Latest UK Episode Discussion (2006-2017 Seasons)

[Pierced Musie]

^ Wasn't there a whole storyline based around Chris breaking the alcohol rule when he first moved in? To be honest I would have rather seen Chris involved in this storyline instead of Roo/Leah/Olivia. It has been shown many times they have a sweet bond that would have worked wonderfully.

Loved Evie giving up on her twin connection. That whole scene with Alf was beautiful but then I always have loved scenes with Alf connecting with the younger characters .

Matt/Maddy? Meh! Hated the fact that it became all about them being missing... and then Alf told them all that they needed to focus on Oscar.

[Red Ranger 1]

3 hours ago, H&Alover said:

interesting talk about how the subject of marriage never came up between her and Brax, it not normally being a Braxton thing

Well...Brax's parents were married, and Heath's married, and Casey was going to propose to Denny, and Kyle did propose to Phoebe...So I guess it's more a case of it not being a Brax thing than a Braxton thing.

Not a particularly auspicious beginning to the episode with Roo "suddenly" realising Matt and Maddy are missing when Alf says the car's gone, even though the rest of the household have been sat there for what seems like quite some time without going "Isn't there usually someone else here?" Having them make out while Oscar's missing isn't going to win over any naysayers.Myself, I think I'm through the angry stage and into the rolling my eyes at them stage.But the appeal is completely lost on me, at best they're a bland and generic boy/girl pairing who've been stuck together solely because they haven't dated yet.And I really think they're the wrong person for each other.It felt like Maddy's moved on from dating boys like Matt and needs someone more reliable, not someone she'll end up babysitting much like Sasha did.And Matt needs someone at his own level of maturity who'll like him as he is and want to kick back and have fun with him (I've always thought he and Phoebe would be an interesting match, but I suspect we're in Crack Pairing territory again).Bad memories of Cassie/Jules, right down to Alf springing them with steamed up windows.Glad he gave them both a serve.

Back to Oscar and I see Evelyn's still throwing tantrums, I loved the way everyone sort of looked embarrassed and slowly edged away from her.But her later scene was quite affecting, and I also liked VJ's brief moment checking on her.The ending reveals Oscar's fate: I definitely clocked some eye movement so I think we can assume he's alive.(Of course, we then get the usual "Mmm, Oscar?Yeah, he's fine" promo, which even gives away the identity of the mysterious figure.Cheers, guys.Any point us watching the episode now?)

I absolutely loved the scene of Irene on the phone to Fin.At one point there was a perception among forum members who'd never seen her that she was a horrible daughter who wanted nothing to do with Irene, so I'm glad we get moments like this that show they are still in touch even though we never see her.(Mind you, if anyone was going to be able to tell Irene was drunk, you'd expect it to be Fin.)Looks like that could be the end of Irene's alcohol relapse but I actually hope it is rather than seeing it dragged out.I also loved Chris' portrayal, trying to laugh Irene out of her funk but then being sensible when he realises how serious it is.And again, some lovely scenes between Irene and Leah as Irene's real secret comes out.Some people came close but I'm not sure if anyone in here actually guessed it.It's an interesting one and a potentially stark look at some of the dark days of the recent past (if I've got Irene's age right, I think this would have been the late 1960s).I'm cautious because we had a great reveal that then seemed to collapse into silliness not so long ago, so I hope they can keep the quality up.

I actually really enjoyed the scenes of Ricky struggling to get ready for Nate and the interplay between her and Casey...but then he still doesn't propose? Man, get on with it already!

[DialMforMorag]

How is Josh Barrett speaking so well all of sudden after his hospital stint?

[atrus]

Another strong episode, mainly because of the Irene story, which is really putting everything else firmly in the shade at the moment. I'm sure if I went back over the years there are nits that could be picked here and there with this to prove it a retcon, but the fact is, it's working; Lynne McGranger has sold it through the strength of the acting, and the writing is believable too. Great to get her talking to Fin, and the scene with Leah was really powerful too.

Matt and Maddy's foray into the bush just felt like an excuse for them to get a bit steamy, as nothing actually came of it in terms of advancing the Oscar plot. Hope Maddy sticks to her guns and leaves it alone until he's found. I'm sticking to my guns, meanwhile, on the point that spooky-twin-stuff is nonsense; despite reams of anecdotal reports, there really is no scientific basis for it at all. Even if you wanted to posit some kind of kooky quantum entanglement theory for identical twins (and that would still be nonsense), I don't see for a minute how you could begin to apply it to fraternal twins like Oscar and Evie.

As to whether soap should dabble in such matters: actually I don't believe the genre needs to be naturalistic at all, and there are plenty of good examples of where it successfully isn't. But because H&A is, on most days, a by-the-numbers kind of show governed by the real-life laws of physics, chemistry and biology, it's always jarred for me on the occasions when it's tried to inject elements of the paranormal. I'm absolutely a fan of dream sequences, hallucinations, ghostly clifftop/refrigerator visitations etc where it's clear or implied that it's a POV thing; and spooky coincidence is fine as long as it's not every day. But I draw the line at psychic twin connections or other supernatural phenomena being portrayed as fact and empirically impacting on the course of events. When couched in what is, 364 days of the year, a 'narrative of the possible' (albeit also a narrative of the highly unlikely) it just serves to perpetuate unhelpful myths, IMO.

The cliffhanger was completely smashed open by the promo, so what a waste of time that was.

[Pierced Musie]

I'm miffed at the lack of Evie/Oscar. Her twin has been found safe and we get nothing! But what is this... why it is more Oscar/Maddy/Matt bullcrap. The conversation was going nicely until she said she still loved Oscar, which is the whole reason they are in this mess (she wouldn't just finish with him). But finally I had a bit of respect for Matt when he told Maddy he would wait till the right time. Just a shame she looked gutted with that.

Poor Denny

[Red Ranger 1]

I still feel Home and Away is a show with a long history of portraying the supernatural as fact or at least on the level of "Ah, what indeed..?" Heck, it's right there in the pilot.And I find that those that try to cling onto mundane explanations for these things often end up tripping themselves up when the storyline doesn't make any sense if there aren't more things in heaven and earth.Anyway, Evie was wrong as it turned out, although I'm quite happy to go along with the show's theory that a psychic bond can be formed by non-identical twins, other blood relations and even non-blood relations if they're close enough (which is why I always respond to people going "Kirsty and Jade weren't real twins!" with "Yeah, so?").

Sorry, bit of a tangent there.To be honest, none of Evie's reactions have really rung true.And the lack of involvement from Hannah beyond a few throwaway "She's really worried"s has grated.I get that not every character's in every episode, but four or five episodes of Oscar being missing, you'd have thought she could have popped up once.I really would have liked to enjoy Maddy and Oscar's chat, but it's bookended by Matt being intrusive."I don't know why things didn't work out between us,"says Oscar.Frankly, I think the answer is "The writers got bored."Going from their "I love you"s to Maddy running straight to Matt once again just underlined for me that Matt and Maddy don't even come close in terms of believable intimacy.I'd love it if Madscar carried on getting scenes together but I imagine it'll be quickly forgotten.I might be seeing what I want to but I found Matt a bit smarmy here, he almost seemed to be smirking with his "We shouldn't hurt Oscar any more than we have."Given these two's history of saying they'll stay away from each other, then next time we see them they're fawning all over each other again, I expect them to be making out within the week.

Irene and Leah's scenes were great again, even if it was mostly going over the same ground as yesterday.Leah's right though that a simple chat isn't going to fix anything and Irene needs to get help, before the rest of the household cop what Leah did yesterday.I must admit I rolled my eyes at Irene drinking again.It seems like an unnecessary side issue that's getting in the way of the important stuff.Leah says Irene's been keeping this secret for 50-odd years.Either Leah doesn't know how old Irene is or I don't or they've changed it.(I seem to remember she was only meant to be in her late 30s when she first appeared, which ties in with her getting married in her late teens or early twenties as indicated here.Although I do understand Lynne McGranger is older than that.)

Aaand Billie! Good to see her again, oozing empathy as ever, and that makes the second time she's saved Oscar life so I'm glad he seemed to be grateful and trust her.Zac's dismissive attitude annoyed me, especially when he's unknowingly harbouring the real culprit.I did wonder briefly if she's skipped bail, but none of the police seemed to react to it. So now both Billie and Denny have resurfaced, in different ways, it looks like both the Kings' past sins are catching up with them.I can't shake the feeling that their respective punishments are going to be massively disproportionate though.

[atrus]

2 hours ago, Red Ranger 1 said:

I still feel Home and Away is a show with a long history of portraying the supernatural as fact or at least on the level of "Ah, what indeed..?" Heck, it's right there in the pilot.And I find that those that try to cling onto mundane explanations for these things often end up tripping themselves up when the storyline doesn't make any sense if there aren't more things in heaven and earth.

Yeah, I think you're right that the show has a long history of it - and you're definitely right that there's no point in pretending the supernatural hasn't impacted on storylines, because it certainly has; you've got to accept it as part of the universe. You don't have to like it, though; and for me it's because the occurrences are so infrequent as to be jarring when they do pop up. Like I said, dreams, visions and the ambiguously paranormal aren't problematic as far as I'm concerned - but I'd rather that the 'concrete paranormal', whose impact on the narrative can't be denied, was either a lot more prevalent in the show's DNA, or not there at all. Otherwise it just seems fairly purposeless and gimmicky. But that's just my view.

Onto today, and it was good to see everyone in The Triangle finally behaving with some maturity - I've never been there myself, but I can well imagine that being lost at sea puts the tos and fros of teenage relationships into sharp perspective. Maddy did rush straight to Matt after her chat with Oscar, but at least it was to tell him they had to wait - and happily, she didn't even need to insist. I didn't feel personally that Matt was smarmy (although maybe that's me seeing what I want to, too); I thought he came out of it pretty maturely, and more than either Maddy or Oscar in the storyline overall, even if both had vastly improved their behaviour in today's episode. There again, I guess the responses to this storyline really depend on which characters you are (or were) most invested in. For me it's probably Matt, which I guess is why I'm struggling to see him as an intrusion. In fact I am still rather lamenting the way that Matt and Oscar's friendship has been left at the wayside as an untreated casualty of this situation, but hopefully it will be dealt with in the coming weeks.

More good material with Irene - and much as I loved her stuff with Leah, I'm glad that the entire debacle wasn't forgotten and her trauma cured the moment they talked it through. So was that the famous 'bottle that's never been opened' that she kept in the house as a challenge? It certainly looked that way given the cobwebs that were all over it.

Speaking of webs, there was a real sense that a whole litany of Brax-side plot threads (and Charlotte, I feel, is now pretty firmly Brax-side) were finally coming together as we begin to approach Australian finale time. The rather convenient (for Oscar) arrival of Hobo Billie was the most surprising, or would've been if the promo hadn't wrecked it - and it's all the more interesting a development for the fact that it could potentially see two strands of Charlotte's tangled story unravel. First, Billie knows Brax is alive, and I doubt she'll be keeping that nugget to herself for long - and second, she didn't light that fire, and we know who did. And all that on the back of Denny's body finally showing up. How on earth is Charlotte going to spin her way out of all this, I found myself thinking. The answer, surely, is that she can't.

And on the topic of murderers getting their just desserts, I must admit I stood up and punched the air when I heard the name Jake Pirovic in the promo. So they haven't forgotten.

[Little bean]

On 8 March 2016 at 10:00 PM, DialMforMorag said:

How is Josh Barrett speaking so well all of sudden after his hospital stint?

Worlds greatest speech therapist lives in Summer Bay? Uppermost in my mind.....why is he still wearing his watch?

[Slade]

So what, were supposed to like Billie just because she rescued Oscar.  No thanks.  Won't work with me.  Still haven't forgotten what she tried to do to Nate.

I guess one thing you could argue about Oscar disappearing is that at least Evelyn wasn't obsessing over Josh although it does mean no scenes with her and Andy.

Oscar seemed very calm although maybe after what he went through he's put things into perspective.  I actually don't think he should be friends with Maddy.  This was what precisely got him back into this situation to begin with.  He needs a clean break.  Although how is he supposed to do that given that he is living at the same house as her.  Can't see Maddy and Matt staying apart for very long, hormones and that.  I guess the sleeping arrangements will be interesting.

[H&Alover]

Great performances from both Ada and Lynne a.k.a. Irene and Leah.  Her big blow up at Chris, who had done nothing wrong and Roo should have been a big sign something was wrong, but it was only Chris who showing his sensitive side had a quite talk with Leah. He knows something isn't right with Irene but unlike his usual self hasn't pushed it. Irene was 14 when she had her baby which would make it  in the 60's which would make Irene in her 60's. Sadly even though it was the Swinging 60's being a single teenage mum was still a disgrace, especially I would imagine in a small Australian town, even here single girls were shipped off to Mother And Baby homes and told they either got the baby adopted or never to come home again, you only have to watch Long Lost Family to know that. So sad though that she never even got to know if it was a boy or girl, for someone who had been raped she was ready to keep him/her, not easy, too much of a reminder for a grown woman let alone a teenager. I wonder if Irene's parents knew it was the uncle (and decided to ignore the fact) or just a random boy she'd hooked up with.  The whole ordeal did influence Irene's life  marriage to Mud, his abuse, her bad treatment of her other kids due of course to her alcoholism she felt that was all she deserved Back then there wasn't the help available like there is now so she had no choice but to suffer in silence, maybe if there had been her life would have turned out differently.  Leah was being a bit naïve in saying Irene ought to look for her child and all would be OK, she hasn't a clue if (a) he/she is alive or (b) they are what they have been told.  They may have been told they were abandoned because mum didn't want them so could all end horribly and make Irene even worse.  Irene really needs to practice what she preaches and seek further (professional) help, just one talk to a friend isn't going to solve it and make it go away. Her now hitting the wine is not going to be so easy to hide as hitting the vodka, people will smell it on her breath. As for the having drink in the house, maybe over the years she's got more confident in having it around or it being brought in as long as she knew about it. It took Irene a long time to regain the trust and love of her kids, mainly Damien and Fin.

Actually nothing happened between Matt and Maddy during their night together in the car, it was only the next morning they kissed (for the first time) , not even sure Alf saw it  due to the steamed up windows, it had been a cold night!  If Oscar hadn't still been missing I dare say they may have got more of a rollicking, so they got off lightly, wasn't a need for Leah to get preachy about Matt 'stealing' her car, at least he bought it back in one piece. It was good to see him taking his share of responsibility for wandering off in a storm and  not telling anyone.  Once Oscar had been found and Matt and Maddy were talking in the Diner I thought he acted maturely by telling Maddy now was too soon for them to be together and he was happy to wait, won't Oscar be heading off to uni soon anyway?  I know Oscar agreed to it but to me I think it's far too soon for Oscar and Maddy to be friends, they might well still 'love' each other but not in the way a boyfriend/girlfriend ought to love each other.

I know Oscar is no heavyweight, but Billie must be  a lot stronger than she looks dragging him off the beach and into that shed.  Don't know if was meant to be a joke but Oscar's explanation about him  after deciding to go for a midnight swim,  then getting in over his head made me smile.     This time Oscar can't blame Billie for putting his life in danger in the first place, though he did tell Zac he believe her when she told him she didn't set the fire. So she's been released from the burns hospital, but wouldn't/shouldn't she have still been under police custody? Her trial got mentioned at least. 

Good instincts by Kat when she saw the backpack or because her interest had already been aroused by seeing Denny's itinerary  on Charlotte's laptop, or did she did see it before Denny left, radical  idea but the police could  ask Phoebe or Hannah if they think it's Denny's, suppose looking for DNA wouldn't be much good with it having  got a good soaking. Don't know much about mobiles and how long their life is, but would there still a signal after all this time? Kat was lucky Emerson has agreed to keep her poking around Charlotte's flat to himself, but please don't let her go alerting her again.  Now, a body, Denny's along with the safe  has been found, depending how deep Charlotte managed to bury it I'm surprised it hadn't been unearthed by wild animals before now.  Charlotte looked suitably horrified by seeing the news 'a body of a young girl has been found' and I imagine will be looking to get out of town as soon as she can.

The gods are certainly not looking favourably over Nate and Ricky, proposal wise and making it more tense is Ricky having to keep the news she knows to herself.