Red Ranger 1

Middle Adam was pretty much over the line!

Cash really was having a laugh here and I'm glad Mackenzie carefully pointed out to him just how ridiculous it was.Mind you, it seemingly didn't stop him having another go, only to find out Eden isn't sitting around pining for him after all.(Cash and Tane seem to have a time share arrangement on the house at the moment.No indication whether or not Cash knows about Tane and Harper.) Not that Eden's any sort of saint of course, and it's dumb for her to be going back there.I'm not sure why Tim's being given a load of pats on the back for solving a problem that he caused in the first place or why anyone's taking his claim to have wanted to do the right thing seriously. I guess Levi was backed into a corner despite really not liking Tim. Mali definitely crossed a line lying to Theo about Abby. Er, I guess at least he felt bad about it?

Alf’s intervention didn’t really have the desired effect with John and Dana but Roo seemed to have better luck. I guess offering John free food was a definite advantage, probably coupled with part of him actually wanting to make up with Dana. I think it had gone on long enough and I liked the reaffirmation of the fact that the show’s elder statesmen have become surrogate parents to the younger characters. So Tane and Harper have decided to do the “relationship thing”. At the moment it feels like it’s got disaster written all over it, and I guess it remains to be seen whether it’s Tane or the show that’s desperate for him to be in a prominent couple again and has just grabbed onto the nearest available candidate. At best, it feels like a case of “If you can’t be with the one you love, love the one you’re with.” I’m glad that even Alf and Roo, who tend to indulge her a bit too much at times, thought Marilyn was making a mountain out of a molehill. (Roo’s still playing catch-up, of course, which was a nice touch.) I’m not sure why Marilyn was looking so triumphant at the end: Yes, Leah told the truth and it wasn’t a disaster, but nothing’s really changed aside from Marilyn’s conscience being clear. I get where Levi’s coming from, thinking about how Abby (yes, H&Alover, it’s the one you didn’t include!) was just a short time ago. But he really needs to stop pushing the issue and give Abigail the room to make her own decisions, even if it means her making a mistake. I’d have thought him going into a panic about her going out early only to find it was nothing to worry about would have been a wake-up call, but he’s still pushing, and I’m not sure Mackenzie going down to double team her really helped.

I kind of want John and Dana to make up, because I do like their friendship, but I wasn't keen on Xander piling in with a "Get over it", even if John's response of rostering them apart was a bit much.No wonder Alf was thrown; John was being even more grumpy than him rather than being his usual smiling punchbag. I guess we'll see if Alf's intervention worked out. I was scratching my head at Remi and Bree being drafted in as confidantes for Tane and Harper.At least Bree sensibly handed the baton over to Dana, but with Cash not in the episode, Tane's a bit short of friends.I guess Tane and Remi had a bit of a connection through Felicity and Lyrik, but I really am struggling to remember Bree and Harper having a conversation except for when Bree gave her an ultrasound. Anyway, they're soon back to their own problems. If I was Remi, I'd have made more sure Bree actually does see a counsellor this time, rather than shrugging it off in a "Storyline's over" manner. It felt like even the writers have given up paying attention to Tane and Harper.As far as I can remember, Harper has always gone along with Tane's "just friends" stance, meaning despite his claims to the contrary, he basically just tried to have sex with someone he doesn't even know has been practising writing "Harper Parata" on her pencil case (or would have done if anyone in this show ever used their married name). Harper then says she's been honest with him about how she feels, leaving me thinking I'd forgotten something, only to promptly admit to Dana that she hasn't. Anyway, that scenes with the photos painfully underlined the fact Tane doesn't love her: Felicity's dead, his family are either dead or in other countries, the baby's all he's got left and he's desperately trying to solidify his position with the woman who happens to be carrying it in a painfully unromantic "Let's give it a go" fashion.

I think I'm right in saying that the UK soaps are reducing episodes for budget reasons rather than viewing habits. Unless I've missed a lot, Home and Away seems to be doing surprisingly well in that department. Anyway, I think, in the streaming era, watching multiple episodes of a series in one go is how a lot of people watch shows!

I did think of that, but to be fair, he wasn't meant to be completely illiterate, so I think he could manage a note with two simple words on it. (And the "I'm sorry" note in particular was badly punctuated, with no apostrophe and a capital S.)

Alf's episode count this week:Three. Well, things definitely moved fast between Perri and Kaia there, but I guess being faced with the prospect of Kaia disappearing forever forced Perri to confront what he actually wanted.I get that Kaia's way of handling things meant leaving Perri in danger, but he'd potentially have been in even more danger if she'd stayed or taken him with her.At least this way they've both made it through to the other side, and Carl's taken the life they both wanted away from them for too many years already.So yeah, maybe they deserve this. Of course, they couldn't leave it there and you could just smell the desperation on Tane when he made a move on Harper.(Let's face it, he has to be desperate to make a move on her.)With Perri gone, she and the baby are all he's got left in the Bay and he's throwing himself at them even though he'd never view her in that light if she wasn't pregnant. John probably could have explained things better to Dana before they got to this point but yeah, there was no need for her to go on the attack like that (and she promptly tries to blame it on Xander, who fortunately took it on the chin).People forget John's got feelings sometimes and her words obviously hurt him, but I do hope they get over it quickly. Not sure what to make of Leah's deception with Justin. I do think his ego's fragile enough that he'd have been anything less than pleased at her finding the rings, so it was ever so slightly patronising of Leah to make him out to be the hero. Marilyn certainly didn't seem too happy about it. I wasn't remotely surprised that Alf apologised to Bree for Roo (especially given Roo's not in the episode to defend herself, I'd forgotten she tends to be in less episodes than most of the mainstays), but I was disappointed in him all the same. There's still the feeling that Bree's doing the bare minimum to handle the situation, giving an evasive "I wish I could tell you", when she actually could tell people, and she only isn't out of selfishness.

At this point, I have to wonder what the show thinks it's doing with Bree.Whilst there can be no doubt that she's better than she was a few weeks ago, she still isn't taking any responsibility beyond genuine but inadequate apologies.Her hiding in the garden like a coward while Remi enables her by acting like her bodyguard and then going behind her back to play on Alf's sympathies in order to stop Roo taking the appropriate steps isn't solving anything.She's still running away from anything approaching responsibility or consequences.I was nodding in agreement with Roo throughout.Whilst the whole "she took leave rather than be suspended" thing still makes no sense when she was already suspended, the hospital do need to make sure that nothing like this happens again, and Bree claiming she's not ashamed of her diagnosis and then going out of her way to hide it from everyone, including colleagues and superiors who need to know what the problem is in order to help her manage it, with a selfish "it'd hurt my career" justification, really isn't showing her in a good light. The problem with Dana is she just doesn't know when to stop, literally. John doesn't help himself by responding with quips and meaningless comments (although I did like him checking with Mackenzie that she doesn't think Dana's right), but Dana just charged in all guns blazing, saying things she might have meant in the heat of the moment but will probably regret later. Well, despite Mackenzie tag teaming with Kirby on being obsessed with Abigail's love life, at least things with her and Mali seem to have been sorted painlessly.

I was impressed with Abigail here. When we got that first scene of Mackenzie and Mali talking about how better things are at home, I was expecting Mackenzie to walk into Abby being back to snapping at everyone and sulking, but instead she seems to be handling it maturely and putting on a brave face. Still, it's good that Mali broke down the barriers and convinced her to accept help, even with Tim stoking her abandonment issues. So, last episode we had Kirby deciding that Theo likes Abby, and this episode we have Mackenzie deciding that Mali likes her: I'm not sure anyone saw that love triangle coming! Alf tearing strips off Marilyn should happen more often, if she was trying to do the right thing, but ironically it turns out she made the right call. Five minutes of Roo being back and Alf's already opening up. To be fair, Alf went from initial scare to complications to crisis to on the road to recovery so fast that there was no way Roo would have made it back in time even if they had called her.It was inevitable she was going to find out about Bree's screw-up eventually. Rose continued to be on eggshells around Cash but I was pleased that he made the same point I did: She's never been afraid to bawl him out when she thinks he's doing things wrong before, so she just needs to stop being self-conscious and get on with it. Hopefully her finally calling him "Constable" is a step in the right direction.

Well, I can understand Levi not being happy with Tim but I don't see how coward punching him was the best way to handle it.He got his point across a lot better when he switched to using words, noting that Eden was scared of Abigail finding out.Eden did the right thing putting a stop to things but Tim ditching Abigail as a client helped no-one, except maybe covering his back if the true comes out.It leaves Abby upset and at a disadvantage and it means she's got even more reason to turn on Eden when/if the truth comes out. Rose seems to be struggling with how to handle Cash.I thought she was just being nice at first but it's got to the point where he thinks he deserves a rollicking and she can't give it to him.I guess she still thinks of him as someone senior...which is ironic, given that when he was her superior, she didn't have a problem being blunt with him when the situation called for it! Theo and Perri did get to chat but Theo stayed nicely neutral.At least it's been enough to convince Perri not to close the door completely.I notice that neither Harper nor Kaia, who only appeared in the opening scene, were credited so presumably that was moved from the previous episode, although goodness only knows what the cliffhanger was meant to be.

It was Jane that tracked Kaia down, having heard she was alive from a social worker at a refuge she stayed at. Remember, Kaia didn't know she was supposed to be dead, so she wasn't exactly hiding. Harper said she didn't know anything about it until Kaia turned up in court. So, Kaia and Perri get a chance to talk and it seems to be going well at first but he's had his whole wordview overturned and there's a lot of processing to come before he can even begin to come to terms with her being back.It's a shame that Theo was out of the loop because he might have offered him some decent insights.After all, his mother stayed and that didn't make anything better, and Dimitri is nothing like the monster Carl was.I had to laugh at Harper's doe-eyed insistence that Tane would do anything for Perri.Except, you know, turn up and support him while he was giving evidence against Carl like he promised, or indeed stick around and help with the funeral arrangements the other week, rather than making it pretty clear Perri's behind the baby in his priorities. Eden attempts to do the right thing and then decides not to bother.I shook my head at Remi insisting that Eden likes Tim.Even if she does like him, I don't think she likes him that much, she's just enjoying having sex with a good-looking guy.They did at least attempt to work out how it's going to work but Levi's right, they're not going to keep this quiet forever.While she doesn't know, Eden keeping Abigail hanging isn't helping either, although at least she has Theo to talk to.And yes, we finally get a clearing of the air between her and Remi, albeit a rather sarky one!

Well, if, as you say, Channel 7 don't consider the 40th anniversary important, they're not going to choose that for an end date! I think it will keep going so long as it's financially viable and brings in an audience. As far as I can see, it's considered in a healthy enough state at the moment, but these things can change suddenly, it feels like there have been a lot of cancellations of long-running shows that seemed secure in recent years. But as ever when this sort of thing comes up, I'm not seeing any reason to panic just yet!

Alf's episode count this week:Four. For the second week running, Rose was only in one. Well, good news for Perri on the court front, with the mouthy prosecutor pretty much disappearing between episodes.(He was credited, but I think all we saw of him was the back of his head.)Of course, there's a bigger emotional hit to come.In one respect, it's easy to judge Kaia, and in another respect, it's easy to exonerate her.That must be the scariest threat anyone could ever give a mother, but was there really nothing else she could do? Anyway, they've both had to live with her choices and both been victims of Carl.Kaia's got Perri out of jail at least. It probably wasn't smart in the circumstances for Harper and Jane to bring Kaia to Salt like that, it was a bit too much like an ambush. Nice to get some involvement from Mackenzie, it's easy to forget she was basically a mother figure to Perri until Harper muscled in. Abigail definitely seems to be coming on leaps and bounds now, and it was nice that the three siblings were able to have a moment of normality. I wonder if we'll ever see Abigail and Remi together again: She was giving him a hard time when she first came in but they don't seem to have met since her epiphany. Maybe it was easier for Eden to act out when Abigail was doing the same, but now that Abigail's being nice, she's realised how much she's screwed up.So will Levi deal with this reasonably and maturely? Not if the promo's anything to go by... Meanwhile, Leah and Marilyn's attempt to kill Alf with kindness was a dismal failure so it's time to bring out the big guns. Martha? Hah. you must be joking, there's as much chance of Sally turning up... EDIT: Oh yes, and nice to see Hannah Waterman, still best known for her regular role on EastEnders 20-odd years ago!

Well, even if he's found guilty, it's still best for Perri to front up.Ironically, Rose may have given him the push to stick around and fight, and I suspect she knew full well what he was doing and decided to be discreet.The prosecutor seemed to be violating all sorts of protocol by asking questions when it's not his turn to cross examine and heckling witnesses, but he inevitably got under Tane's skin.Of course, at the end we seem to be presented with Stock Plot For Writing Out Unwanted Foster Child No 7: Estranged parent turns up looking for reconciliation (being dead is not an obstacle). Well, it's better than Perri going to jail, I guess! So, Cash found a third option besides disappearing off to the country and being unemployed.He says he's fine with Rose being his boss, but he still took her desk! Still, it was nice to get a focus on their friendship, in what was basically a mirror of when Rose first worked there, after their set-to last week. It feels like we should be intrigued by Alf but frankly, him snarling at John is pretty much just Tuesday around here.

It seemed to be one step forward and quite a few backwards for Bree for much of the episode, but it seems she is willing to listen to people at least these days, as with Levi here. So she's realised that trying to will herself out of a mental health crisis isn't going to work and agreed to get help.Hopefully Dana's worry that she might not go through with it will prove unfounded. I rolled my eyes at Harper mentioning talking to Tane before his court case: That's how she ended up pregnant! Perri seemed to making progress for much of the episode before deciding to repeat past mistakes. Mali took a very long time to loosen up (and the assistant's whispered aside probably didn't help), but got there in the end.Good use of Theo trying to give him a pep-talk.

I have some sympathy for Eden and I was pretty much cheering her on when she tore into Cash for only acting like her feelings matter when it suits him. But good grief, she really did handle it in a bad way, not only going out and having sex with the nearest willing person but ignoring how messy it is as well. It's a bit odd that Tim walked Eden home from work last episode and this one she's suddenly going into work (or at least was until she found something better to occupy her time with). We don't see Mackenzie and Cash together often but sometimes someone who's not that close to the situation is the best sounding board. We did actually see a glimmer of hope from Bree here. She's obviously not right, but that talk with Alf was the most honest she's ever been about what happened and she seemed to give him the genuine apology that she was refusing to give Marilyn not too long ago.It's a shame that overhearing Remi and Xander seems to have stoked her paranoia. We got some nice teasing scenes with Mali, Mackenzie and Kirby and I was amused at Mackenzie being horrified that he put the wine in danger.It's surprising but not unbelievable that Mali would get stage fright.

Well, Cash and Eden at least managed to say a civil goodbye, although with Levi's words and that ignored phone call, it feels like there's some doubt about whether he's going or not.Part of me thinks it might be good for him, he might flourish as a country copper like Gary and if he is serious about not reconciling with Eden (and that's a big if), then some distance might not be a bad idea.It seems Levi calling Abigail out on her hang-ups has had a positive effect on her.Apparently, the production only hired that building where Tim's office was the once, because now he's only counselling her on the standard sets and locations! Of course he might have an ulterior motive for that... Cracking onto your client's sister must surely be a breach of all sorts of ethics, especially given he's advising Abigail over her feelings for Eden and especially especially when he included her in that family counselling session. And it's pretty typical that Eden decides to rebound just as Cash is reaching out... Alf's back, which even Marilyn noted was quick, but perhaps not as we know him.Has he finally had one brush with death too often? Or has something happened with Martha? Anyway, it was nice to see Leah and Justin getting on.

It was Abby and Levi (and Mackenzie) who were at Salt and Eden and Tim who turned up. And they did seem to know they were there. Episode counts this week:Rose was only in one, although she was credited on Wednesday for no appearance. Well, any credit Abigail's gained over the past few weeks was well and truly used up here, as she seemed determined to hurt Eden as much as possible.The difference in the way she treats her siblings is quite staggering and even Levi wasn't having any of it.Hopefully his words sank in and Abigail will stop being so mardy.But anyway, Eden and Tim having an awkward moment isn't going to help things. I'd have said that needing to renew your vows after only six months was a cause for concern, not something to be proud of, but there you go. (It's hardly a record though, especially in soaps.Goodness knows what was going on with Alf and Ailsa in the first season.) At least it works as a symbolic way to give Leah and Justin a full stop and fresh start, so there's that.John and Marilyn actually worked quite well as a Greek chorus, especially when they thought they were being asked to get married as well.("That ship has sailed!"/"And then it sank.") John was also offering his own unique brand of help to Kirby and Mali, and I loved his apology in advance.Kirby's request wasn't an unreasonable one and seems to have put John's warnings aside.

Well, there was a lot of back and forth with everyone trying to herd Abby around town.Eden did the wrong thing by trying to gatecrash the session but she did seem to be trying to put things right and get Abigail and Tim together.It was amusing when Mackenzie made it clear she was chucking both Eden and Levi out.It seems a rather odd tactic for Tim to propose exactly what made Abigail cancel the session in the first place, hopefully he knows what he's doing.Abigail didn't make the best first impression on Theo but fair play to her for apologising. Meanwhile, Justin and Leah are back indulging in their favourite past-time instead of talking.I don't know if Leah's final assessment, that talking isn't going to change anything and the best thing they can do is just get on with things day by day, will stick or not.

I was going to say that it's been mentioned quite a few times that Perri's mum is dead but I guess the show did it for me! While Justin had a point that he and Leah aren't talking about their problems, Leah also had a point that learning to just enjoy each other's company again has value too, and they certainly seemed to be doing that! It was certainly nice to see after they've been permanently daggers at dawn since we came back in the UK.And yes, Leah managing to turn the tables on "Yarvis" was definitely a fun moment. Eden was definitely out of line reading Abigail's journal, and what sympathy I got from her being clearly upset to realise how Abigail saw her, and desperate to make up for it, was lost when she promptly railroaded her way into gatecrashing Abigail's counselling session, which seems to have backfired. A surprisingly busy episode actually with no fewer than five plotlines! Kirby seems to have thrown herself into the marketing thing and even managed to get a good response from Abigail. And it seems the senior constable wrestling match is already over as Cash gets a new posting. (I notice Rose was credited but didn't appear, so I assume there was going to be more of a follow up but it got cut.) And Xander has seemingly successfully talked Dana out of invading Harper's privacy, shame he didn't manage to talk to Eden! Anyway, they're further along than Tane and Harper are in the terms of ready to have children. It's a bit surprising that Dana's never told Xander about her past before. Anyway, it seems they've decided not to make it a roadblock at the moment.

Well, where to start with that? It would have been nice to see Tane prioritise Perri for once: Notably, Perri isn't allowed any reaction to Tane ditching helping him in order to ogle over images of his "real" son for the second time, instead just disappearing from the episode aside from a token appearance at the police station.I guess in some ways Dana brought this on herself by forcing Harper and Tane together, but I'm struggling to see any logic in Harper and Tane finding out the baby's gender and then not telling anyone.Tane's obviously just going with what Harper says, so I can't help seeing this as yet another schoolgirl attempt by Harper to make herself feel important and special by having the two of them share a secret. It's hard to know what to make of Bree here.She seemed reasonable and rational for a moment, up until the point where Remi suggested she see a doctor about her problem, at which point she suddenly switched to insisting she can handle it herself. Any doctor who thinks getting treatment for a mental health problem is career suicide has no business being in the job, but maybe we can say it'ss part of the condition. Cash being back at Yabbie Creek feels like a rather abrupt reset button and it feels like Mangrove River police station being shut down is a bit too important a detail to just be glossed over like that.What happens if someone there needs the police, does a neighbouring station have to cover? I'm not sure how I feel about his digging here. I guess it demonstrates the differences between him and Rose: She tends to be by the book, perhaps even more so when the case involves someone she knows, while he has a tendency to try and use his job to help people. Anyway, he probably has some points but the patronising way he handled it was bound to put Rose offside. That was a really random brief appearance by Kirby to get her an episode appearance!

Bree continues to stick her head in the sand and insist nothing's going on. Is it really as simple as "I've taken leave"? We get a bit more of an explanation but it feels like Bree's still in denial about key facts.Will she really just be allowed to come back to work without anything having changed? How long is this leave meant to be for? Marilyn was right to give her a serve, and Remi should probably see her threatening to break up with him as not much of a threat at all. Marilyn was irritating in her cloying attempts to push Harper towards Tane though.Maybe I'm doing her an injustice and she actually does just want to help, but it feels like Harper is looking for any excuse to force her way into Tane's orbit, so I was pleased Perri wouldn't engage with her here.The box of momentos was a surprise, although the cynic in me suspects Carl's one of those men who was proud of being a father but didn't have much interest in the child as an individual.Anyway, Perri organising the funeral is the respectful thing to do, whether Carl deserves it or not. EDIT: And hey, we got confirmation that Leah and Justin made it off on their second honeymoon without killing each other!

I don't know if I'd call it pointless or unfinished. Certainly it was no more pointless than any other storyline where a character comes in and causes trouble and then leaves with no long-term effects. I didn't hear any of these wild theories which utterly bemuse me. (Long-serving recurring character Constable Devlin as the true villain of the piece? Rory as an undercover cop? I feel like it's 2011 again when people were trying to convince themselves Brax wasn't really a criminal.) I do agree though that it was a bit odd that Rory arrived in a blaze of publicity and initially seemed like a broadly sympathetic character, only for him to turn out to be a disposable villain and the most obviously antagonistic River Boy we'd had in a long time after Heath and Dean basically acted like they were boy scouts. (That said, I've always felt Rory had more loyalty to his "brothers" than Brax, who'd probably have thrown Dingo under the bus to save his own skin.) I'm actually glad we didn't have some sordid revenge plot to kill off Felicity as was being predicted. I wish they hadn't killed her at all but at least they did in a fairly respectful manner. People were trying to find a way to make out she brought it on herself as it was, it would have been even worse if it actually had been down to her making bad choices.

Alf's episode count:Suspended. Well, Bree did the right thing but possibly for the wrong reasons.The wrap-up of this was downright weird: Surely it can't be as simple as "They can't suspend me if I'm not here"? For a start, she's already suspended and you'd expect them not to let her back to work unless it was clear there wasn't going to be a repeat. She does also say she offered them an explanation and the case is closed, but if that's the case, why take leave? The most likely explanation is that Bree is just deluding herself by calling it leave rather than accepting the fact that she's in no fit state to be working and they're not just going to let her walk back into running the ED until she gets herself sorted. Certainly, for someone that was calling medicine her life not too long ago, she seems surprisingly happy with the prospect of jacking it in to go backpacking around Asia. It'd be interesting to know what'd happen if Abigail and Remi ran into each other again, given Abby seems to have decided to stop blaming the rest of Lyrik and just hate Eden instead. Not that she's giving Eden an explanation, just a lot of attitude, with Levi stuck in the middle. Eden didn't really help her cause by having to be restrained from going to "correct" her, but at least Levi's comments gave her pause. I wasn't expecting to see Tane and especially Perri back this week.There is a certain cruel irony about Perri being the one who's expected to make arrangements for Carl's funeral.I guess he has no-one else then? Meanwhile, I loved John chiming in on Xander and Dana's conversations and Dana may live to regret not letting him be the one to help Xander out...

Bree continues to live in Denial Land, but surely there's a roomful of people who can testify that she kept sending nurses away at crucial moments and that she left while Alf was in distress and never came back? It's hard to see how she can make Levi being the bad guy here stick. I was glad that Kirby recalled that Bree was like this after Remi's accident because it's what I said when this behaviour first started! Anyway, at least Remi seems to have moved beyond giving her the benefit of the very small doubt. I loved Eden being as annoying as possible to get Abigail to see the counsellor, although it seems there's a lot still unsaid between them. At least Abigail did seem to open up with Tim after initially trying to fob him off with stock answers. Kirby's back to being a bit gung-ho with Mali but at least she seems to be getting his permission to do everything now.John made the most of his limited screen time, from wearily realising Marilyn's got a list of instructions from Alf to insisting on giving his input to the youngsters' plans.