Latest UK Episode Discussion (2006-2017 Seasons)

[Brian]

Like reading all your comments. Nothing to add or disagree with. keep them coming.

[Slade]

12 hours ago, Red Ranger 1 said:

I'm sure I'd say the same if it was a character I didn't like but I'm not sure Billie can be blamed for her attacker going on to hurt others.She couldn't give the police much in the way of a description (although she is apparently carrying a sample of his DNA around...) and her initial fear was that they wouldn't believe her anyway because she lied about Nate (which isn't impossible, given their general lack of competence and failure to follow up on any concerns about Irene until they had photographic evidence shoved at them).

Oh yes she can.  Certainly as far as I'm concerned.  If Hunter can be blamed for Denny's death (for breaking into the Diner and lifting the safe even though he didn't actually kill her) and Olivia can be blamed for supporting Hunter (i.e. keeping quiet) then Billie can be blamed for not reporting her rape to the police.  I don't know whether you went back to refer to the episode but just say for arguments sake she does have a copy of the assailants DNA then that's even more of a reason to blame her.  Even without a description the police could have cross referenced it across a central database and that could have led to an arrest assuming that the guy has previous and potentially stopped him from harming more people.  But she's just sitting on it.  IMO it doesn't matter what happened with Nate.  I don't think it precludes her from blame.  You could argue that it's understandable her not wanting to go to the police but morally she has a duty to report him irrespective of what happened before.  Granted she can't control how the police would react to the her statement but at least she can say she tried.  And that's even more of a reason to see what a selfish person she is.  If she's not going to report the rape (because she's got her 'father' and his family to support her and the rugrat) then why bother hanging onto the DNA.  The very fact that she's doing this means she's conscious that something should be done.  Although you could argue that she's been a victim of her own doing.  Serves her right for trying to set Nate up and I guess this is a perfect demonstration exactly one of the main issues with false rape allegations.

Well I really liked Olivia's concern for Irene and I even didn't mind Chris in that episode too.  And I was pleased when they found Irene although funny they just happened to be at the right place at the right time.  Quite perverse and sadistically first of all I really enjoyed the scene when the cops brought Mick into hospital and enjoyed the look of fear on Irene's face when she saw him.  But better still was the revelation.  I was worried that he wasn't going to be Irene's son and the whole kidnapping would have been for nothing so I'm glad they didn't disappoint.  I think it's absolutely wonderful that Irene has spawned a monster.  Nothing against her but purely for entertainment purposes I loved seeing her reaction to that.  And I'm looking forward to seeing how she copes.

When I saw Justin's initial reaction to seeing Tori and Nate I was getting ready to accuse him of being hypocritical given that he got close with Phoebe (I'm assuming the recap with her was more about Justin and not about her being in the episode) but I'll give him the benefit of the doubt and assume that's only because of whatever secret they have he doesn't want getting out.  Didn't really like Tori's attitude towards Nate at the end of the episode.  She's been flirting with him whether consciously or not and now she's basically told him she wants nothing more to do with him outside work.  It comes across as hot and cold although I take her point about being his boss.

[CaptainHulk]

TBF, Harrington was the only other party who was fussed so it made sense him being there.

It's kind of misleading seeing the previews for scenes the next ep that aren't in the next sodding ep!

Now if anything, I would have love to have seen Nathan return at this point and confront Mick.  

[Ludub]

5 hours ago, Slade said:

I don't know whether you went back to refer to the episode but just say for arguments sake she does have a copy of the assailants DNA then that's even more of a reason to blame her [...] But she's just sitting on it [...] If she's not going to report the rape (because she's got her 'father' and his family to support her and the rugrat) then why bother hanging onto the DNA.

I think Red meant that the baby was in itself a sample of the rapist's DNA. It did make me laugh though to think of that very different interpretation of 'carrying a sample of his DNA around with her', haha! As though she has a little vial of his blood (or something else, yuck!) on a necklace round her neck or something As if she's just walking around with it, being deliberately uncooperative, and not handing it over to the cops! Lol! It's not like she's a traumatized victim or anything... or like people often shy away from reporting assaults to the police because it's too difficult and painful to talk about (and convictions are often very difficult to get, and shamefully lenient when you do get them.) Anyway, made me smile, so thanks.

[Slade]

1 hour ago, Ludub said:

I think Red meant that the baby was in itself a sample of the rapist's DNA. It did make me laugh though to think of that very different interpretation of 'carrying a sample of his DNA around with her', haha! As though she has a little vile of his blood (or something else, yuck!) on a necklace round her neck or something As if she's just walking around with it, being deliberately uncooperative, and not handing it over to the cops! Lol! It's not like she's a traumatized victim or anything... or like people often shy away from reporting assaults to the police because it's too difficult and painful to talk about (and convictions are often very difficult to get, and shamefully lenient when you do get them.) Anyway, made me smile, so thanks.

You're welcome.  Glad I've brightened up your day   And I'm glad that I brought a smile to your face.  I didn't realise she was a traumatised victim so thank you for pointing out that very valuable piece of information - Wow you learn something every day!  Well I guess I've learnt two things today so that's a very special thank you right back at ya.  BTW - Just for clarification, I don't really care that she's a rape victim or how much emotional trauma she's suffering.  I just take pleasure in bashing the character.  That's one of the beauties of having a fictional program with fictional characters but fair play my bad for failing to pick up the previous point because I'm so blinded by my dislike towards her.  Good day.

[Ludub]

4 minutes ago, Slade said:

I just take pleasure in bashing the character.  That's one of the beauties of having a fictional program with fictional characters

Absolutely! Bash away!  It's what this site is for! It just made me laugh cos I had a mental image of her with that necklace (like Angelina Jolie carrying Billy Bob Thornton's blood around with her. Again... yuck!  But that's Angelina for ya!)  

[Red Ranger 1]

Thanks for explaining my joke, Ludub: Yes, that's what I meant, sorry if that wasn't clear. Deep breath...Is Billie being selfish? It's a harsh judgement, but I admit not an unfair one.Billie is the victim here, unlike Hunter (who's the criminal) and Olivia (who's the accessory).I accept the argument that she has a moral responsibility to report her attacker and ensure he's put away (but then keeping quiet and letting dangerous criminals go loose is pretty much the trendy thing in Summer Bay).Legally, it's her choice as the victim whether she chooses to report it, whereas Olivia is committing a crime by keeping quiet about Hunter's confession.I'm not sure what Olivia's to blame for in that regard: She couldn't have saved Denny (who was dead before she came to town) or even stopped the circumstances that led to Charlotte's death (since Hunter didn't confess to her until afterwards).Could she have stopped Hunter stabbing Andy if she'd gone to the police?Maybe, but given that they seem determined to keep letting him go and Zac seems determined to support him whatever, it probably wouldn't have made a difference.But as you say, Slade, she could have tried.We've seen this played just about every way in the show's history (keep quiet and he goes on doing it, keep quiet and he doesn't carry on doing it, speak up and he still gets away with it but doesn't exactly carry on doing it), no way of knowing what Billie could and couldn't have done.

So that's enough of the theory, what about the cold hard facts.And they are: Billie's attacker was caught anyway, without her help.He doesn't seem to have raped anyone in the meantime, so as it stands that's one less thing to bash her for.Could Billie have stopped Irene being kidnapped if she'd spoken out?Maybe, but given how soon after that he grabbed her, even if Mick's DNA was on file they'd have had to get the results back quick, and no-one knew of his connection to Irene so they probably wouldn't have made the link.I guess there's a whole lot of What Ifs that'll be hard to unravel.Billie outright tells VJ she loves him: I'm choosing to believe it's true on some level.She's still reluctant to face up to what happened to her even if she did go and see Mick, and she probably doesn't want to lose the love and support of VJ and his family by admitting the truth.But as it turns out...if she's not carrying Leah's grandchild, she's carrying Irene's grandchild! Guess she's got extended family on hand either way.The police don't get any better: Last time someone pulled a trick like that, the person under guard got murdered.They're lucky Billie's no Andy.

Did anything else happen? Well, while I don't share Andy's view that helping Josh get away with killing someone is in any way "the right thing" and most of his argument was less than convincing, he was right that Kat was blaming Ash for doing something she did herself.Justin increasingly comes across as a bully and again with no idea why the Morgans are being paranoid it's hard to sympathise.Oh well, they seem to have decided to make their stand in Murder Town.And Tori can be friends with Nate again.

Phoebe doesn't know who Angelo was.I just felt the years pile on.

[TessyBear]

I know who Angelo is!!

 

4 hours ago, Red Ranger 1 said:

Phoebe doesn't know who Angelo was.I just felt the years pile on.

Sad times when the writers don't give any acknowledgement to past characters. Any time when someone says something about Angelo's being a bit of a dump I get defensive. That's what happens when you let a bunch of criminals run the joint.   I really loved the whole storyline around Angelo's opening and how he had to adjust his lifestyle once it had opened but as per "The Reign of the Braxtons" they took over everything and turned all the things Angelo had so passionately strived for on their head.

There aren't that many characters left now that'd remember Angiepants™ though, 6 I make it.

Anyway I've always thought Kat should've never told Ash about Josh. Doesn't she know Ash at all???

 

This whole sl with Tori's brothers is starting to drag a little now. Justin's committed a serious serious crime (gonna go with murder or double murder or something along those lines) but it would be good to know exactly what instead of hearing them talk about it generally all the time. I'm glad Tori ironed things out with Nate! I so think they're gonna get together! I've liked Tori from day 1! Her brothers... Brody said some things that made good sense today! Justin's hmmm... Saving Alf's life came pretty early on! He (J) didn't spend much time at the Bait Shop (Ah Angelo!! ) this ep. though and he does seem to be the reason they've apparently had to move so very many times... Mason's... fairly quiet... for now.

[Slade]

I was hoping to get a follow-up with Irene and Mick.  Ah well, next episode maybe.

I had no idea when I made the post earlier on this week that her rapist would turn up anytime soon.  I was expecting them to drag the stuff with Billie and VJ out for the time being.  Well anyway she comes face to face with the real father of her baby.  She's got a massive dilemma now.  Will she report him or will she carry on the pretence?  A choice between justice and security for her baby.   If she goes to the police I wonder how Mick is going to take the news that he's going to be a dad.  I don't suppose he and Billie are going to be bonding over the baby anytime soon.  And of course there's Irene who is going to be a grand mother.  Finn, Damion and Nathan now have a niece/nephew on the way.  So it may not actually be all bad.  Although if she is in love with VJ as she claimed to be in the episode (took her about a week to get to this point after starting to fall in love with him) that may be a loss.  This should be interesting.  So many possibilities although if she had gone down the abortion route the choice may have been a lot simpler.

I find it hard to find anything remotely interesting about Justin or Brody.  Brody seems quite up himself and it really annoyed me how he took the money out of the family bank account and bought Angelos without discussing with anyone first.  Justin comes across at times like a slob.  I do like Tori and I'm glad she apologised to Nate.  Hopefully they will get closer.

I find it absolutely hilarious that Andy's fessed up to killing two people and not only is he going to get bail but is actually going back to work.  I wonder what the price is and how he's going to get the money.  He should count himself lucky because I suspect one of Pirovic's cronies would have a pop at him if he was on remand (there's nothing to stop them doing it while his out on bail assuming they're still around).  I also find it funny that he was basically giving Kat relationship advice.

[H&Alover]

Well that was a double whammy for Irene!!!  Not only finding out Mick is her son, but that  he's  not just your average criminal but a serial rapist.  One of the coincidences that seem only to happen in soaps, Chris and Olivia spend just enough time arguing in his car  to allow for Irene to stagger out from the bush in front of them.   I thought that slo-mo was unnecessary, didn't add anything to it. Irene has no reason to blame herself for how he has turned out that is down to whoever did bring him up.  She bought Nathan up and did time which was on her and Mud's shoulders, they were both alcoholics and neither him, Finn or Damien had a good upbringing.  It seems Mick's rape of Billie, at least until we know better, was opportunist maybe his MO. Irene may not have been seriously physically hurt but psychologically the scars  will probably never heal. I'll excuse Marilyn not wondering why she  hadn't heard anything from Irene, she'd been out of the country,  but there are others who were closer to her must now be blaming themselves not realising something was up, it was as Kat said two months ago.  Pleased to see Irene didn't blame Chris, it wasn't his fault things happened the way they did. Shocked him to the core though when Irene told him Mick had posed as his uncle. I do think once they knew Marilyn and Leah should have given Irene sometime to herself and maybe have come round the next day.

Phoebe's brain was working overtime, you could practically could see hear it working  out the timeline and coming to the correct conclusion he had to be Billie's rapist. He, Mick, doesn't hang around after his rapes, hence the reason, I guess, he's still on the loose. He must have left some kind of DNA clue, his blood under a previous victims fingernails, a strand of hair behind before.  Not Kat's fault he was bought to NDH, she was quite rightly furious. Much as Mick is a real bad character I'd like to find out how and why he's turned out like he has. Billie could have had no reason to know the  real reason Mick was in the bay, namely to kidnap Irene, she was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.  He could have left the bay for a day or two then come back.  He probably didn't stick around after his previous rapes, he may be mad but he's not stupid, so he took a chance coming back though it was at night so could safely sneak about.

Olivia's not a mind reader how the hell could she know Hunter would stab Andy I don't think he knew he was going to actually do it until he saw those scissors.

Who are we to say Billie isn't traumatised, just because she hasn't turned in in herself or become a recluse doesn't mean she isn't.  Many women want to forget it ever happened whether they have fallen pregnant or not.  She didn't see his face just a quick glimpse of the tattoo and the state she was in at the time she probably wouldn't have been able to give a good description of it. I think there is a big part of her that wants to report him but knows if she does there's the chance it'll ruin everything between her, VJ, Leah.  It was bad enough knowing she's carrying a rapists baby now she's found out he's a serial rapist. Scary moment when he opened his eyes and saw her looking at him and they both knew who the other was. When and I think it will be when she confesses that'll be another shock for Irene, the other victims were anonymous but she knows Billie if only slightly. I hope Phoebe doesn't push her too hard.  I know Billie's worry before was no-one would be likely to believe her after what happened with Nate but now they can take DNA from the baby before it's born there will be real proof. As Mick had his hands full 'looking' after Irene I guess it didn't give him much time to go looking for anyone else to rape.

I couldn't understand why Alf who was so thankful to Justin fro saving his life was so reluctant to have him run the bait shop, although we don't know how much experience he has running a bait shop, the maintaining the dinghy, boats yes, but doubtful how much he knows about fishing tackle and bait? Maybe she shouldn't have gone behind Alf's back but Roo made the right call  letting Justin run it, better that then Alf losing custom which he may not get back. I may be wrong but I thought Roo had introduced herself to Justin at the hospital yet later when she saw him at The Diner, I'm sure she said to him "Hi I'm Roo Alf's daughter".

Brody does seem to have a good business head on his shoulders and knows a thriving concern when he sees it. I had to smile when no-one knew why Angelo's is called Angelo's. There are people around who know they just weren't in this particular scene. The family must have a fair bit put away for him, seemingly, being able to buy it outright. He obviously doesn't need their signatures to draw the money, but they found out anyway. We keep getting little teasers of the Morgan family history.  Justin was a bit out of line having a pop at Tori for mentioning to Nate what had happened to their parents, he'd caught her at a weak moment because that couple reminded her of them. So it's just not them Justin is worried about it's also anyone who gets close to them, in Tori's case that would be Nate then. I don't think any of them are criminals but whoever killed their parents certainly are.  The old 'they saw/heard something they shouldn't have' ploy.

I initially thought it was the results of whatever Mick had in those little tubes, that Nate received, was he hoping to get the DNA checked at sometime, but then it was revealed it was a photo of Casey.  I guess Ricky thinks he might want to see how Casey is progressing but it's kind of rubbing salt in the wound for Nate.

People in the bay have been let out on bail before when they have been charged with murder.  Andy must have ben pretty convincing when he urged Kat to forgive Ash, she does indeed know what he is like Changelo and I'd take that snog as a yes she does forgive him. She covered for Josh with the right, if misguided, reason, he's hardly a hardened criminal  and he has had the opportunity to skip town like when Evie asked him to but hasn't.