Latest UK Episode Discussion (2006-2017 Seasons)

[Slade]

I laughed at Maddy's hurt expression when Oscar declared they were friends - Although I'm not sure whether that was genuine from her or not. I initially thought that was some sort of test from him just to see how she would react so he could validate their 'relationship'. Interestingly Spencer seems to be adopting Oscar's tactics, trying to be there as Maddy's friend and support her maybe hoping for something more later on down the line. Well it worked for Oscar (sort of). The whole thing with Maddy and Oscar seems to me forced and unnatural (from Maddy's perspective). Almost feels like she's trying to make herself love him to keep him around. Interestingly Spencer said she was better and stronger because of Oscar which kind of reinforces the whole dependency point IMO.

I haven't commented on the whole John wanting to move house storyline but objectively I wouldn't want to even live on the same street as the Braxtons let alone next door to them.

Another example of Chris being annoying, just strolling into John's opening his fridge and helping himself to a drink, not getting the hint (again) that John didn't want to entertain him (and he had the gall to call Spencer annoying during that interaction!).

[H&Alover]

So was the whole reason Spencer having hissy fits due to him feeling left out of Maddy's life when they used to be so close? If so good for Chris telling him to go and see her as a friend, she doesn't have many others does she? I think he has realised the ship has well and truly sailed regarding him and Maddy getting back together. I didn't think the dinner at Angelo's included Roo, she wasn't mentioned. His idea is a good one, but he definitely needs to get Maddy involved and not just spring it on her, like Irene she may hate it, she may even have some ideas of her own to contribute.

That thought occurred to me as well Red as to why Matt was so off with Sasha, she did all that work to get into uni, then bunks off after eight days, I guess she was expecting him to feel flattered. I get she misses him, but how far away is this uni, can't be that far, she only had a small bag with her, couldn't he go and see her? Marilyn's advice to confront him didn't work out did it?

About time Zac apologised to Irene for his behaviour last week, still no mention of Helen and Theo visiting Leah. We haven't suddenly reached a half term have we which is why Zac feels it is OK to dashing off to the city to be with VJ? Otherwise we are going to have another absent Principal and he'd just told Spencer he'd sort out some fundraising via the school.

Of course Chris walked straight in, the door wasn't locked was it!

Marilyn finally got John to listen as opposed to just hearing what she was saying about moving. His revelation of his 'poems' and shrine didn't hit the mark, but his ripping down the For Sale did! Btw won't he have to pay for that? As for the prospective buyer, nothing had been agreed or signed. On the subject of other neighbours in that cul-de-sac we never hear anything from them or see them, there are other people there isn't there?

[CaptainHulk]

As long as there's another guy in the picture (Josh, Oscar), Spence is doomed to the friendzone.

[Red Ranger 1]

Yes, I agree Chris was irritating intruding in John's house like that.I did like the way he just went when Marilyn said and John went "How do you do that?" though.

Alf's episode count this week: None! (What else was Ray Meagher doing?) Roo was in four, Kat was only in one.

Irene's suggestions, and Matt's later explanation, make his behaviour towards Sasha more understandable: What's the point in having her back if she's just going to go away again?I guess it's that balancing act between wanting to spend as much time as possible together and finding separation all the harder the more titbits you're thrown.With Zac absent, Nate is left in the role of Matt's confidante.Loved his trying desperately to avoid the argument at the start.

It's a shame all of that got pushed to one side in favour of a long drawn out Brax storyline.It really didn't justify all the screen time it got, which got filled out with lots of scenes of characters going "It's not fair!" like Harry Enfield teenagers, reiterating the same points and desperately trying to skirt around the fact that Andy went and killed Jake anyway and karma hasn't caught up with him yet.And yet another gratuitous and unnecessary Brax/Ricky bed scene, which would probably have had more emotional impact if they'd been sat on the sofa with their clothes on and instead came across as vaguely voyeuristic.And slightly silly bits like Kyle acting as though Brax was already out of jail when Phoebe turned up (she was actually there for the tail end of that storyline) and them showing Casey's headstone with the wrong date on after trying to shoot around it on the more recent visits.All of which smothered the good bits, like Brax's focus on finishing the cot before going to jail and Ash's moment of offering himself up.And a real pippin of a Brax/Kyle scene, with Brax casually shrugging off Kyle going against his wishes with Cheryl and affirming that he's his brother: Even though he's probably got more in common with Ash and Andy, Kyle's the one he knows will be there no matter what.(Logic flaw:Why would Kyle call Cheryl but not Heath?)But the final scene kind of renders the previous 22 minutes redundant: It's fair enough in one way, since Brax didn't do it, but he's running the risk of it backfiring.(Nice round of reactions, from Ash's undisguised delight to Ricky's hopeful approval to Kyle's simple shock.But would the judge really stay quiet for that long to provide a cliffhanger?)

[Psychic Wombat]

What is it with Marilyn, it took John ages to entice her to live with him in 'his and Gina's ' house but now she's done a complete U turn and won't leave it - bizarre. Surely the most important thing is their family staying together above where they live, anyway I'm sure it wouldn't be far away since they wouldn't move Jet from his school.

[Angelica]

Caught up with Thurs and Friday's episode.

I liked the way that all the storylines in Thurs seemed to be connected. Like for instance, how Oscar's issues with his relationship with Maddy caused him to phone Zac, and their chat spurred Zac to reach out again to VJ. Or how Marilyn used her experience with John to then encourage Sasha to confront Matt.

I felt we got a lot of really good scenes in Thurs. I really liked Spencer and Maddy's scene - I can't tell if Spencer is actually interested in Maddy, or was just upset about feeling left out of her life, but I always have found Spencer and Maddy's relationship very believable. No matter how long it has been since they last interacted, it always feel like they genuinely care about each other. I really liked Spencer's and Roo's scene - sometimes, I forget that Spencer started off living at the Caravan Park, so it was nice to be reminded that out of everyone, Roo probably understands the Spencer/Maddy dynamic the best. Really nice scene with Oscar and Zac too, again nice to be reminded that Zac is actually related to the twins.

While I think John should have discussed his decision with his family to sell the house before putting it on the market, I don't think he is wrong to want some distance between his family and the Braxtons. With the Braxtons and the Barretts all living there, it is fair to say that all the trouble in Summer Bay is coming exclusively from the people living next door to them. I would want to move if I were them. I just think that Marilyn and Jett should have seen that their family is made up of more than the bricks that makes up the house, and that they can take their memories wherever they go. So I don't think it was triumph that John decided to stay in the house. Although, I did like the contrast between the teenage concept of a grand romantic gesture and the adult version (putting the person you love and their happiness ahead of your own happiness),

That being said, I felt at least that by the end of Thurs we had moved some of the storylines along at least.

Unfortunately, I enjoyed the Fri episode a lot letter. I actually fast forwarded through some of the Ricky/Brax scenes once I realised they were going to rehash the exact same conversation over and over again. Did like the Kyle/Brax scene. Brax's decision to now plead not guilty was not surprising, but did make me resent how much time in that episode we had with those Ricky/Brax scenes.

Good Sasha/Matt scenes again - but I think it is clear that the end is near. I think this slow break down of their relationship just seems so true to all those school relationships that struggled with the transition once people moved to university.

[Psychic Wombat]

Yes, I think the Matt/Sasha relationship has nearly run it's course, in some ways I think Sasha's been a distraction that Matt could have done without with everything that's gone on in his life, but we can't always choose when things are going to happen like relationships.

Yesterday I was left wondering what Brax's get out of gaol card was going to be, are we going to see new evidence materialise? Let's hope the chap from the bar will crumble under cross examination. I was a bit confused about plea bargaining before the case even got to court, surely if the prosecution has a water tight case they wouldn't need to offer it? Maybe it's to save court time or something.

Best line last week was Oscar 'how do I know it's not the cancer talking' nice one Oscar. I think he's being a complete martyr over Maddie but we shall see. Spencer needs to move on, can't the script writers pair him up with someone, it's about time now.

[H&Alover]

The prosecution doesn't have an air tight case, there was no history between Brax and Dean, unlike Ash and Dean. No witnesses, only circumstantial evidence as in Brax;s prints on the spade, if he had killed him he would have wiped them off. It may have droned on a bit but I thought the scenes with the Braxton's, Ricky, Andy, Ash and Phoebe were very good. The scene with Phoebe comforting Ricky was very touching. For all the bad things he has done in the past and there have been plenty, he is getting done for something he didn't do - as he said - karma. I was expecting Brax to flip out then Kyle told him he had rung Cheryl (as to logic flaw, Heath has Bianca, Darcy and Harley to think about, Cheryl's on her own) but he took it well. His final line about Kyle looking after Ricky and the baby even though there would be Ash, Andy, Phoebe - 'they aren't blood, you are' I think that is the nicest thing he's said to Kyle. Of course we had to have a final graveside scene, wouldn't have been right if we didn't. Is it wise he changed his plea at the last moment, (shades of Broadchurch there) - Craig isn't going to be happy, it's thrown his arguments right out of the window. The judge won't be happy either.

:offtopic:Do Australian soaps have the same policy as us if a character leaves as in 'leaving the door open'?

I can see now why Matt was so off with Sasha, he'd just got used to her being away now she's got him all stirred up again and she's going back and he's got to get used to her being gone again!

Does Ryan take the opportunity of the Braxton house being empty to sneak in and plant that camera as we saw in the trailer?

[Slade]

Spencer needs to move on, can't the script writers pair him up with someone, it's about time now.

To be fair to Spencer I think he has tried to move on with Sasha and Evelyn but unfortunately in both cases things didn't work out. The other girl that he slept with, maybe at a another time it may have been different but he wasn't in the right headspace. At the moment there aren't enough females to go around. It's only Sasha, Evelyn and Phoebe, all of which are taken. Kat is single but she's more for Nate/Ash. So I guess that leaves Spencer/Chris, VJ out in the dark. As has already been mentioned in this thread it's looking like Sasha/Matt aren't going to be an item for that much longer. So if they do break up perhaps Spencer can wait a while and try his luck with Sasha again obviously keeping the option open for Maddy.

Well I'm glad Brax hasn't decided to thrown in the towel like Roman did. If you're gonna get beat, at least go down fighting.

[H&Alover]

Nearly forgot, did I see Matt and Spencer having a civilised conversation?