Latest UK Episode Discussion (2006-2017 Seasons)

[Angelica]

I agree, Red. I found the whole bus crash anti-climactic. Like you, the problem was that I don't care about most of the people on the bus. Other than Leah, Kyle and Sasha, I don't think I would care if any of the others died. In fact, in cases such as Hannah, I would welcome it. This was very reminiscent of last year's finale with the bomb scare except the promos have shown so many of the characters post bus crash that some of the suspense has been taken away.

I don't get Maddy leaving like that. It was just reminiscent of Romeo all over again, except that Romeo had at least the excuse that he had been told that any treatment he received would not be curative. Maddy is delaying receiving potential life saving treatment.

I am enjoying Sophie in her current state. It was very reminiscent of Sam Holden - seemingly normal, and slowly pushed off the edge until she became pathological.

[JosieTash]

I'm still confused by what's going on with Phoebe.I can't tell if we're meant to assume more than we saw or not:Is it just trying to make it look bad or are we meant to assume Grant's going to rape her?Because I really wasn't getting that vibe and only Ash's desperation at being locked up and unable to help really sold the apparent urgency of the situation.I did like Ash initially shrugging off Grant's attempt to decoy him.How long's Matt going to be working that crowd before they notice something wrong?

Until i saw this ep, i was quite confused by neive's actions too, but then i saw that what was going on [tween phoebe and neive's assistant] was being filmed by the cctv camera ......and i realised that looks like Neive is trying to boost Phoebe's public profile .........

with a sex tape !!!!!

[thoughs of Paris Hilton and that annoying family whose everything starts with K and are famous for doing absoluely nothing]

[630si]

I thoroughly enjoyed the bus crash! I'm really worried about leah and kyle and also Ricky's baby. I introduced the show to family who havent watched since 1995 and they were very into it and asking questions etc. I do feel Maddy going missing is typical of her her and not taking into account everybody else's feeling. She's not aware of Roos break down in the hospital but she has soooo much support what is she playing at!?!?

Very climatic the finale I felt and im thoroughly looking forward to Monday! Although Neive not wanting Pheobe to perform and ruining that seems odd to me. Surely she has a lot money riding on this launch

[Red Ranger 1]

I'm still confused by what's going on with Phoebe.I can't tell if we're meant to assume more than we saw or not:Is it just trying to make it look bad or are we meant to assume Grant's going to rape her?Because I really wasn't getting that vibe and only Ash's desperation at being locked up and unable to help really sold the apparent urgency of the situation.I did like Ash initially shrugging off Grant's attempt to decoy him.How long's Matt going to be working that crowd before they notice something wrong?

Until i saw this ep, i was quite confused by neive's actions too, but then i saw that what was going on [tween phoebe and neive's assistant] was being filmed by the cctv camera ......and i realised that looks like Neive is trying to boost Phoebe's public profile .........

with a sex tape !!!!!

There seemed to be hints in that direction but it's hard to see how that would benefit Neive.She only has an investment in Phoebe's singing career, not any other...public appearances, and Phoebe's unlikely to want anything to do with her after this.I can only assume that either it's a scorched earth policy after Phoebe refused to play ball, or she's going for the quick advantage and hoping the scandal will fuel interest in the single even though there's unlikely to be a follow-up.

EDIT: I've looked in the Australian Discussion thread and not only did most of the people in there not have a clue why Neive would do this, but I'm left thinking that it makes even less sense.So I really hope we get a carefully thought out plan explained to us next week, and it's not just Neive doing it Because She's Bad. If she's looking to make money from Phoebe's singing career, why not let the launch go ahead instead of sabotaging it, and do the other stuff afterwards if that's how she gets her kicks?And how long does she think she can keep Andy and Ash locked up, is she going to leave them to starve?Because as soon as they get out they're going to be either straight to the police or dealing out justice their own way.(This makes slightly more sense is Neive is operating plausible deniability and intends to blame it all on her assistant if the law gets involved.)At the moment, it's feeling like another contrived cliffhanger to create a physical threat rather than just Phoebe being conned by an unscrupulous record producer.(And again, it has the disadvantage that two of the three characters in danger are people I don't particularly like.)

[Slade]

Well I did enjoy some of that episode but felt it was let down by anything involving Maddy again. I was glad that she and Josh had that chat though. And with Josh deciding to go after Evelyn hopefully that is the end of it.

I quite liked the way Ash was trying to look out for Phoebe just a shame that guy had to lock him in the cage like that and Ash's reaction obviously took him back to prison life. At one point initially I thought the plan (although very far-fetched) was to drug Phoebe and try and get her on the plane as I thought I heard Neive recall something about making sure Phoebe goes back to Asia or something like that.

Again, enjoyed the Nate/Sophie stuff. I loved the part where she thought they were running away together, saw the road sign, realised that Nate was taking her back to hospital and went crazy.

Thought the crash was done well and enjoyed watching it. Just a shame it was spoiled for me by that blasted voice-over. So rather than being about the characters involved it was all about Maddy, how it kills her to leave like this and how important her loved ones are to her. Oscar will probably take it as a declaration of love. The vast majority of the characters involved in the crash I actually don't mind except for Hannah, Denny and possibly Matt (although he hasn't been that bad over the last couple of weeks). Would have preferred if Maddy, Oscar and Chris had been there though.

[H&Alover]

Apart from the similarity of Maddy doing a runner like Romeo the big difference is Romeo had a plan and as Angelica said his cancer was incurable. Maddy has no money, nowhere to go and no-one to go with. How far does she expect to get? I must admit I didn't get the significance of her 'goodbye' to Josh and she has now said her cancer is now longer a secret, leaving him free to tell Evelyn. Maddy's declaration of love to Oscar, does she really mean it or is it just because he's there for her? The voice over annoyed me as well Slade it had nothing to do with what was unfolding. Sorry Slade Matt wasn't on the bus, he was in the city, singing his heart out, shame Sasha is missing it. Looks like I was mistaken and there is an anonymous driver, who we never saw who is bound to be one of the dead (or maybe the only one). Knew it had to be a bad sign when Ricky stood up to go to the driver to ask him to stop so Josh could join Evelyn on the bus. I see none of them were wearing seatbelts is that because it was a minbus rather than a coach?

Wasn't that implausible for Nate to got back to town, if as he made out they were leaving the country they would need passports, did he not think to say that?

Wasn't expecting Neive to throw in an attempted rape/assault which would come across as Phoebe having sex with a random bloke to make Kyle break up with her, she has said before she wants Kyle out of the picture and what better way to go about it. Ash seemed very on the ball and I can't see that cage holding him for long.

[H&Alover]

Just a footnote to the above, next time Summer Bay High hires a new Principal can they please check they don't have any underlying issues, mental,physical or otherwise so they can stay the course. The last consistent Principal they had was Gina. Bianca disappeared from time to time and that was after the kids demonstrated to keep her, then we had Sophie who the less said about the better.

[630si]

Well things don't look good for both Hannah and Kyle in today's episode. Thought Kyle asking Brax to take care of Pheobe quite poignant being as there was a similar scene when Casey died. Brax is determined now and him saying No he not going to and Kyle can speak to Pheobe himself when he's out of there was a great way of displaying this. Sophie appears to be wandering around in a daze which I guess you would be having just caused something so huge. Nate should take time at some point to check out her wrist injury in my opinion. He is the only one who knows at this pint that she cause the crash but he shouldn't forget his professional duties. I suspect that the police will be onto Sophie before long when investigating what caused the accident. Glad to hear that Ricky's baby has kicked again and she appears to have come away unscathed. The bus driver was the one who died by the looks of it which was to be expected TBH. Now I'm very concerned for LEAH. she's been thrown from the bus, despite is not seeing anything thrown from the bus during the crash im willing to overlook this, and she's likely to be in a terrible way once found. I thought it was naive of Sashe to assume she was at the hospital and not check with an official.

Im not sure what to think about Maddy now. Her cancer battle has been my favourite story so far for her character but then she goes and runs away. Roo is going stir crazy and hasn't even thought about those on the bus, although I don't think she's aware f the severity. There was an opportunity to inform her when she spoke to Irene and Maz but she was so panicky they hadn't had chance. I just hope this doesn't overshadow the other characters who's lives are literally hanging on the line right now and turn the limelight onto her once again. That would be going back to bratty Maddy.

I was thinking this a short while ago too H&Alover, we need a steady principal.

[Red Ranger 1]

I actually had the opposite thought at the end of the previous episode, that the bus crash would have probably meant nothing to me if I hadn't had a character I actually cared about talking over it.But watching it again without the voiceover, I might have been more bothered if there hadn't been something more interesting on screen.For his part, Nate did tell Sophie he needed to pick his things up but she wasn't fooled.

I don't know what to make of that episode.Every time something impressive happened it was followed by something deeply stupid.Right from the start, we're treated to Brax and Nate just getting up and walking away from a car accident, with the added stupidity of Brax being able to open his door when the impact was on the driver's side.Then, Nate, who seconds earlier was so determined to get Sophie to hospital that he caused a serious car accident by carrying on driving when she was freaking out next to him, just leaves her on her own with a casual "Stay there." And, incredibly, having tried to leap out of a moving vehicle to get away from him, she does! Because apparently she starts being crazy when the plot demands it and stops when the plot demands it as well.The absurdity that about 90% of the characters just get out of the crash with no real injury, except for one random extra (apparently the driver but no-one bothers to say so).It's a shame because Demi Harman did some good freaked out acting at desperately trying to save him but it's a glimmer of hope.I actually rolled my eyes when I saw Evelyn was okay and the shame is if the episode had focused on her worrying over Hannah she might actually have been likable, but she can't walk two steps without bumping into Josh and we can't even get through the episode without what must be about their fifth getting together scene in six months.Give it up, kids, you're rubbish.Oh, and then Nate, instead of making sure that the mentally ill woman is properly cared for, just walks past her with a sneery "There are more urgent people": Are we seriously meant to like this jerk?Throw in Sasha and Denny's almost criminal irresponsibility in just assuming Leah's been taken to hospital instead of telling Alf or Nate, and lighting apparently designed to induce epilepsy, and what are we left with? Well, some not bad stuff actually, because if you're going to put someone in danger and expect the viewer to care, Kyle's a good candidate.The scenes between him and Brax were actually quite good and while his declaration of love for Phoebe left me cold, there was something very meaningful in the fact that while, at times, Brax doesn't seem to have given him much, what he has given him means the world to him.To the point that I actually wanted to know what happened at the end.

Meanwhile, back in the city...things aren't much better.Ash and Andy spend ages getting out of the cage and apparently leave behind the clippers that could have got them through the second door, we get the usual abrupt cut to night as if they've been locked up for hours...and absolutely nothing's happened to Phoebe, aside from having her blouse taken off.Where the heck was Matt? He just appears out of nowhere when Ash and Andy find Phoebe.(Oh yeah, Andy abruptly recovers from being knocked unconscious in between seasons, so more fool anyone who was worried about him.) There was a brief moment of Neive trying to pin the blame on Grant but do we get an explanation for it all? Well, I've got one: Neive's insane.Utterly insane.It's the only explanation, since she seems to think Phoebe will be pleased when the video goes online.

So with two other cliffhangers to resolve, we don't get to catch up with Maddy.I'm fine with that, you can only focus on so much, and what we got moved things along well, with the discovery that her escape seems more thought out than it at first appeared.I've been focusing on Oscar a lot recently so I haven't commented on Roo, but her breakdown on the stairs was one of the most affecting things in the episode: Her unconditional love for Maddy has never been more apparent than in the last few weeks, when she's faced with possibly losing her forever.I don't see it as Maddy being selfish or bratty, I think in her own way she's trying to do what's best for others, plus she's probably not thinking straight and may not even have got over the depression hinted at over the previous few months.But I guess we'll see how it's played out when/if she reappears.

[KIMIF1]

I think Nate is equally to blame if not more than Sophie for the accident, he had been knocked out - not sure how long before - he then drives one handed whilst wrestling with his passenger and doesn't even attempt to reduce speed. Through his stupidity, he has caused one death and three people to be seriously injured and I bet he gets away with it all.