Latest UK Episode Discussion (2006-2017 Seasons)

[Red Ranger 1]

Oh dear.I'm going to try my best to be balanced after my earlier comments but...Roo seemed to be making a mountain out of a molehill and was largely responsible for stirring up trouble by constantly pushing Maddy and Casey.Having a quiet word with Casey about giving Maddy alcohol was within the bounds of responsible parenting, but she can't dictate who Maddy is friends with, especially not on the basis of one incident that wasn't that bad anyway.Alf's advice to set Brax on him when he's pushing all the wrong buttons even more than Roo is was an equally bad idea.(When he said he'd been there raising sixteen-year-olds, it's hard not to reflect he made a mess of it.Twice.)Ricky's attempt at reverse psychology was doomed to fail and somewhat lacking in logic:Why should Casey leave town because he doesn't want anything to do with him?It's his home as much as theirs and it's not even what Brax wants.(Might make things easier for Kyle and Tamara though.)Maddy accompanying Casey to a club is the wrong thing to do, especially just to stick one to Roo, but I actually found myself feeling sorry for Brax when a mad woman turns up at his house expecting him to know what Casey's up to and sort out her domestic problems when Casey doesn't even live with him(he lives with Roo, arguably...), he's a grown man Brax isn't responsible for and they're hardly close at the moment.Maybe we were supposed to share Roo's concern but it just came across as her being melodramatic.

I guess I can understand Irene taking April's word for it but it did annoy me that she dismissed Peta as a bully without even meeting her.I continue to be frustrated at April being portrayed as a little girl who can't stand up for herself.Dexter's advice was terrible and bound to backfire:Peta wants a professional, not a comedian.The one mark against Peta is that she gives Dexter more leeway than she does April, which probably isn't helping the bullying accusation.Last episode she chided April for Dexter's pleading her case, rather than pointing out to Dexter that if April can't handle stress and conflict then she'll only be able to treat patients who are calm and polite.Here, she lets Dexter's rudeness to her go with a glare, after he interrupts her giving April instructions on the grounds that he was having a conversation with his girlfriend that was barely related to work.I really hope April comes a cropper with her complaint rather than wrecking Peta's career because she doesn't want to listen to her.

And ending on a shallow note, even after all these years, Sally is hot.So her return definitely not a waste.

[c120701]

I would much rather Pippa call Alf 'Mr Stewart' than 'Grandpa Alf' and all this talk about how much Sally & Alf did together when she was a child is a bit surprising as we saw very little of it.

Oh and how long has Alf owned the Blaxland now?

[Slade]

My real criticism was for the writers who, at the end of an episode where you couldn't really fault Maddy's actions (and, indeed, I don't think anyone has), suddenly included a scene that was bound to provoke fans who dislike the character and thus, in some cases, undid any inroads that may have been made in changing their opinion of her.

I recall you mentioning something very similar before re Ruby about the writers encouraging viewers to turn against her. Just trying to get my head around this. Call me blind but what is the purpose of doing this? I don't understand. Is it ratings? Are they trying to appeal to certain types of fans? I honestly don't get it.

Interestingly now that Maddie isn't pining over Spencer and is interacting with other characters without any reference to him she's nowhere near as annoying as she was previously. Mixed feelings about the stuff with Casey. If the friendship goes further and develops into a relationship and she decides to sleep with him I actually think subconsciously that might not be a bad thing as it's kind of payback for Sasha sleeping with her ex and might help her to get over the whole Spencer/Sasha thing. On the other hand, being objective I don't think he's a good influence at all. He's riddled with problems and if I were in Roo's shoes I wouldn't want Maddie hanging around him especially after he supplied her with alcohol. Putting the objectivity aside, I have to admit I'm actually finding it quite amusing seeing Maddie be a complete handful and Roo trying to manage her. She really seems to be struggling doesn't she? The best thing about it is seeing Roo's facial expressions. She's extremely displeased but seems to be trying very hard to suppress her anger.

Finding the scenes with April and Dr Bradley quite interesting. Keep thinking deep down she likes April really and is just trying to look out for her.

[Red Ranger 1]

all this talk about how much Sally & Alf did together when she was a child is a bit surprising as we saw very little of it.

I did find it a bit odd a few episodes back when Sally claimed she'd known Alf all her life.Maybe she was simplifying but it's as if everyone forgot that in the pilot they were complete strangers to each other.It's easy to forget that until about 2003 and maybe even as late as 2006 Sally and Alf weren't really that close at all.

My real criticism was for the writers who, at the end of an episode where you couldn't really fault Maddy's actions (and, indeed, I don't think anyone has), suddenly included a scene that was bound to provoke fans who dislike the character and thus, in some cases, undid any inroads that may have been made in changing their opinion of her.

I recall you mentioning something very similar before re Ruby about the writers encouraging viewers to turn against her. Just trying to get my head around this. Call me blind but what is the purpose of doing this? I don't understand. Is it ratings? Are they trying to appeal to certain types of fans? I honestly don't get it.

I possibly didn't make myself clear again.I don't think the writers want the viewers to hate Maddy(although I do think we were meant to be on Sasha and Spencer's side during the love triangle), I think we were actually meant to agree with Roo in that scene and think Maddy's actions were worthy of praise.I just think it was poor writing and far too on the nose and anyone who didn't like Maddy, or didn't like some of her actions but was still undecided, would just get annoyed by it.I know I get annoyed when characters like Alf or Irene spout opinions about characters that I don't agree with as if they're gospel truth.

[Brian]

I possibly didn't make myself clear again.I don't think the writers want the viewers to hate Maddy(although I do think we were meant to be on Sasha and Spencer's side during the love triangle), I think we were actually meant to agree with Roo in that scene and think Maddy's actions were worthy of praise.I just think it was poor writing and far too on the nose and anyone who didn't like Maddy, or didn't like some of her actions but was still undecided, would just get annoyed by it.I know I get annoyed when characters like Alf or Irene spout opinions about characters that I don't agree with as if they're gospel truth.

I don't think that we were supposed to agree with Roo in that scene. She was way over the responsible parenting act and any parent who acted like that doesn't know much about teenagers. It annoyed me too

[H&Alover]

Sally was nine when she moved to the bay, so I suppose when a child is that young it would seem like she had known someone 'all my life', even if they weren't all that close.

Alf got it spot on when he advised Roo against her stopping Maddy seeing Casey as it would only push them closer together and he has been there, done that, got the t-shirt. Maddy and Spencer's parents tried that and look what happened! True nothing sexual occurred, but they still run off together. I think Maddy and Casey would make a good friendship and I think she can help him get through what he going through by just being there. Typical teenage reaction on Maddy's part, she doesn't feel Roo trusts her so is going off with Casey to this gig. Come on Roo you must have had exactly this conversation with Alf when you were her age!!! Yes, exactly why did Roo march round to Brax's, Casey doesn't live there and as such he doesn't need to tell Brax (or anyone) where he is going, he's 18 and an adult.

I'm undecided about April v Dr. Peta Bradley (is she going to be the go to doc now Sid's gone?). Peta does seem to be loading down April with the scutt work, which I know has to be done, but April's not getting any hands on work as in seeing patients which for some reason Peta doesn't want her to do as she thinks she won't be able to handle. But as April very reasonably pointed out how would she know unless she gave it a go, she'd hardly be unsupervised! I don't know if it's too soon to be putting a case for bullying together, but when she does she has to try and make it unbiased. It may just be a clash of personalities.

[Red Ranger 1]

Mostly on Maddy's side here and pleased with the way she was portrayed.She did the wrong thing going to the club and staying out all night without telling anyone, although Roo seemed more bothered about her being with Casey than being in a club.(Really didn't like the way Alf just sat there sniping at her.)She didn't get drunk and behaved responsibly.And in a way she proved Roo wrong by keeping her head around Casey, refusing to drink with him and not letting him kiss her when he was off his head and summoning help when he got bad.

Found April a bit self-righteous as usual and I'm not liking the way it feels like we're meant to see her as an innocent little lamb and Peta as the blackhearted villain, with comments like "She deserves it." It's hard to shake the feeling Peta only let April take the lead with Casey because she threatened to report her, although it is possible she was impressed by April showing her assertive side.Glad she pointed out April once more behaving inappropriately with Dexter at work.And her offering to give April what she wants, a new supervisor, but not in the way she wanted it is an interesting gambit/challenge.

Really not liking the way Tamara's going.It was dumb of Brax to ask yet another person who's like a red rag to a bull to intervene with Casey but even though she says her feelings for Kyle haven't changed, it feels like she's being distant from him(she says they haven't "been together", even though that's not what was said before)and acting like Casey's one of the most important people in her life.Has she told Kyle about her memory being back?Because he really deserves to know.So, guess the parallel Casey/Kyle sofa makeouts were for that clip montage.Not sure what it signifies other than how confused her memories and life are.

It does feel like after initially getting it spot on, the show is now just making up continuity.I remember Sally's 17th birthday and I don't remember Alf being there.I do like Pippa calling him Grandpa Alf though, I was dreading her calling him Mr.Stewart:It always felt false when Cassie did that but with Sally doing it they had no choice, it's telling that once she left younger characters started calling him Alf again.I get the feeling a lot of scenes focusing on Harvey got cut(he was credited on the episode Roo moved them out to a caravan but didn't appear), with the result that his outburst kind of came out of nowhere.

[Slade]

I really wanted Tamara to get her memory back because I thought it would make a good storyline having her torn between Casey and Kyle but after seeing the scenes with Casey and Maddie over the last couple of episodes, I'm not so sure now. There's just something about those two even when they were together behaving completely irresponsibly. I don't know, for some reason I really liked the stuff on the beach. And when Casey was drunk and tried it on with her, Maddie's rejection to me felt that it wasn't because she didn't like him, more that she wanted him to be serious about her and not just come onto her as some rebound thing. I loved the way she was crying after he passed out and looked like he choked on his own vomit. Again something about that suggested that she really cared about him. I really hope we get more scenes with those two but I have a feeling Tamara will spoil it.

At first I thought the stuff with April and Peta felt a lot better this episode. It seemed more professional from both. However I do feel now it's like they're playing a game of chess. April planning to launch a counter attack re her noting things down to report Peta. But Peta countering April's counter attack by trying to palm her off onto another doctor.

I was actually very surprised Brax didn't object to April performing the examination. Especially when she was hesitating at first. He knows she's only a first year student after all.

[Red Ranger 1]

Getting a very bad feeling about the way Tamara's going.She seems to be turning back into her old self and I didn't particularly like her old self.It was massively unfair of her to keep her memory recovery secret from Kyle although at least she didn't lie to him when he asked her straight out.It's also unfortunate she's basically being bombarded with positive memories of Casey and negative memories of him:She says it doesn't change how she feels about him but she wouldn't have flinched away like that a short time ago.I can understand Bianca prioritising Tamara but I wish she'd show a bit of sympathy for Kyle.

Glad that Alf and Roo talked Sally out of being noble, it's Pippa's life they're talking about here, this is no time for her to start getting all self-sacrificial.Winston buying the boat sounds like a win-win even though that's not how Harvey presented it, he'd probably be perfectly willing to keep Harvey and Alf on to run it for him.

I didn't mind Sasha and Spencer that much but it does feel like Sasha's heading the same way as April, a once feisty and independent character trying a bit too hard to be cute and quirky.And she and Spencer seem to be trying to beat April and Dexter in the inappropriate sex stakes.Some nice sibling interaction between Sasha and Indi.I was more pleased than I should be about Spencer wanting to check on Maddy, I'm not expecting a reunion but I hope they stay best friends.Not sure how I feel about Chris being back, he seemed to get less interesting as he got nicer but his little bit at the end was good and Indi's expression at the end was intriguing.

And oh yes, the Date With A River Boy promos are back.Hope we'd seen the last of them.

[Brian]

Getting a very bad feeling about the way Tamara's going.She seems to be turning back into her old self and I didn't particularly like her old self.It was massively unfair of her to keep her memory recovery secret from Kyle although at least she didn't lie to him when he asked her straight out.It's also unfortunate she's basically being bombarded with positive memories of Casey and negative memories of him:She says it doesn't change how she feels about him but she wouldn't have flinched away like that a short time ago.I can understand Bianca prioritising Tamara but I wish she'd show a bit of sympathy for Kyle.

I agree. I feel sorry for Kyle. He's been nothing but a good friend to Tamara, as well as loving her, but was prepared to lose her before, if that made her happy. Why can't the others see that? But if she really loves them both, what does she do? "ménage a trois" - that would be a new storey for the soaps!!!!1