Latest UK Episode Discussion (2006-2017 Seasons)

[H&Alover]

I'm with you Slade and Psychic about Maddy, Evie and Josh were put on the spot when she announced she was going to fight her having to do Year 11 again. But later once Evie had had a chance to think about it, though no doubt clouded by her feelings for Josh, she told her the truth, just because she is 'so much brighter' than everyone else she feels she shouldn't have to repeat. She was being a diva again, which she had promised Josh, not for the first time, she wouldn't do. Of course later when she had had the chance to calm down she realised she had been a drama queen and was probably going to apologise to Josh, for the hundredth time. I know Spencer is looking out for her, as he obviously still thinks a lot of her and it was a brave decision to tell her about Evie and Josh's 'friendly' hug at least he was subtle about it. One of those damned if you do and damned if you don't moments. If or rather when she finds out about Evie and Josh and realised Spencer knew he'd come in for a tongue lashing for not saying anything.

Yes you're right Red Josh did say to Evie they should stay away from each as much is as possible anyway. That kind of went out of the window when Evie offered to help him look for Andy as couldn't turn to Maddy at that particular time what with Roo being in hospital. Would he have turned to her anyway seeing as the drugs were hidden at the caravan park and she is very close to Alf?

Seems TPTB read my mind, Phoebe did have a talk with Denny about being mixed up with the Braxtons and their complicated life style. That sure is a well used phrase in H&A plus other soaps - 'It's complicated'. Casey overhearing Kyle and Phoebe seemed to change his mind about 'letting' Denny be involved with them, she is an adult. Phoebe ringing her dad wasn't just daft it was plain ridiculous not to mention insulting. Mark was very wrong in what he tried to do, but after she told him she didn't want anything more to do with him, then ring him for help, don't blame him for telling where to go. Even if they hadn't have fallen out, not wise for him to get involved, he'd be the type to want a 'favour' somewhere down the line.

Sasha needed a good slap for completely ignoring Matt's pleas to not air his music to all and sundry. His comeback about how would she feel if he'd read her diary out to everyone did pull her up. He did let her off lightly, eventually. Talking of the school, how easy was it for Nate to just walk in at night and find Sophie. Matt does seem to have an inferiority complex but needs less aggressive encouragement to open up. That was quite a racket they were making yet not a teacher in sight, had they all gone home for the day?

[Slade]

I don't get Denise, she's just come out a relationship and breakup with Chris, surely she'd want to keep things light with Casey to begin with and not want to get totally involved straight from the off. Are all Australian girls so intense? Even Sasha won't give it a rest with Matt and his music, poor guy. Then there's Sophie who moved state to get to Nate. The Braxtons house must be a haven for brow beaten males, when Phoebe isn't doing strange Australian dancing in the living room :-)

Don't think she's got it in her TBH. She was going out for Chris for less than two weeks before she told him she loved him as well and has admitted she's not the best when it comes to relationships. So I find her attitude towards Casey entirely plausible. And both of saying the L-word...yeah!

I agree with the rest of what you saying. Tamara (before she lost her memory) and Bianca were both pretty full on as well. I guess the writers are trying to keep the storylines more entertaining by ensuring the characters aren't too normally which I guess some people could see as dull and boring.

[Red Ranger 1]

Alf's episode count this week:Four.

Ooh, where to start.Well, Evelyn surprised me by not letting up on Andy at all and standing up to Oscar when he tried to put the blame on Zac.Shame Josh didn't do the same.I would have liked a bit more guilt from Oscar when he realised he'd been on the wrong side:He does eventually realise that he shouldn't have turned on Zac after everything he's done, but his initial impulse seemed to be to blame Andy, as if he somehow forced Oscar to believe him and not Zac.I loved the way that Zac still doesn't want anything to do with Hannah even now that she's realised Andy was at fault and why should he?All year she's been leaving him to do all the work with the kids and then turning on him at the slightest excuse and trying to turn the twins against him, no wonder he's decided she's not worth it.So, confirmation that Andy has been dealing.It feels like we're in the same situation as Brax and Casey when they first appeared, where we're apparently meant to sympathise with the fact Andy's motivated by wanting to provide for Josh but it's completely negated by the fact that he keeps getting his brother in trouble.

And...Maddy.I mean, I can see why other people find her diva-ish and maybe I'm hypersensitive and overcompensating because I often find myself in the position of having to defend her, but really, every single other young female on the show, and quite a few of the older ones, behave just as badly most of the time so I'm not sure why she seems to get singled out so often.(The only female on the show who isn't constantly manic and blowing up at people for the slightest thing is Ricky, frankly.Even Irene has her moments.)Even if we accept Josh was looking for Andy when he turned up at Evelyn's place, he didn't even think to let Maddy know what had happened and spent the whole day purposefully ignoring her.(And why wasn't Evelyn in school?She wasn't with Josh, since he left the house before her, she wasn't there when he confronted Andy and the next time we see her she's with Oscar who was in school, and she had her uniform on so she presumably intended to go so... what changed her mind?)So I was punching the air at the end when Maddy finally delivered some home truths, exposed their far from innocent association and reminded Josh of what a bad boyfriend he's being to his actual girlfriend.Shame it's probably going to backfire on her and give them an excuse to get together.

Talking of manic divas, can someone shoot Roo with a tranquiliser gun?She was nothing short of a bully here, taking over the wedding without being asked and pressuring John and Marilyn to have the wedding she wants rather than the one they want.It feels like she's trying to compensate for something, but I've given up asking "Why was she in Peru?" since given the way it was arbitrarily dropped it's 50/50 as to whether we'll ever get an answer.

[Brian]

Interesting points you make, Red, Slade & H&Alover. I agree with most of them, but I think that Zac should have been the bigger ma n and stayed for the sake of the children. He knows it's going to be hard for them from now on and Hannah did apologise. She has been stupid and she knows it. She's thrown Andy out before and I hope she means it this time and calls the cops. Josh can do without him in his life and Alf won't turn him out of the caravan.

I don't have any sympathy for Maddy - she deserves all she gets and should let Josh go. He could hardly go to her place in that state for Alf, Roo & Marilyn to see him. Still it must have taken him a while to get from the caravan park to the farm in that state. I can never work out how far it is supposed to be - sometimes people get a bus, other times they just appear! Anyway Spencer will look after Maddy - they may even become lovers if they have no one else.

Someone send Roo back to Peru please!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Slade]

Although I was glad Zak didn't let Hannah manipulate him into coming back, I thought she got off way too lightly so felt quite dissatisfied with that scene. He should have given her a real serve but that's the difference between them I guess. So Hannah loses both Andy and Zak. The main problem now is given how happy Andy was when he and Hannah decided to give things another go he's going to be even more unpleasant than he has over the last week. And then we have the issue that he has to pay the drug dealers the money he owes them. He's now going to feel he has no option other than commit another criminal act. Obvious places would be Angelos or the gym if they even have that much cash. I suppose he can be a little more creative and look further afield. Still he's in real trouble now because if he does turn to crime and gets in trouble with the police he will have that guy after him inside who he grassed up to get a more lenient sentence.

I don't have any sympathy for Maddy - she deserves all she gets and should let Josh go. He could hardly go to her place in that state for Alf, Roo & Marilyn to see him. Still it must have taken him a while to get from the caravan park to the farm in that state. I can never work out how far it is supposed to be - sometimes people get a bus, other times they just appear! Anyway Spencer will look after Maddy - they may even become lovers if they have no one else.

Whilst I don't have any sympathy for Maddie either I thought she was genuinely worried about Josh and it was perfectly reasonable for her to confront him and Evelyn given her conversation with Spencer (who was actually pretty objective today). If anything he should be the one letting her go because he's reached the point where he no longer wishes to continue the relationship. But she obviously still does although she's almost at the point where she's accepted the inevitable and it wouldn't surprise me if she in fact ends things.

[haaf14]

It feels like we're in the same situation as Brax and Casey when they first appeared, where we're apparently meant to sympathise with the fact Andy's motivated by wanting to provide for Josh but it's completely negated by the fact that he keeps getting his brother in trouble.

Red I agree to a certain a extent but I think the difference is that Andy has a stable job now and what has happened to the 5K that Brax gave him? Whereas Brax had a life of crime when I think he was young and continued going up the food chain until he bought Angelo's and went on the straight and narrow in part.

It serves Hannah right that Zach hasn't decided to stay. On a number of occasions she has taken Andy's side over Zach's and now she thinks a bit of emotion and an apology will suffice then she has a thing coming. I thought for a moment that Hannah may even attempt to batter her eye lids and Zach would come running.

I see that Angelo's going up in the world by even catering to the needs of people's dietary requirements.

[Red Ranger 1]

It feels like we're in the same situation as Brax and Casey when they first appeared, where we're apparently meant to sympathise with the fact Andy's motivated by wanting to provide for Josh but it's completely negated by the fact that he keeps getting his brother in trouble.

Red I agree to a certain a extent but I think the difference is that Andy has a stable job now and what has happened to the 5K that Brax gave him? Whereas Brax had a life of crime when I think he was young and continued going up the food chain until he bought Angelo's and went on the straight and narrow in part.

You've got a bit of a point there but Brax bought into Angelo's very soon after we met him and didn't immediately go on the straight and narrow by any means(in fact to start with he only seemed to view the legitimate business as a means of laundering money from his drugs business).Ironically, the real trouble for Casey of the getting beaten up, kidnapped and imprisoned sort didn't kick in until after Brax had gone semi-straight, by which point he'd made enemies and it was too late.

[haaf14]

It feels like we're in the same situation as Brax and Casey when they first appeared, where we're apparently meant to sympathise with the fact Andy's motivated by wanting to provide for Josh but it's completely negated by the fact that he keeps getting his brother in trouble.

Red I agree to a certain a extent but I think the difference is that Andy has a stable job now and what has happened to the 5K that Brax gave him? Whereas Brax had a life of crime when I think he was young and continued going up the food chain until he bought Angelo's and went on the straight and narrow in part.

You've got a bit of a point there but Brax bought into Angelo's very soon after we met him and didn't immediately go on the straight and narrow by any means(in fact to start with he only seemed to view the legitimate business as a means of laundering money from his drugs business).Ironically, the real trouble for Casey of the getting beaten up, kidnapped and imprisoned sort didn't kick in until after Brax had gone semi-straight, by which point he'd made enemies and it was too late.

When I used the term straight and narrow was during the period that he bought Angelo's outright but also Casey was no saint when he first appeared on the show because I remember the incident when the river boys kidnapped Dex and all he did was just watch. He also didn't tell anyone until very late about the incident.

[Red Ranger 1]

^True, but then Josh is no saint either.When he first appeared, he left Casey and Maddy for dead by the roadside and never made any attempt to let anyone know about the incident, which is far worse than leaving Dexter out in the bush.Even now, he was quick to cover up Andy's dealing, to the point of punching Spencer because he thought he'd told the police, and, despite a few harsh words to Andy, let Oscar go on thinking Zac was responsible until he found out the truth from Hannah.

[haaf14]

^True, but then Josh is no saint either.When he first appeared, he left Casey and Maddy for dead by the roadside and never made any attempt to let anyone know about the incident, which is far worse than leaving Dexter out in the bush.Even now, he was quick to cover up Andy's dealing, to the point of punching Spencer because he thought he'd told the police, and, despite a few harsh words to Andy, let Oscar go on thinking Zac was responsible until he found out the truth from Hannah.

I agree Red but what I find disturbing about the whole issue is how Oscar can more or a less believe a stranger over his uncle. Looking back on how Josh and Andy arrived there was slight disconnect because there was that period where Josh was flying solo but you wouldn't see that with a Braxton.

I also agree that when both Josh and Andy arrived you could clearly see that the writers were trying to mould both of them into a young Casey and Brax respectively.