lollypop

The introduction of Brax has changed Charlie and for the worse!! Everything that was good about her has been erased for some pathetic unstable relationship. It might look good, but getting passed the looks, there's nothing there!! It's sad that Charlie is ruining her life and her friendships for someone who doesn't have the descency to the right thing. Brax will always resort to criminal ways to get what he wants. R.I.P Charlie Buckton. You were once a firm favourite, now a firm pain in the backside.

Hmmm.... I dunno. This is Esther's first acting gig and she's been there now for 3-4 years and as much as I'd hate to see her go, I think she will wrap up her time on Home and Away fairly soon to move on to other acting jobs so she can gain more experience while she's still in high demand. Steve on the other hand, has just arrived and is still new to the show so he probably sees this as something he will stick at for another while. Which makes me believe that Chax will not work out in the long run. Unless of course if one leaves and the writers decided to write out the other character also.

Welcome back - thought you weren't gonna watch for a while????? Lovin Charlie and Brax - it's only tv not the real world!!!! He might look smug but he is HOT!!!!!!! I haven't been watching...this is purely based on what I've already seen and the spoilers I've read!! Feels weird not watching Home and Away on a regular basis!!

Meh.....I'd rather knock Charlie over the head with somethin heavy and have "sleep" off this pathetic infatuation of hers. The only way I could ever enjoy this relationship, is if Brax finally did time for all his criminal activities and wrong doings and came back a changed man, someone actually worthy of Charlie. Rather than have him walking around like the smug ego maniac who still believes he should be able to do whatever he wants and get away with it.

Hmmm...... Unless of course you're Brax or Heath. In that case you can grow and sell weed, launder drug money, help a fugitive flee the country, almost kill someone (Angelo), lie to the police, organise gang wars, pervert the course of justice, plan a murder and get away scott free. Did I leave anything out???? I feel sorry for Casey. The poor lad should put himself up for adoption. In a family like that he has no hope of a bright future.

I dunno maybe it's just my own personal dealings with people who have done the same things as Brax that have me feeling unsympathetic to his situation. Maybe I'm just tired of Cameron Welsh picking an choosing what parts of "reality" he's choosing to mirror within Home and Away. I have a cousin, who like Brax, found himself engaging in criminal activities to provide for his daughter. The thing that really annoyed me about it was, he's a clever guy, who was always really likeable and easy going. But when things got tough and jobs were scarce for people who didn't finish their secondary/high schooling, he took the easy way out. He saw that there was a lot of money to be made in dealing drugs. So like Brax, he pushed the boundaries of the law to reap the rewards of selling drugs at the expense of other people's health, happiness and stability. It put a huge strain on his family. Some of the people he used to deal to, I knew them, and I saw how it affected them. Ultimately he did get caught and he was jailed.He's just been released, but I have never been able to look him in the eye since knowing what he did and the seriousness of it. The fact is, dealing drugs is a serious, serious crime. Feeding peoples addictions not only could it potentially kill them, but it tears families and friendships apart and the fact that Home and Away are not taking this subject seriously, and are making it out to be something that should be easily forgettable at the expense of "sexing up" the show is quite literally a joke. I don't mean to be putting a downer on things and I know people are going to come back and argue to death that Home and Away is just a soap and that it's purely entertainment. But this is something that effects millions of people and I just feel that Home and Away has a duty of care to say that no this is not okay. They've done it with the rape storylines, they've done it with joyriding storylines, they've done it with teacher/studnet relationship storylines. Why is this so different? Why are they sweeping this under the rug. Shouldn't there be some form of justice for this too? Why is it the writers always nit pick who gets killed or who gets punished based on popularity or looks? Is Home and Away really that shallow? Take a couple like Leah and Miles.... They have done nothing wrong and they have to suffer the loss of a child. If they were as popular as Charlie or Brax, would thay have suffered the same fate?

The thing is, while it would be easy for the writers to somehow come to a happier conclusion, where Brax and Heath stopping doing dodgy things and Brax and Charlie get back together and live happily ever after, at the same time, it would ruin their characterisation of the writers did do this. Brax has a LOT of flaws. He's manipulative, he's a compulsive liar, he can at times, be a bully, he's dodgy and he blurs the lines between right and wrong for his or his families own benefit, even if it is at the expensive of other peoples feelings or whatever. But the thing is, all these negative things are a part of who Brax is. It's what makes his character. So to just erase them in the hopes that he will be seen as a good guy who viewers will like, not only would it not make any sense, but it would be a complete cop out and would actually erase part of the essence of who he is. The thing about Brax is, you're never really sure who he is. Is he a good guy who does bad things, or is he someone who threads the waters between right and wrong depending on what he thinks he needs to do at a particular moment and time. Even if Brax somehow manages to redeem himself for everything he's done since arriving in the Bay, all these elements of him will remain. He be out of the game, but that won't change the person he is, and I don't think I want him to. Because even though I don't like that side of Brax, if you strip that away, you're essentially stripping away a major part of who he is. He would in affect, become redundant. At the moment his only saving grace is his relationship with Charlie. In my opinion, she is pretty much the only good thing about him. If we take this away, what other purpose does he serve other than to push the boundaries of the law? I think the writers need to do a lot more character building here. Brax is a good complex character, but I'm kind of wondering what other purpose would he serve outside of the Riverboys and Charlie? On another note, the whole relationship thing is a complete mess and I think Charlie is completely right to be pushing him away. He's lied to her far to many times, she even killed a man to save his life, and he didn't even have the descency to thank her. At the moment Brax is too self involved to be able to commit to a proper relationship. I hope the writers take their time with this and don't have Charlie rushing back to be with him. Otherwise it's just a Charlie and Angelo repeat.

Brax to Casey - "Ye don't let cops into the house, ever",...........but it's okay for Brax to let them into his bed?? How can things between Charlie (a cop) and Brax (leader of the Riverboys) ever work when he clearly doesn't trust the cops, and the cops never trust Riverboys? They say it's a Romeo and Juliet style romance, but even Romeo and Juliet could trust each other, despite their warring families. If anything, at the moment, Charlie and Brax have relationship built on sex and nothing else. There's no trust, no communication, no such thing as comprimise.... They can't expect to ever have a proper relationship at that rate. Right now, they're pretty much just friends with benefits. Minus the fun factor.

Tomorrow, she's going to run away from her problems rather than face them head on! That is not how you deal with things! It is only going to be worse for her when she comes back! I'm not surprised though...Charlie has always run away from her problems!.... Yet again we find that everyone else is paying for Brax's indiscretions!! Past and Present. I'm sick of this. When will HE be the one to suffer the consequences of his actions. Charlie is suffering for her part in carrying on the affair. When will Brax start getting it in the neck? He seems to come out of every situation unscathed and it's getting very, very annoying. It's almost like Home and Away is proving the point that there is a lot of injustice in the world. Hard working good people take the hardest knocks while those who cut corners, break the law and cause harm to others get off with lighter sentences. It's a joke. Who will fall victim next? As a police officer, what Charlie did was completely irresponsible. There was no way this was going to look anything but dodgy considering her superior knows about her affair with Brax. Had it been any other situation she probably would have gotten away with a slap on the wrist but now she has made things a whole lot worse for herself. Also, I find it kind disturbing that as a mother, Charlie is happy to go off and leave Ruby home alone with all the trouble in the Bay. Hammer may be dead, but that doesn't mean that someone else in his gang won't try getting revenge for what Charlie or Brax have done. Yet again Brax's way of "handling" things proves to be an epic failure. It's time he realised he's not as clever or invincible as he thinks he is.

I can't believe what I actually saw today. I'm just left flabbergasted by how stupid Brax is being at the moment. He practially told Charlie, without saying the actual words, that he was going to kill Hammer. Then proved it by going off and purchasing a gun. After that I heard, what has to be the most hysterical line I have ever heard in Home and Away. "But after I've done this, that's it. No more. We're going legit". How exactly does that work? How do you go legit after setting out to KILL someone. Not hurt, but actually kill them!! That's completely ridiculous. Brax is proving more and more with each stupid decisions he makes, that even though he tries to back it up with reasonable excuses, at the moment, he's no better than Hammer or Jake. You could see it in Charlie's face today, she actually can't believe it herself, what it is she's hearing coming out of Brax's mouth. And the way he man handled Casey was dispicable. How anyone can justify or excuse these actions is beyond me!! I know it's a soap, but it's just disgusting. I'm beginning to really dislike Brax. I used to just disagree with the way he operated and the way he always lied. But now I just can't stand him as a character. Brax can't explain this one away. Charlie wants to arrest Hammer and do the right thing. Brax wants to murder him and do completely the wrong thing. No matter what the reason, taking someone else's life cannot be justified. It says a lot about Brax's character that he has it in him to kill.

So were Charlie and Angelo, and Charlie and Joey, and Noah and Haley, and Jack and Martha, and Ric and Maddie. But just because they're meant to be doesn't mean that they should be together. Brax is bad for Charlie the way he is right now. It's like chocolate and your waistline, just because you like it doesn't mean it's good for you. You'd think Brax being stabbed and Charlie getting shot, would make him see sense that he is not in a good bplace right. But instead he just resorts to revenge. Is he trying to get them killed?? Because he's going the right way about it. Charlie has been trying to get the good out of Brax for a long time only to have him turn around and shove it back in her face. He needs to find the good in himself by himself or he'll just drag her down with him.

Normally I don't mind watching Brax scenes, but I have to admit I was glad of his absence. He's become so smug and arrogant lately. Everytime I see him on screen I just want to slap him across the face with the back of my hand. Normally he has a little spark that makes you like him. But lately he's just been a complete tool. What's worse is, this is exactly who Brax was before he tried to change. Which makes me more defiant on the the Brax feeling the hard end of the consequences of his actions. I really want to see him hit rock bottom, because right now, he's blowing all his chances with the people of Summer Bay, with Charlie and his chance of starting fresh. Brax is so deluded by his own belief that he can get things under control, by this power trip he's on, that he can't see just how wrong he is. He's making really bad decisions and he's not thinking about how badly it could all end. It shouldn't take Charlie being shot to make him realise just how deep he's in. If he really wanted to change, he would have abandoned ship a long time ago instead of this revenge seeking path he's on. This is why I want to see Brax go to jail for a while. He needs to realise if he doesn't change now, he'll never be anything more than a Riverboy. Living his life looking over his shoulder and constantly fighting off rivals and threats. He could even risk endangering the lives of the people he loves. It's already happend a few times. How many more times can it happen before somebody actually ends up dead. He can preach to Casey all he wants about doing the right thing and getting ahead in life. But what's the point when he is doing the complete opposite. Taking one step forward just to take a hundred steps back. This Brax is far from loveable. In fact, even Heath has surpassed him in my eyes. And Heath's a tool. But at least he's an honest tool.

But that's exactly Brax's problem. He starts off trying to do things the right way, but when it doesn't go the way he wants it, instead of standing down or walking away, he resorts to dirty underhanded tactics or violence. I understand that he's part of a gang who have rivals/enemies. But Brax needs to realise that, the world/community he wants to be a part of, the one that Charlie lives in, he can't be a part of that if he keeps falling back to his old ways because the other people who live in the world don't accept gang activity. He can't have the best of both worlds because the two worlds he wants to be a part of do not go together and never will. At this point he needs to make a serious decision, it's all in or all out. But this keeping one foot in the door attitude he has is never going to allow him to be happy with Charlie. Because while she's standing on one side of the door, Brax's buddies and his gang life are standing on the other and he needs to shut the door on one of them because it's getting pretty tiring watching this never ending merry go round. Like Inspector Joyce said, eventually these rival gangs will wipe each other out. Which means at the moment Brax is standing on a road which cuts off in two different directions 1.) Is to an early grave, and 2.) Is heading for jail. If Brax keeps up his double life these are the only realistic outcomes. It's crunch time and he needs to start making serious, no tunring back decisions. No more of this "I'm taking care of it" business.