Latest UK Episode Discussion (2006-2017 Seasons)

[H&Alover]

So baby Braxton finally makes an appearance, he was a little cutie!!!   John, after his initial faffing about, did a good job in getting Ricky to hospital, he did change that wheel pretty damn quick!!!!  I just loved the way Ricky was squeezing his hand so hard he was wincing, he had to pry her hand away. Denny was the next one to suffer that!  How coincidental was that that Marilyn had to overhear Ricky asking/ordering John to take her to hospital! Suppose it would be too much of a stretch that BB has the middle name of John?  Right OK thought it might be. Kyle was great as birth partner, right encouragement at the right time. Come on Psychic of course Nate had to deliver the baby, though not totally single handed, he's a man of many talents including genecology it seems.  There are plenty of male genecologists, Mr. T in Holby City for one, though there was plenty of time   to get hold of a midwife.  It did seem very Draconian for the prison not to pass on the message about why Ricky wasn't able to come, still we saw he hears tomorrow.  Wasn't Ricky using her mobile earlier trying to get hold of someone, anyone?  I know there used to be a land line on the table by the door. 

Yes I spotted the woman due to have a basket ball, there always seem to be one of them wandering around if someone in the main cast is about to give birth.

That hug between Denny and Ash was so natural after their initial uneasiness in each other company.  Always easier to comment on others relationships even if yours has turned out rubbish, plus Kyle could see they are right for each other and didn't want them making the same mistake and it was down to him Ash took the decision to lie.  Billie gets in on the act tomorrow.

It was the pepper mill talk without the pepper mill between John, Marilyn and Jett. It's a big assumption on Marilyn's part that Jett will ever have to fight and he will be learning a trade, whatever he choses.  OK fine mention Byron, but did seem odd to mention Nicole's baby, she skipped the kidnapping part, is John aware of any of that?  I think Alf could have handled being asked about Jett, maybe, joining up. Like I said before he may have decided it wasn't for him or they (the school) may have decided he wasn't for them.  I thought Alf did have a choice as to fighting in Vietnam?  Glad it wasn't just me atrus about the expression on Jett's face when he John and Marilyn hugged.

[Red Ranger 1]

I believe it's been stated quite a few times over the years that Alf was drafted by lottery for Vietnam service, as a lot of the soldiers who served there were.(It's not something I know a great deal about, I admit.)John was around during Marilyn's attempts to adopt George, he'd recently married Gina at the time, but he and Marilyn weren't particularly close so he might not know all the details unless she's filled him in since.

Today! First thought...Denny takes photos of the baby with Kyle rather than Ricky?I wonder who passed that note on to Brax, did Ash call in a favour or did someone (Gregory?) take pity on him and bend the rules?Anyway, his scenes worked a lot better here than the rather forced contrast in the previous episode and there was a genuine poignancy about him hearing his son on the phone and realising how little he's going to see of him.

Billie was definitely not looking at Kyle the way you would look at a friend.I'd still rather they be together, but if Kyle really can't get over Phoebe then I hope Billie doesn't go too far in obsessing over him.(She definitely had an ulterior motive for sending him to talk to Phoebe.)I did actually rather like her elsewhere, her scene with Ash and joke about dropping the baby in the sea was rather fun, and it was good to see her plead his case to Denny.Phoebe irritated me somewhat, with her rant suggesting that even though they've broken up Kyle shouldn't ever be with anyone else or that means he never cared.I'm not sure if it was meant to be a cover but I found her "larger than life" behaviour at the hospital rather out of place.

Billie working at the gym should be interesting and glad that Ash and Denny have patched things up.Please don't let them mess up this time...

[Psychic Wombat]

Yes, I don't understand how Phoebe can be mad at Kyle sleeping with nympho Billie, she was the one who ended it and walked away over Kyle wanting to have a family one day and judging by Kyles reaction over Erica's baby I don't think he's gone off the idea! In fact if Billie wants Kyle a pregnancy trap might be her best tactic... 

Not liking Alf being all angst ridden, surely he would have collected his fishing tackle and sailed off by his self on the Blaxland by now.

Not sure what condition would cause Leahs personality swings, she should be on medication, after care in Aus looks as good as it is in the UK!

[H&Alover]

I think Phoebe 's main problem was  that Kyle 'seemed' to move on very quickly by sleeping with Billie considering how in love with each other they were, although we know, the first time at least, Billie just caught him when he was most vulnerable.  At least he was honest enough not to  lie when she asked if it happened more than once, which I think she may, just may, have forgiven.  He' given it his best shot and should now back off, otherwise he's in danger of becoming a stalker. It's obvious to us Billie has got it bad for him and pretty brave of her to tell him to go and talk to Phoebe so there was an ending - I hate the word 'closure', it could have gone against her.  Of course if they do get together at some time they'll have Ash to deal with.

Talking of whom, he and Denny are back together again,  if it wasn't apparent they should be I would have said Hannah and Billie were both sticking their noses in by telling Denny she should give Ash another chance. As long as he is honest with her and doesn't do the 'trying to protect you' thing again, I see a future there.

Is it me or has the friendship between Hannah and Phoebe come out of nowhere?  I do like them as friends though and Phoeb's had good support at her first proper gig since that incident, I won't include the Colour Run one as that was for a friend. Hannah certainly know how to let her hair down and I may seem over cautious and finicky but should she have been dancing like that so soon after not being able to walk?  Well done Chris, he defused what could have been a right punch up by doing what he does best, talking.  Ash was more than ready to wade in which more than likely ended up with him back in jail. Andy did well by just turning round and walking out, something that wouldn't have happened not long ago.  Do hope he's not going to brood over it and just accept it was a one off, Hannah was drunk and nothing happened. If he really wants to know he can ask Denny or Ash who can tell him what happened.

Kyle was well taken by his nephew and Phoebe seeing his expression only reinforced her conviction he wouldn't be content without children in his life in the future.  Phoebe was probably hyper due to Kyle being there and 'trying' to act cool.  I see John  had the same thought as me about BB having the name John!  like to think it was the 'friendly' screw who slipped that note under Bax's door. His whoop of joy was lovely, then he gets to hear his son 'talking' to him next day.

So Red, re Alf and Vietnam,  if your number comes up you don't get a choice but to go, sounds rough. John seemed to just suddenly appear though he had been talked about before that, he was on the council wasn't he and didn't have a very good rep. I do remember one scene when he wasn't very nice to Brendon.

Sadly VJ was optimistic about Leah getting better, she's not, she's just going to have good days and bad days. There is no easy way to handle someone who has something  like that, whatever you say is or could be taken the wrong way. Zac is right being a school counsellor is a lot different to working in the diner, being more stressful, no offence ladies and Chris. It appears she has started having memory problems now.

 

[Brian]

Feel sorry for Matt. he is desperate for a girl friend. Sasha was really good for him and he misses that influence in his life. He doesn't really want to study, despite getting help from Maddy. Someone give him a job 

[Red Ranger 1]

So Red, re Alf and Vietnam,  if your number comes up you don't get a choice but to go, sounds rough. John seemed to just suddenly appear though he had been talked about before that, he was on the council wasn't he and didn't have a very good rep. I do remember one scene when he wasn't very nice to Brendon.

I know at least some people were imprisoned for refusing the draft. Whether there was a third option or not I couldn’t say 100%: I was surprised at how leniently the UK treated conscientious objectors during WW2, which was thirty years earlier and only thirty years after we had a tendency to shoot them. As for John, we saw him elected to council for the first time in 2009 (Martha stood against him) and it was said he’d only been in town six months when he first appeared. But then, in 2011, he started talking about losing the surf carnival to Mangrove River x years in the row and treating his opposite number like a long term rival as if he’d been around for it all, when he clearly hadn’t.

 

Well, Kyle turning up to Phoebe’s concert with Billie in tow was always going to be reminiscent of waving a red rag at a bull. He probably should have got her to stand away from the table a bit. I wonder if Billie’s given up on him after the way she made a quiet exit during his and Phoebe’s stand off. The way she seemed to leave alone I was actually expecting her to end up being attacked walking home on her own, a la Chloe all those years ago. (Maybe she was? We haven’t seen her since…) Chris was brilliant, from his John Travolta-esque appearance at the Diner (loved everyone saying “Short” in unison) to the fact he managed to defuse a fight simply by being Chris. A good thing too, since I was worried Ash was going to get into a fight with that guy and blow things with Denny again. But Chris and Ash as the carrot and the stick (or was it good cop, bad cop?) went a lot better. And I’m glad that despite a mournful Kyle and drunk Hannah, Ash and Denny did have a good “first date”. Oscar sitting there reading his textbooks while Andy yells at the football was another good moment.

 

I actually think Zac handled things wrongly by trying to change Leah’s mind. It might have been one of Leah’s “turns” that prompted her rant but is he really expecting her to stay home forever? She’s not going to get any better without surgery, so unless Zac’s expecting her to change her mind (which she probably will but that’s another matter) she’ll never go back to work. She needed to have a go, just to see if she could do it, although the fact she apparently can’t even remember all her “turns” now isn’t particularly encouraging. And the way she spoke to Matt shows she really isn’t up for the job: She can’t talk like that to a student who doesn’t know her as well and is less likely to brush it aside, so Matt and VJ need to stop covering for her. And I notice again that her door refers to as “Leah Patterson”, so why are the end credts still Patterson-Baker?

 

Chris’ hangover D-plot felt like a complete waste of time: I don’t want the character to leave but they need to treat him as part of the show, which the previous episode did fairly well, rather than someone bolted on to it. He’d have been the perfect person for Maddy to confide in about everyone’s strange behaviour, building on their recent camaraderie, but instead he walks off when she comes in like they don’t know each other. I found Matt’s behaviour here absolutely ridiculous. Why does he suddenly think Maddy likes him, just because Evelyn was trying to force them together? The most sensible thing to do would have been to tell Maddy about the matchmaking and have a laugh about it with her. The second most sensible thing would have been to talk it over with Josh, who was already involved. Instead he drags Oscar into it and literally forces him to talk to Maddy. End result: Maddy gets upset, which I kind of understand but did feel was a bit of an overreaction. Evelyn’s behaviour might have been stupid, maybe even arrogant and thoughtless, but I actually think she actually was treating Maddy like normal and the cancer didn’t even cross her mind. While her switching her attention to Oscar shows an inability to learn from her mistakes (even if at least one of the parties is interested this time round), it does nix the idea of her doing it to keep him and Maddy apart. Not sure what to make of Oscar here: Josh was quite right to point out that he was the one to dump Maddy and I didn’t like the way he was putting Matt down to her, but it is nice to see his feelings haven’t just disappeared.

 

The cliffhanger was random beyond belief.

[Angelica]

I feel like they are re-writing history with the whole Phoebe/Kyle break up. I can understand why Phoebe was upset that Kyle had slept with someone else so soon after they had broken up (when they were supposed to be in love with each other). However, it feels like Phoebe is acting like Billie is the main reason for their break up, and not the fact that they both wanted different things. And all this talk about hoping to get back together despite the fact that nothing has changed and they both still want different things. It doesn't matter, ultimately, whether Kyle slept with Billie or not. You can't make a relationship work if one of you wants a family and marriage, and one of you doesn't (and unlikely to change their mind any time soon). I also wish Phoebe was a bit consistent with her friendships - one minute her and Kat are BFFs, and suddenly out of nowhere, her and Hannah are BFFs and we don't see Phoebe talking to Kat at all. Not that Phoebe isn't allowed to have more than one friend, but I wish her friendships felt more genuine than having Phoebe confide to whomever happens to be available that week.

It was nice to see Chris able to diffuse the situation at the club, just by being Chris. However, I think they really missed out on an opportunity to integrate Chris with some of the other cast members properly. After all, who does Chris interact with these days other than Irene?

The Maddy/Matt storyline was particularly contrived. I did think Maddy was a bit full on with Matt, and she does have the habit of attaching herself to people. But there was a lot of ridiculous behaviour in play here: Matt asking Oscar to get involved given Oscar's history with Maddy rather than asking the 2 people involved with setting him up with Maddy, Evie acting surprised that Oscar might be jealous of Matt (I always thought it odd that  she setting up her brother's ex with someone else), Evie suddenly deciding she is going to help Oscar instead, Matt's disproportionate freak out re: Maddy potentially having feelings for him, and Maddy's overreaction on finding out her friends' were setting her up with Matt (it was thoughtless of Evie but I hardly think it was a betrayal of trust).

While I thought both VJ, and Matt were sweet with Leah, I don't think they are doing her any favour by trying to downplay what happened. Hope we get back the old Leah soon!

[CaptainHulk]

Evie, Beat it! You're not helping! Listen to Josh! You can't force to people together who don't want to be more than friends!

Today's ep was everything a H&A ep should be and hasn't been for a while.

Really feel for Leah, she was like a pissed-off Lioness when Matt came into the office.

The ATM business, that's what got me tuning in for tomorrow.

LOL @ Hungover Chris.

[atrus]

It could just be me over-analysing it, but I felt from the heartfelt glances like they were going somewhere that I'd rather they didn't with Ricky and Kyle during the post-birth scenes at the hospital on Tuesday. That despite the fact that he still seems to be sniffing around Phoebe, and that Billie is still sniffing around him. Still, Kyle has said never again to Billie, and Phoebe appeared to really hammer the nails into the coffin of their relationship at the gig, so perhaps they are freeing him up for something else...

I can't decide whether I'm interested in Ash and Denny as a couple, or indeed as characters: there's still not quite enough about them, perhaps. But I'm finding myself getting there with Andy and Hannah, who the producers seem to be pulling out all the stops to make interesting all of a sudden.

Despite my best attempts to resist it, I found myself feeling sorry for Andy turning up and seeing Hannah dancing with someone else. Rather than having him do the predictable thing of kicking off and hospitalising the extra, he just turned and went out, which was a nice touch. And then he didn't even kick off when she got home, which was an even nicer touch.

Here we go again with Loopy Cupid Evie. Much as her matchmaking is way off-mark, it's nice to see a bit of an idiosyncratic performance from her - and it was especially funny how she suddenly decided to switch to Oscar/Maddy matchmaking the moment she sensed he still had an interest. But yes, in any case, I don't think there was any element of charity involved as Maddy assumed. Glad they don't seem to be going there with her and Matt, anyhow; it's nice to have a sense that a boy and girl can be friends without having to force a relationship.

Agree with comments above about Chris. I love his comedy scenes, and his prevention of another dull macho stand-off at the gig was inspired - but his stuff sometimes feels like it could be funnelled off into a sitcom spin-off, for all the plot bearing it has on the rest of the show. It's not often I find myself calling for confected romances, but I do wonder if it's about time he had a love interest (other than John Palmer and 'Renie'). If done right and against the grain, like most of his stuff, it could be really effective. 

As usual, Leah's make-up scenes with Matt and VJ were really nice - but yes, it's not helping that VJ seems to be ignoring her very obvious problems in the hope that they'll just go away.

The Matt ATM theft plot seemed very tacked-on, partly because of the sledgehammer foreshadowing throughout the episode - with Kat wandering round delivering timely exposition through a mobile phone at every opportunity, in between jogging on the beach and going for a coffee. I think it's probably 50:50 whether or not he did it; if he did it was likely before his spell at Camp Redemption.

[Red Ranger 1]

It could just be me over-analysing it, but I felt from the heartfelt glances like they were going somewhere that I'd rather they didn't with Ricky and Kyle during the post-birth scenes at the hospital on Tuesday. That despite the fact that he still seems to be sniffing around Phoebe, and that Billie is still sniffing around him. Still, Kyle has said never again to Billie, and Phoebe appeared to really hammer the nails into the coffin of their relationship at the gig, so perhaps they are freeing him up for something else...

Despite my best attempts to resist it, I found myself feeling sorry for Andy turning up and seeing Hannah dancing with someone else. Rather than having him do the predictable thing of kicking off and hospitalising the extra, he just turned and went out, which was a nice touch. And then he didn't even kick off when she got home, which was an even nicer touch.

I could be wrong but I doubt it's going in that direction.I get the feeling that Ricky will have a similar relationship with Kyle to the one she had with Heath last time Brax was in jail and look on him as a kind of brother.As for Andy...not that I'm saying people shouldn't sympathise with him if they're that way inclined, but I thought he came across as rather desperate. I think he's aware that Hannah had cold feet recently and is scared to rock the boat, so is hoping that she'll never know what happened (given that she's forgotten and Andy told Oscar not to mention he went out) and he can bury his head in the sand.

Alf's episode count this week:One, although he was credited on Thursday despite not appearing.Andy was also only in one(but was credited on Tuesday for no appearance), Roo was in four.

So, good to finally have Alf back and picking up his storyline, and good also that he's getting counselling.I'm liking the development of Maddy: She's still no angel and traces of her old personality are there but she's trying.Having her do her old thing of taking her frustrations out on Roo but stop when Alf gently told her to was a nice touch.And I enjoyed her showdown with Evelyn and Josh more than I thought I would from the promo, with her rightly pointing out that their trying to give her a boyfriend just cost her a friend and Evelyn slowly digging herself a deeper and deeper hole.Actually, Evelyn's coming across quite scatterbrained:Her planning another mural and Josh patiently explaining he was joking was a laugh out loud moment.

I'd completely forgotten about that money Matt brought home, how many weeks ago was that?After a number of weeks where my opinion of Nate has improved, he was right back on my hate list here.His telling Leah to hide the money was completely wrong so I was glad that she handed it over to Kat and hoped that was it.But no, he has to get on his high horse and act like a caring doctor when in fact he's yet another person who's been corrupted by the Braxtons: He's spent so long as their underworld doctor, turning a blind eye to crimes, that he thinks everyone else should do the same.He had absolutely no right talking to Leah the way he did and even less trying to put pressure on Kat to turn corrupt.Matt is his own worst enemy again, clamming up when he clearly knows more than he says: Whether it's self-flagellation or honour among thieves, I don't know.And the real problem is, given the show's current moral integrity problems that has seen a murderer like Barrett treated like a comedy character, I get the feeling we really are supposed to see Nate as a defender of the downtrodden, Matt as above the law and Leah and Kat, the ones who are on the right side of the law, as in the wrong, when in fact it's Nate and Matt who are in the wrong.

CURS: Why was all that stuff about Nate helping Ricky in there?It had no real bearing on anything.