Latest UK Episode Discussion (2006-2017 Seasons)

[Red Ranger 1]

Okay, so it seems Brax really is stupid enough to think that if he stops sleeping with Natalie then she'll be able to counsel Casey impartially again.Or at least, he's stupid enough to think that Casey's stupid enough to think that.I'm probably being repetitive here but what the heck's happened to Natalie?Remember that competent, laidback school counsellor who managed to get students to open up to her by talking around issues or playing a waiting game?Somehow she's been replaced with a self-important pest who turns up at teenagers' house to harrass them and insist they need to let her sort them out. She's obviously the last person who can help Casey.Is she really the only counsellor in Summer Bay?Or just the only school counsellor, in which case someone needs to tell Gina just how compromised she is with regards getting involved in students' personal lives?Gina's pretty dumb for mistaking Casey's belief he's going to jail for suicidal tendencies, as is Brax for believing it.Casey quitting school again?Don't tell me he's still going to be in Year 12 next year.All the jokes about him still being at school when Sasha's graduated are seeming increasingly likely.At the very least, they'll probably be in the same classes. At the moment, it is at least looking like she's the one person who's actually helping him and who he can confide in.Otherwise, the most interesting thing was the curious attempt to hide Ada's pregnancy with a row of bushes.

Have to admit to being somewhat disappointed at the way the Jett storyline has gone, with Gina getting her own way.At least they've managed to portray Richard in a favourable light and have him and Jett remain on amicable terms, which opens up the possibility of them staying in contact.At least he's doing what he think is best, as I guess was Gina, but it feels a bit like he gave up too quickly and didn't give Jett a chance to get used to living with him before letting him go back to John and Gina.Maybe it's realistic, he didn't seem entirely comfortable assuming a father's role and probably only applied for custody as a knee jerk reaction to getting the DNA results.But I'm not sure why they had him do two U-turns in quick succession, they could have had him eager to get to know Jett but needing to move away for work without the pointlessness of writing Jett out for a week.There was some nice physical comedy when John was trying to put the gift voucher in an aesthetically pleasing position at the dinner table but it was a bit disappointing that as soon as Jett got back, John seemed to be the odd one out again.

[Slade]

If I didn't know any better I swear Leah was a bit jealous about Brax and Natalie.

Still don't blame Casey for his attitude towards Natalie. The fact that she's been with Brax would be enough to put him off confiding in her and I feel she has compromised her position professionally. I think it's obvious that Sasha still fancies him so considering (at least from his point of view) he doesn't have a future he might as well try it on with her. I'm sure she would be a more than willing participant.

Really didn't like the way Gina got Jett got back from Richard. It just feels like Jett's bad behaviour has been rewarded or should I say unpunished (again).

[H&Alover]

If I didn't know any better I swear Leah was a bit jealous about Brax and Natalie.

Ah but you and the rest of us do know better!!! Good that she didn't let her feelings about Brax spoil Nat's feelings towards him, though that not so subtle hint she gave Nat when they were talking did widen Nat's eyes a bit!!! Nice girly chat between Leah & Roo about the romance or non romance of Brax & Nat and how when she was interested he wasn't as it was too soon after Charlie. Good advice from Roo that she was the right person at the wrong time. Hadn't Leah been in the same position with Miles, when he was first interested in her it was too soon after Dan then when she was it was too soon after Kirsty! Not a very good hiding of Ada's bump as there has been when she leant over to talk to Nat you could see it. I do love the inventiveness of TV bosses when a character is pregnant and doesn't want it written into their story!! Good view of the diner and the pier where the outside tables are.

So it appears Brax & Nat's idea to stop seeing each other has backfired as it isn't what Casey wants at all, he wants Nat to be there for Brax for when he goes inside, and is going to need her. He seems to know Brax better than he knows himself, he already knows he blames himself for he got himself into. As you say Red there must be other consellors, unless he's determinded he doesn't want one? I was kind of wondering where Gina got the idea Casey was (maybe) going to kill himself, the way I saw it he was just trying to tie up any loose ends before he faced the inevitable of going to prison. If he goes down, he can always pick up his studies inside. Can't remember who Nat was talking to but she mentioned Brax was the same age as Casey is (18) when Danny went inside so that would make him 30? Some really lovely chats between Sash & Case, she does seem the only person who can understand what he is going through, she herself pushed her family away at first then realised she needed them to be there for her. Liked the little bit of flirting as in if you care for me, are you going to push me away too? From the trailer it looks like they wake up on the beach together, though I don't think anything happened apart from them just falling asleep.

The John/Gina scenes were sweet, his getting the beauty tokens from Maz (and thanking her for her help) and trying to get it to stand up, then sticking it on the table by licking it, did he remember to take it home otherwise someone else is going to get lucky? Nice mention of Colleen btw and her pedigree (I can't remember what she called the manicure).

Personally I loved the return of Jett, though I did feel sorry for Richard, you couldn't really expect him to become a perfect dad that quick, he didn't even know he had a son until a few months ago. Even Jett said he didn't do that bad. Big decision of his and great he cared enough to let Jett go. Jett's graffitting is his way of showing his upset and he did get hauled in by the cops so he didn't away with it completely. He can always go and stay with Richard after he moves to WA and get to know him better that way and maybe in the future decide he wants to be with him. I had to smile when John came home and started to have a (slight) rant at Gina and she was just sitting there

smiling, then Jett comes up behind him, making faces, then slaps him on the back and says "Hello John". "Did you run away again?" "No", then Gina "And I didn't kidnap him".

[Red Ranger 1]

It would be nice to get one episode of Dexter's storyline that didn't put so much focus on how his injury is affecting Poor April.Sadly, it seems that in the minds of the writers and character they're inextricably bound together, to the point that Irene acts like it's the end of the world that's Dexter's gone a whole week without changing his mind about seeing her.Even when they're not having sex all the time, the relationship seems to dominate(and April's back watching sex videos to compensate, in front of Irene disturbingly).April was doing the right thing by respecting Dexter's wishes and staying away, she didn't need what seemed like the whole town telling her to force herself on him "for his own good".More crazy geography:Sid and April go for a coffee at the hospital and end up...on the pier?! (April didn't really go all the way out to the hospital, have a two minute chat to Sid, then go straight back to Summer Bay, did she?)Those two nurses were out of line, especially when you consider they weren't complaining about a random patient but about someone they've worked with for months, and I'm glad April had a go at them.Shame it went right over the edge into nauseating, especially with the sledgehammer subtle "Dexter won't get out of bed when Sid tries to persuade him but he does the moment he hears April's voice" thing.What's happened to April and Dexter's house?She seems to be back living with Irene full time.If they haven't given it up, she could study there, assuming her talk about needing to study somewhere where there's not a newborn baby wasn't just a front.

Did Natalie really tell Brax "Don't be nice to Casey, carry on pushing him around because that's what he's used to"?Wow, with insights like that you can see how she got her job.Once again, Sasha seemed like the only bright spot in Casey's life and I loved when he stood up for her with Natalie and pointed out she was being a friend to him unlike everyone else.Really disliked Natalie in that scene, she came across as very judgemental and a bit stuck-up.

[cadyctslover]

Wow, today's was the most bored I have been by a Home and Away episode in a long time.

I really don't care whether Harvey and Roo's relationship is near breaking point or not, and Casey and Heath's latest conflict doesn't interest me.

Having said that I do think Dexter's recovery is being well-presented, although the lovey-dovey-ness between him and April, especially at the end of yesterday's episode is beyond .

Apologies for the negativity .

[Red Ranger 1]

Whilst I think it's been dragged on longer than was really necessary, I have rather enjoyed the conflict between Heath and Casey.I wasn't too happy with the way Brax came home going "I've sorted things out with Heath for you" last week, so I'm glad that it turned out that wasn't the case and they got to sort it out themselves without big brother in sight.I just hope that's it and they can go back to the close relationship they were building when Danny first turned up.Heath does have a severe case of ignored middle child syndrome:It's got to the point where he just wants any attention from Danny and Brax, it doesn't even have to be good attention.Heath playing with a stuffed toy is another brilliant little moment that we'd never have dreamed would have happened a year or so ago.Interesting that Casey panicked when asked to hold Rocco, does he really thinking that hurting people is what he does?The way he was demolishing his room near the end made me wonder if he was making it look like a prison cell.

I'm still in two minds about Dexter's storyline.That miracle cure doesn't look too far away:Having abruptly lost the ability to speak last week, he's abruptly regained it and now he's shuffling along hospital corridors pretty much unaided.At this rate, he'll be back to normal in a couple of weeks which seems a bit pointless.I continue to be unhappy with the need to focus so heavily on him and April in what the writers and actors jarringly insist on portraying as a sweet and innocent relationship while simultaneously making jokes about the erotic uses of whipped cream.Plus points:Despite his fairly rapid progress, April's "cute" gestures aren't being presented as the easy solution they could have been and he's continuing to lash out and get frustrated and remind everyone that he's not the person they remember.Sid's worried backwards glance at April and Dexter's reunion is interesting, he doesn't seem to be against their relationship so is he concerned April doesn't really know what she's letting herself in for?But again, I'd rather see them involved with other characters.You had April, Bianca and Heath in the same episode today yet the only character to cross between the two storylines was Casey.And when Sid commented Sasha and Indi were visiting later, I'd rather see that than April clinging to Dexter like a limpet:We got a bit of interaction between Dex and Sasha yesterday but they seem to be saving Indi for episodes focusing on the Romeo/Liam triangle, which again seems to be putting the focus on the wrong character combinations.

I genuinely forgot Roo and Harvey were in today's episode until I stumbled across a reference to them, so they obviously didn't make much impact.With two stronger storylines, and dare I say stronger characters, competing for attention, they were never going to be the big selling point.

[H&Alover]

I did like the way Bianca bullied Heath and Casey into having it out one way or the other and it looked like it worked with their reconcillation on the beach. Was Heath particularily miffed because it was him who campaigned to get Danny out of jail then was more or less ignored by him. I guess Danny picked on Casey to be his fall guy as he, being the youngest, would be more prone to be influenced by him. I wondered about Casey's reluctance to hold Rocco was down to the possibility of going to prison and didn't want to get too close to him. We nearly got to see what actually happened between Casey and Danny during his flashbacks, but it stopped short of those final moments. Lovely moments between him and Sasha who has put her true feelings for him aside just to be a friend. Not sure why Brax had a go at Nat for not telling him the last time she found Casey on the beach was because he was drunk, she was being a proper counsellor back then so it was none of Brax's business. If he had wanted to tell him he would have. He did look bemused when she had a go about not telling her Leah had (has) feeelings for him, why would he, he didn't return them and it was before they sort of become a couple.

I can see why April feels left out of the loop, but she does come across very intense sometimes and doesn't let Dex try and do things for himself instead of maybe asking him if he needs a hand. Sasha did the same thing when she saw he was having problems getting the plastic covering off his magazine, she just took it off him and you saw by his face he wasn't happy. April was so right about having a go at the nurses, as you said Red he is someone they used to work with and not only that he is the son of one of their doctors. It makes you wonder if they talk about other patients like that. I did feel sorry for Dex when Casey, April and Sid were all talking, it looked like he was having trouble keeping up with the three way conversation so it's not going to be all plain sailing after all. He's still having trouble remembering certain words and it must get frustrating April finishing his sentances for him. While it's good to know he's not going to be affected physically too much it seems his co-ordination has gone, when asked to turn round by Sid he looked disorientated. As yet, as he told Casey, he doesn't remember the accident, though whether as Case said that is a good thing remains to be seen.

[Red Ranger 1]

Found today's episode very unsatisfying.It's hard to shake the feeling, with her advice to Casey to patch things up yesterday and then moaning to Bianca about what a burden he was, that Irene was basically scheming to get Heath out of the house, despite her claims to the contrary.He tries to help and Bianca sends him away, then Irene gives him evils just for walking through the kitchen.Having him move back in with Brax and Casey feels like a backward step, with him stuck being a part-time father to Rocco and part-time boyfriend to Bianca.And surely we should be past him making childish digs at Liam by now?It's not like Liam's a threat to him.The scene with Heath and Romeo on the beach, which could have been a good chance to show two characters who rarely interact together, actually made them both come across as pretty unlikeable.The message was presumably meant to be "We need to stop being jerks and do the right thing" but it was done in such an awkward fashion that it just made their later actions seem insincere.

Ah yes, Mr.Smith.Frankly I was glad that he turned down Liam's insane suggestion to spend time with Indi and disappointed he changed his mind.Liam might have been well-intentioned but I suspect he's going to regret that one.It's frustrating that we haven't really seen Liam and Indi as a couple since the episode where they first got together, I thought we might get some at the end but then Romeo, the "third person in their relationship" as he put it, walked in.Liam's remark to Heath does underline the double standard that the writers and town residents seem to think Indi's the only one who has to stick to her marriage vows:No-one cares about Liam and Bianca moving on(as long as Liam doesn't do it with Indi)and, while Romeo got a few disapproving looks and grumbling behind his back for seeing Ruby, he didn't get anything like the hostility Liam and Indi have.The one good thing about Romeo offering to be friends again(not sure why Liam would want him as a friend...)is it might stop the likes of VJ and Sasha giving them a hard time.

I was also disappointed with the way the John/Gina/Jett storyline ended up.Gina's back smothering Jett, who might appreciate it while it's new to him but will soon get as fed up as all her own sons did.As a result, John is excluded, with Gina even stopping him spending time with Jett.It looks it's all going to come to a head but instead John goes and gets drunk with Marilyn, which was amusing but didn't really seem to address the issue.It felt like it was building up to an airing of their problems that never really came.

And once more, Harvey and Roo prove to be completely forgettable.Mainly because they seem to have been having the same arguments for about two weeks and variants thereof since at least the beginning of the year.

[alreetlike]

I've been watching episodes a few days after they're on lately, so I can't quite remember which day it was.. but when Harvey was helping Alf move boxes and they were talking about Roo I realised I'd been paying more attention to a dog that seemed to be walking in and out of the door behind Alf. I don't think I heard a word of the conversation, which probably indicates how much the storyline interests me. You don't seem to get many animals in the Bay...

As others have said, the Dexter storyline would be SO much more effective if it wasn't revolving around April. Yeah, I get that it's hard for a young couple to go through that but Sasha and particularly Indi don't seem to be getting a look in. I'm certain if my brother was in hospital with such serious problems I'd be there A LOT. Well firstly I'd be asking someone since when did I have a brother, but you know what I mean.

Casey.. meh. Maybe I just don't like the character, but I haven't really been drawn into his struggle.

Still got a few episodes to catch up with from this week.

[H&Alover]

I've been watching episodes a few days after they're on lately, so I can't quite remember which day it was.. but when Harvey was helping Alf move boxes and they were talking about Roo I realised I'd been paying more attention to a dog that seemed to be walking in and out of the door behind Alf.

I'm glad I wasn't the only doing that alreet!!! What made Harvey think Alf would know aht Roo was thinking anyway, he never has before, I don't think even Roo knows what she is thinking these days!

I know it had a serious reason behind it (John feeling left out with Gina fussing over Jett) but I did have to laugh seeing Maz drunk and falling all over Harvey. I don't remember seeing her like that before. Why doesn't John just tell Gina how he feels, I thought they'd resolved all that, but she seems to have short term memory loss.

I guess Heath isn't used to being domestic, does Brax or Casey do the cleaning at their home, I don't remember any meals actually being cooked. Heath was actually dressed wheh he bumped into Irene so apart from him surprising her I don't see what else he did wrong. I did see Bianca's point about bringing his mates home just when she'd got the place tidy. Loved the conversation she was having with herself deciding how to ask Heath to do his bit. I was going to ask why don't they get their own place, but Bianca isn't working and I don't suppose, if he is working, Heath wouldn't get paid that much.

Did seem a bit out there that conversation with Romeo and Heath, but it did seem to help both of them decide what to do, Heath moving back home and Romeo being 'friends' with Liam and Indi. I wonder if Liam's reasoning behind the idea is because he realises Indi isn't as into him as he is her. Judging by the look she was giving Romeo when he left Angelo's he could be right. Btw was that River Boys having a dig at Liam & Indi, if so what is it to do with them?