Latest UK Episode Discussion (2006-2017 Seasons)

[CaptainHulk]

Liking the ANZAC story and Leah's recovery. Those are the brightest spots so far but it's too bad other stuff cuts across it.

[atrus]

Really playing catch-up this week.

It was a bit low of Matt to avoid Leah for the whole day on her return. I know he's struggling but sometimes you have to put aside your problems to support other people who are having a worse time of it. He was also out of line the way he treated Evie and Josh; so I'm glad he seemed to come to his senses towards the end of Monday's episode. The scenes between him and Leah were great.

About time Alf had a storyline, and it's a damn good one too. I liked his scene with Evie where he dropped the hose out of sheer anger - it's interesting because I can see both sides to this. On one hand those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it, and it's quite right we take stock and learn lessons from history. But on the other, for how long are we solemn and reverential about these things? 100 years? 200 years? 500 years? I get that Anzac Day is about more than Gallipoli, but there's sometimes a danger in that broader patriotism, in that you end up shrouding some of the less palatable facts of the past in sentimentalism.

It was a bit of an existential moment for Kyle and Phoebe, and ended in a different way to how I expected. A fairly rational break-up for once.

The 'everyone protects the pregnant lady from the truth' storyline was dull. It's a dull kind of storyline at the best of times, but when it involves the Braxtons, doubly so. And I'm not sure what Ash thought he was achieving going into prison to talk to Dropkick of the Week. It was clearly only going to make things worse; if he'd kept away, Gunno would have gotten less interested in picking on Brax over time when he realised it wasn't paying dividends or attracting attention from Ash.

Yawn also at Kat/Nate. Her explanation for not wanting to have a public relationship was as uninteresting as I suspected.

Spencer is getting a bit wearing with his slightly self-satisfied 'helping other people is fun' schtick. It feels like he's off his meds again, though I may be wrong. Wonder why the sudden mention of Dad?

[Brian]

Quite right C701 or whatever your number is. Can you have a name please? Quite right about the teenagers seeming to have everything (well almost) with no idea where the means of paying it comes from. Phones that never run out of money or charge. Access to contraceptives. Food bought in the café. Wide range of clothes. Clean white shirts every day for the schoolboys and why are some still in blue? Aren't they supposed to have forgotten they came from Mangrove River school?  Do Chris, Denny, Andy, Phoebe, etc really earn enough to keep them in their lifestyle? But it is a soap, so I suppose we are expected to forgo reality.

How is illiterate Andy going to get 90% in his written test? Or will Spencer pass it and become manager? Perhaps he will get him or Josh to write it for him.

[Dan F]

Access to contraceptives.

​Oh I wouldn't go that far...  I think Summer Bay's preferred method of contraception involves a lunar chart, an elastic band and a false sense of security.

[Brian]

Nice one, Dan F!!!!!

[H&Alover]

I agree with you 120701, although Leah was lucky to escape other serious injuries apart from her head injury, cuts and bruises aside, she would have been quite weak after spending however long it was, month, two, in  a coma. Her muscles would have been weakened, though I''m guessing the hospital would have moved her arms and legs so as to lessen the danger of them stiffening up.  it's not the same though as actually sitting up, standing, walking.  Seems she is having her drifting off moments which is why she scalded herself, on that point I always thought you're meant to keep a burn like that unbandaged to let the air get to it to let it heal.  I like she got to talk to Hannah and they gave each other their progress report.  With Hannah her injury is visible yet she had the same thing with Andy that Leah is going through with Zac, the boyfriend is turning into a carer.  I can understand Leah just wants to get on with things, but she shouldn't ignore the fact her body/mind is trying to tell her something isn't right. What's the odds something happens while Zac is on the school trip along with VJ and Matt, still Dr. Dishy will be there, unless he's with Kat.

We all knew Kat had to have a back story and it turned out to be more serious than we thought, she was engaged or was going to be to this cop she was seeing and who was caught up in the wrongful arrest/shooting thing.  OK I can see her not wanting to get involved with another cop, but Nate is a doctor so the same problem wouldn't occur would it or am I missing something?  I was thinking when she was advising Phoebe to be honest about her true feelings about marriage/family er  excuse me, pot, kettle, black.

Very sad Kyle and Phoebe's breakup, but Kat was right it would have torn them apart eventually, because Kyle would have still been  hoping one day she'd  change her mind. Unless she arranges different shifts from Kyle they won't be able to avoid each other at work, bad enough still living in the same small town, unless she's left of course.  I would imagine when she moved into Ricky's she didn't take all of her stuff as she was hoping she wouldn't b that long and it was only next door.

As painful as it must have been  for her to hear I'm glad Ash told Ricky the full truth about Gunno, it's what she'd been demanding. I knew her false contractions had the name Braxton (Hicks) in there somewhere.

I do hope Ash knows what he is doing he really is one loyal mate and feels he must do this to repay Brax for what he did for him. How is he going to get the drugs to Gunno, it would look very odd him suddenly becoming Gunno's new BF and he'd find it hard avoiding Brax once he comes out of solitary.

Good to see Alf taking centre stage for what seems for ever for quite an emotive storyline. Did other Aussie soaps include the centenary  of WW1?  Interesting (and surprising to Roo) that he'd never visited the memorial, though I guess some vets find it very hard to do so as it brings things up they would rather not be reminded of, they all have their own memories which they like to keep to themselves.  I think one of the reasons Evie and youngsters of her age don't have the same connection someone of Alf's age would do is age related. It was Alf's great grandfather who served in WW1 and I guess his grandfather served in WW2 (think I've got that right) and he served in Vietnam.   For Evie and co it would have to be great, great grandfathers (WW1) and even WW2 would make it grandfather/great grandfathers so no-one for them to relate to like Alf can, especially if they weren't close. I think the visit will bring it home to them, especially if they see their  names there and think 'Is that a member of my family?'  I think Maddy can be excused for not going if she has chemo planned.

Andy hasn't done his written exam yet and he just scraped through his theory.  Spencer, who helped, looks like he's going to have his mind occupied elsewhere after the news his and Chris' dad is in hospital.

[Dan F]

I think one of the reasons Evie and youngsters of her age don't have the same connection someone of Alf's age would do is age related. It was Alf's great grandfather who served in WW1 and I guess his grandfather served in WW2 (think I've got that right) and he served in Vietnam.

​It was Alf's grandfather who was killed in WWI, and Alf's dad served in WWII

[atrus]

Strip Study?! Probably the less said about that the better, except to remark that it's such a peculiarly H&A concept!

I'm glad both Maddy and Spencer came to the decisions they did about their respective parents. It's about time we learned a bit more about their real families, as it's been an element of both characters that's been somewhat lacking since they arrived.

More good stuff with Alf and the Anzac centenary. It's so rare he gets to do anything other than dispense advice to youngsters these days, so brilliant to see him invested in a storyline more directly. Really looking forward to seeing what happens at the memorial in tomorrow's episode.

[Slade]

As much as I like Evie I thought she was a bit insensitive when she made the remark about the pointless war memorial trip.  It didn't even come across as though she was antiwar.  It was almost like she couldn't be arsed to go.  Good to see some interaction with her and Oscar though.  And I liked the part where she realised she put her foot in it with Alf earlier on this week and Oscar was kind of teasing her about it.  Wasn't expecting Matt trying to kiss her coming out so quickly though.  For a minute I thought Josh was going to blame Evie which would have been completely hypocritical even if she had been the one to make the first move.  So I was glad he said it wasn't her he was annoyed with.  There is a concern that he's suppressing his anger which can only lead to one thing later on.

Well I guess the chemo's suddenly made Maddy more wiser now with her semi bonding with Alf about the fact her great grandfather fought in WW2.  Also, objectively I'm assuming her fight to survive is what prompted her to talk to Spencer not wanting to visit his dad.  I did find it interesting that she was defending his father as when he first came to the bay he referred to Maddy as "trailer trash".  Presumably this is what prompted Maddy to want to see her mum after all this time (that and Spencer calling her out about her double-standards).  Bright side to all of this is that Chris could be gone for a while.

I quite liked the 'strip study' and in one hand am glad Andy decided to swallow his pride and let Hannah help him although Kyle has a very valid point.  There is a lot riding on this (Is there any reason why Spencer couldn't have studied for the PT qualification?) so Andy is actually under a lot of pressure.  And sadly when he comes to take the actual exam Hannah won't be there to get her kit off.

[c120701]

I think they said they needed a Full Time PT and Spencer's still at school.