Latest UK Episode Discussion (2006-2017 Seasons)

[H&Alover]

Tank's descent into psycho mode was very quick, thought TPTB would have waited a couple of days.  It was Evie's own phone she used to call Josh, still debatable why she called him rather than Oscar/VJ/Maddy, not knowing how her phone is set up call wise.  I thought Zac and Leah had taken it off her and her laptop which she was using at the shack? I can see why she'd be reluctant to call an adult after all that's gone down. kmp1963 - if it was Tank's, why would he have Josh's number on it? Oh I see little bean, something we channel 5 viewers shouldn't know yet! We did see a shot of her through the window, but did they blank out the knife? The one seen (or not) was far menacing than just an ordinary pen knife.  Anyhow how is Josh (there is a reason why it's him btw) going to find her, she doesn't have a clue where she is?  Greg has mentioned he (Tank) gets very obsessive over a girl, but has he gone this far before?

I spotted that Red about where Maddy had been, guess she was still at James and Roo's until they got back form the city, now that they're back she's moving back into the house. Funny how she didn't mention ringing Evie when Alf came up to the room.  I would have felt sorry for Roo when she tried to  talk to Maddy in the Diner, but it's too soon to try and make up.

Sorry Roo, but James leaving  his wife and children has everything to do with you!  Alf had nothing to apologise for as in bringing Roo up making her the way she is.  He may not have been the best father and made mistakes, he's human, he was a widower not as if he was a single dad through divorce.   She's an adult now and fully in control of what she does.  We knew (from Denny) James had one daughter, we weren't just sure of the sex of the other child.  You both have  a point atrus and Red, maybe Roo should step back and give James and Megan a chance to work it out, but if James has really made his mind up nothing would make any difference. Did you notice he nicely sidestepped talking about his parents again by suddenly having to dash off to the hospital?

[Psychic Wombat]

I guess J comes before O on Evie's phone or she knew he wouldn't give her a lecture like the others :-)

I thought Roo held it together well when James's wife started with the emotional blackmail.The only culprit in the whole affair is James, his wife is as deluded as Roo if she thinks they have a marriage anymore. Roo must be desperate to cling to him - they're both behaving like teenagers and should get a reality check. I don't blame Maddie distancing herself from it, he's lied through his teeth to her and it's damaged her friendship with Roo.

So who's going to save Evie? My money is on Oscar!

[Red Ranger 1]

Somewhat disappointing.It seems like this week's been in such a rush to have the two girlfriends "come to their senses" that it's involved some giant leaps in characterisation.I appreciated Maddy's bored "Yes?" when James tried to talk to her but she could have done with turning down the attitude a bit, she wasn't going to convince anyone that way.Or maybe she was...Given that Roo worked out last week that James was with his wife and children when he went to see his parents, it seems a bit weird to have her "suddenly" realising that here.The only new information she got is that his parents are dead (well done, H&Alover, for picking up on that one).Given everything else she's accepted, Roo's reaction seemed very extreme, although I guess maybe with Alf, Irene and Maddy bombarding her with criticism, this might have been the straw that broke the camel's back.Her then turning round and suggesting that James has psychological problems and/or is a pathological liar was nothing short of ridiculous though.Maybe he kept this one in for a bit longer than reasonable, but all his lies were told for logical reasons.On the plus side, we get a nice, sweet Madscar bonding scene, with both of them having had the person they thought they were closest to in the world choose an untrustworthy significant other over them.

Comparing both versions, Channel 5 cut the start of the shot through the window, until the knife was out of view.So, it's clear from this episode that Evie was using her own phone last episode when she tried to call Josh (didn't she pick something up in the hall before going up to bed?) and she didn't get Tank's phone until now.Sadly, the episode's so focused on having Josh ride in like Evie's white knight and her collapse sobbing in his arms that the route there is desperately contrived.The TV shorthand of showing the address book so we know who a character's calling makes no sense: Why would Tank have Josh's number? They didn't seem to have any more than a passing acquaintance before Tank got together with Evie (in fact I think they both met him on the same day) and they'd hardly have exchanged numbers since.Given that Evelyn took both the phone and the key, why does she then stay in the shack until Tank catches her, especially since she could have got a better signal outside?She's lucky he had the courtesy to stay down while she took an age unlocking the door.(Possible explanation:She planned to stay in the shack and wait for Josh, since that was the location she sent him, and the key was Plan B.)Then Josh leaves Oscar behind with a spurious instruction to pass the news on, but doesn't tell him where he's going.(VJ and Maddy, who could have filled the messenger role, conspicuously disappear at this point.)To make matters worse, Oscar then tells Zac by phone, which he could easily have done from the car.(He is at the Diner with Maddy next time we see him, but there didn't seem to be any real reason for him to stay behind.)We even get Zac and Leah following Stevenson out for no apparent reason so they can have an alone moment! Frustrating that the show is suddenly thrusting Josh and Evelyn, who I never felt were more than a bland convenient couple, back together as soul mates.Even when we get a nice scene of Evelyn apologising to Oscar and them re-bonding, he randomly starts pushing her back to Josh.(Although I guess he would seem like a good option after Tank.)Honestly, it almost left me glad that Tank whacked Josh one at the end.

[Pierced Musie]

Was that it?!? Josh comes to the rescue & then get knocked out with one hit. Did they hold back on Tank going completely mental on Josh for a reason?

[atrus]

Generally a good episode, although when Evie started legging it through the bush, combined with the knowledge of the fact they were cutting knife shots in the previous episode, I had a horrible feeling they were going to go all Chloe/Brad on us. So I was relieved when Josh showed up, even though it was a ridiculous stroke of luck that he managed to find her exact location before Tank did. While setting up Josh as the one to save the day was clearly an overture to their reconciliation, the worst bit about it was how quickly the writers started stuffing his and Evie's 'One True Pairing' status down our throats the moment the danger had passed. Personally I felt it was unnecessary and worked to devalue a lot of what we'd just seen, especially during the scene where Oscar was seemingly making Josh's case for him - not the time or place! My thought was, if they are going to get them back together, let's at least allow Evie to recover from her ordeal first and come to terms with the Tank situation, then make it more of a subtle, gradual process. But then the last vestiges of subtle and gradual flew out of the window, when Tank showed up to whack Josh around the head just in time for the cliffhanger. Cue days of devoted hospital bedside wailing from Evie, no doubt, while Dr Nate perfects his serious face.

Agree with Red that Roo's reaction to the 'revelation' about James's parents being dead (I'd assumed that was the case ever since the truth about his wife came out, and to be honest was assuming Roo had too) felt overcooked, given the far less extreme way she'd reacted to the news of his other wife and kids. You were left with the sense that if only he'd dropped all the truth-bombs at the same time rather than holding that one back, things would still have been OK. Of course Roo needed to know, and in that respect I'm pleased that Maddy advised James to tell the truth from now on - although it felt a bit jarring, as if Maddy somehow had insider knowledge that he was still keeping something big from Roo. Overall I'm probably glad for Roo that she decided what she did - it's difficult to envisage their relationship ever recovering from such a huge breach of trust - even though in the end I felt a little sorry for James and sort of admired his decision to finally lay everything on the table, knowing it might cost him Roo in the process.

[c120701]

I suppose in a way in Roo's head, before she found out the truth about his parent's, James hadn't lied to her about his wife and kids - he just hadn't told her. Finding out that his parents were dead and were his cover story for being with his family was the trust being broken because that's where the lie was.

[CaptainHulk]

If Oscar had any stones, he'd have said to Josh "Screw it, I'm coming with you she's *my* sister!" even at the risk of getting his face kicked in.

Also, that Bop that Tank gave Josh was predictable as.

*sigh* I hope Bennett did enough cleanup on the show before he thought "**** this for a laugh!" and downed tools.

[atrus]

I'd sort of forgotten Andy existed - was this his first appearance this year? Hope Josh's hospitalisation isn't just an excuse to have Andy rampaging around the Bay in vigilante mode for weeks on end; or worse, just an excuse to reignite Handy - which kind of feels like it's the direction of travel, what with the revelation that Chrannah is somewhat one-sided.

Absolutely gobsmacked that Ash is apparently contacting Brax to tell him that Ricky and Nate are going to be a thing again. Of all things! Brax wanted Ricky to believe he was dead, and that surely includes being able to move on in her life with another man. And none of the drama that's gone down since Brax's disappearance (e.g. Kyle needing a transplant) has persuaded Ash to get in touch with him; so if Brax shows up now just for a macho showdown with Dr Catwalk, I'm going to be most displeased.

[Slade]

Was disappointed the final nail in the coffin with Roo/James was her finding out his parents had actually died although I accept that his wife and kids played a part.  I was expecting her to be slightly sympathetic and I don't think James needs help.  Just needs to sort his life out.

I'm so sorry Maddy's feelings were hurt because Roo chose James over her.  Had to laugh at the irony of her remark about having no idea why Roo took James back because I was thinking the same thing about Oscar and her.  Once again her attitude and manor in which she spoke to James made me want to slap her.

I've been up and down with Evelyn.  She had gotten so annoying when she was involved with Tank, I wanted to strangle her.  Her attitude towards her friends and her family absolutely stank.  But I'm glad she recognised what sort of person he is.  Just a shame it took him holding her against her will for her to realise that.  Can't believe she tried the shower thing twice.  As an aside I'm genuinely surprised how many people don't lock their smartphones.  Tank hitting Josh across the back of the head was such a sucker punch though.  I agree with Angelica that this whole thing now appears to be purely a plot device to facilitate a Evie/Josh reunion.  I am left asking rhetorically why bother breaking them up if that's the case? Drama of course.  Tank is a dangerous person and doesn't have any redeeming qualities although funnily enough in his own warped sort of way I actually think he does love Evelyn.  Still I thought the same thing about Hunter but I'm actually starting to quite like him now.

I'm surprised nobody spotted Josh sooner.  And would Ash have really have gone round to check after hearing a phone just a few times.  It's good to see Andy back though.  I'm kinda glad he had a go at Evelyn even though he was out of line.  Whilst not the classic and truly quite wonderful performance of Kyle after Phoebe lost her baby (and as much as I like Andy) I did find his outburst re Josh's condition quite amusing.  Quite enjoyed the scenes with him and Hannah.  Have to admit, Hannah looked kinda hot in a bikini.  I'm assuming the way she was with Andy and the fact that Chris declared his love for her on the beach and it wasn't reciprocated (oh she did thank him) that there is a possible love triangle on the horizon - not like we've seen any of those before.

So re Nate, Ricky was complaining about somebody being involved in her business.  Irony alert 2.  I'm not happy at the fact that Phoebe seems to be the one with all the power in this i.e. being there for Kat but also being an agony aunt to Ricky.

Ash should really be more careful.  He didn't need to put Brax's name in his email although I accept that was to show the audience who he was contacting.

[Red Ranger 1]

I get that "coward punching" seems to be the Issue of the Moment in Australia, given that Neighbours confused its UK audience by getting on its soapbox about it not too long ago, and maybe I'm showing my ignorance but would Josh getting a fairly light tap and hitting his head on what seemed like fairly soft ground really cause as much damage as it has? The doctor seemed massively insensitive by talking about organ donation as if Josh is already dead, would they really do it like that?Problem is I don't really care about Josh and care even less about Andy, so it was hard to get interested.Only Andy being the only person willing to criticise Evelyn for the trouble she's caused (arguably including making Josh a target by calling him instead of her family) raised my interest, and we soon get Leah treating her like an innocent fluffy lamb again.Hannah seems annoyed by it but still doesn't seem to say a word to her.It seemed mildly exploitative to have Ash spend his early scenes wandering about the caravan park in just a towel.Wonder how many out-takes there are where George Mason didn't keep it in place.

I felt for Chris when Hannah kind of brushed off his use of the L word, especially when she then spends the rest of the episode hanging off Andy, until he started plotting to take it back.Excuse me while I bury my face in my hands.

Phoebe once again shows why people shouldn't use her as a confidante.Ash shouldn't expect Ricky to stay single, although he did have a point that she needs to make sure any potential boyfriend is okay about Casey being part of the package.(Nate probably is, though.)It did seem amusing that Brax has gone to all the trouble of setting up an e-mail account in a fake name just for Ash to use his real one.To be fair, Brax could have got in touch with Ash relatively recently rather than them being in contact all along.

ETA: Oh yes: And well done for blowing the week's big twist in the promo, Home and Away. Not much point watching the episodes now.