Latest UK Episode Discussion (2006-2017 Seasons)

[Angelica]

I found the deaths so anti-climatic. It didn't help that the promos warned us last Friday that two people wouldn't make it and Hannah arresting, meaning that a lot of the suspense was taken away. As someone who liked Oscar, I found myself pretty blase to his death - mainly because it was so understated and swamped amongst all the other bad news for the episode. I also feel like Hannah's death overshadowed Oscar's death completely - even those who were closer to Oscar seemed more bothered by Hannah's death. 

I felt like cramming Charlotte's murderer reveal in the week made for too much action for me to appreciate it anyway. Even though I had been looking forward to finding out, I felt that it lost impact because so much else was going on. Having it be Josh works for me - I already dislike him so much at the moment, finding out he left Charlotte to die and let his fiancee's uncle go to jail for him is just the icing on the cake. I have lost any respect for Kat now that she has essentially made herself an accessory to murder. How is it better to let Evie get over her grieving, start to planning a wedding, and then hit her with the news? Evie still has a lot of other support networks even without Josh there. 

Maddy's storyline would have more impact if I didn't already know H&A's attitude to disability. So either her arm is going to magically grow back or she is also going to leave, because H&A can't possible stand for anyone to have any problems that last more than a week 

 

[H&Alover]

On ‎21‎/‎06‎/‎2016 at 7:14 PM, Dan F said:

I've mentioned this elsewhere, but just for the benefit of the UK viewers in case they're thinking the same - H&A's explosion was scripted and filmed over a month before Neighbours did theirs.

Neighbours have a quicker turnaround between filming and broadcast than H&A have, so even though they wrote their version after H&A, they managed to get it on-screen first. Therefore H&A has copped a load of flack for apparently 'copying Neighbours'

 

Well Irene's lost child was born in August 1970, making them nearly 46 - and we know Irene met Mud when she was in her late teens and they were married within a week, so there probably wouldn't be a huge gap between them...(though perhaps a little more than the 2 years it appears to be)

Irene was raped when  she was 14  and I'm pretty sure she said it was over 50 years ago which she felt would be too long to try and find her child.

[H&Alover]

On ‎21‎/‎06‎/‎2016 at 11:10 PM, Red Ranger 1 said:

Oh yes, I wasn't necessarily implying plagiarism.There does seem to be a curious gestalt consciousness among soap writers which means they all seem to have the same idea simultaneously, be it cancer or fake pregnancies or whatever.

Have we got a definitive age for Nathan?He seemed to be still at school in 1991 so I'd guess at him being a 1973 birth.

Pretty much all soaps 'copy' each other, sometimes it just happens the storylines are screened at more or less the same time.

[H&Alover]

Amazing how Kat had that light bulb moment about how that little object just happened to be a link from Josh's bracelet!  So what does she do, rings him and tell him she knows he did it, then goes to visit him alone, gets him to confess then goes for a walk with him ending up at the very place where it happened so he can tell her the full story! At least it wasn't premeditated and does finally explain Charlotte's saying "What are you doing here!" He could have jumped in to see if there was any chance she was alive, but according to him he panicked.  Josh of course had been ruled out because he was blind (or was supposed to be) at the time.  What is she playing at though letting him play the I can't do this to Evie now card and that was before they heard Hannah had died! If she does go back for him what excuse is she going to use for the delay?  She did ask how he could let three of his friends, none of them his fiancée's uncle who was remanded for it, be arrested for it and not say anything. rather puts his being an accessory after the fact for Jake's murder in the shade. Still rather disappointed it wasn't Carter who we haven't see the last of.

As for Hannah's death having more impact maybe it's because her injury, I barely noticed it at first, just a cut on her hairline, didn't appear to be that serious but then of course it was. She appeared to be fine to everyone so her suddenly dying like that would have come as a shock.  Nate shouldn't blame himself for not spotting it, both doctors and nurses are notorious at ignoring any injuries they get insisting they're fine when they're not. She wasn't a relative to Nate, unlike Ricky, but she was a friend and an ex so he really shouldn't haven't been treating her. Evie hasn't lost her whole family, she still has Zac, her uncle, the others are extended family. Was a nice touch her, then later Zac looking at the photos.  her silent wailing over Oscar was well done, much more effective than us hearing her.

Maddy's accident is going to have more far reaching consequences, she's also lost an ex and friend and now her arm.  I thought Tori dealt with telling her the news very well, no sugar coating it but done gently, probably due to the fact she doesn't know Maddy so not closely involved like Nate would be. I notice also Phoebe has been conspicuous by her absence. Roo is the only other one with an injury.

Didn't VJ, Hunter and Olivia go off somewhere on their own, along with Skye, explains why we haven't seen her, Skye that is. I thought Nate went to see Chris the same day Hannah died.  He obviously hadn't checked his phone as he said his battery was flat, so hasn't seen the message from 'Irene' but also has been mentioned not noticed she isn't at home. Of course once he (or someone else does) they will ring Fin only to find out she isn't there.

Nearly forgot about Tank and Andy, who is feeling guilt ridden after hearing how the explosion happened, finds Tank takes him to hospital who naturally given his record is questioned by the police when it was obvious he was in  no state.

More shock news for Billie not only does she find out, whether before or after she comes back, that her confidante is dead but she is also pregnant!

[Dan F]

52 minutes ago, H&Alover said:

Irene was raped when  she was 14  and I'm pretty sure she said it was over 50 years ago which she felt would be too long to try and find her child.

Whether they said nearly 50 years, or over 50 years in passing coversation, the fact is the birth date has already been stated on-screen as 12th August 1970.

[H&Alover]

3 minutes ago, Dan F said:

Whether they said nearly 50 years, or over 50 years in passing coversation, the fact is the birth date has already been stated on-screen as 12th August 1970.

Oky doky!  Could Mick, if that is his name, have spoken to Claire, before pitching up at Irene's, would explain how he knew about Fin.

[Slade]

23 hours ago, CaptainHulk said:

Caught up thus far. I have had to blow the show off  for Euro 2016 (which lbh is more interesting than most soaps)

I'm the same.  Between that and work I'm struggling to keep up with all the programs I normally watch.  Think UEFA have made a mistake increasing the number from 16 to 24 as that has allowed the third places teams in a group through which has encouraged negative football although Portugal Hungary was the best game of the tournament so far.

Was very disappointed about Oscar.  Whilst he hadn't had any good storylines in ages I always thought he had a lot of potential as a character and was destined for greatness one day.  What really brought it home for me was when Zac came to tell Evelyn he was dead, mentioned Oscar, Leah took one look at Zac's face and by her facial expression she immediately knew what had happened.  My issue with Oscar's death itself was that we didn't actually see him die so I wasn't that sad.

I really feel for Evelyn, she's lost her mother, father brother, sister and aunt.  When she finds out about Josh it's going to destroy her.  Can't believe Kat agreed to keep quiet about it.  What if Josh somehow talks Evelyn into eloping or decides to run off on his own?  Whilst Josh has done some bad things in the past I honestly thought he had changed.  It's not the actual killing I had a problem with but the fact that left Charlotte to die and allowed Zac to go to jail for it.  Don't think he deserves Evie TBH and I feel him talking Kat around was purely for selfish reasons i.e. wants to spend as much time with Evie as possible before the inevitable.

Well I guess I got my wish.  Can't say I'm that sad about Hannah's death although I'm not overly happy either.  For a lot of her time on the show I found it very hard to like her and for the most part saw her as quite a selfish and insular person.  I did like the fact Nate was crying though.  They were quite close at one point and good friends so at least the writers kept that consistent.  One thing I'm not looking forward to is seeing Chis mopping around and mourning her passing.  And once again he has been unlucky in love.

[CaptainHulk]

15 hours ago, Dan F said:

Oh good, not just me then

I liked the version the best too. First Season theme song actually sounded Sci-fi. Yeah, Schmid's character Adam Newman was a pretty chill guy, bounced well off Christian Tessier's  (Canadian actor, famous for "You Can't Do That on Television) Megabyte. I actually bought the Boxset one boxing day and Have only really watched it back once. Might schedule a rewatch. Interesting as Kristian was still on UK screens as Todd when TTP aired (he had left the show in April 1992 and we were CHRONICALLY behind w/ Neighbours at that point).

[c120701]

I keep reading interviews that mention that Zac is the only member of Evie's blood family left. I guess Hunter doesn't count.

[Red Ranger 1]

6 hours ago, CaptainHulk said:

I liked the version the best too. First Season theme song actually sounded Sci-fi. Yeah, Schmid's character Adam Newman was a pretty chill guy, bounced well off Christian Tessier's  (Canadian actor, famous for "You Can't Do That on Television) Megabyte. I actually bought the Boxset one boxing day and Have only really watched it back once. Might schedule a rewatch. Interesting as Kristian was still on UK screens as Todd when TTP aired (he had left the show in April 1992 and we were CHRONICALLY behind w/ Neighbours at that point).

I'm torn between that and the 70s version which I'm also extremely fond of, I think it does improve once Roger Price gets booted upstairs and can't keep on making the same mistakes in story structure he was making 20 years previous and not giving Adam and Megabyte a single moment of interaction... The fact that Kristian Schmid still has his Season 2 and 3 haircut makes it even more obvious.

7 hours ago, Slade said:

Think UEFA have made a mistake increasing the number from 16 to 24 as that has allowed the third places teams in a group through which has encouraged negative football although Portugal Hungary was the best game of the tournament so far.

While there's been a tendency for teams to go defensive once they've got one win under their belts, I think the fact that only one team was eliminated before the final round of group games has meant less meaningless games and more chance of shock results.Four British Isles teams through to the knockout stage of a major international competition: Unique.

Anyway, Home and Away. And yes, I accept that Maddy's probably going to do a Seb and get packed off now she's harder to write for, but after being lumbered with a load of rubbish so far this year I'm glad she has something meaty to do.It was brilliant to see the return of the strong Maddy, after her understandable initial horror.Once upon a time, Oscar would have been the one to make her realise that she's stronger than she thinks and can deal with it, but I was hugely relieved that they didn't just cut and paste Matt into the role and instead made the focus on the mother/daughter bond she has with Roo.(Matt was neither use nor ornament in getting her to consent and Alf still praises him for his strength...)I liked the way that Maddy gave Matt an out, it was very her and shows that she's capable of dealing with this on her own.I still don't get why they're together and while I sort of liked their conversation, I think it would have been just as effective, maybe more so, if he was being a supportive friend rather than making out with her.

To contradict myself...wow, Billie and VJ. It should feel inappropriate but instead I found it rather sweet.I don't blame either of them for doing what they did.Billie's not only still recovering from the trauma of being raped, she's returned to find two friends are dead and she's lost her only confidante, I think it was part comfort and part trying to regain control by having consensual sex.VJ's a 17-year-old boy who's liked her for ages, and it was almost certainly his first time unless there's something we don't know about.And I like that neither of them really regretted it, Billie might think it wasn't wise when being logical but it probably did help her, and she did the right thing by being upfront about how he shouldn't have expectations.VJ's scene with Ash, where he goes from realising he shouldn't really be happy when people have just died to realising Ash will probably kill him if he finds out what he just did with his sister but still manages to do his best to help her, was rather endearing.

Another scene where people missing Oscar becomes an excuse to talk about Hannah, even worse when the person missing him is Phoebe, who I'm struggling to remember ever talking to him.I liked John and Phoebe trying to look out for Chris to a point but it did get to the stage where I wanted them to give him some space.No sympathy for Barrett, who now has another death on his conscience, and I'm glad Chris sent him packing when he tried to assuage his guilt.Maybe Chris and Hannah would have stayed together all that time without him, maybe not, but he did deliberately break them up for nothing.We definitely had some night time scenes between Hannah dying and Nate telling Chris (Alf and Zac's chat springs to mind) and plenty of references to it being a new day.Finally it's mentioned that everyone thinks Irene's in the city (I admit I'd forgotten that aspect of the text) but wouldn't they ring her to make sure she got there safely in the circumstances?It's a sign of how badly the show treated Oscar that, aside from maybe Evelyn, the person who's most upset is a girl who was only friends with him for a few weeks.(I'm still hoping for more from Maddy.)But I'll take what's there and the scene of Billie and VJ discussing him was most welcome.

3 hours ago, c120701 said:

I keep reading interviews that mention that Zac is the only member of Evie's blood family left. I guess Hunter doesn't count.

Well they never did get that DNA test done...