Latest UK Episode Discussion (2006-2017 Seasons)

[Red Ranger 1]

Charlotte's life is getting more and more complicated as she tells different stories to Kyle, Trystan and Kat here. It seemed incredibly cavalier of Trystan to let Kat see him in the flat, guess he was going for Refuge in Audacity. But the show's morality is all over the place again. One episode they're trying to tell a cautionary tale about coward punching, with Josh ending up in a coma on the verge of brain death because Tank hits him once (and only because Josh was daft enough to follow him). Yet now we have a worryingly casual use of violence, as Kyle commits a sustained, pre-meditated assault for fairly spurious reasons and it's treated as no big deal. I guess we're meant to follow the show's usual Protagonist Centred Morality and think it's okay because Trystan is a bad person and Josh isn't.The depressing thing is that I remember a time when Kyle was disturbed by the side of him that would do things like this and wanted to change, but that's all gone and he clearly felt no remorse at all and was actually proud of what he'd done.I basically like Kyle, and this hasn't changed that, but what he did here was indefensible.

Some good character work on Ash, and even Phoebe managed to be likable as she encourages him to move on with his life.The storyline with Kat's brother's car has actually got me interested, it could be a nice bonding project for both of them.

I found Oscar's behaviour in his one scene somewhat out of character.Even Maddy points out that not so long ago he wanted them to go to uni together locally.I think if he'd actually put the idea of moving to Perth together to her she'd have considered it, it's the fact he just assumed it was the problem.I really hope they're not going to turn him into a bad boyfriend just to make Matt look good, I actually think they've done a fairly good job of keeping the Maddy/Oscar relationship bubbling under, they had some good bonding moments over having Roo and Evelyn respectively choose untrustworthy partners over them, whereas Maddy's barely spoken to Matt since the break.Yet suddenly she's decided to spend a day being Matt's babysitter, which is a sign of how awful a relationship between them would be, as he becomes another person who plays the victim over Charlotte when he's nothing of the sort.The frustrating thing is, if it had just been one friend helping another, I'd have liked the way Maddy used lateral speak to get him to keep at his HSC (even though part of me still wants him to stuff it up) but someone insists on playing romantic music over the scene in order to turn it into something it's not.And I found Maddy really annoying in that last scene, which isn't a thought I've had about her in a long while, with the way she ignored Matt's feelings because she was too busy showing off her own cleverness, although that might have been because I really didn't want her to find out.Of course she works it out, and pretty much by the same reasoning that Andy did, she's one of only two girls on the show that are the right age.

[atrus]

It seems that no sooner does Kyle win a little of my sympathy than he goes and does something completely asinine/reprehensible. Whatever he thinks Mr Creepy's done, I refuse to condone characters just leaving others for dead on the beach - yet we're usually just expected to swallow it and move on where a Braxton/Braxton Plus is involved, and apply different standards when it's the likes of Tank in the wrong. Needless to say, Kyle's intervention hasn't helped Charlotte one iota; and now Kat seems to be acting especially smugly around Charlotte too. I wonder what it is exactly that she suspects is going on?

So is this Oscar's exit? Or is it just that Matty is now scheduled to happen? Because it seemed to me they were making Oscar act fairly out-of-character to force another unnecessary conflict with Maddy - just as they did with Maddy when they had them argue over Tank a few weeks ago. Likewise, the writers seem to want to have their cake and eat it with Matt - is he hung up on Maddy, or Charlotte, or both, or whichever is most conducive to advancing the plot in any given week?  

Still, I'm going to separate my feelings about the contrived way the strings are being pulled from my fondness for Matt and Maddy's scenes together. I still think they bounce off each other tremendously well - and if Oscar is leaving, and/or is splitting up with Maddy, then I would be interested to see where Matt and Maddy's relationship goes. I thought her flouncing off at the end was a bit insensitive really, after she'd all but beaten a confession out of him - it isn't his fault that he has feelings for her, after all, and he has tried pretty hard to keep it from her and not act on them, even if that's resulted in him acting like a moron at times.

Didn't listen to the Ash and Phoebe scenes.

[CaptainHulk]

Home and Away's moral compass of the 2010s is buggered, let's be honest.

We have murderers and blackmailers running around, FFS.

Maddie acted like Matt cut a huge paint-peeler the way she carried on after the reveal! She just lost about 8 character respect points for that.

And as for stuffing up HSC, do we really want another year of Matt in school?! He'll turn into Pinhead off Neighbours if that keeps up! (Poor sod finally nailed YR12 on the 4th go, I think)

 

[atrus]

It seemed to be a day of overreactions all round today. Maddy annoyed me again for the first three quarters of the episode, acting all wounded and cold with Matt until she finally took Roo's sensible advice. I think it's the worst way someone can react to that kind of thing, in honesty - the obvious strategy, which in fairness she did resort to in the end, was simply to be crystal clear but friendly about it, and crack a couple of jokes. It really isn't the world's biggest deal - or at least, it shouldn't be. Indeed, I wonder whether it's telling that she thought Matt's declaration was a "bigger thing to worry about" than her boyfriend moving to the other side of the country. Could be over-reading it, but that, and her horrified reaction in general, suggests to me that the feelings could be reciprocated on some level.

Yawn at Andy kissing Hannah, but Chris was another one whose reaction went way beyond what was required. She told him the truth, Andy's in a very bad place - again it's not something that I felt required a song and dance, yet judging from the promo that's exactly what we're likely to get for the rest of the week.

[Red Ranger 1]

Ironically, it seemed to me that the theme of the episode was "Women talk too much" and that both Leah and Roo were responsible for giving the women on the receiving end of nominally unwanted attention very questionable advice.I actually thought Maddy's idea of just ignoring Matt's feelings held merit, even if she was painfully bad at it.I'm glad Oscar snapped back to being a sweet and attentive boyfriend, and was very disappointed that despite some cute moments they still haven't had the conversation they need about Perth, it instead being dismissed with Maddy's "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it." (So she's ignoring the thing she shouldn't and not ignoring the thing she should!) Instead, Oscar once again has to apologise for something he never actually said. All he said was that Maddy can study nursing anywhere: If it's true, and it probably is, how is that saying that her course isn't as important as his? And again he goes to Matt for help, doesn't get any but manages it find on his own anyway...at least until Matt turns up like the spectre at the feast. The final chat between Matt and Maddy, with its Roo-patented "I'm really flattered, excuse me while I patronise you and tell you some stuff you already knew anyway" theme, didn't resolve anything for either of them, judging by the awkward atmosphere. And Maddy's expressions...we aren't seriously going to get a "Maddy finds out Matt randomly developed feelings for her so randomly develops feelings for him", are we?

Still, at least Matt knows where the line is and not to cross it.(He has more trouble with the line in the sand, blatantly dawdling in front of Chris while he's running.)Unlike Andy, who casually cracks on to someone else's girlfriend (oh wait, that's what that family do to Chris' girlfriends isn't it...) and doesn't seem in the least bit sorry about it.I get Leah's point about Chris finding out later down the line, but unless Andy tells him (and I accept that wouldn't be out of character although you'd think he'd have other things on his mind at the moment) how would he? Best to let the thing lie, instead of Hannah turning it into a huge production number and giving Chris a big speech which frankly made it sound as bad as possible (not least because of the way she spent most of the time making stuff up to let Andy off the hook). What was she expecting him to do, just go "Cool. Tacos?"

So, was this exam Maddy, Oscar and Matt were going to optional for Evie? Because she seemed to spend the whole day at Josh's bedside.

[H&Alover]

Maddy only had herself to blame when Matt reluctantly admitted (not vocally but by expression) she was 'the girl'.  I can see why she was surprised/shocked, she hasn't lead him on in any way, just been friendly. She's been spending far too much time in Leah and Roo's company, they just love to pick and pick away at someone until they crack.  I, personally, feel Maddy and Matt should have had that chat after (not that it amounted to much), it would have just been there hanging between them otherwise.  Oscar assumed far too much over him (maybe) going to uni in Perth and that Maddy would automatically go with him. At least he realised what he had done by the end.

I nearly felt sorry for Charlotte on Tuesday, but she soon wrecked that when she so easily come up with a cover story for Kyle overhearing 'you're a murderer' remark made by Trystan, but fair dues to her she didn't manipulate him into beating Trystan up he did that off his own bat which only made things worse for her. As for the argument in him getting a thumping and Tank whacking Josh, from what I gathered Trystan knew it was Kyle which implied it was a face to face kind of thing whereas as Tank hit Josh from behind.   It's also got Kat's antenna twitching and she may have a disastrous private life but she's a good cop.  Maybe have been belated but good to see Irene condemn the brick through the window, which wasn't Trystan who would have surely told Charlotte if it had been him, you 'as in a little warning' type of thing.

Ricky seems to have been reading from the Roo/Leah book of let's interfere in someone's life and get them to talk about something/someone they don't want to, in this case Nate and his dad, odd she never mentions her family (Adam we know about of course, but parents nothing). It's all going to end in tears of course, now she's managed to yahoo'd him, he will most definitely be pitching up! Another re-enactment of Matt and his dad, supposedly reformed but isn't?

I have never seen Ash so fired up about something than when he got his head under the bonnet of Kat's late brother's car, so far he's just been drifting along without him or us really noticing. He's another one btw Angelo's took on who had a dodgy past. I may have it slightly wrong but didn't Rik work at a garage that took on ex crims or those were in juvie?  There must be a place Kat or her colleagues at Yabbie Creek cop shop know use ex cons as mechanics?   It also seems Phoebe could have a new career. 

Andy and Hannah - methinks she protested way too much that kiss/peck didn't mean anything, Andy was in a bad place, he didn't mean it etc. just who was she trying to convince, Andy, Leah or herself!  Her explanation to Chris and yes she did have to tell him, how many times have innocent kisses been blown up out of all proportion because someone mentioned it at a later date.  As happens in soaps Andy would have said something to her within, accidently of course, within Chris' earshot, her explanation was over the top.

Good point that Red about the exam.

 

[Little bean]

If Australia is like the Uk then students choose their own individual subjects. Different subjects have exams at different times so presumably Evie just didn't take the subject the others had an exam in. 

[Pierced Musie]

^That is what I thought about the exam situation. So after watching todays episode...

- Can we keep Ash the Mechanic? I like him... he just needs an apprentice now.

- What was up with Phoebe & her lack of sense with... everything? She shows up for a teaching job looking like a washed up popstar, uses Ash's past against him when he calls her up on it and insults the one person who can grant her the job. And she gets rewarded for that behaviour by Ash saying sorry for calling her out & gets the job. Logic has been thrown out the window obviously.

- Is that a Evie & Andy ship I see sailing on the horizon? As for Josh showing no sign of brain activity... is it possible there is no brain in there to show activity?

[CaptainHulk]

 

4 hours ago, Pierced Musie said:

^ As for Josh showing no sign of brain activity... is it possible there is no brain in there to show activity?

That reminds me of a similar thing Jaci Stephen of the Daily Mail said about Dan Baker with the brain swelling following the car crash 

 "Dan went "a bit weird after having had something done to his brain, last I heard, they were still searching for it."

[Slade]

I said this before but I'll repeat again - Phoebe is a self-righteous moron.  Snelgrove within his rights points out that she isn't dressed appropriately for a job interview and she's gets on her high horse and starts spouting some feminist nonsense.  What makes her think Snelgrove wouldn't have said the same thing if that had been a male who was maybe dressed up as someone in a rock band?  And this is the problem with people like her playing the victim when it suits them.  Ironically her rant impressed Snelgrove to the point where he offered her the job.  I guess he must have thought that if she was that passionate perhaps it would translate well into teaching some of his pupils.

I found the Chris/Hannah stuff quite frustrating actually.  I think Chris is an idiot.  I've made no secret about that and he was especially annoying the way he kept blowing Hannah out but he did have a valid point.  Hannah has cheated before when she was supposed to be in love with Andy.  She says she was happy with Chris but I wasn't buying it.  The words sounded very forced when they were coming out of her mouth.  And like yesterday's episode she refused to acknowledge IMO that she liked Andy sticking his tongue down her throat.  If she really didn't like it she would have just said so rather than saying "Oh Andy's confused, he's in a very desperate situation, he's not thinking properly" yarda yarda, yarda.

Actually really enjoyed the scenes with Andy and Evelyn.  Even though it's still hard to believe I like the way Evelyn has been staying there all night watching over Josh (perhaps more guilt than love).  And I like the way Andy has acknowledged that and is in turn trying to support her.  They've come a long way from when he shouted at her the other day but I guess his apology helped.  Shame he's not going to say sorry to Kat.  I'm assuming he would know by now her brother died.