Latest UK Episode Discussion (2006-2017 Seasons)

[Slade]

Ollie was sooooooo cute today. I liked the way Geoff and Claudia both kept looking at him ominously and the way he cuddled them when he said goodbye. I also liked the short scene in the Diner when he was playing snap with VJ.

Annie’s reaction upon finding out that Claudia was pregnant and Geoff was the father made me laugh but the way she behaved afterwards actually quite annoyed me. Back to judgmental mode. I know she’s only fifteen but I really don’t see what the issue is. She already knew that Geoff slept with Claudia so there was always a possibility that something like this could happen.

At first I was suitably pleased that Nicole decided to not sleep with Trey and I really liked their conversation and again the warmth he showed towards her. But I was quite disappointed she wanted to sleep with him in the end. I felt really sorry for her when Roman asked her to stay with Ruby for a few days. Although he was doing it for her own good she looked really hurt and as if she’d been totally rejected. I guess deciding to sleep with Trey was an after effect.

Gardy made me laugh again with the remark he made towards Leah about her being lonely. So the woman he was following was Trey’s mum. I don’t think we’ve seen her before. It will be interesting to find out what he wants with her. Sod’s law that Nicole and Trey’s intimacy was interrupted. I wonder if Nicole recognised Gardy’s voice.

Glad to see more scenes with Roman and Leah. Just a shame it seems as though their short-lived romance has been forgotten.

[Red Ranger 1]

I was very glad that Nicole backed out of sleeping with Trey, at least for 24 hours, it showed that she's learning.I didn't actually mind her wanting to sleep with him at the end, it seemed more considered and that they were...if not exactly doing it for the right reasons, certainly doing it for better reasons. When Nicole says "Roman kicked Aden out and now he doesn't care about me"...was she referring to Aden or Roman?I suspect the latter.Roman appears to have learnt nothing from the business with Elliot. Well, okay, next to nothing.He had the sense to get Nicole out of harm's way but once again he showed a complete inability to communicate with her and only succeeded in alienating her.All right, he couldn't tell her everything that was going on but he didn't even tell her that he believed her.All she needed was for him to show a bit of trust in her and open up a bit but he couldn't even give her that. Loved Leah standing up to Gardy.Why exactly has Gardy chosen Trey's house to burgle?Is John Palmer mixed up in whatever he's mixed up in, are they meant to be rich or is it because Trey got up his nose?(Major paranoia alert:What has happened to Trey's biological father anyway?Is he mixed up in this?)

Also very glad that Belle went to the hospital with Liam, even if it was obviously just an excuse for her not being in the episode.From the cold way she was with him when she said goodbye and the way she was saying she was stupid for trusting him, it sounded like she'd washed her hands of him completely. Annie saying Belle staying with Liam would be strange after what he'd done is a bit of a head-scratcher given that she stuck by Aden when he did a lot worse, to her and in general.I loved that moment when Ollie was snuggling up between Geoff and Claudia and they were both looking at him and clearly thinking "We're going to have one of these..."Geoff seemed to be in sulk mode for a lot of the episode, especially when he was snapping at Annie over breakfast.We've seen him acting like that a bit too often recently.Annie's reaction...Most of it was to be expected but I didn't like the way she said Geoff was being punished for going against his beliefs.Does she really see a baby as punishment?I'm glad that unlike her previous reactions to Geoff sleeping with Nicole and Claudia they actually followed through on it and we got to see her coming to terms with things, making up with Geoff and actually coming to see it as something positive.Nice to see Kirsty looking after things, she finally seems to be settling into her role as the show's new mother figure.Hope we get to see Belle's reaction as well.Not sure about Miles spilling the beans to Martin, did Geoff know he was going to do it or was he betraying a confidence?Claudia living at the beach house could create a very interesting dynamic.

[H&Alover]

I felt so sorry for Nicole the way Roman got rid of her, first her mum now her dad. As you said Red he couldn't tell her the real reason, but could have come up with something a lot better than what he did. I must say Trey took the news when she said she had changed her mind the first time very well, was very understanding. I thought she meant Aden when she said he doesn't care about me. I was wondering why Trey's mum (does Gardy know she is Trey's mum) or just a random victim? I was beginning to think she wasn't on the scene any more as we didn't see her at all when there was all that trouble with Trey and Kirsty. Or is it because John likes taking control and she had no say in it? One mystery why didn't we get to see her face as we didn't know who she was why bother? Have they got a lot of money (which he apparently needs)? I think Trey told Miles a while back his dad had died when he was young.

I was a bit mystified too as to why Belle was suddenly at the hospital with Liam, still that's soap characters for you! Perhaps she felt a bit guilty about just ditching him at the motel.

Admittely Annie's intial reaction was a bit stuffed shirt, but she did say he (Geoff) had gone against all they had been brought up to believe and she has always looked up to him. Glad Kirsty had that talk with her and helped her to see it needn't be the end of all that Geoff had planned. She's accepted it now and is even looking forward to being an aunty. I agree it was so lovely when Ollie snuggled up between Geoff and Claudia then gave them each a hug when he left. Not quite sure why they felt if Irene had been there it wouldn't have happened (that was my intrepretation anyway). Perhaps Miles told Martin in case Geoff has problems seeing as how it is his HSC year and may have trouble concentrating.

Sorry Slade, I don't share your sense of homour regarding Gardy, he is a sleaze. Had to laugh when VJ said he was a creep and Leah told him off, when she probably wanted to say 'you're right he is'. I do agree with you, however, about Nicole recognising Gardy's voice. From the way it looked he must have grabbed her outside and gagged her, because the time between the door slamming and Trey going into the living room wouldn't have been long enough for him to have done it inside.

[Red Ranger 1]

Whilst I don't like Gardy and would quite happy to see the back of him, as psychos go he's one of the more interesting, mainly because he's got a sense of fun.His "Housekeeping" on entering the room where Nicole was hiding was great.(Why did she move?Stupid girl.)Nice to see Charlie's getting suss. Even though we got an alternative explanation for why Gardy targetted Trey's mum(didn't catch her name but according to Inside Soap it's Jenena...is that a name?), when she said she had no idea who her attacker was it sounded like she was lying.Is there more to this than meets the eye?(Did she look familiar to anyone, by the way?I'm sure I've seen the actress before.)There've been references to Trey's "parents" in the past so she's obviously been involved all along.

Really glad to see Belle involved in Geoff's storyline, I like her so much more when she's in scenes with her family than when she and Aden are sucking the life out of each other.Her little sisterly chat with Annie was great.And I loved her scene with Irene;again, Irene works so much better when she's actually talking with a "proper" character rather than sitting in a cell on her own or chatting with a bunch of glorified extras.The way Irene was being evasive, giving curt answers and not looking at her was exactly like Belle when she was denying her addiction so you could see why she saw through it. I'm really glad that Irene admitted it and realised how pathetic she's become.

One thing that struck me yesterday:If Claudia's parents have "old-fashioned" views on sex before marriage, how come Claudia was on the Pill and presumably sleeping with Lachie?Did they not know or did they just turn a blind eye until she got pregnant?Bit of musical beds at the beach house;a few weeks ago, Belle was in Irene's room and Liam was in hers, now Claudia's in Irene's room and Belle's presumably back in her own.Claudia telling Annie she's thinking of having a termination would seem a bit odd if she didn't want Geoff to know but maybe she thought it would be reassuring if Annie thought the problem was going to go away.(And Annie was only guessing that she didn't want Geoff to know anyway.)Seems Geoff didn't ask Miles to talk to Martin which does make it feel a bit like betraying a confidence and ironically Martin's chat seemed to tip Geoff over the edge.Really disappointed that he skipped town like that(it's obviously because he's running out of episodes this week but why couldn't they have him and Claudia go away together rather than him abandon her?).Nice convo between Belle, Annie and Claudia beforehand, good to see them interacting.

Plus some more Charlie and Angelo, who do seem to have gone back to their old friendship in spite themselves, they seem perfectly at ease with each other.

[Slade]

I agree, Gardy really makes me laugh at times in spite of my dislike towards him. I thought it was quite amusing when Roman unmasked him and when he just laughed at him with a confidence to suggest there was no possibility he was going to turn him in. I liked his comment to Roman about it being a good thing doing the robbery as it stopped Nicole and Trey sleeping with each other. Funny how he said if Roman helped him to rob the warehouse that would be the last time. The thing is, as I said before I just think Gardy will keep blackmailing him. Roman has to put an end to this because even if he does stick to his word and leaves Summer Bay he still has a moral obligation to report him as someone could really end up getting hurt.

For the second episode in a row I felt sorry for Nicole as she was blown out again (understandably by Roman) and this time really needed her dad. Charlie was worried about her too. She already suspects Gardy was behind the robberies but I wonder if she will put two and two together eventually and work out Roman was his accomplice at the first one considering the fact that he doesn’t want Nicole staying at his place because of him.

I wasn’t surprised at all that Annie went and told Geoff about Claudia contemplating terminating the pregnancy. That was so predictable. Claudia wasn’t very annoyed with her. If I didn’t know any better I would say Claudia deliberately did that so she didn’t have to tell Geoff herself.........not.

I finding it extremely difficult to get into this storyline with Irene but I did like her comeback to Belle about being caught drinking – “What are they going to do me throw me in prison?”

Good to see Angelo genuinely concerned about the effects the case was having on everyone. Yes Charlie is getting close to him again. And we all know what she’s like when she’s lonely. I wonder what the chances of them rekindling their old romance further on down the line are.

[Red Ranger 1]

Martha frankly disgusted me today, the way she behaved towards Tony and to a lesser extent Angelo. Jack was his son, he knew him all his life as opposed to the three years Martha knew him and seems to have been more affected whereas, aside from yelling at Angelo every time she sees him, she seemed to go back to being happy pretty quickly.And she acts as though he's done something unforgiveable when actually he's being a much better person that she is.I'm not convinced Alf was having a go at him, he just seemed surprised by the way he was acting, although I wasn't too happy about the way he was talking to Martha and Rachel about it, it sounded like he thought Tony was doing something almost perverse.Rachel once again reacted to Tony doing something positive, constructive and harmless by telling him that he should be doing it her way but I was glad that they cleared the air and she told him she supported him.And I practically cheered when Angelo finally stood up to Martha and told her to take her hatred and her bitterness somewhere else:He stays away from her and she responds by storming into his place of work to vent her bile."I'm not going to be your whipping boy."That's all he's been for about nine months now and I'm as sick of it as he is.If she's so determined to carry on feeling like that, then all I can say is she's going to end up a very unhappy person.

Martha's other plotline was thankfully a lot better:I loved her insane babbling while Rachel sat there watching in bemusement and told her to lay off the caffeine.Ruby seems to have got her brain back from the way she picked up on Martha's hurried reaction to mention of Hugo.And Xavier seems to have got the point too going by his expression when she explained things.Shame the possibility of Xavier leaving wasn't real though...

Actually really glad that Annie called Irene and made her see the consequences of her self-imposed isolation, I could just imagine Annie's side of the conversation even though we didn't see it.Bit contradictory for Irene to say that seeing Belle and Aden is something to smile about whilst refusing to see Geoff and Annie even when Annie's begging to do so.Glad that it sounds as though she's getting some help.Astonishingly I actually liked Aden and Belle's scenes together because, even though the subject of them getting back together got dropped into conversation not once but twice, they were actually acting like friends for once instead of a couple of strangers who are supposedly in love.It's interesting that they both seem to trust Angelo now when between them they've probably given him more trouble than anyone.(Be nice if Belle apologised for hitting him but I won't hold my breath).An interesting role reversal(or should that be gender reversal)in their reaction to Geoff taking off:Last year when he broke up with Melody because things were getting tough Ric was slightly condemnatory while Belle and Mattie were more sympathetic, here Belle's disappointed and Aden's the sympathetic one.

What I'm thinking too much about today:Was that meant to take place over two days?Aden offers to go with Belle to see Irene "tomorrow" and then a few scenes later they're there!It can't be the same day as the previous episode because it's daylight again so I'm guessing the first couple of scenes are meant to be the next day(or the one after...)and then the Tony and Angelo stuff is the following day.

[Lesley Bee]

I just wonder why Tony is suddenly being so nice to Angelo, something just doesn't seem right

[Brian]

Something curious happening with the early morning 2nd repeats. It's usually Neighbours at 5.10 am, followed by Home and Away. This has been messed up this week by 2 mornings of NBA Basketball, yet this Friday morning there will be 3 consecutive Home and Away episodes (Wed, Thur & Fri), whilst Neighbours misses out completely. Strange, seeing that Neighbours has more viewers. Any ideas why?

Looking foward to today's episode to see how Martha and Hugo react on his return. Will they become a cautious couple, like Aden and belle are becoming?

[Red Ranger 1]

Something curious happening with the early morning 2nd repeats. It's usually Neighbours at 5.10 am, followed by Home and Away. This has been messed up this week by 2 mornings of NBA Basketball, yet this Friday morning there will be 3 consecutive Home and Away episodes (Wed, Thur & Fri), whilst Neighbours misses out completely. Strange, seeing that Neighbours has more viewers. Any ideas why?

Like you say, this basketball nonsense, which I hope is only going to be temporary, has messed everything up.If you've got digital, it's easier to watch one of the morning repeats on Five Life.Anyway, the 3 episodes of Neighbours are repeated Saturday morning.

[Slade]

I had to laugh at Aden ’s surprise and reference to Geoff about getting Claudia pregnant – “Of all people…bible boy”. I didn’t mind him and Belle so much in that episode – Maybe because they were just “friends”.

Trust Annie to open her big mouth again and go blabbing to Irene. As if she didn’t have enough problems already.

Although not justifying it, I actually found Martha’s reaction quite understandable. In fact I could understand where all three of them were coming from. I don’t agree with the way she spoke to either of them but you have to take into consideration that she’s lost a baby, a husband and been seriously ill all in the space of a year.

Re Tony he was one of the few people who could see where she was coming from (and appeared to share her grief) and she hears about him being pally pally with Angelo (who she hates with a passion). How was she supposed to react? She obviously feels betrayed. She was behaving quite irrationally and not thinking with a clear head. I did feel quite sorry for Tony because in his mind he can’t do anything right. If he’s cold towards Angelo they’re worried because he’s dealing with the grief in a very negative way. If he’s friendly towards they’re suspicious of his motives. In saying that a few episodes ago I thought – “What a guy”- when he gave him a lift. Now I’m slightly dubious as to his motives as already mentioned.

Again regarding Angelo he has been keeping out of Martha’s way but every time she sees him or hears about him she’s going to see red. I’m honestly not sure how I would react if I was in her position but it’s probably going to remain like this for the foreseeable future until she sees someone to help her come to terms with it. Like Tony, similarly I also feel Angelo’s in an impossible position too. If he doesn’t go along with Tony, he’s being cold to the grieving dad but if he does he’s being selfish and only being friendly to him to easy his conscience. I’m glad Aden sort of stuck up for him though and also that he and Belle were being civilised to him as he’s doing everything he can.

Interesting that Ruby picked up on Martha liking Hugo and she appears to be spot on regarding the reason for him taking off so suddenly. And her theory concurs with what I suspected earlier on regarding the resemblance/connection to Jack.