Latest UK Episode Discussion (2006-2017 Seasons)

[H&Alover]

Not totally convinced when Sam said the publishers weren't interested in Zac's story wasn't because he knocked her back, though his ringing the publishers himself did seem to confirm it.  Leah was a terrible liar when she was giving her opinion his book.  Had to be a given Leah would walk in just as Zac accused Sam of propositioning him!  Now at least he will be giving more time to his family and just in time by the looks of it. the last shot of the bonfire so close to that gas canister has to be mean something.  You would think they would have learnt to move canisters away from any potential danger.  It's a foregone conclusion Hunter will get the blame if there is a fire, he does have history.

I'm worried about John, he seems to be forgetful about  a lot of things, pretty sure Hunter would have watched the videos John said he sent him.  I can see that John should have seen Hunter clearing the airways of the dummy, rather like a driving test examiner seeing you turn your head to check your rear view mirror. Quite right Hunter should play for the damage to the walkie-talkie but he was OTT when he smashed Hunter's radio. Hunter was harsh with Olivia about studying being so easy for her, echoes of Josh and Maddy, but not everyone is that academic and do struggle.  Irene has swung back from being supportive of Olivia and Hunter to advising her to break up with him.  It was an amicable break up while they do still care for each other, been a few of those. 

I'm guessing Jeannie isn't very experienced and just jumping at the first guy who treats her nice and is normal. Sadly that is the risk of parents keeping their child, mainly daughters, isolated because they haven't any knowledge of the outside world so aren't at all street wise.

Not spoilers as we saw them, but two returns this week, Bianca and Heath!!!

[Slade]

So Jeannie's father is stark staring bonkers.  Kinda a shame he's put a dampener on the whole romance thing as I think they are good together.

Ash has accepted VJ to the point that he sees him as a younger brother.  Leah was laughing with them at the joke they played on VJ.  Oh dear all parties have fully accepted each other.  It's going to end badly.

I'm glad Olivia finished with Hunter as he just seems to blame her for everything that goes wrong in his life.  She made an excellent point i.e. they both made each other unhappy.  What now for Hunter given that his future was planned around her?  He's probably going to flunk his HSC and has no job now.  I was expecting him and John to actually get into a fight but Hunter did the right thing walking away.  When he was burning his stuff including the photo of him and Olivia it reminded me of when he did the same thing with Charlotte a few months ago.  Almost as a way of coping.

Shame about Zac's book although I admired the way he turned Sam down as he must have been seriously tempted.  Seems as though she was only interested in spending time with him in order to sleep with him and not because of his writing skills.

[H&Alover]

We and Hunter don't know for sure he has failed his HSC, he's just assuming he has 'cos he thinks he bombed the maths one.  You always blame the one nearest to you and yes Olivia has been supportive, but she thinks it would be as smooth sailing for Hunter as it is for her. Hunter is also under the imagined, by him anyway, pressure of being the Principal's son, though Zac wouldn't expect him to do better than anyone else just because he is, Hunter feels he ought to do well.

Are we to expect a replay of someone being rescued from a cult?

[H&Alover]

I was sure Hunter did have a small bonfire as he burnt the pictures of him and Olivia, but when John remembered he accidentally started the fire he said he must have knocked the candle into the pile of papers Hunter had thrown away suggesting that was all there was, had Hunter put out the original fire?  John was wrong to jump to conclusions about it being Hunter due to his previous, but as soon as he realised it was his fault, though something Marilyn said, he went and apologised to Zac and owned up to Kat. Zac hesitating just that milli second when Hunter asked if he thought he had started it wasn't  a good move on his part Hunter was willing to accept getting the blame from John but not have his own dad doubt him.  Yes he did burn down Leah's old home, but he's done/is doing his time for that. He's still got a temper yes, but he's a different lad to what he was then. Olivia on the other hand when she found out, didn't question him at all, even to ask if it may have been an accident, just asked if he was OK.

Maz did annoy me though by pressing Billie into having a Hen Night/Afternoon, she did look very uncomfortable, especially when Marilyn gave her speech.  I'm no expert but I think the reason she had her nightmare is because the wedding is so close and those buried thoughts and memories are coming to the surface. Lovely idea of VJ with the invitations, rolling them up and sticking them in bottles, very different and more personal than a card through the post.

[Blaxland 89]

Has Stell been mentioned in regards to the wedding. Will Leah's family esp her mum and dad be there? will it be Greek in anyway? 

[Slade]

On 30/01/2017 at 1:33 PM, H&Alover said:

We and Hunter don't know for sure he has failed his HSC

Which was why I said 'probably'.

On 30/01/2017 at 1:33 PM, H&Alover said:

he's just assuming he has 'cos he thinks he bombed the maths one.

There was also the fact that Olivia was helping him study for their visual arts exam in the Diner just before they were about to head off to school to take it.  And he even wanted to exam cram on the way.

I didn't mind Marilyn inviting Billie out for the hens night but I really didn't like the speech she gave despite Leah telling Marilyn that Billie was very anti-tradition.  It wouldn't have been welcome although Billie could hardly complain.

So Billie thinks VJ is the best thing to happen to him.  I don't know whether she's just realised this or whether she's believed this for some time.  I guess it's a good thing from VJ's perspective that she's having these flashbacks as it means there is a glimmer of her doing the right thing.  And it seems as though now Leah does think the sun shines out of her backside.  So we'll wait and see.  I wonder if Nate is going to the wedding.

John is starting resemble the version of himself that I didn't like when he first turned up.  I can actually understanding him thinking that Hunter was responsible but it was just his whole attitude although I imagine he was still annoyed about Hunter breaking the radio and refusing to pay for it.  And then there was giving VJ bad advice and the way he caused trouble for Zac and Leah re Sam.  I couldn't really blame Zac for initially thinking Hunter was responsible.  I was actually more surprised Leah and Marilyn were prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt.

[H&Alover]

No sign or mention of Stella or Leah's mum and dad, no reasons given of why they didn't make it either, VJ is Stella's only grandchild after all.  Seemed odd after all these years to hear VJ being called Vincent.  Right Evie got her knickers in a twist because Matt wanted to invite that girl he met on VJ's Bucks Night to the wedding as his plus one, she said it was the wedding was for family and close friends, not that I totally believed that, methinks she was jealous.  So if that was the real reason, family and close friends, who were all those other people milling about, they weren't family so close friends of whom?  Or were they the usual rent-a-wedding-mob? Billie did look lovely and not ultra traditional, just a simple dress and whoa didn't Ash look good in a suit and not his court suit either. Bit confused by Evie deciding  she wasn't going to do the speech, too soon after nearly seeing Josh perhaps, maybe answered my own question there. Kat and Ash did a good job, no awkwardness between them which was good. Billie does genuinely love VJ she wouldn't feel so guilty if she didn't, she'd just shrug it off and press on.  I sometimes wonder if the reviewers in the TV mags actually watch the episodes because more than one of them said 'Billie runs off during VJ's speech' when it was her own.  VJ behaved very maturely when she finally blurted out the truth (well most of it). Initial shock naturally, but he didn't lose it and even told Leah to stop asking questions, and kept Billie's revelation to himself, hard enough for an adult man let alone an 18 year man to take in.   Rather sad when he told her he'd have believed her if she had told him at the time about being raped, I guess Billie revealing it was Irene's son Mick who did it would have been a step too far. He was right in one thing, Leah will need to know about the baby.  What surprised me was Leah's calm reaction later, no ranting and raving at Billie for breaking her little boy's heart and letting her stay there while she, Zac and VJ are in the city showed she does still care for her.  Knowing what Ash's temper can be like not a great surprise Billie didn't him about the rape, it is only Phoebe (who has kept her word) and now VJ who do, I hadn't forgotten Oscar. What's the betting when it is revealed the baby isn't VJ's it emerges Nate knew and they have a go at him not saying anything, tempted as we know he was to tell VJ and Leah. Oh yes, back on Monday(?) VJ told Billie you only go through getting married once, er, cough, cough, his own mum has managed it three times, though admittedly not because of divorces, but due to the husbands dying.

Meanwhile in the city, Phoebe has been terribly restrained in not nagging Justin in telling her what is so obviously bothering him and why he has to find Raffy and not just because of the danger she could be putting herself and the whole Morgan family in.  Liked she joked about it was one her big faults about finding out eventually what people were hiding.  From what he said he was a good dad to Ava even if he and the mum weren't close anymore, confirmation it has been seven years since they had been in WP. No blow up from Phoebe that he'd kept it from her so now, hopefully, no more skeletons in that particular closet and they can become a couple.

It seems like Tori has made her decision about who she wants to be and the winner is Nate. Shame then just as they were about to seal the deal Bianca turns up!

 

[atrus]

Finally whizzed through the last nine episodes amidst busy real-life times. Ended up tuning out of much of the Raffy stuff because I was sure she'd turn up eventually, which she did. It was nice to see Justin being able to confide in Phoebe about his daughter. I was less enthralled by the ongoing Nate/Tori saga; and while it was kind of good to see Heath and Bianca back in the show, I do feel more or less as if their story's been told. Their connection to the Bay is now a bit tenuous really (sure they know people like Irene, but when her own kids never drop by to visit, I've no idea why Heath and Bianca should) and I can't help but feel like they're pushing a past character relationship drama on us for want of any present character relationships with compelling drama still worth wringing out of them - or indeed any better ideas. And if the writers are planning on pursuing any kind of Nate and Bianca shenanigans whatsoever, well then I wish they wouldn't.

I had been enjoying the quirkiness of the Jeannie storyline, especially when Doomsday Dad turned up. I wasn't quite sure whether to be alarmed for Jeannie and Brody (especially given H&A's past form with cults) or amused, but I think that was the intention; and I thought they made a fun couple. Unfortunately now, having read a certain interview with a former member of the production team, it's left me seething once again as we got further tacit confirmation of the disgraceful 'straightwashing' policy the show is apparently still subject to and its impact on Brody's character development. And suddenly I've lost all interest.

Despite some fun build-up with VJ's stag night etc (though I thought the prank the boys pulled on him was rather cruel and couldn't believe the hospital, Leah and Billie all went along with it), I've never been more relieved for a jilting-at-the-altar than for VJ and Billie. Not because I think they make a bad pair, but because I think Billie was absolutely right not to go into the marriage on a lie - and her decision to walk out on the wedding may ironically just have saved their relationship, if that emotional hug was anything to go by. I loved how mature VJ was about it, not immediately promising to forgive Billie but at the same time having the emotional depth to empathise with the appalling situation she faced. Things have obviously been left uncertain but my feeling is that there's some hope for them, in the absence at least of any declaration on VJ's part that it's over for good.

The Hunter stuff really confused me because I too could have sworn he was sat burning things as is his wont, and then just walked off without putting the fire out - so for most of the next episode I was convinced he was telling bare-faced lies. John does seem to be acting strangely, though - his usual self in some respects but heightened to worrying degrees. And if he's having memory problems to the extent that he's having to cover for it by blaming it on trainee lifeguards, there's obviously something going on with him. Meh at the break-up with Hunter and Olivia, which still doesn't feel likely to last, unfortunately.

Not much else going on really. The Zac publishing storyline fizzled out with a bit of a whimper, and the Barrett manhunt proved a similarly damp squib - although I did like how Matt did the honest thing and gave Evie the drawing that Josh had done of her, once again proving he's a good egg deep down. Did Kat and Ash actually split up again, or were they still pretending so the boss didn't find out? I couldn't really work it out, or didn't care, or both.

 

[Red Ranger 1]

Alf's episode count this week:Three.Roo was in all five, although she only appeared briefly without dialogue on Wednesday.

It seemed to me that the question wasn't whether John should have called the police but whether Zac should have.Not alerting them because he was worried Hunter would be blamed seemed poor judgement:It's up to the police to sort things like that out, not him.(Of course it's not that long since the police blamed Zac for something he didn't do:If that had been mentioned, it might have been more plausible.)For those confused, Hunter was on the verge of setting fire to a photo with the candle John knocked over before he was interrupted but didn't touch the pile.It seems like there's a weird attempt to backtrack on Hunter being accepted so easily but the result feels just as awkward.After Irene's about turn, we get a lot of stuff about how it'll take time for people to trust Hunter when the whole town has spent the season treating him like he's a sweet little boy.(We even have yet another example of Billie forgetting he put her in hospital and nearly put her in jail to cheerily remark "Hunter wouldn't do something like that.")John's "Has everyone forgotten he burned down Leah's house?" just underlined the fact that everyone pretty much has forgotten.Mind you, I was on Hunter's side over Olivia, who doesn't get to break up with him and then still act like she's his go-to girl.Weird that it looked like Hunter's caravan had been damaged by the fire, which I thought might be a pretext to him moving into the house, and then he's back sleeping in it the same night.

VJ and Billie were utterly adorable and a big part of me really wishes that the wedding had gone ahead.Couldn't she at least have had her attack of conscience the previous night so they could have sorted it out for the next morning?Instead she decides to do a Roo and wait until she's at the altar before realising she can't marry someone she loves while lying about the paternity of her child.I think any doubt she loves him has gone now, those vows were sincere.And I did love the aftermath and how this doesn't feel like an end at all.Billie is finally mostly honest with VJ (the only think she lied about is that she knows who her rapist was) while he is torn between sympathy for what she's gone through and hurt that she couldn't be honest with him...yet he can't just turn his feelings off and still wants to protect her.Leah didn't seem to resent Billie at all, reassuring her she's still part of the family (but of course she still thinks Billie's carrying her grandchild...).And Ash seems to have come a long way from when he manhandled VJ for supposedly getting Billie pregnant, recognising that he's the person his sister loves and who loves her: That trusting pat on the shoulder when leaving them alone together spoke volumes.Shame that just as the storyline's building nicely they all have to go off to the city until next week because they've used up their episodes.

There seems to be a touch of "Don't want him, don't want anyone else to have him" about Evelyn's attitude to Matt, which is a bit frustrating, but they're too fun together for me to really mind that much.I think of all the people Matt's been paired with she seems the most suited to him: He and Sasha never quite seemed to fit, he and Maddy even less so, but here they bounce off each other well.I am slightly frustrated though because I'd like to see more of Zoe (It's Daniella Hay! Sorry) but she's obviously just a plot device.I loved that we got an Alf/Ellie scene though, they must be at pretty much the opposite ends of the spectrum age wise but it worked well.

I'm very confused about Nate and Tori declaring they're both single...not least because I'm not sure how Ricky and Nate could get divorced so quickly.(Don't you have to wait until a year after the wedding or something?Or have they changed that?)But more because...when did Tori and Duncan break up?As far as I remember, they left it as the two of them taking a break and then picking up where they left off when he comes back.At first I wondered if they broke up off screen but Alf seemed to think they're still together as well.So while I would still rather Nate and Tori than Duncan and Tori, the whiff of cheating is making it rather awkward.If that envelope Alf put away was a letter from Duncan to Tori, he should have handed it over, it's not his place to hide it.

Mason was the first to articulate that they should have been honest with Raffy (another little character detail I feel obliged to point out), with Tori and Justin seemingly coming to the same conclusion...yet when she's right in front of them they carry on keeping things from her, and as I said last week that doesn't seem like a smart idea even if the alternative is fraught with difficulties.Raffy's story of meeting Decker might have been slightly more convincing if she hadn't suddenly taken to calling him Decker, which she never does.Their attempt to do family things with her worked for a while but was never going to distract her for long and now she knows a big and freaky part of the story.Justin and Phoebe were spectacularly dumb: They're both aware of why being in a relationship would be a bad idea, yet not only do they sleep together but Phoebe's all aggravatingly chipper the next morning as if she's had a lobotomy.Shame, because Justin's speech about Ava was rather compelling.

I am very uncertain about Bianca and Heath being back.I like Heath, Bianca not so much, but it felt like their ending was the right one for them.Of course, then Brax and Ricky had the exact same ending (which felt less right for them in my opinion) so, coupled with the inevitable "We're having troubles", it feels like that ending's going to be taken off them for no good reason.Heath having had some of his tattoos removed symbolised his attempt to break away from his past, which made that "Er, what?" ending all the more bothersome.Really, couldn't they have had normal problems rather than homicide?Darcy being 15 just about ties in with her starting high school in 2014, if we assume she was 12 at the time and turned 13 not long after.

[Slade]

I was more bothered about the way John was towards Zac re Sam than I was about the way he was towards Hunter and the fire.  Although I appreciate John made an effort to try to apologise to him.

 

So after lying to VJ and Leah for months Billie finally decides to tell the truth.  Well not quite but I suppose at least she didn't marry him.  I'm guessing the guilt was too much or she was worried what would happen to her baby like when Nate threatened to tell VJ himself.  Or perhaps the reality of when Leah said Billie was the daughter she never had and how much she loved her showed that she and VJ are genuinely good people and Billie couldn't go through with it.

 

I wasn't sure she would tell VJ about the rape and even how he would react if she did but I already don't like what I'm seeing.  I was hoping that VJ would have completely finished with her and I was getting ready to start the whole it's bad for him now but he had a lucky escape speech.  But given the support Alf and Leah especially have showed to Billie I suspect that when VJ gets back from the city with his mum he won't have the heart to tell Leah about the baby not being his.  I really liked the way Leah was with VJ.  She was very sympathetic towards him shortly after he was jilted.  And you could see how much she was hurting at the fact that he was hurting by the expression on her face.

 

It bothered me initially the way Tori was so keen to go on a date right away with Nate.  Don't get me wrong I think she definitely likes him a lot but it felt like it was purely to keep him sweet after ruining his desired career path.  Regardless, they're obviously going to end up an item.  Interesting that he got his divorce papers from Ricky when it was about a year ago he received them from Sophie.

 

So do Nate and Bianca actually swim on a full stomach?  I'm not sure how I feel about Heath and Bianca coming back.  I do like both of them but as I quite liked them leaving together, I'm worried this latest storyline could ruin them.

 

Don't care about Justin's storyline or that he's suffering because he's missed his daughter growing up.  I'm just annoyed that he's sees Raffy as a substitute for her and continues to raise his voice when things aren't going his own way and be quite controlling.  It annoyed me once again when he had a go at Brody for not stopping Raffy from leaving when she came back from the city.  I also don't like the way he wants to constantly know her whereabouts and the secrecy and level of deception towards her grates.  Raffy is very smart and intuitive.  Kind of glad she discovered the truth about her mother and that Justin downloaded a photo of her from the internet and passed it off as one they actually had.  Hopefully she will continue to be a handful and give the Morgan's a hard time.  Putting my dislike aside objectively they are in a very difficult position regarding whether to tell Raffy the truth.  They don't know how she's going to react and I suppose they think they can't take the chance that she will tell anyone.