Latest UK Episode Discussion (2006-2017 Seasons)

[Red Ranger 1]

It's disappointing that Kyle's storyline seems to have reached crisis point so quickly.It could have been an effective long-runner, showing him having to cope with constant treatment, but now it seems to have reached the point where he needs a transplant straightaway, so either he'll die or, more likely, there'll be a last minute solution pulled out of the woodwork and then everything will go back to normal.Phoebe annoyed me again with the way she couldn't be bothered to tell Kyle or Ash about the ultrasound because she didn't think it was important: Well, maybe not to her (at least until she was actually having it), but it might have meant something to them.(Well, Kyle anyway, Ash just looked uncomfortable.)

On a similar note, Kat's miracle recovery was a bit grating:She starts the episode practically housebound, then the minute Phoebe needs someone to accompany her to the ultrasound she's perfectly fine and spends the rest of the episode wandering around the district as if she hasn't got a care in the world.(Well, apart from her boyfriend's curious priorities, anyway.)I actually didn't really like that chat between Ricky and Denny, or rather the way Denny was portrayed in it.She seems to have been reduced to a complete cypher, who only has opinions that suit the plot rather than make character sense.You'd expect her to be at least a bit concerned about Ricky having feelings for the boyfriend of one of her housemates, but instead she was practically telling Ricky to go for it and it fell to Ricky to point out Nate's not available.(And what was with that long dress Denny was wearing?Didn't seem like her style at all.)

The reversal of the No Consequences era continues: After two years of Nate acting like an underworld doctor and patching up injuries on the quiet, often for no real reason except Ricky being overindulgent to someone acting like an idiot and Nate going along with whatever she says, the show finally points out that this is not the way to do things and that it can have disastrous consequences as here, and someone actually reports him.

[H&Alover]

Actually Brax would be no better a match for Kyle than Heath turned out not to be, both are Kyle's half brothers and even if they were full brothers family members aren't always a match. I could be wrong, but wouldn't the fact Brax is 'dead' be on Kyle's medical records, Brax would have been Kyle's next of kin wouldn't he?  Must be rare for someone to be allergic to dialysis.

To be fair to Phoebe the ultrasound was  rather on the sudden side due to a cancellation, Kyle was hardly in a position to attend and Ash was in the city, visiting Billie, why didn't he see her last time he was there? Wouldn't having the ultrasound have been the perfect opportunity for Phoeb's to try and how far along she was, I remember they did that for Bianca when she found she was further along than she thought she was. Probably seen plenty of ultrasound scenes on TV, but I still get mushy when we 'hear' the heartbeat, makes the baby seem real for the first time. Tad awkward moment when Ash turned up and caught Phoebe holding Kyle's hand watching the ultrasound of their (as in all three of them until it's known who the father is) baby.  At least Ash has confided in Ricky about whether he could cope who ever the father was and now is not the best time, but when would be a good time?  It's going to be tough bringing up the baby, if not his, when the birth dad is still in town.  

Must be something in the air in the bay as well as having a hospital that performs miracles, no hang on not quite, we've got Kyle in a life or death situation and he's been in hospital for more than a week which is unusual for them.  Nate was on his last legs not far back, then what seemed like the next week he was back at work. It did seem a giant jump from Kat lying on the sofa, then strolling along the beach, though thinking back didn't she get out of her wheelchair and walk out of the hospital, don't they usually insist on you using the wheelchair until you are off their premises?  Kat did apologise to Nate for her doubting him, though that doesn't last long going by the trailer and isn't that a rerun of the conversation Nate had  with Sophie about if there is no trust in their relationship there can be no relationship? 

At least Ricky has been honest with herself regarding her 'feelings' for Nate and of course someone, in this case Denny, has to come along when she's looking all contemplative and asks what's wrong. Denny had the same doubts about developing feelings for other guys as she felt it was too soon after Casey, but not everyone's the same, though Ricky does have Casey to consider when/if she lets someone new into her life. I did cringe when Kat was confiding in her about feeling silly about being jealous about Ricky, luckily Denny was walking just behind Kat so she didn't see her face and she was very no-committal with her reply.

James did the right thing, he had no choice really, to report Nate, if only he and the board knew of the many other times Nate has patched up  members of the Braxton clan at home all because they didn't want to go to hospital for various reasons, not all down to Ricky, Brax did his fair share of 'you're treating me/him here'. If your patient refuses to go to hospital as Kyle did what could he do, he could hardly hit him over the head, shove him in his car and take him there.

 

[Slade]

I'm now extremely annoyed with the whole situation with Kyle.  Because of his stupidity not only could Nate lose his job but now Ash has to lose a kidney.  If it was me I would just leave him to die.  I also wasn't happy about Denny.  So she found a letter addressed to Ricky.  Who gave her the right to open it?  Why didn't she just give it to Ricky instead?  I also didn't like the way she forced Ash to tell Ricky about Brax although at least that's been delayed temporarily.

Once again felt sorry for Kat.  She was clearly in the right and raising valid concerns and made a very good point about how Nate would react if their positions were reversed and she was cuddling her ex but Nate just seemed cold about it.  When he said he wouldn't care if Kat was doing the same thing at first I didn't believe him but then I thought about it and I realised he said that because he doesn't care enough about Kat.  It seemed like she was flogging a dead horse when apologised again.  Nate wanting to cool things for a while was his way of dumping her I feel because he's still in love with Ricky.  When I looked at that scene it just reminded me so much of what happened with Sophie a while back.

So Denny obviously knows James (from somewhere that he doesn't want anybody else to find out about) and it's not going to take her very long to put two and reveal all.  I have to admit I did see a different side of him today.  The way he told Denny to back off asking about where she recognised him from seemed almost threatening.  However re my point above I'm not sure I like that Denny seems to know all these secrets about certain people.  I do have to question James telling Roo he's in love with her so quickly.  How old is he?  And how long have they been dating?  A month or so.  I also questioned Roo saying it back and especially taking her wedding ring off afterwards but I'm going to give her the benefit of the doubt and assume she only said that because James said it to her.

[atrus]

Not sure why Denny seems to be being used to advance any given aspect of plot miscellany at the moment, in lieu of any story lines of her own; meaning she's sitting on more secrets than everyone else in the Bay put together. Today alone we had the recovery of The Note (which I agree, Slade, should've been handed straight to Ricky - I think the fact that the seal had come loose was the show's justification for why she didn't, but it didn't really work), and her apparent recognition of James.

I was really intrigued about the latter, though, and why he seemed to react so badly to it. Apparent continuity gaffe - if James hadn't met Denny before in the Bay, how did he know that she knew Kyle, in order to make the excuse to Roo that she was asking after his health? All they spoke about in both scenes was whether Denny knew James from somewhere. So was it a gaffe, or was it a clue as to where she knows him from?

So it turns out the whole renal failure story was never going to be about a long-term struggle for Kyle, which might have been interesting, but about shoehorning the spectre of Brax into proceedings - which I must admit, in this instance, turned out to be interesting too. I'm glad Ricky decided to browbeat Kyle into accepting the gang's help if one of them was a match. I'm so sick of Kyle thinking that not getting medical help equates to being the big man; he needs to grow up and stop being such a wannabe badass. That sure was an eleventh-hour-fifty-ninth-second reprieve for Ash when Ricky got that call from James - although the transplant could yet not work, and then the issue of whether to reveal all about Brax will be back on the cards again.

I'm not sure what to make of Nate/Kat now. On one hand, Nate probably is spending too much time with Ricky - and I especially dislike it when soaps suddenly tell us that X and Y characters are "best friends". If Ricky is Nate's best friend, it's surely only by default, by virtue of him not having any others. On the other, Kat is so incredibly judgemental of him. We all know Nate made a bad judgement call with Kyle's treatment, but it was well-meant; and I don't know why Kat has to insist on rubbing it in his face every time they have a conversation. It's not like he's in denial about his responsibility; far from it. So why can't she step up and support him as a partner rather than playing cop all the time? Well I suppose the answer to that is self-explanatory.

[Red Ranger 1]

Alf's episode count this week:Two. Roo and Maddy were only in one each, although Maddy was credited on Tuesday for no appearance.

Like everyone else, I found the stuff with the note pretty appalling.It's desperately contrived: Ricky was on the verge of opening it when she was interrupted, so why has she never noticed it had gone missing and looked for it?And as others have said, Denny finds a note addressed to Ricky: Why, instead of shrugging and putting it on the sideboard or giving it to Ricky, does she open it and read it? That's a complete invasion of privacy.Also, while Ash isn't my favourite person these days, I'm pretty sick of him constantly being blamed for things that were Brax's fault just because he's here and Brax isn't.It was Brax's decision to face his own death, and that, coupled with his selfishness in refusing to stay in prison, could have cost his brother his life if not for an unlikely coincidence.Ash has no way of contacting Brax (even if he did seem vague on the issue when Denny questioned him), so it's hard to see what good could be done if he told everyone.(Okay, they could look for him, but that would potentially put them all in danger.)

After he'd kind of rehabilitated himself after everything that happened with Sophie, Nate's back to being a worm.I hated his attitude in his first scene with Kat.All she did was politely ask how things were going at work, like any concerned girlfriend would, and he treated her like the worst person ever for daring to think of his well-being and seemed to deliberately goad her into criticising his actions as an excuse to throw a tantrum and storm out (which is how he seems to end most of their conversations).Then he played the innocent over her jealousy when she seems to have good reason to be concerned.I know they can't stay in the trap of them arguing and Kat apologising (even when Nate's the one in the wrong Kat apologises) but it's hard to sympathise with him acting like the injured party.

James is now even more obviously dodgy, with his aggressive reaction to Denny.So he's hiding something, yet his earlier slip up with Alf suggests there are missing years before he moved to the city, so is it something that happened there or not?And now it seems he doesn't want Roo to meet his family or anyone else from his past... I'm guessing maybe James just assumed that in a town as small as Summer Bay everyone would be friends with Kyle?(Either that or someone had told him who Denny was even if they'd never met.)

[CaptainHulk]

Did this morning omnibus thing as I got distracted making dinner around 6 on Tuesday and gradually fell behind.

There needs to a masked Vigilante that beats the hell out of Greg and Hunter for being a Boring Douche and a Complete Prick, respectively. Drinks at Angelo's for whoever carries it out.

Nice mention of James Fraser, Chloe and Olivia after like a billion years. Guess they eventually moved to the UK (where James had settled in 2000, no word of what happened with him and Juliette though) after staying in Chloe's old flat in the city.

There needs to be a capper on the whole Braxton situation. Even when he's not around, he's dominating the product.

Actually interested in the whole Josh situation. He could always sit the Exams somewhere else (That's what generally happens when a student usually gets the old heave-ho from SBH)

 

 

[Red Ranger 1]

Sort of spoiler so just to be on the safe side:

Er, Hulk, I'm guessing you meant Greg, not Tank? Excuse me while I whistle innocently and pretend I don't know why you made that mistake...

Forgot to say earlier: To me, it was obvious once again that Ash/Denny had bags more chemistry than Ash/Phoebe. Sigh.

[H&Alover]

irrespective or not about whether Denny should have given that note straight to Ricky or not, Denny hasn't thought it through.  Ash did seem vague about if he could get in touch with Brax, even if he could and he did come back as he would, he couldn't just walk back into town and donate his kidney.  He'd be nicked the moment he showed up, sent back to prison once he'd done the deed and then get killed by Gummo or a henchman.  Even if he was lucky enough not to be he'd have his sentence extended so nobody apart from Kyle would win. Plus he'd have to face the wrath of Ricky!  I think Ricky had forgotten all about the note, it was amongst a pile of post and she just flipped through it. Ash was certainly saved by the bell (or in this case ring tone).

I'm glad Ricky took Kyle to task about not wanting to accept a kidney from her or Ash, though of course there are other issues there.   He was being incredibly pig headed and it was big or clever. If Brax had been in a position to offer one, he wouldn't have said no, Brax wouldn't have let him.

Of course the knock on effect from this is Nate looking to be suspended for his treating Kyle at home, just as well TPTB at the hospital don't know about the other times he's done it.  I think there's two sides of the story with Kat and Nate, she's been cheated on before  so would be suspicious of  Nate spending time with an ex, but she can't judge every new bloke against her old one, be a tough call for any bloke. But then Nate isn't helping allay her fears by seeming to spend a lot of time with Ricky, though his giving Ricky a hug was in the open and he didn't leap guiltily apart from her when Kat saw them. Or is his reaction because he does still have feelings for Ricky, but seeing how he was when Kat was unconscious seems to belie that. Would Kat be acting like this if Ricky was just a friend?

James is becoming a tad more interesting, more mystery to his past, it must be something bad for him to vehemently deny having met/known Denny from her time in the city.  That and the reluctance for Roo to meet his family, that is definitely not a good sign. Nothing unusual for people who have only known each other a few weeks to announce they love each other, it can be as few as a couple of days! I did ask before if Roo and Harvey were still legally married, but I'm guessing not anymore if she took her ring off.  That is what women and men tend to do once they are ready to move on. I think James is a couple of years younger than Roo, she's 46 so he might be 43/44?

[Angelica]

So once again, Denny is just there as a plot device. She had no right opening a note addressed to Rick. It would be one thing if the piece of paper had just been lying around open, and she happen to glance at it. However, this was a knowing invasion of privacy. At most, she should have handed the note directly to Ricky. It really annoys me that Denny now has just molded into the character who says or does things depending on what is required for the storyline. Back in the day, Denny used to be a lot more in tune with nuances in situation (and was the level-headed one in comparison to Hannah). But I find her insufferable these days, swinging from indignant to indifference within the space of an episode. I feel for Ash here - I am tired of him getting blamed for Brax's poor judgement. And though I have no interest in Phoebe and Ash as couple, I feel that his hesitance to the pregnancy has been very human.

Again, H&A being subtle with showing us that James is hiding something . Of course, he is too good to be true. Although, I did like the way he handled the Nate situation, which was rightly report Nate while maintaining that Nate was an excellent doctor despite that.

Couldn't care less about the Kat/Nate/Ricky triangle but I guess at least it is believable and consistent with the way the characters have been written. Nate has always been happy to jump if Ricky says jump, Ricky's only interested in Nate when Brax is unavailable, and Kat comes across as self-righteous even when in the right.

[Red Ranger 1]

"That's not our decision to make,"Denny says early on, when Ash asks her to think about whether throwing a hand grenade into Ricky's attempt to rebuild her life is actually the right thing to do.Well, er, no, it is.It's up to you whether you tell her or not, and these are the things you have to think about.In the end, she made the right choice in my opinion, if not necessarily for the right reason.Meanwhile...is Phoebe ever going to stop coming up with ways to make me go "What the..?"Here, she actually seems prepared to let Kyle die rather than let Ash take a relatively minor risk.Okay, she convinced herself that it wasn't as simple as that, but her selfish tendencies still seem very prominent.She's dragging this storyline down a bit, and I think the interplay between Kyle and Ash would have worked better if she wasn't part of it.

Nice continuity to bring one of Sid's old colleagues from three years ago back as the new Head of Emergency Medicine.So, Nate does get some punishment, without affecting his long term future.Fair enough.Ricky's speech suggests she really doesn't get the point."Did I make a mistake choosing Brax over Nate?"she asks.Well, yeah, probably, but you did, too late to cry now.I feel sorry for Kat, who's trying to be reasonable but seems to be being struck down by the curse of the ex, there didn't seem to be any real warmth from Nate towards her.