Latest UK Episode Discussion (2006-2017 Seasons)

[H&Alover]

I'm not saying I like Cheryl particularly, its just I can tell she's been pushed too far, she's given all she can for her boys and she hasn't anything left to give, she wants rid of them now to get her own life back. They should really have moved out by now. Not Casey particularly, but Brax and Heath should have. Cheryl needs a break.

From what we've been hearing Brax saying Cheryl hasn't done that much for her sons. She seemed to have spent any money she earnt on scratch cards and the pokies instead of buying food and such like. It was probably only when Brax started earning and looking after his younger brothers that they actually go fed, that is probably why he is still at home (or rather was). As we never seem to see Heath doing any actual work how will those two manage now?

So Tegan was summoned by Cheryl was she, as it seems several years(?) since she and Brax were an item I can't see how she thinks Tegan could make a difference. Couldn't understand Tegan saying to Brax she doesn't like being dumped for someone else, didn't she dump him when she went off with that other guy? Did you see the dollar signs in her eyes when she realised Brax owned Angelos?? I see Colleen's 'vow of silence' didn't last long, by the way she was filling Tegan in on all the gossip. Her seeing Brax and Charlie on the beach would have looked perfectly innocent (they could have been talking about Casey) until the end of the chat when Brax was teasing Charlie about cleaning the sand off her boots. You're right Red about her spotting in one day what has been happening under every ones noses for months, wouldn't have thought it was that possible in Summer Bay. Got to admit Charlie played it very cool when Tegan challenged her. It has been mentioned before I think, Brax has been suspected of a lot of things, but nothing has been proved, unless it was minor things when he was younger. She must know what Brax can do when he threatened her, it certainly wiped the smirk off her face. He must care about Charlie if he did that, otherwise he would drop her without a second thought.

So that motel room is long term rental is it for Brax to use a s a bolt hole when things get heavy at home (and other uses perhaps)? It doesn't look like that much of a dump so can't be that cheap, where is the money coming from to pay for it or has he got an 'arrangement' with the owner? Actually I thought it was quite funny Charlie had to hid in the bathroom, good job Casey didn't need to use it.

Loved the chat between Miles and VJ, when VJ said he wasn't ready yet for 'the talk' yet, he is only 10(?) and not all boys are at that age. Leah should wait until he starts asking questions not make him embarrassed by forcing the subject on him. I can see her point about seeing Casey suddenly appearing from Ruby's room and VJ is sitting there. I get no-one was around to ask when Casey came round the night before so why didn't he sleep on the sofa that night? What's wrong with Ruby and Charlie sharing a room, it's not like they haven't done it before? I don't see the motel room as being an ideal solution, where will Brax take Charlie now?? After all the summer holidays are coming up and Casey won't be out all day. Just had a funny thought Ruby is bound to want to see Casey and help him with his course work and guess where - the motel room!! That will go down well with Charlie, Ruby spending time alone with Casey in her room. Can't wait to see her face when Ruby says "Oh Charlie, I'm just going over to see Casey at the motel"

I disagree Zetti, I thought Marilyn was behaving quite naturally by trying to ignore what she knew was happening with her and Sid, as I said in a previous post she may be ditzy but she's not stupid. She did behave with dignity when he finally got her to sit down and talk, in fact she actually said what he was going to say. There were no tears, begging him for another chance, she packed her bags and left without a fuss. Sad she didn't get to say goodbye to Dex (probably because he is going to be in the next three episodes this week), another goodbye he's missed. Mile's nearly dropped himself in it, but covered well. She does need to be with people who will take care of her. I hope Sid doesn't immediately jump into a relationship with Roo and lets the dust settle a bit first. I know Marilyn and Roo weren't best buddies but she has confided in her in the past about her fears regarding Sid's past. Wonder how Indi will react to the news, though I think she kind of suspected before she moved out.

[Slade]

Whilst I think it’s interesting that Tegan is around to throw a spanner in the works it’s not as if Charlie and Brax’s relationship has any chance IMO of going the distance. You could argue the minute this comes out, either one or both of them are finished. That’s one of the worst things, irrespective of how right or wrong the relationship is they are BOTH taking a huge risk doing it right under the noses of their respective counterparts.

I found certain parts of that episode really funny.

Sid’s surprised reaction when Dexter unexpectedly didn’t berate him for the breakup with Marilyn, his reaction when he was about to break the news to the newlyweds and Marilyn rocked up announced as her usually bubbly self. Morag when she was reading the newspaper and Marilyn was trying to speak to her and then when she was reading a magazine in the Diner and Roo (Yes folks the great immortal one's back) was trying to make conversation and it was obvious in both cases that she didn’t want to talk to either of them.

Sid appears to have done a complete U-turn on Romeo and Indy. As I mentioned before it could be that he’s accepted defeat but I think it’s more likely that fact that he kissed Roo and probably feels like a hypocrite for having a downer on Romeo. He didn’t look to happy when Romeo and Indy said they were going to move in with Roo though. I wonder if that’s because he was upset his daughter’s moving away or whether he’s thinking of the immediate future and if he does decide to pursue Roo and all goes well he won’t be able to go to hers to meet her, assuming he wants to keep any relationship under wraps for the time being.

As I mentioned about Sid yesterday the same applies to April today that I suppose at least she did finish with Xavier, which is a good thing especially if she claims that she’s in love with Dexter now (So she’s moved on from sort of liking him with a capital L last week). I’m glad because as I mentioned about a couple of years ago (I think) when he was going out with Ruby that he deserved better and he definitely deserves better than April. If only Xavier hadn’t of lied to Miranda. I think it was mentioned in this thread the first time they broke up that Mink should return. I think now would definitely be a good time. Although I was pleased April finished with him I really wish she would have spared us the crocodile tears. And she really should have given him some explanation. I could see where she was coming from not wanting to mention Dexter straight away but she could have at least said she liked someone else but Xavier probably would have asked who anyway. In a funny sort of way I could understand Dexter’s logic i.e. there’s no point in all of them being unhappy but Xavier really deserves to know.

[H&Alover]

I think the reason Dex didn't have a go at Sid is because of him and April, liked his parting shot about being good at keeping quite about things. It's going to be pretty quite out at the farm with just the two of them. I'm surprised Indi and Romeo aren't using the now forgotten rooms at Roo's. There was a living area and a bedroom, and at least they would have had their own space. Roo certainly found out quickly about Sid and Marilyn breaking up, did Miles tell Elijah? Marilyn may have been a bit rash pretending her and Sid were still together but she did it for the best of reasons.

Irene also knew about the break up and inadvertently told Indi and Romeo, the bush telegraph was working overtime. Morag has her antenna twitching about Roo and her interest in Sid. Let's hope both of them take their time before they get together at least let Marilyn have a few weeks to get over the worst of the breakup.

Two breakups in as many days, is there something in the water in the bay? Dex was right it wasn't fair to any of them, but mostly Xav for April to keep putting off telling him. Wasn't a lot she could have said, though I suppose she could have told him she just didn't feel the same way about him any more, instead of just saying she couldn't do it anymore which was vague to say the least. Wpuld she have been happy with that explanation if it had been the other way round? At least she realises her and Dex should wait until telling Xav about them being a couple, though as we saw that's going to become pretty academic. I did feel for Dex being cross examined by Xav, he's his mate after all and doesn't like lying to him. April was still entitled to be upset after the breakup she and Xav had been through some tough times and she had loved him once. So Irene knows, she won't be happy keeping quite for too long.

There were some light moments, like when Gina thought she was being so clever by offering to pay for a holiday for him and April and he said they would go after the schoolies then added 'nice try'.

[Slade]

Forgot to mention that surprisingly I actually quite liked the scenes with Xavier and Ruby. Given how she treated Indy (someone who was supposed to be her mate and who lost her job trying to do her a favour) i.e. sleeping with her boyfriend it will be interesting to see her take on what’s happening with April and Xavier assuming she finds out.

[Red Ranger 1]

I echo H&Alover's comments about Cheryl:I actually think she'd have trouble surviving on her own there without Brax and Heath and I seem to remember Casey said a while back that she didn't want him getting an education because she was worried he'd leave her.

On to today's episode and oh boy, someone shoot Marilyn.All her dignity goes out of the window as, despite Morag's advice, she goes rushing round to the farm to indulge some pathetic fantasy.Maybe I'm being hard on her and she was just doing what she thought was best for Indi but she was still out of line.I really wish Sid had put his foot down and told them anywhere.I'm glad that neither Indigo nor Dexter blames Sid though, I guess they've realised it was on the cards given their comments a while back.Sid does seem to have done a complete U-turn about Romeo, I like to think it's because he realises he'll lose Indi otherwise but it does seem a bit too cosy.

If Marilyn's bad, April's worse.I seriously detested her in that episode.Typically, her and Dexter's resolve doesn't last long and they're back to sneaking around behind Xavier's back, both before and after she breaks up with him.Don't feel an ounce of sympathy for either of them, I'll save that for the guy that deserves it, who's being stabbed in the back by this selfish pair.And the sledgehammer subtle attempts by the writers to go "See!April understands Dexter!They're meant to be together, all right?!" are increasingly annoying.Not sure what to make of her inability to directly say she loves him. Nice friendship bits between Xavier and Ruby, hope they stay friends since the show seems to determined to ruin all male/female friendships by turning them into a couple at the moment.Gina's typically overprotective attitude was as annoying as usual, although at least she eventually apologised, and it was nice to see Xavier get one over on her, shame it was for nothing.

[Miranda]

I stick by my comments about Cheryl. If she'd been such a bad mother the family wouldn't still be together. The kids would have been shipped off to children's homes/ foster parents long ago. They are all still together, still alive, not got drug habits, not died of anything they've been through. She didn't leave them, she must have kept the boys in some sort of good order before Brax was old enough to do anything. I think she's just an inadequate, mistreated woman who has no idea of good parenting, probably due to her own experiences. She's not the root of their problems, the father abandoning them probably started those. I think she should have been helped more, earlier on.

Poor old Xavier. How many girlfriends are going to do this to him how many times? Ruby did it at least twice, now April. He'll get some sort of complex soon, poor boy, he's not that bad, surely?

Could Dex and April be any more cruel? I think April is going mad. She seems to want to torture Dex and Xavier, is she turning into Bianca? IMO she should have been upfront with Xavier, said 'I'm really sorry but I like Dex more now, I didn't mean it to happen or to hurt you.' Or something, I dunno. Not been vague with him.

I can see why Marilyn went to the farm, but it was only prolonging the agony really.

I think a reason why Sid is happier with Romeo and Indi is that the pressure of having Marilyn around has gone and he feels more free and sorted out.

Did Romeo really hug Dex? oh my god, that was funny. Dex was cringing.

[Red Ranger 1]

I stick by my comments about Cheryl. If she'd been such a bad mother the family wouldn't still be together. The kids would have been shipped off to children's homes/ foster parents long ago. They are all still together, still alive, not got drug habits, not died of anything they've been through. She didn't leave them, she must have kept the boys in some sort of good order before Brax was old enough to do anything. I think she's just an inadequate, mistreated woman who has no idea of good parenting, probably due to her own experiences. She's not the root of their problems, the father abandoning them probably started those. I think she should have been helped more, earlier on.

Well, given that I seem to remember Casey saying their father walked out on them ten years ago a while back, and given that Brax seems to be in his late 20s at least, probably early 30s if he's "dating" Charlie, he'd probably already have left school by that point and Heath, who seems to be in his mid 20s, probably wouldn't have been that far behind if he wasn't there already.

Today's ep:Well, all the characters that annoyed me in the previous episode annoyed me in this one. Marilyn really is another Colleen, very few redeeming features yet everyone except Morag seems prepared to indulge her.Why on earth did Miles keep giving her wine when she was already unbearable?Her blaming all her problems on Roo rather than the fact she's been a nightmare to live with was pretty nasty, although at least she realised that once she'd sobered up.Morag seemingly believing it and going round to confront Roo annoyed me, I thought we'd got past her thinking the worst of her and I'm not surprised Roo had enough and walked out.Although she clearly heard Marilyn say Sid and Roo weren't involved, it seems Colleen's going to spread the exact opposite around town.Can she be struck by lightning again, please?I don't think Roo's done anything wrong, she pushed Sid away because he wasn't single(compare and contrast April and Dexter's behaviour)and I don't think she'd be doing anything wrong if she got together with him now, although I can see a few other people thinking differently.

So...I'm glad Irene and Bianca didn't approve of April and her self-righteous "Don't judge me" behaviour but I wish they'd come down on her a bit harder.Fair play to her and Dexter for deciding to tell Xavier the truth, although kissing in public for the second time in as many episodes was a bit dumb.Seems like even April's fed up of Dexter making jokes about the situation and his running away from Xavier like a coward at the Diner gave me another reason to dislike him.Felt worryingly as though we were meant to sympathise with April playing the victim and Dexter's token guilt and then insisting they should be together anyway while Xavier sits there heartbroken.Nice to see Gina doing a fairly good job of the parenthood and John being typically irascible with his "Women are illogical" advice.

[Miranda]

Well, given that I seem to remember Casey saying their father walked out on them ten years ago a while back, and given that Brax seems to be in his late 20s at least, probably early 30s if he's "dating" Charlie, he'd probably already have left school by that point and Heath, who seems to be in his mid 20s, probably wouldn't have been that far behind if he wasn't there already.

Aha, the mind like a steel trap strikes again!

Marilyn was definitely tipsy at the dinner party, her comments were pretty funny, as well as Miles. At least the writers didn't get drunk Miles and Marilyn into bed!

Also funny how Romeo has suddenly become a respectable member of society now he's married

I thought Morag was rather insensitive asking Marilyn about Sid when she was drunk and upset. But that's Morag. She was interrogating Roo as well. She should back off, its not a legal enquiry.

April/Dex are painful IMO. It doesn't seem very realistic... I hate the way they made Dex and Xavier friends then split them up over April. Xavier used to be Romeo's best friend, not Dex's. He's better off without them both.

[claire_louise]

Whilst I think it’s interesting that Tegan is around to throw a spanner in the works it’s not as if Charlie and Brax’s relationship has any chance IMO of going the distance. You could argue the minute this comes out, either one or both of them are finished. That’s one of the worst things, irrespective of how right or wrong the relationship is they are BOTH taking a huge risk doing it right under the noses of their respective counterparts.

I've been wondering about this myself. As much as I love them as a couple (and I realise I'm in the minority there!), I'm not sure where the writers are going with Charlie and Brax. I read an interview with Cameron Walsh this week and he said that there's plenty of mileage in them yet, but long-term I'm not sure how they can possibly stay together. I would like them to though, as I'm such a sucker for forbidden romances! Ideally I'd like redemption for Brax - maybe he could do some sort of deal with the police when he inevitably gets caught, which would mean he avoids prison?

I stick by my comments about Cheryl. If she'd been such a bad mother the family wouldn't still be together. The kids would have been shipped off to children's homes/ foster parents long ago. They are all still together, still alive, not got drug habits, not died of anything they've been through.

They are drug dealers though... Personally I don't feel sympathy for Cheryl - I think she's frightened of being alone because it would mean she finally has to take responsibility for herself, rather than because she loves her boys. And the fact that they're still together as a family (or were) seems to be down to Brax alone (another redeeming feature for him! ).

Today's ep:Well, all the characters that annoyed me in the previous episode annoyed me in this one. Marilyn really is another Colleen, very few redeeming features yet everyone except Morag seems prepared to indulge her.

Aww, poor Marilyn. Did you watch the show when she was in it first time round? I think you'd probably find more to like about her if you did...or maybe not! Seriously though, she does actually have a lot of good qualities, which I hope will be showcased more now she's no longer with Sid. Her humour is brilliant when she doesn't have such sombre storylines, and she does genuinely have a heart of gold. The reason why Morag has so little time for her goes back to the old days when Marilyn used to be her cleaner - Maz has always got on her nerves because she's basically everything Morag isn't (i.e. fun-loving, silly, over-sensitive and an airhead!).

[Red Ranger 1]

Today's ep:Well, all the characters that annoyed me in the previous episode annoyed me in this one. Marilyn really is another Colleen, very few redeeming features yet everyone except Morag seems prepared to indulge her.

Aww, poor Marilyn. Did you watch the show when she was in it first time round? I think you'd probably find more to like about her if you did...or maybe not! Seriously though, she does actually have a lot of good qualities, which I hope will be showcased more now she's no longer with Sid. Her humour is brilliant when she doesn't have such sombre storylines, and she does genuinely have a heart of gold. The reason why Morag has so little time for her goes back to the old days when Marilyn used to be her cleaner - Maz has always got on her nerves because she's basically everything Morag isn't (i.e. fun-loving, silly, over-sensitive and an airhead!).

Well, I haven't been watching since she was first in it(although I've caught up on her early episodes recently)but I caught the end of her first stint and saw all of her second.I seem to remember her voice going right through me when she came back in 1995 as well and wondering why they'd bothered.Don't think she irritated me quite as much back then but she had her moments.(And watching her 1989 episodes, it does seem like she's always had that selfish streak underneath the whole bubbly blonde thing, although she was also genuinely funny at times.)I did actually rather like her at the end of last year when she first got together with Sid, she seemed to calm down a lot and be more sensible and less selfish, but she's slid right back this year.