Latest UK Episode Discussion (2006-2017 Seasons)

[Shibs]

Another exciting week in the Bay -

Monday – It was all about the Braxtons. Poor Heath, Bianca was really unfair with him. In my eyes he did the right thing getting Rocco to the hospital and then going to get her, but obviously she didn’t see that. Didn’t like the fact that he left the hospital though, he should’ve stuck up for himself rather than sulk. But it was nice to see him making sure that Bianca had someone in the hospital by going to get Irene. His conversation with Brax at the beach was nice, it been a while since these two have had a proper chat without it ending in a shouting match. Brax now has another drama to deal with, and its Casey again. Felt sorry for him when he headed back to the Bay and realised that Casey was not there. Glad Natalie is there to help him though. Roo and Harvey were a bit odd in this episode something felt a bit off, but I’m glad she was willing to give him a chance to explain by the end.

Tuesday – Glad that baby Rocco is ok and that Heath and Bianca sorted stuff out, they make a cute family. April and Heath’s chat was sweet and I’m glad she managed to talk him round. Dex and Sid were quite emotional in this episode, and seeing Dex in such a slump was sad. It was good that April told him about the house though, I assume in time he will realise it was the right thing to do. Loved Harvey and Roo on the boat, best scenes they’ve had so far I think. Nice to see them just talk and discuss things rather than shout and getting one up on one another. His proposal was sweet and I hope this will be the end of the off/on for now.

Wednesday – John and Gina situation is getting way out of hand. Again she was asking questions about something that’s not really there. I loved how John dug himself into a hole when Jett asked him about him and Gina, and his little run up the hill to greet Marilyn was sweet. Gina asking him if he wanted out of the marriage was a bit uncalled for, so he hasn’t got the right to care for his friends now either?!? Jett accusing Marilyn of wrecking their marriage was a bit out there, and I just wish he would’ve talked to them first instead of running off and coming up with his own conclusions!! John did look so lonely at the Surf Club office though, bless him. Roo, Harvey and Alf were a nice relief and I’m glad they are finally back on track. Dex and Marilyn were great together. I really enjoy the friendship they have and I’m glad he was cheered up by the end. The Walker family meal was sweet and it was nice to see them all happy, it’s been a while since we’ve seen that. Did feel for Marilyn when that Tower card fell out of the pack, she knew exactly what it meant, bless her.

Thursday – John:( I’m glad Marilyn said what she wanted to, if only Gina could’ve gotten off her high horse. Again she was blaming John and Marilyn when really she only has herself to blame for all this mess, and without noticing she’s pushing John and Marilyn closer together. I liked the fact that they all apologised to Marilyn though and that they figured out what they needed to do, it just a pity that John has to move out again!! Romeo and his steroid abuse has blown up pretty quickly. Having a pop at Alf first, and then being aggressive towards John, the guy who saved his life last week, because of the Surf Carnival. Lucky Liam was there otherwise I think John would’ve been flat on his back.

Friday – Liam saw right through Romeo and I’m glad he has. He was getting too much out of character. I don’t see how shouting at Indi helped though, to be fair she had nothing to do with the situation. Casey and the Outback were good and I’m glad that Brax finally figured out Casey’s message and went to look for him. Natalie is really coming into her own and it was nice to see her stick by Brax and packing her bags, and going off to help him. Kyle at the moment creeps me out, for an older brother he does look quite young. I am looking forward to seeing his reaction when Brax arrives though.

Promo looked good for this week -

[James Martin]

Well, as much as I'm not really into the Braxtons, I have to say today's was one of the best single episodes of Home & Away I've seen in a very, very long time.

Brilliant from start to finish, loads of stakes, loads of dramatic tension and what a powerful ending with the tables turned. The scene where Casey convinced Lara Croft to put down the gun was brilliant.

Who is the Lara Croft chick though? Why was she crying? Why was she so desperate to finish Kye off? I hope those questions get answered!

[Red Ranger 1]

Hmm.I wasn't sure myself.Kyle seems to be making his way through the Rubbish Villain book:He just drives off and assumes Casey will die, then even when he knows Brax is on his trail he decides to take Casey and his new friend for a drive instead of just finishing them off, then when he finally does get the "Why don't I just shoot him?" lightbulb he decides to run off and investigate a car engine instead of taking an extra second to pull the trigger.Tamara(as she's named in the credits)was an instantly engaging and likeable character, which perked the storyline up somewhat and made me forget the extraordinary coincidence of her just happening to come along in the middle of nowhere.It looked like she was starting to wet her handkerchief and give that to Casey before it cut away, which would be more sensible than giving him the bottle.(He surely can't have been without food and water ever since Kyle kidnapped him, he'd be long dead rather than reasonably active and lucid.)She did seem a bit highly strung, given her sudden willingness to kill Kyle, but I guess she's had a trying experience.For one second, I had hoped that explosion had finished Kyle off but no such luck.As it is, I'm left wondering what exactly caused an explosion big enough for Brax and Natalie to see several miles away, given there seemed to be little or no damage to either Kyle or the truck.Brax once again shows a curious set of priorities:Casey could do with immediate medical attention but instead he tells Natalie to take him to a town where there's literally nothing while he sticks around to play Rambo.Why not take Kyle's truck rather than pursuing him on foot?Did he think he wouldn't look macho enough?

Well, Romeo seems to have got addicted to steroids in a week(and when exactly did Heath have the opportunity to give them to him?Did he wait until after Rocco was better, in which case he got addicted in about a day?).I'd say his admitting it was a good sign but it was clearly his latest attempt to get back in with Indi and Liam was probably right to tell her not to be Romeo's crutch, even if it has set him back.I rolled my eyes when she admitted she still loved him though.What is the appeal?

[James Martin]

Yeah but it's Home & Away. A bit of suspension of disbelief has ever been thus. In terms of writing and production, I liked it. For the first time in a long time, it actually felt like longer than 25 minutes.

The thing with Tamara I think was more for Casey to persuade her not to cap him and the whole turning-tables thing. I really liked it but couldn't understand why she was evidently crying whilst deciding whether or not to pull the trigger. I hope we find out why. I'm glad we're going to see more of her as we head into the Season Finale (February sounds like a long time away but we should only be 2-3 weeks behind, a month tops, when Australia come back.)

I assumed the truck was damaged in the explosion.

As for the 'roid rage storyline, I'm liking this - I know someone who used 'em and Romeo's behaviour has been right on the money. So well done producers.

We need a hot multi-dimensional chick in Summer Bay. I hope Tamara's it... although I worry she's gonna be Bobby 3.0 (Belle was 2.0.)

Shaping up to be a good week. I really hope

Dale 2.0

doesn't disappoint.

[H&Alover]

I'm guessing Kyle did give Casey some water, just to keep him alive to torture him a bit more. With that heat and barely no protection from the sun, he would get dehydrated pretty quickly. Can't wait to hear where Tamara sprung from and why she was so intent on killing Kyle, he didn't appear to know her so perhaps she has met someone like him before. It must have occurred to Kyle that Nat had recognised him for him to decide to move Casey. I did wonder at Casey's sudden ability to run after he had been lying flat out with hardly any water (and I guess no food) for two/three days, he must have had hidden reserves. As James Martin said, it's H&A so we have to suspend our belief now and again it's a soap thing they all do it. Just handy though for the explosion to happen over the hill from where Nat & Brax are. I suppose Brax got Nat to take Casey back to the town to get him under cover and she would hardly leave him there would she? It did sound like Casey doesn't want to go back to the bay, knowing he's going to be in (more) trouble, but he needs hospital treatment and I'd say being kidnapped would come under extenuating cicrumstances for not meeting your bail conditions.

Although it's good that Romeo has recognised he has a problem, and saying he didn't realise what the side effects would be, getting Indi to take him back isn't the answer as Liam said, he'd just be replacing one crutch for another, it's called tough love. It does look like the problem is in the open tonight going by the trailer. Although Sid will be ever the professional he will not be pleased by what Romeo has done. He'd taken the decison to maybe ruin the rest of his live whereas Dex didn't have a choice in the matter.

[Red Ranger 1]

Hmm.Again, not sure what to make of some of today's episode.Brax chasing Kyle down and making the "Us Braxtons know about payback" speech was a bit shrugable:It's hard to tell which of them, if either, we were meant to sympathise with at that point and it seemed like we were back to the level of everyone being as bad as each other.I did, however, like their later conversation with us finally getting some back story for Kyle, the secret son making do with a part-time dad, and him and Brax giving their different perspectives on Danny.It's hard to tell which, if either of them, was right but in a good way this time. Kyle's transformation from psychotic killer to messed up kid did seem a bit abrupt but I guess we can dismiss his earlier behaviour as bravado(and maybe it even explains why he made such a mess of it). Shame that Natalie's character continues a downward trend as she once again meekly goes along with Brax, even though he's placing three lives in danger, not including hers.The way she responds to him coming back from possibly having murdered someone by running into his arms and snogging his face off possibly saw the character reach a new low.(Did he really just leave Kyle in the middle of the desert with his hands tied?)Maybe now she gets why the police would think Brax helped Casey go on the run:Because that's what he does.If he really does just take Casey and disappear, that's gonna be a bit ridiculous, after what he's been through Casey needs more than lying in the shade and drinking a bit of water.Maybe Brax knows some underworld doctors?

Similarly, Romeo and Indi.Oh dear god, I was literally shouting abuse at that kiss.Having got addicted to steroids in record time, Romeo is even more abruptly back to normal as soon as he collapses.Once more Sid is the voice of sanity and once more it feels like we're meant to see him as wrong."There are no quick fixes,"he tells Romeo but Romeo and Indi's relationship is nothing more than a chain of quick fixes that quickly fall apart and now they've gone for another one, falling back into each other's arms in what the music seems to be trying to convince us is a happy ending.After the trail of devastation and broken lives the mess that they call a marriage has left, for them to walk out of the train wreck hand in hand, unscathed, would just be an insult.I really hope he breaks her heart, if she's dumb enough to take him back after yet more evidence of how he treats women she deserves it.

Roo and Harvey once again felt like an intrusion and a lesser event than the stuff going on elsewhere.I can't even be bothered to get irritated by them, so I guess they lose out to the other characters on that score.Once again, characters demonstrate an amazing inability to shut down a computer page they don't want people to see.Kind of looking forward to Lottie as chief bridesmaid though, I wouldn't mind the wedding going ahead just for that, even if this dull, mismatched pair running the caravan park is a very unappealing prospect.

[630si]

Well, I have to say I take it back what I said on Friday. I'm loving this week!!! A little far fetched it maybe, like how the hell did tamara light that petrol, she carrying matches? But as I have said in other posts, I can roll with it. It's been exciting and tense, it looked really good and is making a good change to the usual stuff we have had. I have to agree red Romeo is joked in record time haha

[Blaxland 89]

I cant help it. They only scenes I ever seem to enjoy lately are scenes with Marilyn in. She is such a breath of fresh air.

[Red Ranger 1]

Continues to be a mixed bag.Brax and Natalie's middle-of-nowhere scenes were probably meant to be a tragedy of two people who belong together being torn apart(erm, except then they aren't).But instead I'm left thinking just how low Natalie's sunk to even consider going on the run from the law to be with Brax.Plus she seems to cement her Worst Counsellor Ever(okay, apart from ones that turned out to be psychotic)status by trying to convince Casey he imagined Tamara.(To be fair, Casey did think she was Tamara in his delerium but how exactly does she think Casey got away on his own?From the audience's point of view, Kyle's spoken to her so she's clearly real.)Tamara is turning out to be one of the most interesting recent additions to the show, it seems like she's trying to avoid Brax and Natalie even though she's drawn to Casey.She's certainly a better influence on him than Brax, I literally laughed(or possibly scoffed)when Casey said Brax has taught him to face up to his responsibilities:Brax never faces up to his responsibilities, he takes the easy way out and lies, steals and threatens to get his own way.So far, I think any similarity between Tamara and Bobby is purely physical, she's a lot softer than the '80s Bobby, unless it turns out she's Gina or Roo's daughter.There is a vague similarity between her introduction and Belle's, though.

So, Dexter's storyline is finally reduced to the level of "He and April aren't getting any."If you're going to stick Dexter and Sasha in a scene, give them something better to talk about than Dexter missing the days he used to do nothing but have sex.Maybe asking her to take a shower wasn't the most obvious come on but April must have been truly dense not to realise what he was talking about and why was she loitering outside his door with a longing look on her face if she still hadn't worked it out?(Has she been sleeping on the couch all along or was it a special occasion?)Dexter not noticing April's rabbit-in-headlights reaction to his seduction attempt is perhaps more understandable.Bit laughable that April suddenly finds the idea of sleeping with Dexter awkward, it's always been awkward.Trying my best to stay objective about a pairing I really don't like:It seems to be like April's hanging around waiting for Dexter to suddenly go back to how he was before the accident so they can carry on like they were before.Which isn't necessarily the healthiest way of going about things and she needs to decide whether or not she wants to be in a relationship with Dexter if he stays the way he is.

Didn't mind John trying to kiss Marilyn as much as I thought I would.In fact, I don't think I minded it at all, Gina's been pretty annoying and her paranoia's gone completely overboard so I'd actually like it if something happened, although I think things would definitely need to be over between John and Gina before Marilyn went there.The fatuous part of me wonders if Jett's starting to feel he should have stuck with Richard but his chat with John was rather sweet and maybe he could do with having a word with Gina.This trial separation doesn't seem to have made much difference and they do need to work out what they both want and whether they can have it.

[H&Alover]

I did think maybe Brax was trying some reverse pshycology on Case by saying 'yeh, let's go on the run' and leaving him to work out by himself that the the best thing to do was to go home, but I was wrong. Nat did put her foot down and say she wasn't going with them (different from Charlie there). I think Brax just left Kyle, the land where they were last did look to have more vegetation, I reckon he may have untied him. Was an interesting chat they had and if Brax was being honest he shouldn't have been that surprised at the likelihood of Danny having more kids about. Knowing Danny like we did I reckon him going on about Brax, Heath & Casey was to make Kyle aggressive. I guess Nat and Brax haven't really thought out the Tamara thing, Brax was more concerned about seeing Casey was OK. I kept thinking that she can't have been a figment of Casey's imagination as Kyle did see her, she's hardly another Rabbit! Are we to guess from the last shot we had of her, she's living in that abandoned town if so where did that sarnie come from?

Did I hear Sash right that Indi has moved out to be with Romeo???? It may have been a bit squirmy, but I did like that chat between Sasha and Dex when he was bemoaning the lack of intimacy between him and April, she really is one sensible girl, mostly. Funny that later it was April confiding in her and she (Sasha) had to reveal what Dex had told her and very diplomatic she was! I'm trying to think what it could be that is making April uneasy about renewing their realtionship, it's not as if it's going to harm Dex in any way and a good sign he's even thinking of it himself which also shows there are some things he hasn't forgotten to do.

Romeo hadn't been on the steroids that long so quite possible to come off them without too much problem, but that's not to say there won't be some residue side effects in his system . Although Indi told Sid what Roemeo had been taking they still would have shown up on the bloods. As I thought he was very professional, but I think Romeo got the underlying message about his life and Dex's.

I think Gina is replacing Roo in my mind as the most annoying character at the moment!! Marilyn subtly checking out how her and Jett were getting on and mentioning John was feeling a little low. No sooner had they sat down then off she went again assuming John was looking for Marilyn, then got narky because he said she wasn't working till later! Very astute of Jett to go to the 'loo' and acting more grown up than either of them, but Gina in particular, when he came back and found them arguing yet again!!! I like the way John didn't fob Jett off with the usual 'it's complicated' but tried to explain as best he could why things were the way they were. Jett had quite the most sensible solution to the problem. I'm wondering if the reason Marilyn dodged John's kiss was because either she was genuinely shocked he had tried it or because she may have secretly wanted it to happen but wouldn't go there as he is still married if not offically separated from Gina?

It obviously hasn't occurred to Roo at all that Harvey can't afford a big wedding, though why he can't just tell her is a mystery. It must have taken a lot for him to approach Alf and ask him for a loan. Very clever of Alf to give them both the money as a wedding present, must have been a sizable amount going by Roo's expression.

Btw I've googled The Tower Tarot card and essentially it means a change in the old beliefs of who ever drew it, read into that what you will. Marilyn has always been a pretty moral person so perhaps, just perhaps, this may mean Marilyn will date John sooner rather than later.