Latest UK Episode Discussion (2006-2017 Seasons)

[H&Alover]

Maybe Bianca's transfer won't be permanent, perhaps she'll find it's not for her after all. Let's hope her attendance at her new school is better than it was at SBH. At least her and Heath's parting this time wasn't down to one of their rows, but an agreed one. It did seem odd Leah at least wasn't there to see her off, considering Bianca had been staying at hers for the past few weeks. I do so love Harley's little hats and good so see they are being responsible parents by covering his head. No mention from Heath that's he been filled in on about what's happened to the attacker, unless Brax has told him it's been sorted. Plus wouldn't Phoebe be ringing Mark to check if there has been any progress and what's he going to say?

My ears must have blinked as I missed the Rosie mention, wouldn't she have had the baby by now? So VJ does still exist, it's just that we keep missing him.

It's been said before and probably will in the future but SBH really does have the most crap security as Matt is sleeping there. As an aside I see they still haven't sorted out the different uniform situation, not that we see many of the other Mangrove River kids, just Matt.

Is that all there is to Nate and Sophie's estrangement, her using him to get hold of pain killers to feed her addiction to them? Was she doing it before they got married or only after, what is Nate definition of 'ages ago'? Is he trying to convince her or himself they should stay away from each other?

Has Brax suddenly developed amnesia or has he forgotten what went on with Kyle/Casey/Tam and is now giving Casey the OK to move in on Denny who is with Chris. Rather sweet to see Chris being insecure and thanking Casey for backing off from Denny, 'cos he's not a fool he knows how Casey feels about her. From the look on Denny's face in the trailer I got the impression she does just see Casey as a friend, but then we saw that last scene and they were getting pretty close to a kiss.

[c120701]

I do like the continuity of Leah's moussaka - it's the one reference to Leah being Greek we still get now.

Oh and the SBH abbreviation always confuses me as I think it means Summer Bay House when people are meaning Summer Bay High.

[Slade]

I see Nate spent most of the last episode with a face like a wet weekend. I wouldn't be sulking if I had slept with Sophie.

I'm quite fascinated by the Denny/Chris/Casey love triangle and the Spencer/Evelyn/Josh/Maddie love <whatever>.

Personally I wouldn't pursue a girl who was already taken but I wanted Casey to be honest because I don't think I could sit there watching him go crazy not being able tell Denny how he felt. It's obvious that she likes him too. And I suspected that a while back. The only question remains is does she like Casey more than she likes Chris? I think it's very telling that she went round to see him twice. If her relationship with Chris was solid then it wouldn't have made any difference what Casey said. Even Chris knew this which is why he tried to warn off Casey before. If he was so confident in his relationship with his girlfriend he wouldn't have needed to do that. I do feel that the situation so far is just as much Denny's fault as it is Casey's. I believe she has led him on up to this point. Granted Casey knew she was spoken for but the way she kept wanting to spend time with him, would put an element of doubt in a lot of people's minds and for those that want to pursue someone who is already taken, I guess they can perceive that as a green light. I don't normally agree with anything Maddie says but I do agree with her that Chris is an idiot (I've said this many times myself). However objectively I think both Dennie and Alf were quite harsh with him at the bait shop and he didn't deserve that. And it's not a good sign that Denny wants to keep the stuff that happened with Casey from Chris now.

The Evelyn/Josh thing is slightly different although amounts to the same thing. I'm going to assume that Josh likes or is starting to like Evelyn. Not sure if it is threatening for his relationship with Maddie but if it was who would blame him? I believe Josh should have told Maddie that he was struggling with his studies but she's proven since that she hasn't been great supporting him. She wouldn't let him figure it out for himself beforehand and arrogantly jumped in during their study group session to prove how smart she was. And her attitude before and after she finished the exam today stunk. When Josh was worrying (understandably so) she was acting as if he was being over the top - And you wonder why he didn't want to tell her in the first place. Then when she completed the exam early she boastfully left, almost gloating at the ease. How would she think that made Josh feel? It's like when he's around her it feels to me like he's constantly under pressure. When you saw the scenes with Josh and Evelyn, you could see he was a million times more comfortable with her than he was with Maddie and they both supported each other.

Evelyn, I'm a little puzzled with TBH. I can see her falling for someone like Josh but given the current circumstances I'm not sure how. The stuff with Oscar was worrying her far more than her exams. And Spencer provided her with a lot of support. Even when she felt as though everybody hated her. I thought that proved ideal to allow some sort of bonding between them and there was a real connection there so I was almost certain they would end up together. It's like she's completely forgotten about that and has only fallen for Josh because she spent more time with him over the last week. The main issue with Evelyn though is that like Dennie, Josh is already spoken for. Don't think it would be too problematic otherwise because she and Spencer aren't actually an item. I thought she was going to deliver the whole I'm not ready speech with Spencer on the beach but fair play to her for being honest and telling him she had fallen for someone else. I know girls that age can be fickle but I guess she has a tendency to fall for anyone that shows her a certain level of attention - Matt, Spencer and now Josh.

There was something else about the study session that left me wondering if perhaps the writers are trying to suggest if Josh/Evelyn and Maddie/Spencer would be better suited to each other.

The conversation with Evelyn and Dennie was interesting too. It was almost as if one was telling the other they knew how much they liked the person they were thinking about (In Evelyn's case Josh and Dennie's, Casey).

I actually quite liked the scenes with Josh and Andy. I still don't like Andy but I do find him funny sometimes and I think the writers have got it just right. At the moment still, it's only Josh who really likes him and they're are not trying to make him out to be a saint. Certain people just simply tolerate him. He obviously can't remain unlikeable forever I guess so the writers are improving him very gradually. A big plus for me was when he told Hannah were to go. I was over the moon about that.

[Red Ranger 1]

My ears must have blinked as I missed the Rosie mention, wouldn't she have had the baby by now? So VJ does still exist, it's just that we keep missing him.

Bianca mentioned she went to the school she's been transferred to for a conference on Rosie's pregnancy.

Oh and the SBH abbreviation always confuses me as I think it means Summer Bay House when people are meaning Summer Bay High.

Personally, SBH always meant Summer Bay High, I've heard VPH(Van Park House)used for the other one.We always used to just call it the caravan park then suddenly about six years ago people started calling it Summer Bay House, a name that I believe has never been used in dialogue but appeared on a sign above the path in early episodes.

Alf's episode count this week:Three.The only other characters to make three were Leah, John, Marilyn and Brax.

I'm finding the whole relationship thing very frustrating.It feels like the writers have no idea how to set up a new couple without it involving cheating or at the very least someone losing out and getting hurt.If you like the "winners", then I doubt it matters but if you're more a fan of the one that gets hurt then it sours your opinion towards the new couple.And, while it might be a bit early for me to start ranting, it does feel like the characters I like best are the ones being screwed over.Casey, whatever his flimsy justification, is pursuing someone else's girlfriend, which I'm sure Casey fans are gushing over but to me it feels incredibly out of line and I've no idea why we'd be expected to sympathise with him.(And Romeo and Xavier were amateurs compared to Case:He's had more partners than either of them and if he manages to bed Denny he'll have slept with more females than those two put together.)I think this is badly damaging Denny's character:"Did I send out mixed messages?"she asks and although Casey tries to claim otherwise the answer is obviously yes.And are we really meant to think she's disingenuous enough that she was completely oblivious to the effect she had on Casey until he told her, at which point she's suddenly all "Oh my god, maybe I have feelings for him too?"

I feel seriously sorry for Spencer, who's been treated rather badly.This storyline feels like someone abruptly changed their mind, we've had weeks of building up Spencer and Evelyn, then suddenly Evelyn's decided she likes Josh who up until a couple of weeks ago she'd barely said two words to and the miniscule amount of interaction they'd had suggested they didn't even get on that well.(The only time I can remember them talking was when she accidentally insulted him on her first day at school.)Now, if they were both single and hadn't shown any interest in anyone else, that would be enough, if the Spencer thing had never happened and if they'd broken up Josh and Maddy before he started hanging around Evelyn, but instead, as I said before, winners and losers and the accompanying bitterness.We're probably meant to dislike Maddy but instead I'm disliking the way she's suddenly being made inattentive towards Josh and acting unnecessarily obnoxious to justify it when for the last year or so she's been the most supportive girlfriend you can imagine and he'd have dropped out of school a dozen times if she hadn't been there to encourage him and convince him he's better than he thinks, which results in it just seeming like character assassination to suit the plot. It almost felt like Maddy was pushing Spencer towards Evelyn because she's worried about her and Josh(she definitely didn't seem happy at them going off and leaving her on the beach).Probably not though, since she started this long before Josh and Evelyn even noticed the other existed.If Spencer and Maddy end up together and happy, then that'd make Josh and Evelyn easier to accept, so I'll reserve judgement.But it would have been nice if we could have seen Evelyn and Denny bonding about something other than how they're thinking about cheating on people.And what on earth was Spencer doing in the Year 11 exam?It's like someone's suddenly remembered he and Maddy were in the same year when they came in and instead of moving her up to Year 12 where she should be they've moved him down.When he was studying with them, I assumed it was just to spend time with Evelyn but no, once again no-one cares to remember what year the teens are in.

I'm reluctant to like Andy because every time I start to do that he gloats about leaving two teenagers for dead.He seems to have made the same conclusion I did, that he's doing for Oscar what he should have been doing for Josh, but his blunt advice was less effective, mainly because it wasn't what Josh wanted to think.I did like the little bit of interaction between him and Chris.

So, I was right about Matt moving in with Leah and...no, that's all I can think of to say about that storyline, to be honest I keep forgetting it happened. John and Marilyn were great again:That was one big ring and I like how Marilyn said it was the first jewellery a man had given her that she liked.(Bit rough on Don Fisher but oh well.)

[c120701]

My ears must have blinked as I missed the Rosie mention, wouldn't she have had the baby by now? So VJ does still exist, it's just that we keep missing him.

Bianca mentioned she went to the school she's been transferred to for a conference on Rosie's pregnancy.

Oh and the SBH abbreviation always confuses me as I think it means Summer Bay House when people are meaning Summer Bay High.

Personally, SBH always meant Summer Bay High, I've heard VPH(Van Park House)used for the other one.We always used to just call it the caravan park then suddenly about six years ago people started calling it Summer Bay House, a name that I believe has never been used in dialogue but appeared on a sign above the path in early episodes.

Yeah, I've seen it mentioned in interviews and in the scene description of scripts that have been posted and I think it's been used on some letters/contracts etc... we've seen over the years, but yeah, in the show it's always been referred to by the name of whoever lived there or occasionally 'the big house'

[haaf14]

I'm finding the whole relationship thing very frustrating.It feels like the writers have no idea how to set up a new couple without it involving cheating or at the very least someone losing out and getting hurt.If you like the "winners", then I doubt it matters but if you're more a fan of the one that gets hurt then it sours your opinion towards the new couple.And, while it might be a bit early for me to start ranting, it does feel like the characters I like best are the ones being screwed over.Casey, whatever his flimsy justification, is pursuing someone else's girlfriend, which I'm sure Casey fans are gushing over but to me it feels incredibly out of line and I've no idea why we'd be expected to sympathise with him.(And Romeo and Xavier were amateurs compared to Case:He's had more partners than either of them and if he manages to bed Denny he'll have slept with more females than those two put together.)I think this is badly damaging Denny's character:"Did I send out mixed messages?"she asks and although Casey tries to claim otherwise the answer is obviously yes.And are we really meant to think she's disingenuous enough that she was completely oblivious to the effect she had on Casey until he told her, at which point she's suddenly all "Oh my god, maybe I have feelings for him too?"

I'm reluctant to like Andy because every time I start to do that he gloats about leaving two teenagers for dead.He seems to have made the same conclusion I did, that he's doing for Oscar what he should have been doing for Josh, but his blunt advice was less effective, mainly because it wasn't what Josh wanted to think.I did like the little bit of interaction between him and Chris.

So, I was right about Matt moving in with Leah and...no, that's all I can think of to say about that storyline, to be honest I keep forgetting it happened. John and Marilyn were great again:That was one big ring and I like how Marilyn said it was the first jewellery a man had given her that she liked.(Bit rough on Don Fisher but oh well.)

Well you are right about Casey, he's a magnet, the way he is able to attract girls is mind boggling. I think from the time he has been in SB I think he has bedded 6 or maybe 7 girls and still on the prowl for more.

As for Leah I get the impression she is doing an Irene but as Irene isn't here they are trying to make another character fulfill the role and why has there been no mention of Matt's Dad, it seems he has vanished. I think he went into rehab but there hasn't been any mention of him since then/

[H&Alover]

I noticed Maddy was back to skipping about like a six year old instead of the 16 year old she is when she finished her exam way ahead of anyone else! Evie was there, not Maddy, to encourage Josh when he was convinced he'd done terrible in his exam. Will Evie muscle in on Josh , it seems they have more in common than Josh and Maddy, Spencer and Maddy have more in common, but then they do have a history together, but not a good idea to get them back together, they've been there, done that. I'm glad Evie told Spencer she is interested in someone else before he got too serious about her and as we saw from the trailer Spencer works out who Evie is interested in.

As for the other love problem, I don't think Casey had much choice but to tell Denny how he felt about her, hoping I suppose she would back off from being 'friendly' with him. He knows what is like to have your girlfriend fall for someone else when they were supposed to be just friends, so wouldn't really want to go there. Now of course now she knows it has confused her, I honestly believe she just did want to be friends with him, it's the way she is, not realising the effect she was having. They did look like they were dangerously close to a kiss at one point!

Andy can still be a tool at times, but they are gradually changing his character to someone who could, if he let himself, be a decent person. His off hand remark to Josh about his exam was so him, which at least Josh got what he meant if on-one else did.

I wouldn't have thought such a big ring would have been Marilyn's type of ring and did Donald (or her first husband for that matter) really not give her an engagement ring? I caught up on the two episodes I missed from two weeks ago and I thought it was lovely that Maz asked Jett's permission to ask John to marry her, though it went pear shaped. Old fashioned I know but I liked John wanted to be the one to do the proposing.

Good job Matt swallowed his pride and agreed to stay at Leah's.

[Slade]

Was anybody else over the moon at Hannah's reaction when she realised that Zak had spent time with Sophie? The expression on her face was priceless. What I also enjoyed was when she had the chat with Evelyn and Evelyn brought up Andy with regards to her liking Josh and Hannah could not get her head around the fact that Andy blew her out. It's like she thinks she's so irresistible to some people and can't handle the fact that she isn't getting any attention at the moment.

I did quite enjoy the interaction with Zak and Sophie. I really liked the way they were joking about some of the pupil's assignments and thought there was quite a bit of chemistry there.

It felt to me like the writers were overdoing the whole Evelyn likes Josh thing. There was the conversation with Hannah where it was so obvious she liked him but felt they did it just to make a point. Sort of mirroring the one she had with Denny last week. Then there were the scenes they had in school. I did think both of them producing a self-portrait of each other was a nice touch though. I would have liked to see Spencer with Evelyn but am following this storyline just to see what happens. Josh and Evelyn could be good and I feel every indication is that they are going to get together. But I can't see how it can be done without either of them looking bad. Maddie's attitude again wasn't great i.e. when they were talking about schoolwork and she said it was boring and joking about the homework - Even Spencer couldn't see anything wrong with it. To be fair she did try and make an effort later on and even in that scene when Josh was still in his school uniform it did feel as though he didn't want to be around her. So objectively even though she's been pretty crap at supporting him through his exams I can kind of see where she is coming from. I think an outsider looking at the situation who doesn't know either of them would probably think Josh needs his head read. I do feel like she just doesn't seem to grasp the fact that he's not as intelligent or naturally academic as her and they are just on different wavelengths now. And she seems to be on much more of a wavelength with Spencer. I have started to feel sorry for Spencer as I can understand him really liking someone and the person changing their mind and can understand him asking Evelyn about who she likes even though she has no real obligation to tell him.

And I see agony aunt Roo Ricky is once again dishing out advice and trying to sort out everybody else's problems.

[Red Ranger 1]

I'm finding it rather frustrating watching this situation unfold.I actually rather liked the scene of Josh and Evelyn discussing their portraits and I think they could be a good couple but the storyline they're in frankly stinks.You could argue that they're just bringing out character traits that were already there but really, what the heck are the writers doing to Maddy?She was downright rude to Josh in a way that she's never been towards him and which, personally, I feel she's very rarely been towards anyone else, certainly not without something happening to provoke it.And Josh acts as though he can barely stand to be around her, which has also come out of nowhere.It feels like they're trying desperately to make it seem like Evelyn's rescuing Josh from his witch of a girlfriend, and as someone who rather likes Maddy I don't really appreciate her being written as the bad guy.Even Spencer suddenly started acting like he doesn't like her, again out of nowhere even if she was being a bit too persistent:One minute they're almost flirting, the next he's barking at her.Actually, the looks Josh was giving Sophie I thought for a moment he liked her.I was dreading Hannah giving Evelyn a Brax-style "Screw Maddy, just go for it" speech but actually both she and Evelyn came out of it quite well.

I think the idea of Brax being so used to bossing his brothers about that it's the only way he can relate to them was raised last year and didn't really get resolved, so I hope it's dealt with better this time. I'd love it if everyone just ignored his summons.Like Slade, I found Hannah's reaction to Zac getting on with Sophie a bit of a head-shaker, she had her chance and she blew it.I do think this "No personal stuff" arrangement between them can only go on so long though.

EDIT: Okay, maybe I went a bit far in my defence of Maddy there, as much as I love her I do see that she's no saint.While she has been a lot more understanding towards Josh in the past when she had a lot less reason to be, I do accept that it is in character for her to go into a sulk because Josh won't spend time with her and not consider that he might have a good reason, even if it does fly in the face of her support for him in the past.It just feels this conflict has just come out of nowhere:She asks him to come to a party when he wants to study, a few words from Matt stop him sorting it out straightaway and next thing you know they can barely be civil to each other.

[H&Alover]

I'm with you both about Hannah's reaction to finding out Sophie and Zac spent most of the night before marking exam papers, serves her right. Little awkward moment when she suggested getting a bottle of wine, though she is supposed to know his record. Talking of which, going by the number of papers being marked there was obviously a lot more pupils involved than we saw in Zac's class. Might be cruel but it's been said on the Aussie thread it's hoped Maddy doesn't do as well as she thinks she will and Josh passes! I thought Maddy had got over her 'me, me' attitude, but the way she was talking to Josh and Evelyn was very condescending and expecting him to drop doing his homework which is important to him and spend the evening with her. Spencer did work out who Evelyn is interested in, helped in a large part, by his eavesdropping. Josh certainly came over all eloquent when explaining why 'Evelyn' took the photo she did. I know she didn't draw the portrait of Josh, but it was very good and said a lot about his character. There has been a lot of debate on here about pupils and what year they are supposed to be in but did anyone clock the bloke behind Josh, he certainly looked a lot older than any of them I could have sworn he had a beard and moustache.

Going back a couple of days I loved Evelyn's twist on what started WW1 by comparing to having chocolate julato banned and there being folks for and against the idea, that clicked with Josh.

Methinks Brax is feeling a bit (OK a lot) lost, Heath, Casey and Kyle (who has taken himself and Phoebe off again) are all getting on with their lives without him, must be like a lot of parents feel when their kids grow up and don't need them so much. Wonder what the family discussion will be about?