Latest UK Episode Discussion (2006-2017 Seasons)

[H&Alover]

Zac is damned if he does and double damned if he doesn't.  He should have come clean to Leah and let her blow up and get it out of the way than chicken out, there is still time, he's got to bite the bullet and get it done.  Nothing truly didn't happen when he didn't mention Sam when she came back. Sam isn't going to take being sneaked out on easy, was trying hard not to put 'take it lying down' but the devil got me!  Would it have been that hard to leave a note saying 'sorry'?  Zac always made it plain he loved Leah and wouldn't leave her so all she would get put of telling Leah is she chucks Zac out, he certainly won't be running to her. I was with you 630si cheering Irene when she told Leah what we've been shouting at her the last couple of weeks. She may have been out of town the last couple of weeks but soon got the mess into perspective. Alf was harsh on him but I'll put that down to being worried about Maz.  He knows something isn't right between Zac and Leah but not the full story as Leah hasn't confided in him like she would with Irene.

I think Brody did jump to the wrong conclusion with Evie and Riley much as I don't like or trust him.  I not sure if Brody did right by voicing his suspicions to Tori causing her to ask Riley about it.  That is what could be behind his suggestion they move to the city which would be a bad move. Riley I'm thinking could be in his early 30's he and Tori went to uni together and she's 30, Evie 18/19 so too young even for him.  Besides it's all academic if she's off to Vietnam. 

Very grown up for Matt to say that Evie should go and although she's said he could go with her and he could get a job but I don't think it would be that easy.  As for Ellie going with them and they haven't even run it by her, would she be able to be enrolled in a school over there, both Matt and Evie would be working, she wouldn't know anyone and it'd be for a whole year. She's only just got settled in the bay.  He hasn't had much luck with girlfriends, both Sasha and Maddy have left him behind to go and pursue their own dreams and this is Evie's dream.

[Slade]

Well that was Kat's fault Ash went round to the hospital and had a go at John like that although once again I enjoyed seeing him getting annoyed.  As I mentioned previously VJs attitude upon hearing about John was the same as Ash's towards him when he heard he took Billie to the beach.  The only reason why he didn't confront John himself is because I suspect he had Luc so he got Ash to do his bidding instead.  I do like John but think he will get away scot-free.  I get that he has a brain tumour but how much damage did he cause starting the fires?  Not to mention that he could have killed someone.  I would be surprised if anything did happen given that when Kat was at the hospital the first question she asked was whether the tumour could have caused him to do this.  So rather than focusing on finding out his guilt she is thinking of a way to exonerate him.

TBH, Leah's attitude towards Zac has made me in part dislike her.  I don't blame him for sleeping with Sam.  Every time Zac went near her she would walk away so she obviously didn't want him to be close to her.  And she found any excuse to have a go at him.  I know she's OK now but I still find myself unable to get annoyed with Zac.  Alf annoyed me when he had a go at him though as it's really none of his business.  I do think Zac was out of order with Sam as if she is in love with him it seems as though he just used her because he wanted comfort.  So I did feel a bit sorry for her.  What bothers me about his infidelity is the effect it will have on the family unit especially with VJ and Hunter.

If Matt is going to be joining Evelyn abroad I don't think he should be taking Ellie given that she suffers from dyslexia.  If she finds it hard enough in a school in Australia she will seriously struggle at a school in Vietnam.

[Red Ranger 1]

Alf's episode count this week: Five, for the third week running.

I found Olivia annoying and selfish here as she treats everyone badly.She's messing with Hunter's head, one minute making out with her new boyfriend in front of him and the next flirting with him again.And she's treating Mason really badly, constantly snapping and sniping at him.Part of me was disappointed that he ended things when he really didn't need to, part of me thinks he did the right thing making the break that Olivia isn't willing to.But it will be deeply frustrating if she now goes running back to Hunter, who seems to be the one that understands her least: When Mason bought her all the stuff she needed for uni, I doubt if Hunter would have a clue what she needs.

Felt very contrived that Alf was suddenly looking after Luc because everyone else connected with her isn't in the episode.Still, it gave Irene a chance to deal with her lingering guilt over Mick.

Tori's made the right choice staying in town, even though I'm not sure she made it for the right reasons.And she definitely didn't make it for the reason Riley suspects, given his jealous looks at her and Nate.The timing of the investigation into Nate seems more than a little coincidental, although it actually does feel like mistakes have been made somewhere.

[Ludub]

I just watched this episode tonight and I have to say, it's very hard to have sympathy for either Zac or Leah. They're both really getting on my nerves! He did just go and sleep with another woman (while not even drunk, as far as I could see?) because his wife was being a bit frosty with him for a bit longer than her usual 'freeze outs' last. Poor poor Zac! (sarcastic voice) Can he really not do without it for a few days?!  He just had to run into the arms of the neediest most clingy bunny-boiler he's probably ever met?!  Really?!  For her part, Leah has been behaving like a total cow, for quite some time now, which makes it a lot harder to side with her. I just don't like either of them that much at the moment.

Evie and Matt's scenes were lovely and, like Red said above, I loved his line about 'literally stopping her from helping needy children'. He has turned into the nicest boy ever. Love him!  I'm very sad about them leaving (it really has that end of an era feel to it at the moment) but it's lovely to think that they're jetting off for a new life in Vietnam, on an exciting adventure together  Such a sharp contrast to the utterly miserable exits that all of their peers were given. 

Tori and Riley? Not sure I can make myself care to be honest. If Tori is really enough of a tit to follow Riley to the city, then I say she should go! But I won't have too much sympathy for her when he inevitably cheats on her and breaks her heart again. You just can't reason with people when they're in 'lurrrrrve', can you?!  (shakes head in disapproval)

All in all, a good episode 

Edit: it appears I was commenting on the previous episode? The one that aired in Ireland today, which must be an episode behind the UK? ...AND I didn't see the comments above until after I posted this. They loaded after. Very odd! Apologies for the confusion!

[630si]

I must agree that Tori going to the city with Riley is just silly beyond belief. And here's to betting Riley has something to do with Nate being dragged in the office at the hospital because it seemed to come to light after he overlooked them embracing near the diner. He's a nasty piece of work if you ask me. 

It was a little contrived that Alf had Luc, I agree, and seemed to be hanging around the diner for what seemed like an age until Irene finally held Luc. I'm not looking forward to where this story may go and poor Luc will be in the middle of it all. And to Irenes comments about keeping her distance because of what Mick did, I can sort of get on board with because she probably feels the guilt of being one of the main reasons Mick ended up like she did. As an audience though we sympatise with her because of course it's ludicrous to suggest she had any say in his actions towards Billie.  If you don't Luc end up growing up in the bay and going to school etc I can imagine bullying storylines etc. There's years worth of stuff to explore with it. 

I had all the feels for Mason tonight, but I'm glad Olivia finally told him properly that she isn't over Hunter and stopped denying everything. I like that Mason is open and upfront and knows what he wants. I just hope Olivi doesn't go bed hopping now...

[Slade]

Well that episode for me once again reinforced when it comes to romance people often don't think rationally and revert to emotion rather than logic.

We have Olivia who was always clearly still into Hunter (despite the fact that she was going out with Mason) and couldn't keep away from her ex.  Using various excuses, can't we just be friends we have to support each other for Billie etc.  Ignoring Hunter's wishes to stay away from him.  She was being quite selfish because she didn't care that Hunter found it difficult being around her knowing that she was going out with someone else and he couldn't have her and wanted time away to get over her (I thought he handled her well in that episode and was very diplomatic about telling her to back off).  I think there's an argument that she was using Mason but I don't think it's a simple as that.  I think she went out with Mason to get over Hunter and it wasn't working because she had to keep seeing Hunter she just couldn't help herself.  She continued to go out with Mason and didn't end it sooner because part of her felt perhaps her feelings for Hunter would go away.  Back to my original point when she broke up with Hunter she even acknowledged that they both made each other miserable and she still clearly wants him in spite of this.  It's like subconsciously she wants or needs to feel unhappy indirectly.

Then there's Mason who despite being warned that Olivia was on the rebound ignored all the advice given to him because although he probably knew deep down that Olivia still had feelings for Hunter he was hoping over time her feelings would have diminished (Kind of like Olivia was as I mentioned above).  Although to his credit he recognised this and finished things himself even though he should have done this sooner because now he's fallen for her so it's obviously going to hurt a lot more than not getting involved with her in the first place.  I do in a way commend him for deleting the photos of them together from his phone (I'm not sure I would in his position) but given that it's a small town he's going to find it difficult and is now in the same position Hunter is.  Although I'm guessing that he and Hunter have swapped places because presumably when Hunter hears they have broken up he might reassess wanting to stay way from Olivia.

And we have Tori i.e. Ms fickle.  She seems quite into Riley now to the point where despite that fact that she was recently promoted she was considering moving to the city.  I wonder if it wasn't for Raffy whether this would have been a real possibility.  All of this in spite the fact that Riley cheated on her before (I personally think seven years is a long time but it's obviously significant enough for Tori to have had reservations about getting back with him and Brody and Justin to not want to trust Riley as far as they can throw him).

Nate clearly still likes Tori.  I'm assuming he wants to get back with her as well.  Which would be a mistake IMO given how she has a tendency to change her mind.

Good to hear Raffy still mention Hope.  I wonder if she's gone to visit her in prison at all.  I'm still hoping for a Raffy/Hope reunion in the not too distant future.

From the preview next week looks good, especially the scenes with Leah given how annoying she's been as of late.

[H&Alover]

Hunter has been very adult over Olivia and her on-off feelings for him, not so long ago he would have jumped at the chance of getting one over on Mason, but that's twice now he's told her to back off and that they can't be friends, Irene doesn't help giving her the wrong advice. Mason was the bigger person breaking it off with her after giving her the uni stuff and yes it'll hurt for a while but better now than having to keep seeing her giving Hunter longing looks.

VJ' and Ash's reactions to John being the arsonist was imo quite a normal one, they don't know what we know and to them the 'excuse' he's got a brain tumour so didn't know what he was doing is just that an excuse to get out of it. It's going to have to be proved if a court or judge will accept it if it goes to trial.

Much as I don't like Sam Zac sneaking off the way he did was low. From what we saw in the trailer he does confess, hard hats at the ready people!

Tori has decided not to go to the city, wise decision girl, she has got a good position at Northern Districts, naturally slimey Rile is going to think it's because of Nate after he saw that hug between them and you can bet your bottom dollar he is behind Nate's suddenly being called into the big bosses office.  We ourselves have said mistakes were made over both John and Billie though medical negligence may be a step too far.

It was nice to see Alf having a go at looking over Luc even if it was a ploy to get Irene involved.  I can understand her reticence in getting  close to Luc, she does see Leah as her yia yia and added to that is her misguided guilt over Mick and what he did to Billie.  She did crack in the end and she was obviously loving holding her.

 

[Red Ranger 1]

Well, the complaint against Nate got done away with rather quickly, once Tori had checked the paperwork.I'm surprised that that seems to be it for Riley, with him rapidly breaking up with Tori and leaving town with his tail between his legs.I guess she did get her closure in the end, as she finally figures out that she's spent eight years hung up on a guy who wasn't really worth it.And her breaking with the past by making it clear that she's Tori now.Still, I'm wondering why the show needed to get her and Riley together in the first place if it was going to be over so quickly.Couldn't she have seen his true colours without the character being damaged by making out with him?(And more?)

Phoebe announcing they're being evicted from the farm was a bit random, does someone else need to move in?(I'm suddenly remembering something else I included in my continuation of the series and going "...No...")Phoebe seems to have an easy alternative in Justin, although it seems a bit early for them to be living together.Evelyn could be going anyway if she accepts the Vietnam offer, but where does that leave Kat? It's hard to imagine her moving into Ash's caravan (are they together at the moment or not?) but there doesn't really seem to be anywhere else that one or both of them could slot in.

It's understandable that John would feel a lot of guilt at what he's done, but as Alf pointed out he'd be hurting Marilyn a lot more if he just lay down and died.So hopefully the operation will go well, even though the potential way he could be afterwards doesn't sound much different to what he's like now...

[630si]

Does the farm still belong to Sid? I wonder why he would be evicting them? Selling up? New tenants? It was all a bit strange and I was left just saying "whaaaaaaa?!"

Tori was definitely having an epiphany of some sort when she declared her name and corrected Riley, it was definitely signifying her leaving that history behind her and embracing the strong woman she is nowadays. I thought it was a powerful scene. I fear Riley may not be done with Summer Vay yet but I hope I'm wrong. 

You can understand Johns point of view with operation. To me, there's two main reasons not to have it, the one John says is his reason, the guilt and feeling like he is deserving of the tumour, but also wanting the tumour to kill him to avoid prosecution. The latter is unlikely in this situation but just imagine for a sec. It must've crossed his mind.

[Slade]

When I saw the preview on Friday with Nate I wasn't expecting it to end this quickly so my first thoughts were Billie again and he's probably going to end up regretting the day she came to Summer Bay.  Nevertheless, Riley's pretty ruthless - Prepared to ruin someone else's career just because Nate was a threat to him and Tori.  Still it backfired and Tori can see exactly what sort of person he is now so that's good.  I liked the scene where Justin grabbed him although I'd rather he threw him out of their house altogether.

At the beginning of the episode I really liked Phoebe's manner.  She was really calm and collected.  No melodrama.  Why can't she be like that more often.  Justin seriously needs his head read.  He actually wants Phoebe to move in with him.  Even putting aside the fact he hasn't squared it with the others (we'll probably see that next episode) all he needs to do is get references from Brax, Kyle and Ash to see what a nightmare she is to live with although they showed her in a bikini earlier on so not all bad.