Latest UK Episode Discussion (2006-2017 Seasons)

[c120701]

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.

I wanted Alf to tell Irene that he wasn't just doing it for her, but for Ailsa as The Diner (in whatever name or form) is her legacy.

[H&Alover]

So Brax's excuse for having the photo was - it was handed in, he put it in his wallet and he forgot about it - yeh right. Doesn't exactly gel with his over the top reaction when Andy found it (OK he stole Hannah's key to get at it) but even so, if it had been of Josh no reason for Brax to get upset. Andy definitely isn't buying it and Brax warning Andy off Casey only piqued his interest even more. I have the oddest feeling he is off to see Debbie to ask her about it.

Ricky did look very wistful with Harley, Bianca still ducking babysitting then, and Brax was great with him. Casey was quick to see how it was affecting her and was right to suggest she tell Brax. She and Brax may be hiding Casey's secret from him, but that past is further back than Ricky's. Not surprisingly Brax didn't take it well, but even if he had known about the pregnancy and they had still been a couple there was nothing he could have done, the miscarriage would still have happened.

It certainly is odd the way all of Irene's (and Leah's) regulars have deserted the diner, none of the school kids have been back, no John or Jett, apart from his free lunch, Sasha, Spencer, Tam. It may have seemed Marilyn was being a bit premature resigning but Irene didn't put up much of a fight to get her to stay. Where else will they be eating, the juice bar doesn't do food and I don't think Angelo's serve cake and breakfasts, do they?

Sasha and Matt, all through their chat in Sash's bedroom, first time we've seen that for a while, I was waiting for Irene or Spencer to come home and bust them and get the completely wrong idea. Nothing really got resolved, Matt is still doing whatever it is he's doing he did come back and apologise after he stormed off. They did get to kiss twice and she didn't complain that much. Yes that was nice to see the photo of Sid, Indi and Dex on Sasha's wall. One thing she kept telling Matt how she felt when Felix decided to stay with his dad, but didn't she say back then he could come and stay with her during the holidays, has that ever happened?

[Red Ranger 1]

I'm glad we didn't get too much of Brax being angry about the pregnancy being kept from him and actually he had quite a reasonable chat with Heath about it.Maybe he's matured.Still no reunion for him and Ricky as yet though.

Shame Evelyn still hasn't grown up.I actually thought Spencer was Oscar in his first scene, it's been a while since we've seen them hanging out but nice to see and he was a positive influence on her.I guess she had to write out those self-imposed lines but it doesn't really count as an essay.While Zac did wrong, I don't think he really deserves to get all the blame off Heath when Bianca seems to be getting a free ride.I really don't like the way Bianca seems to be avoiding responsibility by constantly bringing up Heath's past indiscretions as if that somehow makes it all right.Did she really go for a walk in her negligee?Must be some lucky joggers out there.Heath punching Zac at the end is the first time in a while that I really haven't liked him.Even though Evelyn got Heath to stop, it's probably going to undo Spencer's hard work and get her hating on Zac again.

[Slade]

So cute adorable little sister was just a plot device to increase the bond with Sasha and Matt.

I've found Evelyn so annoying I was glad Zak had a go at her even though he was in the wrong. Hannah really annoyed me the way she took the moral highground with Zak although I think she had a point. Zak sleeping with Bianca must have really hit a nerve as it seemed she was more bothered about that than Zak being a bad guardian.

If Heath and Bianca's marriage is to survive then they need to stop blaming each other for past indiscretions.

Really liked Phoebe today and thought she had a point about Heath decking Zak even though he already cheated on Bianca. She seemed more natural with Kyle and I liked the way she helped out re the Diner.

[Red Ranger 1]

Phoebe definitely seems to be undergoing some sort of personality surgery and is all the better for it:They seem to have turned her into someone who's a bit irritating still but gets away with it by being well-meaning and genuinely funny.So a female version of Chris basically, someone else who had an unpromising start:No wonder they get on well enough to make Kyle jealous("Her brains are already spoken for").She was responsible for the episode's two funniest moments with her "If Heath and Bianca break up, can we move into their place?" and attempting to give Alf orders, followed by him abruptly going "Who are you?" and her thinking better of it.I actually felt it was a shame that Chris got the credit for saving the Diner:Okay, he set the ball rolling and Phoebe basically used his plan with a few embellishments but I think she deserved credit too.And for the first time since they got together Kyle actually reacted to her like you would do rather than treating her like a pure goddess who he's lucky to be allowed near:His rabbit in the headlights look when she announced she wanted them to work together was great.(What's the bet she's never actually had a job before?)

I seriously felt sorry for Zac here, who seemed to get it in the neck from Heath, Bianca, Hannah and Evelyn:I cheered when he had a go at Bianca for messing things up for him and at Evelyn for being generally annoying.Shame she then went and played the victim, making out she was trying to help Zac when she was actually yelling at him in the school corridor, and got away with bad behaviour as per:The only thing in her favour is that underneath the obnoxious and judgemental comments she does actually seem to be worried about Zac.Hannah...has nothing in her favour.She undermines Zac by rewarding Evelyn for being a brat and letting her skip school, then acts like a sanctimonious hypocrite and treats him like a child molester for yelling at Evelyn, who's been winding him up for weeks.I had to laugh at her threatening to take the twins away from him:Does she seriously think she could cope without him?Because it seems to me that she's been leaving it all to him for weeks while she fools around with Andy.Even Zac's drinking, which seems to be the justification for everyone having a go, is a chicken and egg situation, since he only started drinking because everyone was giving him a hard time.Only Kyle seems to care about him, insisting he have some food was a nice touch.As for Heath and Bianca...Well, while I'm not keen on him punching Zac, I'm glad Heath stood up to her and told her not to call his son a mistake.But we're past the point where Bianca can joke her way back into people's good books, which seemed to be what her dry "I have no idea" was about.Guess Kyle was play-acting since he already knew about Zac sleeping with Bianca.

[H&Alover]

Does Phoebe's change of character mean we might have to start liking her? Her blase attitude on learning Heath had thumped Zac seems to indicate she's more accepting of the Braxton's. Kyle did say he'd never known her to do any 'actual' work, how has she managed to survive all these years? It might seem a 'brilliant' idea of hers to work at Angelo's but Kyle certainly didn't look too sure.

I do think Chris should have mentioned how Phoebe helped in getting all the customers to The Diner.

No good Brax having a go at Heath for not telling him about Ricky's pregnancy and miscarriage, it wasn't his secret to tell. I liked how Heath responded to Brax's remark about him not being there for her and Heath replied 'we were'.

Evie was in the wrong place at the wrong time when she saw Heath punch Zac and found out Zac had slept with Bianca who's not only married but her principal., neither of them showed themselves in a good light by having a shouting match in the corridor with other kids around. Zac ought to have known better being the adult, but he was thrust into the job and he was right to have a go at Bianca for putting him in that position. Hannah needs (and did) admit her role in all of this by taking more responsibility instead of leaving it all to Zac. They are both still learning how to look after two teenagers. Time for another family talk methinks.

It did occur to me maybe Bianca sleeping with Zac was a bit tit for tat for Heath sleeping with Jess. It was wrong of her to call Harley a mistake and well done Heath for saying so, let's hope she doesn't have a mistake of her own! It appears she was checking on Harley while he slept, not surprising after what happened to Rocco, so perhaps she cares more than she wants to admit.

[haaf14]

I agree Slade about Hannah and the moral high ground, she does have a point but she must realise that without Zach she wouldn't have got the twins. Also when she was masquerading Andy she didn't careless about the twins and she was never at home. I was however surprised not to see Oscar in all of this. I would have liked to have seen what his opinion was on the whole situation. it just felt that he just disappeared.

[Brian]

Well, some nice comments about Phoebe at last! She really has livened up the ;place since her arrival. Good on her helping to get the Diner reopened, but I can't see her as a waitress at Angelos long term. Not her style at all. Surely Kyle realised that, when she wanted to stay. It's unfair on her having nothing to do till 11 each night ... and weekends as well? Does Kyle ever have a day off? He needs to appoint an assistant manager to do some evenings and either Sat or Sun, to be fair to her.

[Slade]

Again Phoebe was really good. Quite liked the scenes with her and Kyle working together at Angelos, her bad ideas and him not wanting to hurt her - This is why you should never date people you work with and vice versa.

It didn't occur to me when they were trying to get people to go back to the Diner but when Chris and Phoebe were chatting today it reminded me of when they hooked up.

Sasha annoyed me the way she was so pushy about getting Matt to stay at Leah's. It felt as though she had little regard for Leah and just wanted to keep Matt as close as possible.

Thought Leah did the wrong thing giving Nate false hope re Ricki.

Oh dear, trouble in paradise for Maddie as Josh knows now. She should have told him when she had the chance.

Found it quite funny when Jett was offering Oscar dating advice and mentioned that Maddie was out of his league. Shame he didn't follow it, as he appears to have fallen into the trap like the others...

[Red Ranger 1]

Whilst Phoebe was leaning towards the former part of the annoying/funny divide for most of this episode, she's still a vast improvement on what she was before and the relationship between her and Kyle continues to be written far more believably, his exasperation throughout was palpable.I could comment on them choosing Tamara and Chris respectively to confide in but I think I'll let it speak for itself.The opposing scenarios they seem to have decided on are potentially humorous, shame I get the feeling we won't see them again until next week.

Was there any reason for Matt to borrow Chris' clothes?Did he not bring a change with him?So, guessing he and Sasha are a couple now.What was with that weird camera angle making it look like Irene's about a foot and a half shorter than Matt?

Maddy seriously shot herself in the foot here:She turned down at least one perfect opportunity to tell Josh about the kiss, then...talks about it in the school corridor where everyone can overhear?Jett hanging out with Oscar while VJ's AWOL actually worked quite well.Maddy's only about a year older than Oscar(despite their being in the same class)so it's not quite as inconceivable as Jett pursuing Indi.Whilst I think she just saw him as a comforting friend and could just as easily have been cuddling up to Alf, Maddy really didn't do herself any favours there...And I agree, Leah giving Nate false hope was a bad move.

Incidentally, does anyone go to school these days?Spencer and Jett apparently gave it a miss to help reopen the Diner, Evelyn only seems to go when she feels like it, Sasha didn't bother turning up today, Josh apparently walked out mid-day and Maddy and Oscar may well have done the same! It's as bad as the old "No-one ever finishes a shift at the Diner" thing.