Latest UK Episode Discussion (2006-2017 Seasons)

[charmed60]

I think it's all got a little off topic now so maybe we should all just agree to disagree. I don't believe Kirsty ever said anywhere that losing a son is far worse than being abused as a child; she was simply saying that it frustrated her that no matter what crimes Aden committed he got away with them with minimal if no punishment and he was portrayed by the writers as being someone who was a 'golden' character who we should all feel sorry for no matter not. I think it's a bit pointless to compare Aden and Tony and Charlie because we can go round in circles and the situations are all so different.

And Tony would have been charged and had a trial had Angelo agreed to press charges but he didn't....

And I don't forget that Larry was abused too, but I do think the writers forgot about that..

And that is exactly what were all frustrated about. Were not denying the awfulness and seriousness of child abuse; were frustrated that Larry was forgotten about as a victim and it was portrayed that we were meant to think Larry deserved to die etc when he went through exactly the same thing as Aden.

[Miranda]

Because of my job I meet several kids and adults like Aden... And it makes me thinking that this storyline got too serious for HAA to handle.

I think you sum it up well here. Home and Away IS a soap, the storylines and characters will never be as realistic and believable as a serious drama or documentary.

I do think Charlie has an excuse sometime for her behaviour though: she was seriously abused and raped as a teenager by Grant and also had the trauma of pregnancy, unable to cope as a young mum etc.

I have worked for 10 years with teenagers, many of whom have suffered serious problems in life such as Aden's problems. I like to watch soaps as a bit of an escape from this work, so I often dismiss Aden and other characters with problems because I don't want to get involved in feeling sorry for them etc. I save that for real people

[H&Alover]

Just want to add I also think Justin and Aden did get off lightly, they should at the very least been charged with mishandling a corpse. Aden was stopping Justin admitting to something he hadn't actually done, he only thought he had killed Larry, it would have been too late (and not very believable) if he had suddenly remembered at his trial (if it had gone that far) what had really happened. Aden did have a breakdown that is why he was at the clinic. Aden has been a more responsible person especially once he got together with Belle, his temper, which was his biggest fault, became a lot better and was able to talk things through rather than use his fists. When Aden held his father captive are we really sure he would have actually killed him?

As far as I can recall Charlie was never brought to account for what she did to Grant, Angelo's shooting of Jack was an accident and Tony was going through the same thing Aden was when he tried to kill Angelo which he got counselling for.

I'm with Kirsty as to the barn situation, you definitely saw a barn door with slits in it which would surely have let some air in. It also did seem a bit odd that as soon as Miles opened the door they all came round! I did chuckle when Elijah spooked himself and he jumped when the ranger appeared. The kids didn't seem fazed at all about the ghost stories he was telling. Rabbit could be just in Miles' mind, but we are 'seeing' her because it would have been too much of a stretch to believe all this time he was speaking to someone who wasn't there. It seemed more 'real' to us to see a little girl who may or may not be his dead daughter (does any of that make sense)? Perhaps he tossed the coin, but for plot purposes we 'saw' Rabbit doing it, plus we were lead to think she was the one with the premonitions, where now it looks like it was Miles dreaming them (courtesy of Rabbit).

[Red Ranger 1]

Did Aden change after the clinic?I'd say that up to a point he's the same person now as he was when Roman first took him in.He could be kind beforehand, he could be nasty afterwards.It's just the balance between the two that's shifted.It's astonishing that people seem to be queuing up to excuse Aden deliberately inflicting pain and suffering on a fellow victim.As it stands, it's the equivalent of one of Grant's other victims trying to kill Charlie because she didn't report him.I doubt if anyone would condone that.Is it because he's a man?Because if you want to talk about male abuse victims not being given enough sympathy or understanding, look no further than Aden.He's never shown one iota of sympathy towards his father, despite knowing exactly what he went through, and yet this is the attitude that is supposedly meant to make us forgive him and feel sorry for him.

Was Aden a criminal before he tried to kill his father?Well, yes, broadly speaking.He was a thug and a vandal.It's all right to say that the storyline should have been done differently but it was done the way it was done and the way it was done was to portray Aden as an unrepentant criminal who uses his past to make people feel sorry for him and let him off.

[jodlebirger]

Did Aden change after the clinic?I'd say that up to a point he's the same person now as he was when Roman first took him in.He could be kind beforehand, he could be nasty afterwards.It's just the balance between the two that's shifted.It's astonishing that people seem to be queuing up to excuse Aden deliberately inflicting pain and suffering on a fellow victim.As it stands, it's the equivalent of one of Grant's other victims trying to kill Charlie because she didn't report him.I doubt if anyone would condone that.Is it because he's a man?Because if you want to talk about male abuse victims not being given enough sympathy or understanding, look no further than Aden.He's never shown one iota of sympathy towards his father, despite knowing exactly what he went through, and yet this is the attitude that is supposedly meant to make us forgive him and feel sorry for him.

Was Aden a criminal before he tried to kill his father?Well, yes, broadly speaking.He was a thug and a vandal.It's all right to say that the storyline should have been done differently but it was done the way it was done and the way it was done was to portray Aden as an unrepentant criminal who uses his past to make people feel sorry for him and let him off.

I think it is strange the way certain people think that he was a thug and a vandal because he never was (Geoff killed a lot of sheep and was never punished because of that), and I don't tink the producers wanted to portray Aden as a criminal who used his past to make people feel sorry for himself in the first place. A lot of posts from the producers on the official site about 1 1/2 to 2 years ago showed that they wanted to portray this in a sensitive way and show Aden as a boy who because his past was on a wrong track in his life and needed and got help to become better. At that time they were aware that this is a sensitive topic. I think that the ending of Adens character was just a sloppy way to get rid of the character (when the actor wanted to leave) and the have stopped caring about this storyline long time ago... And I also think that they wanted to end it this way because they want to please people who think they went to far with the Aden kidnap Larry/Rachel/belle storyline. It became to serious at that time, but there are a million other ways to bring an ending and to justify that storyline.

I think that your comaprision to charlie's storyline is wrong.. I think the similarities are that Charlie did torture Grant and almost killed him (if Ruby hadn't arrived..) and she never got punshed for that. Larry never did abuse Aden (or his brothers) physically, but he did mentally by his drinking and we saw that he could be really violent too.

Hm.. But I have to realize that the producers had probably done something right, maybe... because we (adults, I suppose) are discussing this and it do make us feel something about the storyline.. Even if we don't like it...

[KirstyEkua]

Please don't patronise me. I have actually worked with vunrable children and i am aware of the seriousness of abuse. You may be surprised to know that not all children who suffer turn to kidnapping and murder.

And to say that loosing a son is so much more worse than being abused for years as a child is also wrong... because in some cases it is not. It depends on the situation.

I never said that. If you're going to call me on something at least check it's correct. I don't think it's possible to compare the two.

[Red Ranger 1]

I think it is strange the way certain people think that he was a thug and a vandal because he never was (Geoff killed a lot of sheep and was never punished because of that), and I don't tink the producers wanted to portray Aden as a criminal who used his past to make people feel sorry for himself in the first place. A lot of posts from the producers on the official site about 1 1/2 to 2 years ago showed that they wanted to portray this in a sensitive way and show Aden as a boy who because his past was on a wrong track in his life and needed and got help to become better. At that time they were aware that this is a sensitive topic. I think that the ending of Adens character was just a sloppy way to get rid of the character (when the actor wanted to leave) and the have stopped caring about this storyline long time ago... And I also think that they wanted to end it this way because they want to please people who think they went to far with the Aden kidnap Larry/Rachel/belle storyline. It became to serious at that time, but there are a million other ways to bring an ending and to justify that storyline.

I think that your comaprision to charlie's storyline is wrong.. I think the similarities are that Charlie did torture Grant and almost killed him (if Ruby hadn't arrived..) and she never got punshed for that. Larry never did abuse Aden (or his brothers) physically, but he did mentally by his drinking and we saw that he could be really violent too.

I don't see how they were hoping to please people who think they had Aden go too far by having him go too far again with even less consequences than last time(ie none).Maybe the thug thing is going too far, it basically amounted to punching Tony and making a half-hearted attack on Geoff. (And, of course, beating Axel unconscious, something he was never brought to trial for because, as with Tony and Angelo, his victim didn't press charges.And another case when he could have killed someone if Belle hadn't found him.Just like he could have killed Geoff when he left him locked in a car boot suffering from alcohol poisoning if Drew hadn't found him, something else he was never charged over and should have been.)But vandal?He destroyed the Campbells' crops just to annoy Geoff and wrecked the surf club's fuse box to spoil the school formal.If they wanted to portray Aden as someone who was on the wrong track and needed help they should have done so, not have him commit an appalling crime and expect us to be on his side and not care about his victims, then use his second chance to commit further crimes.(Something that Todd is probably partly responsible for, I remember in an interview he said "I always stopped the writers making Aden too nice", a decision of dubious wisdom.)

And as for your comparison with what Charlie did, if she had followed Aden's example she wouldn't have let Grant go when Ruby asked her to, she'd have tied her up next to him and made her watch.

Anyway...today's episode.Justin at least seems to have let the whole "Join the army" thing drop at last but frankly it's too late and it's hard to see how dragging Aden to the city where he doesn't know anyone and where he's not going to be able to spend much time with him instead of leaving him in Summer Bay with people who love him is going to help him do something with his life.I was glad once again that Nicole stood up to him and told him he'd walked into Aden's life and decided to wreck it because he didn't approve.Sadly, though, Nicole seems to have taken it to heart and instead of helping Aden find something that will make him happy she's decided to let him go, a sacrifice he would neither want or need her to make.In fact, he's probably a lot better off with her in his life.There was a possibly unintended subtext when Nicole said that he seemed like "the old Aden" when he was helping Justin.It just made me think that the last thing he needs to be is "the old Aden" and the person he was while he was with her was a lot better.

The silly slapstick of Leah, VJ, Elijah and Colleen nearly dying felt a bit random and I didn't really care about it.Rabbit's departure was sadly squeezed into a small section of the episode when I'd have liked to see more of it.I guess in the end it's up to the viewer to decide whether she's a ghost, whether she's a hallucination or whether or not she's Amber.Personally I'm still far from convinced by the last one.Although she calls him "Daddy" again, he doesn't call her Amber back and although he reacts to the appearance of Rabbit's mother, he doesn't say who she is, leaving the possibility open.(She could be Miles' mother for all we know which makes Rabbit...what?An extension of him?) It's nicely ambiguous and like Miles, I'm going to miss Rabbit popping up and insulting him.

[Slade]

jodlebirger I'm not sure if you watch the show at Australian pace but if you’re going to mention something which hasn’t aired in the UK yet

I think that the ending of Adens character was just a sloppy way to get rid of the character (when the actor wanted to leave) and the have stopped caring about this storyline long time ago... And I also think that they wanted to end it this way because they want to please people who think they went to far with the Aden kidnap Larry/Rachel/belle storyline. It became to serious at that time, but there are a million other ways to bring an ending and to justify that storyline.

could you please use spoiler tags? Although there are some people in this thread who watch the show at Australian pace and read the spoilers in advance there are those who don’t and like to maintain UK pace thus avoid want to being spoiled.

Thanks.

Incidentally I have no problem whatsoever with people who post after the episode in the afternoon.

Even though Justin apologised to Nicole I was still glad she wasn’t interested. He really annoyed me the way he laid the guilt trip on her before and it felt like he was trying to bully her into giving Aden up. Even though I’m not particularly an Aden, Nicole fan I’m still quite interested to see how this relationship progresses now. So what if Aden is staying in Summer Bay for Nicole. I didn’t hear him complaining. What’s to say he would be any happier if he leaves to go to the city with Justin? What about all the relationships where someone has gotten a job which requires them to relocate and their boyfriend/girlfriend has left with them? I know it appears as though Nicole has finished with Aden but Justin was the one who put the idea into her head in the first place. So I’m a bit disappointed with this storyline now.

[alreetlike]

I'm sick of Aden/Justin/Nicole now. I can't put my finger on exactly what it is, but there's just something I don't like about the way the storyline has been going the last few days with all the random chats about what may or may not be best for Aden. I've gone right off all of the characters involved, which is a shame.

The whole Miles/Rabbit/OMG let's save everyone thing was (for me) entirely too farcical (sp?)/stupid, so I don't even think I'll comment much. It's been said above by RR, but I didn't like the way the 'goodbye' to Rabbit was just tacked onto the end of the episode.

After not having been sure what to make of Elijah and Leah I've decided I'm not a fan of them as a couple as I actually cringed when he called her 'sweetheart' (I think, some pet name anyway), it didn't seem natural at all. I do like them both as characters though so hopefully I'll grow to like them together.

[H&Alover]

I personally liked the goodbye scene, it was both sad and beautiful, I dare say if it had dragged on there would be people complaining about that!! I like to think it was his daughter and wife we saw at the end, makes more sense than anything else. Right that Rabbit should be the one who made the decision to leave and fitting that it should be the same beach where she first appeared. Nothing really odd in Miles calling her Rabbit if that was a pet name for her and probably used more than her real name. I think what Rabbit meant by saying her would be alright now is now that he had saved Leah, Elijah and the kids he has some purpose again whereas when she first came on the scene he was kind of just going through the motions after losing Kirsty, Ollie and their baby. I wonder if he will take her advice to see Michael again, as she said at least this time he will be telling the truth when he is asked if she has gone.

Certainly a night for partings what with the above and Nicole breaking up with Aden. She definitely gave Justin what for which he deserved, though not all his fault as not sure Aden knew where he was, and would he have wanted him around if he had? Although they (Aden and Nicole) have been good for each other so far, not sure if it would have been a long time thing. To my mind they both were using each other (but not in a bad way) to work through what had happened to Belle. Whereas Nicole loves Aden although he does care a lot for her he wasn't/isn't able to say he loved/loves her. Although Justin went about it an a clumsy way, but he wasn't far from the truth. Aden and Justin never had a chance to get to know each other as brothers what with everything that was going on, could be that is why Justin asked Aden to go to the city with him for? Wonder what would have happened if the crash hadn't happened and he and Larry had shown up in the bay? I think Nicole was referring to the 'new' old Aden rather than the 'old' old Aden, meaning when he was so caught up in helping Justin he was full of enthusiasm and 'alive' whereas before he was just drifting along without much interest in anything. Does that make any sense at all?