Latest UK Episode Discussion (2006-2017 Seasons)

[Angelica]

I like the way they handled the Sasha/Casey thing. After all, it has been a long time since her losing her virginity to Casey, and since then she has been in a relatively happy relationship with Spencer and now Matt. It would be ridiculous for her to be still bitter about something that happened over a year ago. I liked the fact that she admitted that she hadn't spoken to Casey for a while, and that a huge part of her grief was her guilt for never offering Casey forgiveness. I liked the scene with Jett - Casey had been a big brother figure for him. I laughed at his joke about Casey giving him advice about girls.

While I did think that Leah and Roo analysing Zac's feelings felt a bit callous given how close it was after finding out that Casey had died, I do get that death makes people want to reach out to people they love. I don't find Zac's U-turn entirely unrealistic - I think Leah admitting that she had feelings for him, just made him stop to think how he felt about her, and that there may be something there. I did like Hannah's pep talk to Zac - but then, I have always felt that Hannah was always the most likeable when she was around Zac (before she rejected him for Andy)..

[Slade]

I don't find Zac's U-turn entirely unrealistic - I think Leah admitting that she had feelings for him, just made him stop to think how he felt about her, and that there may be something there. I did like Hannah's pep talk to Zac - but then, I have always felt that Hannah was always the most likeable when she was around Zac (before she rejected him for Andy)..

I don't think the u-turn itself is unrealistic, far from it. I'm just sceptical as to whether a relationship with them can actually work. Putting aside the living arrangements and employment, I wouldn't go as far a saying Leah's desperate but I think she wants/need a relationship badly. For Zac on the other hand it feels like he's only decided to get involved now because all his options have dried out - not that I blame him of course. So we'll see. Hannah was definitely a lot better on Friday however, I've said this quite a few times for the most part I find very little about her that is likeable. I thought about why this is because she's been no worse than some of the other characters on the show (*cough* Maddy). But what it comes down to I feel is that she appears quite cold. Even when she's smiling I find her to be like this. Secondly she just doesn't come across as a particularly nice person. Well not to me anyway. If you compare Sophie for example, she lacks emotion sometimes as well and can be quite manipulative and sneaky. But I find it easier to warm to her because she's generally portrayed as being quite weak so I find I'm able to empathise with her although I'm not sure if you would agree with that.

[H&Alover]

I must add I liked the reference to Sid, Dex and Indi by Sasha when she said she had let them know about Casey. Hope it doesn't sound cold hearted to wonder what Indi will do about the gym.

[Red Ranger 1]

Brax often seemed on the verge of annoying me throughout this episode but didn't do anything too bad and I feel a bit of sympathy for him, even though I'm not keen on the cold way he's treating people like Ricky and Kyle or his continued quest for revenge.Kyle has been beyond impressive in the way he's holding everything and everyone together and doing his best to give Casey a decent send-off, even though he's grieving himself. I'm also quite impressed with how supportive Phoebe is being.Cheryl actually came across pretty well, until she made that comment to Brax which just came out of nowhere, she was upset and dealt with it by lashing out at a convenient target.I liked the way she was with Kyle, it seems like she's accepted him as Casey's brother and is willing to let him take the lead on this.There seems a weird irony in the way Brax dubs Andy as family when he wasn't even willing to give Kyle that courtesy last week, but Andy's slow slide towards doing the right thing continues. The "Heath's too upset" thing was a bit perfunctory, but assuming it's down to actor availability anything more elaborate ("Heath's on holiday in the Bahamas and can't make it back") would have been even worse.Good point, H&Alover, about what Indi's going to do:She employed Spencer but he's only part-time, she vaguely knows Maddy but I'm not sure she's up to running things, and...I want to say she doesn't know Andy but actually I think they were around at the same time although I don't think they ever met.

I am disliking Josh more and more.At least Maddy sort of held her hands up with Oscar, Josh is just going on treating her badly, not caring about the fact that he's now both cheated on her and used her, and only caring about whether or not Evelyn finds out.I don't care if his brother has just died, he's just coming across as a coward.Maddy possibly earns points for not telling Evelyn, perhaps suggesting this is about her still loving Josh and she's not interested in getting back at Evelyn, but I get the feeling she's only keeping quiet because she's expecting Josh to say something and if it goes on she might end up cracking and blabbing.She made a lot of good points to Josh, I'm really not convinced by his professions of devotion to Evelyn when he went to Maddy's house and instigated their liaison even though Evelyn was looking for him.(May I suggest that he came on to Maddy because he wanted comfort sex and Evelyn won't sleep with him?)But Maddy really needs to get over it and not go crying to Roo every time Josh ignores her.I am really not liking the way the show seems to be trying to portray Evelyn as the innocent in all this.It's all right for her to be the reasonable one and offer Maddy a truce: As far as she's concerned, she's "won" and she's got Josh while Maddy's got nothing.Alf being friendly towards Evelyn at the start just felt wrong and underlines the fact that it's been written as if no-one cares what she and Josh did to Maddy.There were an awful lot of people who warned Josh not to hurt Maddy, and now that he has, twice, where are they?

I didn't mind the Leah/Roo stuff but it felt a bit out of place when the rest of the episode was about other stuff.It might have been best to leave it until later in the week, and an episode that Zac's actually in, rather than trying to shoehorn it in here.

[c120701]

What a lovely and unexpected surprise at the end of today's 5* episode.

[Brian]

Lovely episode today with the grieving families,. Braxton and Barrett, overlapping and doing the best they could in their time of grief. Good acting all round and very believable. Looking forward to tomorrow's episode at the funeral. Who will break down?.Will Brax be able to deliver a eulogy or will Kyle have to do it for him?

Agree about Josh being selfish. Wonder how that will plan out..Maybe he's not entirely to blame with two lovely girls in love with him. What 17 year old lad would be level headed in that ssituation?

[haaf14]

Very disappointed not to see Heath at the funeral. It was however good to see Kyle and Cheryl get along rather than Cheryl sniping at Kyle. Kyle is also showing a lot of maturity in more or less organising the funeral but also grieving at the same time.

For me Maddy, Josh and Evelyn are bad as each other, for Evelyn to call a truce after you've taken Maddy's boyfriend smacks of hypocrisy. Maddy's gone on to another level of being bunny boiler, come on there are time and places to ask to get back together with Josh but a day before the funeral isn't one of them. I've lost all respect for Maddy and as for Josh man up and decide who he wants to be with.

[Slade]

What a lovely and unexpected surprise at the end of today's 5* episode.

Well it's not really an unexpected surprise if you say it's an unexpected surprise because now we're expecting something.

Kinda 70/30 re Maddy yesterday. A massive part of me was thinking now this is more like it, Maddy is finally getting hers and I am quite enjoying seeing her suffer. And she certainly seems to be suffering at the moment and then some. But the smaller part of me felt sorry for her when Josh barely acknowledged her outside the baitshop. I guess those of us that have been in a situation where you're into someone and the person doesn't want to know you know it can be difficult. In hindsight it looks like this plan of hers and sleeping with Josh was a bad move on her part. When Eveyln and Josh were first going out although it was difficult for her she was just about managing and given a bit of time she would have started to move on. But after her liaison she's now got it into her head that there is still a glimmer of hope and she's clinging on so it's going to take longer to get over him. I personally don't think Maddy is a bunny boiler haaf14 but she's certainly delusional. I think her behaviour is plausible for someone her age assuming Josh is the first person she's been in love with bar Spencer. I was a bit surprised she didn't tell Evelyn what happened as she had the perfect opportunity. But as I mentioned last week even though she didn't say anything yesterday Maddy's not going to keep this a secret for long. If she doesn't tell Evelyn herself I'm sure she'll 'accidentally' blurt it out to Spencer. And then there's Roo. She's clearly very unhappy with the situation and I found it most amusing the way she was giving Josh the evils in the Diner. Still not saying anything because he's 'grieving'. I wonder how long she's prepared to put up with something like this before she tells maybe Zac or Hannah.

Cheryl annoyed me the way she blamed Brax for Casey's death. There's no way he could watch him 24/7. I would have preferred if she had directed some of that anger towards Ricky. Actually really liked the stuff with Brax and Andy. Andy really impressed me although after what happened with Casey he was always going to change his attitude.

Oh dear. Leah's on cloud nine and after only one kiss. When someone's that happy there's only one way it can go from here...down.

[H&Alover]

Brax is handling this in the only way he knows, by being tough and all River Boy-ish. He's never lost anyone that close to him before and it being your baby brother is not a good place to start. Shock news about Heath. I have to admit getting a tear in my eye when Cheryl said she rang Casey's mobile just so she could hear his voice. Yes, she was out of order blaming Brax for not looking out for Casey, but he was an adult and had been known for not always listening to what Brax told him to do or not to do. Part of that I think was down to grief and her own guilt for not being the mother she could have been to him. No worse than Brax lashing out at Kyle last week. Talking of whom he has been brilliant the way he has organised everything when he is suffering as much as the others, I have a feeling he will crumple after it is over. Phoebe has been good too by just being there, not sticking her nose in but supporting Kyle when he needed it. Seems Cheryl does have a sentimental side by keeping the drawing Casey did when he was little. Ricky handled Brax just right, let him have his rant then just said 'go and get changed'. If anything good has come out of this it's Andy finally coming good, his reluctance to go the funeral even though Ricky had said it would be OK, it wasn't until Brax asked him to be there, did he felt comfortable about going. It's going to be an emotional episode tonight, switch your mobiles off and have the tissues ready.

Lovely thought by Roo and Leah to contribute to the wake, though Leah's girly moment did seem a tad of place and isn't it a little early to tell the invisible VJ about her and Zac? They haven't even been out on a date yet!

Josh/Maddy/Evelyn, yes he was wrong in just blanking Maddy like that, but he was just embarrassed/guilty and he is young. As for the fact he'd slept with Maddy both to blame there, she just happened to be there, if he had been at the farm it would have been Evie, if Maddy had had the wisdom that age brings she would have realised he wasn't in the right state of mind to make a logical decision. A comfort snog, hug would have been OK, but no more. As for Josh cheating on her with Evie in the first place if she hadn't been so up herself sometimes, putting him down, making it all about her, he wouldn't have turned to someone else. He nearly finished with her twice but she persuaded him not to and said she would be a better girlfriend. She did show remarkable restraint in not telling Evie. Why is Roo only putting all the blame on Josh it took two.

[Slade]

Again I know I shouldn't but Jake's note made me laugh for the second time, especially with the smiley face on the end. And Brax and Cheryl's reactions afterwards, especially with Brax losing it. Seriously though I wasn't sure about Andy going after Brax when he stormed off at the funeral. I thought it would have been more plausible had it been Kyle. I did like Brax's reading though. Cheryl was much better today. Thought it was nice of her to reassure Andy about Johnny Barrett afterwards. She was under no obligation to do that. Also really liked the chat with Brax and Alf and the way Alf offered Brax his support. I thought the writers made an excuse re Heath's absence because Dan Ewing had left the show. But if he came back for a single episode they may as well just had him come to the funeral. Brax is right not to involve Heath in any revenge plan as he has too much to lose now. Initially I wasn't sure it was the right time for Ricky to tell him about her pregnancy but given how he wants to go after Jake if there is a baby on the way he might not think it's worth it and just involve the police. Quite like how the writers are portraying Denny's grief.

Josh did the right thing telling Evelyn about what happened with Maddy. Didn't think he would have the bottle but I guess he told Maddy he was seeing Evelyn when he was still with her. I know someone sleeping with your boyfriend is a big deal but I dunno it didn't feel right how annoyed Evelyn got considering she stole Josh off Maddy in the first place although she did sleep with Evelyn's brother to get back at her. Why is Oscar still hanging around Maddy given that she mainly views him as a person to either get back at Evelyn or get closer to Josh? What's wrong with him? Well at least he put his sister first this time. I wonder what Andy made of it. He was sitting right next to Maddy and we didn't see much of a reaction when Evelyn slapped her (ouch BTW) or when he got Josh a drink afterwards. Alf really made me laugh when he was looking at Maddy with contempt. Didn't think he would have a go at her afterwards but I absolutely loved that whole scene espeically once he got into full flow. Maddy may have had a point that it takes two and it wasn't how Evelyn made out but so what. The funniest thing about this is (and how someone in this thread already brought up the reference to Romeo/Indy/Ruby in that) Josh is the one that has a girlfriend but slept with someone else and Maddy has been made out to be the scapegoat i.e. Evelyn blaming Maddy for using Josh's grief over Casey and Alf ignoring the fact that Josh was just as much up for it as Maddy was.

Can't believe John and Marilyn are going to elope and get married. Still at least that way there isn't a chance for anyone to ruin it.

Really looking forward to seeing the other reactions in this thread to Alf giving Maddy a serve.