Latest UK Episode Discussion (2006-2017 Seasons)

[H&Alover]

Just to be contrary I like the story with Patrick, it's an update of Alf's PTSD being a lot more recent. He may have only ben in the bay for five minutes but I find him an interesting character.  I have the feeling his story is a lot more complex that his just seeing and doing bad things, could he have been tortured at some point, that would explain his being in some sort of trance when Kat walked in on him, he only came out of it when she called him Luke. Ash doesn't have any idea of how to handle it, which of course he wouldn't. I like Ash too, I wouldn't call him one dimensional, he's got  a few layers to him.  He can be hot headed, but can also be the voice of reason. I can't blame Kat being wary, yes she's a cop and can look after herself but still scary living with someone who could blow a fuse at any given moment.

Right Alf is off to visit Sally, all arrangements having been made off screen apparently, Leah is visiting her parents, no sign of Zac so VJ will be in the house all by himself, at least he will be getting his much needed time to recharge his batteries and catch up on his sleep.

Hunter doesn't seem bothered about his dad coming and going without saying a word to him so no reason why he should worry about VJ. With the way Irene is behaving Olivia wouldn't get a look in with Luc anyway! Btw where was Irene when Tori and Dr. Nate when they were in the house, they were hardly tip toeing about first thing, no sign of her later either, she wasn't at the Diner. Have to say Olivia and Hunter had made a good start on cleaning up their new home and I could see the confession that neither of them liked the place but didn't want to say anything because they thought the other did coming  a mile off, but full marks to them for giving it another go, stops the 'young people today can't deal with hardships' folk having a pop. Lesson for future though guys, inspect the place before you sign anything.

Yes Phoebe was annoying when she hijacked Nate and Tori's breakfast but later she did give Tori good advice, she was there when Nate had problems with both Sophie and Ricky so knows what he went through. Those two, Nate and Tori, do need to talk things through more.

Things hot up next week between Irene, VJ and Ash who is still being messed about by Irene as to when he can see Luc, if she's like that him, what is she going to be like when VJ wants to see her knowing what she knows. The 'I'm blood' 'so am I' argument comes up this week so was inevitable. There could be another reason why Irene is so determined to have possession of Luc, her history with her own children wasn't a good one and that is putting it mildly so maybe she is wanting to make up for it with Luc.

[Slade]

Matt's attitude and the manner in which he spoke to Zac on their "wedding" day annoyed me.  When Zac wanted to tell Leah about cheating was his choice.

Again I accept that John wasn't in the right frame of mind when he started the fires but if it had been my home that was burned down I would have been half tempted to tell him to stick his offer of help.

I'm glad Evelyn didn't blame Zac for the affair.  Despite my annoyance towards Matt I do think he was in a very difficult position as if he tells Leah he's effectively playing god and if he doesn't it's lack of loyalty towards her on his part.  Glad Leah recognised this.

So that's Evelyn and Matt gone.  Matt I don't really care about but I've really liked Evelyn for a lot of her time on the show.  Just felt over the last year or so she hasn't really had any decent storylines and she always seemed lost after Maddy and Oscar left.  I do think she's rushing this whole thing with Matt too quickly although given the relatives she's lost I can understand why.

Irene is really annoying me.  The way she was with Luc and when Ash mentioned dropping by to see him and she said perhaps he should text first just show she wants Luc all to herself.  I suspect when VJ and Leah are ready to take Luc back she won't be so ready to hand her over.

The stuff with Hunter and Olivia was hilarious particularly after seeing the preview of their new "place".  How could neither of them have looked at the property before signing the tenancy?  Come on.  The scenes on Friday were really funny as well with neither wanting to tell the other that they hated the place but the relief when they both found out they thought the same thing.

Shame about Brody messing up with the food critic.  The worry is he's addicted and he will mess up everything he worked so hard for.

I'm completely on Kat's side with regards to Luke.  Not sure I would want to live with him TBH.  Although I would have expected Kat to be less puzzled about his behaviour given that she mentioned the PTSD when she talked Ash into given him a second chance previously.

Phoebe actually gave good advice with regards to Nate when Tori confided in her.  I'm not surprised Nate doesn't want to get married but am a little surprised Tori doesn't although she says she wants to have kids.

[Red Ranger 1]

It shows how annoying Irene's been lately that I found myself on Ash's side for a big chunk of the episode.She didn't really have a good reason for sending him away when he came to collect Luc as arranged and especially not in such a smug and patronising way, with that creepy perma-grin and the suggestion that she thinks only she knows what's best for Luc.I do think Ash is barking up the wrong tree by the end, I don't think Irene would actually harm Luc, and his sudden universal hostility to anyone but him looking after his niece was hard to sympathise with.It is kind of reaching the point where Luc would be better off being left in the woods to be raised by wombats.Meanwhile, Olivia and Hunter are clearly out of their depth and it frustrated me somewhat that Irene let Olivia blow her trust fund like that: They have no idea what sort of documentation they're meant to have.To be blunt, I have very little interest in seeing them playing house.

So even Olivia didn't have a clue Irene was an alcoholic when she was last drinking, but now it's common knowledge (or at least Olivia thinks it is) even though her relapse was so low-key most of the town probably didn't notice? What are the rules here? Meanwhile, Phoebe apparently learns of Luke/Patrick for the first time, contradicting what was said last week.Kat really doesn't learn, once again abusing her position to investigate Patrick without any real justification.She got Decker killed last time she did something like this.Still, him moving out to the caravan park and getting a bit of distance from Ash is probably smart.

And Roo's back, having apparently passed Alf at the airport, and we know who's running the Diner.Matt leaving the skateboard behind was a nice touch: At least there was an attempt to acknowledge what she missed, as opposed to last year when Irene came back to find most of the people she knew dead, maimed or on the run and never said a word.

[H&Alover]

Roo's not been back for five minutes and she's already dropped Irene in it.  If she hadn't mentioned/hinted that it was Irene's second chance because of her problems with her own children in the past Ash would have been none the wiser and just thought she was being over protective because of guilt over Mick and that she missed out on being with him as a baby. Neat way of getting what he needed confirming by letting Olivia think he knew all about her having Nathan, Finlay and Damien being taken away from her. To be fair, as Irene herself said, it was 25 years ago and she was a completely different person back then. DoCs wouldn't have let her foster any kids, though none of them have been babies, if they thought there was any risk of her falling off the wagon, though of course she has. Luc obviously isn't  being the little angel Irene thought she was going to be as she's not sleeping through for Irene either.  Irene stops Ash taking Luc out as she wanted her to catch up on her sleep  but it's fine for her to go round to Roo's to discuss Roo stepping in at the Diner, phones stopped working have they? Then later she lets Olivia persuade her to take Luc out, to their lovely new home which did work as she did drop off in the car.  OK Irene was against Ash taking Luc out, here's a novel thought,  why not let Ash look after Luc at the house while Irene went out for a walk to get a break!

I have to say Olivia and Hunter did a good job smartening up the hovel house, and Olivia requesting some of her trust fund to buy essentials  was hardly blowing it. I, like Olivia, was surprised at Irene's snobby reaction as to where the house was, I never would have thought she was the type to be bothered by things like that.  Not wanting  to harp back to her own past she didn't come from such a salubrious background herself unlike Olivia who has taken it in her stride. Now on top of everything they've been burgled, locals must have sussed the newbies would bring new stuff with them, otherwise why break in.

Did Kat actually tell Phoebe who Patrick was?  She's not really going about it the right way, you can't bully someone into getting help, though I thought he had said he had had some sort of counselling.  I wasn't totally surprised to see she didn't find out too much from the Army, apart from his basic service history, if it was anything secret no way would they let it become knowledge for anyone to find out.  Did get one clue Operation Bottleneck.  She did use one of the soap stock words when he asked her what she was doing 'nothing' when it is blatantly obvious it's definitely something. Why did she get all huffy with Patrick telling Ash about his sleepwalking when I thought she'd already told him to tell Ash or she would.  It does seem that Patrick being around Ash does stir things up so yes not a bad move him moving to the caravan park. Another mention that Ash is living at the farmhouse.

Nearly missed mention of Duncan by Roo, nothing about Caroline or Bryce though who I thought were  the reasons Roo went to Hawaii in the first place to help Duncan look after them.  It sounds like he is staying there which I guess  puts the kibosh on the charter business idea Duncan was going to set up with Alf. Roo did say Alf had been keeping her up to date. I too liked that Matt left his skateboard behind.

 

[Red Ranger 1]

Yes, I thought that too about Kat telling Patrick to talk to Ash and then getting annoyed when he did.I think Phoebe said something like "So Ash's brother was alive all this time?" Anyway, today's ep.Irene annoyed me every time she appeared again.Her constant references to "my granddaughter" suggest that she somehow thinks she's more important than Ash, whereas in real terms he has a far stronger family connection than her.And I just shook my head at her hypocrisy in sniping at Ash to be civil when she was incapable of doing the same to him.While I sympathised with Ash more than Irene, he shouldn't be going for custody and he's kidding himself if he thinks this is what Billie would have wanted: As far as Billie was concerned, VJ is Luc's father.It's frustrating both Ash and Irene seem more interested in taking Luc off VJ than actually helping him (while Leah's abandoned him to go and sulk in self-righteous self-pity).

I was disappointed at how weak Zac was portrayed, constantly running around trying to contact Leah (who is suddenly calling herself Patterson-Baker again, according to her e-mail?).I'd have preferred if he made the best of things rather than indulging her.Also very weird that Roo talks about Leah not taking her calls, then when Zac rings on her phone, Leah answers.(Zac owes Roo a new phone, by the way.)So now VJ knows, which was kind of inevitable.I hope he doesn't disappoint me.

I'm not entirely happy at the way things worked out with Hunter and Olivia.Okay, I'm not happy that Hunter's still on the show and Olivia's still with him, but I do think they've demonstrated that they're not mature enough to live together.They've treated it like a game, not doing proper inspections, not getting the correct documents, not sorting out proper security, not having any insurance.Irene and Leah went along with it with the hope of giving them a wake-up call and in a way it worked, but now Irene's given them a free pass to co-habit without having to behave like grown-ups.Okay, Olivia in particular seemed to see it as not really what they wanted, but it still feels like something that shouldn't be encouraged when they're really not old enough to handle it.Irene rightly stopped them sharing when Hunter stayed there before, so it's another example of her being consistently inconsistent, not to mention building on the idea of Irene being controlling, doing whatever it takes to get Olivia where she wants her.

[630si]

Well I hope Roo has insurance for that phone! Also, why is Zac in the house? I'd be so embarrassed/ashamed. Zac's remark about VJ going through his emails was uncalled for, he had left them on the screen! I hope Leah isn't gone too long, this whole thing needs resolving. 

Ash has literally got Irene and VJ between a rock and a hard place. Threatening them to accept his terms or he will apply for custody. You'd be foolish to go along with that. At any point in the future he could just do it. I think Irene will realise this and I hope her and VJ can come to some kind of arrangement between them. Not to discredit Ash, but I don't know an uncle in the land with that much influence on a Neice or nephew. 

So Patrick is having black outs and not knowing what he's doing. Imagine if it was written that John didn't start the fires.... It was in fact Patrick. That would be an alternative story I could get behind. 

Olivia and Hunter in the house was never gunna last.

[Red Ranger 1]

VJ just about managed to avoid crossing the line here, I can't blame him for being angry with Zac but I wish he wouldn't talk as if Leah's some sort of saint, she's been treating Zac badly for ages.Hunter judging Zac is a bit hard to swallow, given he once made it his mission in life to stuff things up between Zac and Leah.Frustratingly, he was quite reasonable when talking to VJ and Irene about it, it was just when he was around Zac that he was cold towards him.Irene's habit of dragging vulnerable young people back to her place has annoyed me for some years now, so her suggestion VJ stay with them (in the nursery with Luc?) had me rolling my eyes more than anything else.I'm glad we got a mention of Ash looking after Luc because it was starting to look like Irene will leave her with anyone but him, including two teenagers who can't even look after themselves.Glad too that both Zac and VJ seem to be staying in the house.(It is, after all, Alf's house, or possibly Sally's, not Leah or VJ's.)

I wasn't entirely happy about the initial snobbish attitude towards the Legal Aid lawyer riding a bike, but if he talks to all his clients like that then it's no wonder he only gets the ones that don't pay him.(That actor played a trawler owner who briefly employed Aden and helped out Angelo in 2009, by the way.)Morag was obviously aiming for a big entrance but not sure why she thought aiming her car at John was a good idea...nor, indeed, why he stood still in her path rather than actually crossing the road.I actually kind of shared Phoebe's annoyance with Irene and Marilyn fobbing her off.Her old friend was a bit judgemental: The important thing is surely that Phoebe's happy.

And it seems Irene was wrong about James being "the" James, unless he's been recast and changed his surname.He doesn't seem to be the real estate agent either though.More evidence against Irene owning the Diner flat, if Roo goes to a real estate agent whose name Irene doesn't know for repairs.

[630si]

I agree with you on what VJ said. He made his mum out in such good light yet she is partially responsible for the breakdown in their relationship. I do however agree that Zac should sleep in a van whilst things cool off. 

Tr legal aid lawyer was a tool. I was commending him at first for cycling and being different but it soon appeared to be that he's just a bad lawyer and couldn't give two hoots. I guess legal aid is like that is it? I dunno. But thank god for Roo and her nosey personality. This leads me into that entrance of Morags. That girl knows how to make an entrance. ? 

Mum not sure about phoebes friend. I think she seems like she might throw a spanner in the works with her and Justin's plans. Planting seeds in her mind and whatnot and I just can't handle any more on and off relationships from the Morgan's. I've had my fill with Tori and Nate. 

Roos new fella is a bit of a dish isn't he!!! But why the secrecy I wonder....?

[Red Ranger 1]

Bit odd that Mason hasn't picked up on Brody's behaviour given that he was the first to suspect substance abuse.Brody is showing all the signs of an addict, being very secretive and overreacting to people touching his things, not being able to stop even when a part of him wants to, knowing just what to say to Justin to make him back off.It's well portrayed, the only problem being that the way he got involved in drugs in the first place wasn't very convincing.Whilst it would be nice for Raffy to get a storyline, she is working well in family scenes and she and Mason spark off each other well, I am liking his clear enjoyment at being the big brother after years of being the youngest.Meanwhile, Tori is in a no-win situation at work.Whatever she does, she'll be accused of letting her relationship with Nate influence her: If she gets rid of someone else she'll be accused of favouritism, if she gets rid of him she'll be accused of overcompensating.Interesting to hear that Anna Griffin's still around!

I agree with Morag with regards the deal: Two years in prison is still two years too many, John needs to fight this rather than be punished for something that wasn't his fault.Diminished responsibility seems pretty apt.It was actually fairly hard to tell that James is meant to be so much younger than Roo, and Morag seemed to overreact somewhat.Roo was very young when she had Martha, so young that if James is a couple of years older than her or more then Roo isn't really old enough to be his mother.I mean, maybe physically but she'd have had to have been about Raffy's age.Incidentally, when John indicated Morag has known him for years...have they ever had much to do with each other in the past?Morag hasn't really been in Summer Bay for that long since John moved there.I guess she spent a few months there in 2011, they probably crossed paths then.

[630si]

Yes red absolutely. I'm on the same page regarding the deal that Morag mentioned. Diminished responsibility is the way to go. I can feel something afoot with this. I'm predicting he will change his plea last second, but it's just a hunch for now. 

Roos new fella doesn't look half her age. Perhaps it's the designer beard?? Anyway it all seems a bit mountain and mole hill where this is concerned. I understand everyone will gossip in a small town but there's just as much chance of someone seeing him coming about going from her apartment! It is above the diner afterall. It's all just about odd, that is of course, if we know the whole truth at the moment. 

Again Red, i agree that Brady's portrayal of an addict is spot on and actually I feel quite invested in the storyline. I thought, because as you say it all just seemed to come from nowhere, that I would be eye rolling all the way though.  Tori having to fire Nate is just a nightmare. What are the job security laws in Aus, can it be that easy? Or are we to assume this is redundancy and not 'sacking' as Tori referred to it in the promo at the end. Either way, yet I again I fear they're heading for a breakup. And to be honest I couldn't give a flying.... not anymore anyway