Latest UK Episode Discussion (2006-2017 Seasons)

[Alison C]

Having read the Austrslian discussions of theses episodes at the time it is very funny to see the difference in reaction to them in the uk.

There are loads of pages of discussions over there on whether Charlie would survive the shooting. And here it was only very briefly mentioned and not even by everyone. Do we not care here? Lol. do we not realise that Chax are the greatest couple evezzzzzz (sorry couldn't even keep myself interested in that!)

Also I love that it was noted here that every girl who stayed with Irene has at some stage sneaked a boy out that window. There was uproar that they let this happen when it was an Adelle thing. And the posters on the aus discussion would not be persuaded that it's really a beach house thing.

I know that in Neighbours in the past there was a big difference between how the uk and Australia viewed the Timmons but it funny to see different reactions here too.

Reason for edit SPAG

[Miranda]

Also I love that it was noted here that every girl who stayed with Irene has at some stage sneaked a boy out that window. There was uproar that they let this happen when it was an Adelle thing. And the posters on the aus discussion would not be persuaded that it's really a beach house thing.

Yes, I want to say Chloe and Curtis with the window thing, and surely Hayley Smith had that room once? So Noah or whoever must have gone in and out of that window. And I even have a feeling that boys have lived in that room and their girlfriends have gone in and out of the window. I'd love to find out exactly how many couples have been involved with this window.

Also wanted to say, re: Heath/April again, I agree with Red/ whoever said it was nice Heath stayed the night with her and cuddled up to her rather than nipping off immediately afterwards. Maybe hinting they will be a couple, not just a one nighter.

[Red Ranger 1]

I remember Jade(and Kit)using that window when Nick was in there.Not sure about anyone else.Have to say, I can totally see what Heath sees in April:Like he said, she's not exactly hideous.She's effectively left school

although I've heard a rumour she goes back

and I don't think the age difference is any bigger than Nicole and Angelo.

So...what's 2012 like so far?Bit rubbish but hopefully it picks up.We get two scenes dealing with Sid's assault charge.They let him out surprisingly quickly but I'm glad they did.Stu's dad seems like a pretty nasty character and I almost felt sorry for Stu, although I still hope he's charged over what he did to Sasha.Oh-and we get about half a scene of Elijah trying to play father figure to VJ, which I'm not entirely comfortable with.He says VJ's been down since Miles left.Um, wasn't that, like, the previous day?!

Oh-and there's what seems like about two hours of Brax being a twat.I felt sorry for Ruby in that episode and maybe for Leah a bit.I don't have one iota of sympathy for Brax and I don't have much for Charlie either:This is the life she chose and now it's killed her.Brax being stupidly macho and going after Jake just distracted from the important stuff:Wonder if they'll charge him with assault like they did Sid?Stupid question, I know.Frankly, when Jake was waiting at the house with a gun, I was practically shouting "Shoot him!" which probably wasn't the reaction they were aiming for.And then he goes and makes things worse for Ruby by refusing to accept a world where he doesn't get his own way.The whole thing was so badly plotted I'm not sure when exactly we were told Charlie was dead.Sid says that they don't know how long her brain was starved of oxygen and there's nothing more they can do and I'm expecting him to say "We just have to wait" or order some brain stem tests and instead next time we see them he's asking her when she wants to turn off the life support.Did I miss something?

[Slade]

I know it was off duty but why hasn't Sid been suspended? How can he even be working at the same Hospital if there's an AVO out on him whilst Stu is there? It's hard for me to be annoyed with Sid because I really like him but what he did to Stu was just as bad as what Aden did to Axel. So there is an argument that he should go to jail and I didn't particularly like his attitude at the police station. He doesn't seem the least bit sorry and it felt his apology to Stu's dad was just a token gesture.

Personally if that was my mum I wouldn't want to turn off the life support machine and I really don't think it's fair that Ruby make that decision but there's no one else. Didn't occur to me previously that without Charlie Ruby has nobody as baring her it was only Ross previously. It should have been Brax who had been shot, not Charlie.

When VJ showed his new trainers and rucksack to Leah, I bet had that been Miles she would have bitten his head off. She certainly wouldn't have been as grateful as Leah seemed towards Elijah even offering him money. Bar an off switch with Charlie appearing to be at death's door as she and Charlie are really good friends she's going to need support so presumably Elijah's going to support her and I wonder how long he will be able to contain his feelings for her. This is certainly an excuse for them to get closer.

[Red Ranger 1]

I know it was off duty but why hasn't Sid been suspended? How can he even be working at the same Hospital if there's an AVO out on him whilst Stu is there? It's hard for me to be annoyed with Sid because I really like him but what he did to Stu was just as bad as what Aden did to Axel. So there is an argument that he should go to jail and I didn't particularly like his attitude at the police station. He doesn't seem the least bit sorry and it felt his apology to Stu's dad was just a token gesture.

I'm not really sure if Sid would be suspended, it's not really anything to do with his work although Stu being at the hospital complicates things and it did seem like Avery's casual reaction was just a plot device to get him in the hospital to treat Charlie.I suspect it's just the fact I like Sid that makes me not want to see what he did as as bad as what Aden did but I think the difference to me is that Sid attacking Stu was an instinctive reaction, he saw his daughter being assaulted and immediately went for her attacker, whereas Aden premeditatedly went after Axel intending to hospitalise him and on the basis of second hand hearsay at that.(Interestingly, Brax's pursuit of Jake in this episode seems a closer match from that viewpoint.)Although he wasn't doing himself any favours, I didn't really disagree with much that he said at the police station, it is an injustice that he's being charged and given an AVO while Stu isn't.I don't think he's completely sorry for what he did and I think he feels he's justified by what Stu was doing to Sasha(and up to a point I agree with him)but I think he does realise that all he's done is make matters worse and he handled it badly.I think he probably deserves to end up with a criminal record over this but I think there's enough mitigation for him to avoid jail, maybe a suspended sentence would be appropriate.

[EmyKate68]

Probably the only one who cares, but personally I'm gutted about Charlie. Can't believe this is the end they came up with for her character - a police officer shot dead in Summer Bay - really - not seen that one before! Another couple that they have massively focussed on and built up for a year - "let's kill one of them off" - nope that's never happened before either.

So unoriginal - given the storylines this year - there are so many plausible and more interesting ways for Charlie to have left the show. Coiuldn't she just have got sick of all the drama and gone to the city to get a new job, leaving Brax to sort himself out? At least then there was always the glimmer of a reunion/return to the show in the future.

Now she can never return and more importantly Ruby is now an orphan - more tragedy to endure

[Red Ranger 1]

For me, for the second episode in a row, they completely missed the emotional heart of Charlie's story.Once again, we were treated to an appalling section in the middle demonstrating just what an unlikeable person Brax is, then we're expected to feel sorry for him.Where was Ruby, the person who should really matter, in all this?Her mother has effectively just died, she's been forced to make a gut-wrenching decision and some self-centred jerk with a gun has taken what she's got left of her mother away from her and is stripping her of whatever dignity she had left.Ruby should have been utterly traumatised by that but she reacted with all the emotion of someone who's missed out on the last After Eight mint and calmly invites Brax to sit with her at the end as if nothing's happened.Georgina was absurdly casual both during and after the incident and...what the hell, Sid?Apparently he's been turned into the guy who gets criminals off the hook:It seems, in his eyes, it's okay for April to steal prescriptions and Brax to threaten people with a gun so long as they pull a sad enough expression afterwards and act as though feeling bad about it is punishment enough.By that logic, I'm surprised he's not taking Stu out for a three course meal.On the plus side, Casey is portrayed well, supporting Ruby 100% and still having the sense to talk Brax down.Never has his status as the "good" Braxton been more obvious.

That said, and I'm probably going to go into this in more detail on Character Discussion when I've got the time, I think this is another case of a good story being told badly.It's easy to write this off as another in a long line of Big Couples torn apart by death when one of them leaves but I'd love to think they had this ending in mind when Charlie first pointed Brax out in Angelo's and declared him bad news nearly a year ago.I'm probably giving them too much credit but this was no random event but the logical outcome of their relationship, that Brax was so mired in a violent world and Charlie became such a part of it that it was always going to end in tragedy.Pleasingly, the promo suggests the series recognises this but I guess we'll see how accurate that is when we get there.

In other news, we get some decent screen time for the Walker family drama.Would have been nice to have heard Romeo had gone looking for Mink before this but at least it explains where he's been.Dexter was a jerk again, even though I kind of see his point of view, but it was nice to see Romeo, who's been in an abusive family situation, being the one to talk him round.I'm assuming/hoping Sasha's told the police everything so I can understand her reluctance in spreading it around town, although it might make Colleen shut up.That photo comes back to bite her, although I get the feeling Stu didn't have much to do with it.Although he might outstay his welcome, Alan is shaping up to be the sort of villain this show should do, not a gangster or member of a criminal gang, just an ordinary thug from down the street, the sort of person who inhabits the same world as the audience and, indeed, the rest of Summer Bay.The hospital's response to Sid seemed a bit over the top:I could understand him being suspended but firing him?!Okay, he was a bit aggressive and his personal involvement was unfortunate, but basically he just restrained a relative who had turned violent.Didn't really dislike Roo but disappointed that, after seemingly dodging it at the end of last season, she breaks up with him.I really hope that's it, I'm sick of the whole on/off.Loved the Romeo/Indi scene near the end, the show's doing a good job of capturing the perils for young married couples.Romeo wanted this marriage and it's time for him to step up and start acting like a married man and supporting them, rather than playing around with pipe dreams that don't make any money.

[cadyctslover]

A really disappointing start to the new season, Charlie is lying there but it's like she doesn't exist. Perhaps that's the effect they were going for?! I hate these endings for characters such as Charlie who have complex back-stories, leaving so many loose ends especially when they won't be dealt with. It's as though a line has been drawn under everything pre-May 2011, as if the important character development has happened since then? As if!

Perhaps Steve Peacock was having an off couple of days, but I see absolutely no emotion in his portrayal of a heartbroken man. This makes it very difficult to empathise with him.

It feels as though the primary focus is definitely on him and how he will deal with it, but I find him so unlikeable as a character that I just don't care. The scene where he barricades himself in the hospital room with Charlie should have been an amazing, passionate scene, but the moment he started waving a gun around I lost interest.

I do like that Ruby has been given at least some attention, having the responsibility of turning off the life-support machines as she is the next of kin. I hope we see more of the fallout for Ruby than we do for Brax. It is also a shame that Bianca is not around during this time as they built up quite a nice friendship this year.

I know that it isn't imposible or unrealistic for someone to lose their grandfather and mother within a year, but how depressing . I'm sure there must have been a better way to write Charlie out of the show. The explanation given was that after the build-up of their relationship the only logical way that Charlie could leave would be if she died, but I have a couple of queries with that. Instead of being the most logical exit death is also the fastest and laziest easiest to write, I would also contest that there has even been much of a relationship for the viewer to care about. How much time have they actually spent together as a couple, minus the fighting, River Boy angst and multiple cases of the obstruction of evidence?

[Skylover]

I'd love to think they had this ending in mind when Charlie first pointed Brax out in Angelo's and declared him bad news nearly a year ago.I'm probably giving them too much credit but this was no random event but the logical outcome of their relationship, that Brax was so mired in a violent world and Charlie became such a part of it that it was always going to end in tragedy.

I hope this too. Death was really the only option for the Charlie character. Her dying suddenly justifies all the glorification of the River Boys violence.

[claire_louise]

Probably the only one who cares, but personally I'm gutted about Charlie. Can't believe this is the end they came up with for her character - a police officer shot dead in Summer Bay - really - not seen that one before! Another couple that they have massively focussed on and built up for a year - "let's kill one of them off" - nope that's never happened before either.

So unoriginal - given the storylines this year - there are so many plausible and more interesting ways for Charlie to have left the show. Coiuldn't she just have got sick of all the drama and gone to the city to get a new job, leaving Brax to sort himself out? At least then there was always the glimmer of a reunion/return to the show in the future.

Now she can never return and more importantly Ruby is now an orphan - more tragedy to endure

I think we're in the minority, but I am also beyond gutted. Although I knew it was coming (and I'm glad I prepared myself, or I would have been even more of a wreck!) this week's episodes have been awful to watch. However, I disagree that they should have found another way to write Charlie out. If Esther was determined to go, I'd rather see Charlie die than have to watch yet another of my favourite couples break up (although I do agree that her being shot was too similar to Jack's death and they could have been more original on that score). Chax (hate that term) are my favourite couple since Kirsty and Kane and I think this exit is fitting for the character, albeit heartbreaking and especially bad for Ruby. I'd love it if Morag could stick around now so that Ruby isn't completely alone - Cornelia Frances has repeatedly stated her wish to become a permanent fixture on the show and now would be the perfect time to sign her up, but I doubt it will happen.

On a different note, it is amusing how much of a contrast there is between UK and Australian viewers' opinions of Chax - I'm amazed by how much love there is for them in Oz compared to the overwhelming dislike (on this forum, at least) over here!