Latest UK Episode Discussion (2006-2017 Seasons)

[Slade]

So Robertson did know that Charlie did something to Grant but I’m guessing he still didn’t know the exact circumstances. I’m still not convinced about how Ross could have done it without being seen but I do agree some really good scenes in the police station. I didn’t figure out it was Ross until literally right until he walked into the police station and then I realised the way Robertson had been hounding Charlie was solely to get him to confess. I especially liked the part where Charlie went up to Robertson and asked him if he really believed she did it. For the first time she seemed thankful towards him for allowing him to come forward. I’m guessing Robertson probably respects Ross and the years he’s served in the police force. Regardless of what Grant did although the killing wasn’t pre-meditated in some respects I still wonder if it was cold-blooded murder. Grant wasn’t actually a direct threat to Ross and Ross didn’t seem that remorseful about it either. It’s funny because when he made the full confession to Robertson I felt sorry for him, Morag and especially Charlie but I didn’t have one bit of sympathy for Ruby. This whole mess was her fault. If she’d just listened to Charlie in the first place and stayed away from Grant this wouldn’t have happened - Although at least he’s never going to harm anyone again. I wonder if Morag will represent Ross or whether she will want to support him as his wife during court. I really didn’t like the part where Ruby said Ross would always be her father as it made me think she would always see Charlie as a sister and never as a mother and I would like to those two to have a mother/daughter relationship one day.

I’m disappointed Robertson’s gone as I felt he provided some much needed humour and I especially liked the way he still referred to Morag as battleship. It’s a shame we couldn’t have seen more stuff with him and Leah but I'm glad she turned up to say goodbye to him and the kiss was nice of her.

I’ve never particularly liked Romeo anyway. As a character I find him quite boring and as someone else mentioned earlier on in the thread he is quite clichéd. I was never really a fan of Annie and Jai but I find myself hoping for a Jai and Annie reunion just to prevent her from getting with that clown. And I do actually agree with other people’s comments. Considering that he tried it on with Martha I would have thought under normal circumstances Annie would have simply been beneath his notice. I’m not sure about her liking him either. She seems like a person that’s more concerned about what’s on the inside and would like to get to know someone before falling for them but I guess she’s growing up now.

[H&Alover]

So yes indeed it was Ross. As you said Red we may never know how the full details of how he got from the home and back again. You are probably right as well that Ross confessed to Charlie. Robertson behaved very well during the confession session, once he knew the truth he was very respectful to all. I found that echoey thing annoying as well, did detract from an otherwise dramatic scene. He obviously respected Ross because he called him Detective Buckton when he last visited. Not sure how professional he was being though by calling Morag battleship during a taped interview. His revalation that he knew Grant had been tasered was a surprise and that of all the cops at the station Charlie had been the only one absent when it was found it had gone. Robertson's apology to Morag was a nice thing to do. Poor Morag just when she thought she had found happiness not only does Ross develop Altzimers but now may go to prison. Wishing Angelo good luck with his search was a nice touch.

Thinking about it after even if Grant had been jailed at the time, how much time would he have served considering he was only 14? Granted (sorry) he may not have had such a good job or life style, but he was quite a charmer and could still have turned out the same way.

I think he actually did tell Leah the truth about his name, just unfortunate his parents were called Robertson, shame he had to go, he certainly livened the place up, loved the painting he gave Leah (obviously the one he was talking about when he first meet her. That kiss certainly took him by surprise.

I'm thinking Ruby found she had wet the bed when she woke up, there is definitely wrong there. Hopefully she won't blame herself too much, it was a natural instinct to want to know who her dad was, despite the cicumstances.

I found that scene of Romeo looking all moody in the middle of it all rather strange as it had nothing to do with it.

[Brian]

Charlie comforting Ruby as Ross was led away leaves me with hope that they can rebuild their relationship.Ruby insisting Ross will always be her father...I'm in two minds about.On the one hand, it could be her acknowledging that he's been more of a father to her than Grant ever was or possibly could be.But I've been worried every since this storyline started that they'll do a Kat-and-Zoe and once the original shock's over everyone will just carry on as if it never happens.I guess we'll have to wait and see how Charlie and Ruby's relationship develops now, whether they have to fit into each other's lives in a different way or whether they'll just go back to pretending they're sisters and occasionally remember to mention they're not.Are we meant to assume Ruby wet the bed, given by her reaction when she woke up, or just that she was really sweaty?

Yes, I would love to see a proper mother/daughter relationship between Charlie and Ruby. What nobody has yet said is why did Charlie not put a stop to what Ruby was doing giving a false alibi and involving Xavier. Charlie must have known what Ruby was doing in giving her an alibi. Both as a police officer and a mother, she should have taken more control over Ruby. We heard yesterday Ruby saying to Charlie that she is old enough to make her own decisions and that is blatantly not true. A 16 year old girl should not be running around at school, taking a demanding physical job and upsetting boys. Get Ruby back home and start being a proper mother to her, (like Gina is doing with 16 year old Xavier) and make her apologise properly to Xavier)! Charlie is just as much to blame for all this as Ruby, perhaps more so.

One other point. Why did Robertson believe Ross so quickly that he was the killer. Often innocent people own up to save other people. Did Robertson have any evidence to convict Ross? Will we ever find out or was it a quick way to finish that story? Soaps often spin out good storeylines way past their sell-by date!

[Miranda]

Not surprised it was Ross who murdered Grant, as he said he should have done something at the time when Grant raped Charlie [obviously I don't mean murder him, just get him in jail]. I thought it would have to be someone strong to stab Grant, I can't imagine Ruby or even Charlie would have the strength to stab an aggressive man like Grant while face to face. Maybe if they had surprised him, but the wounds were at the front of Grant so it must have been a face to face encounter.

[Red Ranger 1]

Regardless of what Grant did although the killing wasn’t pre-meditated in some respects I still wonder if it was cold-blooded murder. Grant wasn’t actually a direct threat to Ross and Ross didn’t seem that remorseful about it either.

I'm not saying it wasn't cold-blooded and definitely not saying that it was self-defence but going from what Ross said I don't think there was a moment where he consciously thought "I'm going to kill him." Grant was effectively threatening his family and he just lashed out at him in anger.A moment of madness, if you like.Not sure what evidence Robertson had(could forensics have proved Ross was at the fish market?)or what made him suspect Ross but from what he said I got the impression he could have arrested and charged him at any time but wanted him to confess for his own sake.Don't think Charlie could have done much about Ruby's false alibi:She didn't know for sure it was a lie since she was asleep and she did tell Hugo that if he was worried Xavier was in trouble he should speak to him. By the way, given that she's never shown much interest in them I'm assuming the fact Ruby's got two half-siblings out there will never be mentioned again.

So onto today's episode.Unfortunately.I don't say this very often but that episode was the pits.I might be critical of most episodes but it's rare to find one I derive almost no enjoyment from.Two storylines that started out quite well have gone rapidly downhill and are hopefully now at rock bottom because I hate to think there's worse to come.

The first scene summed it up:Romeo's just been cracking onto Annie then he tells Jai he'll fix things for him.Talk about two-faced.Even though he eventually tried to tell Jai what was going on, he was blatantly lying when he said he didn't do anything until he knew Jai wasn't interested, he manipulated Annie into thinking the poems were from him last week and was clearly trying it on with her last episode.I used to really like the idea of Romeo and Annie together but his recent behaviour has completely soured my opinion of them and worse, it's making me dislike Annie, a character I normally adore.I quite liked the role reversal of her flirting with Romeo and him not knowing what to do about it but when she threw a tantrum and stormed off because he was doing the job he's paid to do instead of fooling about with her I just wanted to slap her.Romeo seemed to gloss over things when he told her about the poems:Regardless of who wrote them(and from his comment about leaving it the way they agreed, I'm guessing it was a collaboration), Jai was the one who sent them and he still implied it was him.She seems to have gone from one extreme to the other:She effectively broke up with Dexter because she didn't want to upset Jai, now she's decided she doesn't care how he feels so long as she gets what she wants.I'd have liked her to go and see him and explain things rather than just dismissing him as not important.I was glad their liaison at the Diner didn't work out but I'd have respected Romeo before if he genuinely hadn't turned up instead of getting there just too late.And unfortunately, even though my sympathies are with him, I actually found Jai annoying as well.I just wished he'd find some backbone and confront Romeo and Annie instead of sulking.Even when he did tell Romeo what he thinks of him he just came across as wet.I'm guessing he wanted Annie to go on the exchange to keep her and Romeo apart but now that's not going to happen he's just decided to run away from the situation.

Terrible storyline no.2:Announcing Rachel had post-natal depression then having her disappear for three episodes before turning up completely normal and revealing she'd had a few parenting lessons and it was all sorted was poor but typical Home and Away.But now we're getting a tedious role reversal, Rachel's happy at work while Tony's struggling with Harry, which no-one seems to have noticed completely undermines the idea.If they'd just had Rachel as a new parent who was struggling with looking after a baby full-time, fine, but apparently she needs to have a medical condition to explain her behaviour.Except Tony doesn't have PND and while he's not as bad as Rachel became the parallel collapses completely.This whole bringing-up-PND-because-it-feels-trendy seems less like an exploration of a serious issue that affects people in real life and more like lazy box ticking. And the things they threw at Tony were ridiculously contrived.There's only one other person who can run the gym and he's sick?(I'm assuming this Jimmy that Tony keeps mentioning isn't the guy he thought kidnapped Rachel last year...)Some random extra who's been perfectly fine without it decides to turn on the music full blast when a guy with a sleeping baby walks in?Rachel, who should know better, rings the mobile that Tony hasn't bothered to turn off or put on silent just as Harry gets to sleep?I'll buy the wrong delivery coming but why do they need Tony to sort out when the delivery guy [the same guy that put his foot in it with Tony after Beth died, by the way, guess he must really hates him...] says "the other guy" has already signed for it.Couldn't he have sorted it out?Did he sign without checking the order?Aargh!

Hopefully we're not going to get too many episodes like this...

[*CJ*]

I will miss Ross if he's never to be seen again, he certainly adds something to the show. I didn't think it was Ruby or Charlie, but didn't particularly think it was him either. I actually thought Grant might be mixed up in the people smuggling plot, which somehow led to his death.

Talking of missing people...11 episodes (yes, I counted ), and Robert is off? I unhappily must accuse him of some of the most efficient sleuthing yet witnessed in the Bay! Damn. Why'd he have to be so good? Couldn't he stick around and help out Angelo (who, while on perhaps a trickier case, has taken a year to get practically nowhere!)? This jury finds him thoroughly guilty of staying for far too short a period, and I'd like to award him a 15 year sentence in the Bay, with a recommended minimum term of ten years.

I thought he said to Angelo they'd taken two hours to drive to the retirement home, so that would be a long trip for Ross to make alone, or even with a taxi/train?, and to not be missed. Wonder what the phone call about something coloured was. What did they take from his room, was there real evidence there?

Turns out I wasn't always so keen on "Battleship" in the end - I rate Morag a lot. It sometimes felt disrespectful, to the point of rude, particularly in front of others, even worse, in formal situations and in front of kids, uh, students. But I loved everything else about him. If I have one wish for Christmas (apart from the impossible one about finding certain people under the tree), I'd beg the producers/writers to bring him back! Absolutely outstanding character.

[idris]

So yes indeed it was Ross. As you said Red we may never know how the full details of how he got from the home and back again. You are probably right as well that Ross confessed to Charlie. Robertson behaved very well during the confession session, once he knew the truth he was very respectful to all. I found that echoey thing annoying as well, did detract from an otherwise dramatic scene. He obviously respected Ross because he called him Detective Buckton when he last visited. Not sure how professional he was being though by calling Morag battleship during a taped interview. His revalation that he knew Grant had been tasered was a surprise and that of all the cops at the station Charlie had been the only one absent when it was found it had gone. Robertson's apology to Morag was a nice thing to do. Poor Morag just when she thought she had found happiness not only does Ross develop Altzimers but now may go to prison. Wishing Angelo good luck with his search was a nice touch.

Thinking about it after even if Grant had been jailed at the time, how much time would he have served considering he was only 14? Granted (sorry) he may not have had such a good job or life style, but he was quite a charmer and could still have turned out the same way.

I think he actually did tell Leah the truth about his name, just unfortunate his parents were called Robertson, shame he had to go, he certainly livened the place up, loved the painting he gave Leah (obviously the one he was talking about when he first meet her. That kiss certainly took him by surprise.

I'm thinking Ruby found she had wet the bed when she woke up, there is definitely wrong there. Hopefully she won't blame herself too much, it was a natural instinct to want to know who her dad was, despite the cicumstances.

I found that scene of Romeo looking all moody in the middle of it all rather strange as it had nothing to do with it.

Romeo is conflicted - torn between friendship and loyalty to Jai and his attraction to Annie. I think that scene is about a week or two too late in the saga though, and this delay to a resolution between them has caused a disjointed feel to quite a number of their scenes together. After he'd hand delivered the love poem (as in LOVE poem) to Annie last week in the diner, how could their be any doubt in each others minds? This hot/cold behaviour between them, mostly from him, has become way too overplayed (although there is a spoiler reason that I can think of as to why it has been developed like this.) Romeo and Jai have been behaving like jerks with Annie, as though she is an object in fact. At least Romeo has the "I'm conflicted " excuse. Jai is just selfish, and having been through this once before with the Annie/ Dexter relationship, you'd have thought he would have grown up a bit.

As for the question, should Romeo and Annie get together ? What's the problem ? He's 17, she'll be 16 early next year (the actors age difference is irrelevant in this - unless people just want to posture about how "inappropriate" it all is - it's a soap after all.) As for Annie not being in Romeo's league - lol. I think people should wake up and smell the coffee on that one. In real life there would have been a queue of boys at Annie's door.

[Red Ranger 1]

Romeo is conflicted - torn between friendship and loyalty to Jai and his attraction to Annie. I think that scene is about a week or two too late in the saga though, and this delay to a resolution between them has caused a disjointed feel to quite a number of their scenes together. After he'd hand delivered the love poem (as in LOVE poem) to Annie last week in the diner, how could their be any doubt in each others minds? This hot/cold behaviour between them, mostly from him, has become way too overplayed (although there is a spoiler reason that I can think of as to why it has been developed like this.) Romeo and Jai have been behaving like jerks with Annie, as though she is an object in fact. At least Romeo has the "I'm conflicted " excuse. Jai is just selfish, and having been through this once before with the Annie/ Dexter relationship, you'd have thought he would have grown up a bit.

Until that last episode, when he was understandly upset that she'd yet again been going behind his back instead of being upfront with him, Jai has never been a jerk towards Annie.I blame Romeo for the whole situation and I've seen no evidence of loyalty to Jai, he's seemed conflicted at times but it hasn't stopped him pretending to help Jai whilst making a play for Annie himself.Jai's in love with Annie(as in LOVE)and wants her back.A few weeks ago, he'd accepted she wasn't interested and wanted to move on and was ready to give up on her but Romeo, either through guilt or cowardice, insisted he go through with his plan to get them back together, then used it to convince Annie that the love poems that Jai had been sending her were from him.He seems to be treating the whole thing like a game, as his spiel to Annie at the end of the previous episode proved, he's already shown that his promises mean nothing.I'd like to think that if Annie found out what he'd been up to she'd want nothing to do with him but my opinion of her has nose-dived over the last few months and especially over the last couple of episodes.Not so long ago she supposedly loved Jai and now she's showing him nothing but contempt.

[Zetti]

I think you are being really harsh on Romeo. Ok yeh he has been playing the situation to his advantage but he is human, and now that Jai has backed off thats when he goes to Annie that he was going to become the person she wants, he is human and I think that shows.

[idris]

Romeo is conflicted - torn between friendship and loyalty to Jai and his attraction to Annie. I think that scene is about a week or two too late in the saga though, and this delay to a resolution between them has caused a disjointed feel to quite a number of their scenes together. After he'd hand delivered the love poem (as in LOVE poem) to Annie last week in the diner, how could their be any doubt in each others minds? This hot/cold behaviour between them, mostly from him, has become way too overplayed (although there is a spoiler reason that I can think of as to why it has been developed like this.) Romeo and Jai have been behaving like jerks with Annie, as though she is an object in fact. At least Romeo has the "I'm conflicted " excuse. Jai is just selfish, and having been through this once before with the Annie/ Dexter relationship, you'd have thought he would have grown up a bit.

Until that last episode, when he was understandly upset that she'd yet again been going behind his back instead of being upfront with him, Jai has never been a jerk towards Annie.I blame Romeo for the whole situation and I've seen no evidence of loyalty to Jai, he's seemed conflicted at times but it hasn't stopped him pretending to help Jai whilst making a play for Annie himself.Jai's in love with Annie(as in LOVE)and wants her back.A few weeks ago, he'd accepted she wasn't interested and wanted to move on and was ready to give up on her but Romeo, either through guilt or cowardice, insisted he go through with his plan to get them back together, then used it to convince Annie that the love poems that Jai had been sending her were from him.He seems to be treating the whole thing like a game, as his spiel to Annie at the end of the previous episode proved, he's already shown that his promises mean nothing.I'd like to think that if Annie found out what he'd been up to she'd want nothing to do with him but my opinion of her has nose-dived over the last few months and especially over the last couple of episodes.Not so long ago she supposedly loved Jai and now she's showing him nothing but contempt.

First of all in response to your first post - I agree that the story is disjointed and doesn't ring true (see my post above.) I also agree that Annie's character is having to make some quantum leaps, some of them not easy to accept as being a rational development of her character. But please don't go blaming Annie for those two jerks behaviour, or some fast track character development. So...

Can I play Morag defending Annie on this one?

Annie was not and is not a possession. She was not going behind his back - they aren't a couple and the world doesn't revolve around him. As for Jai not being a jerk towards Annie... well not unless you count an unwillingness to accept Annie's decision to move on and his obsessive won't take no for an answer attitude towards her, and his reaction to her getting together with Dexter and now Romeo and his strange comments to Annie like "I'm the only one who can make you happy"...no, apart from that, he hasn't has he? Jai and her broke up nearly six months ago ? She has told him many times they are over and has even tried to spare his feelings by not revealing her relationship with Dexter (who was dragged out town by his mother - that's the reason their relationship broke up, not that Annie broke up with him for Jai.) Jai has been in denial ever since, unhealthy behaviour at the best of times, but his refusal to accept Annie's decision, and his obsessive behaviour and comments (e.g. what he said to Kirsty and Miles last week about how close he was to getting back with Annie, despite not having spoken to her. Something along the lines of "I know she feels like this too, I don't have to ask her" - sorry if the quote is not 100% accurate) should have started alarm bells ringing in Miles and Kirstys' ears, if they had anything between them that is. Jai is close to going into some very dark places with this possessiveness.

Annie does not owe even 0.1% of an explanation to Jai for the way she chooses to live her life now. Why should she ? He does not own her, they are an ex-couple, nor did he own her when they were a couple. Some people would have gone round to Jai and told him where to get off long before now. Annie's just too nice to do that though, ain't she ?