Latest UK Episode Discussion (2006-2017 Seasons)

[Reo]

I thought there was a lack of brotherly love between Hugo and Xavier. Both having the possibility of dying and not even a word to each other. I didnt like Jai in this episode, it was quite something, the rest of the people on the bus feeling Trey's revenge for the way they treated him, but Jai not knowing this still treating him badly. And looking at the promo, Xavier really can not do angry and looking at the end of todays episode, he cant do sad either.

I was hoping that Jai, Xavier, John and the others would at least feel some guilt in the way they treated Trey to push him to that point.

[Slade]

Another preview for the episode tomorrow.

Anyway, quite enjoyed the banter at the start where John was brutally honest about what would happen if everybody jumped of the bus, Kirsty told him to tone it down, Xavier got his two pence worth and then Kirsty got frustrated with John again.

It’s a good thing Martha and Hugo got lost. I actually find their scenes and Hugo’s indecisiveness quite amusing. It just reminded me a bit of Lethal Weapon (I think number three) - Firstly deciding which wire to cut and then whether to go on three or just after the count of three. That event kind of allowed him to settle his differences with John since the fight they had a while back. Also liked where Kirsty told John she trusted him just after telling Hugo where the wires had to be cut.

Re Hugo and Xavier I think it’s a combination of a lack of chemistry and TBH I’ve never really been entirely convinced by the actor who plays Xavier anyway. He’s ok just not sure about the emotional scenes.

I suppose it was nice of Geoff to wait with Annie and Miles. I thought Jai was way too cocky for his own good considering the state he was in and part of me was willing Trey to smother him to shut him up once and for all.

The breakdown argument looks increasingly less plausible now. Trey consciously and meticulously planted the bomb. It was designed in a way to almost be tamper proof i.e. planted another bomb inside the first one. He feigned injury pretending to be unconscious, lied about how he got there and wanted his mother to help him get away. By Trey’s own admission he’s going to jail for a very long time. And finally Charlie's decleration of making him pay. I agree though apart from Nicole there has been very little compassion with most of the school kids it’s no wonder why he was driven to something like this.

Loved the scene with Trey and his mum. She wasn’t as shocked I’d thought she’d be when he fessed up, yet still despite labelling him as no son of hers and a monster, after he told her he did it because some of the kids made his life a living hell she still really empathised with him. Still clearly loves him. Really loved the way he cuddled her practically begging her and the look of hurt on her face.

[Brian]

[quote name='Slade' date='Sep 1 2009, 06:44 PM' post='1079955'

Re Hugo and Xavier I think it’s a combination of a lack of chemistry and TBH I’ve never really been entirely convinced by the actor who plays Xavier anyway. He’s ok just not sure about the emotional scenes.

[Slade]

Re Hugo and Xavier I think it’s a combination of a lack of chemistry and TBH I’ve never really been entirely convinced by the actor who plays Xavier anyway. He’s ok just not sure about the emotional scenes.

Yes, I know what you mean Slade. I've been thinking about that over the last few weeks, when I've been watching past episodes, some of them on U tube. There was one entitled "Ruby makes her entrance" and it started by showing her snogging with the school gardener (John?) in the diner and being told off by Nicole (of all people) for making a public display of affection; she then rubbished Nicole for not being good enough for Geoff; admitted to Charlie that she wanted to sleep with John when she was underage, but he told her that she wasn't ready; then calmly informed her father that she had left her private school (for which he was paying??) before she was expelled for being with the gardener despite previous warnings.

Quite a determined young lady!

So why did some of you complain some months ago when Ruby was partnered off with Xavier, whom you described as a wimp and David not being a good actor, because you reckoned that he would destroy Ruby as a character? With Ruby's background that I have described, what could Xavier possibly have done to make her any worse? At least he is waiting until she is ready and not putting pressure on her. And there was nothing wimpish about his actions on the bus today.

Ah yes Pat the porter who she meet at boarding school. I quite liked Pat actually. He was a good guy and supported Ruby after her mother died. The scene where Ruby showed Nicole up by the pool table and told her that Geoff was out of her league was so funny. Not to mention the look of surprise on Geoff’s face too. That was their first meeting and now they’re really good friends.

I don't dislike Xavier as a character - I just think he can be quite immature and granted he is being patient with Ruby he is still not really learning from his mistakes. The whole reason why Jai is in hospital is because they decided to muck around with one of Bruce Campbell’s guns rather than handing it over to the police. After Xavier accidently grazed Jai they decided it was more important to stay out of trouble than getting his wound seen to they both decided that he should avoid being treated by Rachel and hence Jai’s injury got worse.

The main problem with the whole Xavier Ruby thing is that Ruby just seemed so headstrong and independent and then when Freya turned up she was constantly pining after Xavier almost to the point of desperation. It seemed quite out of character because she wasn't like that before. She hasn’t been that bad as of late but even looking at her today it seemed as though Xavier was the strong one and she was weak (although granted there were extenuating cirucmstances).

[Brian]

Re Hugo and Xavier I think it’s a combination of a lack of chemistry and TBH I’ve never really been entirely convinced by the actor who plays Xavier anyway. He’s ok just not sure about the emotional scenes.

Yes, I know what you mean Slade. I've been thinking about that over the last few weeks, when I've been watching past episodes, some of them on U tube. There was one entitled "Ruby makes her entrance" and it started by showing her snogging with the school gardener (John?) in the diner and being told off by Nicole (of all people) for making a public display of affection; she then rubbished Nicole for not being good enough for Geoff; admitted to Charlie that she wanted to sleep with John when she was underage, but he told her that she wasn't ready; then calmly informed her father that she had left her private school (for which he was paying??) before she was expelled for being with the gardener despite previous warnings.

Quite a determined young lady!

So why did some of you complain some months ago when Ruby was partnered off with Xavier, whom you described as a wimp and David not being a good actor, because you reckoned that he would destroy Ruby as a character? With Ruby's background that I have described, what could Xavier possibly have done to make her any worse? At least he is waiting until she is ready and not putting pressure on her. And there was nothing wimpish about his actions on the bus today.

Ah yes Pat the porter who she meet at boarding school. I quite liked Pat actually. He was a good guy and supported Ruby after her mother died. The scene where Ruby showed Nicole up by the pool table and told her that Geoff was out of her league was so funny. Not to mention the look of surprise on Geoff’s face too. That was their first meeting and now they’re really good friends.

I don't dislike Xavier as a character - I just think he can be quite immature and granted he is being patient with Ruby he is still not really learning from his mistakes. The whole reason why Jai is in hospital is because they decided to muck around with one of Bruce Campbell’s guns rather than handing it over to the police. After Xavier accidently grazed Jai they decided it was more important to stay out of trouble than getting his wound seen to they both decided that he should avoid being treated by Rachel and hence Jai’s injury got worse.

The main problem with the whole Xavier Ruby thing is that Ruby just seemed so headstrong and independent and then when Freya turned up she was constantly pining after Xavier almost to the point of desperation. It seemed quite out of character because she wasn't like that before. She hasn’t been that bad as of late but even looking at her today it seemed as though Xavier was the strong one and she was weak (although granted there were extenuating cirucmstances).

Thanks Slade, that was a good analysis. Must mention one other thing. I've just returned from a cruise in northern Europe, during which we docked one day at a small port in Kalundborg in Denmark. In the local museum, there was a reference to the Norse goddess of love and fertility, whom the local used to appease by giving her presents many centuries ago. Her name : Freya. No change there then!

[Red Ranger 1]

Someone please get rid of those damn throw forwards, they're ruining it.At the end of that episode, I was genuinely wondering what Jenena was going to do...and then they showed us.Even if it's misdirection, it completely destroyed all the tension and mystery.Plus two clips of Xavier being a prick which didn't exactly leave me looking forward to the next episode.

Some nice tension on the bus.I loved the little bit where Nicole helped Gonk;I got the feeling she was pretty much resigned to it, she'd decided "Okay, I'm going to die, so I'm going to make sure I do it with dignity."Loved the banter between Martha and Hugo, both before and while they were in mortal danger, they are shaping up to be quite cute together.Interesting seeing that just after seeing Martha's almost suicidal attempt to find Jack at the formal:When she chose to share the danger with Hugo, it was like she was saying she cared for him the same way.(Although as it turned out, the job needed two people so she'd have had to go under there anyway.)Nice bonding moments between John and Kirsty while he was giving directions and between John and Hugo just before they got blown up. Thought Hugo should have just picked up the bomb and chucked it rather than going for a job although he showed marginally more intelligence than Martha, Kirsty and the kids who decide to run after the guy with the bomb.Astonishingly none of them were injured.Would have liked to have known what happened to John, there was no sign of him when the ambulance guys turned up, although since they described Hugo as "one of" the casualties presumably he's around somewhere.I did wonder if they were setting him or Gonk up as a fatality since they seemed to be the only disposeable speaking characters.

Bit odd the way they disposed of Martin:Charlie tells him he'll be more use at the hospital but we never see him there.Seemed to take an awfully long time for Charlie to check if the bus actually left the campsite, especially after she found Trey and knew something was wrong, even if she had to take him to the hospital couldn't she send one of the ubiquitous patrol cars?Nice byplay between Geoff and Annie at the hospital, liked the fact neither of them felt the need to lecture Jai.Thinking about it, although Geoff's still stuffier and slower to forgive, Annie's the one who hands out the lectures most: There seemed to be a look of approval from him when she said Jai being all right was the important thing.Nice that Jai didn't escape Trey's revenge bid entirely:The way he was dismissive towards him then shocked when he realised he wanted to kill him.I think Trey still comes under the breakdown banner, Aden was pretty meticulous too, hiding Rachel's car and phoning Belle to give himself an "alibi". They need to catch him, possibly for his own self as much as anyone's, he clearly needs help:His reversion to an almost childlike state of mind when begging his mother to help him was very similar to how Aden was with Belle because the police turned up.Bit odd that Georgie led the police at the hospital, last episode Angelo said she was off sick and it's still the same day.Did she turn up at lunchtime?I'm hoping that a lot of people, not just Nicole, will take a good long look at themselves and think "If I'd behaved better, this might not have happened"...but I'm not holding my breath.

And yes, Xavier is ruining Ruby.Because she's not like she was when she first turned up:A strong, feisty, independently minded character who breezed into town like a breath of fresh air, managed to beat Nicole at her own game, nominated a bewildered Annie as her best friend, enrolled herself at the local school and pretty much told her family that she was there and they couldn't abandon her anymore.And Pat was a much better boyfriend, he genuinely cared about her and wanted what was best for her.The only reason Xavier hasn't slept with her is because she doesn't want him to:If she gave him the green light, he'd do it tomorrow if not sooner.They've taken a strong and likeable character and turned her into a pathetic lapdog pining after a worthless individual, just like they ruined Belle by pairing her with a loser like Aden and turning her into a doormat for him.

[Slade]

Must mention one other thing. I've just returned from a cruise in northern Europe, during which we docked one day at a small port in Kalundborg in Denmark. In the local museum, there was a reference to the Norse goddess of love and fertility, whom the local used to appease by giving her presents many centuries ago. Her name : Freya. No change there then!

Well not as far as Xavier’s concerned. She had a weird hold over him.

Anyway, I’m surprised Senior Constable Buckton didn’t do a spot check on Trey’s mother’s car as a precautionary measure.

Nice gesture by Angelo to drop by and let Xavier and Martha know about his case being brought forward and to actually go to the trouble of trying to sort things out with the court afterwards. Shame Xavier firstly didn’t follow through and not ring the court and later didn’t show much gratitude. Didn’t really like his attitude in general in that episode also blaming John Palmer too even though he was partly the reason why everybody got out alive.

In one of the rare occasions Coleen actually showed an ounce of decency and basically apologised for being so narrow minded and admitted she was wrong. As Martha said herself before quite reminiscent of when Morag initially disapproved of her and Jack getting back together again. Still quite liking Martha and Hugo at the moment and that was a nice scene where they declared their love for each other at the end.

Funny thing is even though Trey’s mum did the wrong thing lying to Charlie and not turning Trey in I was very sympathetic towards her. She’s only trying to protect him although I’m surprised she even thinks he’s got a fighting chance (having said that Kirsty and Kane did manage to evade getting caught for three years). Furthermore is she prepared to never see her only son again? Again liked their interaction and when she told him she was disgusted with what he did but would help him because she loved him. Charlie’s theory did seem quite plausible in that her actions could also be down to guilt for letting John be controlling enough for him to get to this point. She’s probably going to get into trouble for aiding and abetting - Shame.

I see Kirsty was pulling the self-pitying act again – “I wouldn’t blame Miles if he didn’t take me back” etc. I don’t particularly like her and Miles together but have to admit it was a nice scene where she apologised, opened up and told him how she felt and why she lied about not wanting anymore kids right now. Good to see her wanting to go back to Uni to. I remember way back when she was looking after Pippa and talking to Sally about wanting to start a family and deferring Uni. Now that Ollie's almost old enough to start school she can look at developing a career eventually.

[Red Ranger 1]

I should probably stop banging on about the throw forwards but I ended that one thinking "Oh god, not an Adelle episode."I'm hoping that they're only going to last until the end of next week and the stuff they've been plugging in the "It's back" trailers.After that I'm going to start writing annoyed letters to someone...

Presumably Trey was in the car when Charlie stopped it.Obviously no-one's told her what the point of a roadblock is:You're meant to make sure the person you're looking for isn't in the car before letting it through, especially when his mother's driving.She did show a bit more intelligence at the end of the episode although I'm not sure her tactic will bear much fruit;Jenena's not expecting Trey to contact her. Then again, putting pressure on her like Angelo suggested won't work because she doesn't know where he is.I really can't see Trey surviving on his own for long and he'd be better off giving himself up.Odd that I really hope he doesn't go to jail, given the way the law works in Home and Away he could easily get off.One thing that occurred to me:At what point(assuming it's actually happened)did Trey find out his plan failed?When he was begging Jenena to help him at the hospital and talking about going to jail, he thought everyone on the bus was dead.If Charlie spoke to Jenena before meeting her at the roadblock and probably before she found Trey at home, she must have told her there were no fatalities as yet and only two serious injuries so did she fill Trey in that he's not actually a murderer?Have the police got the gun from the farm under lock and key yet?(I'm presuming Annie told Charlie everything and she had a word with Jai or Xavier about where it was hidden.)I'm still having visions of Trey turning up with it.

Xavier thankfully wasn't as annoying as the trailer suggested(so maybe I should ignore them)and did at least have an excuse for being in a bad mood.I did wonder when he was blaming everyone he could think of for his brother being in hospital whether anyone bothered to point out he was the one that put Jai in the next bed.(Be nice if we got some reaction from him about his best friend nearly dying.) Vagaries of Summer Bay law in action:He blatantly breaks his bail conditions and even before Angelo goes to bat for him no-one does anything about it.I was glad Martha was actually civil to Angelo at the hospital.When and where did he leave a message for Xavier?Xavier hasn't been home for about two days, Martha knew nothing about it and he hasn't had a chance to speak to Hugo.Did Angelo ask one of the officers at the hospital to pass it on?

I really hope that's the end of Miles and Kirsty's troubles, at times it seems like one thing after another. In the end, it seems all it took was for them both to be honest.I hope it's as simple as that anyway.Miles looked disappointed, which is understandable, but if he's lying to Kirsty about how much he wants children they could just be swapping one set of problems for another.She did say "One day" though so hopefully that'll be enough for him.

[Miranda]

Good evening all. Its nice to be back. I like it when HAA takes a break, then we come back all refreshed like starting a new term.

All I can think of to say is: surely the actress who plays Kirsty is pregnant? She has been looking blousey for ages, then today when she turned to speak to Miles, there was a definite bump. So how are they going to get round that in the storyline?

[H&Alover]

When and where did he leave a message for Xavier?Xavier hasn't been home for about two days, Martha knew nothing about it and he hasn't had a chance to speak to Hugo.Did Angelo ask one of the officers at the hospital to pass it on?

Didn't Angelo give Xavier the message about his court appearance at the hospital? I think it was then that he said about ringing the court in the morning to get a postponement.

So after all that build up everyone (including John and Hugo) are all OK - physically at least - bit of an anti-climax.

As we now know Red, John Palmer is O.K. and it appears he is suddenly a minor character who we don't need to see.

Charlie obviously sussed Jenena wasn't telling the truth and IMO did the the right thing by not pushing her. It definitely won't be that hard to find out that she wasn't at the hospital when she said she was. I think Trey was planning to do a runner from the hospital before he found out noone had died, but now instead of murder it will be attempted murder, wasn't he still there when they brought Hugo and John in? I have a feeling somehow he will turn himself in. Didn't Jenena turn round at the road block and go back the way she come?

Did I imagine it or on Tuesday's preview did they not show the paramedics treating John and Hugo at the scene, then yesterday we just see them arriving at the hospital?