Latest UK Episode Discussion (2006-2017 Seasons)

[Red Ranger 1]

4 hours ago, H&Alover said:

(and I'll ask again as I got ignored last time why 'fake'?)

 

On ‎03‎/‎02‎/‎2016 at 0:33 AM, Red Ranger 1 said:

I just cannot accept Fake Olivia as the same character when she's different in every conceivable way: Looks, personality, age, back story... It takes more than having her name drop Chloe a few times, the fact that even Alf, Marilyn and Leah don't seem to have accepted her as Olivia and are treating her like some random girl they've never seen before means I'm inclined to do the same.(I'm convinced that they should have just made her some girl that Irene's met and no-one else has, the daughter of one of her other charges or a relative of an old friend from before she came to the Bay or distant cousin, rather than making a half-hearted stab at continuity and nostalgia that's only managing to alienate any viewer who actually remembers Olivia.)

 

4 hours ago, H&Alover said:

To be fair Red Josie did deserve it! 

How so? As I recall, she was a perfectly likable woman that Irene ran out of town for the hideous crime of kissing Scott when they were both single, just because Hayley got upset about it. Anyway, (Fake) Olivia was so smug when talking to Kat that it’s almost impossible to believe she’s innocent, and I’m surprised Irene seems to. So, I’m guessing this boy in the UK is somehow connected to the scars on her legs? Sadly, the whole thing came crashing down with Irene’s “Hey, let’s make you staying here permanent!”, as if it’s as simple as that. Oh well, snatching vulnerable teenagers and taking them home with her is another of Irene’s “things.”

Meanwhile, are we actually meant to take Hunter’s condemnation of Charlotte seriously? This attempt at Pass the Villain Ball is so ridiculous it’s just leaving me even more disgusted with him for his hypocrisy. I’ve probably forgotten a lot of stuff over the break, but it seems Hunter has “burnt” far more people in town, both literally and figuratively, than Charlotte, yet for some reason they’re all treating him like an innocent lamb that needs protecting from the wicked witch. Couldn’t the kidnappers have kept him? Instead he’s back by the end of the episode, so that was a bit pointless. Given that we got a long lingering shot of the car’s license plate, it was a bit of a shock that VJ didn’t get it. So, Trystan learns how nuts Charlotte is the hard way, as he pushes her too far and pays the price. (When we saw that clip in the promo of something splatting against Charlotte’s windscreen I never thought it was that: A good use of promos for once.) Of course, Charlotte may have just pushed Gunno too far…

And looks like we’re back on for Leah and Zac marrying in finale week!

4 hours ago, Little bean said:

I was thinking he's hearing something. Did I imagine a little tear in his eye at the end? 

I don't know, it looked liked we were meant to be looking at something but I couldn't tell what...

[Pierced Musie]

The thing that is annoying me with Olivia? The complete character retcon of James that I think is just around the corner. Whatever is about to be discovered about Olivia & her time away just doesn't ring true because of the absense of James (as in he just basically neglected her). This is a guy who dropped everything to take this girl to safety, away from his bitch of a mother. Now we are about to find out what... that he just neglected her for his career? Don't mess with awesome characters from the past, bitches!

Great coma acting in yesterdays episode. Not as good as VJ's comaacting .

[Slade]

I absolutely loathed Irene at the beginning of yesterday's episode.  Evicting Charlotte was out of pure spite and malice.  Even with today's episode she suspected that Olivia was lying but I think part of her was prepared to take her side because it's Charlotte.

I said last week that I could end up liking Olivia because she seemed bubbly, lively whilst acknowledging she had a manipulative side but I've really disliked her over the last couple of episodes.  I hated the way she butted in when Charlotte was arguing with Irene about being thrown out.  I also hated the way she tried to manipulate Hunter against his own mother.  I do think that Olivia is a pathological liar.  I could be wrong but she was lying through her back teeth at the police station.  And even when she got home and was explaining her story to Irene, I still thought she was lying then.

The sudden mood swings have made me wonder whether she is bipolar but I'm not sure whether they would introduce another character like that so closely after Spencer.  One thing I do like about her is the way one minute she has the puppy dog eyes, like when she was flirting with VJ/Hunter and the way she was with Irene when she first arrived but she can shift to the almost psychotic gaze, like the way she was facing off against Charlotte in the Diner when she backed Irene up and later on just before Charlotte's place had all the rubbish dumped in it.

It's hard to argue against Hunter being chloroformed and kidnapped given that he burnt Leah's house down although I do find it quite amusing how he gets on with everyone now except his own mother when it was the reverse before.  I don't blame Charlotte for running Trystan over.  With any luck he's dead.  She hasn't done herself any favours and been very stupid.  If Trystan survives he's bound to want some serious payback and if he doesn't Gunno will probably send someone even worse to replace him.  It will be interesting to see how Charlotte gets out of this one because if he is dead she's not going to be able to get rid of the body this time.

[atrus]

Well I'm not going to be mourning the demise of Mr Creepy, that's for sure (assuming he even is dead). But given that he's just a pawn of Gunno, and that even if he doesn't suspect her of the hit-and-run, he'll no doubt still want Charlotte to help track down Brax, it's difficult to see where she goes from here (other than back into the woods with a shovel). As the now-much-beloved Hunter points out, everyone hates her, so wouldn't she better cutting her losses at this stage and fleeing town? I suppose he's the only reason why she isn't.

Looks like we're beginning to uncover some mitigating circumstances for Olivia's bratty behaviour so far. If there's more to the sexual harassment than she seems to be letting on, as looks to be the case from her scars and panic attack, then I guess I'm going to have to cut her some slack as it seems like (as with Tank) she may have gone through something pretty unpleasant. While she's still my number one suspect for wrecking Charlotte's flat, was anyone else wondering whether Irene maybe believed Olivia because she knew someone else was responsible? She just had a bit of a sheepish look about her, especially when she was asked about the spare key.

[Psychic Wombat]

I'll be sad to see Charlotte leave the soap, she's compulsive viewing. I can't help seeing her as a victim of her own making, the hoodlum she ran over was pretty thick to walk down the middle of the road like that, but she just gets herself in deeper. With luck she'll bump off Gunno too.

Olivia is one of those annoying teenage girls sent to confuse VJ's simple mind, better get used to it Veeg it doesn't get any better :-) I don't see any of Chloe in her at all, she could be Jame's daughter from a previous marriage lol.

Kat was sure lucky to find Hunter King (sounds like a boxer) in the vastness of the outback. Being a teenager Hunter is redeemable, it's the adults in his life that have made who have corrupted him and turned him into a pyro, now the bay has worked its magic and turned him into a model teen.

[Pierced Musie]

I am disappointed that they didn't make Charlotte a complete badass. Would have been awesome if that hadn't killed the thug so she just finished him off with a crowbar...

Would have been EPIC!

[CaptainHulk]

Josie was nowhere as evil as her Cousin Angie (who would kick you down the stairs and convince you that you "fell").

People thought 1996 H&A was bonkers (in their defence they were half right with a lot of the stuff the Teen gang of '96 got into; Ghosts, Hallucinations, Exorcisms and s****) but this is almost self-parody at times!

I'm siding with Charlotte against the judgmental folks of the bay but not against these people who have her over a barrel (WTF told her to go bury Denny in the woods, anyhow?)

Olivia had potential but just seems miscast and badly written, hopefully with the coming storylines and revelations, she becomes a bit more three-dimensional.

There was a time when the Karma bus would run down people in the bay that had things coming but now it's like there's someone diving in front of it for them (Kyle, Andy, etc)

Bennett, if you can read this, I hope you hand picked your successor who is a long-term writer and they're gonna attempt to clean up some of the mess you abandoned.

[H&Alover]

Mea culpa I confused Josie with Angie who was a real bad 'un.

Back to Olivia it has been ten years since we last saw her so of course she would have changed, I'm allowing that her once brown hair has been bleached, if we believe one version of her age, 17, then it does tally, I'm blaming TPTB for the changing of age. She's had several moves over the years and I suppose had no proper settled home.  Circumstances change and James may well have set out with good intentions to be there for her, but he did/does have to earn a living.  As for certain Bay folk who should know her but don't seem to isn't that down to the researcher's not doing their homework? I'm with you CaptainHulk it seems more down to the writing of her character than her being Olivia or not.

Irene started off thinking she (Olivia) was capable of dumping the rubbish in Charlotte's flat but seemed to have a change of mind, even after Kat revealed the real reason Olivia had been expelled.  Not many people other than staff have access to the kitchen open as it is, it's not Chris' style and what ever Irene feels about Charlotte she's hardly likely to mess up her own property like that.  Of course there is more to that story than she is telling, it's just more convenient at the moment to tell Irene that, she did get very snippy when Irene kept pushing her for more. It was Olivia's suggestion the other week she stay there permanently but Irene does have to OK it with James first, because until she turns 18 he is still her guardian.

Don't forget Psychic Olivia is VJ's first 'girlfriend' not the best start to have!

I had to smile at Hunter's remark about Charlotte and burning and she replied 'he was  a fine one to talk about burning'. Will he 'fess up soon or will she drop him in it, scuppering his settling in at the Stewart house? If I was him I'd get in first and take the consequences. Hunter doesn't seem at all bothered about people (Olivia or VJ) slagging off his mum, most times it's OK for a family member to do it but not for anyone who isn't, especially if they hardly know them. Handy that VJ just happened to turn around when he did so was able to spot him being dragged off.  Missed a bit after that, but did he really get drugged, dragged off, driven into the bush, abandoned, found and brought home all in an afternoon/evening? Plus all that time no-one could contact Charlotte who when Alf finally tracked her down and told her, didn't rush round to see how he was?

Gunno is not going to be  a happy bunny when he finds out his henchman, btw Trystan isn't  your usual hard man's name is it, has been outsmarted and more than that by the looks of it by a woman.  That'll teach them both to mess with a mother's kid!!  His next guy is going to be  a lot more scary. He'd be a lot harder to bury in the bush than Denny atrus, a dead weight is bad enough when it's someone Denny's size, but Trystan is a big bloke. Be a lot easier to leave him where he is. and claim it was an accident, it was dark and raining. More reasons for Kat to do a bit more digging, Kyle won't even be in the frame as the police don't know he beat Trystan up.

Zac was right his and Leah's wedding can be 'cheap and cheerful' or small and quiet I think she termed it. Leah has never been into flash and showing off.

[Psychic Wombat]

Charlotte would make a good ninja assassin - the bays first!

[Red Ranger 1]

I agree about the total retcon of Olivia's history.They seem to have completely rewritten her exit so that instead of James giving up his life in the UK so Olivia could be safe and secure with her home and family, we have James dragging Olivia to an unfamiliar country after her mother died and plonking her in what seems to be a posh private school while he neglects her.We're only one reveal away from wondering if she would have been better off with Diane. Bad writing and bad casting have combined to make it almost impossible to believe the girl is Olivia.They should have made her someone else.And sticking her in scenes with the newly canonised Saint Hunter isn't helping.

Kind of ironic that the first time in weeks that Irene actually behaves like a human being towards Charlotte (without even the snide comments that accompanied the window smashing incident) is right after she's fatally injured someone.Of course, by Home and Away's new morality, that's perfectly fine and dandy, doesn't seem much different from Andy killing Jake. Kat's on the case but running up against a wall of silence, Kyle has worked out the crime and motive but still doesn't know what Trystan was really blackmailing Charlotte about. Mind you, looks like Denny might be about to raise her head given Phoebe's sudden interest...

I actually found myself yelling at the screen when Maddy told Matt she thought her cancer might be back.I never thought I'd end up hating Maddy's scenes, Kassandra's usually too good for that making even the most absurd of situations enjoyable, but this contrived and insulting Matt storyline is making me do exactly that.I don't know whether to be pleased that we're finally going to see an end to people asking "What happened to Maddy's cancer?" after we get official confirmation her cancer's in remission (Dan Bennett finally ties off a storyline he forgot about when he took over) or disgusted that something so important was used as an excuse for Matt to hold her hand like an ersatz boyfriend and make me want to punch his lights out.It should have been Oscar there, and having him have an extra exam was a desperately contrived plot device.(No sign of Evelyn on exam day again.Either she's doing completely different subjects to everyone else or she's gonna be repeating with Josh next year.)The episode gets points by having Maddy tell Oscar straightaway but then loses them again with another ridiculously contrived final scene of Roo (Why is she there?She doesn't live there!) showing an amazing lack of loyalty to Maddy and Oscar's relationship by instead buttering up Matt and having an unnecessary conversation while Oscar's in earshot instead of just letting the whole thing be forgotten.Matt "loves" Maddy now? Give me strength.Yet again, the show puts a decent teen friendship group together then pulls it apart by having them all fancy each other's girlfriends.Maybe it's always been that way but it increases the feeling of being relationship mad.