Latest UK Episode Discussion (2006-2017 Seasons)

[Little bean]

Meanwhile, is Skye still locked in her bedroom? 

[H&Alover]

I did like how Phoebe immediately went to tell Ash about Denny putting their recent problems behind her and yes I think he knew from the look on her face.  Very moving scene of the family reacting to Kat's news, toughest job of any cop but most have been just doubly hard for her seeing as she was a house mate and friend of Denny.  Oscar is still recovering from his ordeal so may explain his numbness about the news.  Such a poignant scene of Alf standing outside all alone, as I said before he was very find of Denny.  I'm glad Andy and Josh went straight round and Josh apologised to Evie for his behaviour, because I suppose it rather put his blaming her for his blindness in perspective. Guess it was just one of those things Andy finding Hannah first to break the news, I though from the angle we saw it Chris may have been watching, but no, just a clever camera shot. Kat's promise that she would get whoever was responsible was very heartfelt, but then she has a very good idea (if no proof) of who did do it. You have to admit Charlotte is very good at feigning sadness and shock, though Kat, once again, let her more or less know she knows she did it.

Was Charlotte expecting Andy to steal money from the gym to pay her off, I think she needs the money to make her escape and have something to live on. Even though he told her it would be her word against his if she went to the cops, it may make them think about it again.  I was relieved he told Josh rather than keep it to himself to 'protect' him.

When I first saw that scene of Hunter, then Zac turning up at Charlotte's I wondered if I'd missed something, but it was just wishful thinking on Charlotte's part. Why was Kyle so against helping her, I've forgotten, I did like his comeback 'neither did she' when she told him he didn't know what she was capable of.  Then of course she has to be in earshot when Ash told Billie she could stay with him, seems no-one locks their can door either giving Charlotte easy access to plant the gun and handcuffs. I do hope Billie has an alibi for the  night Kat was attacked as she seemed very quick to believe she was the one who attacked her (as seen in the trailer), especially as she was so nice to her earlier.  Neat slip in that Billie had been reporting in which Kat confirmed. 

I may be wrong but didn't Irene make Olivia work at the Diner without pay as  a punishment for stealing/borrowing Leah's car, if so she couldn't expect Olivia to pay rent.  Olivia does care about Irene, she was the one who went and got Leah when she found Irene in a right state and tried to persuade Irene to see a counsellor. Plus where did the line about Olivia stringing guys along come from? I was going to say it appeared no-one had informed Olivia about Irene being a recovering alcoholic, but she did say to Alf after Hunter (of all people) told her to tell him because as he said she's not old enough to deal with it on her own that Irene was drinking again. Maybe she was trying to make light of it.  He probably thought tough talking and pouring  the vodka down the drain would do the trick, but it backfired because as soon as he had left she was off to buy some more.  I did think surely she's not going to drive in her state, but yes she did. In a string of coincidences that only seem to happen in soaps , Phoebe comes across Billie who does a runner, she rings Ash and they chase her through the bush, Billie stumbles back onto the road and nearly gets run over by a drunken Irene.  Billie calls the cops, Kat turns up and no I don't think she was fooled by Billie's story that she was driving either, Kat stops Billie running off again, Ash and Phoebe get the call and there's a reunion. May have seemed inappropriate but I liked Phoebe and Ash having a flirt in the bush.

[Red Ranger 1]

8 hours ago, Little bean said:

Meanwhile, is Skye still locked in her bedroom? 

I assume so!

Spoiler

I believe we do finally catch up with Skye next week.

 

2 hours ago, H&Alover said:

Guess it was just one of those things Andy finding Hannah first to break the news

Why was Kyle so against helping her, I've forgotten,

The fact it followed on from Andy getting the news and saying "Does Hannah know?" suggests that he went to find her.The fact that Charlotte was involved with Gunno seemed to turn Kyle against her, and what she did to Kat just increased his mistrust of her.

Today!

I get the feeling Kat knows Billie is innocent but she has to follow the evidence. Charlotte really seems to be collecting enemies now, with Ash well and truly out of her corner. Hunter finally finds out the true consequences of his actions…and we still don’t get a trace of guilt from him, with him preferring to duck his part in it and blame it all on Charlotte.

Really don’t know what we were meant to make of Andy and Hannah’s scenes except I ended up not particularly liking either of them. Hannah, as I mentioned before, is hanging around Andy sending out mixed messages knowing full well how he feels, yet frankly she was quite right when she told Andy nothing had happened: He declared his feelings (again) and she couldn’t get out of there fast enough. She is someone else’s girlfriend and the fact Andy’s basically trying to get her to do to Chris what she did to him means it’s hard to see him as the victim he apparently views himself as.

I really don’t know what to make of Hunter and Olivia sleeping together. The “I wanna do it…here” scene was infuriating, with its ridiculous use of the L word. It feels like this whole thing has come out of nowhere, with them going from playing video games with VJ to making out to having sex in record time. And the fact that Olivia spent half the episode talking in an annoying baby voice just increased the creep factor. Maybe that’s my feelings clouding my judgement again (and my hope that sooner or later Olivia will realise just what she’s sleeping with and get out of there fast). But then we got one of the most realistic aftermath scenes in the show’s history, with them coming downstairs looking awkward, having apparently not enjoyed it and seeing it as a non-event, and it felt like Olivia was meant to have rushed into it, thrown her virginity away meaninglessly and regretted it afterwards. A far cry from the usual skipping-around-the-house-grinning-like-idiots reaction. (Yes, Evie, I’m looking at you.) But then she claims she didn’t regret it and the implication seems to be that if it wasn’t for her abuse things would have been fine and they would be skipping around grinning like idiots. So my working theory is that Olivia rushed into sleeping with him because she felt she needed to prove she was over her abuse only to find out that she isn’t. Of course, knowing this show, they’ll probably be disappearing off to the bedroom and coming back grinning like idiots before too long.

[atrus]

Up to speed again. Everyone seemed just a touch more upset about Denny than they ever seemed bothered about her when she was alive, but I'll let it slide because, hey, she had been violently murdered and put in a shallow grave. Still, her death is clearly not upsetting enough to avoid being used as an excuse for endless Handy moments.

Odd to think Charlotte is still daydreaming about a reconciliation with Zac, when he's basically written her off as a human being. Glad that Andy and Kyle both gave her short shrift when she started demanding money. I got the Andy/Jake Pirovic thing, but what was she even blackmailing Kyle about? This story is so tangled I'm losing track.

So with Billie on hand to rescue yet another beloved regular and her reunion with Ash, you get the distinct feeling it's full-on redemption time with her. Kat mentioned her saving Oscar, but didn't mention Billie saving her own life when she was dangling off that cliff - guess that's all forgotten now. I laughed out loud at Kat's hypocrisy as she criticised the forensics operation, which was dragging on a little too long for her liking.

KAT: Charlotte knows we're onto her! She'll be gone by then!

And exactly how does Charlotte know that, Kat? Nothing to do with the fact that you stood on her doorstep and told her, I suppose? Sorry, but she is just asking for a bullet from her own gun now, and I'm not going to be particularly sympathetic if it happens. She's compromised this investigation, and her personal safety, in so many respects that I'm starting to wonder if she's actually interested in bringing Charlotte to justice at all, or whether in fact she's just on some kind of suicide mission. And I didn't like the way she found Ash strangling Charlotte, just let him leave, and then told Charlotte she was getting off lightly. Once again, double standards when it comes to violence abound, when you'd expect a police officer of all people not to condone it.

Meanwhile, Hunter's half-baked rehab continues.

OLIVIA: I think I love you.
HUNTER: Wow.

And thus for a second episode in as many weeks, we segue jarringly again into uplifting music, rather than the usual angst that follows in this show when someone declares the L-word and their partner doesn't reciprocate. But actually this was even worse, as they skipped off upstairs together, when actually you were hoping that Hunter might at least ask himself some questions first about what they're about to do, given what he knows about Olivia and her past. Part of the problem was that Hunter simply isn't a credible 16-year-old; he's far too comfortable in his own skin, and looks about 25. Another part of the problem is that Olivia's declaring her love after they've been dating for about two days, which feels at odds with how she's been portrayed in just about every scene so far. Still, can't stop that Summer Bay love-train from rolling...

[c120701]

I've only just realised, but Zac & Leah never use any terms of endearment, they always refer to each other using their names. That said, I can't imagine either of them using them - Vinnie called Leah 'babe' and I think she did back occasionally. There are just times where something a little warmer is needed. 

[CaptainHulk]

For the first time in a while, I'm actually going out of my way to watch H&A.

Thursday is gonna be sweeeet! Record it though, as I'm off down the boozer for the match.

I think I need a slap, I actually cheered Ash on when he went after Charlotte! 

And as for the cops going through Dirty clothes and "being into that sort of thing", If Billie's been on the run that long, they'd need a bloody gas mask! 

The Olivia stuff is like they pulled the Cassie scripts out of the garbage and tweaked a few things. I know James wasn't a violent bloke (Though he did flare up a few times in his marriage to Chloe, tore the odd strip off Diana and blasted Vinnie for not eating properly during his testicular cancer scare) but I reckon he'd have kicked the arse of that so-called "friend" of his for what he did then spent a lot of time kicking his own mentally for not being there for his niece.

 

[c120701]

Has anyone actually told James about Olivia? Presumably the man who molested her is still working at the hospital/surgery where James work, so others are at risk.

[CaptainHulk]

Yeah, Dr. Perv could be still running around doing the same to others.

[c120701]

I posted this in the 5* thread yesterday, but it's relevant here now.

Today's episode was easily one of my favourite episodes in years, it wouldn't have seemed out of place in the 90s, the only thing it needed was more underscore and fewer commercial tracks. The scenes at the end with the residents of Summer Bay House preparing for the wedding, particularly Leah & Evie, Alf & VJ, Zac & Hunter and Leah & VJ were very strong scenes, but they would've been really powerful with some strong score. 

[atrus]

A lot of nice wedding prep scenes, although I think Roo should really have been asking Zac whether he's nervous, not Leah - since she invariably isn't the half of the happy couple that ends up dead. I loved Matt flagging this up too, by asking Zac how death row feels.

Not sure about Denny always being the advocate of 'powering on regardless' - she has the curious distinction of being the only H&A character to grieve for anyone for longer than six weeks. Still, let's not let that put paid to a timely invocation of What She Would've Wanted, to justify the wedding going ahead in terribly unfavourable circumstances.

And Denny has a mum now? Guess it was no surprise to her not to get a call from Europe, since she hadn't seen or heard from Denny once in the two years prior to that, as far as I can recall. OK, someone's probably going to correct me and say the mum did a two-month guest stint. I'd probably zoned out at the time.

Despite all the trauma over the controversial recast, I'm going to say it - I love the new VJ, and I wish they'd put him to better use than just being a wisecracking background character (although he is very good at wisecracking in the background). Time to give him something really interesting to do, I feel. Odd too that they've totally failed to get any reaction mileage out of him since Hunter and Olivia got together.

I loved Charlotte's "to hell with it" moment as she stopped the car by the Summer Bay sign and did the mother of all U-turns. Pretty much all my residual sympathy for her as a character has now gone, but I'm just going to sit back and enjoy the ride nonetheless. It'll be worth it just to see Hunter dislodged from his increasingly precarious position on the moral high ground.

I was every bit as relieved as Nate to learn Ricky wasn't pregnant again. I honestly don't think I could have taken it.