Latest UK Episode Discussion (2006-2017 Seasons)

[Marc EH]

H&A is back today

[Alison C]

H&A is back today

Hooray!!

[Brian]

Hi folks!! Welcome back. Hope you've all had a good summer. nice to see Xavier getting a bit of action again today.

[Red Ranger 1]

Aaaand it's back!I managed to completely misinterpret that first scene and thought that was Charlie in her cop car rather than a taxi, so when the window wound down to reveal Alf I literally cheered with delight.Shame that twenty minutes of screen time later I felt like shaking him, as he becomes the latest person to treat Marilyn like a victim and Roo like the villain of the piece.Maybe I'm being hard hearted but coming out with comments like "They've lost a baby" suggests she's had a miscarriage or had a child die on her, not kidnapped someone else's baby and had to give him back. Mind you, I wasn't happy with Roo having a go at Laura either.Even if one of the River Boys did rape Bianca(and that's not certain yet, it could be any of the rowdy guests), Laura was just doing what she thought was best and Roo's "Who suggested a B&S ball?!" felt like a case of transference, given she was feeling guilty about it not long before.

Glad that, after a couple of euphemistic references to "sexual assault", they came out and said Bianca had been raped.Seems we're finally at that stage.I'm coming to the conclusion Brax really is an irredeemable scumbag, however nice he might be to Charlie or Casey at times.I remember people talking about him punching Heath when it was shown in Australia(seven weeks ago...when were we last that long behind?)and I assumed at the very least Heath would make some tasteless smart remark.But instead it was completely unprovoked, just Brax using violence to get his own way again.Charlie comes across as a pretty incompetent police officer as a result:She had enough circumstantial evidence to force Heath to give a DNA sample, yet instead she has to rely on her criminal boyfriend acting as a private enforcer.I'm still not entirely convinced Heath did it:It seems a bit too obvious and, although he quickly turned cocky again, he did seem genuinely shocked for a moment when Charlie told him what happened.

Again I find I've come back from a break with a higher opinion of a pairing:I wasn't sure about Xavier and Kelly beforehand but there did seem to be a bit of a spark between them here.(Although, unless I'm remembering wrongly, Xavier's facial injuries seem to have cleared up an awful lot overnight.)April's moment of guilt/jealousy when she spoke to Kelly interested me at first, until suddenly both Xavier and Kelly started citing it as evidence that she's a nice person, when I actually thought it was none of her business and she should have stayed out of it, especially since her comment basically amounted to "I messed him about so don't you do the same."Dean came across as quite a lout here and I'm glad Xavier stuck up for Kelly when he tried to force her to leave.Not sure what Gina's reaction will be when she finds out Xavier's accidentally invited Kelly to stay with them though...

[Slade]

Well I'm glad Alf's back so hopefully we'll see less of Roo but I don't think so. First episode since the break and already she's been incredibly annoying. "Dad you're back!" - No kidding Roo. And then biting Laura's head off for selling tickets to the River Boys, practically blaming her for Bianca getting raped and moaning to Sid about it afterwards. Even Sid could understand what she did wasn't intentional. I'm glad Alf went round there and gave her a serve. She deserved it.

So glad Xavier is trying to move on. I spotted him and Kelly in the background when Dex and April were chatting (we'll I was kind of expecting them to show up as that's always the way). I'm glad he didn't use Kelly to try and make them jealous but simply smiled at them. I didn't like the way April warned Kelly about treating Xavier with kid gloves. She kind of lost the rights to that when she dumped him. The flip side to that is that despite what happened to Bianca and the fact that she was with Dex she still cared enough about Xavier to even think of doing that. I don't think Gina's going to be happy at all TBH when Xavier announces that Kelly's staying with them.

Although I don't normally condone violence considering that Brax beat Brody up for playing the practical joke on Coleen and Heath put one of the other River Boys in hospital a while back I don't think Brax punching Heath in the face was that bad compared to the other stuff.

[ebrett84]

Kind of funny how Xavier keeps getting dumped and being left heartbroken...before upgrading 2 weeks later. He goes from clingy, crazy, cheating Ruby to nice but kooky April to Kelly who's hot and seems like a normal girl. At this rate she'll dump him next month and he'll end up dating a supermodel.

[H&Alover]

Hope everyone had a good Summer (what we had of it anyway).

Strewth Red are you a mind reader or something!!!! Everything you said about Alf having a go at Roo, Roo having a go at Laura and Xav's injuries clearing up over night I was thinking.

I think the fact that ketamin was used ought to rule any of the RB's being involved, how would any of them get hold of that? Winder if it was slipped into her drink and she wasn't drunk as she seemed but the effects taking hold? Also Bianca mentioned it was a picture she saw and as she has seen Heath's tats and none of those could be described as a picture imo. something I feel she would have mentioned. She did say she had a dance with him, he tried to kiss her and she pushed him away. He did seem genuinely shocked by the news. Did Charlie ask her if her attacker spoke to her at all? My money is on Dean (who lives on a farm remember) judging by the way he treated Kelly. Good for Xav standing up to him, seems he is good at threatening women but when a man challenges him he soon backs down. Good luck with Gina when you take Kelly home. I felt he was kind of gloating when he introduced Kelly to Dex and April, though her warning Kelly was a bit off. She wasn't silly though and realised she was the one who had dumped Xav, followed by more advice to Xav on how to get over her.

Brax is feeling torn at the moment, sure he has turned his back on the RB's but something like this and especially when his brother is No. 1 suspect of course he is going to be worried. Personally I didn't blame him for thumping Heath. Interesting to learn that rape would be breaking their code. At least Charlie ignored Brax saying he would deal with it and did her duty.

Even if Laura hadn't sold the tickets to Heath and co., they could have still hung around and caused trouble, which as far as I can remember they didn't, so Roo was wrong to have a go at Laura. Alf did go in with both guns blazing and without hearing Roo's side, but then he did get the news from Morag which says it all really. I doubt Marilyn would have painted her so black.

[Brian]

Kind of funny how Xavier keeps getting dumped and being left heartbroken...before upgrading 2 weeks later. He goes from clingy, crazy, cheating Ruby to nice but kooky April to Kelly who's hot and seems like a normal girl. At this rate she'll dump him next month and he'll end up dating a supermodel.

Doubt it. they don't do supermodels on soaps. Be happy if Kelly stays with Xav for a long time. They get on well together. Second time Xavier's got himself a live-in lover; gotta be doing something right!

[Red Ranger 1]

Loved that opening scene of the Austin/Palmer family, with Gina not having a clue how to react, John once again seeming to understand Xavier better than her and Xavier being a typical teenage boy and going pretty ga-ga over Kelly.I didn't really like the way Xavier forced Dexter to give up the job and then the way Dexter almost seemed to be using it to force Xavier to be friends with him again.(Nice that his little descent into capitalism has left him owing more money, by the way.)It does seem at times as though Kelly's main purpose is to convince Xavier that April and Dexter are nice people really.Interestingly, when April came in she spent half her time convincing Xavier that John wasn't as bad as he thought:Mind you, I agreed with her then.Whilst I kind of like Xavier and Kelly, I agree with John that Xavier shouldn't have made a promise he can't keep.If Kelly's planning to get her own place, they should have waited until then.

Glad that Roo apologised to Laura and Alf apologised to Roo.The whole thing with Laura stealing Roo's money, except she didn't, apparently, was downright weird and almost felt like it was included purely so they'd have something to put in the throw forward at the end of the previous episode. Either way, I'm glad it was a misunderstanding and she and Roo parted on good terms.I'm sorry to see her go though and it's ironic that she and Elijah were one of the few relationships I actually didn't mind.

[H&Alover]

Xav did take it upon himself to have a go at Dex on Kelly's behalf and good for her for having a go at him. At least it all got sorted in the end. I did have a thought as to another solution that they split the shifts but hey ho. Good to see Dex and Xav are kind of friends again and loved Casey's little remark about waiting for the guy hug.

Gina was good there and her not quite being able to say she hoped Xav wasn't going to get too close I suppose John being a bloke could understand Xav better (or is that sexist nowadays)? He wasn't wrong though was he and Xav did move in for a kiss.

It suddenly struck me last night (and just as she was leaving) how much Laura looked like Bianca (well to me anyway). I'm glad they made it up, they had been good friends after all. Let's hope she keeps her word and pays Roo back. Shame about her and Elijah, I think it worked because they weren't as serious as he and Leah were, it was pretty casual.

On to tonights.

Liam's back (as if that was going to be a surprise)! Even if what had happened to Bianca hadn't happened did he really think he could have strolled back in as if nothing had happened??? So he went to see Ash, he could have texted her!! Understand April having a go. Moving on, at least he is here for her now, though April saying it was Heath, when there's no proof, didn't help any. Then of course Heath had to mention he and her had slept together (oops) lucky John was there and stopped him making more trouble. Bianca probably would have told him if April hadn't interrupted them earlier, so she made a mistake, he's made enough, so hopefully when he's calmed down he'll understand.

Before she cocked up, April played a blinder with Colleen when Kelly nearly run her over. Clever ploy playing on Colleen's conscience like that, by saying Kelly would be stranded and friendless if she lost her job. Not that he needs it, but having April say she thinks Xav and Kelly would make a good couple may decide Xav to actually make a go of it. Btw did I get the impression maybe he and Kelly did go further than a kiss the night before and he changed his mind?

The scene between Xav and April on the beach when she told him about Bianca was quite touching.

More tomorrow.