Latest UK Episode Discussion (2006-2017 Seasons)

[Angelica]

 I think it's because Matt reminds me a bit of somebody I knew in real life - a genuinely warm-hearted person with good intentions who always found themselves back in the wrong crowd and on the road to self-destruction nonetheless. It's okay everyone saying that he's got nothing to be upset about compared to the much more severe traumas that others have faced, but that's not really how these things work. The truth of the matter is he obviously has incredibly low self-esteem, and the fact that he doesn't even have the strength to get himself through what some would consider relatively minor setbacks without turning to drink is in itself a major problem for any person to overcome.

​Yeah, Matt reminds me of a lot of people of people I knew when I was a teenager which is why even when he frustrates me as a character, I still feel sympathy for him. Because there is something so real about his downward spiral.  That self-destructive behaviour pattern that masks a deep-seeded insecurity. I always presumed that was what drew him to Sasha was the fact that like the rest of Walker family, she lacked self-esteem issues, knew what she wanted and was unafraid to go after what she wanted.

I liked Matt's and Leah scene (I think moving Matt into their household has been a good move as we have seen Matt have really good scenes with Leah, Zac and VJ). It's great that Matt is living with some adults he looks up. But I hope that we don't have any one person in Matt suddenly "cure" him of all his issues.

While I am not a huge fan of either Phoebe or Kat particularly, I am loving their newfound friendship and looking forward to seeing Phoebe develop as a character outside of the Braxton clan. I did think everyone was very naive in thinking that they could do one job for Gunno and that would be that. And I also think they should consider that the last thing Braxton would want would be to have any of them endanger their lives or risking prison, making his whole sacrifice redundant.

[TheBoss]

 

 

 

 

[TheBoss]

Am I the only one really struggling with Ashes extreme resentment towards drugs? While it's great to FINALLY have a character call out drug dealers for what they are, pure scum...but the Braxton family made their name selling drugs, even to kids in some cases (I specifically remember Heath selling drugs to kids still in uniform beside the surf club on one occasion). Is he unaware of this or has he made his peace with it since they're "good criminals" now? 

 

And what happened to Matts drug dealing when he first showed up? Now he's just a skater with an attitude like Josh said. Louise Bowes and Addario really struggle with realistic criminal characters

 

Was sad to see Spence go as I think he was capable of more

[H&Alover]

I think it  had to be  Ricky to explain to Billie what had happened to Dean, she wouldn't have believed Ash/Marty.  Ricky never knew Dean so could be more impartial about it, Billie did know Sam even though she couldn't, initially, believe he had murdered Dean. Billie needed to rush off, she had to have a long think about what she had been told, Thankfully she seemed to believe that is what happened, it would be good to see her again, but needs more time, she's spent so long running, it's going to be hard to settle anywhere.

Ash didn't know about Kyle's dark side, as far as he was concerned he was the level headed Braxton, but now realises what he could be capable of. We saw a flash of the 'old' Kyle when he grabbed Phoebe's wrist. Agree with others on here, very naïve of them all to think there was just going to be the 'one' job, Gunno's going to get them in deeper and deeper. Trouble is they are in between a rock and a hard place, don't help Brax gets it, they do help Gunno has them in his power.

Kat is one smart cop, but I hope she treads carefully and I'm liking her friendship with Phoebe.

I don't think Ash has any idea that the Braxton's were into drugs, even growing their own at one time, I wondered if anyone else was going to mention Matt selling the drugs to Andy which he then gave to Maddy way back when.

At least Josh and Evie made an effort with looking for Matt, Evie's 'rapping' did at least silence the mob after thinking they could intimidate her and Josh.  I think that dig about Ellie did bring Matt back down to earth and brought him back home.  His 'excuses' about drinking is what most people with a drink problem spout, they can handle it, everyone gets drunk at some point etc. Essentially though it has to be them to admit they have  a problem and need help which Matt has now done. Shame that  no-one was on hand to help his dad. Couldn't quite see how Leah blamed herself, most of the time she was in hospital in a coma!

I think most Australians who fought in Vietnam were treated as pariahs when they got home, but that has changed over the years.  Don't know Alf's personal reason for going. As Australia is treated as part of the UK they would have felt compelled to fight in both World Wars, I think that is right.

 

 

 

[Dan F]

I think most Australians who fought in Vietnam were treated as pariahs when they got home, but that has changed over the years.  Don't know Alf's personal reason for going.

​That's very much true, it's touched on in our Anzac feature.

As for Alf, it's likely he didn't get a choice in the matter as compulsory conscription was introduced in 1964, by way of a lottery based on birth dates.

[H&Alover]

 

 

I think most Australians who fought in Vietnam were treated as pariahs when they got home, but that has changed over the years.  Don't know Alf's personal reason for going.

​That's very much true, it's touched on in our Anzac feature.

As for Alf, it's likely he didn't get a choice in the matter as compulsory conscription was introduced in 1964, by way of a lottery based on birth dates.

​Thanks for that Dan F.

[c120701]

I've never realised before but Chris is the male Marilyn, the big hearted, well meaning person who starts out with the best of intentions which often backfires before getting it right in the end.

[Red Ranger 1]

the Braxton family made their name selling drugs, even to kids in some cases (I specifically remember Heath selling drugs to kids still in uniform beside the surf club on one occasion).

​Did we really see Heath selling drugs to schoolkids? It always seems like that's an urban legend that crops up every now and then to paint the Braxtons in the worst light possible.We twice saw him refuse to sell drugs to schoolkids (April and Jett); he was apparently selling them to teens who'd just left school and were going to post-graduation parties but I'm not sure if we ever saw it and they arguably weren't schoolkids anymore.

Anyway...if Kat wants to find out what the family's doing, she needs a better plan than "Ask their girlfriends."It's hard to see what good Phoebe telling Denny her suspicions of Ash did, apart from putting the wind up her.Rather than leaving voicemails that get ignored, why didn't they just go and ask Ricky what's going on?Oh, that's right, she's not in the episode.

Talking of which, did anyone invite Josh and Evelyn to the "family dinner"?Even though even Hannah can't take the idea of Andy as manager seriously, Oscar working at the gym could be interesting.I can see Hannah's point and it's nice that issues like Oscar's don't just get forgotten about but it's another case of a parent/guardian going behind a teen's back instead of being straight with them.Okay, Andy's her boyfriend so she's got easy access to him, but she should be discussing her concerns with Oscar, not putting pressure on Andy to fire him before he's even started.

I was unsure about Phoebe's advice to Matt, which was a bit on the vague side, but it seems to have prompted him to find a rehabilitation programme that could work for him, so good work.I guess it was inevitable that the truth about Zac would come out eventually (and a nice subtle reference to his own problems with alcohol when he gives VJ some insight). He arguably doesn't need to tell Leah now that Nate's allayed her suspicions but I guess he doesn't want to lie to her and I can't fault that.Hopefully she'll understand...

[atrus]

Enjoying the continuing focus on Leah and Zac. I really wasn't much of a fan of Zac when he first came into the show, but I think putting him with Leah has really grounded him a bit and given him purpose. The storyline with VJ while she was in a coma was well-handled and portrayed Zac's situation sympathetically - it really was a difficult one for him to have been in. So I hope she doesn't hold against him what he seems to be about to tell her.

Phoebe might have been right to say that counselling isn't for everyone, but I feel as if she should at least have encouraged Matt to give it a chance rather than telling him to write it off. His decision to listen to her may have turned out OK for now; but as Red said the advice was incredibly vague, and therefore could have had pretty much any result. Also, I would worry that going to some kind of detox camp in hope of a quick-fix might tackle the drinking in the short term, but not deal with the underlying emotional problems that perhaps an extended period of counselling might. (Then again, this is soap, so the camp may well offer the miracle cure required.)

In spite of all that I do enjoy Matt and Phoebe's scenes together. I'm not sure exactly how they became friends as I missed a fair chunk of the show relatively recently, rejoining during Maddy's 'pregnancy' - or whether it's just a passing acquaintance. But they do seem to have a good rapport; Phoebe was always one of the more tolerable of the 'Braxton sphere' but especially so in her scenes with Matt.

Speaking of the chunk of the show I missed, this was the first I've heard of Oscar's 'body image issues' so that was a revelation to me; I'd assumed when Hannah pulled a face that she was just worried about Oscar's working affecting his HSCs, in time-honoured H&A tradition. I read up in the bios but it doesn't sound like it was a very long-running storyline? I'll be interested to see how they revisit it now. It always feels like a bit of pot and kettle when soaps cover this kind of territory, particularly ones that put such an emphasis on having a good-looking, chiselled cast like H&A. But then again I guess you could see it as the show attempting to redress some of the damage that it and the media more generally does in terms of damaging physical self-esteem among the public, and young people in particular.

[KIMIF1]

I think it was John  Palmer who thought he saw Heath give drugs to  a school girl outside the Surf Club, he reported it to Charlie who immediately checked and it turned out to be chewing gum or something similar.