Latest UK Episode Discussion (2006-2017 Seasons)

[Ausron]

WTF is Penn up to? Winding up everyone in sight e.g. Sid, Colleen? I'm mystified, and horrified by Nicole's obsesion with him. He's not THAT irresistible, or am I getting old?

I agree with H&ALover about yet another person waltzing into the school casually i.e. John. That school needs a shock to wake it up. Hey, perhaps another storyline idea!

I don't think he's irrestible in the slightest, but I'm a male (whose wife thinks he IS irrestible) I disliked him the second he started using his palm reading come-on line with Nicole, but then again I have always found it repugnant when an older man hits on a teen.

As for "waltzing". Remember this is small town Aus and even in Melbourne I was able to walk into any of my daughters schools with no probs at all. But you're rite - a storyline is a possibility

[H&Alover]

Alf's episode count this week:Five.Indigo was in four, for the second week running.

Sat through that episode finding it very hard to like a lot of the characters.I repeat what I said about Alf's phobia but his behaviour is increasingly ridiculous.He doesn't like someone else's doll so he dumps it in the sea?Seriously?Unless he really thinks it's planning to murder them all in their beds?If Alf went straight home from the wharf, it's hard to imagine how someone could nip in ahead of him and stick Mr.Oddly in the drier.Unlikely to be Penn, who seemed otherwise occupied at the time.Miles winding Alf up with his absolutely appalling ventriloquist impression was simultaneously funny and a bit cruel.

Nicole really disappointed me in that episode.I really thought she'd grown up and she was going to stop throwing herself at good looking, older, creepy guys just to feel better about herself after what happened with Liam.I was begging for her to leave Penn's caravan but no, she just went ahead and slept with him.She really is beginning to suffer from Cassie Syndrome, an inability to learn for her mistakes, and I'm worried I'm going to end up disliking her if this goes on much longer.Doesn't help I'm not really interested in what Penn's doing and why, it feels like just another dull stalker plotline.

Xavier was back to his usual annoying self.He claims that John's going to mess with his head but frankly he doesn't need to, he's turning into a crazed obsessive without any help from anyone else and being a bigger bully than John supposedly is.I really hope April manages to calm him down, at least he did realise he'd gone too far.She did look very nice in that outfit she was wearing at the farm at the start.

And I'm sorry to say this but I really didn't like Rachel in that episode.She's as bad as Gina was a few weeks back, convinced that she's right and everyone else is wrong and spouting ill-informed nonsense all the time.I really hoped that she'd listen to Sid, who was talking a lot of sense, and realise that every sport carries a risk of injury and constantly stressing the worst possible scenario without any real context just shows a lack of perspective.But no, she sat there being smug and superior and belittling Tony in front of other people.Tony's organisational skills seem to leave a lot to be desired but at least he managed to attract a few people's attention.Quite liked the sibling banter between Dexter and Indi, as well as Dexter's rather inappropriate comment about "watching girls getting hot and sweaty".

Mr. Oddly still creeps me out!!! Marilyn did go back on her word about keeping him in her room and as for Miles' attempt at ventriloquism, all I can say is "Don't give up the day job". I thought it was during the night Penn was um 'busy', or are you referring to him spying on Colleen at the time Mr. Oddly gave himself a spin dry? So if it wasn't him who was it or is Alf having some sort of breakdown? Who in their right mind is going to believe Colleen has taken to stealing!! Gossip extraordinaire, busy body yes, but thief, never!

That drawing of Nicole by Penn was O.K. except for the eyes, they looked really looked piggy. Her resolve didn't last long did it? She is bound to get hurt yet again, but as Penn has more than one agenda she is just one of a few I should imagine. I suppose Penn could have slipped out when Nicole was asleep and did a bit of caravan breaking.

Agree with you about Rachel, Red, I wanted to hit her myself. This is going to seem totally simplistic, but why doesn't she just go to one of Tony's training sessions and she can see for herself just what is involved.

Instead of Xavier "making John's life a misery" why doesn't he just ignore him as much as he can and only talk to him when he has to? As April is still waiting for her sister to turn up, does this mean she is living by herself somewhere? She is what 16, so is that legal as she is a minor?

As for the oblique mention of Angelo's parents having a restaurant, watch this space. Though how Irene and Leah will feel about it is another matter.

[Miranda]

As for "waltzing". Remember this is small town Aus and even in Melbourne I was able to walk into any of my daughters schools with no probs at all. But you're rite - a storyline is a possibility

I think that's terrible that any old person can just wander into any school, whatever country it is in. Even our local primary school (in England) has a locked front door with a buzzer entry system.

Have you had shootings in schools in Australia? People have broken into schools in England and shot/ attacked children, hence the security measures.

But obviously in your case, you are a parent and hopefully the teachers knew you well. John Palmer isn't a parent, but a well known Bay resident, so maybe its alright in his case. But Penn certainly isn't a parent and no one knows anything about him, he's definitely someone who shouldn't just wander into a school

Maybe a storyline is on the cards, it certainly should be!!

[EmyKate68]

I have always found it repugnant when an older man hits on a teen.

What age is Penn meant to be anyway? He certainly looks far too old for Nicole, my guess is he's about the same age as Roman was! I know Miles seems a bit concerned by Penn's creepy nature, but I don't think he has commented on how generally inappropriate it is for someone of Penn's age to date a schoolgirl, which is disappointing.

It should set alarm bells ringing that Penn has chosen Nicole rather than someone closer to his own age! And what is Nicole thinking going after someone the same age as her father? We'll see what happens, but I'm guessing it won't end well for Nicole.

[Miranda]

I don't think Penn is the same age as Roman, I'd say he was about 25- Roman is over 30 isn't he? But I'm still not sure how old Liam is, I thought he was about 25 too, but he acts much younger than that.

Nicole is just desperate for a boyfriend, I suppose Or should I say a manfriend.

[Dalby]

Well in today's episode Penn's driving licence was shown and if I'm correct he is 31, soon to turn 32 in September.

[KirstyEkua]

The whole boxing nonsense is driving me crazy and i feel it's just the writers being lazy giving Amy and Jon such rubbish to do - they're so much better than that! I love Rachel but she is annoying me with her view on boxing. I understand where she's coming from but i think she just needs to give it a chance. But i didn't like how Sid and Tony basically set her up during dinner to look stupid - that was pretty mean and not something the Tony of last year would have done. I think he's being just as bad though - he knows how much she hates it so why insist on doing classes on it when there's a million other types of self defence he could have taught. Rachel's made it clear she supports the idea and prinicple behind what he is doing. She's always asking how things are going etc etc. More than anything i'm really disappointed in the writing of the whole thing and it just shows they can't be bothered with them anymore.

[Miranda]

Well in today's episode Penn's driving licence was shown and if I'm correct he is 31, soon to turn 32 in September.

31 or 32? That's the same age as Miles, who is Nicole's foster parent/'dad' Far too old for Nicole, obviously!!

[Ausron]

As for "waltzing". Remember this is small town Aus and even in Melbourne I was able to walk into any of my daughters schools with no probs at all. But you're rite - a storyline is a possibility

I think that's terrible that any old person can just wander into any school, whatever country it is in. Even our local primary school (in England) has a locked front door with a buzzer entry system.

Have you had shootings in schools in Australia? People have broken into schools in England and shot/ attacked children, hence the security measures.

But obviously in your case, you are a parent and hopefully the teachers knew you well. John Palmer isn't a parent, but a well known Bay resident, so maybe its alright in his case.

Frpm that respect, Aus is still Oz (ie fantasy land). I've liced here for 15 years and the only gun incident was the Port Arthur rampage and the Aus govt used that as a way to very very quickly ram thru some strict gun laws...good on them.

To be very open about it, my youngest/last daughter is a student at a school of about 1000 pupils and there are three ways to enter....and two of them provide immediate access to the central quad from where one can go anywhere. Wide open actually.

Not to destroy the recent thoughts on this thread....yes yes yes Nicole is far too young for Penn and she is being used. Not to say that this doesn't have some level of reality in it tho - ie young girls attaracted by older, obviously dangerous, men. A fathers worst nightmare!!!!

[Red Ranger 1]

Have to say I strongly disagree with Kirsty's comment above that Tony and Sid "set Rachel up to look stupid".They didn't do anything of the sort.Sid expressed his opinion, Tony asked him if he'd be willing to help him convince Rachel and in fact Sid did a pretty poor job of it, making little more than a token effort to put across a different point of view.I think Rachel was the one who went out of her way to make them look stupid by making fun of their arguments and using every comment that anyone made as an excuse to make snide remarks and childish point scoring.

Anyway...didn't look at Penn's driving license but the actor that plays him is 30.Which would make him slightly younger than Miles and Roman or the same age if he's 31.Liam I think is about 28(again the same age as the actor).Both of them are/were far too old for Nicole.Regarding school security, my brother's a teacher and he told a brilliant story about how a school inspector once walked into a staff room as they were getting ready for the inspection and said "We've arrived, we just walked in, no-one stopped us, we could have been anyone, so you've failed already."(Apparently the next school he turned up at had heard the story so as soon as he arrived they locked him in a cupboard while they checked his credentials...)

Bit of a so-so episode with not much grabbing my attention.Alf's occasional belief that Mr.Oddly is possessed continues to be silly and neither that plotline nor Penn alternating between making out with a schoolgirl and creeping around being sinister really interests me.

It would be nice if just once when Xavier threw a tantrum at John he didn't feel the need to tell Gina about it.Mind you, it would also be nice if Xavier actually realised he'd tell Gina about it and didn't do it.I actually felt Gina was making the same mistake as Xavier, even though she did back down later: Just as he needs to learn to ignore John and just keep out of his way, I think Gina needs to let Xavier have his sulk rather than rising it to it and coming down hard on him.The little scene between Nicole and Xavier was a bit strange, given that they've barely spoken in the past, but I actually think it worked quite well and they managed to convey a believable relationship.Although if they were going to the Diner, why did they head in the opposite direction to the exit?

Some nice relaxed scenes between Charlie and Angelo, being out of uniform and trying to muscle in on her cases quite suits him.Keep meaning to say that I like the reference to his parents, even if it is a plot point, because we still don't have a lot of background to him:About a year ago I remember he mentioned his parents to Tony and told Charlie about his sister, then nothing since.Colleen's plight didn't really interest me, she largely brought it on herself by hiding the items instead of telling Miles or Charlie about it.But that last scene...Georgie!Who we haven't seen in yonks!And who's got a cool new haircut which makes her look rather nice!I really enjoyed the interaction between her and Colleen, it helped raise her out of the rut of just being a cop and actually give her a bit of a connection with the regulars.