Red Ranger 1

Alf’s episode count this week: Four, and he was credited on Tuesday for no appearance. Well…that was a really weird point to end on. In many ways, the previous episode would have been a better cliffhanger. We’ve talked in the past about how they tend to end on the longest-serving characters in peril and we seemed to be heading in that direction with Alf but…nope, he’s fine. Leah and Justin… more on that later, but nope, they’re fine too. So ultimately the characters in most trouble are Bree and Perri, and even that’s only an indirect threat. So, fortunately Levi is there to help Alf out. The fact it was so easy, and all the nurses knew what to do, really underlines how much Bree shouldn’t be there. Marilyn demonstrates her credentials for being the most irritating person on the show by having a go at Levi just because he’s there, although at least she had the decency to give Bree both barrels afterwards. So now Levi does what Dana should have done instead of going “Okay, that’s my episodes done” and going off to plan a tacky party, and finally reports Bree. Are we going to see Eric again or is he just a plot device to put Leah in a mood? Because he does kind of feel like the real villain of the piece here, despite Leah swallowing all his clearly biased stuff about Claudia being a scarlet woman. But anyway, as far as cliffhangers go…Claudia might not be entirely stable but she’s no threat to Justin. And we know Justin isn’t going to cheat on Leah with her. And we know Leah and Justin won’t split up. So basically the cliffhanger is “Will Justin have to suffer Leah being a screeching harridan towards him?” Never mind not being able to hotwire a car, how the heck can he spend hours searching for those keys in a small flower bed and not find them? Did they get stolen by a squirrel? Does Australia have squirrels? So how long did Tane spend fawning over Harper before going to check on Perri? Yet again, a soap opera comes up with the least satisfying ending possible, demonstrating that the forces of law and order are unable to protect the vulnerable, and just killing a villain instead of having him be forced to face up to what he’s done: We don’t even get to see it happen, just for the sake of a two second fakeout where we think it might be Perri that’s dead. And now we’ll be back in the usual thing of the good guy getting a harder time from the police than the bad guy.

It's frustrating that Claudia's crossed the line and given Leah an excuse for being a witch to her. There really wasn't any reason for Leah to go running around trying to give Claudia a piece of her mind and I wish she could have had it pointed out to her that all Justin was doing was helping out a woman who has been inconvenienced by mistakes he and Theo made, and who she's taking an irrational dislike to. But no, now she actually has a reason to dislike her and will probably grab it with both hands.We know that Eric's wrong about Justin and Claudia having an affair, so I guess the question is: Is he right about her having done this in the past or is he just paranoid and possessive? Well, Bree's really doing it now.Someone should have stepped in but I guess they haven't been looking closely enough and Bree's been able to do a decent enough job when not required to make snap decisions that her attempts to control situations probably didn't stand out as much as they could have done. But there's no way she's going to be able to pass this off as normal behaviour, and hopefully that nurse is on her way to alert someone to the fact Bree's lost it. (Which Dana should have done when she bailed on a patient before.) Harper and Tane seemed to do a bit of a 180 about the gender reveal party: Tane started off not being keen and Harper seemed only slightly more keen, then Tane suddenly goes "I'm up for it if you are" and Harper's all "Great, let's do it". Carl was almost conciliatory towards Perri up until the moment when he wanted him to do "one last job" and Perri refused. Perri misses another chance to get witnesses which it's clear Carl doesn't want given the way he put on an act when someone walked past. Would Carl actually leave if Perri did the job, or would there always be "one last job"? It's not worth the risk, anyway.

Ah yes. Odd. Maybe they're saving that for after the Christmas break as well!

Whilst I think Dana has a huge case of tunnel vision at times and frequently throws people under the bus to help whoever she considers a priority (such as convincing Tane to be with Harper at the hospital instead of supporting Perri in court), I wouldn't say she's uncaring towards patients.If you want an example of her being caring towards a non-Harper patient, I thought she was very good with John when they were isolated together. I don't really see that Xander did anything wrong here.He took John's advice about not storming round to see Cash, and I don't think he said anything unnecessary when the opportunity arose to discuss it, even if Cash wasn't in the mood (and probably wouldn't have been even without Michelle there). By the end of the episode, Mackenzie's seemingly off the hook for going behind his back, with Dana defusing his temper and convincing him to forget about owning Salt and concentrate on what interests him. Cash did at least make an attempt to behave like a human being with Eden, even though he did blow up at her when she touched on subjects he's not comfortable addressing.I wonder if Michelle's attempt to get through his delusions will be more successful than other people's. As many have said, Flick would be boxing his ears if she was here, so maybe he'll listen to someone he sees as a connection to her. I really hope they've let Gary know they're coming and aren't going to turn up on his doorstep and go "Surprise! It's Felicity's heart!" Michelle's comment about being one or two parts Felicity was cringe-inducing but fortunately Eden took it well. Marilyn was being even more irritating than usual with her obsession about Leah and Justin's proposal-anniversary plans. While it's partly Justin's fault for running with it instead of pointing out that would be a bit daft, she's backed him into a difficult corner here. Am I wrong or have Leah and Justin already had a second proposal?

The usual lunchtime/6pm showings continue until Friday. They don't tend to show the resolution of the UK cliffhanger until after the Christmas break, hence no First Look episode on Friday.

To be honest, my reaction to Tane's jokey baby names was to instantly think of the nasty uncle from Harry Potter and the nasty vampire from Buffy the Vampire Slayer! Wonder if Tane's a fan? Xander finally finds out that Mackenzie has stabbed him in the back and she doesn't even have the decency to look remotely sorry or talk to him about it, treating him like a skivvy because she's too busy catastrophising over Abigail to show genuine human decency. It would serve her right if he quits (again) and she found out what running Salt on her own is really like.Before, he had Felicity to play good cop when Mackenzie was up herself but not anymore.(And of course, Mackenzie basically set Eden up to be in Abigail's firing line by scaring her into going to look for her.)Abigail's clearly not over being surly with Remi then even if she was willing to tolerate Kirby. And I think Xander has chosen the wrong person to go and talk to: It's Mackenzie who's changed the rules, not Cash, but I guess Mackenzie has used up her episodes and we're going to have to wait until after our Christmas break to get a follow-up. I did think Cash was very unfair on Eden. I don't think it's about him being possessive of Michelle, he seemed to be willing for Tane to be involved if he was up for it, I think it's just that he can't deal with Eden being around him at the moment so that's why he doesn't want her there. I'm glad Michelle has stood up to him and pointed out it's not all about him. They had a few dicey moments but for the most part, Eden's involvement aside, Cash seems to be keeping things in perspective.

Cash was doing a pretty good impression of a freight train here, ploughing ahead with his plan to meet Michelle without giving himself a chance to think. To be fair, I think the reasons he gave Remi sounded pretty reasonable: Not expecting her to somehow be Felicity but wanting to see that something good came out of Flick's death. Of course, then he goes into a panic attack, only to reverse course and decide he can't pull out of his commitment. Mackenzie really has forgotten about Xander, hasn't she? And has apparently decided to instead get Levi to bankroll her buy-out. I see Abigail seems to have let go of some of her animosity towards Kirby, given she seemed to have no problem socialising with her here, unless she was putting on her best behaviour for Mali's sake.Anyway, good on her for giving Levi a kick up the backside to get back to work and agreeing to counselling.It was amusing that Kirby has been so out of the loop obsessing over Mali that she completely missed Abigail's drugs problem!

I take your point, but we really need to see some indication of it on screen, rather than being left to assume. As it is, it seems like the moment Harper told him she was pregnant he went from being devastated to acting like Felicity never existed.

It's got nothing to do with the child. There is no child yet and Tane's already fussing over Harper as if this is the only thing that's important to him and he doesn't give a damn about Felicity now he's got someone who'll give him what he wants. He doesn't even seem to give much of a damn about Perri anymore, as his complete lack of interest in supporting him in court or checking on him afterwards demonstrated.

Alf's episode count this week:Three. Cash was in four, although he only appeared in one scene without dialogue on Tuesday. The only other characters to make three were Justin and Tane, and Kirby didn't appear at all. One of those annoying moments when a character says something spot on and then apologises for it: Cash was absolutely right that Tane has already moved on from Felicity to his new family, and Tane's response was pathetic. He wanted a baby with Felicity more than he wanted Felicity, and he probably wants a baby with Harper more than he wanted Felicity, and I continue to think that in many ways it's mightily convenient for him that he doesn't have to deal with Felicity still being around while he plays out his fantasy with another woman. At least their "romantic" picnic turned out to not really be romantic at all, at least on Tane's part, although Dana's obviously worried that Harper's crush is getting worse. I'm pretty sure I know a guy who's a full-time artist, I hire out his services once in a while. Anyway, Mali's decided it's not him, and he's probably right. Meanwhile, Mackenzie is also making decisions and rather high-handedly as well. Not too long ago, Xander was keen to buy Cash's share, so it's a bit rude of her to, in effect, cut him out and make plans to own Salt herself. (Because that worked so well for her last time...) Cash, of course, has found a new "legacy" of Felicity's to obsess over. It's hard to tell how concerned we should be: As he pointed out, he's not trying to track down every person who received one of Felicity's organs, just meet someone who contacted him first. That said, if he's expecting her to somehow be Felicity reincarnated, he's possibly setting himself up for a big disappointment.

Eden had lost her memory...but very selectively! Kind of disappointed that everyone was treating Cash with kid gloves after Abigail gave him that well-deserved serve.I wasn't even convinced by his advice, which seemed like he was thinking as a cop rather than as a brother, but Abigail seemed to appreciate it in the end so that's good, I guess. And she continued her trajectory by being friendly to Mackenzie despite her reversion to stroppiness, and Mackenzie seems to be making an effort with her too. Cash was definitely out of order trying to get Rose to break the rules (law?) for him and I'm glad she refused, although he seems to have found an alternative method. Justin was both harsh and not harsh enough with Claudia. He's obviously not comfortable with her leaning on him for support but she doesn't seem to have accepted his implication that they're not friends.We're at the point where he really should talk to Leah:She hasn't made it easy at times but the alternative of her finding out another way is far worse. Mali meets the art gallery guy and gets an offer that he...maybe can't refuse? I guess we'll have to see which way he swings but he didn't seem to be immediately against the idea.

Okay, thanks. I did remember that one but had a vague idea there was another time. Like I say, I'm probably wrong.

I'm not sure anything more can be done with Cash at this point. People have tried to talk to him time and again, yet he remains fixated on the idea that breaking up with Eden will stop her dying, and until something shakes that out of him, he just won't listen to reason. Maybe Abigail's serve will have an effect, since kid gloves isn't working, but given that he seems to want to be sad and lonely, maybe not. Anyway, we got some nice scenes with John and Eden, with him again showing his surrogate parental side to his neighbours. (I loved him pushing Eden onto the couch with one finger!) I did actually enjoy those scenes with Levi, Abigail and eventually Eden. I'm not sure why Levi was so against Abigail running round outside, which would be more likely to burn off energy than sitting in front of a screen (the subtitles had him saying "You can choose the game" but I'm not sure if that was right or not). Is that Abigail's first Obligatory Bikini Scene? Justin basically says he's lying to Leah because she's a bit high maintenance. It'd be nice if Theo actually pointed out to Leah that Claudia had every reason to be angry with him. It does feel like Claudia turning up to unload to Justin about her marital problems is moving their friendship(?) into new territory. After weeks of trying to remember what it was, I recalled that Leah and Justin's fiftieth cult run-in was last year's UK cliffhanger, so it makes sense it would be the anniversary about now!

I think the fact that, about five seconds after telling Tane to go to Perri, Harper was swooning over him saying he's not going to leave her alone instead of pressing the issue means it qualifies as "half-hearted". It's all right saying Tane's facing up to his responsibilities with Harper, but he took on a responsibility with Perri too and that doesn't seem to mean as much to him. I realise it's easy sitting here but Perri really missed an open goal there. Carl's obviously too much of a coward to do anything to anyone in public, and if Perri had made a fuss, he'd have a surf club full of witnesses to the fact Carl immediately broke his AVO. And I get that he's worried for Tane, but keeping it from him isn't going to make things any better. I think we saw why Marilyn and Kirby get on here, with Marilyn being equally as much of a dog with a bone at "You should celebrate the anniversary of when you had to stagger around a wilderness suffering from dehydration and hallucinations to get help for Justin while he was crushed under stuff and dying from internal bleeding!" Even with Alf telling her to give it a rest.I had to double check the timescale to see if Theo was actually right about him seeing Justin with Claudia "yesterday". (Marilyn was wrong to say Leah and Justin got married last year though: It was this year!) Justin should be honest with Leah, but her inability to talk about Claudia without calling her "that awful woman" doesn't make it easy. After Bree's performance here, I think even Remi has to admit there's something wrong with her. He seems to have been allayed by her promise to see a counsellor but will she? Bit of mixed messages from Eden: Not too long ago, she was going to quit Salt because she couldn't stand to be around Cash, but now it looks as though she's upset at him avoiding her? Isn't that what she wanted?

Tane pretty much spelt out here than his bun and the oven it's in are his priority, with Perri being a distant second at best. At the start of the episode, despite knowing what's happened to Perri and that he needs support, he's still fawning over Harper and palming Perri off on Rose, without even the decency of a phone call to check on him, while Harper again makes a half-hearted attempt to suggest he goes to Perri and then goes back to preening herself at all the attention she's getting from him ("The obstetrician thought we were a couple": Could she sound any more like an adolescent schoolgirl with a crush? She'll be practising writing her name as Harper Parata next), at least until Dana was there to take over giving her attention. I'm glad Perri gave Tane that serve and was disappointed when they went back to being all buddy-buddy so quickly. I wonder how long that will last with Carl still hanging around though? I thought of the comment about Bree having OCD when she started folding towels and especially when she was obsessively cleaning a fridge (whilst holding the door wide open so all the cold gets out and the food goes off!). And naturally Xander bombed off and didn't see her lose it with Dana...

My instinct is to say no. We had that Gabe chap last year whose cancer came back, but he was only a guest and the first one was off screen. I keep thinking Irene did, but I've no idea when, so I'm probably getting confused.

Apologies if I've misunderstood you, but we've actually got two weeks to go: The last episode before Christmas is on the 15th.

Alf's episode count this week:Three. I think that episode pretty much demonstrated that Tane's a terrible father. Or at least that Perri was quite right that he's way down the list of priorities now that Tane's got a biological child to coo over. Perri didn't enter his head once, not even when Theo reminded him where he was supposed to be.He didn't even know anything was wrong and still he was hanging around the surf club, ringing Harper every five seconds like he's got separation anxiety, instead of doing what he promised to do.Harper briefly attempts to keep quiet and send him to Perri, then as soon as Dana ignores her wishes and patient confidentiality because she thinks she knows best, she forgets about Perri as well and goes back to hanging off Tane's coat tails.And while Tane's busy preening himself over what his wild oats are growing into, everything goes wrong back where he's well and truly dropped the ball. And yeah, maybe Carl would still have walked if Tane had been there, but it couldn't have hurt, and it's not like he was really needed at the hospital. And having been her usual mouthy self on the phone, Dana just stands there like a stunned mullet instead of standing up to Bree's "Me doctor, you nurse, speak when you're spoken to, you lower form of life" attitude. Instead, she goes running to Remi. Who, oddly, doesn't take her claims seriously but then acts flummoxed when Bree asks him to back her up. Justin and Claudia...It's a tricky one. It sounds like Claudia's job is hanging by a thread and she really does need someone who can be there at a moment's notice. But then it's not as if Justin is sitting there waiting for her. Would she be able to immediately get a taxi at short notice? To be fair, Justin initially offered his services before Claudia had a chance to think of a better arrangement, but she did ask him to carry on here. Justin does need to come up with a better reason for keeping it quiet than "Leah made a snap judgement about you on a few seconds' acquaintance" though...which for some reason Claudia thinks is fine.

Points to Tane for effort.He was trying to calm Perri down with the chat with Rose and the punchbag, but neither of them really seemed to reduce his stress levels.At least he liked the television! A shame that was the day Justin decided to play the heavy boss with Theo. Tane was doing everything he could...up until the point where he decided to twiddle his thumbs waiting for Harper rather than accompanying Perri to court. What, she can't get herself there now she's pregnant with his child? She got herself to the hospital easily enough! Just ping her a text saying "Had to go, hope to see you there" and focus on the job at hand. Bree is getting ridiculous now. She spends her whole time doing pointless jobs, and then when she actually has a patient that needs her, she's more interested in the laundry. It's moving past the point where Dana can try and sort it out with friendly chats that Bree is clearly ignoring: If patient care is being compromised, she needs to take it higher up. In fact, Bree is so incapable of doing anything normally, it's a wonder no-one else has noticed. Does she save the eccentricities for her "shift buddy"? I should be worried about Harper, but I doubt the show would have her lose the baby and I wouldn't be that bothered if she did, so it's probably just there for drama. Talking of ridiculous, Justin is continuing to come up with convoluted stories rather than just telling Leah the truth. (Theo wasn't credited incidentally: Given that he only appeared in the first two scenes, I suspect those were moved from the previous episode.) And it seems Xander's sudden agreement with Kirby was down to him applying her advice to himself and deciding that, if he can't buy into Salt, he'll own a business some other way. Nice that Rose supported him, but if he does leave Salt that'll leave Mackenzie another staff member down: She might be begging Cash to come back soon!

I agree that subtitles aren't reliable which is why, even though I was defaulting to them in the absence of anything else, I didn't say anything until we'd seen Abby's shortened name written down in an actual episode. I've tended to sympathise with Claudia more than most people have, and we seemed to get to know her a bit better here. So, it turns out she's not an arrogant businesswoman as some people assumed, but someone who helps vulnerable people, which increases my feeling that she was perfectly right to be frustrated at Bree keeping her away from her work to put her through unnecessary anxiety. This arrangement with Justin isn't really an ideal solution though. It's only (barely) working for Claudia because Justin is bending over backwards while getting himself tangled up in a web of lies. (Is Justin driving her around in his own car? What happened to the hire car? Is her husband using it?) Of course, Leah continues to be self-absorbed and act as though Claudia's the villain of the piece and Theo's the one that's hard done by, which doesn't exactly encourage him to speak up. I'm glad John was there for Cash. This is why I'm not convinced the show needs to flood the Bay with relatives of Alf, Irene and John: In many ways, they're the whole town's parents. John didn't intrude but he was there when Cash needed him. (As an aside, it was a nice touch that Justin mentioned Jett, albeit not by name.) I'm beginning to suspect that the people making the show aren't seeing Kirby the way I am. Again, she was on the wrong side of the line pressuring Mali, and I'm surprised Rose got dragged into it so easily. Xander even argues that she should leave Mali alone and respect his choice, only to back down straight away. And by the end...Mali has given in to Kirby's badgering and we're apparently meant to think she did the right thing?

I haven't seen Abby's name spelt "Abi" anywhere other than on here, certainly not anywhere official: It's always Abby on the subtitles and in Eden's text. We've been told Carl is out on bail. It's almost harder that Cash is almost back to normal, communicating with everyone and getting on with his life, but he's still treating Eden like a stranger, or at least like someone who's not part of his life anymore. He's got this idea stuck in his head that they need to break up and nothing will shift it.Even though John put his foot in it, it's nice Cash went to him for advice. I'm not sure Cash needed to be a true silent partner, I think he could still have had regular meetings with Mackenzie without being at the bar all the time, but fair play to him for backing off and making things easier for Eden.Kind of ironic that after all the fuss Mackenzie made, she's not told of his decision even though she's in the episode! The show does seem to be struggling to address why Lyrik aren't back performing, with Remi basically saying "No, we're not doing that now." Talking of Mackenzie...Abigail kind of carried on in the same vein, putting Mackenzie's back up and being rude to everyone. But give her credit: Getting to just have a normal chat with Mali seemed to bring her out of herself, and she and Mackenzie, the latter having accepted Levi's not going to give up on her, do seem to genuinely be making an effort to get on. The fact they carried on with it when Levi wasn't there indicates they're for real rather than putting on an act. Incidentally, similar to above, where's Eden in all this? The last time we saw her and Abby together, she was arranging for Abby to stay at her place, then Abigail through a tantrum at Remi and walked out while Eden was at work, and we haven't seen any reaction from her! Kirby does seem to be using her powers for good at the moment, with Mali appreciating her enthusiasm.She did have to make several attempts to draw his attention to that certificate!

I found myself hoping Mackenzie would call Abigail's bluff and kick her out but she's kind of stuck between a rock and a hard place: Levi obviously isn't just going to give up on Abby, so if she wants to stay with him, Mack has to find some way to deal with her.Of course, Abby then does the usual soap thing of only eavesdropping on half a conversation... I wonder if Mackenzie is wishing she'd kept the troubled youngster she had before, she certainly seems to get on better with him! And Tane's again asking her for advice with Carl apparently prowling around.It's felt in the last few episodes as if Tane and Cash are never home at the same time, so it was nice to see their plotlines intersect near the end. I appreciate Eden forcing Cash to talk to her but I was disappointed at her using the opportunity to try and convince him to take her back again. Given that Cash seems to be behaving a bit more human, it's a shame that he's so fixated on this idea and refuses to back down over Eden. Her resigning feels a bit like cutting her nose off to spite her face.

Alf's episode count this week:Two, and he was credited on Tuesday for no appearance. Abigail seemed to be full of energy again...at least until she had to cope with people other than Eden and Levi and wasn't the centre of attention anymore.I can kind of see her perspective at having all her family members abandon her one by one, but while you can understand her resenting Remi and Kirby because they were the ones Eden was spending time with instead of her when she was a child, it's a bit much that she's still acting like they did something wrong now she's basically an adult.(Did she not have friends of her own to hang out with? Huh. Maybe not.) Levi springing her on Mackenzie wasn't the smartest move either and it'd serve her right if her attitude gets her thrown out. It was unfair of Mackenzie to leave Xander to wrangle Cash when he doesn't even have her authority, although fortunately (with a bit of help from Remi) he did manage to keep him in line. Xander's idea wasn't without merit - even though they were both closer to Mackenzie, Felicity liked and trusted him and would probably be fine with him taking over - but expecting Cash to agree to it so readily was always a tricky prospect. Even though he seems to be being a bit more friendly to everyone else, Cash continues to be as cold as ice with Eden.It's a shame he had such an easy riposte to Levi trying to take him to task.Maybe Remi should have persevered? I think she handled it the best way at the end, going "You want to run this place? Fine. But I still work here and I'm not going to get out of your face just because of your weird hang-ups. Deal with it."

Well, I'll give Harper points for managing to stop thinking the world revolves around her enough to realise that her neediness is causing Tane to neglect a vulnerable teenager that he's accepted responsibility for.Cash did, at her invitation, ask her some blunt questions of the kind everyone else seems to be avoiding, but he treated her a lot better than he's treating most people.And by the end, he seems to have signed up to them all being one big happy family, although I'll acknowledge that Felicity probably would want Cash and Tane to be there for each other. It looked as though Tane's put Perri in his (and Flick's) old room and taken Nik's old room for himself. Mali was being a bit ridiculous in keeping the competition results from Kirby: As Alf said, it wouldn't be too long before she found out anyway. And as it turns out, it was a waste of time as she was fine with it! I don't really mind Levi keeping secrets from Mackenzie, although that may be because I don't really care about them as a couple and I do acknowledge that Levi finds lying very easy. But he handled everything appaliingly here, leaving Eden to cope with Abby (we finally get an on-screen spelling of the shortened version of her name, although I expect half the forum will still get it wrong!) while he hangs around Salt trying to annoy Mackenzie into forgiving him. And the result is Mackenzie giving an undeserved serve to Cash, who was being a bit of a pain but not as much as she made out. And even when she apologised, she still tried to bulldoze him. Yes, Cash hanging around "helping" and randomly throwing out ideas isn't the best way to handle this, but neither is Mackenzie trying to cut him out. I guess her resolve that having him as a partner might be good didn't last very long. Really, they need to find time to sit down and work out what his role is going to be and whether he might actually have some good ideas.

Forgot to mention: That's a really weird throwaway off-screen departure for Gary when it looked like he was sticking around.