Latest UK Episode Discussion (2006-2017 Seasons)

[Homeandawayfan.]

Loving the Irene storyline, with Todd Landers hounding and stalking her, being her secret son.

And Alf being grump is as good as drunk Phil Mitchell. The two even look alike.

[Slade]

I genuinely find Mason annoying anyway but now knowing the Morgan's secret, I'm really annoyed with him for telling Lara.  And I don't blame Tori for getting annoyed given how he lied to her face.  I think it shows how selfish Mason was putting them all at risk for a bit of skirt.

Sadly Marilyn is getting on my nerves regarding the adoption thing. She swans off around the world for months comes back and just expects John to pick up where he left off despite what he told her.  She is completely failing to empathise how much Skye's departure has affected him.

Still enjoying the effect Mick's kidnapping of Irene (and the revelation that he is her son) has had on her.  Whilst I appreciate Chris was just trying to boost Irene's confidence, if the self-defense Billie learned couldn't help her against her rapist then it's not going to help Irene although Chris doesn't know what happened to Billie.  It would appear on the surface that Billie decided to help Irene because after overhearing how badly she is coping and so felt sorry for her.  The cynic in me believes she is also doing this because she feels bad about depriving her of her grandchild.  They've both got quite a bit in common - Both been raped, both been impregnated by via the rape, the unborn baby and now the self-defense.  I suppose I can't fault Billie for her helpless speech when Irene was on the verge of giving up as it worked although Billie was in a much worse situation when ran into a burning building.  When Irene was punching the bag I did think for a second she was going to lamp Billie by accident.  I can't help thinking if Irene and Billie have more lessons together then Irene is going to talk about Mick and how she created a monster because she wasn't there for him which could potentially even further guilt trip Billie re the baby.  So that could be interesting.  Although it is kind of ironic Irene was raped and her baby went on to become a rapist.  Perhaps there's a rape gene.  If Billie has a boy she'd better watch out.

As expected VJ is performing badly at school because of Billie.  I can't honestly see him passing his HSC which would be a shame.

I'm glad Matt spoke to Alf about the way he's been acting towards Roo.  She really doesn't deserve to be treated like this.  I really am quite liking the relationship between Roo and Matt at the moment and find I quite enjoy their scenes.

[CaptainHulk]

I still think Justin's the knobhead brother.  

[H&Alover]

I must have come across as really dumb but the penny dropped last night.  Andy is doing these dodgy deals to get the $50,000 to pay back Ash, so he doesn't lose the garage, for when he forfeits the bail money by going on the run, with or without Josh.  He does have to persuade him  first.

When Alf first woke up his speech was fine but earlier this week one day he was slurring his words a bit but the next day he was talking OK again.  Good idea by TPTB keeping it real to have him forgetting certain words. I liked how Matt has stepped up to help Alf, he was pleased to see him and as he said he could handle people visiting one at a time, but not en masse however well they mean it. His having a pop at him over his treatment of Roo was good, though sadly as she said she is the nearest person to Alf and that is what people do take it out on their loved ones.  I think Matt's words about needing help isn't a sign of weakness but the way he is treating Roo is could have penetrated his thick head. 

Nice to see Chris and Olivia be there for Irene though she is still stubbornly refusing to have counselling, though if her having another panic attack just by talking about it to  them maybe it's a bit soon and you can't force people to have it until they are ready. It was a cracking idea of Chris' about self defence classes though quite understandably  it freaked Billie out, the thought of her training the mother of the guy that attacked and raped you is unnerving.  I had the same thought about it not helping her when Mick attacked her, but whatever moves we learn to protect ourselves and we think we can handle anything when it comes down to it and we are we can never know how we would react.  Her telling Irene she had been a victim must have been hard knowing what she does.  I had the awful feeling Irene may have hit Billie by accident causing the bleed, but luckily (OK not really) not the case. I've just had a thought, naturally the hospital will give her scan to check everything is OK, will something be revealed about how far gone she is, further than she's told everyone (except Phoebe of course).  Who btw has kept her word about keeping quiet, shows she can do it when she really has to.

Sneaky drop in of the confirmation Greg has left and Zac is the acting Principle (again).  Billie is doing her best to help VJ with his studies but from what he was saying to Olivia he hasn't been as honest as he says he has, the truth of that being revealed tonight. 

I think John has finally convinced Marilyn about he's serious about not fostering anymore despite her trying to boost his confidence about how well he did with Jett and how many times he (and Gina) felt like giving up with him but stuck with it.  I think most foster parents have  bad experience(s) it depends how tough you are emotionally as to if you feel you can go through it again. A shame though he was a good foster dad, he was great with those kids doing their life saving or whatever it was. John has mentioned to Marilyn he could have done with her help with Skye but I'm not totally sure she would - or could have - handled it any better, she may as before been too soft on her and caused more conflict.

[Red Ranger 1]

Alf's episode count this week: Five! Roo was also in all five, Josh was only in one.

I can't help feeling that having Alf and Roo in every episode this week caused their storyline to be dragged out past the viewer's patience: Ironically, this is one case where wrapping it up in three episodes would have been preferable.Still, we got there in the end, with Alf bowing to common sense (even though no-one bothered to speak any to him) and rehiring Justin to reopen the bait shop.Still, Alf's recovery does seem to be accelerating as much as expected.Aside from not being able to open a bottle, he seemed in perfect health here.

Not so happy with the resolution of the John/Marilyn storyline, which seems to be approached from the point of view that John's the one in the wrong and he should be made to see that.The fact that it was Leah who guilt-tripped him into giving in to Marilyn rather than Marilyn herself doesn't change anything.The frustrating thing is that what should be one of the core values of the show is at the heart of this, the idea of opening your home to children who don't have one and giving them a family.And yes, John shouldn't let one bad experience put him off...not even a bad experience, Skye simply outgrew him.But the show pitches the idea of whether or not John and Marilyn can survive as a married couple without a child to hold them together, then pretty much says they can't.That falls way short of being a happy ending.

Not a good episode for Leah all round, really.As was pointed out in the Oz Discussion threads, she and Zac seem to be having a huge amount of difficulty realising who's the good son and who's the bad son. Hunter burns down their home and stabs someone, and they hug him, pat him on the back and tell him they're proud of him.Now he's skipping school to wallow in self-pity (although he does shout at the annoyingly clingy Olivia, so points for that), and Leah brushes aside the fact he's deliberately stuffing up his HSC for nothing with "He'll accept help when he's ready" and Zac, after a token attempt to get him to change his mind, accept it stoically.(Incidentally, hard not to feel a tad manipulated by Hunter burning every trace of Charlotte, seemingly to reinforce Ash's moral of "No-one cares about Charlotte!" Tom Fletcher forbid that the show might have to acknowledge that a teenage boy (albeit a psychotic one who should have been locked up) has lost his mother (albeit a psychotic one who should have been locked up) because of Josh (a psychotic one who should be locked up).He's allowed to be angry at Andy because we know Andy didn't do it, but he can't be angry at Josh because then the show might have to accept that Josh deserves his hatred.)Meanwhile, VJ is being responsible, stepping up and supporting his pregnant girlfriend, and he gets nothing but bullying and abuse from the adults who should be telling him they're proud of him.Yes, okay, I can see their point of view in not wanting him to stuff up his HSC.But as far as they know, he's going to be raising a child next year and his HSC might be massively immaterial, as it ultimately is to a lot of the Bay's teens.It's not like VJ has a bright academic career ahead of him: He's a lovely boy, worth ten of some I could mention, but he's probably not going to be a nuclear physicist.Matt broke his back getting into uni mostly because he wanted to make Leah proud, only to quickly realise he'd made a mistake.You'd think Leah would have learned something from that.It probably doesn't help that VJ skipped over the teen romance stage and plunged straight into an adult relationship with adult responsibilities.Normally Leah could dictate whether his girlfriend stays to dinner or stays over or not.But when they're having a child together, we're past the stage of her sending Billie away so VJ can do his homework, he has a responsibility to her and the child.(Yes, okay, he probably doesn't, but Leah doesn't know that.)Also frustrating that VJ says it's Leah's house.Er, no, it's not.It's Alf and Roo's, maybe. Possibly even Sally and Miles'.Definitely not Leah's.VJ cutting the apron strings and moving in with Billie seems like a good idea.

ETA: Oh yes, and Irene appears to know that Billie's pregnant and VJ's supposed to be the father, so unless Billie filled her in on the way to the hospital it appears she did get the catch-up and isn't wondering what happened to all those people she used to know.It'd be nice to have some acknowledgement from her of the apocalypse that occurred in her absence though.

[CaptainHulk]

I'm guessing Sal signed everything over to Miles and when he joined her he left Alf in charge.

[Slade]

21 hours ago, CaptainHulk said:

I still think Justin's the knobhead brother.  

I actually think all three of the brothers are bellends but at the moment Mason is the one I find the most annoying.  Brody annoyed me last week but he hasn't been as bad this week.  Justin has really annoyed me the times where we've seen him stuffing his face at Angelos talking with his mouth full.  TBH I'd wished none of them had come to the bay at all.  I'd rather it has just been Tori by herself in witness protection.

Part of me wanted Billie to lose the baby.  If anything it will free VJ from being tied to a child that isn't his.  And the suffering she had would have been worth it.  Still all that would have happened would be VJ and Leah would have suffered for nothing too because I don't think Billie would have had the integrity to be honest with either of them.  She did suffer for a little bit so that's something at least.  Just a shame it wasn't a little while longer.  Well I suppose Irene got to see her grandchild.  But still Billie carries on the deception.  Not really caring that Irene is losing out in knowing her him/her and even telling VJ that he will be a good father.  She's an extremely bad influence on him.  He didn't tell his mother about failing his paper, was being rude, deliberately disobeying her and then announces his preposterous idea of moving in with Billie (If she doesn't know what it's like to have a schoolkid cohabit and be a father she will soon have some idea).  He can't even spend a couple of months knuckling down just till his HSC is over.  I shouldn't really blame him because he's young and easily led.  And if Billie really loved him like she claimed (obviously said that to keep him onside) then she would want what is best for him i.e. passing his HSC.  But she'd rather continue using him because she's selfish.  Despite my frustration with watching this storyline I just hope the backlash Billie gets when this all comes will be worth it.  And it will be no more than she deserves.

Irrespective of what goes on with John and Marilyn what business is it of Leah's.  It really annoyed when she stuck her oar in.  And I'm not happy that John has decided to change his mind.  Why can't he have his own way for a change.  He let her go on her round the world trip so if he wants to take a break from fostering why not?

I appreciate that Olivia was trying to help Hunter but it really came across as she was trying to provoke him into getting annoyed.  Does she want psycho Hunter back?  Because distant Hunter is far less of a threat.  It's funny the scene where he was burning some of his old stuff particularly the photo of him and his mum reminds me of the last season of OC when Ryan burnt the picture of him and Marissa after she died.

Glad Alf has sorted things out with Roo.

[Red Ranger 1]

10 hours ago, CaptainHulk said:

I'm guessing Sal signed everything over to Miles and when he joined her he left Alf in charge.

It's one of the show's more irritating loose ends: When Sally came back in 2013, Alf tried to buy the house off her to fund Pippa's treatment, but it's never been made clear whether the sale actually happened or not.

One other thing I forgot to mention: Olivia tries to get Hunter to go to school the next day, then we see her in school uniform at the Diner the next morning.But VJ arrives home from surfing what seems to be early the next morning and, while she isn't keen on the idea, Leah thinks that "doing nothing all day" is an option for him.Was school optional that day or something?

[c120701]

Yes, the ownership of Summer Bay House & the caravan park is very vague. Sal intended to sell (with permission from Miles to sell his half too) and Alf, Roo & Marilyn tried to raise the money together to buy them out together but came up short. Then in the end Brax donated the full amount Sal needed, not just the shortfall, so did Brax give the money to Sal allowing her to keep the property or to Alf to buy the place?

[H&Alover]

Matt had his say to John about fostering too so not all down to Leah.  If Leah hadn't taken him, did she officially foster him, who knows where he would have ended up. Just hope John is 100% behind his change of heart and mind.

His words also seemed to have worked on Alf who not only apologised to Roo but changed his mind about Justin running the bait shop while he's out of action. It'll certainly keep him out of trouble, though going by the trailer, it's not going to last long. I liked Alf's comment about Matt being cleverer than he comes across.

Must have been a tad strange for Billie having Irene there when she and Irene heard her babies heartbeat (no-one 'saw' anything Slade), knowing what only she and us viewers (so far) know. Obviously Irene was pleased all was well but when the truth comes out there will be, I imagine, mixed feelings on her part, glad she has another grandchild, but knowing how he/she was conceived is going to take a lot of joy out of it.  I was a bit surprised the sonographer didn't ask Billie how far along she was and that somehow didn't match with the size of the baby.  It wasn't apparent when she was lying down but later there was a just a sign of a little bump. Good job we are not all as harsh on Billie, but yes there will be backlash, but this is the bay and when the truth is known everyone will be understanding, not as if she slept with a random then tried to palm it off as being VJ's, it was rape. I know we haven't seen Mick since Billie saw him, but are we to assume he is now in prison and he may ask to see Irene?

I'm more worried about the fact that Hunter is being distant and withdrawn, he can't keep a lid on all that anger or whatever it is forever. Look what happened last (or rather the first)  time his anger erupted. Olivia certainly didn't help matters by trying to force him to let it all go.

Billie has been trying to get VJ to concentrate on his HSC and just as shocked as everyone when he flunked his English exam.  He is in the throes of his first romance, a  bit later than most of the teenagers in the bay, even without the baby so naturally over eager to spend time with his girlfriend merrily ignoring everything else in his life, like exams.  Evie was just the same when she hooked up with Tank she was supposed to be swotting for her HSC's but  couldn't think of anything else but Tank, despite being nagged by Leah and Zac. Leah's naturally more concerned about VJ he's her son, but as always with her she still insists on treating him like a little boy when he's nearly an adult, instead of always yelling at him why can't she, Zac and VJ just sit down and talk about it, though OK he certainly didn't act like it by suddenly announcing he was moving in with Billie which didn't go down well with her.

I had the feeling Sal (along with Miles) signed the house back to Alf when she went overseas.