Latest UK Episode Discussion (2006-2017 Seasons)

[c120701]

19 minutes ago, Red Ranger 1 said:

Bios on the official site often bear very little resemblance to the actual show.

As I'm aware.

[CaptainHulk]

Anyone else think that storyline smells a bit of Emmerdale 2010 when Aaron gay-bashed  his future lover Jackson and had to do community service? Although, he was getting grief off a lad rather than a supervisor.

[Slade]

17 hours ago, H&Alover said:

Andy has actually only murdered one person (but the cops don't know that yet).  At the risk of being boring the explosion was an accident. 

I never said he murdered two people just that he confessed to killing two people. It still all counts.  One of the things the judge will factor in when deciding to grant bail is how much of a risk the perpetrator is to the public.  So killing two people and accidentally killing two others looks very bad.  Also that accident happened because Andy attacked someone which demonstrates someone with violent tendencies.  And as I mentioned in my last post he has previous.  All those elements combined IMO are suitable to deny bail.

I'm disappointed that Josh has fessed up because now he and Andy are both going down.  Both of them are throwing their lives away.  Andy gave Josh an opportunity for a new start.  I can understand that Josh simply couldn't handle the guilt.  So I respect him for that however he's now getting charged for that and covering for Andy killing Pirovic so he's going down for a very long time as well.  And as Andy said he will really struggle to cope inside.  I do actually feel really sorry for Evelyn.  She was desperate to hang onto Josh because she felt she has nobody after losing Oscar and Hannah.  And now she has lost the so called love of her life.  So I think she will struggle for the time being at least.

Glad we got some follow up with the Irene/Mick stuff.  Irene seems torn.  Longing for the child she lost but at the same time acknowledging she created a monster - A vicious circle.  Surely she's going to want to see him again.  If anything to find out what went wrong.

I did kind of smile at the scene with at the lunch when Marilyn told John she'd registered for fostering again.  The uh-oh reactions from everybody else when John wasn't on board and the way they all quickly left was amusing.  I like the consistency in that John is clearly affected by what happened with Skye because he's taken it very personally that she didn't want to stay with him.  I don't think he should take it as complete failure.  Think of the success with Jett.  Have to say the mud cake looked delicious.

Quite enjoyed the scenes from Hunter's community service.  Nothing like a woman who revels in authority over men.  Or was it just Hunter she didn't like?  Not sure why Zac arrived to pick him up as I would imagine it would cramp Hunter's style.  I guess it just reminds me of the hassle Oscar had during his community service.

[H&Alover]

Many people 'confess' to a crime to protect someone else, the truth would have come out eventually.

Alf's 'sudden' recovering use of his arm could be explained by the fact a fortnight seemed to have passed in the meantime.  Josh told Brody he'd been 'away' for that period while on remand. Also enough time for Irene to have been filled in on what happened the night she was kidnapped.

I thought  Hunter asked his supervisor a perfectly reasonable question about separating the rubbish, she's definitely the over zealous type.  Yes they are all on community service for very good reasons and she can't be seen to be weak, but she still has a duty of care towards them, Jordan could have real health issues. 

There was no way Josh and Evie could have carried on with that between them Josh recognised Evie felt differently towards him and at last so has she. Surely much better he does the right thing now then have it tear them apart further down the line.  The question now will be how the rest of the family take it when they find out that (a) he killed Charlotte and (b) she has known about it for weeks.  Andy could be underestimating Josh's ability to cope inside.  Mason was sympathetic towards Evie about her troubles with Josh, wonder if he will when he hears, as he surely will, that he murdered someone  seeing his parents were murdered.

I think our Alf needs to go and stay with Morag, she wouldn't fuss around him, Roo means well but is more likely to impede his recovery than improve it. 

Such a poignant scene with Irene when she was looking at her baby box, stroking the blanket and you could 'hear' her wondering about what about might have been.  I thought it was just going to be me thinking Irene needs to see Mick and tell him the truth (well maybe not all of it), he needs to know she didn't 'abandon' him and had no choice about giving him up.  It is an awful twist of fate that he was a product of rape and grew up to be a rapist himself.  Ironic after the all times people in the bay merrily leave their doors unlocked Irene is now locking her doors.  She's putting up a good front but I don't think we've seen the last of what she has been through, glad to see that so far she hasn't hit the bottle. 

That welcome home lunch for Maz was going so well until she dropped the fostering bombshell and their guests knew it was best to make a discreet withdrawal.  I can understand John being wary about going down that route again after Skye, but as Marilyn pointed out she was a teenage girl a whole different kettle of fish than a teenage boy.  Look at the trouble he, Gina then Marilyn had with him and yes it was a lot of hard work but he came good in the end.  It would have helped enormously if Marilyn had been there but he definitely shouldn't feel a failure, he got her away from her mother and gave her back her confidence which she thanked him for, what more can a foster parent hope for.

Seems, going by the trailer, it's  'coming up next week' time!   Billie looks like she may be having a pregnancy scare.

 

 

 

 

[Red Ranger 1]

I don't know where to start with that.Okay, let's go with Andy Barrett, one of the most hateful characters in the show's history who I'm increasingly feeling should have been left in jail in 2013 for the good of everyone, not least his brother who's been totally screwed by having him in his life.Josh finally does the right thing:He thought he could live with killing someone but watching the effect it's having on people and no longer able to convince himself that it'll all work out okay in the end, he turns himself in.An act of conscience that Barrett simply can't understand to the point that he's seeing what he wants to see. "He looked scared,"he claims of Josh but actually Josh mostly looked relieved that it was finally over and seems to be coping well, hardening his resolve and getting ready to do what he needs to to get through this.Ash has really made a mistake helping Barrett get out, misguided loyalty at its finest.He's risking his and Kat's future on someone who doesn't deserve his trust, who's planning his next crime within hours of being released and still convinced Josh is the victim and threatening his actual victim's family (I don't even like Hunter but Barrett treating him like the villain of the piece, when he was perfectly fine to let him go around burning down houses, was wrong on every level imaginable).Kat suddenly finds that after weeks of telling people to do the right thing it's not so easy when it's her turn.Meanwhile, Evelyn continues with her "me, me, me" attitude and I continue to have no sympathy with her whatsoever.Not long ago I was banging my head against the wall at the show presenting her and Josh as a meant-to-be couple who were going to get married, so I'm relieved that that's finally been shot down in flames, I never really believed in them as a couple.(Assuming Josh doesn't just get community service, of course.)Reaction to Josh being exposed as Charlotte's killer is even more muted than that to Hunter being exposed as the arsonist.The sarcastic way Hunter says "That's a shame" to Josh and Evelyn's break-up feels like Scott Lee desperately trying to include some characterisation, while the fact Zac's stint in jail was basically Josh's fault gets covered in an offhand "He probably should have come forward a lot sooner."(How long do the MacGuires think Evelyn's known, anyway?Since that afternoon?And if Josh is so keen to keep Kat out of it, why not just say they heard the case was being reopened?)

I'm hoping there's an explanation coming for why Alf wants the bait shop closed because at the moment it just seems like unnecessary conflict and you'd expect Roo to question it.Mason was asking for trouble with his comment about being out "in the sticks" but I'm in two minds about Nate's later treatment of him.Fair enough, point out proper procedure to him, but don't haul him over the coals for trying to do the right thing: Alf and Roo clearly appreciated his help.

[Angelica]

Is it ridiculous how blase everyone is becoming about all these crimes. We are meant to sympathise with Hunter for having a tough time in witness protection, even though as VJ rightly pointed out, he got a ridiculously easy sentence. I still find it ridiculous that someone who has shown no adversity to confrontation, would burn down someone's house with at least confronting them first. And we have never been given enough reason to believe that he was particularly unhappy prior to arriving to the bay.

Similarly, I cannot believe how blase everyone is about Josh murdering Charlotte. At no point does anyone think Josh should feel guilty for murdering Charlotte and leaving her to die. No one seems to care about that at all. The only guilt anyone acknowledges is that guilt related to letting Andy take the fall for his crime. Even Hunter can barely amount any energy to feel anger towards Josh. Seriously? Is murdering Charlotte only a crime if your name is Andy Barratt?

Speaking of Andy, I am disappointed about where his storyline has headed having found myself warming to him in recent weeks. Though he was ultimately responsible for Hannah's and Oscar's death, I could sympathise with him as he certainly didn't anticipate this outcome. And he now has to live with the guilt of being responsible for the death of the only woman he has truly loved in the Bay. And his willingness to do everything to keep Josh out of jail, sacrificing his own freedom in the mix was commendable. But the fact that it looks like he is going to betray Ash's trust now makes me lose all respect again. 

[atrus]

On 02/08/2016 at 2:32 AM, Red Ranger 1 said:

"Licensed" doesn't mean "canon", you get licensed novels and annuals in the early days that aren't really canon.And "in continuity" doesn't mean "canon", just because they don't say something didn't happen doesn't mean it did.I think we have a slanted view in the UK because the special was shown on Channel 5 like the show, whereas I believe in Australia it was only available on the internet.So it pretty much legally can't be canon, because if Brax starts talking about the time Gunno fell of a cliff then people are going to start asking when that episode was and then demanding to know why they're making a television program that you can't understand without watching something else that some of the audience might not have access to.In story, given that Kyle fell off a cliff and didn't suffer anything more than a few bruises and that Heath has a pretty poor track record with regards telling the difference between dead and alive (*cough*Adam*), you'd expect more than that to convince Brax that all's fine.More likely, we're dealing with the initial shock and fear slowly giving away to complacency.Someone tries to kill you and you worry they're going to try again and go into hiding...then a year later nothing's happened and you decide that it's all blown over and you're safe.Call it the phoney war syndrome.

Sorry to rehash this after a two-week absence, but just a few additional thoughts: totally agreed that 'licensed' doesn't necessarily mean 'canon' and likewise for 'in continuity', and it would appear we don't have a definitive word on canonicity either way. As far as other TV canons go, I'd argue that screen content tends to be considered canon more often by fans than print material, in absence of the powers that be confirming either way. But I think each viewer has to make up their own mind, unless the producers come out and explicitly say that the events of the special either did or didn't happen - and yes, UK viewers will likely be more inclined to embrace it on the grounds that they had free access. I don't really buy that it can't 'legally' be canon unless some such deal has explicitly been agreed, and the fact that Brax doesn't talk about Gunno falling off a cliff doesn't necessarily mean it's not canon either. There are loads of past events in soaps deliberately not spoken about in the present day for all sorts of reasons - and arguably, the fact that old episodes are usually totally inaccessible is the main reason that characters from the past aren't incessantly name-dropped unless they or their families have a bearing on current storylines. Admittedly it sounds like the special wasn't accessible ever, at all, for lots of Australian fans, but the same could be said about content in many franchises, and I don't necessarily think the impact on canonicity should be assumed to be automatic unless a statement is made to that effect.

Anyway, this week (and last): gosh, it's been ages. As I predicted, Psycho Hunter is well and truly back in town since Andy's confession to Charlotte's murder - and yet everyone seems to think it's pretty much fine for him to have stabbed Andy with scissors in the middle of the police station. Regardless of what Andy has (or in this case hasn't) done, I find vigilante action pretty abhorrent - it's one of the main reasons I came to dislike the Braxtons and their associates, Andy included, so much - and became highly annoyed with Zac for telling Hunter how proud he was of him for 'cooperating' with the police afterwards. Well, difficult for him not to have cooperated, since the police saw him stab Andy with their own eyes. I must agree that bundling this in with the arson charges was a cheap get-out tactic on the writers' part. And then we have to endure him being portrayed as a victim at the hands of No-Nonsense Community Service Supervisor, who's undoubtedly got a power complex - but in no way does it detract from the gravity of Hunter's crimes, and a bit of litter-picking on the beach seems like the absolute least he could have expected.

I'm glad that Josh has done the right thing in the end, but on the other hand it's difficult to see how he can be redeemed now, after letting numerous others take the heat for his actions. Kat's looking incredibly hypocritical, meanwhile, and Andy downright ungrateful - especially to Ash, who bails him out at likely huge personal cost - because really, who in soapland has ever complied with bail conditions - only to have Andy call up who will no doubt prove to be our latest -o suffixed villain-by-numbers, Simmo, and put the entire garage operation in jeopardy by agreeing to use it for nefarious practices. Evie, meanwhile, spent much of the last few episodes being downright loathsome until she eventually decided to let Josh do what he should have done far earlier. I feel like this, combined with her now borderline risible doom magnet status, makes it increasingly difficult to see how she can be sustained as a character in the medium-to-long term. If Josh goes to jail, I think the humane thing would be to write her out too.

Finally the Irene story reaches a climax, and I'm not sure what to think about it. Villainous Mick seemed a bit one-note ('you're making me very angry' and 'you'll never leave me again' being just two of the well-worn tropes in his stock psycho's repertoire) and it doesn't help that I''ve come away feeling like the producers are just having one of their 'punish Irene' phases that they seem to fall back on every few years, which tend to have a mildly sensationalist aftertaste. I felt all that was a pity, given the way we now know it links in with the Billie storyline, which continues to feel very authentic, largely because of Tessa's excellent performance but also because of the focus on the very real and unenviable quandary that so many rape victims face - whether to endure all the horrors that coming forward entails after already having suffered so much, or keep quiet and hope the perpetrator doesn't strike others. Back to Mick, and I still find myself wishing that they'd stuck with developing the Irene/Claire relationship rather than deploying her real long-lost child as Monster of the Week, although I suppose they could yet pull this around by having Irene dedicate herself to reforming her son in the long-term, possibly through frequent jail visits and eventually by supporting him on his release. Given the apparent seriousness of his crimes I'm struggling to see that happening, admittedly, but if any soap can do it, it's H&A.

Onto the Morgans. I disliked how everyone was making out that Brody was some kind of imperious slave-driver just because he didn't immediately say yes to someone on serious criminal charges working at his restaurant, and objected to Phoebe disappearing off mid-shift without explanation, which you just can't do as an employee (her excellent reaction to the 'three brothers' reveal notwithstanding). It's actually quite satisfying to see the Braxtons Plus - among whom I definitely count Phoebe, Josh and, by association, Evie - have their sense of entitlement questioned, so from that perspective I was all for his approach. More generally I am already warming to the family overall a lot more than I ended up liking the Braxtons, although I think a lot of that was down to crime fatigue in the later years. Justin continues to be the least tolerable of the bunch as he generally asserts his alpha male status - although I can well see me liking him yet, depending on how he develops - but Mason is certainly likeable and I'm already enjoying his friendship with Matt (the new Spatt, perhaps?) and rooting for him in the petty vendetta Lord Nate seems to have cooked up against him, presumably to make himself feel better about the fact his own life's turned to pot.

Not enough new or original to say about the Alf or John/Marilyn situations - perhaps because the storylines themselves don't have much new or original to say - so I'll save that for another time.

[Slade]

On 8/14/2016 at 3:57 PM, H&Alover said:

Many people 'confess' to a crime to protect someone else, the truth would have come out eventually.

It already has come out and nobody denied that it would have previously.  These things always happen with soaps.  However my original point was that Andy shouldn't have been given bail.  You really should quote the parts of my post you are referring to sometimes as it's confusing the context with which you are responding.

Well Josh is one person who I think should have gotten bail.  The killing was an accident and I don't think he's a danger to anyone.  Quite liked Andy warning Hunter off and defending his brother.  Once again admire Ash's loyalty but even before I saw the end of that episode I didn't think that Andy could really be trusted (And I'm disappointed judging by the preview).  Ash definitely should have spoken to Kat about it first and I don't want him to lose the business if Andy breaks his bail conditions.  Whilst I accept Kat kept quiet about Charlotte's death to help Evelyn I have been enjoying seeing her worry about her fate.  Given how she's conducted herself as a police officer during her time at the bay part of me would like to see some comeback although I do think her going to jail would be quite harsh.

It's a very difficult time for Evelyn especially now that Josh doesn't want anything more to do with her.  I think she's just going to have to hang in there and things will improve eventually.  And perhaps she can think about returning to uni at some point.

[CaptainHulk]

Kat should at least be up on charges. And Jail would be harsh, they get one whiff of bacon in there, she won't last 24hrs!  

[H&Alover]

Hunter isn't in witness protection, it's Community Service. Let's not forget he had Charlotte as a mother who wasn't the most stable herself and a granddad who didn't think much of Zac and who knows what they filled his head with when he was younger. We've seen the damage that can do with Mick and what he thinks Irene did to him. Josh does feel guilty about Charlotte's death that is why, although belatedly, he came forward.

Andy is obviously forgetting it's also his business he's putting at risk by planning to do whatever it is he's planning, I get he's doing it to  raise the $50,000 to cover what Ash has put up via the garage, but if he just played it straight and didn't get into any bother until his trial the money would be safe.  Ash not telling Kat was as I thought and as he said he was scared she'd say no. Commendable though it was Andy wanting to take the rap for Charlotte's murder/manslaughter, it was as Josh said he (Andy) felt guilty for the explosion and this was his way of atoning.  Josh had the upper hand though having recorded the message of him and Andy talking about it. Josh probably feels like a weight has been lifted from his shoulders now he's confessed and more than up to taking his punishment.  Naturally he's scared who wouldn't be, but he is tougher than anyone thinks.  He seems to be channelling the Braxtons in him not wanting to see Evelyn, likely thinking a clean break now will be better than her visiting him while he's on remand until he comes to trial then breaking it off.

I can see why Kat feels she should fall on her sword but what is that going to achieve, though McCarthy is suspicious.  Annoying though she has been recently Evie didn't have to tell Hunter it was Josh who killed his mum, she could have left it to the cops.  Maybe Hunter's non-reaction was just him thinking 'what does it matter anymore, she's dead, doesn't matter who did it, it won't bring her back'.  

Mason is so mistaken when he said nothing will happen here 'it's in the sticks', that's what Nate first thought and he soon found out otherwise. It didn't prove to be a good start between them and then went downhill. Is Nate being particularly hard on him because he is Tori's brother (who's Nate's boss to boot) and he doesn't want to be seen to give him special treatment  as in when he berated over not summoning proper help when Alf fell or because he really does  wind him up. Alf could have done more damage than was apparent and Mason putting back to bed may have made it worse so one eye would have been on the danger of being sued. He did do one thing though he cheered up Alf!!!!