rose gets to break the news: Well, they weren't going to give it to one of the extras, were they? (Even Jo Devlin's bombed off to Reefton Lakes!) Justin did a very good job of dropping Kirby in it there, but thankfully Remi's still in a good mood with her even if he's not with Sonny, and remembered all the times she's been the household's main breadwinner. Justin seems to be enjoying this management thing, even if he did forget the champagne!

Mackenzie's indicated in the past that she considers Mali and Tane family, certainly more than "lodgers".(This is Summer Bay, the found family capital of soaps!) Eliza recalled going to school but not getting on with the other children. Karen got beers for herself and Dean and wondered if Ziggy wanted a soft drink, which I took as a sign she did know, but maybe there was some detail on Monday that I missed. Today and we're again in that weird twilight zone of episodes that aren't shown on Channel 5, with the 1.45pm showing having moved to 5* for the rest of the week.Well, Sonny finally pushed things too far.As Bree noted, he seems to have some affection for Remi but also a lot of bitterness and jealousy.While he has a reputation as a bit of a "woman-eater", there was probably an aspect of wanting something of Remi's. It wasn't clear whether it was Bree or Sonny who filled Remi in, but either way it's enough for him to have had enough.Whilst Remi might have a trust fund now, he survived for years while seemingly not asking for anything from his family, which Sonny doesn't seem to grasp. Kirby brings out the big guns in the shape of Theo in order to convince Justin to be her manager.Well, I can understand her not wanting another Forrest and instead being keen to have someone who will work with her and respect what she wants.I get the logic of asking Remi for a loan before a bank but I can also see why Kirby wouldn't want to go there, especially with the timing being what it is. Marilyn goes to Irene to unload about Eliza but gets thwarted by the schedule.I'm assuming her comment about Jett being troubled when he came to live with "us" referred to the Bay in general: He famously mugged Marilyn shortly after he arrived, but he was pretty well-adjusted by the time she moved in with him and John and certainly by the time they adopted him.It seemed like Irene was getting a bit too fixated on her schedule but she ended up giving Dana a logical explanation for why she's reluctant to attend the wedding.

A man-eater? Well, they were living with Mackenzie at the time! Dean continues to be more than a little stubborn, when even Karen has realised the situation might be more complex than "He cheated on his wife so we should throw rotten eggs at him." I guess he's at least trying to make an effort now. And Levi made the point that it took Eden a long time to accept them together as well. (Abby was pretty much there the moment she turned up.) The fact that Ziggy's pregnant just kind of gets dropped in there: For someone who was once adamant he'd never have children, Dean seems to be putting together quite the football team! It was nice to get some back story for Eliza, with the reveal of her being forcibly removed from her parents and then her grandmother dying. I'm guessing that's it for her as far as the youth programme is concerned, and we'll see if Roo follows through on her having to go to school otherwise.She is quite lucky she's not being charged.Marilyn's about turn beggared belief: One minute she's being all kindly towards Eliza, then she suddenly wants her locked up because...she smiled at her? It wasn't even a particularly sinister smile, in fact it was the most friendly she's ever been towards Marilyn! But yes, I'm getting Heather vibes from her too and wouldn't be surprised if it turned out she killed her grandmother. (On the other hand, given previous information, wouldn't she have been about ten at the time?) Seemed to be a slight continuity error: Marilyn says Eliza's home early but the session already seemed to be finished when she lost it at Scott. Kirby seems surprisingly keen on a solo career given how it went last time, but I guess it wouldn't mean leaving Lyrik in the lurch now and her only other option is not doing music at all. Mali and Abigail seem to be falling into that couples pattern of having a new problem each week which then gets solved in the next episode!

Well, Dean isn't any more charming than he used to be, determined to take offence at anything Levi said while insulting him with anything he said.Still, let's be honest, he didn't say anything that people on here and people on the show weren't saying when he and Mackenzie first hooked up.Tane and Mali weren't at all happy with him to start with, Eden and Felicity even less so.So while we've had a year to get used to the idea, this is Dean's first chance to have his say.On the other hand, what's he hoping to achieve?He's driven Levi away, but he's driven Mackenzie away too, which he probably didn't want.It was also poor timing for this to happen while Karen was there being her usual indiscreet self. Eliza continues to be a troubling enigma.I have to agreed with Slade's assessment above about her seeming completely disconnected from everything and not quite seeming to understand the appropriate way to behave around people.On the other hand, there is a certain vulnerability about her.There are moments where she does seem genuinely touched by the effort Roo makes for her, and even though I suspect she was mainly doing it because it makes life easier for herself, she seemed to be doing her best to behave the way she's supposed to at the class.But then, of course, she snapped.In her head, it was probably perfectly reasonable:Scott had taken something of hers and she was making it give him back.But it was a pretty extreme way of doing it, and as Tane says, she needs to learn to control this sort of impulse.(I did find myself wondering what Karen was like at that age, with them both being in the same episode.More gregarious probably, but quite likely with the same tendency to do what seemed right at the time without thinking of the consequences.)It's pretty obvious that the sequence got trimmed by Channel 5 to remove some of the shots of the broken bottle, mainly because Roo suddenly appears out of nowhere! More trouble between Mali and Abigail again, with them almost reversing.Mali seems to want to go back to what it was like when they were last living together, while Abigail wants to prove she can survive on her own.Even if he's right, Mali's comments about Eliza seemed unfair: I'm not sure he's ever even met her, and he just seems to be gossiping based on what Tane's said.

Alf's episode count this week:Three, and he was credited on Tuesday for no appearance. I agree that it seems at times as though Roo is trying to convince herself when it comes to Eliza.Even at the end of this episode, she doesn't have the full story and continues to believe that Scott provoked Eliza.I do think Tane's oversimplifying when he said that Eliza enjoyed hitting Scott: I don't think she's sorry, but I'm not sure how much enjoyment she got from it.I definitely don't think Tane should give up on Eliza after one session, but setting ground rules is the right idea.She didn't exactly seem receptive though.As with a lot of what she does, it's hard to tell to what extent she was genuinely hurt by the idea of Roo giving up on her and to what extent she's manipulating the situation. Abigail was being very irritating and needy and seemed to have forgotten her assertion that she and Mali need to stop being in each other's pockets, expecting him to neglect his work and spend time with her.I'm surprised he was won over so easily.It's a shame that poor timing means Mali ends up moving back in (which neither of them really agreed to!). I certainly take Levi's point that he needs to meet Dean some time if he's going to have a life with Mackenzie, but he seems to be assuming a lot.Nice to hear that Imogen seems to be doing well.

Without looking it up, which I probably should do, my brain is thinking it was Harper that found Irene after she fell down the stairs? I think John was keeping his distance from her at the time? It's increasingly hard to get a handle on Eliza.Her fascination with Harper's pregnancy almost makes me think there was something similar in her history that's triggered this.I'm not really sure how to describe her demeanour.I wouldn't call it cold, which suggests a deliberate rejection of feelings towards others.And she doesn't seem to be getting any enjoyment from it.Yet there also seems to be something bubbling just under the surface, some emotion she can't quite access.She's very matter-of-fact.It's hard to know what to make of Roo's determination to give her the benefit of the doubt, especially since we know Marilyn's probably right.Is she in denial or just erring on the side of caution? Remi gives an explanation to Sonny, who seemed to accept it and extend his own olive branch to Bree. While I think a lot of it was boredom, he was rather generous with Theo, helping him out just to be a friend. So Remi's off to meet Bree's mum, will we get to see it?

Well, I guess we finally got an answer to what Irene's problem with John is but it wasn't a particularly satisfactory one.Given that Irene was pushing John away when she was at her lowest, he'd almost be the last person who'd remind her of all that, rather than Leah or Marilyn. Frankly the whole thing just feels like a weak plot device because Shane Withington's name came out in this week's holiday draw. It was hard to have much sympathy for Sonny.As Remi said, it's time he learned to hear the word no. I guess I have some empathy for him feeling that everything goes Remi's way and nothing goes his, but I feel like that's only half the story.Remi's had a lot of things fall into his lap without having to work for them, but he's also had to work hard for other things, whereas Sonny just seems to spend his whole time expecting handouts.He did manage to charm Justin anyway, and he's probably not a bad person underneath it all, but Remi's reasons for wanting to be there for Bree are just foreign to him. Moving forward a bit with Rose's leaving then.Turns out Bree is fine with being left on her own.I did wonder if she'd ask Remi to move in, but I suspect he wouldn't want to leave the band, even when they're not a band.

Still no real clue as to why Irene's avoiding John, even though he's now clued in.She doesn't seem to dislike him, so is she worried he'll somehow disrupt her routine?Dana dragging John back there against Irene's wishes could backfire badly, although it seems to be holding so far. A good chunk of the episode seemed to consist of characters telling things we already knew, with Abigail filling in Kirby and Rose on her new role, but it was all handled in a friendly manner and I guess it's good to build these relationships. Cash being referred to as the perfect cop was a bit laughable.I kept waiting for someone to add "Except for a few months ago when he persecuted an innocent man, led his stalker right to him and ended up on an attempted murder charge, but I'm sure he's got over that." After that reference to the River Boys last week, we suddenly have one turn up, even if they couldn't be bothered to give him a name (presumably Bongo or something), so that seems to be rattling along.

The show's been slightly schizophrenic on the subject - one minute Leah's talking as though she's been visiting Irene regularly, the next she claims she hasn't seen her in months - but given that Irene's been invited to Tane and Harper's wedding, I'd say she's been kept up to date on at least the major events in Summer Bay.Anyway, it was nice to see Dana showing her caring side with Irene, but it seems like Leah's not the only one in two minds.Last week, Irene seemed to be listening to John more than anyone, yet suddenly she doesn't want him anywhere near her.I know she snapped at him last time she saw him but it still seems out of the blue.Is she embarrassed? I wasn't sure if Mali was being oversensitive about Abby hanging around all the time or not, but she did admit she was struggling to trust him, so. Anyway, at least she's doing something proactive about it in keeping a bit of distance from him, and it helps solve the staffing crisis caused by Xander's departure.Mackenzie and Levi having everyone walk in on their "catch-up" was good comedy.I would have liked to have seen the reactions to Eden taking Cash home, but unfortunately her housemates aren't in the episode.

Alf's episode count this week:Four. Well, John got despatched quickly (and didn't get credited, so I'm guessing that scene was moved from the previous episode), so Irene's left being bombarded by the rest of the stalwarts(minus Roo, who hasn't managed three episodes in ages).Leah seemed to go back to pushing her frustratingly quickly, although it was probably smart to try and stop Marilyn being a motormouth.She really didn't seem to realise that Irene having a routine and things to do is exactly what she needs and leaving her alone is the least relaxing thing you can think of. When Rose said Abigail needed to either trust Mali or keep him under surveillance 24 hours a day, Abigail apparently went for the wrong one.To be fair, while she was vague, Levi deciding Mali was pressuring her to move back in really was just him jumping to conclusions. Mali and Abigail seem to have come to an agreement by the end, although that doesn't seem to have stopped her keeping tabs on him.

Rose is doing the farewell tour then, having chats with Mali, Kirby and Dana, and indeed Abigail, here.I'm glad she and Dana seem to be parting as friends after a couple of rocky patches recently.Abby setting a test for Mali was rather daft and, like most men would, Mali chose to believe what she was saying rather than looking for the subtext.Kirby wouldn't spill the beans and Rose was reluctant to either but eventually had to admit there were trust issues between her and Mali.I guess it's up to Abigail how she deals with it. Meanwhile, John and Leah attempt a second intervention with Irene.Leah backs off pretty quickly but I liked their silent moment of reconciliation later on, sometimes no words are needed.So John's got Irene over the line and back in the Bay but she didn't seem too happy with the realisation that Dana's working and she's going to be on her own all night.I can see John ending up staying with her!

That would be Episode 2236 from 1997, when Chloe gets attacked by a groupie of her rapist Brad Cooper.

I did appreciate the opening chat between John and Dana, with him commending her for being a grown-up about her break-up with Xander (eventually!). After that, Dana definitely seemed to be looking for something to focus her energy on and has chosen the wedding.She was blunt with Cash in a way that Tane perhaps wasn't willing to be, and I guess her current "Love, who needs it?" attitude may have helped there.She was a bit lucky she was allowed to harangue Cash while he was at the station on duty, even if it was a slow day (River Boy drag racing aside)! Some nice scenes between Cash and Rose as well.I'm not clear why Cash is suddenly unsure about being senior constable again (or, indeed, why they'd want him after his recent performance!), does he think he has other things to focus on? Ironically, in the end it's John (who seemed to be everywhere today) who gets the news of Rose's course first. And we see Irene, for the first time this year and the first time in months! She seemed her old self when first greeting Leah and John but she seemed to quickly unravel.Still, no reason why she couldn't just go to the wedding and go back to rehab afterwards, is there?

I've never had a credit card but it seems like these days everyone just uses contactless, which has always struck me as a thief's dream come true.

I admit it's been a bit vague at times but it sounds like Remi and Sonny grew up in the same neighbourhood and so Remi would likely have already known him when he first met Eden. Eliza certainly seems to have her obsessions, which came before eating and sleeping here, and there are times when it feels like she's saying what she thinks she's supposed to, but there does feel like there's something genuine about her hugs to Roo.Nice to hear that Tane's youth programme, not seen since he first met Perri, is still going on off screen, even if it didn't exactly enthuse Eliza. Cash probably should have listened to Remi and just decided to put up with the tension and go to the party, but it took another shove from Tane to get him there.Not that Remi seemed to exactly be living up to it himself, although I'll give him the benefit of the doubt and assume the session work was genuine.I do appreciate him telling Cash he hopes that he and Eden last: Remi doesn't actually want her to get her heart broken again, he just can't see any other outcome.I did smile at Bree apparently thinking "He didn't do that for me!" when Sonny said Remi sold his bike.A notable lack of Kirby at the party, even though she was there setting up for it last episode! As for Cash refusing to give a speech, I mostly think that if he's supportive of Tane and Harper getting married and willing to stand alongside him when they do, he should be able to come up with a speech that's both honest and appropriate.

It felt like a case of one step forward two steps back with Eliza, as, having been vaguely social last episode, she reverts to not really engaging with anything.She's obviously got a certain amount of morbid fascination, but I do wonder if there's some deeper psychological reasons why she doesn't seem to be able to find any joy in anything.Roo continued plugging away, although Eliza wearing pyjamas to breakfast was an odd thing to latch onto! I'm glad Alf spoke up for her anyway, and I'm not really sure what Marilyn was hoping to achieve with their chat. One step forward and two steps back between Cash and Remi as well.So, it seems the real issue isn't that Remi was drunk when he extended that olive branch, it's that Remi only did it for Eden's sake and still doesn't trust Cash.Which is...fair enough frankly? I feel like Cash should extend the same courtesy and put up with Remi for Eden's sake, rather than acting as though focusing on their relationship in a bubble is enough.So Levi and Sonny hadn't met before, even though they were apparently both around when Remi and Eden first knew each other? Hmm, yeah, that's fair enough, you wouldn't necessarily meet the brother of a friend of a friend.Sonny comments on Eden and Levi talking again, so presumably when they last knew each other it was mid-rift.

Alf's episode count this week:Two. Having been critical of Alf yesterday, I was pleased with him today.He made an effort with Eliza, even going so far as stepping in when Roo wanted to give up and drag her off home and pointing out they need to get her out of the house.I wasn't keen on Roo apologising to Levi for Eliza yesterday, but she handled things better with Harper today, even if Eliza wasn't exactly co-operative.Eliza stealing the knife isn't a good thing but it's most likely it's down to a curious fascination rather than a sign she actually intends to use it. Marilyn gets stuck in a scene just to be sneering and dismissive towards John. I notice she didn't feel the need to butt in when Tane and Levi said much the same thing. Justin was ultimately proved right but has to learn to back off and let Theo make his own mistakes.Theo might be less inclined to carry on looking for cheap parts if he didn't feel he had something to prove, although he should perhaps see it as a sign to be more cautious.

My feeling is that they wouldn't have made a point of giving Xander last scenes with Mackenzie, Rose and Dana if they thought he was coming back. Well, Eliza's not one for making friends easy, is she? Roo seemed to jump very quickly from telling Eliza she's going to school, to deciding to home school her. I did wonder about them bringing in a school age character when we don't see the school anymore, then it occurred to me that we don't actually need to see them at school: Plenty of UK soaps have school age characters who we never or hardly ever see in school, they just head off to school in their uniforms and then come back. But perhaps that way of thinking hasn't made it across to their Oz counterparts, given they felt the need to come up with an excuse for not showing Eliza in school. Marilyn's obviously struggling with someone who's not immediately run over by her supposed charm but you'd think Alf would have been around the block enough times not to get immediately jittery.Is he seriously expecting Roo to send Eliza back? Incidentally, how long is she meant to be there for, if it's an emergency placement? Seems to be the week for thinking you're being cheated on, with Abigail jumping to conclusions about Mali and Rose.At least it got smoothed over quickly again. (Incidentally, I'm fairly sure Bree's known Rose longer than Mali has. She's certainly been around longer.) I hope Justin isn't too high-handed with Theo over the car part.

Well, I guess that answers the question of who's running Salt at the moment: Levi did promise Mackenzie he'd keep an eye on it.Eden probably should have let Abigail finish before assuming she'd be useless.But hey, at least it seems to have brought this often fractured set of siblings closer. I have to side with Mali over Kirby here, she shouldn't have been sat scribbling her in her notebook when she had work to do, including the phone call that he took the class purely so she could handle. But anyway, it seems Sonny's comments have inspired her. Even though she was being less obviously obnoxious, I was still annoyed at Dana stealing Xander's robot and hoped Rose would call her out on it. Otherwise, just a lot of set-up for Mali to decide to play white knight.

Well, Tane has gone from not saying he loves Harper to outright saying he doesn't. It's hard to say how naive he's being here. Yes, you can get married and fall in love afterwards, but there's no reason to be doing that here. A friendship isn't the worst basis for a relationship, but I think he's kidding himself if he thinks he'd be marrying Harper or even with her if she wasn't pregnant. Despite him trying to put it on Harper here, I think Tane is the one pushing to get married before the baby's born, and it feels like he's doing it to put a symbolic claim on her and the baby as his family. So, as it turns out, Sonny, with a bit of help from Kirby, did push Remi over the line to realise punishing Eden for making a relationship choice he disagrees with doesn't help anyone. And he seemed to make a few points to Kirby about her life as well. My sympathy for Dana got less and less as the episode went on and she behaved more and more like a spoiled brat.I know she's hurt, and I know Xander put her in a difficult position, and I know letting off steam about your ex is a right of passage, but she should have had more self-awareness than to stand there badmouthing him to Rose and expecting her to nod in agreement or be fine with Dana trying to get rid of his stuff (even taking back a present she gave him was unnecessarily petty). She gets points for at least apologising and trying to support Rose.

Well, Harper's continuing to get herself into a tizzy over marrying a man that probably doesn't love her.Would it be better if Tane was honest about it rather than skirting around the issue? Cash probably handled things the right way by agreeing to be best man while also asking Tane a few pointed questions about how he thinks it's going to work out. Elsewhere, even Sonny's clowning won't make Remi thaw towards Cash and Eden.I both do and don't see where he's coming from.Cash has behaved very badly and treated Eden appallingly, and even though he's apologetic now, he's giving very little assurance that it won't happen again.(His complaining that Remi can't see that Eden meals the world to him missed the point by a mile: She did before, and he hurt her despite that, maybe even, perversely, because of it.) On the other hand, what exactly is Remi hoping happens? That Cash breaks Eden's heart all over again and, because he never supported them, he gets the satisfaction of saying "I told you so"? Even if he doesn't forgive Cash, and I'm not entirely sure he should, you'd think he'd support Eden and hope things work out for her. I'm not sure what to make of Theo's decision to order the car part against Justin's advice.I can understand Justin being ultra-cautious about only buying parts for paying customers from people he can definitely trust, but this is meant to be a side project for fun.Yes, it may end up being a waste of money, but maybe that's all part of it.I do think Theo probably should have asked Sonny's opinion before buying, since he seems clued up on that sort of thing.

Alf's episode count this week:Three. I think Google is pretty much universal! Except maybe in China... It struck me during that opening scene that Tane initially suggested a beach wedding last time round until he realised it wasn't what Felicity wanted and switched to a country one. So maybe this is more the sort of wedding he wanted than appears! But yeah, the bells and whistles don't really interest him (although frankly, if someone asked me if I wanted the rings to be "white gold", I'd probably nod politely in a slightly bemused manner as well), and it's perhaps starting to dawn on Harper that they're not really what she's concerned about either and have just been a handy thing to focus on in order to avoid the real issue of whether this is the sort of marriage she wants. Leah admits the photo is Tane and Felicity's wedding cake, but is at least diplomatic enough not to add "and I got impaled with a metal bar while going back to fix it"! I'll say this for Sonny, at least he's honest. I can understand John being concerned (he almost seemed to go into a panic at the sight of Remi freely handing over his credit card!), but Sonny doesn't really need to steal Remi's money since Remi seems happy to spend as much on him as he wants. Anyway, they had some decent catch-ups and I guess we'll see how much trouble he causes. It's not entirely clear just how many of those posters Kirby and Mali have got (that initial envelope Kirby emptied out only seemed to have one copy of each picture?), but at least they're getting to do the advertising campaign they originally wanted.

As I understand it (and I'm not sure I really do understand it), Australian law only allows "no blame" divorces.Anyway, Levi manages to follow up an excruciating phone message with an equally excruciating phone call: We've all had that moment where you're preparing to leave a message only to suddenly find a living human being on the other end! Mali and Abigail were a bit lucky that Kirby was so easy going about them sloping off for afternoon delight. Mali finally reacts to Kirby's protest! Justin and Leah had a few things to say but Theo's committed to this plan.It was quite a sweet moment when Justin silently joined Theo. So, Remi and Kirby have a new friend, who I notice is credited as a regular so I guess he'll be sticking around.People might have to start locking their doors now he's around!

Well, it's good that Leah was honest with Justin and Theo reasonably quickly, after another pointed look from Marilyn.It did feel like they were a bit quick to decide that selling the car was the only option, although I'm not sure that Theo's alternative is any better and he really didn't seem to get the point of Leah's reaction! I liked the scenes between Rose and Dana, which remain eerily reminiscent of the relationship between Jasmine and Felicity. Rose's calm demeanour and wry sense of humour contrast nicely with Dana's blabbermouth tendencies. I'm glad that Levi and Abigail took Eden and Cash's reunion in their stride.To be fair, Levi has been pushing for this so it makes sense he'd be on board, and we got some nice sibling scenes between them.So I guess we now know why the show SORASed Levi and Mackenzie's relationship at the end of last season: So they can pretend Levi and Imogen have been separated for a year when in fact it's only been ten months again!

Of course he wasn't, he was going to jail. Honestly, I'd like to say that was the point where Colby became irredeemable in my eyes, but frankly he was halfway there pretty much from the start. He'd already either killed someone or left him to die (they were always a bit vague on that one), he was a bent cop who'd only joined the force for selfish reasons to misuse their resources (no-one was looking to "rescue" Bella because no crime had been committed except in Colby's head, and the ones that he didn't even know about, in fact Colby was the one that ended up kidnapping her because he thought the law applied to other people), and in the end he killed Ross because he thought sending him to jail wasn't enough. I must admit, I've thought about this topic but the truth is that most of the characters who crossed the line in my eyes either did it right at the start or I never liked them that much to start with!