Latest UK Episode Discussion (2006-2017 Seasons)

[cadyctslover]

Jett and Liam did have quite a bit to do with each other a few weeks back, when Jett was visiting VJ and the penny slowly dropped that Liam had been one of his mum's favourite singers and they had a talk about making things up to people.So the relationship hasn't quite come out of nowhere.

Ah, that's right. Thanks.

[H&Alover]

Is Liam becoming a junior version of Alf? He successfully sorted out John and Jett, by listening to Jett's worries and then tackling John about it without appearing to interfere too much. John shouldn't have broken his promise to Jett, letting down Gina is bad enough but a 13 year old is different especially one with Jett's background.

Gina should know better than to take her problems out on the pupils, any other teacher had done what she did she would have been on them like a ton of bricks.

Indi & Romeo, erm, perhaps, just perhaps they will make it work this time and actually talk about what they need from their marriage. They did dive into it without discussing what they expected from it. At least together they aren't inflicting themselves on other people.

I'm confused, I thought Alf's gift was just that, but Roo seems intent on thinking it was a loan, though the way Harvey appears to be volunteering to do anything and everything Alf brings up would make it look like he owes him.

Marilyn's dress was rather loud!

[630si]

I enjoyed Rocco's funeral today. April made a lovely speech and the Riverboy hung at the end by the sea I actually thought was very good. It captured the honour of the boys and also was a fitting for grieving Heath. I do hope bianxa realises that they need each other to get through this.

I just want to shake John. He had such a geat opportunity to spend the day with Jett and prove just how much he wants it to Gina. Instead he makes the poor boy feel as though its his fault. I guess that's John though, but I hope to see in and Jett bonding again, I really liked the scenes they had on the beach when Jett was training for the car iCal. Speaking of which, is t the carnival very late on tis year?!?!

finally, when Roo said the weddings off I was just like ohhhh FFS here we go again.

[Red Ranger 1]

Alf's episode count this week:Four.Roo was also in four.

Well.Even if Monday's episode wasn't as good as it could have been, I thought that one was excellent.The Roo and Harvey plotline, which could have dragged it down, was sensibly kept out of the way while the funeral scenes were going on and almost complemented it in a way with April and Dexter's comments being what shifted Roo out of her latest sulk.(Although frankly, Harvey might as well move onto that couch full-time with all the times he gets booted onto it.)

So, onto the main focus:Kind of wish Dexter hadn't been included, since I enjoyed briefly seeing April on her own, but I guess it was appropriate in the circumstances(although the way the focus tried to make April's comment about making the most of time with people you love about him was unwelcome).I was expecting Darcy to be forgotten about in all this so I love that she was included and the little silent interaction between her and Heath at the funeral was great.April's eulogy was pitch perfect and did kind of underline the point that Rocco brought a group of people who a year ago had nothing in common together.If there's one good thing that's come out of this, the Braxton boys are seeming like proper brothers for possibly the first time ever, rather than Heath being the odd one out, and I hope that continues. His and Casey's brief chat on his arriving home was great.Despite her brief East End matriarch moment, Cheryl's actually pretty good here, with her little moment with Irene.One duff moment:Why exactly do they all walk out of the church and just leave the coffin sitting there?Isn't he going to be buried or cremated?Bianca isn't very sympathetic at the moment and while I can see her point of view if I look really hard, she's basically blaming Heath for making them happy.The "surfing with a wreath" ending was a bit silly but I guess it's them paying their respects in their own way and it was nice that Bianca was kind of a part of it, from a distance.

[cadyctslover]

I really enjoyed today's episode .

The funeral service was very emotional, April's eulogy being particularly moving. For once I didn't mind having the whole Braxton gang in one episode, it was nice to see them pulling together. Heath's grief was fantastically realistic, and I thought the support of the River Boys at their final sendoff in the waves was very poignant. I don't really understand Bianca's point of view, blaming Heath for this whole situation. I know she's grieving and isn't thinking straight, but it takes two to tango, so she can't blame Rocco's death on Heath getting her pregnant. That's as much her fault as it is his, more really.

Although I thought it was inappropriate of Cheryl to bring up the subject of Kyle at Angelo's after the service, I know she's only worrying about Casey's future. It was also nice to see non-hostile interaction between her and Irene.

On the other side... Gee, who remembers when Roo's character wasn't being destroyed by this relationship storyline?

[H&Alover]

Oh God, Friday's episode was so moving, the scene of Heath walking down the aisle carrying that oh so little coffin had me in tears. April's eulogy was just right, as Red siad she was spot on about Rocco's birth bringing so many people together and although his life was much too short they will have that to remember him for. That was so sweet Heath's explanation to Darcy why it was just them to say goodbye as they were the ones who loved him the most. I was puzzled why they all just left Rocco's coffin lying in the church, seemed very strange. I'm glad Brax and casey accompanied Heath into the sea to lay the wreath. The River Boys all lining up on the shore in silent tribute was so beautiful and set me off again. Some of them are fathers themselves so can empathise with Heath. I'm glad Bianca saw that. Nice little moment between Irene and Cheryl who was just being the grieving grandmother, her thanking Irene for taking care of Rocco was a nice touch. Maybe not the best time to bring it up about Kyle but at least she kept it low key.

I can absolutley understand Bianca being angry, but when she said Heath had given her hope for the future I thought what about the hope for the future Rocco's birth gave him? He had a chnace to turn his life around, be a dad, properly this time, be part of a family unit, now that's all gone for him.

I suppose the one good thing to come out of it was it put Roo's 'problem' with Harvey, Alf and the money into perspective when Dex was telling them about April's eulogy. It made her realise there are much more important things to fret about.

There's a surprise coming up about Sid's new girlfriend Lisa.

Talking of mothers has Sid given up trying to get hold of Jody, she hasn't been mentioned for a while?

[Red Ranger 1]

Hmm.I can understand Bianca distancing herself from Heath, which I suspect is more to do with her not wanting reminders of Rocco around than feeling that they've no reason to be together.It isn't really helping my opinion of this storyline though:No matter how well-realised and acted it is, I think killing Rocco was a very bad and somewhat cowardly decision creatively and it's beginning to seem like a very cruel plot device to split Bianca and Heath up.Looking at the comments in Australian Discussion, it seems that when this was shown in Australia there was a lot of talk on Twitter about "people being happy doesn't make good drama."But that seems like a very weak excuse for the fact the writers found it easier to write about Bianca and Heath losing a baby than Bianca and Heath having a baby, trading a long-term character drama of two 20-somethings whose own parents weren't particularly good examples struggling to do better for their own child and having to work out whether they were better off doing it together or apart for the short-term shock drama of a child's death.But, rant aside, the realisation is rather good and it's nice to see the bond between Heath and Darcy being strengthened.After the interaction between them, with Casey thrown in, today, I'd actually quite like the idea of her moving in with the Braxtons.My biggest fear about this storyline was that it would be used as an excuse to send Heath back to his bad boy ways.It's possible that Bianca's rejection will send him down that route but so far he's continuing to come across as sensitive and likeable.Did Irene and April actually get rid of all Rocco's stuff?I was kind of expecting them to go and see Heath and ask him if he wanted some of them.Nice to get another Heath/April scene, although I'll admit that at present it seems like all the effort is coming from her side.Glad April seems to be taking her HSC rather than accepting a free pass.

Frustrating that Brax is blindly following Natalie's lead and insisting Tamara isn't real.I'd love to know what they think happened if they don't believe Casey's story.Glad that he's refusing to listen to them and continuing to look for her.Providing it's not used as an excuse for him to return to extra-legal ways of making money, Brax having money troubles at the restaurant is a potentially interesting idea.The surf carnival stuff with Marilyn feeling guilty over distracting John is actually quite good and her suggestion to turn into a fundraiser shows a lot of decent community spirit.

[H&Alover]

I read those comments on the Australian thread, most of them seemed to be berating Bianca for not showing any emotion. Sooner or later the dam will burst, I think she's afraid to at the moment becuase once she really starts to grieve she scared she won't be able to stop. It seemed Brax, Casey & Heath held an all night vigil for Rocco which was rather lovely. As for Bianca telling Irene to get rid of Rocco's stuff, methinks maybe, I certainly would, she will hold onto it, or some of it, and give it to Bianca at a later date when the time is right. There's likely to be a time when Bianca will wish she had something to remember him by.

Her rant at Darcy was unnecessary, glad that she went round and apologised to her later. That was nice interaction between Darcy and Casey, we haven't seen many scenes of them together. Shame Bianca feels her and Heath shouldn't be together, but I guess at the monment he's a too painful reminder of Rocco.

I suppose Brax, like Nat, wouldn't believe that Tamara is real, he never saw her either. Brax really is in deep s**t money wise and desperately trying to get any information on Kyle and his mum. If he's not been paying rent on his equipment, will the lease on the resturant be next as he has been channelling any money he has on Casey's defence? This guy that turns up looks an, erm, interesting character.

Lovely idea of Maz's to make the carnival part fundraiser for SIDS. Roo will be in her element now she's got into it.

[Slade]

There's a surprise coming up about Sid's new girlfriend Lisa.

I see old habits die hard....

I wasn't sure what Natalie made of Sasha and Casey when she saw them talking on the beach at first but she actually quite annoyed me in today's episode. Sasha wanted to spend time with Casey, you could see the way she was when he first walked into the Diner just before he wished April luck for her exams. She was the one that wanted him to help her handing out the fliers and just because Natalie's relationship with Brax didn't turn out how she wanted, she projects her own misgivings onto Sasha rather than simply play counselor. Instead of presenting both sides of the argument with regards to being friends with Casey, she virtually flat out tells Sasha to stop the friendship and not have anything to do with him. I know that there's every possibility that being friends with him will give Sasha a false sense of hope with regards to a possible relationship with Casey but I think rather than cut him off completely she should have been advised to simply confront him about how she is feeling and lay all cards on the table. I think this is only going to serve to make her more miserable especially considering how small the bay is and she'll be bumping into him all the time. At her age, these feelings Sasha has aren't suddenly going to go away. And how is she going to be able to cope not being able to spend time with him? Especially with his trial looming. Natalie should sort out her own relationship with Brax rather than trying to proxy any feelings via Sasha and Casey by messing their friendship up.

[Red Ranger 1]

Well, the whole "Brax has money troubles" storyline seemed to get wrapped up very quickly, which is slightly disappointing since I thought they could have done a lot more with it.The new character of Adam actually seems somewhat avuncular so far and, while claiming he taught Brax everything he knows is slightly worrying, I'll give him the benefit of the doubt and assume they just meant the good stuff.Looks like it's Brax's turn to disappear for a bit.Have to say though, I'm not really liking Natalie much at the moment and, with her and Brax having split, she's starting to seem like a very pointless character.I'm in two minds about her advice to Sasha:On the one hand, Sasha hanging around Casey playing the friends card in the hope he'll start to see her as more isn't very healthy but on the other...well, where do I start?I was practically left open-mouthed at her acting as though being selfless and putting other people first instead of looking out for your own interests is a bad thing.Maybe we're meant to see Sasha as fragile but she doesn't really come across that way.Frankly, I'm left with the feeling that Natalie's once more over identifying and has told Sasha to stay away from Casey and wrecked their friendship simply because that's what she's doing with Brax.And then she goes to see Brax with a "Take me now" look on her face.Sigh.

Took him a while to get there but Dexter playing detective over Sid and Lisa was quite fun.Kind of wish it had been Sasha there at the end instead of April though.(Oh-and why was April at school but Sasha wasn't?I know Sasha said she doesn't have exams but don't the lower years have normal classes while the HSC's going on?)Sid can't really be blamed, he did ask Lisa right from the start if she was with anyone.How does Dexter know she's married?Would she really discuss it with him but not Sid?(Guess it's possible they knew each other while Dexter was working at the hospital.)