Latest UK Episode Discussion (2006-2017 Seasons)

[H&Alover]

I did say Billie changed the conception date not the due date so TPTB got it wrong.  Had there been a time warp we all missed, only last week Nate said he and Ricky had only been married a month, yet yesterday  she said they had been married two months. 

No reason why Billie/VJ couldn't work out, just because VJ is young doesn't preclude him from being a good dad, plenty are just as older guys are rubbish dads. The same goes for younger/older mums. I am hoping she will eventually tell the truth though, not as if she slept with a random guy through choice then proceeded to con VJ.  People will be shocked to hear she was raped but will rally round as they tend to do.

I think Nate did absolutely the right thing by ringing Brax, I'll skip over how he got Brax's not so secret number, from Ricky's phone perhaps. The main reason Ricky didn't go with Brax last time was because he was on the run - see my last post for clues as to why it looks to be fine he's back in the bay. I'm still not sure how that worked  so hopefully all will be explained. So far all Tori has been to Nate is someone he can talk to who doesn't have any knowledge of the Brax/Ricky/Nate history, she hasn't offered any advice just listened. I do think she fancies him though, though I hope she won't go leaping in there right away, that would only be a rebound relationship and not good for either of them.

it's a fore gone that an old love will always be that, Ricky and Brax went through a lot together. I did believe Ricky when she said she loved Nate, but sadly she has always loved Brax more.  His stepping down has saved four people from being unhappy - Brax, because he'll always love Ricky, Ricky because she will always love Brax, Nate, he'll be able to move on and not keep having to compete with Brax and more importantly Casey, he must already be picking up on the tension between his mum and step dad and it'd only get worse as he got older.

Kat veers between being  a good cop and a not so good cop.  Her determination to find Josh and take him in was the right thing to do but telling Ash why she wanted to find him wasn't.  I don't think Ash could have coped with keeping another secret so to him it was natural  for him to tell Andy.  If there wasn't  a new detective coming on board Kat may and I say that advisedly,  have been able to cover it up a bit longer, but she and McCarthy did say she, may well spot the evidence connecting Josh and Charlotte. it was odd no-one thought of looking in the caravan park first.  How do Ash and Andy know Josh wouldn't be able to cope inside, he's a lot tougher than he comes across as we've seen. It's one of soaps great clichés that when a character gets over happy and says more or less that everything is going to be fine from now in that we know it isn't. Odd time for Josh to tell Evie what he had done and I'm thinking her telling him to get lost was more to do with the fact he allowed Zac to spend time inside rather than his actual deed. 

 

[atrus]

So by Friday, Kat had decided to base her decision on whether to arrest Josh on him finding out how Evie was doing and reporting back to her with his professional opinion, which was ludicrous even by soap opera standards. I really hope she gets the book thrown at her when her superiors realise she tipped off both Josh and, indirectly, his brother, before bothering to make an arrest. That's if they realise, and Andy's prevented from falling on his sword. To be honest I'm well over both of them, so hopefully Andy will get done for the Pirovic murder, and Josh for Charlotte's. And if Kat and Ash get done for being accessories, well, that would be an added bonus about now.

Thank goodness Nate and Ricky called it quits - I wasn't sure I could take any more. The way Brax explained away the fact that he's no longer on the run in two sentences was ridiculously perfunctory, but I'm just relieved finally to have closure to all this. In lots of ways I think it's a real pity that Ricky left as she began - pretty much wholly defined by her relationship with Brax - but I'll take that over her endless domestics with Nate any day. I'm guessing this frees up Nate for a will-they-won't-they, professional-love-hate kind of setup with Tori, but perhaps they'll come up with something more inventive.

Speaking of Tori, it's difficult not to read anything into the fact that on the same day the last Braxton rides out of town, three new badass brothers turn up and immediately start throwing their weight around. Justin (who I still remember as Alex from Breakers) in particular felt every bit like NeoBrax, although I was getting less of the Heath and Casey vibes from Brody and Mason (who's now barely recognisable as Neighbours' Noah) respectively. But no point prejudging, I suppose - time will tell whether we're in for a rerun of the 'crime family' or something completely different.

And I know there's a lot of other stuff going on, but still no Matt? It really feels like they've neglected his reaction to Maddy's departure.

[Red Ranger 1]

That was...unbelievably bad. I'm not even talking about the ethics which I'll need another paragraph for, I'm talking about the writing. Brax appears for two minutes at the start to announce that he's a free man (somehow) and wants Ricky to come away with him, then two minutes near the end to drive off mouthing nonsense. I couldn't even take the scenes in the middle where Ricky tries to make her going with him seem remotely plausible seriously. Honestly, this episode only works at all if you don't know who Brax is, don't know anything that's happened to him in the last year and a half, and don't know what his status was meant to be. Then you'd just go "Oh, so this guy is the love of Ricky's life that she thought she couldn't be with? Okay." Otherwise... Even Ash and Phoebe can only stand there shaking their heads at how silly the whole thing is and vow never to speak of it again.

I almost can't bear to think about it seriously but here goes. So, this is the second time that Brax has stolen the proceeds of a robbery from someone and left them for dead, and because someone else turns out to have struck the last blow, that makes him completely innocent?He didn't even bother to wait in jail for the truth to come out this time, he escaped and went on the run, and no-one minds?Even worse, we're apparently meant to have forgotten that he didn't pretend to be dead to escape from jail, he pretended to be dead because otherwise Gunno would go after his family.So...presumably Gunno's now going to go after his family and they'll all be dead soon?(They've apparently only gone as far as the city.)Or...maybe neither the authorities nor Gunno actually know he's alive, in which case Ricky's idyllic happy ending just got shot down.Let's face it: When Brax says "I'll never let you down again", he probably means it...but he will.It's what he does.Ricky even knows it: "It was always going to end this way,"she said when they last met and it will.They'll be up to their necks in crime and enemies again before too long, fresh start or not.(In fact, wasn't Summer Bay meant to be his fresh start?)I remember, I think it was after Brax's presumed death, Marilyn worrying that Baby Casey will end up like the Braxtons and John saying Ricky would never allow it.But...she has. She's dragged him back into the world of a father who hasn't spent more than a handful of hours with him since he was born, and no doubt he'll suffer like everyone else who's been part of that world.

Ironic that an episode that begins with Brax saying Sam did the right thing by owning up to the murder of someone who probably had even fewer people mourning him than Charlotte spends most of its running time having characters insist Josh shouldn't do the right thing.Kat's the most morally right person in the storyline and she's a joke, desperately trying to salvage her career instead of letting McCarthy know who the killer is.If she was doing this by the book, she'd have turned up at that garage with a warrant instead of failing to search a small car.Loyalty is an admirable trait but it needs to be tempered by responsibility and Josh didn't show anything of either when he let Zac go to jail."I didn't think anyone would be charged with the murder,"he claims, but apparently them being charged didn't make any difference.It's all right for Andy and Ash to say that there's no harm in letting Josh go, but what happens the next time an innocent person gets accused?Well, I guess a not-so-innocent person's accused himself now, and Kat's screwed up the investigation good and proper, leaving the real killer in the clear. But if Andy goes to jail instead, I'll take that as a result. He is a murderer as well after all. Evelyn is briefly disgusted at who she's sleeping with, but fortunately for Josh she's too selfish to care for long.Frankly, given that she was happy to see him go to jail once before rather than lose the person she was closest to, I wouldn't be surprised if Evelyn would want Josh to keep quiet and stay with her even if Zac was still under suspicion.

Moving on, despite the unfortunate aesthetics of three brothers turning up just as the Braxtons leave...I found the Morgans' arrival quite promising.I found Brody and Mason instantly likable, even if they didn't really do or say much, and there was some lovely sibling banter between the four of them outside their (curiously overgrown) house.Justin...the jury's still out there.I actually didn't get a Brax vibe from him at all, in fact it terms of appearance and personality he came across more as Andy 2.0.(To the extent of appearing to be of completely different ethnic origin to the rest of his family.Maybe he had a different father.)Despite him being the oldest, he actually seemed the least intelligent and the one that the others listen to the least, from the way they all roll their eyes at his outbursts to the fact that his contribution to the banter basically amounts to "...Whatever." And he had a nice sibling scene with Tori near the end to show a different side to him.In fact, you know the person that came off worst? Ash. There seemed to be no reason for him to try and pick a fight with Justin when he saw him again, it was just his pride hurting. With his treatment of VJ and Billie, his attempting to help Josh get away with killing someone and now this, a character that I used to really like is fast losing his appeal.

[atrus]

11 minutes ago, Red Ranger 1 said:

I actually didn't get a Brax vibe from him at all, in fact it terms of appearance and personality he came across more as Andy 2.0.

Actually, yes he was more like Andy - although Andy himself felt like a NeoBrax, not necessarily in terms of personality but in terms of the kinds of storylines he was clearly going to be deployed in from the outset.

11 minutes ago, Red Ranger 1 said:

Even worse, we're apparently meant to have forgotten that he didn't pretend to be dead to escape from jail, he pretended to be dead because otherwise Gunno would go after his family.So...presumably Gunno's now going to go after his family and they'll all be dead soon?(They've apparently only gone as far as the city.)Or...maybe neither the authorities nor Gunno actually know he's alive, in which case Ricky's idyllic happy ending just got shot down.

Personally I'm accepting the timeline from the special which tells us that Gunno is dead, mainly because I've seen nothing on-screen since to suggest that it didn't happen, with all references to Gunno in the main show quietly dropped. I know there was talk of it being an alternate timeline, but I don't actually think it ever contradicted the main one - and there were a couple of hints in the main show that something more had gone on than Ricky was letting on.

But still, yes - Brax's threadbare explanation for his 'freedom' was totally unsatisfactory in pretty much every respect.

 

[Red Ranger 1]

1 hour ago, atrus said:

Personally I'm accepting the timeline from the special which tells us that Gunno is dead, mainly because I've seen nothing on-screen since to suggest that it didn't happen, with all references to Gunno in the main show quietly dropped. I know there was talk of it being an alternate timeline, but I don't actually think it ever contradicted the main one - and there were a couple of hints in the main show that something more had gone on than Ricky was letting on.

I think the show wrote itself into a corner there. So far as I can tell that special was made for a different company in a different media, the modern equivalent of those direct-to-video/DVD specials that soaps have done in the past. So they can't reference it in the show, because that would mean the audience who don't have access to it wouldn't be able to understand the show and that would break all sorts of regulations. But at the same time they don't seem to want to contradict it, so the show still doesn't make sense.

Mind you, didn't Gunno appear to survive the special anyway? So I guess Brax and co are dead either way.

[KIMIF1]

Loved  seeing Brax and Ricky back together after six months of misery even if only for a couple of minutes,  well worth waiting for and even the baby seemed happier with him being there - them going off together was great too. One thing about it however much and however long people moan about Brax goes the ending cant be changed and from what I can tell elsewhere it was a popular one.  Now the doc can paddle his canoe and chase  the rest of the woman in the bay to his hearts content because that the only thing that is happening at present, and the excitement is just too much.

Used to be a highlight to watch this show, but now its not worth the effort to turn on the tele but then they say all good things come to an end and they have as far as I am concerned.

 

 

[Brian]

Very interesting to read all your thoughts and analyses of the various plots : Billie/VJ,  Nate/Ricky/Brax,  Ash/Kat, Tori/3 brothers,   Josh/Evie. There's certainly a lot going on, which makes for an very interesting and enjoyable series. I can't think of much more to add. However I was surprised to see Brax reappear and free as well. I thought that we would only see him again  in prison. So has he now finally ridden off into the sunset for the last time? By the way, did anyone see the new film out last month here "Me before You"? What a surprise to see "Brax" having a large part in it as a medical carer?    

Nice to hear Kyle referred to again, as being near Heath, in prison no doubt. Will there be a repeat with the girl (can't remember her name) owning up or being caught  for the robbery and then Kyle goes free???? I still miss Kyle in the restaurant and singing and playing the guitar. One of the best loved characters for some time, in my opinion. A genuinely nice guy.

There's still lots more interest to come in the weeks ahead  :  Billie being found out/telling VJ,  Andy or Josh or both going down for the murder, Phoebe and Tom, what trouble will the new brothers cause?, Matt??.   Bring it on!!!!

[KIMIF1]

Just to put right a couple of inaccuracies stated on here:

Brax was 'giving' money to Johnny Barrett not robbing him, it was half the proceeds from the armed robbery Barrett and Danny Braxton had carried out and which Danny was doing time for.  Barrett wanted the lot and said if he didn't get it, a seven year old boy who he had already hit would suffer, a boy who turned out to be his own son, but I suppose that's alright in some peoples eyes.  Yes Brax hit him but only when Barrett  confronted him in a menacing manner,  there was no intention to kill Barrett at all and if it  hadn't have been for a convenient stone no serious injury would have been caused.

The only reason Brax followed Dean into the mine was that he hoped  he would lead him to Billie the reason for the trip. Dean lashed out at him with a shovel first and Brax defended himself. Yes Brax had said about the difficulty Dean would have getting out of the mine with a broken leg, but if he had had any intention of hurting him in that way why did he take Deans car keys. Yes he took the money but was it intended for his own benefit - no. When he left Dean he was breathing perfectly OK if he hadn't been,  why would Sam have needed to use a shovel to  finish Dean off?

As regards Gunno,  the special was a one off and had nothing to do with the show,  the fact  it looked like Gunno might have survived is irrelevant and  I imagine  Brax, Ricky and little Casey  having a happy and loving  life together as family meant a great deal to him whatever else is said about him.

 

 

 

[Slade]

So after a day Channel 5 still haven't made Tuesday's episode to watch but Wednesday's is ?!

So Sam confessed just like that.....OK.  I'm not complaining.  Once again was a bit disappointed with Brax's return.  Why couldn't we have had scenes with him and other characters such as Ash (his loyal friend), Andy, Josh or even Alf and Phoebe.  Why only Ricky and Nate?  I guess it was nice of Steve to return to do that scene to ride off into the sunset with Ricky.  I haven't been Brax's biggest fan and whilst at times have really not liked his criminal acts, I haven't forgotten what he did for little Pippa and after losing Casey I'm glad he got a happy ending (I'm assuming that's the last we'll see of him and Ricky).  It's also good to know that he will be moving close to Heath and Bianca.  There is still the issue of Gunno of course but I guess that's all off screen now.

First thoughts of Tori's brothers are that I don't like any of them especially Justin.  Interesting she mentioned the gunshot victims reminded her of their parents.  I'm curious as to whether all her brothers are half brothers or just two of them.

From what I'm seeing of Phoebe and Ash I don't like.  They seem to be getting close again but hopefully it's just platonic.

It looks as though I may have underestimated Evelyn's loyalty.  Never thought she would forgive Josh but apparently it took half an episode.  Perhaps loyalty is the wrong word but I can understand her thinking as she's in a very dark place at the moment.

So Andy apparently wants to sacrifice himself to save Josh.  I can understand that although as someone who really likes Andy this is very disappointing!

[Red Ranger 1]

11 hours ago, KIMIF1 said:

Just to put right a couple of inaccuracies stated on here:

What inaccuracies? Can I add the fact that Brax then arranged to have Johnny buried a shallow grave (you know, like Charlotte did with Denny) so his family spent the next 14 years not knowing he was dead and thinking that he'd abandoned them? And that this "unfortunate" accident resulted in Brax having all of the money from the robbery at his disposal (because who cares about the 2-year-old boy he left without a father) and using it to set up a drug cultivation operation? And the show has firmly established that Gunno wants to track Brax down and kill him (he's already had one go and he was trying to locate him via Trystan last season) so yes, Brax has just put Ricky and Casey in danger by taking them with him.

Wow, they actually went there! I was expecting Andy's murder of Jake to stay buried forever but surely there's no way out for him now? Pity McCarthy having to clean up the mess of Emerson's lacklustre investigation.Andy should have confessed two years ago instead of letting Kyle and Josh talk him out of it, then Oscar and Hannah would still be alive.I'm still hoping they'll get Josh on a two-for-the-price-of-one. Maybe Evie too, since she's clearly in perverting the course of justice territory by now.No real surprise that she only cares about the effect Josh's actions have on her, she is an inherently selfish person as she's demonstrated many times in the past, not least when she did the same thing with Oscar over Zac.And Josh is no Oscar.It does probably help that the guy who killed her family is the one in the firing line.Lost all sympathy with Kat, who is manifestly self-righteous.She started all this by initiating the cover-up, she's still too much of a coward to do her job (in fact her reaction to Evelyn's thanks suggests she still thinks she was right to not arrest Josh on the spot) and she dragged Ash into her mess, so while he hasn't exactly covered himself in glory she's really to blame for all this.

Phoebe and Dom...was there even a point?It feels like the Phoebe worshippers who run the show were desperate not to let anyone notice how utterly pointless she is so gave her an utterly pointless storyline, which...kind of had the opposite effect.With Ricky gone, she has even less connection with anyone in the Bay, so it seems she has to start...connecting with the Morgans, adopting Tori as her new best mate and Justin as her new bed buddy.

Hmm, Justin. He's starting to resemble Andy a bit less...or rather he's starting to resemble the more affable Andy, who I might have liked if they hadn't made him so bad in the first place then expected us to forget. So given that Justin doesn't have the unfortunate history, I'm cautiously sitting on the fence, despite his poor taste in women.While Brody was being a snob in the Diner, I actually thought Leah was out of line: She tells him to be honest then kicks him out when he is. Mason is coming across as the most likable, him studying medicine is an interesting hook to hang his character on.(Following in big sister's footsteps?)No point trying to decipher all the hints about their Big Secret, we'll find out soon enough.