Latest UK Episode Discussion (2006-2017 Seasons)

[Red Ranger 1]

Another passing thought: No-one on the writing staff seems to remember but I seem to recall Leah and Zac actually met because Natalie moved him into the house while Leah and VJ were hiding out in Cyprus, and not that long after Leah helped him get Oscar and Evelyn away from the cult, so they weren't really the near-strangers that the episode implies.

[CaptainHulk]

They wanted to play up the romance aspect, I guess.

[Homeandawayfan.]

I dont know what episode number Fridays episode is but saw Dan Bennett credited at the end as the Script Executive. I am noticing an improvement already. Do come back when you are ready Jett.

[H&Alover]

If my reckoning is right it was episode 6221. Sorry 6225!

Right OK so what's the story behind Charlotte telling whoever she was on the phone to she hadn't seen Zac?  Couldn't be someone from high school could it or someone from later in their lives. Don't let it be another long lost child! Maybe someone he crossed or accidently did the dirty on. She's also changed her mind about the one night with Matt, definite shades of Angie there, she's hoping to carry it on and keep it quiet, for a teacher she's not very bright, Leah had already told her out the perils of living in a small town. There is an ulterior motive, imo,  it was Leah mentioning that Matt had had problems that seemed to have changed her mind. Another thing she obviously has a lot of teaching experience but and yet it is Zac who is the acting principal but she appears to be a jobbing teacher going wherever there is a job. It was amusing seeing Matt squirm having to have dinner  with her and VJ drooling over her wouldn't have helped.

So to Emma, Hannah and Sean who is a serial cheat.  Sadly there are women like Emma who stick with 'their' men believing they love them. I was expecting Josh with his super camera to find out about the affair by overhearing Emma and Sean, but it was the later chat between Sean and Hannah. Was it any better or worse for Hannah finding out she was one of many? Emma did feel she was more of a threat though.  It was clear from the look on Evie's face she already knew but as someone has said she was in an impossible position. Certainly looks like Josh had passed on the news to Andy, what a way to find out but naturally Josh would tell him. The fall out is going to be huge.

I loved the fact Jett dissuaded Marilyn and John from joining him, of course he'd like somewhere and someone to come back to in the holidays and after his course. We know Marilyn hasn't always been a permanent fixture in the bay but to him she has. It would be hard for either of them  to find another job just like that, not being ageist but John's age is against him.

[Red Ranger 1]

I think Dan Bennett's been back on the show for two weeks?

I found that episode slightly frustrating, since it seemed to be full of characters feeling sorry for themselves without me having any reason to feel sorry for them.Andy is scum and undeserving of sympathy, Hannah is selfish and immature and has brought everything on herself, Evelyn is a brat who thinks the world revolves around her.At least I got to enjoy the scene of Hannah finally telling Evelyn what a brat she is and slapping her: I almost whooped for joy when I saw that in the promo and it was just as good the second time round.Long overdue after Hannah spent last year letting Evelyn get away with murder.But I probably wasn't meant to be pleased and then I had to sit through Evelyn running crying to Zac (ironically echoing the way she went crying to Hannah when Zac got fed up of her being a brat and told her where to go;fortunately Zac handled it better) and Hannah acting as though slapping Evelyn is the worst thing you can do.(Nope, more people should do it.Evelyn's not exactly shy about slapping people.)I was half expecting Josh to just roll over and take her back, even though objectively I understand why she did what she did: He didn't but given that everyone thinks he should it's probably only a matter of time.("This is important,"Evelyn whines to Matt when he tunes out her self pity.What, because it's about her?)And then cut to Andy, who deals with it by physically abusing the one person left that shows him any loyalty.Josh should have called the police on him and had done with it, and the fact Charlotte didn't might be more evidence that she's dodgy.And Andy thought Hannah was perfect?What made him think that, her sneaking around with him behind her family's back or her making out with a married man?Oh well, at least this might be the end of Saint Andy.

Meanwhile, Charlotte comes across as an old contradiction.One minute she's warning Matt not to tell anyone about them, the next she's making eyes at him in such a blatant manner that even Leah picks up on it, even if she does jump to the wrong conclusion about it.

[Angelica]

It bothers me that with Josh and Evie acting so sanctimonious, no one has pointed out to either of them that they did a similar thing when they got together while Josh was still with Maddy. (Just like Hannah's indignation at Sean cheating on his wife isn't exactly justifiable when she willing cheated on her live-in partner). While I disagree with what Hannah did, I do think things aren't always as black and white as Evie would like to think. It was nice to be reminded that Evie is related to Zac (I thought we would have her turning up somewhere random like Irene's) - I was glad that Zac made an effort to try to mend the rift between Hannah and Evie, regardless of his opinions re: Hannah's actions. Nice scene with Matt and VJ outside of Evie's locker -  I think both boys had the good balance of trying to be supportive while still trying to give Evie a bit of perspective by pointing out that she was overreacting.

Not particularly keen on Charlotte. I am tired of any females working at the school who are either psychotic (Sophie, Jade Montgomery) or questionable morals/weak willed (Bianca, and now Charlotte). What happened to having the likes of Gina or Sally who were strong females to aspire to?  Charlotte isn't even trying to be subtle around Matt (Matt, at least partly, is not one for good decision making even at the best of times so it doesn't seem as ridiculous on his part).

[atrus]

Glad Friday's cliffhanger wasn't a fake and that Andy really had learned the truth, if only so we could move on sooner. I actually thought Andy was going to hit Hannah in a moment of anger, which might have been more in tune with the character we were first introduced to and more interesting than the Hannah-slaps-Evie development that we actually did get. But instead we continue to be encouraged to feel as sorry for Andy as possible. Him shoving Josh to the ground was also pretty bad, although that whole scene appeared simply to be a necessary prelude to a lengthy 'don't drive the morning after' cautionary tale rather than something Josh was going to hold against him.

The truth is I still don't care a huge amount about Andy or Hannah, so I'll move onto Evie. I'm a bit divided over her; anyone as sanctimonious as she is is annoying by definition, but at the same time her young age means she should perhaps get a little bit of leeway. It doesn't seem fair that her own relationship should be ruined because of Hannah's actions and request for Evie to keep them quiet, so I'm hoping Josh does get round to forgiving her eventually.

Good job it was an extra serving in the Diner and not one of the 'Girls', or else they'd have been onto Charlotte and Matt straight away. Their chat there seemed to be highly conspicuous, and then they had another one in the middle of the corridor at school. Charlotte certainly doesn't seem to be averse to risk-taking behaviour, and did I imagine her also making eyes at Josh when they were back at school after the rescue mission?

Once again I find myself observing that Matt is the stand-out character within all of today's navel-gazing and selfishness. Amidst all the emotional repression exhibited by most male characters of the Bay from Alf all the way downwards (Chris and Jett being the most notable exceptions), Matt just has that tad more self-awareness and ability to cut through it sometimes, as with the brief but effective little scene with him and Josh today, and the scene at the lockers with Evie and VJ. I think it's as much to do with subtleties of performance as anything, but he does continue to be among my favourite characters at present.

[Slade]

I laughed when Evelyn made Andy finding about Hannah cheating on him all about her.  And it was so funny the way she kept going on about it. It was good to actually see some interaction with Evie and Zac.  I quite liked the stuff with Evie, Matt and VJ.  I liked the way she continued to talk about Josh and Matt was being there as her friend.  I thought Josh was being a bit harsh with Evie.  She was a lose-lose position and actually wanted to tell Andy about Hannah cheating.  If she tells Andy then she hasn't shown loyalty to her own family, if she doesn't tell Andy then she's not being loyal to her boyfriend.  Still I'm sure Josh will come around when he's calmed down.  I think I'm starting to quite like Matt.  And I quite like the friendship with VJ and the family unit with Leah and Zac.

I actually didn't feel that sorry for Andy.  I think today clearly emphasised why he should not be going out with Hannah full stop.  He reacted really badly and was unbelievable stupid and selfish getting into a car drunk and driving off like that.  I hated the way he was towards Josh.  And Josh probably should have called the police although I'm glad he didn't.  Andy was very lucky he didn't injure or kill anybody.  I really don't understand why Charlotte was so willing to help like that and didn't call the police herself.

Not sure what to make of her.  She comes across pleasant enough person on the surface but underneath seems manipulative and you would assume from the phone call she had about Zac last week quite sneaky.  I think she could be an interesting character so I'm looking forward to seeing the direction the writers take her.

I think Hannah was wrong to slap Evie like that although it was hardly surprising.  Evelyn was just laying into her and I wasn't just expecting Hannah to sit back and take it.  I do think Evelyn can be bratty but everything she said about Hannah was right.  So I guess the truth hurts.  One thing that annoyed me immensely was how they tried to make Hannah out to be the victim.  And we had to sit there with her putting on the waterworks saying how she loves Andy so much.  Then there was the way Zac went to her afterwards and he appears to have roped Leah into wanting to help her too.

[CaptainHulk]

Andy twatting Josh one was uncalled for.

[H&Alover]

I understand why Josh reacted to Evie the way he did but what he needs to do, when he's calmed down, is think what would he have done if it had the other way round?   Both Evie and Hannah went too far, as for the slap well Evie was right wasn't she and Hannah couldn't take it. Evie was right to move out, there needs to be space between them. I'm guessing now Zac and Leah have been filled in on the whole sordid affair, at least Zac doesn't seem to be taking sides. Thing to remember Angelica is Evie and Josh are teenagers and they do swop partners with amazing regularity, whereas Hannah is supposed to be the adult  leading by example. I 've just had a thought Oscar doesn't know anything about this does he?  Andy reacted the way you would expect him to react, at least he didn't wreck the gym, Yes I know he took it out on Josh, but that is what families are for and he just happened to be nearest. It could have been a random passer by.  I think someone ought to start charging overnight stays the number of people who use the beach as an emergency place to kip. Andy was stupid to be driving the next day, but thankfully the only damage he did was to run himself off the road.  In fact they all acted in character. Let's not forget to Andy Hannah was perfect the complete opposite to him who would be the first to admit was a very flawed person.  Charlotte has definitely got my dodgy character antenna twitching, her concern over Josh looking for Andy just didn't seem right.  Has she got a thing for damaged youths?  I liked the scenes between Matt and Evie, especially as he didn't have a clue as to what was really going on and why it was so important to Evie Josh rang, texted her. Weird exchange between him and Josh later, Matt was eager to go and see Miss and Josh wanted to offload about Andy.

I know what you mean about it being lucky  the 'extra' was working in the Diner, Irene definitely would have picked up on those signals, was it just me or did Matt have a smirk on his face when he left, after agreeing he and Charlotte should have as little contact as  possible which is  a sure sign the opposite is going to happen. Leah picked up the tension but for the wrong reason.