Latest UK Episode Discussion (2006-2017 Seasons)

[Brian]

Well, Annie’s left for good, and there’s a sour taste left by the way her departure was played out. It’s been achieved by character assassination and a plot cop-out.

How not to manage a graceful, realistic exit for a young character: Lesson 1.

Being offered a lengthy trip to Japan, aged 15 (foster care regulations anyone ?) without the school discussing it first with her legal guardian

On Annie’s ‘holiday’ return, she breaks it to Irene she can stay for another 6 months in Japan, instead of the 3 months originally planned. So Annie has been offered this 3 month extension, without the authorities consulting her legal guardian ? And it’s all Annie’s choice ? And Irene doesn’t bat a false eyelash ?

Annie immediately gives Romeo the challenge of making her stay in the bay by ‘doing something‘. That’s not Annie at all, and you know it’ll end in tears. It’s so obviously a plot cop-out and an easy (for the writers) exit excuse. So, she would have given up the study leave, to be with Romeo, if he could have met her (unspecified) requirements ? You just knew he wasn’t going to be allowed to do it. And Annie wouldn’t have asked it, let alone kept it up once she could see the effect it was having.

That last evening, she says she wants to keep their relationship perfect and not risk it sinking into fights etc. How does that fly, compared with her original challenge of wanting him to persuade her to stay ? Isn’t the rejection, through fear, of a good, loving relationship with Romeo - because reality can’t be perfect - classifiable as a emotional disorder ? Why has H&A, through Irene ( ), forgotten their duty of care to Annie ?

I was on holiday last week, so I’ll make a quick reference to the way Annie says one thing to Romeo, but something different, and alien to her character, when speaking to Irene or Ruby. Romeo told her he loved her and never wanted her to go to Japan. Next scene she’s in, she’s telling Irene that when she needs him to be there for her, he backs right off. Were those 2 scenes shown out of sequence ? Were they even part of the same show ? Bewildering

In this final episode, Annie tells Romeo she wants to keep their romance perfect, by ending it. I’m tempted to say what romance ? I will say that’s obviously an easy cop-out device to send her on her way to Japan. It also raises a very serious issue about this whole story: -

Annie is an orphan and in foster care. Fostered children, especially ones who have no possibility of return to their birth family, often suffer from emotional disorders, (lack of ) attachment problems are not uncommon. Apart from the fact that I don’t think Annie would have been allowed to go to Japan for so long, age 15, I think giving that reason as the relationship breaker - that Annie wants perfection and couldn‘t handle the reality of the ups and downs of a relationship - is appalling. I don’t think the writers have thought about this aspect at all ( add it to a long list.)

They have given Annie a farewell where the last thing she’ll be remembered by is causing the split up and hurting Romeo. That’s appalling to.

And I believe that next week, Irene receives an e-mail from Annie saying she’s settled back well in Japan and having a great time.

That’s rubbing salt into the wound. They’re just being cruel now.

yes, i agree with what you say Idris, a very poorly thought out plot. The whole Romeo/Annie storeyline, ever since she came back, did not ring true. At the start, while walking along the beach, they both said that they had been thinking about each other all the time/every day. Well then, they would have made up for lost time by starting a romance straightaway and seeing how it went. They never did and it just seemed so wrong and unreal for both of them. True they both had commitment issues, but they would either have committted or drifted apart. All this trying to impress was rubbish. And the Romeo and Juliet play cross-dressed, did not help either. I'm glad it's over, but it was a cruel way that Annie did it and i think that they would have made a good couple together. Don't blame Ruby - she couldn't have sorted them out. Even Xavier tried and Romeo is going to need his friendship more than ever now.

[idris]

That is exactly my point Posy!!!

I have had this argument quite a few times: I think it is okay to post your thoughts when an episode has been shown i.e. at 2.15 pm, but whenever I have done so in the past, I have been told off and instructed to wait until after the evening showing, 6pm or whatever!

So how come other people do not get told off for posting before the evening showing? Forgive me if I'm a bit paranoid.

I wasn't having a go at Idris at all, just wondering why I'm not allowed to post when I want, but others seem to be able to

Miranda - I think you've based what you're saying on a misunderstanding. I wasn't given permission, or assumed it, to post between episodes. I've said I didn't know about that rule, and that I won't do it again. I've got no problems with that. I really don't want the mods to shoot me in the chin, or whatever punishment they meet out to erring wretches like me. Please don't be encouraging them.

[idris]

yes, i agree with what you say Idris, a very poorly thought out plot. The whole Romeo/Annie storeyline, ever since she came back, did not ring true. At the start, while walking along the beach, they both said that they had been thinking about each other all the time/every day. Well then, they would have made up for lost time by starting a romance straightaway and seeing how it went. They never did and it just seemed so wrong and unreal for both of them. True they both had commitment issues, but they would either have committted or drifted apart. All this trying to impress was rubbish. And the Romeo and Juliet play cross-dressed, did not help either. I'm glad it's over, but it was a cruel way that Annie did it and i think that they would have made a good couple together. Don't blame Ruby - she couldn't have sorted them out. Even Xavier tried and Romeo is going to need his friendship more than ever now.

Yeah, I'm not sure what the average viewer would have made of it for the last 7 weeks, let alone at the end. Apart from the depressing nature of this storyline, the might have beens will annoy the hell out of me for ages.

I don't really blame Ruby, she was just being used (I'm sounding like a conspiracy theorist again ) to keep Annie on track to return to Japan. Annie spoke to remarkably few people over the last 7 weeks. That ensured that older, wiser heads didn't interfere with the plot.

[Red Ranger 1]

Oh, this one's reared its head again, has it?Officially, you're allowed to post about an episode on here once it's aired on Channel 5.Unofficially, there are people who don't watch the show until the evening and they get annoyed when an episode is discussed before then.On the rare occasion I post about an episode before it's repeated, I usually include a note to that effect at the start so anyone who hasn't seen the episode knows to skip it.

I'm not going to think hard about the legal or psychological implications of Annie going to Japan.I don't know whether the writers have done their research and presented a plausible scenario or whether they just made the whole thing up.In all likelihood, Irene signed a permission form at some point.Annie must have turned 16 by now(certainly Charlotte has)since she's in Year 11(Xavier's in the same year as her and he's 17)so she probably does have the final say.Also, I'm not sure Irene ever officially fostered her, she just grabbed her off the street one day, took her home and refused to let her go.(I'm exaggerating but only slightly.)While her grandfather was alive, it was made clear Annie was only staying with Irene with his permission and when he died he made Michael Abraham her legal guardian, so the whole thing's impossibly complicated.(And let's not forget again that poor Jai, similarly orphaned and placed in foster care, has been left in Japan without a word from or two his legal guardian.)

So...Annie's departure.Actually, I have a hard time thinking of it as Annie's departure because it did seem completely about her and Romeo rather than her as an individual.It feels like we've had about sixteen farewell scenes between them over the last few weeks.Some of the stuff with the play felt like it would have been good if it was a couple that I actually believed in and cared about and who had been written with any degree of consistency.(Romeo's slicked down hair look really didn't suit him by the way.)The bit where they're playing out Romeo and Juliet's last meeting and you can tell they're realising they're not going to see each other again either was nicely played by both of them.Their farewell after the play was perfectly adequate and Annie even says that it's better they leave it like that than have another argument and leave on bad terms.And then we have another farewell tacked on the end.I was actually begging for Annie not to turn round and see him because the whole scene was totally pointless.The bit where he tells her his real name was kind of nice but I was left thinking that they were better off devoting the screen time to showing a proper goodbye between Annie and Irene or showing a farewell between her and Ruby(who didn't turn up to wave her off last time either).Instead, it just reinforced that this whole seven weeks has been all about Annie and Romeo.

Didn't think we were going to see Ruby's song for a moment there.Couldn't shake the feeling that the audience would all be thinking "Didn't you die two acts ago?"

The stuff between Miles and Rabbit was quite good, despite being pushed out by the play stuff.Miles' rant as he realises Rabbit is stopping him from having a normal life was good and, possibly for the first time, she literally disappears into thin air.(Although again we see her at the house before Miles comes home, so...)Of course, Miles was soon regretting it and missing her, suggesting he's become rather dependent on her.His message to Leah and Elijah, and claim that Rabbit stayed at home when last we saw he couldn't find her, left me feeling we'd missed about three scenes.

[idris]

I'm not sure whether to admire that degree of suspension of disbelief or not Red Ranger.

This isn't said as a rebuttal of what you've written, but I do know that the writers should have done their homework on this, but I don't think they have. And I strongly suspect that they don't care either. By the way, they get paid enormous amounts of money for 'just making it up'- $6,000 A per episode script according to the recent article about H&A being 7's cash cow.. More importantly, they also have a responsibility to fans to be more conscientious than they have been with regard to character consistency. Haven't we had that particular discussion (or one very similar) before and agreed that that's the case ? Anyway, if they're just going to make it up, they could at least try having a go at cheering us up once in a while. I just feel bloody depressed after the last 12 months.

I didn't intend for this to be 'violins for orphans' , but I think the spiteful hatchet job done on Annie's character, and the message sent out from H&A about caring for any 15/16 year old, let alone who's lost her family as Annie has, were appalling. Don't need a degree in psychology to work that one out.

I'm 99% sure that Irene can't just snatch cute kids from the streets anymore. Annie's legal guardian won't just be able to give her away to Irene either. Most childcare law is about where, and with whom, the child actually lives. If that person is not a relative, or the legal guardian, then it would be foster care. I actually don't care that much about the legal niceties either, but I do care about the lack of care, affection and attention shown by Irene. At least Miles has a bit of an excuse for not paying attention to what's happened to Jai. Let's admit to it, once a character has left, the writers show their complete indifference to them in many cases. Someone should remind them that that's only one step removed from showing indifference to the fans.

Under different circumstances, Romeo divulging his name to Annie would have been fun, but considering the context, it was trivial and inappropriate, bordering on insulting really. At least in that respect, the writers were consistent with the way they've handled this relationship from the start - very badly.

[stephen!]

hey am i the only one who liked annie's exit?

shame she's gone. home and away's loss!

pleased we are seeing leah more now and really like elijah.

[alreetlike]

I'm so pleased to finally see an end to the Annie/Romeo farce - I've been waiting for her to leave again ever since she came back and first interacted with Romeo, which is a shame as previously I didn't mind her character at all. I can sort of see what the writers were trying to do, but I don't think it worked at all, for reasons I won't go into as they've already been stated by others.

Looking forward to seeing more from Romeo without being dragged down by a rubbish storyline.

[Miranda]

Miranda - I think you've based what you're saying on a misunderstanding. I wasn't given permission, or assumed it, to post between episodes. I've said I didn't know about that rule, and that I won't do it again. I've got no problems with that. I really don't want the mods to shoot me in the chin, or whatever punishment they meet out to erring wretches like me. Please don't be encouraging them.

No, what I'm saying is that there isn't a rule, no mods have said anything. I didn't mean you should have permission or should worry about what to post when, its up to you.

Its just that when I posted about the afternoon episodes, I was told off by other posters, and I just thought it was unfair that I was told off immediately, yet when other posters do exactly the same as me, they are not told off. I didn't know about this rule beforehand, it just seems to be an unofficial rule, as Red Ranger says. I suddenly found myself being told off for something I didn't need to be told off for, which was unfair.

Posy- don't worry, it is just an annoying subject, I'm not mortally offended

I have to rush off now, I will talk about the episodes in my next post and leave the afternoon episode posting saga to rest.

[H&Alover]

Though the Annie leaving story has been drawn out (and judging by the fact she was leaving the next day it must have arranged it at least a week ago) the fact it was all revealed via the play was rather poignant. To me it added to their acting of the tragic couple. I don't know anything of the legalities of how old a pupil has to be to qualify for an exchange visit but there was another girl who was due to go instead of Annie so I guess she must have been the same age. True she had parents and her mum would have traveled with her (as Irene did at first with Annie). Jai didn't have a chaperone (must be different for boys). Was all that saying 'goodbye forever' meant to indicate Annie isn't coming back?

First time we have seen Miles really lose his temper with Rabbit which was quite disturbing. He immediately regretted it though. Very telling that he woke from that dream and went to tell Elijah and Leah it was Rabbit that had told him what was going to happen. Does that mean he was having the premonitions all along? I thought Leah was being very pushy asking Elijah to tell her what was wrong with Miles when he was told it in confidence, she wouldn't like it if it had been the other way round.

As for the to post or not to post (sorry William) debate as regards people watching the fiver or five afternoon episode, there is another way for it not to spoil it for those of us who watch the five evening episode. There is the spoiler option, that way we can decide whether to read it or not. Just a suggestion.

From the trailers from next weeks episodes looks like everything regarding Hugo could be coming to a head soon.

[Miranda]

Well I'm glad Annie has gone. I liked her a little, but she and Romeo were soooooooo booooooooooring. They seemed better separately

What is wrong with John adn Tony? Are they teenagers?

It was quite weird when we saw Rabbit from Elijah and Leah's perspective, and Miles did appear deranged. I didn't like the idea of Rabbit controlling him and as Elijah said, her speeches don't sound like they are from a little girl, she is unnaturally grown up.