Latest UK Episode Discussion (2006-2017 Seasons)

[Red Ranger 1]

I really do not care about Hunter and Olivia at all. Trying to make the town psycho and the obnoxious bad girl into a cute couple is a dicey idea, especially when they're tainted by the fact she's covering up his role in Denny's death, and I've no idea what all that messing around with his heart monitor was about.It doesn't help that he makes declarations of love with the same smug look on his face as when he was telling Leah he was going to ruin her life, making it impossible for me to believe he's genuine.(Today we have VJ apologising to Billie for the way she was treated after the fire, which reminds me that Hunter nearly killed her, then framed her, and as far as I'm aware he hasn't apologised to her once.)And I'm sorry to say I'm starting to lose interest in Zac too.I was on his side at first when he had VJ, Hunter and Leah pestering him, but him hiding things from Leah is getting old and him refusing to deal with his issues is getting even older.Leah is starting to notice holes in his story and he's really coming across as someone that needs counselling.Greg probably should have had that beard from the start to stop him looking like Larry Jefferies.

VJ and Skye's storyline fell a bit flat, partly because the juxtaposition between their light-hearted scenes and Zac carrying out amateur surgery in the woods jarred horribly, you're just getting in the right frame of mind for one scene when something completely different kills the mood.The best thing about it was VJ's delicious awkwardness around Billie, I wonder if she picked up on it.I'd thought him working at the juice bar had been forgotten so nice call-back.Skye gets her first Obligatory Bikini Scene, while the outfit Billie was wearing looked a lot like the Summer Bay uniform from the surf carnival of a few years back.Feels like a good moment to revisit the subject of the gym: Have the new owners appointed a new manager or is Billie running the place?

[H&Alover]

First up I know it's Wayne not Warren!  So it was him who rescued Zac and now he's paying for it.  I do have to ask why though he was sent to an adult prison and not a secure hospital considering the state of mind he was in when he was arrested. Zac is like most men think they can handle it and struggle on manfully.  Luckily, though obviously not for Leah, he's seen the light and didn't blow up at Roo when she said Leah had told her what happened. He's going to get help, Alf's therapist by any chance, she was good and if she could get Alf to open up after so long, she'll definitely be able to help Zac.  I know Leah wants to help, but she needs to stop pushing Zac. Talking of Alf he's off to see Don, nice to have a mention of him. That beard of Greg's makes him look completely different I even thought it was a different actor.

Neat idea of VJ to have Skye to pretend to be his girlfriend and he did ask her first, using the excuse it may make Oscar jealous if he thinks they are an item to persuade her.  Shame Evie had already spotted VJ mooning over Billie and wasn't fooled at all by their OTT boyfriend/girlfriend display.  Josh wasn't sure at first but he too realised what was going on and alerted Billie to the fact.  Assuming VJ is 17 and Billie is 24, seven years is a big gap and Leah would flip out.

Don't you just know it's doomed when one half of a partnership says to the other nothing can happen to spoil us now.

It wasn't the brightest thing Ash has done confronting Carter and saying he 'knows' it was him (or a friend) that trashed the garage - Summer Bay Autos, he should have just kept his mouth zipped, Carter may be a lot of things but he's not stupid and will just be a lot more careful from now on. Carter's attempt to drive a wedge between Ash and Andy with that not so subtle hint it may have been an old enemy of Ash's that trashed the place didn't work and was in fact what put Ash on Carter's trail. Btw Carter is still top of my suspect lest for killing Charlotte. Good point about the gym and how, if anyone, has bought it or is Billie a temporary manager.  Talking of revisiting is it just me that thinks its odd Ash's old mate Donkey - who was so keen to see him a couple of weeks ago - hasn't been in touch again?

[Slade]

Words cannot describe how stupid Kyle's being regarding Isla.  He's actually prepared to take the flack for her.  He's already done this type of thing covering for Charlotte but this is completely different now.

I found it quite amusing when Skye said Billie was out of VJ's league.  Because Oscar is well out of her's.  She does like to get involved in other people's affairs regarding potential relationships because she's an expert.  What I did quite like was Evelyn copping onto the fact that VJ and Skye were faking a romance and she said they were both trying to make each others respective love interests jealous and it was textbook.  I have quite enjoyed seeing more of Evelyn this week as it was kind of feeling like her character was redundant.  Wasn't too happy about Josh telling Billie about VJ's crush though.

This storyline with Matt being a murder suspect re Charlotte and the sex tape has transitioned onto being a female Cyber bullying storyline about Maddy now.  They seem to have dismissed the fact that Matt was getting a lot of flack previously online and at his place of work and also that Dylan was hassling him all in favour of some feminist agenda.  I know she had nude photos sent to her but I would be interested to know how many of these people making some of the other abusive posts towards Maddy were actually female.  None, I'm guessing.  As she's a girl the haters can only be male.  Josh was being a good friend trying to raise Matt and speaking to Ash about giving Matt his job back so I was pleased when Ash went round and Matt accepted.

Andy really cracks me up sometimes.  His references to women are hilarious. "If you keep chasing every skirt in the bay word's going to get out" in the recap then when he was talking to Ash about enlisting Phoebe and Hannah had me in stitches - "Maybe it's a conversation she needs to have with another woman.  They're better at that sort of stuff".   Good to see Ash trying to move on from Phoebe.  The best way to get over a woman is to find another one.  And he doesn't seem to have a problem with that at the moment.  The more women the better.  This is something I felt he should have probably been doing when he first got out of jail rather than getting involved in anything serious.  Funny how they aren't going out anymore, they're are getting on better now.  Phoebe obviously still isn't over Ash as she was harping on about him at Angelos to Kat and Hannah  (despite saying him sleeping with anything with a pulse was none of her business previously in the Diner).

Kat is such an idiot it's reached the point where I actually want something bad to happen to her just so she can see that Carter hasn't changed  Her blind defense of him is just silly now.  I know Ash didn't have proof that he was responsible for trashing the garage but I do think Kat should have considered what he said about him not changing.  She should be glad Ash is going out of his way to be such a good friend to her.  The most frustrating thing from Kat's perspective (and the writers) is this would have made more sense if he was emotionally manipulating her over several weeks.  But this is someone who slept with him a week after she said she would never get back with him.  And it's not as if they really date or spend time connecting with one another or hours talking.  All Kat seems to do is want to have sex with him.  She doesn't want to spend quality time with him.  I loved when Ash went round to the police station to warn Kat, blurted out she and Carter were seeing each other and Emerson overheard.  His face was a picture.
 

[Red Ranger 1]

It was nice to see a bit of interaction from VJ and Skye with the other young teens absent, it’s a shame we didn’t see more of their fake relationship rather than a largely superfluous scene of Josh and Evelyn talking about how they’ll be Together Forever. Given how many times they’ve split up and got back together, maybe I’ve forgotten something, but I don’t remember Josh ever doing anything like that for her. So, seems Billie really was completely oblivious given her assumption that VJ liked Skye, but now she knows…

So, looks like things are finally starting to settle down for Leah and Zac. Once he’d tried to throttle her anyway, and I think Leah overreacted slightly running out of the house like that. I’d have preferred it if they’d got there without a shove from Roo but I’ll take it. Of course, Zac’s still keeping one important detail to himself, as we get confirmation that Tank was the one who saved him. I did feel Tank had more capacity to be redeemed than other characters, so hopefully he’s genuine. I like that we’re getting references to Don Fisher creeping in after years of him being ignored. Not sure Seb would still be living with him when he must be about 30 by now but maybe he just lives nearby. Wouldn’t have said Don was a “beer in the fridge” type either but Alf was talking to Seb and it’s probably more his thing.

So Ash has gone back to random hook-ups. Whilst I’m glad that he seems to have no interest in getting back with Phoebe, it seems like a bit too much of a backward step in his development. Incidentally, was there something wrong with Andy’s voice in the second garage scene yesterday? It didn’t sound like him at all, I almost wondered if another actor had overdubbed him. Dylan sucks at pretending to be a good guy, even when he’s trying to convince Andy that the vandalism was down to Matt he can’t resist having a dig at Ash. And Andy still doesn’t pick up on it but fortunately Ash is more perceptive. Unlike Kat, who is now inexplicably convinced that Carter’s a good guy, and once again dents any lingering idea of her as a professional by having sex at the police station. Ash getting Phoebe and Hannah to chat to her was a decent idea but given that it bombed, storming round to her place of work and shouting the odds was beyond dumb. Still nice to see Emerson and that he’s willing to question Carter about his flawed investigation.

Okay, so Matt’s still awaiting a court case but I’m still expecting it to fizzle out: If he’s convicted while on a good behaviour bond, I can’t see how he could avoid jail. (Anyone remember how long it ran for?) Nice to see Oscar’s still got Maddy’s back. So, this time it’s Josh who has the job of pulling Matt out of his self-pity and sorting his life out for him. Well, he’s obviously incapable of doing it himself. Heck, he isn’t even capable of walking his girlfriend home, leaving her toddling along the beach path in the middle of the night getting spooked. The problem with cyber-bullying storylines is that, while it’s a real life issue, it isn’t a very dramatic one, hence scenes of everyone looking ponderously at their smart phones and an attempt to turn it into a physical threat.

[Angelica]

The VJ/Skye stuff was cute -  VJ being awkward around Billie and VJ/Skye pretending to be a couple to make their crushes jealous; both felt like such typically teenager things to do. It was refreshing to watch teenagers act as teenagers. While VJ's crush is cute, I hope they don't go there with Billie/VJ just because there are a lack of other romantic interests for Billie. I liked Evie here too and how she saw through their act straight away. 

I am glad that Zac is seeking help for issues. No surprises to find Tank helped Zac - another redemption story on the cards, why not. If we are OK with murderers walking around the bay, what is an abduction or two in comparison?

I was glad that Emerson found out about Carter and Kat. I don't know how Kat can be so naive about Carter having changed when she has witnessed him first hand terrorise suspects with little evidence. As Slade has mentioned, it is not like we have even watched Carter slowly wear her down. She basically caved very quickly after proclaiming that she would never go there.

It's hard to care about this cyber bullying storyline, even though I appreciate that this is a very topical issue. Oscar's reference about the gender double standards kinda annoyed me, because that wasn't relevant in this case. It was Matt who was getting hassled until Maddy posted the post - she wasn't getting targeted because she was a girl but because she was the one who was reacting to them. It just made the storyline feel very heavy handed - as if the show needed to alert viewers that they were covering an important topic. 

[Red Ranger 1]

Alf's episode count this week:Three. Roo was in four. After last week's absence, Oscar appeared in two but only had dialogue in one of them.

Three cheers for Emerson, who seemed to well and truly puncture Carter's bubble.Carter's been walking around like he's untouchable since he's been back so it's lovely to see things spiralling out of his control.Nice touch too that Emerson didn't come down hard on Kat, just did his job and passed the information further up the food chain.I agree Kat's attitude is absurd: The point isn't that people don't change, the point is that Carter clearly hasn't changed, Kat's witnessed plenty of examples of his bullying and controlling nature.I actually didn't mind Phoebe here and she gets points for correcting Chris' misuse of "literally", but I'm worried about her spending time with Ash and the implication of unresolved feelings. Please don't go there.Chris and Hannah sharing a milkshake was a lovely cute moment, shame Phoebe steamrollered in.

I'm finding the cyber-bullying storyline in the "worthy but dull" camp.I'm getting that this is a serious issue, although maybe I'm either the wrong age or too thick-skinned and/or computer illiterate to care about what a bunch of idiots on the internet are saying.Frankly, "Don't look" seems the obvious answer.But that's me being a bit flippant so trying to deal with it seriously...It's still hard to accept the seriousness when there's no physical threat, just words on a screen.Matt actually came out of the episode with a bit of credit in his attempt to defend Maddy, although it's perhaps lucky he can't find anyone to punch this time.The difficulty of the police trying to prosecute is topical but no-one seemed to consider that just having the police knock on their door and give them a stern talking to might deter most of the bullies, who are obviously cowards by nature.

So, Kyle's back but he seems to think that it's not for long.I sort of get the logic that he's going to go to jail either way and doesn't want Isla to go down too, but it seems like that ship's already sailed.The police are after her, they've probably got enough to build a case if they find her even without Kyle's testimony, so in a way she's doomed and Kyle should be trying to get himself a lighter sentence.He seems to have downgraded his ambition from helping her get her family back to just hoping she stays out of jail.I did like his chats with Ricky, but it seemed like poor Heath was forgotten once again when Ricky said Kyle's the only family she has left.

[atrus]

Well, you can't beat a good old soapie tracheotomy (or whatever the lung equivalent). Didn't recognise Snelgrove with the beard at first, but it was good that Tank got a mention and that he seems to have moved onto Redemption Road by defending Zac in jail - strongly increasing my suspicions that we'll see him again very soon.

The VJ/Billie stuff was fun, but I wonder if in asking Skye to play girlfriend, VJ was overlooking the fact that she's probably much better suited to him than Billie is. For a start, she's a far more appropriate age - VJ may not look like a child anymore, but he still is (at least, if continuity hasn't done another nosedive). I can't remember how old Billie's supposed to be (early-to-mid-twenties?) but it's certainly a bigger age gap than Skye and Oscar. Normally I'd say it's totally implausible that someone would correctly guess VJ was pretending to be with Skye to make Billie jealous; but this is Evie, and she is notorious for her Cupid complex. Why did Josh think there was 'no chance' that VJ had a crush on Billie? Seemed like a really odd pronouncement for him to make, unless he had some kind of profound insight into VJ's taste in women of which we hadn't been made aware.

Good to get a Don Fisher mention, but I do wish he'd come and visit Alf for once, rather than the other way round. It would be great to have him back, even for a short time.

Tuning out a bit on the Zac/Leah stuff, which is a shame because I was liking them a lot last year. It does make me laugh that no-one in Summer Bay is ever seen cleaning except when they're trying to take their minds off a personal crisis, and yet all the houses are spotless. Then again, there are a lot of personal crises in H&A, so perhaps that figures.

I find the fact that Kat is off the Charlotte case because she's sleeping with Carter - and not because, say, she's a personal friend of pretty much every murder suspect - completely bizarre, to be honest. I can sort of tolerate her being involved in the investigation as dramatic licence, to an extent, but it seems to me that, having asked us to indulge them in that way, the writers can't then throw her off the case for something that appears to constitute far less of a conflict of interest. What exactly is the problem if she's with Carter, as far as the police are concerned? Emerson seemed to be implying that the townsfolk would think Kat wasn't in their corner, and therefore that it was a bad thing. Well, why should she be in their corner? She's a police officer. It just makes no sense at all. Once again, I draw a distinction between not particularly seeing any professional reason why she shouldn't be with Carter, and being absolutely appalled that she's back with him for her own personal sake. He's clearly a nutcase, and I hope she clocks that sooner rather than later.

On cyberbullying - yes, worthy and dull seems like a fair assessment. It's one of those things that TV struggles to do properly because it relies on multiple, faceless villains of breathtakingly low intelligence - not exactly the kind of high-drama fare that H&A usually favours. Unless of course, one of the cyberstalkers makes the transition to real-life stalking - which I suspect is probably around the corner.

[Slade]

I'm so glad Kat got taken off the case given how much she claimed it meant to her.  Objectively if you look at part of the argument Emerson used i.e. Dylan's treatment of Zac coupled with their romance then there's also an argument for Dylan's removal.  I am trying to understand what makes Kat think Carter has actually changed.  She seems to have ignored the treatment of Zac and some of the other suspects.  Has he changed because he's better in the sack now?  Or is it because he hasn't hit her yet?  I am quite enjoying seeing him wound up at the fact that he will have to work with someone else so he will have less time to spend with her.

Phoebe was actually OK about  Ash blurting out Kat and Emerson.  I was half expecting her to get on her high horse and have another go at him but her attitude was what's done is done.  I did quite like her subtle suggestion to Chris to take a hike and stop eavesdropping on a private conversation.  I think they were all in agreement that Chris shouldn't know given how he frequently opens his big mouth without thinking.  Especially the last time Kat was involved in a relationship he went and told her about Nate and Ricky sleeping together.  Ash did well not to take that woman up on her offer.  I'm not sure if she was the last person Ash slept with as I can't remember what she looked like but Phoebe seemed certain when she was talking to Hannah afterwards that they'd slept together.  Maybe I'm missing something but I just thought Ash was talking with her and maybe arranged to meet her after the job was finished.  Regardless I do hope Ash and Phoebe both try and move on even though they're are still into each other.  Again as I mentioned in my last post they are getting on a lot better now that they're not together.

Given that Kyle is on a good behaviour bond for kidnapping, attempted murder coupled with the illegal gambling, if he's been implicated in an armed robbery no way should he be given bail.  Although given his current course of action he won't be a free man for much longer unless he gets his brain in gear and gives Isla up.

I guess it's fair enough Kat is following up on Matt's complaint about the Cyberbullying but given that some of these people could be in other parts of the world I think with the vast majority of them nothing will happen.  Although given that someone was following Maddy I am expecting any investigation into the matter to turn up something.  I am of the impression with social media outlets such as these if the abuse is that much sometimes it's best to ignore it or simply not go there.  It's not a desirable solution but sometimes the only one.
 

[H&Alover]

The cyber bullying storyline is showing the downside of being on the social media, you can't escape from it, aside from not logging in like Roo suggested,  Matt couldn't resist from going back on it.  Back in the good old bad days all you had to contend with was poison pen letters and they were usually from someone local, but now once it's up there, it's up there and spreads like wildfire. Maddy did do the wrong thing initially by responding even if it was just to tell the bullies to shut up which is just what they want - a response. Quite likely it is mostly male.  No proof either way but I don't see one of them being Clint, he may have been a  jerk but he did make his comments to their faces. Matt was accepting of it because he was the one they posted about, but Maddy was innocent of any wrongdoing so understandable he was angry and blamed himself.  He did the right thing about going to the cops, his awaiting trial for sex tape shouldn't have any bearing on it. Good of Kat to go round personally to tell them there wasn't a lot the cops could do, would be a lot of man hours tracking down the people responsible.  No problem with Maddy walking home alone, something she's done many times, but if there is a stalker maybe she shouldn't any more. It was sad to see Matt so down and glad to see Andy and Ash take him back, it really lifted his spirits and Josh and Evie were good friends trying to cheer him up.

I had hoped Ash's warning about Carter may have placed a seed of doubt in Kat's mind, but it appears not.  She just thinks he has a downer on Carter and is blind (and deaf) to everything anyone says against him at the moment. Emerson of course now knows they are a couple but I thought his initial objection to Kat being on the case was because she  knows most of the suspects not because of her and Carter. He knew they had worked together but not they were also a couple. Carter didn't take kindly to Emerson's warning and it sounded almost like a threat the remark he made to Emerson. I suppose we should be glad Carter just took it out on the wall and not a person.

Ash and Phoebe may not be together and he knows she knows he is seeing other women but I liked he was considerate enough of her feelings not to chat that woman up in front of her. They did seem to be getting on better, but methinks there are still feelings there.

Going back a bit while mentioning good behaviour bonds, isn't that what Billie got for what happened over Nate? 

Kyle must still be using the Braxton lawyer which would explain him being out on bail.  As he explained to Ricky he's going down anyway as he's broken the terms of his good behaviour bond whether he turns in Isla or not, assuming he does know where she is.

[Red Ranger 1]

Well, I guess the issue of Chris knowing about Kat and Dylan is pretty moot now that they're kissing on the beach where anyone could see them.So, Hannah's the one that's punctured Kat's wilful blindness a bit and got her asking questions about Carter.At first I wondered if his having photos of her on his computer really justified sinister music and shocked looks, then I realised that everyone else was scribbled out and then the later conversation made it clear that most of those photos were from when they were apart, suggesting he's been keeping tabs on her all along...

Evelyn being annoying and trying to run Matt and Maddy's lives caused me to have awkward flashbacks to a year or so ago, but at least she is actually reasonably well-intentioned this time and it does save them moping around worrying that people are saying nasty things about them on the internet, and I don't just mean BTTB. Of course, Evelyn saying Maddy left home at 16 kind of underlines the fact that it took her another three years to turn 18. (On the subject of past plot holes, re Billie, her being charged over Nate just got forgotten about over the course of her lengthy absence.I'm working on the assumption that the police dropped the less serious charge once she was arrested for arson, where of course she turned out to be innocent.)

Bit of a coincidence that Evelyn suddenly decides to remove the tattoo of Tank just as he turns up again.To be honest, half the regular cast have done worse than Tank (Andy, Hunter, Kyle) so I'm definitely sympathising with him here (after all, he didn't abduct Evie in the dictionary sense of the word, she went with him by choice).I'm glad that Zac was finally honest with Leah, and also that Leah was willing to support Zac despite her reservations.Shame Zac didn't manage to bite back at his bully since he's well and truly had the last laugh, he's back with his family while that guy's still stuck in there.Guess he didn't want to make things worse for Tank but, um, that didn't really work out.