Latest UK Episode Discussion (2006-2017 Seasons)

[Razabaza]

Ash really annoyed me when he said he lost Luc because of Kat's baby. None of the business with Luc had anything to do with Kat, it's not her or the baby's fault. 

On a sidenote, does anybody think Hunter looks very young recently? The actor's in his mid 20s and when he first came to the show I thought there was no way he passed as a teenager and looked closer to 30, but now he looks 18. Not in a plastic surgery kind of way, he just looks very young now. 

[H&Alover]

Regarding the condemnation of Billie everyone deserves a second chance, no she wasn't an innocent just a young and ill used woman by her other boyfriends which is why, imo, she latched onto Nate as he was nice to her.  She misread his friendliness as him being interested in her. She did turn her life round and while it may have been wrong for her to let everyone think VJ was the father of her baby she was scared of admitting the truth because of the Nate situation she was worried no-one would believe her. Ash was only doing the big brother thing, but he was forgetting Billie was a grown woman not a young girl. She wasn't the last person who'd been turned on by the bayers, appropriate term, when they turned witch hunters, John, Brody, even Alf. Quite how VJ leaving can be blamed on Billie is puzzling seeing as she is dead, if she had lived I don't think we'd be in this situation.

I think Ash had rung his solicitor about VJ's leaving being legal and it was confirmed it was - no laws broken as the injunction hadn't been served and VJ had all the right paper work. Talking of which, did I mishear it and Mick said the injunction would be served that morning only it was dark by the time Mick handed Ash the injunction by which time VJ & Luc had been gone several hours? Another thing Ash told Mick VJ & Luc were no longer in the country but I'm sure I heard him say I hope you have a good flight to VJ? Or did he mean the connecting flight to Greece?  Wouldn't have taken that long for the sea plane to get to Sydney would it? Glad I'm not the only one confused about the time line, was all this happening on the same day, injunction, Leah leaving when there had been no mention of it when she and Alf got back to the Stewart house?   I find that term 'the other day' is used quite a bit when they really mean yesterday.

I know I shouldn't feel sorry for Mick but now Luc has gone all the fight has gone out of him, I think he feels she is/was the only good thing in his life.  He's much more reasonable and willing to listen to people, if he'd been like that from the beginning,  people would have not had to  resort to shouting and berating him.  They did try and talk to him calmly but each time he blew up at them so faults on both sides there. He was very quiet when Irene first came across him on the beach, the day after Ash told him the news about Luc. Alf was concerned enough to point out to Irene Mick was throwing his pills away and that may have been the first normal talk they'd had.  I think the opposite about Irene's feelings for Mick, she still feels guilty about him having the upbringing he had, though she had no control over it. He has pushed her to the limit, but each time she's come back to try and talk to him.

There was a very good post on the Aussie section and they were right, where was all the help Mick should have received, he'd been released from a psychiatric  prison facility after all.  He didn't have a counsellor to talk to so no update on his progress, not even a parole officer he had to report to, even your usual lags have  that, no follow ups from the doctors at the facility. He was essentially left to his own devices.  I'm in no way excusing all he has done even before he was caught but who knows what upbringing he had - told he was the result of rape so that's why his mum didn't want him - he'd never be any good - no-one would love or want him.  If a child is told that enough they believe it.

Alf has done a U-turn and seems to have persuaded his friend in WA to take Mick on and this time Mick was in the mood to listen.  Huge white lie on Alf's part that maybe when she was old enough Luc would want to track him down.  If he follows through on what he and Billie decided to tell Luc the truth when she is old enough, once she is 18 nothing VJ could do to stop Luc finding Mick.  It looks like Mick won't be going to WA alone, Irene is going with him.

Onto the next baby triangle with Robbo, Ash and Kat.  I'm allowing Ash some leeway in that he was still raw from Luc leaving when he snapped at Kat that he'd lost Luc for the baby.  Poor little mite hasn't even been born yet and already tension and arguments over who'd be looking after him/her.  He did let himself cool down and they had a much calmer discussion on the beach. Inevitably both Robbo and Tori are going to feel like spare parts so I think they should all have a sit down and talk about it.  The other complication that no-one else knows about yet is of course Robbo's criminal past, that would really throw a spanner in the works.

Now the Special Task Force has been called in will it be long before they rumble Robbo is Beckett Reid, though if I remember the Yabby Creek cops tried everything to fid out who Robbo might be, finger prints, DNA. Wasn't Will Robinson the lad from Lost In Space?  Maybe me being suspicious but how do we know one of them isn't corrupt, wouldn't be the first time a high ranking cop who was  involved in 'solving' the crime was a baddie- Ranae Turner anyone?

Olivia was kind of economical with the truth regarding Axel, as in the kiss, be sure he'll use that to his advantage given the chance. Sadly Olivia's argument that she feels can't report him as she could lose this opportunity is what used to happen to young vulnerable girls/women who were preyed on by powerful, mostly men, bosses. They complained, they were fired/let go and it was all covered up.

As an aside  shouldn't Kat be showing at least a small bump seeing as she is 15 weeks gone? Of course once she does or McCarthy finds out whichever comes soonest, she'll be on desk duties.

[Slade]

22 hours ago, Razabaza said:

 

You know what annoys me about Ash? He acts like Billie was perfect and innocent. Obviously the rape wasn't her fault, but I've never liked her and had very little sympathy for her after she lied about Nate raping her. She didn't give a damn that she was ruining his career, his life, or his reputation. Why was she so worthy of a second chance and forgiveness (towards the end of her life Saint Status), but Mick isn't even treated like a Human?

 

Also, remember when Billie LIED and said that VJ's the father, Ash went over and punched him for getting his sister pregnant. As if VJ took advantage of her or something. I honestly can't stand Ash. He's so blinded by loyalty.

Where have you been?  It's been very lonely here being one of the few people around here that disliked Billie as for reasons that were previously unbeknown to myself she is, sorry was a popular character.  I agree about Nate.  I initially let that go but the more I thought about it the more it annoyed me.  I actually went into another thread and mentioned a while back that I thought it was poetic justice her getting raped by Mick after what she tried to do.  Then an outraged poster basically accused me of condoning rape, kind of like what happened in this thread last week.  I think one of the problems is that people often view sexual crimes far worse than anything else (including murder).  So it's understandable why the whole town is against Mick.

Whilst I see where Ash is coming from I am sort of taking satisfaction from him suffering by not having Luc around.  He made a choice to let her go and the others supported it in part because they didn't want Mick winning (They'll say it's solely for Luc but I believe it was also fueled by their hatred towards Mick).  I really enjoyed his outburst to Kat.  I'm also enjoying seeing what this is doing to Tori given that she practically forced Kat into telling Ash the truth whereas if she had just kept her mouth shut she wouldn't have this problem.  So even though you can argue she did the right thing, I'm glad it's backfiring on her.

Everything about the way Olivia told Hunter and then told Axel kissing her wasn't cool suggested at the very least she didn't mind it.  She's an abuse victim so if it was a problem it would have reflected more in her body language and attitude.  I don't think Axel's going to drop pursuing her just like that.  I think what made it harder for her to resist was that she was slightly under the influence.  Which will be amplified if she goes to this work-do with him.  I wonder if she's afraid that something could happen between them.

[Red Ranger 1]

So...I really don't know what to make of Mick's sudden transformation into Saint Mick.I will admit that if Billie was still around, or if she, VJ and Luc had sailed off into the sunset together at the beginning of the season, I might find it easier to forgive Mick but it just feels very wrong that the show has been kinder to him than her.I get that we all have opinions that don't make logical sense but I never quite get why people can forgive murder, rape and a number of other violent or life-threatening crimes but feel Billie should never be forgiven for making a false allegation and lying about who her baby's father was...especially when it seems like the show agrees with them, letting characters who've done far worse off the hook while putting Billie through a year and a half of near-constant torment and then killing her despite her, in my opinion, doing more than enough to make up for it.Anyway, Mick's never felt like anything other than a lazy plot device, who turns up when the show needs to do something, acts however the plot needs him to and then leaves again, hence his suddenly going from treating Ash like a demon he needed to slay to protect his daughter to apologising to him.I don't know if that's him gone or if we'll see all the town waving him and Irene off next episode (obviously she thinks he's more important than keeping an eye on Olivia...) but I'd quite happily pretend he never existed and wouldn't shed a tear if we get the news in a few months that he's died in a mining accident.I can't shake the feeling that at some future point we'll be subjected to Saint Mick coming back to town, moving in with Irene and being treated like a pillar of the community.

So, the police did pick up on the big gap between Robbo dropping Kat off and calling McCarthy.I'm surprised he buried the phone on the beach rather than dumping it in the sea with Novak...and I'm not sure how he managed to find it again when the spot didn't seem to be marked but it's handy that he did since he's got the task force out of town.Kat must surely know that Robbo wasn't on the balcony and on the sofa, since there was no sign of him when she got up: Is she in denial or something?

No sympathy whatsoever for Tori: She pretty much forced Kat to tell Ash about the baby, what did she think was going to happen next?Surprise surprise, Ash wants to be part of the child's life.

[630si]

Well it looks as tho Marilyn will be picking up a lot of shifts at the diner, what with Leah in cyprus and Irene in WA with Mick. I feel a little cheated with him agreeing to go now. He seems to have given up the fight literally the day after Luc was snuggled out. What was the point in it all really in the end?! I’ve said before I have really enjoyed this whole arc right back to finding out about Irene’s attack etc and the end has been such a rush job. Nevermind eh.

Robbo’s criminal mastermind moves crawling under the delivery truck was comical. He’s supposed to be this big crime lord but hadn’t considered the mobile phone might ping and allow the police to cell sight his location. ?. When Kay woke up in the night, and he wasn’t there I felt she was into him. Or is this just me? Shes definitely suspicious. And her almost warning of “don’t lie to me I’ll find out in the end” was her telling him she knew he’d left the apartment during the night. I thought anyway.

So, I’m a Tori fan, that’s nothing new but @Red Ranger 1 is spot on. Yes it’srubbish that this has happened but she has in a way caused this to all come to light so quickly. Although I do appreciate they were leaving the country that day and I guess she felt guilty. But I’d understand and sympathise with her more if she even wasn’t completely truthful right now about the age of the unborn baby and took a while to process in her mind. She’s brought this stress on herself really.

[j.laur5]

23 minutes ago, 630si said:

Well it looks as tho Marilyn will be picking up a lot of shifts at the diner, what with Leah in cyprus and Irene in WA with Mick. I feel a little cheated with him agreeing to go now. He seems to have given up the fight literally the day after Luc was snuggled out. What was the point in it all really in the end?! I’ve said before I have really enjoyed this whole arc right back to finding out about Irene’s attack etc and the end has been such a rush job. Nevermind eh.

Robbo’s criminal mastermind moves crawling under the delivery truck was comical. He’s supposed to be this big crime lord but hadn’t considered the mobile phone might ping and allow the police to cell sight his location. ?. When Kay woke up in the night, and he wasn’t there I felt she was into him. Or is this just me? Shes definitely suspicious. And her almost warning of “don’t lie to me I’ll find out in the end” was her telling him she knew he’d left the apartment during the night. I thought anyway.

So, I’m a Tori fan, that’s nothing new but @Red Ranger 1 is spot on. Yes it’srubbish that this has happened but she has in a way caused this to all come to light so quickly. Although I do appreciate they were leaving the country that day and I guess she felt guilty. But I’d understand and sympathise with her more if she even wasn’t completely truthful right now about the age of the unborn baby and took a while to process in her mind. She’s brought this stress on herself really.

I like Tori but just like Hannah before her they bring it on themselves. 

Never know two characters so silmair to each then Hannah and Tori. 

[baywatcher]

Didn't you just know that Justin & Willow would get locked in the boot?

I love their scenes. They make a great couple.

[Slade]

21 hours ago, Red Ranger 1 said:

I get that we all have opinions that don't make logical sense but I never quite get why people can forgive murder, rape and a number of other violent or life-threatening crimes but feel Billie should never be forgiven for making a false allegation and lying about who her baby's father was

I'm not sure whether there was a question in there but you appear to have begun to address your point beforehand.  Or at least partly i.e. you believe posters such as myself are prepared to forgive or I would like to say support/don't give a damn about/celebrate certain crimes because it's illogical.  However that's not the only reason I would use.  I would give a few actually why I believe myself and other posters would do this and this isn't just with H & A but extends to other soaps.

1. Practicality - To quote Spock from the Wrath of Kahn - The needs of many outweigh the needs of the few.  There have been certain times where I felt some characters are so dangerous towards the Summer Bay population the best solution is to just ice them.  You know the ones that are multiple killers or at least have the potential.  That's why I was glad Sam killed Johnny Cooper  (Who nearly killed Sally).  That's why I was glad when Andy cut off Pirovic's life support (If he survived I'm sure he would have recovered and more people would have died).  And that's why I was glad Robbo bumped off Novak although we don't know yet whether it was deliberate or not.  And I liked/like all 3 of the mentioned characters.  I made an analogy about this a while back with regards to Spider-man where he continued to imprison characters such as Dr Octopus in the comics and all that would happen is that they would escape and just carry on killing.  I know it's not in his nature but had he adopted the Frank Castle approach then more people could have been spared.  I know you don't agree with this and it goes against everything that you stand for in soaps but I'm different.

2. Payback - Again Andy/Pirovic i.e. revenge for killing Charlie and Casey.  And that's why I cheered when Charlotte ran over Trystan.   I didn't like that he kidnapped Hunter, extorted money out of and continued to blackmail her.  So he got his just deserts in my opinion.

3. Bias - One of the most common reasons.  And I strongly believe that the vast majority of posters in this forum has been guilty of this at some point during their time here.  You like a certain character and make allowances for bad behaviour.  You dislike a certain character, just about everything they do annoys you and it makes you dislike them even more.  I have no good explanation for why I liked Andy as much I did but I just did.  I've explained why I grew to dislike Billie so much.    And just going back to your point yes it's illogical.  But I simply don't care.  Emotion is often not logical.

4. Back to the Bay - I genuinely believe that there are some posters that have found certain opinions/comments about characters so objectionable that it has amplified their determination to support/go against that character in question.  The more the character is supported/attacked by comments from certain posters or other posters joining in on the bandwagon the stronger it becomes.  Whereas if they hadn't been a member here they may be more indifferent or balanced.

5. Fictional - Dare I use the dreaded F-word again.  I know I can put aside/support certain actions precisely because the characters are fictional so there will be no repercussions.  As I mentioned last week it shouldn't really matter (Well except to people who are anti/pro the characters depending on whether they are being criticised/praised) and I believe this can be used as fallback to every point I've made above.  H & A is not real life so it shouldn't matter what people say about characters here.  We know that's far from true but ideally that's how it should be.  I do accept that if certain people strongly identify with a storyline then they may find it harder to disassociate H & A from real life.  But that's their problem.  Whilst I might sometimes feel sympathy for or 'forgive' certain characters, I'm under no obligation to do so.

I accept that Billie is one of your all time favourite characters and I respect your right to defend her however there is nothing I have read from your posts or anybody else's that has convinced me that I should like her.  That's just the way it is.

Well Alf was a lot better to him than he was last week and I actually really enjoyed the stuff with Irene and Mick.  It's a shame we didn't see more of that and gives an indication of what might have been if he wasn't a serial rapist.  I would like to think that she genuinely cares about him and doesn't just want to make sure that he's settling in so he will never come back to the bay.

Continue to enjoy seeing Tori ruin her own relationship although I'm really not keen on Ash getting back with Kat and wasn't happy about their scenes yesterday and Robbo being sidelined.

[Red Ranger 1]

1 hour ago, Slade said:

4. Back to the Bay - I genuinely believe that there are some posters that have found certain opinions/comments about characters so objectionable that it has amplified their determination to support/go against that character in question.  The more the character is supported/attacked by comments from certain posters or other posters joining in on the bandwagon the stronger it becomes.  Whereas if they hadn't been a member here they may be more indifferent or balanced.

5. Fictional - Dare I use the dreaded F-word again.  I know I can put aside/support certain actions precisely because the characters are fictional so there will be no repercussions.  As I mentioned last week it shouldn't really matter (Well except to people who are anti/pro the characters depending on whether they are being criticised/praised) and I believe this can be used as fallback to every point I've made above.  H & A is not real life so it shouldn't matter what people say about characters here.  We know that's far from true but ideally that's how it should be.  I do accept that if certain people strongly identify with a storyline then they may find it harder to disassociate H & A from real life.  But that's their problem.  Whilst I might sometimes feel sympathy for or 'forgive' certain characters, I'm under no obligation to do so.

Do you think then that it's possible that your dislike of Billie is because you've heard so many comments from other people saying how wonderful she is that you've become ever more determined to dislike her?It did surprise me when she came back after a long break that you seemed to dislike her so much, because you seemed fairly even-handed towards her in her first stint and even sympathetic towards her at times, and then suddenly you seemed to hate every thing she did and delight in every bad thing that happened to her.I know you've said you thought more about what she did to Nate and realised how bad it was, but as you say, it's fiction and Nate forgave her pretty quickly when he saw how vulnerable she was under the bad behaviour.But as you say, sometimes there is no reason why we take to one character and not to another and are willing to forgive some and not others.I don't think I'll ever be able to warm to Hunter no matter how much the show tries to portray him sympathetically, yet I grew to like Kyle who did just as bad things when he first came in. (You, so far as I can tell, are pretty much the other way round!)

Anyway...today.And I guess Willow's a case in point, in that I have kind of forgiven her for the way she behaved in her first week or so, although I'm still not really sure why Justin's appointed himself her guardian angel. She's clearly got her sympathetic back story ready: I can't quite tell whether her father's meant to have something like early on-set dementia or "just" had a breakdown or something else potentially recoverable.I can't say I've ever encountered a car boot that can be opened from the inside, but then I can't say I've ever shut myself in a car boot either so I've never tried it.Again, it's at the point where calling the police definitely seems like the sensible course of action.I'm guessing Brody somehow failed to see Willow when she stayed at the Morgans' since he didn't seem to have a clue who she was.(And Willow didn't seem to clock his name either.)

And again with the opinion that goes against much of the board: I absolutely love Mason.His "...Yeah, that'd do it" after getting the details of Ash and Tori's break-up was the laugh of the episode...which is a good job, since I didn't really care about Ash and Tori, except Tori seems to be assuming that Kat would want Ash back.Brody and Ziggy...I don't mind them and I liked their banter so them getting back together wouldn't be the worst thing even if I don't think they're completely suited.

[630si]

Can Broday and Ziggy please leñive happily ever after?!?! I really like these two together and that Ben should concentrate on his surf boards more.

not too fussed if willow gets caught or not tbh. We learnt more tonight about her father not being well at all. Or is this just a cover story? I haven’t quite made my mind up. What do you guys think? Those two being locked in the boot of the car i find very ‘eyerolly!’ It’s clearly just to make them like each other in a confined space. I do wonder if willow’s car is her dads and that’s why she’s reluctant to sell it? 

Is Tori actually going to get try make this work with Ash? I think done with those too. God save Ireland.

9 hours ago, baywatcher said:

Didn't you just know that Justin & Willow would get locked in the boot?

I love their scenes. They make a great couple.

I’m not so keen.