Latest UK Episode Discussion (2006-2017 Seasons)

[Red Ranger 1]

Even though we got an Ash/Billie scene, it felt a bit tokenistic, as if the writers were more interested in Ash and Phoebe when I'd have rather seen that issue explored more.We still haven't got a proper explanation for Billie's behaviour: "I just snapped" seems as throwaway as "I wanted to get my own back." And it doesn't really fit with the way she laid the groundwork days in advance and was still mocking Chris in the previous episode.Actually, I can kind of believe she did just snap but it would have helped if we'd been given some sign this was a slow progress from Dean with her resentment towards men slowly building, rather than just "Kyle and Nate rejected me" (although her chat with Ricky back then does suggest they're the latest in a long line).As it is, I can't decide if she's meant to be broadly sympathetic or if it was just a line to get Ash to feel sorry for her.

It felt like the episode was trying its best to paint Kyle and Denny as the bad guys in order to make us support Ash and Phoebe.And it kind of worked: While Denny had a point (and I found myself nodding in agreement when she said she didn't know what she saw in Ash), she was on way too much of a high horse for me to sympathise with her and her marching over and telling Kyle did just feel vindictive.Ditto Kyle breaking up with Phoebe simply because she has feelings for someone else (it's not clear if Denny told him about the near kiss or not).But I still found myself shaking my head at Phoebe's hypocrisy, as she blasts Kyle for sleeping with Billie while they were broken up, then starts having sex with Ash in even less time, mere hours after insisting she loved Kyle.(In the back of a car.Outside the surf club.In broad daylight.Where anyone could see them.It's a wonder they weren't arrested.) I'm really not seeing any irresistible chemistry between them.

I wasn't entirely happy with the continuity with regards Marilyn.Absolutely no mention of the fact she was found to be infertile as a result of her cancer treatment (although if she had brought it up, Leah would probably have gone "Hey, I got pregnant with no fallopian tubes, miracles happen!"), and another golden opportunity to mention her miscarriage goes begging.Instead, she once again trots out Byron and George, as if that's all the writers know of her history, or all they think the audience can handle.Still, fostering does seem a more sensible option and it'll be good to see it taken up.

So, confirmation that Matt and Charlotte are sleeping together and now there's photographic evidence.(Well, that's gonna come back and bite them.Very quickly judging by the promo.)Matt must be deeply stupid and as for Charlotte, she's got to be deranged, she blatantly doesn't love Matt so she's risking her whole career for a cheap motel bunk-up with a schoolboy.Maddy (lumbered with a rather odd gingham dress) tries her best to be a good friend and give Matt a dose of reality: Her "You could be thrown out of school" may have been a bit melodramatic but didn't deserve Matt childishly parroting it.(I can't see him being expelled but he could well end up having his work failed in that subject if it turns out the teacher was, ahem, treating him differently to the other students.)Seriously, Charlotte might be functional deranged but hey, Montgomery seemed normal until she started planting bombs on people.Which is why I'm not so sure her threats to Maddy were that empty at all and Madeleine really needs to watch out if she can't take her down quickly.I really wanted her to stand up to Miss King and point out that it's not the fact she has the information that's the problem but that the information exists at all, but she was obviously shocked, as her "What the heck was that?" reaction at the end showed. (Kassandra demonstrating her usual knack for scene stealing.)

[H&Alover]

Wasn't the whole point of Brax 'dying' so Ricky could get on with her life and not spend the next 20 years in limbo visiting him in jail? I can see why Kyle is angry with her but he  is quite the same position and Ash came so close to telling Ricky.  I echo others thoughts on here out of all people why did he tell Billie? She is so going to use that against him at some point. I think Kyle was wrong when she said Phoebe hated Brax,, it wasn't him, it was his lifestyle.

Well done Chris, the boy did good, great double bluff btw, he must have run some convincing story by Emerson to get himself fitted up with a wire. I guess he's off Billie's Christmas card list. After Ash's initial outburst at Billie, her making look a fool by standing up for her, he soon caved in.  This was all because not only Kat and Nate humiliated her, but because Nate rejected her advances, there is definitely more to her story there.  She was more involved, in a manner of speaking, with Kyle than she was with Nate. Just a thought it could have been anyone, Andy, John (or would he have been too old for her) who had given her CPR, would she have fixated on them in the same way?

Eventually then after x amount of near moments Phoebe admits to Denny she and Ash have a strong attraction for each other.  I can see why Denny was a tad peeved Phoebe practically pushed her back into Ash's arms. I know they have/had a causal thing, but must have seemed to her Phoebe engineered the whole thing to divert attention. We didn't see Denny tell Kyle what she knew/saw/thought, but maybe she thought 'no, I'm not keeping anymore secrets'. To me I think what did it for Kyle was Phoebe admitting she had feelings for Ash.  We can all be attracted/fancy someone else when in a relationship, but if that is all it is, no harm done, but the danger is when feelings enter the equation. Kyle must have liked Billie enough for him to sleep with her -  twice, but he was on the rebound from Phoebe and it wouldn't have gone anywhere. I'm not totally convinced that Phoebe is that into Ash, feels like another rebound to me.  She blamed Kyle's involvement with his family as part of the reason for the break up, but Ash has family in the form of Billie and he's going to be putting her first if it comes to it.  Phoebe doesn't have brothers/sisters so wouldn't be able to understand the pull they have. Btb, rather an interesting square there, Kyle and Billie, now Phoebe and Ash, wonder how Billie is going to take the news, zip straight round to Kyle to console him?

Another layer to Charlotte, quite happy to let Matt take compromising selfies of them and believing him when he said they were for his eyes only, for heavens sake woman he's an 18 year old lad!  There is only one (or two if you include Angelo's) where to tell people secrets.  Leah only just missed out on it. Maddy tried talking sense into him and imo had no alternative but to confront Charlotte, didn't expect her reaction to be to  threaten Maddy and after all it would be her word against a teacher so who would the authorities believe. Plus yet another mysterious phone call - she's not ready yet.

Marilyn's moment of panic when John suggested having a baby was so her. I'm guessing she must have told John more about George than  we heard on screen.  Trouble with surrogacy is the mum can change her mind echos of Nicole changing her mind probably in her mind.  Assuming TPTB don't think John and Marilyn are too old, depending on the age of the child/children they are thinking of fostering, it sounds a good way to go.

 

 

[Slade]

So another episode where we're supposed to feel sorry for Hannah.  Where she's made out to be the victim by having Evelyn and Oscar effectively gang up on her and Andy finish with her for good.  Because she's got no sympathy from me.  And as far as I'm concerned she's brought in all on herself.  I did think Evelyn was being a brat and should probably stop making the whole thing about her.  I do actually understand Hannah being fed up of looking after them but what annoys me is that a while back when Zac was going through a rough patch she tried to stop him from seeing them.  I am glad that they've moved out even though it's a bit of a tight squeeze at Leah's.

It's funny because it's been the first episode in a while that has had both Maddy and Oscar where I haven't found one or the other annoying.  But surprise, surprise we didn't have to endure them as a couple.  I actually liked the brief interaction with Andy and Maddy near the beginning of the episode although I'm not sure why she would ask him of all people for advice.  I thought the stuff with Maddy and Matt was OK too.  And as per usual she did her natural flirting although I thought they did have chemistry during their interactions.

So Charlotte's decided that Matt's too much hassle and finished with him.  Why didn't she do this before?  Can't help feeling that Leah finding Matt's belt in Charlotte's hotel room will come back to bite Charlotte.  Especially given that Leah suspects Charlotte is seeing someone at Angelo's.  She's going to see Matt's belt, have flashbacks, put two and two together and think of all the stuff before including the tension she picked up at first at school then figure it out.

Although I like Andy, there's no way he's smart enough to work out that Charlotte was seeing Matt to just jump in and rescue her from Leah finding out then and there.  Would he (and Matt for that matter) have been able to hear their conversation in a crowded busy restaurant?  Charlotte was blatantly flirting with Andy earlier on in that episode so perhaps this is what he needs to start to get over Hannah.

[Red Ranger 1]

Evelyn was at her worst here and managed to do what the stuff with Sean failed to do and make me feel sorry for Hannah.She was a complete brat during the supposed mediation session, only interested in making as many snide remarks as possible, and managed to poison Oscar against Hannah as well.She pushed Zac over the edge last year with her constant brattish behaviour and self-righteous tantrums, and now she's done the same to Hannah, and made herself look like the victim and Hannah look like the bad guy.It's times like this I think they should have just left her in that cult, but somehow she never runs out of people willing to bend over backwards to accommodate her.So Matt, VJ and Oscar have to squeeze into a single room so she gets what she wants.I really wish Zac had argued against Leah's sexist "A girl needs her own space": Evelyn sharing with Oscar would be fairer. Or leaving her on the couch.The really frustrating thing is that I've being saying for a long time that Oscar and Evelyn should be in that household and there's little bits that show how good it could be (VJ and Evelyn's banter at the start, the arguing over the rooms) but the fact that it's down to Evelyn being self-absorbed means it leaves a nasty taste in the mouth.

Maddy's choice of Andy as confidante was somewhat surprising: Have they even spoken since she stopped working at the gym?I'm disappointed that she backed off from Charlotte so readily, although I guess after Matt saying it's over she thinks the bullet has been dodged and there's no reason to go into it.(Whilst I think they come across as good friends, I didn't actually see any flirty behaviour from Maddy or think there was any chemistry there: In fact, I think Matt had more chemistry with Evelyn in a couple of seconds' interaction than whole scenes with Maddy or Charlotte.)Matt seems to have intense feelings for Charlotte that weren't obvious from earlier episodes, so at least his actions kind of make sense. Charlotte's on the other hand: Her expression when Matt said he was a pizza delivery boy spoke volumes, but she's sleeping with an 18-year-old schoolboy, he's hardly going to be a part-time restaurant manager.So her motives seem hard to fathom.Leah actually annoyed me with the way she was pushing Charlotte about her "secret lover".I think their conversation and Maddy's comments earlier were enough for Andy to put two and two together even if he isn't always the sharpest tool in the box.Not sure why he came to her rescue: Does he think he owes her one because of her covering for his drink driving?Charlotte already seems to have picked him out as her next victim...

Roo's phone conversations are presumably leading somewhere.I've been working on profile updates for the first half of the year recently and it does make it very obvious which characters have spent six months doing nothing (Josh and Evelyn for a start, which may be why things seem to be picking up for them).I think Leah's done more this year and she spent four months in a coma, so maybe it's Roo's turn in the spotlight after just feeding Alf and Maddy lines for months?

[TheBoss]

That's one hell of a microphone Josh has on that camera, I gotta get me one of those

[Angelica]

The thing that gets me the most about the Phoebe/Ash/Kyle/Denny love square is that Phoebe ended up sacrificing her singing career for Kyle. Doesn't seem worth it given how quickly she has moved on.

As much as i dislike Hannah, I did feel sorry for her. And at least her attitude seems consistent with her characterisation. She broke up with Zac to be with Andy because she didn't feel ready to settle down into domesticity. So it seemed fitting that she cheated on Andy when he was no longer the fun bad boy distraction he was 1 year ago. Evie was such a sanctimonious brat, and I get why Hannah might feel a little frustrated that Evie never felt the slightest gratitude that Hannah stepped up and provided a relatively stable environment for her. I like the idea of the twins living with Zac/Leah - I am hoping Nate moves out to create more room.

I can't believe Charlotte was stupid enough to let Matt take selfies with her. Come on, she is not 12. What's the use of threatening Maddy, when there is photographic evidence of their affair that exists.I was glad Andy put 2 and 2 together here although I think he is setting himself up to be her next victim.

I do think Matt has a lot of chemistry with Maddy (as he does with Evie too). Did make me wonder why Maddy was spending her whole time with Matt with her own boyfriend having to deal with his own family issues.

[H&Alover]

I know Oscar and Evelyn are brother and sister but sharing a room - no way - not at their age - never mind Evelyn's privacy what about Oscar's? Not really sexist in that case she does have a room of her own, she and Leah are outnumbered by men/boys. Did like VJ trying to play the' I'm the son of the house' card.

Maybe Hannah could have phrased her comments about giving up her life to look after the twins differently, she (and Zac) were thrown into the deep end with them and they were still getting over the whole commune experience. Let's not let Zac get off too easily, he was supposed to be looking after them with Hannah until he and she got a little too close for the twins liking and it was decided he move out leaving Hannah to look after them on her own. I wouldn't want to be thought of as a burden. Her later conversation with Roo though about she'd missed out on travelling - how old is she 90!!!!. She's got plenty of time.

Hannah's meeting with Andy didn't go much better, why shouldn't have Andy have taken Josh with him, her sniping he was afraid to face her alone was uncalled for.

It did seem an odd choice for Maddy to sound Andy out about Matt and Charlotte, sometimes though it's better if it's someone you don't know that well. I liked Andy's eye roll when Maddy mentioned "I have a 'friend' " and she cottoned on and said 'No, it really is a friend'. I agree with Red about Andy realising it was Matt what with all the stares Charlotte and Leah were giving in their direction as well as Matt looking decidedly uncomfortable. Leah annoyed me as well with all her pushing Charlotte to reveal her secret boyfriend. Is Charlotte breaking up with Matt another ploy on her part, more mind playing games? And what was with the "Nothing to report" phone call?

By what I've read of next weeks episodes it does seem Roo is going to have a storyline of her own at last.

 

[CaptainHulk]

Andy/Hannah is something I'm definitely not paying attn to at the minute.

[atrus]

It's all very well Hannah whingeing that she gave up her life for the twins, but having made that choice, she can't then turn around and throw it in their faces just because she's landed up in a mess that's 95% her own doing. Even if Evie deserved it a little bit, Oscar certainly didn't. Personally I thought Hannah was being pretty selfish expecting Leah and Zac to take them in when they already have five people in the house, and she should have made more of an effort to smooth things over. Mind you, the same could be said for Evie. And the fact that she and Hannah made up the very next day, without any apparent reason for Evie's change of heart, strongly suggested to me that the twins' banishment to Leah's was more about the writers getting the pawns in the right place on the chessboard than some kind of attempt to develop Interesting Hannah which, let's face it, is almost as unlikely to succeed at this late stage as the development of Selfless Martyr Andy. Exactly why most of the pawns need to be in Leah's house isn't yet clear, but I'm sure we'll find out sooner rather than later.

Nonetheless, the busy new dynamic at the Patterson/MacGuire/Page/Cooper household was nicely realised - VJ was particularly funny harping on about his 'birthright' to a room of his own. Much as Evie's been a bit of a brat lately, it's right that she shouldn't have to share with boys and likewise that they shouldn't have to share with her; there are fairly good reasons for gender segregation in sleeping arrangements, especially among teenagers. But at the same time, it's a pretty massive ask to expect three 16-to-18-year-old boys to share a single bedroom. So it certainly made sense to have Nate shift to Irene's, though I'm sure he would have appreciated being asked or at least told before the twins descended, if for no other reason than to give him more time to find something else.

So it turns out Charlotte is as immature as she is unpleasant. She has a veneer of respectability and intellect but it's only skin-deep. Not safe teacher material - not at all. Quite aside from her sleeping with pupils, she's also made it clear she has a total lack of empathy. OK, Matt's (just) an adult, but he's quite vulnerable as young men go and has some pretty big self-esteem problems. I don't condone him holding the photos over her as a threat (if he legitimately feels aggrieved and wants to report Charlotte, which he'd be well within his rights to do, he should just get on and do it) but you can see why he's lashing out given the way she's treated him. And there is a sense, given how she threatened Maddy, that she's getting what's coming to her. And what on earth is Andy playing at covering for her? Is he not remotely concerned that she teaches his little brother and thinks it's totally acceptable to leap into bed with her pupils just because, as she put it, she likes the attention?

Moreover, what's up with people in soaps not being able to decline invitations to things? It just felt like the writers were trying every trick in the book to get Matt and Charlotte in the same room together again. No way should she have come to the barbecue; it would have been so easy for her to text Leah with an excuse, or indeed for Andy to invent one. But H&A has a niggling habit of cutting to another scene just when that would happen in real life.

[c120701]

The closing credit order for the regulars seems to be really out for some of the newer cast, normally they get credited in order of (re)joining the regular cast but some seem to be out of sequence - it went Nate, Andy, Matt, Chris, Kat & VJ when it should be Chris, Nate, Matt, Andy, Kat & VJ.