Latest UK Episode Discussion (2006-2017 Seasons)

[atrus]

RICKY: This is enough of the crime and the schemes and the retaliation. That kind of life has brought us nothing but pain, and it needs to stop, now.

An interesting line indeed. One can't help thinking (or hoping) that Ricky might be directly channeling the voice of the powers that be here - it's such an apt comment on the state of Home & Away over the last few years that it's difficult not to read authorial contrition between the lines. Time will tell, I suppose, but I have my fingers crossed for a change of emphasis and a move away from the crime stories. 

Well, I've just about caught up. I was thinking we'd seen the last of Brax on Tuesday, so I went into turbo-eyeroll mode when he showed up alive, and again dropped Ash in an impossible position. I'm strongly of the view that it would have been better to leave his fate uncertain rather than bringing him back for the obligatory baton pass to Ash/watching Ricky through the foliage. 

The Leah drama didn't really work so much for me, largely because we all knew nothing bad was going to happen to her - and because she was wandering around like she hadn't just had brain surgery by Monday's episode. And did Zac (and the rest of the Bay) learn absolutely nothing from Kyle's similarly public proposal to Phoebe lately? It's a pity there wasn't even any reference to that storyline given the obvious parallels - but the fact that Phoebe and Kyle remain steadfastly unengaged suggests to me that Leah will change her mind by next week, in order to differentiate the two storylines. I hope I'm right as I like Leah, Zac and VJ as a family unit - and I also liked VJ's reaction to Zac's decision to propose, which for once didn't involve throwing a punch.

I was also pleased to see Oscar and Maddy reunite. In my view they could have done without being split up in the first place, but I definitely think it's a better match than Maddy/Matt. No doubt we can now look forward to a raft of cringeworthy double-dating scenarios with Evie and Josh.

[CaptainHulk]

I bet there will come an event where Josh tells them "Run, save yourselves!" when Evie begins getting on their nerves.

Ricky's line is more an echoing of the jaded older viewer POV.

[H&Alover]

Brief recap on all that has happened and not necessarily in the right order. Even if Zac hadn't been at Kyle's(rejected) proposal he must have heard about it yet was still cajoled into doing the same thing by virtually the whole town!!  Loved that VJ was all for Zac being his step dad.  When you think about it maybe it's not such a good idea for Zac to marry Leah her husbands do have a habit of dying!!!   I thought she had made a miracle recovery but I did hear Zac saying to her it had only been a week since her op. His reaction at the hospital though is the same in every soap when a doctor/surgeon can't give the relatives the answer they want they get attacked verbally and sometimes physically.

Different people need to grieve in their own way, but Ricky does have Casey to think about and if she has a big meltdown at some point who will look after him Kyle, Ash and the others can only do so much.  I like that Phoebe is there not just for Kyle but the others as well. Just how long can Ash keep that huge, huge secret without cracking up, it was all very well for Brax to swear him to secrecy but he's not there to see the fallout and just how badly it's affecting them all. It can only end two ways (imo) he'll tell someone or have to leave.  Good for Ricky for putting her foot down regards no revenge for Brax's 'death'. It'll certainly puzzle Gunno though he'll be forever wondering when the axe will fall - good!!  In fact that will be better torture for him. 

Interesting to see Kat's reaction, she hadn't known any of them very long but it's affected her in a way she didn't expect.

Matt as matchmaker, as someone said he did a much better job than Evie. His look of pure frustration as Maddy and Oscar 'flirted' over their text books was a sight to see.

[Slade]

When I first saw Leah at the beach yesterday it felt like I had missed an episode.  Zac was so focused on her he didn't even realise what Nate and Kat were doing.  He seems pretty clued up so I can't believe he would be so stupid as to take advice from Chris of all people although at least he acknowledged this afterwards.  I'm once again asking myself why would someone put themselves and their partner in such a precarious position by publicly proposing.  I don't blame Leah for saying no.  She was right to go with her gut at the time.  Wasn't particularly happy about her proposing to Zac at the end as it seemed like she was doing it because of VJ and guilt about publicly rejecting him before.

Part of me was thinking it's a shame Billie didn't drown.  Still the best way to get over someone is to find someone else which I guess she has done with Kyle after Nate saved her.  Or perhaps I should say the best way to get over being obsessed with someone is to become obsessed with someone else.

So after Kyle tells Phoebe he loves her and wants to get back with her, she goes skinning dipping with Ash, flirts with him then they have a moment.  I guess she doesn't love Kyle as much as I thought.

[Red Ranger 1]

I do like the idea of Leah and Zac engaged…kind of and I’ll get on to the caveat in a bit…but it felt like the episode never fully explained why Leah turned him down and why she changed her mind. I do think she was sincere and just needed time and a quiet word from VJ to process it, which is another reason why the added pressure of the public proposal was a bad idea. It felt like the episode threw a whole load of reasons for Leah’s attitude at us without choosing one. I will say now that I really hope someone’s checked Charlie Clausen’s commitment to the show, so we’re not going to have Leah widowed for the third time in a couple of years or him suddenly heading off to Africa before they’re even married. If he is around for the long haul, I think they could make a good married couple. At least Kyle’s similar faux pas was referenced and it was nice to see Alf and Irene acting like the guardians.

 

In regards Nate and Kat’s spat, I’m more on Kat’s side: Humiliating someone you care about isn’t nice but you shouldn’t feel pressured to agree to something you don’t want just because you’ve got an audience. Shame it turns into an excuse to drip feed part of Kat’s back story that we worked out months ago anyway. It does seem like Billie’s transferred her obsession from Kyle to Nate with all the wistful looks, which isn’t good, but on the whole I do like the character and there’s others I’d rather see drown…

 

…oh, hi, Phoebe. Kyle’s speech to her was practically jawdropping when he says they were too busy focusing on the future to live in the moment. I’d say it’s the exact opposite: They got together without ever giving any thought as to what their future would be, and Kyle’s still doing it; unless he’s willing to abandon the idea of marriage and children, how much he loves Phoebe isn’t enough. Can Phoebe teleport or freeze time or something? She seemed to get out of the water, grab her and Ash’s clothes and disappear up the pier in just a few seconds while he barely moved. I like them as friends but please don’t say the show’s trying to make them into something more. It’s almost like tails you win, heads you lose, because I don’t want Phoebe with either of the two men she’s seen with here. I’d rather Kyle with Billie and Ash with Denny (and do not tell me those two were broken up to free him up for Phoebe), and if Phoebe must stick around I actually wouldn’t mind her with Matt, or even Josh if he and Evelyn are on the way out.

 

By the way, as of this week VJ is a regular. Seems slightly unfair that Felix Dean played the part for nearly six years without moving above recurring and Matt Little gets the upgrade in less than one, but I accept it’s probably not as simple as that.

[atrus]

Well my sympathy with Zac was tempered by the nature of the ridiculous public proposal (Who does that? Why is it considered romantic to put somebody in that position purely out of arrogant confidence in their saying yes?), but present nonetheless - which is perhaps an indication of how much I'm starting to like the character. I'm glad Leah changed her mind, but since marrying Leah is traditionally the kiss of death, literally or otherwise, for male characters of a certain age, I'm hoping for a bit more longevity in this case. Perhaps they could even become the new model foster parents of the Bay, if Ricky's 'no more crime' speech from yesterday proves to be prescient?

So Billie embarks on her latest stalk-athon. I'm not sure how old she's supposed to be, but she comes across like a lovesick schoolgirl just leaping from one inappropriate crush to the next. Not that it's particularly unusual behaviour for the bed-hopping Bay residents, as we saw today with Ash and Phoebe, presumably the latest product of the relationships dartboard in the writers' room. But I suspect the Billie storyline might turn out to be more interesting than your average spin of the love carousel - who doesn't love a bunny-boiler, after all?

[CaptainHulk]

While we're on the subject of "Who does that?"

I've always found it odd/annoying why people in Soaps literally Chuck their phones away just to get away from someone calling them? Turn the effing thing off or block the sodding number!

[Slade]

What is it with some of these characters?  Are the writers actually doing two simultaneous love triangles?  I thought Ash was really keen on Denny and the only reason why he finished with her was because he had to help Brax.  Now that's effectively over with I would have thought he would want to get back with her but no he wants to get with Phoebe and seems quite affected because Phoebe chose Kyle and not him.  Although she only did that because she's afraid of what would happen with Ash.

Was anybody else laughing when Nate put his foot in it with Andy, telling him about Sean being Hannah's ex then quickly making an excuse to leave?  Part of me is glad Hannah cheated on Andy because if she would do that after all he did for her before she obviously doesn't love him.

At first I was thinking we're not going to see Billie practically stalk Nate all the time but now I think it might actually be worth it to see her make a complete fool of herself!

[Red Ranger 1]

I'm finding the idea that one guy would find Phoebe flouncing about the place throwing tantrums attractive a bit hard to swallow, without them trying to convince us there could be two of them.Seriously, you'd think that performance by the pool table would have brought Ash to his senses but nope.And...how exactly is Ash the opposite of Kyle?Phoebe was never comfortable with...certain aspects of Kyle's lifestyle and Ash was a part of that lifestyle so why would she go there?Or, indeed, go back to Kyle when the reasons they broke up still exist?The opposite of Kyle would be...Oscar, I guess.

Hannah gives Phoebe questionable advice by acting as though their situations are the same and then doesn't take it herself.I don't care about Andy and Hannah, so I can't say I'm at all bothered about her cheating on him, but if they're going to do a big "Will Andy walk in on them?" cliffhanger, best not to follow it with a promo that makes it clear he didn't.And I was wondering how late it was and where he'd got to...So, Andy didn't know about Sean and Hannah.Why exactly would Nate phrase it like that, even if he thought Andy knew, instead of saying "Sean wrangled her into it"?

Oh, Billie.I can't help feeling sorry for her, she's obviously very unhappy to keep latching onto men to try and give her a sense of self-worth, and she's setting herself up for an even bigger fall here, with Nate completely oblivious to her feelings and committed to Kat.

Are they really just going to wrap Jett's storyline up like that?I mean, it's commendable for John and Marilyn not to stand in the way of what he wants, and sounds like it'll be a while before he gets sent off to the trenches so time for him to change his mind, but no scene between Alf and Jett?Oh well, two weeks to fit that in, I guess.I was thinking that he'd carried on applying after saying he wouldn't, so nice touch that it was something he did way back before Anzac Day.

[630si]

I'm so annoyed at Hannah. I don't know if it's because she's making me feel sorry for Andy or that in the promo she denies she's a cheat despite her track record with Nate and gig guy. 

 

Hey everyone btw  been away for a while, watched the show everyday of course.