Latest UK Episode Discussion (2006-2017 Seasons)

[atrus]

Aaaand 22 episodes later...

On 29/10/2016 at 0:23 AM, Red Ranger 1 said:

As for Tabitha...well, her trying to get Olivia to undress doesn't help the psycho lesbian subtext

To say the least! I'm going to start by getting this off my chest - I'm beyond angry now about the way this has played out. 'Oh, Tabby has a sick sister - she must be very troubled - she's just desperate for a friend,' says everyone in the Bay, as if desperately trying to persuade us that this isn't exactly what it looks like. No - sorry - this is classic psycho lesbian territory. What Tabitha put Olivia through in that cyber-chat was one of the sickest things a character has ever done on this show, and for me the clear implication was that all roads were leading to getting Olivia to undress on camera. Even if there's some doubt/ambiguity about Tabby's motivations, there's been more than enough material here and over the entire storyline to be sowing the age-old seed in viewers' minds of 'lesbian = creepy'. Given this and the Spencer story a few years back, you'd be forgiven as a H&A viewer for thinking all online predators were homosexual. And I think that's appalling in this day and age, especially when the only other gay person on the show is an unseen, well-dressed diner patron who absolutely doesn't have a crush on Marilyn. I mean, for heaven's sake.

On top of my concerns about the tasteless direction of travel here, the way the whole thing wrapped up was beyond stupid in plot terms. Why Tabby would choose the Diner as the base of operations for this reprehensible behaviour - other than to give Saint Hunter the chance to save the day - was anybody's guess. The scene with Tabby and her sister saying goodbye to Olivia was just downright bizarre. I don't care how sick the sister is - having Olivia feel like she had to pretend to be Tabby's friend and hug her goodbye after what she just did felt like another ghoulish psycho lesbian moment. And then we realise that this weirdly amicable write-out has all been orchestrated purely to make Tabby a post-exit red herring in the school fire storyline, with Irene gushing about how genuinely sorry she seemed when she said goodbye to Olivia, and everyone suddenly feeling bad for her. It was all totally incongruous. And then Olivia's decision to report her abuse at the hands of Kurt was all wrapped up in an episode apparently purely to service Kat's return to the police force. Really poor.

Happily, most other storylines over the past few weeks have been much better. I found myself really liking Caroline (despite all the usual pronunciation ambiguities that are apparently obligatory for such named characters in Australian soap), and her inappropriate behaviour towards Tori now makes a lot of sense in the context of her illness. Clearly her primary concern in wanting to get back with Duncan is for Bryce and what will happen to him when she becomes unable to look after him. We aren't yet clear on when she got her diagnosis, but it could perhaps go some way to explaining why she had the affair, too. At this stage I'm strongly hoping that she and Duncan get back together - it might be a shame for Tori, but she always has Nate to fall back on.

I'm also really enjoying the Matt and Ellie storyline. Turning Matt into an impromptu parent was possibly the best thing the writers could have done with his character after years of being bogged down in relationship angst, and I'm very much liking how it's playing out. Hopefully this is a permanent arrangement and not just a stopgap between romances.

Elsewhere, Billie's Doom Magnet credentials got another totally gratuitous boost - arguably taking her close to Evie-levels of misfortune - as she was, by preposterous coincidence, mowed down by Phoebe midway through a carjacking (perpetrated, of course, by someone with an -o on the end of his name). How much can the writers credibly put this character through? Are they still punishing her for what she did to Nate, because it certainly feels like it? Still, I guess that Nate finding out about Billie's baby not being VJ's serves two purposes - firstly, negating the need for further guest appearances by Constable Terri Garner, and secondly, having someone who can begin exerting moral pressure on Billie to come clean. Of course it's not a doctor's place to do that, but as a friend of the family (when the plot demands it) and someone who's been on the receiving end of Billie's past untruths, Nate actually fits the bill for this role pretty well. I still feel desperately sorry for Billie but I still think she should tell VJ the truth. If their relationship is as strong as they both seem to think, he's likely to stand by her once the dust has settled.

I like both Raffy and Hope as characters, and wonder how long they'll be sticking around. My guess, going by the show's past form, is that Hope will gradually be established as an unsuitable guardian and promptly killed by The Syndicate/Spike/written out, leaving Raffy to move in with Irene/some similar arrangement. That aside, I'm starting to find the Morgan story difficult to follow, and therefore my attention is beginning to wander in some scenes. I don't really buy Brody's childhood flashbacks suddenly reminding him that his mum and Decker were old buddies - that smacks of convenient retcon to me - and nor do I really understand how syringe-liking Spike fits in with it all. Still, as individual characters there isn't a single one of the Morgans I'm disliking at the moment, which has to be a good thing. Mason's probably my favourite and so I'm very much on team 'stop treating him like dirt, Evie'.

John's medical woes felt largely like filler. There's a sense the writers are running out of stories for John and Marilyn, so hopefully they'll get more foster kids soon to give them more of a purpose. Raffy, maybe?

Not much to say about Chris's exit other than that it hit all the right notes - and that the Bay won't seem half as bright without him.

[Brian]

Some really good analyses by you all about this week's editions. Nothing more to add. have a nice weekend.

[Slade]

On 11/11/2016 at 11:22 AM, Little bean said:

I thought it was great that Nate didn't question it when Billie told him she was raped. Too often we see women who are not believed. It made a nice change. She is suffering from a trauma. I think she is in denial about what happened and up to that point had actually convinced herself that VJ is the Dad. She needs some serious councilling and help. I'm not saying that her actions are OK, just that I think there is much more going on deep down than just "I'm going to lie to give myself a Babydaddy and VJ is just collateral damage".

The flip side to that is the fact that she tried to frame Nate in the first place. That is something that goes against genuine rape victims.  I agree that she is so embedded in her lie that she literally believes that VJ really is the father which is something I've pointed out previously but I don't think it's as clear cut as that.  As I mentioned in my last post she hacked the doctor's computer to change the medical records (If she was really that confident VJ was the father she wouldn't have needed to do that), she burnt that blanket Irene gave her because she didn't want it passed onto her baby and presumably it was a subconscious way of nullifying the blood ties with Mick/Irene.  So part of her is clearly aware that Mick is the father.  It's almost like a Jekyll and Hyde sort of thing.  The trauma thing's hard to gauge.  The rape has obviously affected her but she seems to have handled it at lot better than what I would have thought.  TBH during her time on the show she's always had problems even from being abused by her partner, getting obsessed with Kyle, trying to frame Nate and then this.  I do agree she needs help but the first part of that is admitting she has a problem which she is a long way off.

 

On 11/11/2016 at 2:54 PM, H&Alover said:

Billie was hardly the sleep around type so why shouldn't Nate believe her even though she accused him of the same thing which is why she hasn't reported it.

I never said Billie slept around.  Besides you don't have to necessarily sleep around to make up a false sexual assault allegation.  The girl is a compulsive liar.  She has form for deception.  The only reason why Nate's career wasn't ruined was because Chris exposed her lie.  Would you be so willing to believe someone who had done that to you?  Even putting that aside in Billie's own words "I'm the girl who cried wolf".  From a girl who clearly has issues and claims to have been assaulted before why shouldn't her claim here be questioned?

Part of me found the scene where Tori was checking Caroline in the van really funny.  I liked the way Leah and Roo were looking at each other.  The looks where each person knows what the other is thinking.  Roo's line about the van not smelling of incense was funny too.  I did enjoy the stuff with Duncan and Tori and they seemed to have definitely moved passed the awkward breakup phase.  I think they do probably still like each other but as I mentioned earlier on this week once the truth comes out about Caroline no way is Tori going there.  She has too much of a conscience and one thing I really liked about her in that episode was the fact she obviously knew Caroline was on something but was being very diplomatic and objective about it.

So Alf has veered from being vehemently against Caroline to being OK with her for the sake of Bryce to almost blind defense.

Roo really annoyed me when she went to Caroline's van and went through her stuff.  It was an invasion of privacy.  Then she annoyed me even more when she went straight to Duncan without confronting Caroline about it and showed him the drugs she found.  As much as I was annoyed with Duncan his attitude is understandable.  He doesn't know about Caroline's illness so it's reasonable for him to act the way he did even though I was in agreement with Alf (and Roo) about taking Bryce off his mother.  Roo did slightly redeem herself by the end of that episode first as I just mentioned went she tried to talk Duncan out of applying for custody and later on when she spoke with Caroline on the beach and she finally revealed she has Huntington's disease.

I buried my head in my hands when Olivia and Hunter put their foot in it with Leah.  Don't understand why Zac couldn't have just told her he was planning a surprise for VJs 18th.

[Slade]

On 12/11/2016 at 0:24 AM, Red Ranger 1 said:

There seemed to be a suggestion she was running away after her fight with VJ, but that doesn’t seem to fit: She had no luggage, she’d just texted Phoebe to meet her (which was never followed up on) and she got off the bus in the middle of nowhere, so..?

I completely forgot to address this yesterday as my post was long enough as it is but I'm assuming you are referring to this:

 

On 09/11/2016 at 11:45 AM, Slade said:

When I saw the preview yesterday I initially thought after VJ told her some home truths she was going to high tail out of town but it was just to meet Phoebe who unfortunately accidentally hit her after trying to get away from Simmo.

FYI - I was actually referring to the preview at end of Monday's episode where we see VJ have a go at Billie, Billie on the bus, VJ calling her mobile, Billie ignoring it and VJ asking Matt and Mason where Billie was because he couldn't find her.  The rest of the quote above was about Tuesday's episode.  I posted it on Wednesday because I watched Tuesday's episode Wednesday morning and I watched Monday's episode Tuesday morning hence the reason why I said preview yesterday so I was a day behind.

[H&Alover]

Of course Caroline having Huntingdon's does have wider implications, Bryce has  a 50-50 chance inheriting it.  I'm really guessing here but I think the pills she was taking that she lost had some marijuana  in them legally proscribed.  No wonder the stuff Ash gave her had such a effect on her, she said to Roo it was a lot stronger than she was used to. I notice Roo hardly blinked when Caroline said she got it from Ash. Also explains why Nate said he couldn't proscribe it as it isn't legal in Australia.  Yes maybe Roo shouldn't have gone poking about in Caroline's van and certainly should have spoken to Caroline before showing the drugs to Duncan, but perhaps she was worried about Bryce coming across it. Perfectly natural reaction for Duncan to say he's going to demand full custody, Bryce wouldn't be safe being alone with Caroline with or without the drugs.  Of course now comes the tricky bit Roo has got to try and persuade Caroline to tell Duncan, which he has a total right to know because of my first comment. Alf did come across rather too much on Caroline's side making excuses for her falling asleep and letting Bryce wander off.

The rape word has been used before in regards to Billie, she told both Oscar and Phoebe and now of course Nate.  She accused him of sexual assault though of course in the police's eyes it is the same. She may appear to be putting on a brave front, but it's obviously nor far from the surface, every woman who has been raped and hidden it deals with it differently, some retreat into themselves, others like Billie try to carry on as normal, made even worse if they find they are pregnant.

Olivia has dropped Zac in it about blabbing about this 'surprise' he was buying, initially for Leah, as he told her and Hunter now for VJ's 18th as told to Leah, is there a present or is he disappearing for other reasons?

[Red Ranger 1]

5 hours ago, Slade said:

I completely forgot to address this yesterday as my post was long enough as it is but I'm assuming you are referring to this:

 

FYI - I was actually referring to the preview at end of Monday's episode where we see VJ have a go at Billie, Billie on the bus, VJ calling her mobile, Billie ignoring it and VJ asking Matt and Mason where Billie was because he couldn't find her.  The rest of the quote above was about Tuesday's episode.  I posted it on Wednesday because I watched Tuesday's episode Wednesday morning and I watched Monday's episode Tuesday morning hence the reason why I said preview yesterday so I was a day behind.

Oh, no, that wasn't directed at you, I hadn't actually looked at your post I'm afraid.I meant the show seemed to be suggesting that Billie was skipping town, with the preview and with the way she got on a bus and ignored VJ's attempts to contact her.To be honest, I'm still not sure where she was going.I guess she could have been near the farm and was meant to be meeting Phoebe at her place, although if so it's a pretty big coincidence that Simmo got Phoebe to drop him off so near where she would have been going anyway.

[Brian]

Nobody has suggested that Caroline could be lying about having Huntingdon's Disease. That could be an excuse to cover up the way she has been acting and to get sympathy from Duncan. But then they would expect her to go into hospital and get diagnosed and treated.

[samdanfan]

28 minutes ago, Brian said:

Nobody has suggested that Caroline could be lying about having Huntingdon's Disease. That could be an excuse to cover up the way she has been acting and to get sympathy from Duncan. But then they would expect her to go into hospital and get diagnosed and treated.

She wouldn't be the 1st character on a soap  to lie about a illness to get sympathy,

[H&Alover]

18 hours ago, samdanfan said:

She wouldn't be the 1st character on a soap  to lie about a illness to get sympathy,

Has somebody suggested she is, except she isn't, she's been examined by Nate who if he's being the professional has also talked to her doctors back in the States.  Besides that would be one big lie on a par with telling people you have cancer which has been done of course.

18 hours ago, samdanfan said:

She wouldn't be the 1st character on a soap  to lie about a illness to get sympathy,

 

18 hours ago, samdanfan said:

She wouldn't be the 1st character on a soap  to lie about a illness to get sympathy,

 

18 hours ago, samdanfan said:

She wouldn't be the 1st character on a soap  to lie about a illness to get sympathy,

 

[samdanfan]

35 minutes ago, H&Alover said:

Has somebody suggested she is, except she isn't, she's been examined by Nate who if he's being the professional has also talked to her doctors back in the States.  Besides that would be one big lie on a par with telling people you have cancer which has been done of course.

 

 

 

I think any story line whether on H&A or other shows that has a character fake illness does make people like myself who suffer upset.

And that writers do not care about . I been Told H&A handles some story lines better than others which is good