Latest UK Episode Discussion (2006-2017 Seasons)

[CaptainHulk]

Spencer never got over Maddy in the same way Roman never really got over Martha.

[Slade]

I quite enjoyed the scenes with Zac/Hannah and Andy/Hannah although not so much Hannah more the other two.

I found the whole stalking storyline with Phoebe really funny actually. Especially the way she was screaming and John came in and chased Ryan away. Also the next day when Phoebe was with Kat and Ryan turned up with the flowers just like that almost completely oblivious to his behaviour the night before. I was a bit suspicious of the Kat/Phoebe scenes as it seemed like they were getting quite pally and I thought Kat was maybe in detective mode for some reason. When Phoebe offered to buy Kat breakfast I then thought to myself was that really wise given what she did with the photograph. She should maybe be trying to keep her distance for the time being although it is a small town.

I know Roo obviously cares about Maddy and so whilst not completely unexpected it was just so annoying the way she was mollycoddling her again when they came to the hospital. So Maddy becomes dependent on Oscar and is now used to him being at her beck and call. That is threatened because Oscar quite rightly questions whether her feelings for him are genuine or whether it's the cancer talking. Being as self-centred as she is and wanting all of Oscar's attention exclusively on her what does she do? Kisses him so now he genuinely believes she wants a relationship and will subsequently want him to spend more time with her. Not buying it. The timing is too convenient. Although I take my hat off to her for being the master manipulator once again. She couldn't have done it any better!

[630si]

So Ryan was majorly creepy. Yes. I think John was able to recognise him easily due to his distinctive features. Long blonde hair etc. The thing that gets me, and thankfully Kat said it, is that besides from not leaving when asked to, he had done nothing wrong. Pheobe let him in etc. So rightfully he wasn't charged. I don't think it's the last we've seen Of him though.

John is driving me insane with the sale of the house thing. A family discusses these things.

So, Maddy. As you know I've really come to warm to her with this chance storyline. And as Red says, seems to be lasting a respectable time Thus far. Not mentioning irene's cancer. Oscar has his wits about him and in glad he vocalised his concerns to get. I just hope hope hope that Maddy isn't using him. I don't think she is. But she is very dependent on him which is never a good basis for a relationship. I guess we will have to ride it out and see where this ends up. She may even pass and end up breaking Oscars heart that way.

[H&Alover]

Ryan is more creepy because of his manner even though he never actually touched her and Phoebe didn't let him in, he walked in, OK he could argue she said "Come In" rather than what she said which was "I'm coming". Must say John has got very good hearing when neither VJ or Jett heard anything. Had to smile when John said to Phoebe he knew the Braxton rule was not to involve the police but she said, call them, call them. Maybe just as well Brax was away, he certainly would have sorted Ryan out. Ryan is seriously deluded and obviously doesn't think he didn't do anything wrong to casually stroll up to Phoebe when she was with Kat. Well, he's still lurking so more to come, but Kyle will be back and the VO is out so if he does try anything they can bang him up, so it won't be so easy for him. I liked how Kat and Phoebe got on, though probably won't go down so well with the rest of them.

May have seemed Roo was fussing but she did do right to take Maddy in and good to see that like most folk Maddy is having side effects from the chemo and not just breezing through it. I'm glad Oscar took Alf's advice about telling Maddy why he hadn't been in touch. There is that old song 'It's in his (or in this case her) kiss' so mayhap once she kissed him, he was convinced it's not just the chemo talking and she does have feelings for him?

[Red Ranger 1]

Spencer never got over Maddy in the same way Roman never really got over Martha.

Possibly, although if so he shot himself in the foot by insisting he was in love with Sasha when Maddy still seemed interested.

I really can't get mixed up in the Braxton drama, it feels like Brax, Kyle and Ricky are just going through stock situations.Steve Peacocke does a good job of showing how at the end of his tether and up against the wall Brax feels but we already had this storyline.And Kyle losing it with someone is nothing new either, although at least Phoebe points out what he pointed out to Josh the other week, that the last thing the family needs is him getting himself in trouble out of stupidity too.Ash does a decent job aside from pointlessly having a go at Kat.Hard to tell how serious his threat to Ryan was.So, Heath, Bianca and Cheryl don't know what trouble Brax is in.At least that's explained.

Maddy could well be setting herself up for heartache again.There was a kind of mad desperation about her here: I think she's sincere in her own way but she's in danger of scaring Oscar off.He seems halfway there already, with even the kiss not being enough to convince him.Nice to see him confiding in Zac.I appreciated Zac's despair at the poor state of affairs between himself and VJ but while I understand his reasoning I don't think sending Irene will really send out the message he cares.

[CaptainHulk]

I for one am waiting for time to be called on the Braxton/Barrett era. It's time for a new direction preferably with less crime and that way when something dramatic like a shooting/stabbing/fire/explosion/kidnapping happens, we'll appreciate it a lot more.

[atrus]

Just watched a triple-bill from Thursday's episode onwards. There was some good exploration of Zac and VJ's makeshift father-son relationship. I'm still a little suspicious that VJ hasn't been shipped off to live with his grandparents or foster carers or something by now, given that Zac has zero legal status in his life. But accepting the scenario (and hey, maybe that's exactly what would happen in real life), it seems to be working quite well as a storyline for them both.

The Palmer family unit continues to be a highlight too. I think John's wanting to move out because of the constant angst next door is hilarious, but it's worth noting that the writers forever flagging up the daftness of the Braxton element of the show still doesn't justify its continued dominance.

Hannah was a lot more tolerable since opening up to Zac and getting into the chair - to the extent that her recent personality transplant seemed to vanish completely within the course of a few minutes. I'm fully expecting her reliance on the wheelchair to similarly vanish before the week's out, although perhaps I'm being cynical.

I really hope that Maddy is right about her feelings for Oscar being real (as the triumphal burst of The Jezabels as they kissed seemed to suggest) because as I said before, they make a nice couple. But then Monday's episode seemed to cast at least some doubt on that.

Not enjoying the Mr Creepy story, really. It isn't terribly done, exactly - it's just that we've seen stalkers so many times on H&A that it's really difficult to take it seriously anymore. Especially when they try to turn it into Pertinent Issue of the Week; there was a fair bit of public service announcement dialogue from Phoebe and Katarina, as if the writers have finally convinced themselves that most viewers will have to deal with a stalker at some point in their lives. But then on Monday's episode it just swung to the other extreme, and reverted to the usual Braxton testosterone-fest.

It makes me laugh how there are certain types of criminality in H&A that are ignored, and others that are frowned on. Once again the Braxtons can go around behaving how they like because they're depicted as somehow pure of heart and 'not creepy' - as Ash made explicit today, his contingent has zero respect for the law or any need to abide by it - but because the stalker bloke is (obviously) mentally imbalanced, he's cast purely as a freaky antagonist, and has to be ushered into every scene with portentous incidental music. Sorry, but the way Kyle behaved when he entered the show was considerably creepier - and the fact that he's conventionally attractive, and appears to be able to hold down relationships with conventionally attractive women, doesn't detract from the fact that he tortured and almost killed his own brother.

[H&Alover]

People may have a go at Phoebe for being selfish and always wanting her own way, but she decided against calling Kyle when Ryan forced his way in and menaced her because she didn't want him to miss out on his treatment and anyway how quick could he have got back from the city anyway? John was on hand and didn't have to get into any fisticuffs and Kat warned him off (for a while anyway).

May have been a slip by Kat mentioning it to Brax, but as she doesn't know the Braxton code as well as we do, she wouldn't have known Phoebe hadn't said anything, Brax and co have enough on their plates so was unfair of them to all have a go at her, nothing any of them could have done, hope at sometime Kyle thanks John. How fortunate was it Kyle just happened to be looking out from the balcony when Kat was having her talk with Ryan and just where did Ash appear from? Ryan being, possibly, mentally unstable makes him more dangerous because in his mind he is doing nothing wrong and can't (or won't) see the dangers. Kyle has been told to rest his vocal chords, does that include shouting at people?

Nice to get a mention of Cheryl and Heath though neither of them know of Brax's current situation, that's going to go down well when they do find out. Harley is walking - aww!

Brax still seems to be getting conflicting advice, but he decided, all by himself, to go for the lesser charge to hopefully get a lighter sentence. Eight years for manslaughter is longer than he and others though, but if Australian law follows our system wouldn't that mean he'd be out in four anyway?

Irene offered, tentatively, after the blasting Zac gave her last time, to help look for VJ which he accepted, no apology though, I noticed. Irene may be the better person to go after VJ she has known him longer and do we really want another (acting) principal dodging school again?

I think Oscar is right to be still wary about Maddy saying she loves him, he was there when she said the same about Josh. She knew he had to get to school and catch up on his studying as he had fallen behind, but it still didn't stop her keep texting him, she keeps making the same mistake, she needs to give the boys in her life some time to themselves. Roo even said 'I'm pleased for you but' she's been there with Maddy before. I get the feelings (real or not) she has for Oscar is probably helping her get through the treatment by making her feel positive, but give him some breathing space.

P.S. Wonder how long Kat's advice for people, well the Braxtons, John & Marilyn to lock their doors will last, knowing the residents of the bay not very long.

[Slade]

Seems like Maddy is trying to force the whole relationship thing. The way she was holding hands with Oscar, it just seemed so fake. And I was shaking my head when she told him she loved him although I guess it was required to eliminate any element of doubt Oscar had in his mind about her intentions. She's trying to do everything that she believes he wants and telling him what he wants to hear to fuel her dependency. If she wasn't so put out by the chemo she might have thrown herself at him and tried and sleep with him again.

Kyle losing it over Ryan again was really funny. He still obviously hasn't dealt with his anger management issues and if Ash hadn't jumped in I'm not sure how far he would have gone. In saying that I'm not liking Ash at the moment. I do have to admit, I am finding Ryan's behaviour quite amusing so I hope he continues the stalking for a bit just to wind Kyle up some more so I can laugh at him again for getting annoyed.

Don't understand the grounds at which they can offer a manslaughter charge to Brax.

Good to see Kat in her own clothes although apart from the Braxton's and their close friends she's not really interacting much with any of the other main characters.

[Red Ranger 1]

It felt like we’re meant to think Brax is being daft with his behaviour but if you accept he is going to plead guilty, his actions seem pretty sensible. Well, apart from making Andy manager, which I rolled my eyes at but it’s seemed inevitabe ever since Casey bit the dust. (Are there any qualified instrtuctors working at the gym?) He needs them to be able to make decisions about the family business: Maybe power of attorney would have been enough but if they feel that strongly about it they can always sign it all back to him when he gets out. Nice to get confirmation that Kyle got his 25% share at last, and I wish we’d seen a few more old characters in Ricky’s slide show.

The promo and recap made me worried that we were going to see Marilyn still being petty towards John for washing the mural off, so I’m glad it wasn’t that at all and it was about John being stung by Marilyn’s claim he doesn’t understand romance and trying to prove her wrong. (Evelyn still felt the need to snipe about the mural though.) John’s chat with Josh and his attempts to write poetry (“Your hair is big and doesn’t move”) provided much needed comedy.

The Andy and Hannah stuff was too dire for words. It’s bad enough they’re trying to turn Andy into Heath with a more shallow and less convincing version of the “Redeemed by love” storyline (yeah, not buying it) but when it gets reduced to the level of “Hannah might never walk again but what’s really getting her down is that Andy won’t have sex with her”…Yeah, don’t care. Ascribing Hannah’s improvement to Andy, as Denny seems to do, is possibly being a bit generous given that it was Zac who gave her the push while Andy’s still carrying her everywhere rather than letting her do it herself.