Latest UK Episode Discussion (2006-2017 Seasons)

[Red Ranger 1]

I think Leah and Hazem have probably made the right decision calling it a day, although it would have been nice if they'd stayed in touch.They are two people at the very beginning of a relationship and trying to make it work would have been almost impossible.I think that's kind of why I didn't like the ending of the previous episode because it seemed like they were building them up to be more than they were.It is a shame though that he's seemingly been brought in for this storyline and then dropped in such an abrupt manner.

Bit of an uneasy compromise where John's concerned, the show seems to be saying that he was responsible for the riot but he's sorry for it.Well, I suppose it's better than making him out to be the Devil Incarnate and at least we don't get any big speeches about what a saint Ruby is in comparison when she was equally to blame.But while he should have kept his problem with Hazem private, it's a bit of a leap from "You're a bad workman" to "race riot".He did actually seem quite humble when talking to Hazem at the hospital and then Leah at the end.(But is a letter to the paper really the best way to go when they caused the trouble in the first place?)He and Tony do seem to be making the effort with each other, I loved that scene where Tony's on the phone to Rachel and John walked up behind him.("Yes, he was just here...")

I think if I didn't like Aden and Nicole I'd find her repeated insecurities when Aden hasn't actually done anything a bit irritating.But seeing them on screen together is always a joy, even when they're bickering, and I was laughing out loud with that scene of them sitting at opposite ends of the couch.And wonderfully she's still treating Alf like one of her girlfriends, even down to giving him details of her almost-sex life.Interesting directorial touch with Rabbit, the way the angle didn't show her at first until she spoke to Miles.This could still go either way, reserving judgement for now.

[Miranda]

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, its Super John, flying to the rescue

That was a surprise, wasn't it? I can't quite see where they are going with John Palmer. One minute he's awful, the next a hero.

[H&Alover]

Agree there Red, Hazem and Leah had only known each other a couple of weeks and it would have been a big thing to take on on such a short relationship. I think his mum must have read more into it there there actually was. It would be nice as you say if they kept in touch and he didn't disappear from the scene completely. So John isn't as black as he is usually painted and he has realised his actions may have contributed to the riot. His admitting he was a coward certainly was a shock, though I don't really see how him confronting the rioters would have helped anyone, quite possibly may have made it worse. he did the right thing at the time by getting the mob off Hazem and getting him to safety. So is John going to be writing to the papers, wouldn't that look like he is blowing his own trumpet, unless it's followed up by an interview with Hazem. It was his his favour (in my eyes anyway) that he didn't use it for propoganda along the lines of 'see what I did, risked my own safety by rescuing Hazem'.

Obvious breakdown in communication with the equipment salesman and John, which he admitted, then Tony and John shook hands on it, perhaps there is hope for him and Tony working together after all. It was the fact that people were staying that prompted him to go and see Hazem, was it to ask him if it was OK to use his name in clearing the air about what happened? I was under the illusion that Australia had a kind of Health Service, but as John has offered to pay for some of it perhaps not?

Loved the scene between Nic and Alf when she was explaining about what was happening with her and Aden before he cooled on her. The look on his face screamed 'Too Much Information'! Aden and Nic nearly got things sorted then he blew cold again, no wonder she's confused.

Everytime I see Miles on his own now I keep expecting Rabbit to pop up, it was nice to 'see' her last night, when they both went inside and Nicole turned round although she didn't say hello to Rabbit it didn't seem she ignored her either.

BTW what was it Miles said to Leah about Stephen King, something about the hotel? Either I'm going deaf or the dialogue was a bit muffled. I only ask as Stephen King is one of my favourite authors.

[Miranda]

I got the idea Hazem and/or Leah would be writing to the paper actually, it would certainly look better from them

I didn't hear the bit about the hotel but Miles was talking about 'The Shining' today- isn't that Stephen King? So he does seem to share your tastes, H&Alover

What is Nicole's problem? Why can't she just accept Aden is acting the way he is, which is actually pretty normal. She seems determined to drag something out of him and spoil the relationship. I don't even think he pulled away when she went to kiss him the other day. He said he had to get up early the next day, if it was me I'd just accept that was the reason and leave him to it. He's just being a normal man, why get bothered about it.

[comfan93]

Haven't been here in a while...

WOOOO! GEOFF'S GONE! WOO!

However... Martha and Liam?!?! UGH! No no no! How can Martha move on so quickly, even if she does think that just forgetting anything bad ever happened and not thinking about Hugo is the right way to move on? I'd have much rather watched her crying 24/7 for a whole month of episodes than see her with Liam. Martha's moving down to my least favourites.

Xavier and Mink... never actually saw that coming, but strangely... I like it more than Xavier and Ruby. I haven't watched past Tuesday's episode, or whichever one ended with Mink kissing Xavier and leaving. Updating my favs/least favs, adding Martha and Ruby to least favs and removing Geoff.

Anyway, kinda falling behind but I managed to mostly catch up on Tuesday and Wednesday when I was off college, sick.

[Slade]

A word on Thursday, I quite liked the stuff at the hospital with Leah, Hazem, John and Hazem’s mother. Good to see another side to John (a surprisingly more humble/modest one) and I was glad Leah apologised for jumping the gun although most people in her position would have. Also quite liked what John did at the end even though for me it felt out of character.

OMG, stone the flaming crows, he pulled away. It’s the end of the universe as we know it. I don’t really pay much attention to the Nicole and Aden stuff but Nicole slightly irritated me in that episode, the way she just kept going on and on and wouldn’t shut up about it. Surprisingly though I actually quite liked Ruby and overall I think she’s been ok this week. This was one of things I said in the Ruby discussion thread that I wanted to see more of, scenes with Nicole because I quite liked their friendship before and it makes sense now as they are the only two girls left around that age (well three if you count Mink but she’s not really a girly type girl and I can’t see her being friends with Ruby because of Xavier – have yet to see a scene with Nicole though). When Ruby was focusing on someone else rather than herself, she came across quite well and I especially liked her “you have kissing rights” remark. Perhaps Geoff going was a good thing (well for Ruby’s character anyway). I actually hope she doesn’t get together with anyone right now and they focus more on platonic relationships, although I doubt it will happen because it’s unlikely someone her age will remain single for long in Summer Bay. Anyway it will be interesting to see what happens when Nicole returns to school next week. Hard to imagine her in the same class as Xavier.

Good to see some more stuff with Miles and Leah but this time Leah offering the advice. I quite like their friendship at the moment but I hope it just stays like that – a friendship. I can understand why people like the quirky stuff with Miles and Rabbit but personally I’m getting a little tired of it. And this highlights the problem I suspected would arise namely that she is not integrating with any of the other characters. I have to say Rabbit is starting to get a little scary now too.

Martha and Liam – Ah friends with benefits. I thought Coleen’s reaction when she caught them in quite a compromising position was quite funny. I have to say how many guys would kill to be in Liam’s position right now. Got a place to stay with a hot girl, no strings attached sex, regularly cooked hot meals what more could a bloke want?

[Red Ranger 1]

H&Alover, checked the tape and Miles' comment is "Well, I think the moral of this little trip is never let me choose the hotel.I mean, who paints the walls red and black anyway?It was like we were sleeping in a Stephen King novel."And yeah, I think the idea was Hazem was going to write to the paper and tell everyone John helped him out.Which...isn't news frankly, they might have built it up a bit but we saw him wading in at the time.Has John got limitless wealth?First he's bailing out Tony at the gym, now he's paying Hazem's hospital bills.

Alf's episode count this week:Five.Despite a rapidly shrinking regular cast(only seventeen main characters appeared this week), Rachel was only in one and most of the others were only in two:Only Leah, Martha and Miles managed three.

That episode left me feeling a bit strange.I liked it even though there was a lot of things I found annoying, so I guess the whole was greater than the sum of the parts.Aden and Nicole feel like they're going round and round in circles:Every week she feels insecure and he admits he has mixed feelings about their relationship before they both decide they still want to be together.On the plus side, welcome back, Ruby!That's the barmy sidekick Ruby rather than the arrogant brat Ruby that we've been stuck with recently.(Would've kind of liked a scene of her seeing the letter about John in the paper and realising she was wrong about him but I'll let it go.)Maybe she's better when they're not actually giving her a storyline and she's just helping everyone else out.

Didn't really care about Martha and Liam's sex antics, although Colleen walking in on them and not knowing what to say was mildly amusing.It feels like a casual/comfort thing and either it won't go anywhere or they'll take it too far and one or both of them will end up hurt.

I liked the stuff between Miles and Rabbit, although I agree with Slade up to a point that this whole "Can anyone but Miles see her or not?" thing is very limiting.I'm kind of trying to ignore that factor and just enjoy the relationship but it's hard when they keep having her pop up out of nowhere. For the first time this storyline started, Miles does actually seem fairly nervous and jittery but it was still mostly played for laughs.("You knew about the Diner, you can read my mind about chess, you know what card I'm going to play in poker and you say I'm going to die.There's not much hope, is there?", followed by her apologetic look, just lost out as my favourite line to "You know most people would consider it rude to come into someone's house, tell them they're going to die, drink hot chocolate and then leave.")

CURS: Not really sure what the clip of Leah and Hazem was doing there, he doesn't get a mention and the closest thing we had to it being relevant was Miles saying he's worried about her.

[H&Alover]

H&Alover, checked the tape and Miles' comment is "Well, I think the moral of this little trip is never let me choose the hotel.I mean, who paints the walls red and black anyway?It was like we were sleeping in a Stephen King novel."

Thanks for that Red, and I caught the mention of The Shining when he was talking to Rabbit. Not quite sure why he was so rattled about her knowing his next move, depends how good a chess player she is, despite her age. Her suddenly appearing later, which nearly had him jumping out of his skin and also the next day was odd to say the least. Unless she can walk through walls, they must be leaving the doors open as per usual. It did strike me if she is imaginary she would wear the same things each time we saw her, but she does wear different clothes, so still mystified.

I know Nic may have seemed irritating about Aden, but he does seem to blowing hot and cold, but at least she is not throwing a hissy fit like she would have done when she first arrived. Liked the talk she and Ruby had, well to be accurate Ruby did most of the talking. It has said before but perhaps this time Nic and Aden know where they are going at at what pace. Aden has certainly matured enough anyway to be honest enough to admit he doesn't know how he exactly feels rather than just walk away or get angry and hit something or someone.

No mention of John or if the article has appeared in the paper yet, I should think if it had it certainly would have been discussed by Alf at least.

Loved the look on Colleen's face when she walked in on Martha and Liam getting up close and personal. Someone else who leaves their door unlocked obviously! Not sure who was more embarrassed Colleen or Liam!

[Red Ranger 1]

Bit of a so-so start to the week frankly, apart from Miles' stuff.It felt like they were pushing the idea that secondary education is a Good Thing a bit too much by portraying school as something so good that no-one ever leaves...They still haven't convinced me that there's any reason for Nicole to go back to school.If she failed her exams, fine, but she didn't, she passed and while her results weren't brilliant she could still get into uni with them.So why is everyone talking as if going back to school is her only option?Nice to see Aden and Nicole talking about something other than their relationship, I loved his expression when she suggested she could drop out.

So, after three weeks of them living in the same house, we finally see Nicole and Mink together.And it does seem like they don't get on.Not sure if that's because Nicole's moved beyond hanging out with that sort of person or just because Mink's too obnoxious and self-centred even for her.Definitely felt like strangling her throughout most of that episode, it's increasingly obvious she doesn't care about anyone, Romeo included.Some of their scenes together were okay but I was left with the feelings that she only wants him around because she knows deep down that she needs him and is no good on her own, rather than because she genuinely cares about him.When she made the comment about people forcing him into something he doesn't want, it's ironic because that's exactly what she's doing.Wasn't too keen on Gina being portrayed as some wise mother figure.I liked her scene with Miles but stick her with someone younger and she comes across as patronising and sanctimonious and even when she's right she comes across as wrong.I actually found Nicole giving Romeo advice a much more believable scene that Gina sat on a park bench mouthing platitudes at Mink.

Unless I'm reading too much into it, Rabbit does seem less and less like a hallucination if you discount the obvious.When she first appeared, it did seem as though Miles wasn't around to see her so if she's just in his head, she shouldn't have been there.Of course, if he's not hallucinating, he soon will be.His increasingly jittery behaviour was rather amusing.And more fun repartee between him and Rabbit. ("See you later"/"I hope so"/"You're a cheery soul.")

And Irene proving that bosses make the worst employees, walking in and out of the surf club whenever she feels like it and driving Alf to distraction.Or maybe she's just learnt from her own workers:Belle, Kirsty and Aden's habit of walking out of the Diner mid-shift is legendary.

[ebrett84]

And Irene proving that bosses make the worst employees, walking in and out of the surf club whenever she feels like it and driving Alf to distraction.Or maybe she's just learnt from her own workers:Belle, Kirsty and Aden's habit of walking out of the Diner mid-shift is legendary.

One of my favourite scenes last year was when Kirsty arrived at work, yelled at Leah and then just stormed off. She must have been there all of 2 minutes. Still, Belle was the queen of this. It was rare for her to actually finish a shift.