D.B

Same here. To be honest, three recent storylines stick out to me as being really dark. Denny's death and Charlotte covering it up (with her being haunted by Denny's ghost afterwards), Billie's rape and the Irene - Mick storyline.

So It's been a while since I've been watching the show. I tune in from time to time but not as much as I used to. How has the show been recently? Do people think it's gotten better? Have long-term problems been solved and are things as interesting?

It looks as though I missed it! Oh well, I was pleasantly surprised with many of the results, especially with so many of the current characters getting such a high positive response. As SandsResort said above, it shows that the current show is providing more good content for people than initially expected, which could only be a good thing. Well done to everyone involved, this was truly a great one for the history books.

I feel the exact same way, I always have a sense of foreboding that if I didn't vote, my favourite characters may not have a shot.

If some of us are willing to be open about who we individually voted for, would we be able to discuss it on this forum?

Thorne, the current (though hopefully not for long) neighbourhood sociopath: 'This witness is key. I have to find out who they are!" One thing I noticed is that Thorne never specifies to Dean or Willow or Bella as to what he would do once he finds out who the witness is, as if he's still pretending to be a good guy in front of them. I mean, what's his plan when he finds out who the witness is? Threaten them? Intimidate them? Cause them harm? The aggressive way he talked to Ziggy, Mackenzie and Nik both in this episode and in the past kind of makes it clear to me that he's capable of just about anything to get his own way. The dirty coward's also shown himself perfectly capable of throwing anyone under the bus. That the best case scenario is that he would intimidate whoever's testifying against him into keeping quiet and the worst case scenario is that he'd harm/kill them proves that Angelo made the right call in protecting the witness' identity. Thorne is a clear danger and should have been denied bail (Speaking of which: what happened to him being considered a flight risk? Surely that be enough grounds to deny bail in the first place). Jasmine- what were you thinking?! I can't wait for her to find out what Thorne is really like. Now, for those who claim Thorne would never kill anyone innocent, here's something I thought of: He killed Ross for two reasons: vengeance and because Thorne viewed him as a threat against his family. Of course, Ross wasn't innocent, we all know that, and yet that's what Thorne convinced himself of. He's become so wrapped up in his self-righteousness that he can't ever view himself as the bad guy and thinks everyone's against him. What if Thorne, who doesn't trust anyone besides from Dean and Willow, doesn't have the same power he used to have as a police officer to cover his tracks, and is becoming more desperate, decides that whoever's testifying against him is a threat against him and his family, isn't innocent and feels entitled to do the same thing? Isn't that scenario possible? Likely, even, given how determined he is to stay out of jail? I could be wrong, but it's definitely something worth considering.

Well, after enduring Colby's combination of emotional blackmail, bullying, self-righteousness, corruption, smugness and a refusal to admit anything was his own fault for more than a year now, seeing him hauled off by Angelo and Murray and being condemned by Taylor was more satisfying than it was probably intended to be. It's extremely telling that the first thing he does when a tearful and frightened Bella visits him in the cell was to immediately question her about who could have informed on him (I refuse to use the term betrayed), up to the point of belittling her about telling Nikau, and it was also a lot of fun to see his face once Angelo tells him that he will most likely be refused bail. On the topic of Angelo, I still don't like him and I think that Taylor (who's no saint herself) deserves better than both him and Thorne, but I never really had an issue with his tactics in stopping Thorne. I'd prefer someone who would bend the rules (i.e. staying within the confines of the law even if it causes a breach in the intent of the law) when necessary to stop a man who shouldn't be wearing a badge to begin with rather than one who repeatedly and outright broke the law for his own personal gains. The two situations can't really be compared, in my opinion. Anything Angelo did to stop Thorne is a drop in the ocean compared to Colby's actions. This witness must have been a very convincing one for Angelo to actually be able to charge him. So, now Thorne's got to face the music, and I have no shame in admitting I'm getting the popcorn ready. ? I'm a bit conflicted when it comes to Bella and Dean. On one hand, I kind of get that they both would be worried about Thorne, but on the other hand, I think they ought to consider if Thorne deserves their worry for him. I mean, it was only last week when Bella (100% accurately, in my own opinion) said he was acting just like Ross, and now she's terrified about him going to prison? Dean's situation is a bit more understandable from where I'm standing, because, as Nephlim14 stated, he may be looking for something that he could still look after, which I agree with. Though then again, after all his bitterness against Colby (I really need to decide which one I'm going to refer him as: Thorne or Colby? ?), I think he should consider about giving Thorne up as a lost cause, as he probably should have done so ages ago. Also I wasn't impressed by Dean's attitude towards Nikau, it must be said.

Well, firstly, Happy New Years to you all! Honestly at this point I've had the conclusion I had back in 2018, when Ash was hunting for Robbo. There's no one to really root for here except the innocents caught up in this mess (which at this point consists of Ziggy, Nikau, and... I'm not sure who else). I mean, I want Colby to get arrested, but I agree that Angelo's looking pretty bad here too.

The highlights this week have been Ziggy putting on a really brave face, even when she was told the bad news from Justin and when Marilyn was poking into her life. She's dealing with a lot and yet she's just doing what she can to keep busy as well as being supportive to Mac and Tane and everyone else, and I really admire that, though I do raise questions about Justin saying he thought her and Dean were "rock-solid", as if she wasn't married to his brother not long ago. Justin and Leah's scenes also continue to be very lovely to watch (I especially laughed when Justin spilt on what was going on with Tori to Jasmine), though poor Justin's still not out of the woods yet. I do get why he would want to keep Tori out of it (and I did find Justin and Leah edging around her kind of funny if not tragic), but I also do understand why she would be upset not to know, even if she was rather harsh towards Justin after their talk at the diner. I'm also beginning to see why so many people are liking Tori and Christian. They actually work off each other well once Tori dealt with her suspicions and we see more of Christian's sincere side, espeially considering Justin's condition. I'm glad that it showed she wasn't as confrontational towards Jasmine than I once thought she was, though we could have done without that extremely awkward conversation, when it's clear she still thought something was going on between Jasmine and Christian. Jasmine teasing the pair was also pretty good, a indication she's making great progress on the path to recovery. Christian behaved rather well when talking to Tori about Justin, and I'm glad they were able to sort out that tension before focusing on their job. Okay, now everything else: I can understand why Owen still wouldn't be feeling at that better, but even I was as surprised as Roo at his abrupt decision to leave. I do understand why he would want some time away to figure things out, but I would have thought he would have gotten straight away how Roo could have gotten the wrong picture without Alf having to point it out to him. So both of them have left and hopefully Owen will feel more adjusted when he comes back, and now Alf's left to see Martha. Ryder proved himself the most helpful with Roo, his advice I felt was better than Irene's, and he also proved a good listener for Nikau and Mac too. I can see both sides on the whole Dean-Amber situation even if Amber was at times flippant regarding her issues to Dean and there's so many times she can threaten to keep Jai away from him. I do feel sorry for Dean having to choose between his son and his mother. I mean, I get why Amber would be uncomfortable about letting Karen near her son, though it wouldn't be that bad if she actually met her just to get a glimpse, so she could have a better idea of what Karen was like now. Amber's attitude doesn't help her case whatsoever. Jai continues to be adorable, and I really liked Bella's scenes with him. Unfortunately speaking of.. I don't know what else I can say about the murder storyline, other than Colby continues to be an arrogant pr*** who doesn't let anyone have their say while he insists, no, demand that they listen to what he has to say. He so delusional that he believes Angelo's in the wrong for doing his job and openly smirks at the idea of ruining a man's reputation and exploiting the woman he's sleeping with. Bella (Along with everyone else) really should just give up on Colby at this point, it's clear from her talk with Taylor and Nikau that she's still determined to save Colby, which is a shame because I was hoping that she just let Colby dig himself deeper into his hole. While I do feel some sympathy for Taylor, I also do wish she would wake up instead of walking right into her 'Saint Colby' attitude, when he's clearly using her. I don't believe for a minute we're suppose to believe that Colby actually cares for Taylor, not really. I give her some points that at least she wants to believe that Colby isn't a murderer, though that interrogation wasn't much, unlike everyone else who knows and is just going along with it, but when she asked Colby if she was just collateral in his campaign against Angelo, it's then I wish Taylor broke it off with him without Bella trying to pester her into doing so. Meanwhile, Angelo remains confident that Colby's the man he's looking for, and I would like to see why he thinks so other than just a feeling. I mean, I applauded him when he criticised Colby for thinking he can get away with murder, but what does he have? Speaking of Angelo, kind of confused to his timeline here. He was removed from the force back in 2009/10 (or at least I think that was it), he left the Bay in 2011. That's 9 years, so is that enough for him to not only apply back into the force, but to reach the rank of detective. I would also appreciate more mentions of what Angelo back in the day, such as more mention of Jack or the Hugo/Martha situation.

I feel as though they laid down the boundaries to that kind of story, and they did explore her grief to an extent and the roads it could take her, but instead decided that they should just focus on her relationships with Mason and Matt. And the thing is, the show has been doing a similar story with Jasmine, and they have done it really well, so it was possible, and as you said, it would have been really good, for them to take Evie down this heartbreaking, but engaging path.

Dean seems pretty convinced that Angelo doesn't have any solid proof, though personally I think that: (WARNING: MAJOR SPOILERS BELOW) Angelo may already have evidence, he just wanted to mislead Dean just in case he wasn't able to convince him. It was frustrating to see Dean not budging at all (though I guess it was so they could keep the story going, though there was no need for it to go on at this point at all), but it was satisfying to see Dean actually consider it and to see him lash out at Colby. I still wish Dean and Willow had woken up to what Colby is really like before he made the downgrade from an unrepentant murdering jerk to increasingly unhinged, but it was still extremely satisfying to see Dean call Colby out and realising he's not a good friend, no matter how much concern Colby showed towards him. I'm not entirely sure where I stand with Willow at this point, because she's also getting sick of Colby's behaviour but she's also trying to keep peace between them despite the fact that any chance of repairing their """"""family"""""" is long sunk. Meanwhile I was rolling my eyes so hard it hurt when Colby confronted Angelo. The fact that he considers Angelo conducting a complete legal investigation (you know, his job!!) as "harassing", yet he can trespass into other people's homes, threaten and blackmail them, and guilt-tripping a young girl and he'll call it "protecting our family", it would be funny if it wasn't so deranging. I mean, I don't get how the show is expecting us to root for Colby here at all (then again, I'm not sure why they wanted us to root for him at all). At the risk of sounding like a broken record, all I'm hoping for is for Angelo to lock him up soon. And now Colby of all people is trying to get dirt on him. Though then again, I'm actually surprised Angelo's past (which would be very easy to use against him) hasn't been more acknowledged. Colby's wrong in doing this of course (as he's been wrong in everything he's been doing since he found out where Ross was holding Bella. Getting Bella away from Ross is for the best, but Colby's isn't a better alternative either), but Angelo doesn't really have a shining reputation. (I'm firmly on Rosetta's side in this storyline, but I'm still also not a fan of him. Still, prefer him than Colby). Justin and Leah continue to be actually funny and nice to watch, while they were teasing Tori about her and Christian. It was good to see the pair working professionally while working on the patient, and to see Christian with a professional side, but I think that Tori was jumping to conclusions regarding him and Jasmine. I mean, wasn't she just talking about her and Robbo being just friends last episode, so she knows that a man and a woman (while rare) can be just friends in the Bay? I felt her passionate aggression was uncalled for towards Jasmine, and unfortunately, the promo suggests Tori's still keeping that frosty attitude towards her. I mean, if she feels as though Christian is acting like a slime, then it's good that she confronts him, but Jasmine hasn't really done anything wrong here.

I do agree that him going away for a while to cool his head is definitely better than him staying around waiting to explode, especially with Colby breathing down his neck every five minutes, you are right there. I also agree with you concerning Amber, especially concerning Friday's episode, she doesn't really have a high ground anymore about responsibility to her own kid. The main point I was concerned about was that, well again, Ziggy and John didn't deserve that bellowing from him. He's under a lot of pressure, I do understand that (though a lot less if he just talked to Angelo), but John wouldn't have really knew what was actually going on with Dean, though you do make a good point about him doing Dean well enough at this point. Then again, John has kind of always been that way no matter who it is. Ziggy I can also excuse because it's clear she still loves Dean, yet she's still reeling under the revelation, (Also, I thought that maybe they could have talked about the surf shop before Dean left, so I did feel like they needed to talk about it straight away. Well maybe). That's just my opinion anyway. Maybe a little empathy could have made things easier, but I do feel more on Ziggy's side, because she's got her issues going on too. I hope you get it. Anyway, Friday's episode: I'm really glad Jai's okay, and again I did find Dean's concern and relief very nice. It was also good of Ziggy being supportive of both Dean and Jai, but I'm not surprised that Ziggy still feels wary about the idea of a relationship with Dean again. I mean, she's still getting her head around what he told her, so naturally she wouldn't be comfortable with the idea with Ross's murder hanging over their heads. I am surprised that Angelo would straight out tell Dean that he knows that Colby killed Ross, like does he have proof to back this up? I mean, I'm glad he found out and that he's on the right track, but I also hope it's revealed how he found out this other than suspicion. Whatever the case, he'll need to do more to get Dean to think about the idea of talking to him. I've already said my piece on Amber above, she's lost the moral high ground about complaining to Dean about looking after Jai. Tori and Christian's scenes continue to be awkward, really the only moment I laughed at was when Justin was saying goodbye to the nurses. Tori telling him about Robbo was nice, though a little bit jaded by her not telling the full story about what she did. Though then again, actually, it's not surprising, like how exactly would that come into conversation?

This is just me looking back four years ago during the pandemic, but does anyone else think they missed a huge opportunity with Evie back in 2016? Just hear me out: Now Evie still remains one of my favourite past characters, but I've been thinking about it, and I feel as though they could have explored her story involving an honest depiction of depression or mental struggle, and her fight to get out of it with her (remaining family and friends) following the string of traumas that affected her that year. Looking back, the show actually opened up some doors towards that possibility, such as when she was believing she could see Oscar's ghost (or at least I think so, it was four years ago) looking after her, or her still trying to love Josh even after knowing what he did, etc, but they never really went anywhere with her in that direction, when I really believe they could have and it would have worked. I still enjoyed some of the directions they took with Evie, such as her increased involvement in charity work for example, and Phillipa Northeast still did an amazing job with what she was given, but I still think her grief and struggle could have been utilised a lot better to make her character more interesting (also give her let go of Josh sooner). What does you guys think?

Well Dean came back, and while I do understand he's got a lot of issues going on, Ziggy and John did not deserve that bellowing match from him, especially John, I mean, how was he suppose to know? Also, I know a lot of people don't like Amber, but she does raise a very good point concerning Dean and Jai: Dean's got more responsibilities, he can't just run off without telling anyone. I do appreciate him apologising to Ziggy and her, as well as him disapproving of Colby trespassing to threaten Ziggy. I hope he'll confront Colby tomorrow about it, though with Jai in possible trouble, it wouldn't be the best time. I admit, I did smile to see Dean's scenes with Jai, he is trying, but some things were out of his control. I hope Jai will be alright. ? Also, I did find Ziggy calling her parents in Italy rather touching. Meanwhile, I enjoyed Ryder and Alf's scenes, they were very nicely done. I also really liked the moment when Ryder was considering picking a good path for his life. I also liked how Tori didn't overreact when she found out about Jasmine. I felt like her removing the AVO was inevitable, but I didn't expect it to be so soon. Then again, as Red said, it was long past time. I hope that they continue with Jasmine's recovery, she's really improved, but I want to see it continue. I have mixed feelings about Tori and Dr Christian Grey. On one hand, I did find Tori's awkwardness funny and light-hearted compared to the majority of other stories, but I did cringe at a lot of Grey's 'pick-up' lines. I guess I'll have to wait and see what will happen between them.

Well, this episode was a rather nice one compared to the previous ones this week, but unfortunately it's the one I don't have much to say about it. I really enjoyed the Jasmine and Justin scenes, I'm glad they were able to rekindle their friendship. I did fear from the promo that there would have been a confrontation between Leah and Jasmine, but both were behaved cool during it and Leah didn't make a big deal out of it, which I'm grateful for. And to give Jasmine credit, she didn't volunteer to look after Grace, it was Justin who asked for her to look after Grace, (though surprising since I would have thought he would have definitely remembered the AVO, which personally I still don't like, but whatever). I mean, I think he felt it was just going to be for a few minutes, but I thought he would have been a bit more serious about it. So far, I'm really liking Jasmine's recovery, it's one of the few highlights of this year, though from Tori's reaction in the next promo, things may turn sour between them. Well, I'm glad we found what was going on with Owen. Compared to what I was fearing from yesterday, I thought Ryder handled it pretty maturely, when he could have taken it the wrong way. I really felt bad for him feeling guilty about not knowing about Evan (which I forgot that both him and Owen are twins), and especially sorry for Owen, especially since he never shared a birthday with Evan. I mean, I felt really bad for Evie a couple of years ago when she celebrated her first birthday since Oscar died, but at least she shared 18 of them with him, Owen never had that chance. I'll be honest, I was a bit nervous when Roo and the others ambushed him at the house for the celebration, it was a nice touch, but there was a chance he would react badly to it. Still the episode had some really nice scenes at the end with Ryder and Owen with the guitar, and I have to admit I did laugh when Ryder called Alf out for being intimidating. Just weighing in, yeah I definitely agree with Red. Colby has already been a bad cop long before he killed Ross. I mean, I felt at the start he had some good moments as an officer, but overall looking back, there was a lot of stuff he did or was responsible for I felt I was making excuse for or else couldn't ignore that was very bad.

Sorry, I should have been more specific, didn't mean that at all. I meant how she mistakes Colby as a good guy in general, and her comment that Bella was """"lucky""" to have Colby as a brother, which I took as her falling for his good guy act, as Red said. My point was more on the fact that she thought Colby was a good brother to Bella. I now get how wrong that can come across, really sorry about that. Didn't mean to sound weird there, Eww! ?

I might as well have my say, it may be a bit confusing so just bear with me. I went from liking Colby to detesting him at least two years ago, especially during the show's desperate attempts to victimise him and vilify Bella, as well as his sociopathic tendencies that were quite noticeable back then (not as much as it is now but visible), but for some reason I'm still rather shocked and appalled by just how blatantly arrogant and bullying he's been this year. I did see something like this coming and I too found him irredeemable given his actions last year, but it still makes me grit my teeth more than before when I see him on screen, mainly because I didn't think they could make him even worse than what him and his attitude was before. I mean, there's no way the show expects us to root for him at all (not that some of us were at all). Well, Colby's continuing to be Ross 2.0 (I'm not apologising for that). There is literally no way to describe his behaviour towards Bella (Which again was already bad) other than abusive. As I feared, he's dictated what she's allowed and not allowed to do, and he contradicts himself a lot today, either claiming that what he's doing is best for "the family", or that it's all Bella's fault. Of course, this is not the first time Colby mentally strong-armed Bella into feeling guilty about things in order to keep her quiet, him and Dean did it a lot last year when she was struggling with the emotional trauma of recent events, and as Red said above, it also isn't the first time Colby lied about things for his own ends. What he's doing is straight up manipulating her into thinking that she could only rely on him, again pretty much like Ross. I'm still liking Bella, who isn't taking any of Colby's bull and is still standing her ground, and is acting in a more rational manner. Again, I really also feel sorry for her, while she is still being brave in standing up to Colby, she still looked terrified after he grabbed the camera off her. I also do feel sorry for Taylor, as it appears as if she's just looking for some actual romance with her marriage falling apart, which is why she accepts Colby's good guy act rather easily. The only light I've found in this episode was Owen and Alf's argument about fish, and even that's soured by Owen's aloof dismissal of Roo the next day.

Damn, I didn't think I would find someone as punchable as Hunter or Andy, but Colby fits right in. I mean, I already didn't like him and I really couldn't stand his scenes with Bella last year acting as if he's best for her when the best thing for Bella is to get at least a hundred miles away from him, and he was just despicably manipulative with Taylor, but now he's just plain despicable. He keeps on bragging how he's protecting his 'family' when all he does is think about himself, when he's the one who's gotten all of them into this (I know Dean was involved and that shouldn't be ignored, but at least Dean is showing some standards). I don't even know if he knows what his endgame is with Taylor or if he's just continuing it just to have a go at Angelo. Just by his arrogant behaviour recently I would say it's the later. He basically guilt-tripped Bella into leaving his relationship with Taylor alone by saying she's never on his side, (oh yeah Colby, like you've done so much for her?), and outright threatens Ziggy with Dean, with Colby fully aware of how Ziggy still cares for Dean. I was honestly hoping Ziggy would have slapped him in his smug face (no worse than what he did to Dean before). I think one of the worst things about this is that only now Willow and Dean have really woken up to the kind of person Colby actually is. I would wonder why exactly Bella was walking in the middle of the night just to come across Colby and Taylor but I'm just glad she caught him. I actually rather enjoyed her toying with Colby, acting as if she doesn't know he lied to her again, but The sooner he gets caught, the better it will be for all involved, especially Bella. I guess that makes sense in terms of story, but it doesn't help that Thorne is really getting hard to watch (I mean, I already found him rather unlikeable last year too, but now it's somehow worse).

I haven't been watching much of what's happening this year, but I've seen enough of Thorne (too much for my likening) for me to completely agree with everything you've just said, Red. Any chance of any redeeming part of him has gone out of the window in recent months (though then again, given what he did, it was already a very low chance). I don't think you're "getting at Colby" at all, the way he's been behaving this year (and for the majority of last year as well), especially towards Taylor, has been infuriating to watch. The sooner he gets caught, and the sooner Bella, Dean and Willow realise how far he's gone and drop him like a hot potato, the better.

Well, after the shocking past few weeks we've had, I greatly enjoyed this. And it makes perfect sense: If Mason was going to give one final farewell to any of his siblings, it would definitely by Raffy. You did a really great job writing all of them in character, as well as combining a sense of humour and tenderness in their conversation. I especially enjoyed the return of Beth, so at least Mason got to see her again. Good job! ,

Wow, that really escalated fast, didn't it? Poor Maddy, she's not exactly experienced with the usual Braxton shenanigans, but with even Kyle's guards in with the people who want him dead, I can see why she got so desperate to try and break him out of hospital. I can't wait to see what she does next!

It's great to see that Kyle has woken up and I loved the bit when he said he decided to report the drug dealer because someone died (that sounds like the Kyle I know and love), but apparently even now he's not out of danger just yet if some of the guards were involved. It looks like Maddy will have to do her best to look out for him then! Also, two moments really stood out: the small mention of Oscar, whom I'm glad to see is still remembered, and also the other nurse 'Cassandra'. I'm presuming intentional on your part? ? Great as always, I look forward to your next update Red!

Oh, I really like the premises of Maddy working in a hospital (rather unique idea). I felt a bit sorry for Kyle being abandoned at the hospital yet again, but it'll be good to see Maddy looking out for him. Can't wait to see more!

Jasmine, for me, has become one of my current favourites right now. She's been a great support for both Robbo and Tori (except during Tori's deception), and overall is a generally nice person, even if her storylines aren't as interesting as many (including myself) would hope. And, again a very unpopular opinion, but I'm really enjoying her relationship with Robbo, which makes me rather confused by people's claims that she has "ruined" him. ?

Because, if he didn't, then Dylan Carter wouldn't have come to town and arrested Zac (because Josh kept quiet, which was very much out of character for him), then Tank wouldn't have become involved, which made no-one happy, which ultimately led to the explosion. It's unrealistic to put the entire blame on him, there's plenty of blame to go around, but his killing of Charlotte sparked this chain of events. And as Little bean pointed out, it ruined Josh's character.