Latest UK Episode Discussion (2006-2017 Seasons)

[devon]

I had to laugh at Alf punching those signs (or whatever they were) on the beach, when Penn got him mad.

[Red Ranger 1]

Alf's episode count last week:Five.

Well, I'm back from holidays now(cue for everyone to say "Oh, have you been somewhere?")and more or less caught up.Glad Nicole finally seems to have caught on to what Penn's like, hopefully it'll stick this time.Bit disappointed that Miles didn't believe her but his apology made up for it.I agree that Alf really does seem very grandfatherly towards Nicole these days.I was a bit curious about Alf's bruised knuckles but I thought he'd probably punched a tree or something.Penn's "I know about the affair" is a bit vague...knowing Alf's history I'm surprised he knew which affair.I suspect that Penn did arrange for someone to beat him up just to cause trouble for Alf, even if he did nearly die as a result.As ever with him, hard to tell if his mumbling about his dad was genuine or an act for Sid's benefit.

Wasn't too happy about John going back on his deal with Xavier so, even though Xavier was a bit smug when blackmailing him, I didn't mind that much.Nice trick to use psychology to get him to help. Loved the byplay between Xavier and April again and even Gina seems to have developed a wry sense of humour now she's not constantly butting heads with her family.(Loved the Xbox gags.)April's idea isn't as daft as it might appear although you need to think about it hard to realise what she's up to:She isn't trying to stop people drinking water, she wants to get rid of all the used bottles by giving everyone a reuseable bottle that they can refill at various points.

Dexter came across as somewhat less creepy, as if someone had realised it had stopped being funny:Instead he came across as rather...pathetic, for want of a nicer word.I rather liked his hopeless attempts at push-ups and insanely long love letter.And he did actually make me laugh with his comment about shooting pigs and his conversation with Miles.("I'm your English teacher"/"Can you give me a detention?")

Sid inviting Nicole into the house gave me the same "Trouble alert" as whenever Liam talks to Ruby although I was glad Indi accepted his explanation, it shows how much she's matured and how much closer they are now.Glad Irene gave her the job, even if her bobbing in the background during the discussion was rather comical.Had a feeling Charlie was going to blow her top when she found out, glad Irene stood up to her and told her a few home truths.

[H&Alover]

Welcome back Red, hope you had a nice time away.

Could Penn have been referring to an affair Alf had had with Penn's mum? Alf certainly looked shocked by the revelation so I'm guessing it must have been true. Don't tell me Penn is another of Alf's children!! It could explain Penn's mumbling which was something about his dad hitting him who may have realised he wasn't his son. Also if you think back Penn did say something to Alf along the lines him calling him a liar. If Penn had paid someone to beat him up they certainly went over the top. If he hadn't survived Alf would have been charged with murder. Didn't he beat himself about in an earlier episode? If the police had taken a swab of Alf's knuckles they would have found out there wasn't any of Penn's skin on them, but then this is the soap police we are talking about. Is 'bashing' the Aussie equivalent of assault? It can't have been easy for Sid to operate on Penn to save his life after what he had done to him, just shows how professional he is.

Marilyn has twigged Dex has a crush on her, especially after he hugged her a little too enthusiastically when she heard about Alf.

Now all she has to do is to convince Sid without causing a rift between them. I suppose all she can do is try and keep a distance between her and Dex.

What is Charlie's problem with Irene employing Indie, they don't sell alcohol in the Diner do they? Well done Irene for giving as good as she got and pointing out that she was as much to blame for Ruby's problems. Which reminds me, did she or didn't say to Ruby she was not going to let her out of her sight, yet there she was asking Angelo if she could stay with him to give Ruby some space? :confused:

I had to laugh at Colleen when she was convinced Paulie (as it turned out) was the food critic and was fawning all over him. Thouhts of Basil Fawlty and the hotel inspector immediately sprung into my mind. So what is Paulie doing in the Bay, does it mean trouble for Angelo?

[Red Ranger 1]

Given that it's already been established that Angelo doesn't like Paulie, bit daft of Charlie to think they can all just sit round and have a cosey chat.I decided to give Paulie the benefit of the doubt, after that last scene he has a bit less benefit of the doubt but he's probably a bit weak with a talent for getting himself into trouble rather than genuinely bad.(Bit like his big brother really...)Not going to comment on the fact that we've still barely seen Charlie with Ruby since she vowed to "watch her like a hawk" and then carried on spending all her spare time at Angelo's restaurant.Maybe she's realised it was a dumb thing to say as well.

Irene and Colleen making fools of themselves over the maybe-food critic did actually raise quite a few smiles.Irene showed a moment of sanity by declaring if he wants a burger they should give him a burger instead of trying to turn it into something fancy.Assuming he paid before the meal?Because he certainly couldn't get out quick enough afterwards...

Any episode now Romeo and Indi are going to crack and just have sex.Kind of like Liam and Bianca apparently just did.Bianca's obviously a schizophrenic:Some episodes she's a complete cow towards everyone, in others like this one she's actually vaguely pleasant.Liam's moment of honesty with her was okay although I did think for a couple of seconds when he started that he was going to turn round and go "Nah, I'm joking."

[Slade]

I've been sick with the flu so haven't really had a chance to post over the last week. Part of me was hoping that Alf had bashed Pen simply because it would have looked good seeing a 60+ man defeat a young man with a good level of fitness and physique. I don't really understand why Alf felt he couldn't tell Charlie about his conversation with Penn beforehand. Was he really that embarrassed? I'm also not sure who bashed Penn and why? If it was because of what he did to Nicole I didn't think it was that public.

I'm glad Irene gave Charlie a ticking off for always jumping the gun. Also good to see Indy get herself another job and I was quite pleased Charlie didn't like that as she has been getting on my nerves as of late.

I really wish they would just end this Marilyn/Dexter/Sid storyline. Dexter is such a bad character it's not even funny. Everything he does is annoying. Even when Indy and Romeo were having a conversation in the Diner and he just butted in, I was wishing for him to be someplace else. I really hope Sid does confront Dexter about his feelings towards Marilyn although he'll obviously deny it.

First impressions of Paulo/Pauli don't particularly like him although I don't actively dislike him either. I did like the scene at the Diner when Irene and Colleen mistook him for the food critic but I had a feeling something was up the way Angelo was around him. I'm guessing Pauli's in some sort of debt.

Quite enjoyed the stuff with Liam and Bianca. Funny when one's in a joking mode the other isn't. I actually thought in terms of making progress about Bianca that was a smart move as that no doubt would have given her ego a boost. We'll see how far they actually go or whether they decide to do the smart thing and go on a proper date first.

[H&Alover]

Assuming he paid before the meal?Because he certainly couldn't get out quick enough afterwards...

I wondered about that as well Red, definitely more Fawlty Towers moments! His comments about just having a straight burger without any fancy fillings proved Irene was right about not mucking about with it. Funny that any 'secret' visit from a food critic gets around isn't it.

Hope you are feeling better now Slade, wondered where you had been.

Paulie is obviously the 'bad' one of the Rosetti family, could he have got into debt with some real bad guys? Both he and Angelo said they last spoke 18 months/two years ago so hardly an eternity. Is there something else Angelo hasn't told Charlie about?

Wow, it certainly got steamy between Liam and Bianca! I've said before that Vittorio must have done something else apart from sleeping with his ex, you don't reckon he is part of a Mafia family do you? Could explain why she is so upset about all the calls he trying to send her.

Rather sweet those scenes with Indie and Romeo. I reckon if Marilyn and Sid hadn't shown up they may have decided that night was the night. Just hope Indie is gentle with him.

[Red Ranger 1]

Yes, I think we can safely assume that Something Happened between Liam and Bianca.The scenes of them hiding in the library were rather amusing, especially that one where they wake up and then hear the school bell.You just knew Ruby was going to get involved somewhere, I'm surprised she didn't spring them.There does seem to have been an upswing in the writing of Gina at the moment: Turning her into a comedy harrassed boss rather than a strict disciplinarian made her final confrontation with the pair very amusing.

I like the way that John seems to have thrown himself into this environmental rally thing.His ordering about of Xavier and April and organising everything was quite funny and I laughed out loud when Xavier asked Gina to help him hand out the fliers and she took about three of them.Bit worried that there seems to be a fair amount of opposition to the proposal though, I can see this rally going almost as badly as the one Ruby organised.

Nice scenes between Irene and Leah when they discussed the letters and Irene actually seemed to succeed in calming Leah down.Really wasn't expecting her to just put the letters back, I guess that means she's accepted that it's all right for VJ and Elijah to stay in contact.

[H&Alover]

Do we think Gina believed Liam and Bianca about the 'upset stomach' and migraine' stories- no me neither!!! Besides she would have realised they were wearing the same clothes as the day before. Is this a step forward for them or is she going to blow cold again!

Liked Xavier 'jumping to attention' when John was dishing out his orders about distributing the flyers and yes noticed how Gina only took a handful, don't knock yourself out there will you? I would have thought April would have been more willing to help considering it was her idea, she could have handed some out during her lunch break. I guess that's why the rally is being held for local people to both give their backing and raise objections. The speech John gave to the local businessman sure impressed Xavier and John sounded like he meant it. I thought April's main objection was people just leaving the plastic bottles on the beach rather than than banning them completely, hence the recycling bins. Alf seems to have got over the upset with Penn the way he was teasing John.

I think Irene hit the nail on the head when she said to Leah that the reason she was upset was because it wasn't her Elijah was writing to, which probably explained why she didn't say anything to VJ. Funny how they both thought of Miles being the intermediary then dismissed it because he wouldn't lie to Leah.

[Red Ranger 1]

Alf's episode count this week:Five.Irene was in four, although she wasn't credited on Wednesday.

Absolutely loved that episode.John being the world's most unlikely environmentalist and trying to organise Xavier and April was great, especially when he reveals he's set up a website.("Mr.Palmer, I'd no idea you were so good at all this stuff!")And then his little chat with Alf, which added a nice bit of depth to both of them.The one time he wants everyone to hate him, no-one can be bothered. John and Xavier suddenly getting all excited about an old car when April's in the middle of talking about follow-up rallies.

It was amusing too to watch Miles slowly panicking, with the way he keeps trying to go along with Leah getting him to chat to VJ, especially the bit where he seemed on the verge of confessing and then suggested it was one of VJ's school friends.And his final confession.I'm glad Leah got over her anger quickly and he doesn't have to get his coffee from somewhere else.Liked Alf's interjections as well.("I don't want to say I told you so.Actually, in this case, I do want to say I told you so.")

[H&Alover]

Wow John and Xavier have actually bonded over something!!! Did they really have to pay for that car, I would have thought the people at the dump would have paid them to take it away!!! We also learnt a bit more about Gina, as well as being a surfer babe she was into cars. Did feel for April, there she was rambling on about other rallies and all John and Xav could talk about was the 'Mad Max' car. Knew Colleen wouldn't be able to resist having her photo taken despite her earlier saying she was only going to be an observer, yeah right!

Said VJ wasn't daft, he soon sussed Leah had been through his letters, Miles had the perfect opportunity (twice) to confess when Leah was urging him to talk to VJ about them, but at least he did in the end. Leah initial reaction was understandable, but luckily for all she did calm down and the admission she had written letters every day since Elijah had been gone but hadn't had the courage to send them was very touching. Perhaps that was the reason why she was so angry at first because VJ was braver than her.The fearlessness of kids I suppose.

P.S A mention of Brendan at long last I was beginning to think Xavier had forgotten he had another brother!