Latest UK Episode Discussion (2006-2017 Seasons)

[Blaxland 89]

Did long term viewers see Alf talking to Spencer about his near death experience ie the poisoned mushrooms had made him re evaluate life. Completely forgetting that full episode in 2003 devoted to Alf's near death experience. This soap used to be one of the best when it came to continuity. Now it is the worst by a mile.

Its just about whats happening there and then. The characters aren't written like real human beings at all.

[H&Alover]

Guess like most humans Alf may have made that same pledge back then, but then slipped back into his old ways.

At last Heath and Bianca are back with Harley and tellingly Bianca was avoiding Harley as much as possible. Just as well Irene came round to see her and try and talk sense into her. Why did she, Bianca, feel she had to get rid of reminders, photos for instance, of Rocco, Harley's far too young to even notice. Heath was a bit insensitive with Rocco's teddy but he didn't do it deliberately. It occurred to me Bianca may be resisting becoming fond of Harley (aside from the fact he's Heath's son by another woman) because she feels she'd be betraying Rocco.

Andy is trying desperately to get back in Hannah's good books, but it's going to be an uphill struggle. She did know what his reputation was like so shouldn't have been that shocked. He was still puzzling over that photo. Have he or Josh visited their mum since she's been inside, if they have why doesn't he take it into her and show her in which case she's bound to say 'that's not Josh'.

Denny is off again to help her mum with her sick aunt. Does her mum know who she is staying with yet?

Good to see Spencer and Chris are speaking again and Spencer has made up with Sasha.

[Homeandawayfan.]

Chezza Braxton, one acid tongued lady.

Quiet a good episode last night and end to the week. John, Maddie, Jett and Alf are very watchable.

[Slade]

I found the interaction with Brax and Nate really funny once again in the hospital. It was so obvious that when Brax collapsed with Ricki at his side that Nate would be the one treating him. I'm sure Nate took great satisfaction in telling Brax that he should have listened to the doctor and stayed in London at least until he was fit to travel. When Andy confronted Brax about the photo he stole, even though he was holding Andy back, I bet Nate was secretly pleased that Brax was being given a hard time.

Even though I still find Chris quite annoying, I liked the way Denni stuck up for him re Jett. Especially liked her "little punk" remark as it was so true. Just a shame she had to go off to the city again.

I feel like both Heath and Bianca are in an impossible position. Heath wants to do the right thing by his kid and his wife but Bianca is still affected by the loss of Rocko so obviously finds it difficult being around Harley and still loves Heath.

[H&Alover]

Cheryl certainly doesn't mince her words, maybe that's just what Bianca needed, everyone else was pussyfooting around her, her taking Harley for a walk is a start.

What a relief Leah doesn't need a transplant as her liver is repairing itself, wonderful organ the liver, just as John stepped up to the plate. I know Marilyn volunteered and wasn't a match, but I wondered if she would have been suitable anyway with having had treatment for cancer. Still no sign of VJ though which I find very odd. We wouldn't need to see him on screen to get around the problem of the number of hours children can work, 'they' could have just said 'he's been in to see her'.

Matt is back and I'm glad TPTB remembered the fact Sasha nearly ran away with Felix so she could understand what he is going through with Ellie. She's only being fostered not adopted so they can still see each other.

[haaf14]

It was nice to see that Leah didn't have to have a liver transplant. John was willing to be a donor but Leah persuaded him not have the tests done.

Matt did the right thing by letting Ellie go into foster care. At least Sasha explained to him the positives for Ellie going into foster care. They are slowly getting closer as Matt turned to Sasha for help. With Spencer looking to move back in with Irene, I wonder how the dynamics will work and has Spencer forgiven Sasha for kissing Matt?

The whole issue with Bianca and Heath seems to be dragging on and on. It's like a vicious circle with them and all it takes is an incident for Heath and Bianca to back to square. You've got to feel sorry for both but you can see the situation repeating itself until something is done about.

[Brian]

Lots of nice threesomes going on at the moment - Brax/Ricky/Nate, Heath/Harley/Bianca, John/Marilyn/Jett, Phoebe/Kyle/Tamara,

Matt/Sasha/Spencer, Josh/Maddy/Spencer, Zac/Evie/Oscar. Should be a good week coming up!

[Red Ranger 1]

Alf's episode count this week:Four.

Well, after being on holiday last week I've just finished catching up.And after my rant about Phoebe, someone else apparently decided the only really to make her bearable was to give her a complete personality transplant, so she suddenly switches from "I'm not going to stay here and watch you destroy yourself" to "Let's make this place our home."Ah well, it was obviously going to happen eventually and I'm glad they got it over and done with rather than stretching it out over weeks.I still wouldn't have brought her back although she wasn't actually annoying in Tuesday's episode and her exchange with Kyle about Brax's name did actually make me smile.But, Brian, what exactly is good about her and Kyle going off on a gig?(Apart from handily getting them out of the way before they exceed their episode count.)

So, Brax is still intending to tell Casey the truth?In which case, what was the point of dragging him to London?Wasn't expecting to see Linda again, surprised that Casey's still in contact with her.

Evelyn was utterly unlikable on Tuesday with her exam paper thing.She clearly wanted to be found out, which means she was basically setting Josh and the others up to get into trouble(and the fact they chose to cheat doesn't make it any better, since the people who turned her down got in trouble too).I softened towards her slightly when I realised she just wanted some sort of attention and for Zac to behave like a proper parent, but then she went from being kind of sympathetic with Tamara to being an utter brat once she spoke to Zac.Is she seriously childish enough to believe that "I'm a kid so I'm allowed to mess up, you're an adult so I shouldn't forgive you" nonsense?She's old enough to know that adults are people too.Hannah was no better:While Zac was unfair to ask where she was at the time, since the answer seems to have been "At the hospital treating our critically ill friends", she gives him a huge lecture about responsibility then...goes and hangs out with Andy and leaves him looking after the twins alone again, rather than trying to discipline Evelyn herself.Don't feel any sympathy for her about Andy, she should have known what he was like.

Jett went from being great in his reunion with Heath and Bianca("You got a kid?That's some duty free.")to being, as Denny said, a "little punk" with Chris.Still, Leah's storyline was a huge anti-climax, we get that huge build-up about her needing a transplant and everyone in the Bay being tested and it looked like someone would have to step forward and save her but then it's suddenly "What?Oh, yeah, she's fine."Surprised and slightly disappointed at Spencer wanting to move back into the beach house, I know things are tense with Maddy but I prefer him at the caravan park house.And apparently that's it for Ellie:The cynic in me suggests she was only brought in to let Sasha and the audience see Matt's softer side.

I can't tell if Bianca's trying her best or not, she's allowed Harley in the house but doesn't seem to be making an effort with him.Cheryl's gambit was a bit pointless:Bianca's no monster so she was obviously going to look after Harley but that doesn't mean she'll be happy about it.The double bills in Australia seem to be influencing the programme making, Thursday's episode just sort of... stopped.

[Brian]

Red, the good thing about Kyle and Phoebe going on a gig together is that we see Kyle doing what he is really good at - playing guitar and singing. That is his inner soul coming out for all to see. That is the musician in him. He's not meant to be a restaurant manager at his young age, although he does it very well. He needs to get out and enjoy life and Phoebe seems to be the only person who can help him do that. Besides which there is an obvious uncomplicated chemistry between them that helps. Go for it, Kyle!!!

[Red Ranger 1]

I'm at a risk of going onto another Phoebe rant when she wasn't even in the episode so I'll clam up and instead say that I haven't seen any improvement in Kyle's character this year, just the opposite in fact.It feels like the close bond built up with his brothers has suddenly been dispensed with in order to shoehorn Phoebe in as the person closest to him.I don't think that Phoebe encouraging him to ditch his responsibilities is a positive effect, even if he's suddenly being asked for far too much in what again feels like weak plotting to justify her point of view.I'm sorry but I don't see any real chemistry and I don't feel any history between the characters, as evidenced by the fact Phoebe seems to know nothing about the Kyle we've been watching for the last two years and is instead spouting a load of stuff about how he used to be different.And I don't believe that this watered down version of the character is the "real" Kyle.And it's a point of view that I've seen expressed by a lot of other people in other threads, so I don't think they can all be dismissed with "Oh, he's just saying that because he's bitter Kyle didn't get back with Tamara."But as I said, I didn't mind her that much on Tuesday, although I still wouldn't miss her if she wasn't there, so I should probably stop digging my heels in and try and keep an open mind, although the fact that the pairing is being hyped a bit too much by the other characters doesn't help.

So, onto today's episode.Er, what happened?Well, Ricky told Brax about her miscarriage, which I guess had to happen eventually because of the rules of drama although it's hard to see what purpose it serves either in a fictional context or from a storytelling point of view.There's a certain irony in Casey encouraging Ricky to be honest with Brax even though they're both keeping a secret from him.Brax's impulsive decision to steal the photo definitely feels like he's shot himself in the foot, given that it's aroused Andy's suspicions.While I'm not a fan of Andy, I did find myself cheering him on when he was clearly not intimidated by Brax's warnings at all.

I'm finding the situation with the Diner a bit over the top.Yes, a lot of people would stop using it after they poisoned their customers but no customers at all?Oh, I'm sorry, Jett went there on Thursday and Irene inexplicably gave him his food for free.You'd think that their friends would still be frequenting the place if no-one else, I can't imagine any of the main cast who'd start boycotting it.You'd think Irene would be pleased at Alf's custom, even if he was a bit unsubtle about it, but I guess it's just a drop in the ocean.

Sasha and Matt...were in it.I really can't think of anything to say about their scenes, it's obviously going in the direction of them being a couple which I don't particularly mind, but given how little we've seen of Matt with his sister it's hard to care that much about their separation.It doesn't help that this storyline is pretty much going on in a parallel universe to the rest of the show:We haven't seen Sasha interact with any of the other main cast since Matt turned up at the end of Thursday;I keep waiting to see Irene or Spencer's reaction to all this and it never comes.One nice touch:Sasha doesn't have One Direction posters on her walls but does have pictures of Sid, Indi and Dexter, which is nice to see.

Oh, something from last week:I'm not getting this wrong, am I, Maddy was in the same year as Spencer and Sasha last year?So why is she still in Year 11 when she should be with them in Year 12? Again, it feels like the show's desperate to keep all the characters in school for as long as possible.Might as well start taking bets now on Spencer repeating Year 12 next year.(Sasha will probably work in the Diner for a few months after leaving school and then leave.)