Latest UK Episode Discussion (2006-2017 Seasons)

[Red Ranger 1]

Well, it couldn't last.Brax is back.Even though he was right to tell Casey to turn himself in instead of going on the run, especially since it was obvious that Heath didn't have any sort of plan, I hate the way he seems to swoop in like some sort of responsible older brother and act as though everyone has to listen to him and he always knows best when in fact he's the worst one of the lot and at the root of all their problems.And then expect Charlie to respond to him coming on to her when she's busy trying to arrest his brother.As predicted, although Charlie asked if anyone else was involved in the fire, she ignored the question of who burned the evidence.I am very much in two minds about Casey's plight.He did the wrong thing and arguably deserves to be punished but it'll be a bit galling if he ends up doing time when Brax, Heath and the rest of the River Boys get little or no punishment for doing a lot worse(Liam being beaten up springs to mind).On the other hand, if Casey does end up in jail as a result of stopping Brax being in a situation when he'd have either murdered Hammer or been killed himself, it might at last show some consequences to Brax's actions, even if Casey's the one really suffering.As with Casey, there's a feeling Ruby's learnt by example:Charlie hasn't exactly stood by Brax but she has shown willingness to ignore his crimes and still love him and would have got back with him if he hadn't slept with Tegan.It's a shame because a few weeks ago I was in favour of Ruby and Casey's relationship but I hope this break-up sticks or she's in danger of being dragged down by him, much like Charlie is by Brax.

Even though Leah continues to push Miles away, I am beginning to empathise with her a bit.I think she's ploughing herself into work and refusing to talk things over with Miles or Roo because she doesn't want to face up to what's happened.Her expression when she saw Miles waiting for her at the Diner suggested that she knows she's being unfair to him and feels guilty about it but thinks it's what she needs to do to keep going.

So, Stu's back, just in time to be on the receiving end of Brax's temper.If Sasha is going to pick up one of the River Boys, he's probably one of the safer options.She didn't seem at all happy when she was hugging him after Dexter wandered off, I get the feeling she's just acting up for attention rather than anything else.There does seem to be a nice relationship building between Sasha and Dex so it's a shame she was so dismissive of him here:It's a lot like the relationship between Dex and Indi, except with Dex being the older one he's acting a bit responsible for her.

Trivia note for you:The police officer with Charlie was named as 'Neal Stevenson' on the closing credits.The same actor appeared at the start of the year as a Constable Nader, except he wasn't a member of the local police, he was the guy that tracked down the real Shandi.So, same character or not?Voting starts here...

[Miranda]

Seriously that was a the shortest suspension ever. Cant belive Charlie has got her job back already. So it's back covering up for Brax again for her

Agreed. I can't even remember what the reason for reinstating her was. I think Georgie should run the station. Or Avery. Not Charlie that's for sure. Its so unrealistic.

[Slade]

Still trying to understand why Leah's frustration seems to be exclusively directed towards Miles. Is it because she resents him for impregnating her, indirectly causing this pain when she wasn't keen on the idea at first?

The only positive thing I can say about Sasha at the moment was at least she wasn't as annoying in that episode as she was last week. The only reason for that though is because Sid wasn't in it.

I've never particularly liked Casey so I don't have much sympathy for him if I'm being honest. I do respect the fact that he owned up to what he did (unlike Heath and Brax) and is prepared to accept his punishment. I also like the fact that Charlie didn't do what she would have done previously i.e. going in all guns blazing and take the moral high-ground with Ruby. She seemed quite sympathetic to both Ruby and Casey, even letting Ruby say goodbye. Although to be fair I think after her relationship with Brax she realises that she isn't in any position to pass judgement.

I did smile on Tuesday's episode when Watson subtly brought up Charlie's relationship with Brax and the intensity in Charlie's eyes when she basically told Watson to back off and never bring the issue up again. I was very surprised at Watson's 'I don't blame you' retort after that though. Although it surprised me too, I personally don't have a problem with her coming back so quickly because it was clearly self defence (well to me anyway) and I suppose we are running on soap time. Also if she and Brax hadn't dated I wonder if she would have gotten suspended in the first place. Again the only thing I would have an issue with is everybody's attitude towards her relationship with Brax. Her boss was quite content to just brush it under the carpet when she fessed up a while back and the other officers are acting like nothing's happened. Don't get me wrong I'm glad she's not getting a hard time but it would be very believable if she was.

[Miranda]

Again the only thing I would have an issue with is everybody's attitude towards her relationship with Brax. Her boss was quite content to just brush it under the carpet when she fessed up a while back and the other officers are acting like nothing's happened.

Doh! I was getting confused. I was thinking she'd been suspended for having an affair with Brax but obviously she was suspended for shooting poor old Hammer, wasn't she? How silly of me to think she'd be suspended for a relationship with a known criminal, compromising her professional position.

[H&Alover]

Although it is mainly Brax who pulls people into the kind of life they are living, he did want to keep Casey out of it and did his best to see it didn't happen. Heath tends to act first and think after and as we saw when they were in hiding not that far forward. Although a lot of her recent decisions have been a bit dodgy, I think she made the right one by giving Brax 24 hours to find and persuade Casey to give himself up. Liked the way Casey snapped at them both and made his own decision as to what he was going to do, which thankfully was the right one. I thought it was sad when Casey told Ruby he was finishing it with her, because he was convinced he was going to jail or juvvie. Imo considering he turned himself in and no-one got hurt in the fire,previous to this he had never been in trouble, apart from a shaky start at Summer Bay High, due to his dyslexia, he had been a very good, hard working pupil. Let's hope that the judge or whoever, ignores the fact his surname is Braxton, Heath's main worry, and just treats him as a normal young lad.

Have to admit Georgie's comment about Brax being hot surprised me too, I never thought she had seen him in that light. It did seem very quick for Charlie to be cleared of any wrong doing as in her and Brax setting up Hammer.

I thought Sasha was a right pain in last nights episode, Dex apart from him getting a new laptop from Sid, was doing all her could, but she just threw it all back in his face. He is course going to get the blame for her not going to school. Btw what was with those silly fingerless gloves??????? I'm guessing this is the same Stu that got his tatt cut off by Hammer's gang? She probably did like the look of him (he's a good looking lad), but you could be right Red that she only carried on florting with him to wind Dex up.

As for your spoiler cadyctslover, that would fit in with what Ralph Meagher sort of revealed in Five TV last month.

[Slade]

Doh! I was getting confused. I was thinking she'd been suspended for having an affair with Brax but obviously she was suspended for shooting poor old Hammer, wasn't she? How silly of me to think she'd be suspended for a relationship with a known criminal, compromising her professional position.

I asked this a while back but don't recall getting an answer - Does Brax actually have a criminal record? We all know he's a criminal but is he really in the eyes of the law? I always assumed he was one of those people who although occasionally got his hands dirty, very often got someone else to do his dirty work. You could argue that he's been smart and quite lucky to have actually made it this far. If he isn't a criminal in the eyes of the law and Charlie were to get into trouble for something like that presumably it would only be for getting involved with someone under investigation. So I'm assuming the worst they could do would be to take her off the case.

[Miranda]

Haha! I spotted a continuity error! Stu had just come from the hospital where the skin graft on his arm was being looked at by Sid. Then the very next scene, Sasha went rushing up to him and grabbed/ patted the very place where the graft was. Now surely he'd flinch or try to protect his arm?

[Slade]

Putting Sasha and Sid together highlighted the point I made in a previous post how annoying the odious brat is at the moment. I seriously could have swung for her. I hated the way she took great pleasure and was gloating when Harvey and Roo were on their second date in the Diner much to Sid's dismay. I was glad Xavier was blunt with her. She needed to hear that but TBH I don't think it will make any odds. Really didn't like the part with Xavier and the River Boys. I wasn't sure it was a good idea of Gina's to get Xavier to be her temporary guardian angel. He was seriously outnumbered and Gina knows about their reputation. John's suggestion in that they would have been better calling Sid and letting him deal with it was more sensible. The thing that annoyed me most about that was that Xavier's probably gotten a broken nose and Sasha just turned around and carried on walking as if it was nothing. Although to be fair she probably didn't know what was going on. Even saying that though, I hazard a guess that if Xavier or Gina were to tell Sasha that he got punched in the face for trying to stick up for her she'd probably turn round and blame him for getting involved and not minding his business in the first place. The girl is a waste of space at the moment.

I don't mind Harvey when he's dating Roo but he's doing my head in re Romeo. The guy obviously can't be trusted and the sooner Romeo ousts him from his business the better. I was a bit disappointed Alf didn't want to get involved as I though Harvey would be less likely to take the mick with him.

[Red Ranger 1]

To be honest, I don't think Brax would need a criminal record for Charlie to be in trouble.He's been a suspect in a number of cases, he's hopefully still being investigated over his part in the drugs trafficking and he was arrested for being in a brawl with a rival gang a few weeks back and probably given some sort of caution.It would be enough for him to be designated a known criminal and Charlie herself said she could face criminal charges at worst.Whilst she might have killed Hammer in self-defence, it was her own poor judgement that landed her in that situation in the first place.Brax might have tried to keep Casey out of his criminal dealings but he's still been a pretty poor role model and it was his actions that directly led to Casey making the decision he did.

Anyway...today's episode.Oh boy, Xavier.I love the guy but he badly needs to grow a brain.He's spent an awful lot of time this year getting in the River Boys' faces when he's really no match for them physically and it was only a matter of time before one of them snapped.(Actually, it already happened with Casey a while back.)Made even more frustrating because there was no need for him to get involved at all, Sasha had handled the guy perfectly fine by herself and was already walking away when Xavier decided to try and be macho.I very much doubt that was what Gina had in mind when she told him to keep an eye on her.

As I suspected, despite her apology last week Sasha's being as bad as ever and even rejected Roo's attempts to help her, although I do think Roo should have stayed out of it rather than trying to be a mother figure to her.Despite having some dodgy friends, Stu does seem to be a basically decent kid and Sid's probably taking the wrong approach by being so hardline with him, Sasha could do a lot worse(although she at least had enough sense to knock back the other one).I did actually like the mutual reaction to them all ending up at the restaurant, especially the way Harvey tried to usher Roo out of there, although it was dumb of Sid to let Sasha order a lot of food.Loved Indigo and Dexter at the start("That's so dumb it might just work")and Indi's nostalgic expression when Sasha was throwing a tantrum at Sid in the car.

Harvey is being increasingly annoying and Romeo needs to get shot of him as soon as.Someone remarked a while back that he might only be with Roo to have influence with Alf and, while I think he does like her, it doesn't seem to be doing him any harm.I'm actually quite annoyed at the way Alf is refusing to get involved.I'm still not sure Roo's heart is in it:That kiss seemed as much to convince her as him.

[H&Alover]

Not sure why Alf can't get involved just because Roo is dating Harvey and did Harvey really mean it when he said to Romeo he was just waiting for him to 'man up'? I certainly hope Roo isn't seeing Harvey purely to wind Sid up.

So it looks like Xavier will be back in hospital again, if only to get his nose fixed. It was dumb of him especially as you said Red Sasha had already successfully dealt with that RB. I don't blame Dex for ringing Sid and telling him Sasha had seemed to bunk off school again, even though this time she did turn up albeit briefly. Stu does seem a decent lad when he's on his own, but feels he has to act big when the other guys are about. Is that green car the one that used be Hammers? I spotted that about Stu's arm Miranda and thought the same. Sid was quite right to warn Stu off she is only 15 and although she might feel she is old enough to handle it it is pretty obvious she isn't.

Charlie did confess to Joyce she had been involved with someone under investigation and as far as we know Brax hasn't ever been arrested (apart from that brawl at the surf club). It may be me being cynical but it did cross my mind that Brax may be a police informer which is why Joyce gave her the go ahead to keep on the case. He obviously had no choice to suspend after the shooting but it may also explain why she was back at work so quickly.