Latest UK Episode Discussion (2006-2017 Seasons)

[Angelica]

16 hours ago, CaptainHulk said:

I half tuned in and half tuned out. A H&A episode shouldn't make me be doing this.

Totally - I hated the two-parters back when I used to watch EE. And it turns out that I don't enjoy them in H&A either. 

Doesn't really show Brax in the best light - when he comes back just to offer them a life on the run it seems. 

[CaptainHulk]

^ The Difference, EE can do it WELL on occasion. Only show that came even close to them was Brookside (great hard-hitting soap that would still be on today if they didn't do all of that foolishness in the latter half of the 90s and early 2000s).

Example being "28 Minutes, Max!" in 2007, where Stacey issues him an ultimatum: Tell Tanya about us or I will. which results in her counting down and him grabbing Tanya and the girls and fleeing to Spain for a couple months!

For H&A to succeed at that, they would have to work at making us care about both parties involved, instead they're giving us a claustrophobic 22 minute borefest that should have been done months ago which involves two characters we're pretty much sick of.

[H&Alover]

To answer your question first atrus.  Way back when Sally and Finn lived there there was an annex which Sally had made over into a surgery for Finn.  When they moved back to the caravan park, and forgive me if time line is out, but the Hunters moved in and converted the surgery into separate living accommodation.  It was forgotten about for yonks though we saw the occasional glimpse of the outside.  The Braxtons opened it up again, opened up the two rooms into one and that is how it is at the moment.  Andy and Josh moved in to  the main house along with Kyle over a period of time. Think I've got that right more or less.

I didn't mind the two hander and you are being a bit nit picky Red, so what if it was only 20mins of the 22 mins!  I thought Stephen and Bonnie did very well, can  never be easy having to carry for however long it is with just two of you.  The fact they were able to cross freely backwards and forwards between the two places was handily explained by the fact both Kyle and Josh were elsewhere (but Brax wouldn't have known that when he pitched up).  I did wonder why when they were outside and not exactly having a quite conversation why John wasn't alerted  by the noise?

Brax shouldn't be shown in a good light, he couldn't have any idea as Ricky tried many times to tell him, what devastation he left behind.  I do agree though, oddly, that there wasn't any way he could have just told her.  Her reactions or lack of would aroused suspicions so if anyone was watching as Gunno did have people doing later it had to look convincing.

He couldn't really be serious and expect Ricky and Casey to go on the run with him could he?  If she was alone and didn't now love  Nate she may have done it, but she does and there is Casey who's only six months old that would be now life for any of them. I'm glad she reminded him of the fact the number of times he put others before her despite his promises and if he hadn't ended up in prison (helping out Ash) he'd still do it time and time again.  Going off to god knows where and her left wondering if he'd come back, there has to come a time when you can't keep living like that. It may have seemed she was trying to convince herself she loved Nate but she did say she was in love with him and not the favourite new line 'I'm with (insert relevant name) now'. which is a cop out.

She hardly had a sheltered upbringing but she was a lot younger and no responsibilities but now she has a son who as she told Brax she had a hard time caring for as he reminded her of his dad. As an aside I thought Ricky was supposed to be spending the night at the hospital, if she had popped home to get some more clothes for Casey is sure took her long enough.   I kept waiting for a mention of Gunno but nothing  and didn't at one time Brax wander off in full view of people?  I suppose Brax could always kip under a boat or is there a shed in the Braxton's back yard.?

Going by the trailer it looks like they nearly get rumbled.

[Red Ranger 1]

Well, I'm glad Brax and Kyle got some interaction, although the fact it was accidental on Brax's part shows Kyle is fairly low down his list of priorities.Typical of Kyle to be pleased to see him anyway.Brax's meeting with Casey kind of hammered home the point that he's gone from seeing his son once a week to not seeing him at all.Not for the first time though, Brax seems to be relying on the whole town being idiots to stay hidden.He parks the car across the road from his old house and drives out of town in broad daylight but hey, no-one will recognise him because he's wearing a baseball cap! All it would have taken was for John to pop out for a paper at the wrong moment...

Dylan is definitely showing his nasty side with his intimidation of Billie, who handled herself well.So, first indication that she was released from custody before Charlotte was killed and is that the first confirmation that she's back working at the gym?Ash was moronic though in deciding to antagonise Dylan, especially with a suspect (read: false) alibi.That's not going to achieve anything except what it did.I continue to like the friendship between Ash and Kat.More than Dylan does anyway...

[Slade]

On 4/2/2016 at 9:48 AM, Little bean said:

Now I know we are on opposite sides when it comes to Evie but don't forget she and Josh almost reconciled when he rescued her and then she spent months at his bedside declaring her undying love before kissing Andy. Even if Josh's current rejection is justified (and I agree that it is although he's he's overreacting quite a bit) she would still be upset about it. I know you want her and Andy get together but I'm afraid that was nothing more than a shallow plot device to give them both something to act oddly about on the night of the murder. I don't think anything more will come of it and we we soon be back on board the Jevie train. I'll be happy but I know you will be screaming at the screen! Sorry.

  OK you make some good points!  Evie is actually one of my favourite characters believe it or not and I liked her and Josh initially but after their relationship ended I hated her attitude towards him especially when she got with Tank when he was trying to help her (admittedly his motivation was driven primarily by jealousy).  I think it's worth pointing out that she's been quite fickle.  She was in love with Josh previously, then shortly after getting with Tank she declares her love for him and when that didn't work out she's back in love with Josh again.  This is relevant because I believe your point about being by Josh's bedside declaring her undying love for him is subjective.  I thought that was guilt personally but I'm open to the fact I could be wrong.  I thought she and Andy would have been different and I liked the fact that there was an age difference.  Any relationship would have also wound Hannah up which is a bonus although you've kinda ruined it for me now by mentioning the plot device thing as I was living in hope.

Whilst I don't have a problem with Brax returning did they have to devote a whole episode to him and Ricky?

I found certain parts of yesterday's episode quite amusing.  I really enjoyed seeing Nate get wound up when he saw Brax knowing that Ricky is still in love with him (well I think so anyway).  Even funnier was the lengths Dylan's gone to just to rub Ash up the wrong way.  Intimidating Billie, bringing Phoebe in for re-questioning and the way he arrested Ash at the end.  The way Dylan was acting and in that episode and the way he was staring at Ash and Kat in the Diner last week makes me think there may be a hidden psycho.

[Red Ranger 1]

Dylan continues to come across as a nasty piece of work for all his protests to the contrary.Ash could have done with turning down the aggro-meter but I can kind of see his point of view.He's already been to jail for something he didn't do, Billie came within a hair's breadth of going to jail for something she didn't do, Brax went to jail for something he didn't do, he's lost all faith in the system being able to tell the innocent from the guilty.("You guys don't always get it right,"he tells Dylan, moments after his wrongful conviction has been used as evidence against him.)So he's lucky that Kat did some proper police work and checked out the details rather than dismissing his story.I believe that's the first suspect to be completely eliminated, only about another twenty to go.Nice to see Kyle, Phoebe and Billie working together, even if they didn't really do anything.Also nice to see Alf apologise to Billie on behalf of the town, he's the only one that could really do that and it was needed.

Phoebe and Ash, Andy and Hannah...zzzz.Only need Josh and Evelyn back together and the boring couples reunions will be complete.

[Slade]

I am loving the stuff with Dylan and Ash.  I loved the way Dylan thought it was in the bag then Kat obtained the CCTV from the petrol station proving that Ash didn't kill Charlotte.  Dylan's expression was wonderful especially the way he tried to hide his frustration.  Kat's smug expression was even better.  I do actually think he had a point about the false alibi and I wasn't buying Kyle/Kat's logic i.e. just because he didn't have an alibi doesn't mean he didn't do it.  Perhaps they were right but it still is a cause to follow up the investigation even though we all now it was personal.  I really enjoyed the way Ash tried to gloat and bait Dylan afterwards "Are you not going to apologise?", "Are you going to buy me a drink?" etc.

Kyle and Phoebe were both actually OK in that episode (Surprise, surprise I rant about how annoying she is and then suddenly she's not annoying).  I actually enjoyed their chat however when I saw the scenes with her and Ash towards the end I was thinking "Don't do it Ash, don't get back with her".

As expected with Billie judging by Alf's reaction most people are probably going to end up liking her.  Although we've already seen this with Kyle, Andy and hopefully Hunter so at least there's consistency. 

The Andy/Hannah stuff was dire.  I am so disappointed that these two are probably going to get back together.  I was shaking my head when Andy said she was a wonderful person (I wonder if all the other guys she's been with felt that).  She annoyed me in that episode once again with the self-pitying and making herself out to be a horrible person (i.e. proclaiming that she would avoid the diner to spare Chris's feelings) just to get sympathy of Leah.

[CaptainHulk]

I wonder if this Dylan is a relative of Mike Carter (Joel's Boss, Jesse's Nemesis) from back in the day? 

[Red Ranger 1]

Wow, I was not expecting that opening scene! Utterly hilarious, with Andy and Hannah wandering out with “Okay…what do we do now?” expressions on their faces and the brilliant awkward dialogue (“I’m going to leave”/“Great”). Shame we then get treated to a scene of them telling each other how wonderful they are, followed by Hannah suddenly deciding she likes Chris again now that they’ve broken up. But hey, maybe there’s hope for Andy and Evelyn after all!

Especially as Josh really can’t take a hint. Curious that, once again, and for all the attempts to portray them as a One True Pair, when Josh or Evelyn has a problem the last person they turn to is each other. As with Evelyn last year, Josh does at least go and get someone she will talk to. So, has the Summer Bay cancer cluster struck again? Could be interesting…

Matt and Maddy’s relationship still comes across as entirely physical, and it really does feel like Matt’s dragged Maddy down to his level. I guess we’re meant to see their cavorting as a sign they’re happy, but it just feels immature and shallow. I’d say that Matt’s being given more leeway than any of Maddy’s other boyfriends, but to be fair I don’t think Roo ever cared about her having sex, it was just Alf and Leah being conservative and her going along with it. I did feel sorry for Matt having his own contribution to the decoration taken down: He’s right, it shouldn’t just be him going along with Roo and Maddy’s tastes. So… was that the bathroom he walked into and saw “not much” of Roo? Seriously, was the whole of Summer Bay built with no locks? (“The door was closed!”shouts Roo, as if no-one ever walks into a bathroom when that’s the case.)

Another lovely bonding scene between Skye and Oscar, and nice to finally get the Jett question cleared up so I’m free to root for them to get together. Except…Skye’s in Year 11? I assumed she was the same year as Jett. Also nice for John to let her know she’s family whatever happens, and it makes sense that, having had the long-distance thing with Nina fizzle out, Jett wouldn’t go there again. Shame about the timing, with John having to leave Skye straightaway anyway…

It’s a wonder the Diner has any customers with first Chris and now Olivia being rude to people for no reason. Hunter got an easier ride than is perhaps realistic given that Oscar nearly burnt to death because of him, but Oscar obviously isn’t willing to embrace him yet (Evelyn’s reaction was more neutral) so at least it hasn’t been completely glossed over.

[CaptainHulk]

I'm Surprised Reenie hasn't pulled Chris or Olivia into a corner and threatened to knock their block off if they don't pull their Flippin' heads in!