Latest UK Episode Discussion (2006-2017 Seasons)

[Red Ranger 1]

John and Tony's sniping does seem to have gone literally beyond a joke.It's not the fact that they're planning to knock seven bells out of each other that bothers me but the fact that there does seem to be a genuine nastiness in their exchanges now.Nice to see some decent interaction between Tony and Rachel for the first time in a while.I'm glad that Gina seems to have toned down her "Boxing's bad" attitude.Sadly she loses points by once more assuming the worst of Xavier, even though she was right to be suspicious.Seems Xavier's biggest mistake wasn't asking his arch-enemy to look after the money but asking his mum's boyfriend.

I found the debate between Miles and Elijah quite interesting, certainly more so than Leah's simplistic "He's nuts" attitude.So, was Miles supposed to have had this vision while he was asleep? Because I'm still feeling like I've missed a bit.All the same, like Rachel said, I'm left feeling that they need to leave Miles to sort this through on his own.Elijah was a bit too direct with his "advice" and I'm finding it hard to accept the suggestion that Rabbit is evil.It would be better for Elijah to concentrate on the fact that she's taken over Miles' life.

[idris]

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.

Yes, I think you are unique! There are some who disliked her and couldn't wait for Annie to go, but I think you're the only one of those who liked her (?) who liked her exit, as far as I know.

I didn't want Annie to go to Japan at all, but if she had to go back, there should have been an attempt at a serious relationship with Romeo during most the last 7 weeks, and if they found it didn't work, then so be it. Then that ending with Romeo might have been appropriate. It still doesn't mean that the last 7 weeks would have been acceptable though.

Main reason ? That Annie didn't speak with Alf (mentions of off-screen conversations don't count - otherwise, what do writers get paid for ?) Martha (who had quite strong connections with Annie, and was the one responsible for bringing her back from Japan) Xavier (Romeo's best friend, Jai's friend and Ruby's whatever) Miles (Jai's guardian) Aden (strong connection through Belle and Geoff) and of course, the church (you remember that don't you ? The same one that formed most of her values.) Oh, I nearly forgot that she didn't take up on an offer (given in her first seconds back from Japan) of dinner with Charlie.

Sorry this is a day late.

[H&Alover]

Although John and Tony do seem to be acting, as Gina put it, worse than her pupils, maybe the fight will turn out to be a good thing and clear the air between them at last. It's not as if it's going to be a bare knuckle fight to the death, I assume they are going to be wearing gloves and someone will be there to act as ref and each if them will have a second. I may have missed something, but where did this idea of Tony's of a fight academy for disadvantaged kids come from?

I wasn't too sure about John opening Xavier's locker, but as he reasoned if he had suspicions that something illegal was stashed in it, he as owner, had the right to open it, but wouldn't the 'owner' (in this case) Xavier have to be there. When a search has been made of the lockers at SBH the pupil has to be there. At least Gina realised Xavier couldn't possibly have made that much money from drugs, I look forward to her questioning Xavier, he's not that good a liar to keep the truth from her, Martha soon got it out of him.

I don't think Rabbit is evil either, but she does appear to be 'controlling' Miles in some way. When Elijah suggested that Miles was blaming Rabbit for things he was doing himself, the only thing that sprung to mind was the spray painting and I'm not sure Miles even knew he was doing it. Unless he meant the fact as Miles was answering for Rabbit, so he could be saying what he is actually thinking rather than it being Rabbit's thoughts. He hasn't done anything dangerous to himself (apart from falling downstairs) and certainly not to anyone else. I agree he should be left to sort it out himself, but his friends should be on hand to support him.

[Miranda]

So Tony and Rachel's house is the latest to be given a mysterious makeover with no mention of it happening . I do like it though.

I don't see why Tony just doesn't laugh at John's silly remarks, they are on the verge of humour. I think if Tony laughed, John would be deflated.

As to the money Hugo left Xavier so he could do good with it: why didn't Xavier just give it to a charity, or more than one charity to avoid questions about the size of the donation. He could have posted it off, not put it in a charity box as he tried to that time.

Now I've watched the second half of the episode:

Wow, what revelations. Poor Larry, dying just before he received Aden's forgiveness. I so hoped he hadn't been murdered by Justin or they had had some argument or something awful. He died of his injuries I presume. It was awful that his body was buried and dug up etc. but at least he wouldn't have known anything about it.

And then Martha being told the truth about Hugo. If only everyone grieving could be told that actually, their loved one was not really dead and they could see them again...

Brilliant acting by Aden/Todd and Justin/ wotsisname. I liked the bit in the police station where they held hands [in a manly, brotherly way of course] and when they were crying on the stairs. Very moving and realistic.

[KirstyEkua]

^^Tony and Rachel's new house debuted a good few weeks ago I like it although it's rather girly

Loved Rachels: 'I could take both of you but that's not the point.' I think she could too I get why she's angry - coaching Xavier to box professionally and helping underpriviliged kids is completely different to fighting someone out of spite. Reallly loved the banter between Tony and Rachel these past few episodes - and loved them talking to each other through Harry.

I do think Tony and John are being really immature about the whole thing and deciding to box is just insane; it won't solve anything. But i think John's comments are no longer funny and his constant taunting and undermining of Tony is pathetic on his part. He seems to get some sort of pleasure out of it which is the worst thing. And i wish Gina would call him on it instead of laughing along and letting it slide.

I don't like the Aden/Justin storyline and fear that once again Aden's actions are going to be pushed aside and forgotten all becasue of his 'golden boy' status. It frustrates me so much.

[Miranda]

Oh dear KirstyEkua, I'm rather behind with the decoration situation of the characters

I'd love to see Rachel knocking out John and Tony But Tony should take the high road and laugh patronisingly at John's 'jokes', John is so childish.

I don't like the Justin/Aden storyline either, it is sickening that they buried and re buried their father. But their acting was brilliant yesterday.

[Red Ranger 1]

Alf's episode count this week:Four(third episode he's missed this year and again he was still credited).Astonishingly, not only was Miles in four but so was Rabbit, who isn't even a regular. Marilyn was only in one, although she was credited on Monday and Thursday despite not appearing.

So...Justin didn't kill Larry.Not much of a surprise really.There's something poignant about Larry, who tends to be on the receiving end of an awful lot of bile from Aden, spending his last moments begging him to forgive him for his own week and perhaps even deliberately leaving evidence that would exonerate Justin.I got the feeling that Larry knew he was a goner and made the call because he thought Aden needed to hear it to move on.Does Aden finally get it?It's hard to say.He seemed emotional when he heard the message but he's done that before and then just gone back to blaming him for everything.The only thing that didn't ring true was his "Your brother and I have had a long talk and he's forgiven me":Given that Justin's response to Aden asking if he'd heard from Larry was pretty blunt and he seemed certain he'd have wanted to kill him, it seems pretty unbelievable that it'd be that easy.I wasn't too keen on Nicole's behaviour, I like her supporting Aden but once again she seemed to cross the line into condoning his actions, especially when she turned up at Charlie's house demanding she drop the charges despite, as Alf pointed out, Aden having done a lot of bad and illegal things.Lately the show seems to be constantly sending out the message that no-one should have to face the consequences of their actions and their loved ones should help them get off.

Some nice interaction between Tony and Rachel.I liked the fact that even though Rachel disapproved of the boxing match it felt like she didn't think it was worth falling out over.

Gina threw away all the good will she earned from me in the previous episode by once again thinking the worst of her sons.I'm glad that Xavier and Martha stood up to her because she came across as a self-righteous bully.(Typically, Xavier blamed John for something that was Gina's idea...) She made a few good suggestions about what to do with the money but her continued refusal to say a nice word about Hugo, or allow anyone else to do so, disgusts me.I've heard it suggested she's in denial about her grief but frankly I think she really is that cold.I could understand why Alf said what he did to Martha but I'm not sure what he thinks it will achieve or what he expects her to do next.

[H&Alover]

So as most of us had already thought Justin didn't kill Larry, it was as a result of his injuries from the crash, which will probably be confirmed when the police get the forensics back. Justin must have passed out and Larry staggered off, possibly looking for someone to help them. It must have been a huge relief to him (Justin), as not knowing was driving him crazy. Wonder what would have happened if Aden had taken the call when it was sent? Nicole was doing what anyone would I suppose, but there was no way Charlie could do anything to help, luckily for Aden and Justin the truth came out. Both Justin and Aden ought to be charged with disturbing a crime scene (even if it wasn't) and isn't there some law about messing around with a dead body?

I am probably in the minority, but I would like to see John and Tony in the ring, as both of them having been bigging themselves up, it should be interesting to see if they can actually live up to their boasts as to whom is best.

I suppose Xavier blamed John because he is the main key holder and it would be his decision to open the locker, even though it was Gina's suspicion that something might be in there that shouldn't be. She didn't have any right to have a pop at Martha, it was Xavier's secret, even though she had urged him to tell Gina. She still has Hugo down as a cold hearted villian who didn't care about anyone. Is this to protect herself so she doesn't have to face her true feelings, as long as she can paint him as a really bad guy she can justify not grieving for him.

Xavier isn't as green as he is cabbage looking given that he has worked out that Hugo could be alive (if only he knew). So what is Martha going to do now Alf has told her the truth, I'm sure we will find out next week.

[Red Ranger 1]

One of the best episodes in a while.And again no teens, apart from Romeo, who was responsible for the only duff moment:The scene of him alone on the beach was the most laughable thing since that scene of Geoff alone on the beach just before he left.He deletes Annie's phone number.Normal, post break-up behaviour.Then he stands up and poses dramatically."What are you going to do now, throw it in the sea?"I asked.He did.I laughed.Not in a good way.

Otherwise I liked Emo Romeo's scenes, he seems to have rediscovered the ability to laugh at himself which has been missing in action for about six months.His banter with Leah was good, his banter with Liam even better, as their much neglected double act gets another outing.Liam just about edges out Miles and Rabbit's discussion on alternative employments for the episode's biggest good laugh:"Actually, I'm not even certain what the point of the story is.But I've got a big Harley now so I don't care."

I guess it was inevitable that Martha would be angry with Angelo but thankfully it was reasonable anger:Despite the "Go to hell" she didn't resort to throwing around wild accusations and insults because she was upset.News didn't seem to do her much good in the short term as Angelo has to stop her bleeding all over the kitchen but by the end she seems to have reached a kind of peace and accepted that she needs to keep quiet until they know exactly what the situation is.I'm in two minds about keeping it from Xavier:On the one hand, he's already asking awkward questions and could blow the lid on things by mistake, on the other hand, if he knew he'd probably go and do something stupid.Gina is determined not to mention Hugo so keeping it from her shouldn't be a problem.But where was Alf?Normally they're desperate to squeeze him into an episode but a scene of Angelo confronting him about opening his big mouth was sorely lacking.

Interesting that Rabbit encourages Miles to go back to teaching, so even though she caused the trouble by bugging him at school it is, as Elijah suggested, all his doing that his career's in tatters. Nice that we actually got to see Rabbit's cryptic clue this time rather than Miles suddenly mentioning it in a confusing manner.So...we see children including VJ with Leah and Elijah lying apparently unharmed but unconscious and Miles can't move to get to them.Is there going to be gas in the caves?Or do they get trapped by a cave-in?

[idris]

I think it was meant to be A Dramatic End to a tragic romance. Taken at face value, I found the 'deletion' of Annie to be another nasty little turn of the knife. But, it gave me a quiet laugh. Unwittingly, because I don't think they're playing triple buff to allow for her return in the future, the writers got that 'lets consign Annie to the past' moment wrong. Why ? Because it would have made much more dramatic sense for Romeo to be looking at a photo of Annie on his phone and not delete it, but throw it, and her memory, into the sea.