Latest UK Episode Discussion (2006-2017 Seasons)

[Red Ranger 1]

Alf's episode count this week:Two.

I think Kassandra Clementi did a fairly good job of playing against Maddy's lines and making her come across as upset rather than spiteful.Shame John's stopped training her, I hope she doesn't give it up altogether and their scene together was rather sweet.Are Spencer and Sasha really going to Do It after about three weeks together, most of which they spent being together but not together so they could claim the moral high ground over Maddy?Sasha's being a bit unfair putting all the pressure on Spencer over not telling her when she was equally responsible and, like Kyle, she's being a bit naïve thinking you can hook up with someone's ex that they still like and still be friends.(Which seemed to be her reason for not telling Maddy and which she was fully aware of before Indi gave her the "Screw Maddy" speech.)Spencer told the truth about his and Maddy's last attempt but frankly I think he'd have slept with Maddy a lot earlier if it wasn't for her turning him down and Harvey messing with his head.Whenever someone fails to sleep with one partner then jumps into bed with the next one straightaway, it always feels more like they're grabbing it while it's on offer rather than having a special "connection".(And that's an excuse for innuendo if ever there was one.)Hard not to feel sorry for Maddy at the end there...which may have been the intention.Roo's platitudes are as useless as usual. Spencer working with Alf and Harvey surprised me, I thought he'd jacked that in.

Marilyn was well-intentioned and giving Jett a job at the Diner is actually a pretty good idea but offering to lend John money was always going to embarrass him and she probably shouldn't have been so forward.More lovely comedy from Indi when John offers to work at the gym.And yes, Sid did apply for a job with the Flying Doctors way back when he lost his job over the Stu business.

[H&Alover]

As always happens in soaps, the ex walks in just at the wrong moment, Maddy looked ready to apologise for her remarks, then finds they have done the deed!!! As we saw Sid asks Sasha to go with him when he leaves for Broken Hill, doesn't he trust Indi and Dex to look after her and what about school, has she sat her HSC? That would be another short lived romance if she does go.

Oh Maz, that was the wrong move, offering John money, he's a proud man, at least Alf was subtle about it.

[Brian]

Alf's episode count this week:Two.

I think Kassandra Clementi did a fairly good job of playing against Maddy's lines and making her come across as upset rather than spiteful.Shame John's stopped training her, I hope she doesn't give it up altogether and their scene together was rather sweet.Are Spencer and Sasha really going to Do It after about three weeks together, most of which they spent being together but not together so they could claim the moral high ground over Maddy?Sasha's being a bit unfair putting all the pressure on Spencer over not telling her when she was equally responsible and, like Kyle, she's being a bit naïve thinking you can hook up with someone's ex that they still like and still be friends.(Which seemed to be her

I don't think that you can really compare Maddy and Kyle. Maddy and Spencer had already broken up and Maddy should have left him alone. Casey still wanted to get Tamara back and would not accept that their relationship was over and Kyle knew that and at first tried to support him and Casey thanked him for that. Kyle did not want to complicate things, but of course gave in eventually.

I wonder why he left it so long to tell her he loved her - was it desperation at the thought of losing her? Well it worked, but for how long? I hope for a long time, as I think that they have great chemistry together.

[Red Ranger 1]

Are Spencer and Sasha really going to Do It after about three weeks together, most of which they spent being together but not together so they could claim the moral high ground over Maddy?Sasha's being a bit unfair putting all the pressure on Spencer over not telling her when she was equally responsible and, like Kyle, she's being a bit naïve thinking you can hook up with someone's ex that they still like and still be friends.

I don't think that you can really compare Maddy and Kyle. Maddy and Spencer had already broken up and Maddy should have left him alone. Casey still wanted to get Tamara back and would not accept that their relationship was over and Kyle knew that and at first tried to support him and Casey thanked him for that. Kyle did not want to complicate things, but of course gave in eventually.

I wonder why he left it so long to tell her he loved her - was it desperation at the thought of losing her? Well it worked, but for how long? I hope for a long time, as I think that they have great chemistry together.

I was actually comparing Sasha and Kyle which I think is fair given that they had very similar scenes on Thursday trying to convince their partner's ex that they can all be friends and predictably having it fall flat.I don't think Kyle told Tamara he loved her out of desperation, I think he just wanted her to know and felt that would be his last chance to tell her.

So, we know Sasha and Spencer have slept together because he's naked except for his boxers and she's fully clothed but her hair's slightly messy.(Ah, equality...)I really can't tell where the show's going with this, they seem to be pushing Sasha and Spencer but they also keep reminding us that he has more history with Maddy.(He even says she's one of the most important people in his life and fails to answer when she asks if Sasha's more important to him than her, although that was a lose-lose question:If he says yes, she gets upset, if he says no, it raises the question of why he's with her.)Maddy turning up at the farm just as Spencer and Sasha have finished consummating was very similar to April walking in on the aftermath of Dexter and Steph's first time, not sure if that's significant.Roo and Spencer chose the wrong time to talk to her but things didn't go much better when Spencer tried the following day so I guess he was on a hiding to nothing anyway.Small point but I found myself a bit annoyed that Harvey's priority was keeping Spencer and Sasha's relationship on track, as if that's suddenly the be all and end all.Rosie's comparison with Casey and Tamara was apt and Sasha needs to recognise it:She cut Casey out of her life completely when he chose Tamara over her, she needs to respect that Maddy has the right to do the same to her.

Well, Casey seems to be fine in public but privately it's another story.Brax does have to learn that he can't just do what he want and expect Casey to be fine with it, he chose Ricky over Casey and Casey has the right to stay away from him as a result.He did do well letting him know about Tamara still being around and I had to smile at him overdoing it at the gym and Ricky leaving him on his own.Sid seems to have gone from being asked to apply for the Flying Doctors job to being offered it between episodes, unless he had another phone call when we weren't looking.

And Sally was in it for about thirty seconds.Given that the trailer at the end of last week did a good job of hiding her presence, having the continuity announcer spoil the surprise twice in the five minutes prior to the lunchtime showing didn't achieve anything other than raising false expectations.Still, given how long it's been I really wasn't expecting to ever see her back so it's definitely welcome.

[H&Alover]

Wouldn't be so dramatic if the ex didn't walk in just after their ex and their new partner hadn't just been to bed together would it? There is a difference in Kyle/Tam/Casey and Sash/Spence/Maddy. Case and Tam hadn't broken up and while Kyle didn't exactly take advantage Case saw it that way. Kyle had already made his feeling for Tam clear, despite him saying he'd stay away from her before her kidnapping. Maddy had already dumped Spencer (twice) and yet still resented Spencer for moving on, it wasn't as if he and Sash had been seeing each other behind her back while they were still together, nothing happened until the (second) breakup. I was going to say give her time Sash, but of course she's not going to be around is she? Bit mean for them all to pretend all was fine between them for Rosie's sake. Will Maddy try and make another move on Spencer?

How long can Casey function with all this secret drinking, it's going to show sooner or later. Rather sad when he deleted that massage from Tam telling him off about forgetting the groceries.

Ricky was right, Brax had to be the one to tell Casey Tamara hadn't left. I think Case rather enjoyed telling Brax what to do in the gym.

Yes, one moment Sid was only going for an interview, the next it all seemed sewn up, we haven't seen Dex's reaction to the news, but it could have happened off-screen.

We should know by now anything dramatic, meaningful is always going to happen at the end of the episode. Has it really been five years since Sal left and that Pippa is nine? I hope there's mention of Miles and Cassie.

[Red Ranger 1]

I do accept the situations are different, although, while there was no official break-up, Casey and Tamara weren't together in any meaningful sense when she got together with Kyle, not that Casey saw it that way.I actually think Casey deleting Tamara's message is a good thing, it's a sign that he's accepted that part of his life is over.

Much as I'm liking having Sally back, can't help feeling the impact has been diluted slightly by the fact we're seeing repeats of her a couple of hours earlier:Imagine if the summer break had never happened, it was shown five weeks ago and this had been the first time UK viewers had seen Sally in ages.Whilst I appreciated them having all the old-time characters there to greet her at the Diner, I do think more could have been made of her first meeting with Marilyn since 1999, much like Marilyn's reunion with Morag was glossed over a few years back.But I guess you can't have everything and the continuity was fantastic, especially the way they referenced the sole piece of interaction between Sally and Roo back in the 80s.Roo's antipathy towards her was understandable but felt a bit forced so I'm glad it doesn't seem to have lasted long and Roo's reasons for being curious about her return do make sense.The effortless way Sally acted maternal towards Maddy, after Roo's tried to play the cool auntie and achieved nothing but getting on her nerves, shows why she's been missed.I wish they'd stop all the "Mr.Stewart" nonsense though.Sally calling Alf Mr.Stewart when they first bumped into each other was appropriate but the other occasions felt as forced as ever;her brother calls him Alf, her best friend calls him Alf, people like Harvey who've known him their whole lives call him Alf, even her daughter calls him Grandpa Alf(which is a relief since I was expecting her to start Mr.Stewarting as well), yet she calls him Mr.Stewart.Why?Nice reference to Miles, not really bothered if Cassie gets a mention, it's been five years, she's probably off doing her own thing by now.

You know, I was expecting this to be written as Maddy going out of her way to make things difficult for Sasha and Spencer but...she isn't.She's trying to keep her distance yet she can't leave the house without one or both of them getting in her face and trying to force her to be okay with them seeing each other.They both knew they had to make a choice between their attraction to each other and their friendship with Maddy, they made it, they need to deal with the consequences.It almost feels like a reversal of the situation a few weeks back where Spencer was happy hanging out with Sasha and Rosie and not really interested in spending time with Maddy, now suddenly she's the one who doesn't want to hang and he's the one who still wants them to be close.The only place I can fault Maddy is her blaming Sasha more than Spencer, which isn't really fair.Sasha deciding to just leave town after throwing a hand grenade into the situation feels like her messing about with both their lives then running away from the consequences.I think Spencer was telling the truth when he told Maddy he didn't sleep with Sasha to prove a point, he did it because he wanted to.

Maybe I'm being naïve but the casual way Holly's been handled is just beyond belief.She made false allegations against a teacher and it's not like she admitted the truth or apologised, she got found out and seems completely unrepentant.Yet not only has she kept going to the school, she's actually been kept in Zac's classes.Has any effort been made to stop this happening again?Where are her parents in all this?At least Zac belatedly had the sense to tell Bianca about Holly's "offer", his comment about not studying any long novels was nice self-deprecating humour.Not really bothered about the ending, it feels like this has gone on too long for us to start feeling sorry for Holly now.

[Brian]

Wouldn't be so dramatic if the ex didn't walk in just after their ex and their new partner hadn't just been to bed together would it? There is a difference in Kyle/Tam/Casey and Sash/Spence/Maddy. Case and Tam hadn't broken up and while Kyle didn't exactly take advantage Case saw it that way. Kyle had already made his feeling for Tam clear, despite him saying he'd stay away from her before her kidnapping.

I disagree H&Alover. Casey and Tamara had broken up. Tamara did not move back in him, when she came out of hospital and she told him that it was over. It was Casey's fault if he refused to accept that. I experienced the same situation when my daughter moved out of her boyfriend's flat, told him it was over and he still kept coming round to our house hoping to see her.

Similarly Maddy would not accept it, but this happens all the time with boys and girls in the 6th forms of mixed schools. When a couple break up, they still see each other every day and maybe with different partners. They usually rely on their friends to help them through it and friends do rally around, especially if they've been through the same thing themselves. What is different here is that Ma

It flew away!!! so I'll finish :

What is different here is that Maddy appears to have no girl friends in the school - you don't talk to your mother (Roo) about this sort of thing!!

[Slade]

I'm really not sure what to make of the whole Spencer/Sasha/Maddie thing. I'm indifferent to Sasha and Spencer as a couple but it's becoming increasingly annoying how the whole relationship seems to be about Maddie and they can't move forward. Funnily enough I do get why Maddie is so annoyed but she had her chance with Spencer and blew it so she's only got herself to blame. I'm still not 100% sure if she's genuinely annoyed because she loves Spencer or because Sasha got in there first with regards to stealing Spencer's virginity or because Sasha broke the golden rule about going with your mate's exes. One thing I'm pretty sure of is that Maddie's jealous. With regards to Sasha's comments to Maddie about comparing the situation with Casey and Tamara, I thought that firstly Tamara and Sasha were never friends so in that sense it wasn't as bad but on the other hand at least Spencer and Maddie had broken up before Sasha and Spencer first kissed. Sahsa's conversation with Spencer about Maddie specifically directing her anger towards her rather than Spencer and her wanting to leave kind of reminded me of Maddie. Poor me, I can't take it she hates me, I have to leave my life behind because it's the right thing to do. Does she not have any other friends besides Rosie? I find it hard to believe, especially a girl that age. You would have thought she wouldn't want to leave her life behind.

After having the adverts shoved down our throats for the better part of two weeks, she's back. TBH, can't say that I'm happy about it. Sally's a character that's never really interested me so when Roo was actually suggesting her motives for returning to the bay were disingenuous, I couldn't help but smile and for once I'm with Roo on this. Again like Maddie was with Spencer and Sasha but in a different way, I did think that Roo was jealous of Sally. I thought even Harvey thought that too.

It's confirmed, Holly is stark, staring bonkers. Although this storyline is supposed to be serious I feel the whole thing is an absolute joke now.

[Red Ranger 1]

I thought Roo had got over it last episode but she was worse than ever here.In fact, she seems to have snapped right back to how she was last year when I thought she'd got better.The people who've been complaining she's nothing like she was in the first half of 1988 should be happy because she's only one step away from the Roo who was trying to get rid of Ailsa because she didn't want to share Alf.I don't even care if she's right about Sally hiding something because it seems like she just wants Sally to have a big secret so she can show Alf she's not perfect, putting words into his mouth in the process.I'm surprised Sally has never told Pippa about Leah's part in her birth but Leah saying Pippa is practically VJ's sister, when she's no such thing, felt massively out of character:She got a bit confused while she was pregnant but since then she's never looked at Pippa as anything other than a goddaughter.Mind you, judging from the promo, it seems it was a rather contrived way to introduce a plot point which doesn't make any sense anyway.It felt rather dispiriting and depressing seeing Sally wandering about Summer Bay without anyone having a clue who she was(especially since there's probably some viewers feeling the same), as if she's now a stranger in her own show:I'd rather that either Bianca and Heath had been "Oh yeah, Sally Fletcher, Alf/Irene/Leah told me about you" or Alf/Irene/Leah had been there to introduce them rather than a bunch of casual "Who are you?"s.(And another example of Summer Bay High's terrible security:A complete stranger walks into the school, tells Bianca she used to be principal and gets given the run of the place?)Bianca apologising for Heath when he hasn't done anything wrong annoyed me slightly and reminds me of the argument that he's marrying the wrong sister and I'm glad Sally faced down Alf when he seemed to think she should automatically dislike him.Pippa and Darcy is a bit cuteness squared.Sally's "I don't know if he still lives here" when approaching the Braxton house was a bit confusing:Possibly she was talking about Tony, who lived there when she left, but wouldn't Alf or Miles have filled her in on what happened to him?But the ending...I may change my mind depending on how well it's handled but at the moment my response is "Seriously?!"Every time a character comes back they seem to be either written as unlikeable, have a positive ending replaced with a negative one or both.And giving the only child Sally's ever going to have a death sentence definitely falls into the second category.

So, that's the end of Holly.At least I hope it is.After writing her as a malicious sociopath for weeks, it's a bit late in the day to try and make us feel sorry for her.I did a bit but not enough to accept Zac and Bianca beating themselves up and the absurd suggestion that Leah was right for failing to notice she was unstable, acting like an idiot and making the situation worse.Bianca was right to prioritise Zac over the person telling lies about him, but she was also wrong to act as though clearing Zac meant the thing was over and just carry on as if nothing happened, seemingly without speaking to Holly or her parents.The last couple of weeks have been utterly contrived, dragging the storyline out and coming up with a melodramatic ending to something that should have been sorted ages ago.As it stands, the explanation for Holly's behaviour does make sense, with the hyper-sexuality of someone who wasn't allowed to be a child.(Confusingly, though, Bianca seems to imply the abuse started fairly recently and didn't go on that long.)Shame they have Bianca tell Zac what happened telepathically instead of actually saying "She was sexually abused by her father." Now I just hope they don't do anything really stupid like have her turn up next week completely cured and become a regular.

[H&Alover]

There is one other person who calls Alf Mr. Stewart - Marilyn, always has, always will. Throw back to when they were younger always told by parents to call your elders Mr., Mrs., Miss. Maybe seem outdated now, but rather sweet in a way that Sally and Marilyn still uphold that old tradition.

Not wanting to seem to argue, but until Tamara came round after the kidnapping ordeal, she and Casey were still an item and in Casey's eyes at least they still were. True he agreed to back off and give her time but there was no official breakup, unlike Maddy and Spencer, circumstances intervened.

I can see why Sasha is thinking of going with Sid, I assume he's gone for the interview, Spencer does always seem to be running after Maddy to make sure she's OK, just leave her alone lad, in fact that applies to both of you. It must make Sasha feel she's the outsider not Maddy.

Didn't know Roo could hold a grudge, if that is what it could be called, after all these years, when did she last see Sally? Where she got the idea Sally had something to hide, I've no idea, but she was right, though I doubt she'd gloat over the reason once known.

I actually liked that scene on the beach when Sally met Heath and the way Darcy and Pippa acted just like kids do. Surprised at Alf's attitude towards Heath, he's seen how much he's changed. I didn't catch who Pippa mentioned they should visit, but as you said Red, Alf or Miles would have kept her up to date who was living there, Tony left before Miles, didn't he? Was nice to get a mention of Miles.

Not only was there a lack of security again, but Bianca gets the call from Zac and just walks out, seemingly leaving no-one in charge.

It did seem odd that Sally has never told Pippa about Leah's part in her life, there's nothing to be ashamed of, but hey ho, not our business why she didn't. I must admit I was confused about why Leah

(and VJ)

would be affected, but then it clicked. Have a think about it when all is revealed today.

Onto Holly, that information, unless I got it wrong seemed to have been in her file, so why hadn't Bianca looked at it before? I think there had been allegations of (whisper it quietly) sexual abuse, I thought TPTB got over being shy about things like that, but nothing was proven or admitted and he, the dad, guaranteed to leave her (Holly) alone, which bizarrely left her feeling unloved and in her words 'invisible'. I got the sense it was a few years ago and I guess Holly hadn't tried on it on with any other male teachers before Zac happened along. He really was brilliant with her talking her away from the edge while not saying anything to give her any more wrong impressions, It's good she's going to get the help she needs and has admitted she lied to the cops about everything, but a bit glib (and naïve) of Bianca to say it's all over. What I found wrong was involving Leah in discussing what had caused Holly's behaviour, Leah won't tell anyone else, but surely that was unethical.