atrus

On the catchup trail again. Small point, but watching a load of episodes in quick succession does just hammer home how intrusive the some of the 'triumphal' musical choices are these days. It feels like we can't go two scenes without getting a burst of inanity, often threatening to drown out the dialogue. At least in sad scenes they usually choose more sedate songs to accompany, but we don't need a life-affirming anthem blaring out every time a minor spat is resolved. I know the days of proper underscore are long behind us, but we could dial it back a notch, I feel. Very glad that Perri has avoided jail, but was less convinced by the sudden appearance of Dead Mum - of course, we can't have teens in the Bay long-term so we need some silly contrivance to get Perri out of dodge, so that he's no longer an encumbrance to Tane and Harper and they can get on with sucking each other's faces. I found Kaia's choices difficult to get on board with, really. Okay, in the moment Carl made the threat she had no choice to leave, but did she really think that having said such a thing, Carl was going to be lovely and kind to Perri for the rest of his life? I might've taken a few hours to process but then been straight to the police, and wouldn't have rested until Perri was well away from him. Easy to say maybe, but I just find her taking no action back then too hard to believe when she's apparently so pro-having Perri in her life here and now. Regardless, it's a happy-ish ending for Perri after a tumultuous few months and so I'll take it. Pity he didn't get to say goodbye to Theo because he wasn't in it on Friday. Having been perpetually mardy and snarky more or less since she arrived, Abigail has a personality transplant after a session and a half with Counsellor Tim and is suddenly pouring her heart out to Eden about how wonderful she is - purely so we'll feel sorry for her when she inevitably finds out that Eden is bedding the counsellor and is hurt and upset about it. I find it hard to care about any of this, really. Eden had accrued quite a few sympathy points with me following her split from Cash but it seems she's never more than a few months away from a poor life choice; and up until circa last week Abi (Abby? I forget which) hadn't done much to accrue any sympathy points at all. I still find Levi deeply annoying and while it's true that Tim is eminently punchable, the fact that Levi succumbed to doing it nonetheless counts against him. So, Roo returns and finds out she's just missed the 'bashing on Bree' bandwagon, but chases it down the road at full pelt anyway and hops aboard. Bree does seem to be taking some genuine steps to change things now but a lot of it feels like too little, too late, and again I'm struggling to care all that much either way. Not much of any interest going on with anybody else, but I'll take Justin and Leah no longer bickering as a win. Alf being a pain in the bum to everyone around him until he's browbeaten into compliance is a storyline as old as the hills, but at least it features Alf, I guess. Dana continues to be more or less the only consistently likeable/interesting character to have been introduced in the last five years and I quite liked her latest spat with John.

I'll narrow it down: it isn't Channel 5! I might be tempted to tweak the details here and there, but broadly speaking I think this is exactly what needs to happen - what has been crying out to happen. It seems so obvious that it would improve the show enormously to have a wider diversity of character ages again and to put the 'legacy' cast at the centre of families. Then it essentially doesn't matter how many weeks a year the likes of Irene and Alf do on the show in the years to come - but when they are rostered on, they can be guaranteed involvement in something meaningful. To add to the above, we surely need to kill off Martha offscreen at this point, don't we? I've never heard of a married couple of that age living in different towns and commuting to see each other (or rather, Alf commuting to see Martha, because she sure never returns the gesture ). I know currently it provides an excuse for Ray to have a break every now and then, but as far as Alf the character is concerned it feels deeply unsatisfactory. I guess you can argue it works for them, but... apart from anything I'm bored of hearing about the constant to and fro. He has plenty other relatives he could go and see as an excuse for a write-out, or Sally, or Don Fisher.

Yeah, I'm not sure whether Bree was even telling the truth about having taken leave - for all we know they did suspend her and she's just trying to save face in front of Remi. Or perhaps it is possible for her to take leave, but surely that's not the end of it and a suspension if it was otherwise forthcoming will be awaiting her on her return? They really seem to be putting Perri through it, but I guess if there's no other next of kin then the decision would fall to him (would it be the same if he'd already been convicted of murder, I wonder? Not that I think Perri is guilty of murder, but if a court found that, it would seem odd for somebody's killer to be the one to make their funeral arrangements - but I guess you wouldn't get a conviction that quickly anyway).

The Justin and Leah story is really treading water now. They agreed to try and resolve things at the end of last episode but then Justin continues to make a song and dance out of nothing today, leaving me wishing he'd get over himself for most of the episode. Now they agree to go away to resolve things, but ominously they're going home to discuss it first. Will that lead to another pointless spat at the start of tomorrow's episode and them not going away at all? Let's hope not. Also nominated for membership of the 'get over yourself' club is Abigail. Otherwise, not much of interest going on.

I was pleased to see Rose being introduced to the concept of discretion and applying it almost immediately in Theo's case. In reality I don't imagine that the backstory with his dad would have gotten him off the hook, but I'll go with it because he really doesn't deserve to be charged with anything. Nor does Perri, and if his stint ends with a bleak murder conviction I will be very displeased. Glad the whole sorry scenario put Justin and Leah's bickering in perspective, anyway, and encouraged them to start moving past it.

I know this isn't Rose's call, particularly, and she's just doing what is expected of her as a police officer, but I dislike all the discussion about where Perri was, who knew about it etc before he came forward. They're only accessories to murder if it was actually murder, and I don't think they should be assuming it was simply because he legged it afterwards. I feel like the important thing is that he's come forward now, and as someone who had a restraining order out against his father I also sort of feel like there should be a presumption that the law is on his side. Yes, he shouldn't have gone into hiding but he's been through an incredibly traumatic ordeal and I think that should be taken into account by default. And again, maybe it wasn't the best idea in the event to shower etc after what had happened, but I also sort of think that if it was really self-defence, he shouldn't have to justify himself over things like that because he wouldn't be thinking like a murderer would. I don't know, maybe that doesn't make sense legally and I get deaths have to be investigated and that we as viewers have seen more of the altercation than the police have. But it's just my gut feeling about it - I find myself feeling it's deeply unfair on him. The very fact the dad was floating in the pool is evidence that he was somewhere that, for Perri's safety, he shouldn't have been in the first place. Abigail is being super annoying with her ridiculous hangup about Kirby. I'd like to give her the benefit of the doubt and assume there's more to it, but it doesn't seem so from what we've seen so far.

Enjoyed me some no-nonsense Mac today, chucking snotty Bree out of Salt. I can forgive Bree for having issues, but she seems to have had a wholesale personality transplant along with it, which is more difficult to get on board with. Justin's possibly milking it a bit now with Leah. Time to kiss and make up and move on, I think.

Some wrong on both sides with Justin and Leah today. She should have been more receptive to explanations other than Justin being unfaithful, particularly initially and regardless of what Claudia's husband said; but on the other hand Justin has been lying to her for weeks about his ferrying Claudia around without (as far as I can see) any particularly good reason, and trust has to be earned. If he'd been transparent about what he was up to then she'd have far less reason to be suspicious. It seemed inevitable that either Cash or Michelle would become over-invested in their friendship and so it's proved. Not only that but he's in denial about it, and yet again taking his issues out on Eden the second it becomes clear Michelle doesn't want to spend every waking moment with him. Everyone involved in the Perri storyline - Tane, Harper, Rose - is annoying me, but that might just be because they're intrinsically annoying.

Happy New Year, everyone! Not a great deal to say on today's - predictably, Perri does a runner rather than standing up to be counted, which is understandable as he's surely incredibly traumatised by what happened; but it's a shame as it seems like an obvious case of self-defence and would probably be over relatively quickly if he hadn't gone into hiding. Leah really ought to have given Justin a chance to explain, especially given the number of kidnappings and other dramatic events that Bay citizens are often subject to; for all she knew he was calling from another abandoned factory/cult HQ. To be honest, I'm with Maz being snarky at Bree for as long as she continues to pretend there isn't a problem. Nearly killing Alf is not okay.

A very enjoyable rundown as ever! I'll make no comment on Tane and Cash being voted the second and third best characters of all time, but Alf's victory is deserved even if it's only by a whisker this time. And anyway, the fun is in the journey and the ever-entertaining writeups. Thanks to all those involved and for the hard work behind the scenes.

Wow, Irene's dropped to 10. That blows my theory out of the water about her storyline keeping her high, then... I suppose it's good to see John on the rise. I still think his character's completely wasted and could have a far more significant role, but he's done well considering that. Alf and Maz assured decent results, at least. Given the remaining pool of characters we're inevitably talking about, Dana deserves to be higher than she is. I do think Eden has been deserving of some sympathy and even praise for how she's dealt with the Cash situation. But not a Number 8 slot, frankly. Though, she deserves it more than Cash deserves a Top 5 slot!