Latest UK Episode Discussion (2006-2017 Seasons)

[Brian]

No hospital scenes today, so that should please you moaners. I agree, good Braxton family scenes together and including Tamara. Can't they give Ricky a job as well at the restaurant to make her feel included? Feel sorry for Sasha being cast aside by Spencer - couldn't he have tried to appreciate her concerns? Waiting for Maddy/Josh scenes again.

[Red Ranger 1]

I've never got it clear what the majority opinion of April and Dexter is:Some people like them, some don't.To me, they are far far better characters apart, they've completely ruined April by turning her from a sophisticated mature wise-beyond-her-years teen into a whiney little girl and stunted Dexter's character growth by dragging her down to his maturity level rather than giving him a girlfriend that will challenge him.They got together through cheating and they've both slept with other people yet the show tries to portray them as sweet and innocent.I find their scenes together sickly, childish and vaguely creepy given that they're both written as a lot younger than they're supposed to be.

Onto happier matters...The cult stuff is hotting up and they're mixing Oscar and Evelyn up nicely by letting them interact with new characters.There does seem to be an odd bond between Oscar and Sasha which feels quite natural, although Evelyn singling Spencer out as the person she's trying to help doesn't quite ring true yet.Maybe she thinks she stands a better chance if she's there from the start but Freya's actions suggest Murray doesn't have as complete control over his charges as first appeared.(Raising the subject of the note again...When Oscar introduces himself, wouldn't a more logical response from Spencer be "Do you have a sister called Evelyn?" rather than "Oh yeah, your sister gave me this for you"?Or is there really a rule that there can only be one person with the same first name in town at a time?)Okay, so Oscar can't go with Sasha because it'll make everyone suspicious of Evelyn(even though it'd be logical for him to get involved even without her letter), but why not take Dex with her for back-up?Or Roo, who seems to have forgotten about Spencer again right after inviting him to stay at the house?(Where he was apparently still living, given he was there alone yesterday, even though Maddy's back.Was one of them in Alf's room?)

Loved the Braxton stuff, removing Brax(my least favourite)from the dynamic has shaken things up nicely.Heath proves a very different head of the family, less sure of himself but also more willing to listen to the others:Everyone was expecting him to lay down the law like Brax would have done but instead he asked their opinions before making the decision.Kyle meanwhile is the one who silently supports Heath and once again reminds us that he wasn't always a Braxton and had a life before them.Perhaps Bianca actually did need to remember that Heath was once like those students.(Of course, the whole storyline's a massive continuity error but that's a rant for another time.)Casey gets to support Ricky.I think I'm on one of my post-break amnesties because I actually didn't mind Casey and Tamara here.Mind you I was kind of distracted by Tamara's short skirt.

[Homeandawayfan.]

Glad Home And Away is back. Been having withdrawal symptoms.

[Red Ranger 1]

Other thoughts:Was Oscar constantly drawing the tree Evelyn was looking at meant to be some sort of twin power?And that Leah/Zac scene felt like a relic of a more involved plot thread.

[630si]

Miss Montgomery is going to be very interesting/sabotage-esque by the looks of things which Is just great! Although why expect to be head when it's Bianca's school you're going to?

Jett being dumped was painful on many levels but you can help feel sorry for the poor boy after all the embarrassment he went through liking her and stuff at the start. Bit of a rash decision to send her off to boarding school from her parents there. Just move schools to another in the district? Assuming boarding school will cost a lot of dollar it seems a bit extreme. Hopefully they can talk her parents round and young love will blossom again! Haha

Her name escapes me now but the weird chris bunny boiler was extremely insensitive to Indi's current state of mind. Nobody of any decent nature would even think of that let alone actually go through with it. And as we all know, it's a small town and secrets do t last long. I dislike this one enough as it is but to stoop that low just solidifies my opinion. On the other hand though, the girl needs to go speak to someone as she has some deep issues to sort through. Let's hope Leah has passed her attatchment module!

[Red Ranger 1]

So, continuity rant:Mangrove River High is merging with Summer Bay High even though they already did that in 1991.Guess they enjoyed it so much they decided to do it again.Not sure if Casey going there is consistent with his established history either.Not only that, we seem to be getting the exact same storyline, with a cold and snobbish bully of a principal using the situation to try and take the job off "our" principal.Normally no-one would remember but with the early episodes currently being repeated in Australia, it's as if the writers were sitting down watching 7Two one morning and said "Hey, let's do that storyline again, no-one will notice."In context, it actually works pretty well and Montgomery is a nice cold villain who you can actually believe exists, someone who takes joy in breaking the spirit of those she considers beneath her.Bianca standing up to her was a cool moment and it's nice that it gave Heath the impetus to carry on with his studying.

You know, when we saw that clip of Robyn talking about her father before the break, I actually thought she was being genuine for once.Guess I should have known better.Deciding to hijack Indi's grief as a way of gaining sympathy is unbelievably low.Seems my amnesty on Casey and Tamara is up since I was back to rolling my eyes at their scenes, although at least we're getting coverage of Kyle, even if it was just a plot device to have him find out what Robyn's up to.She was even more deluded if she thought he'd pat her on the back and tell her she was doing great.

So, is that it for Nina?I'm very disappointed since I liked the character and her relationship with Jett but the fact she was only a guest star and didn't seem to appear that much always left me with a feeling she wouldn't be around that long.At least she got a proper, if rather abrupt, exit.

Some great lines today, mostly from Heath and John.I especially liked Heath's reaction to Kyle asking him why he wanted his textbook("Because I wanted to play frisbee with it!")and John's initial advice to Jett about Nina("We shouldn't work through our issues?"/"Way too complicated.Just grovel.").But Indi almost beat them in the laughter stakes with her climatic "I'm going to kill her."

[Dan F]

So, continuity rant:Mangrove River High is merging with Summer Bay High even though they already did that in 1991.Guess they enjoyed it so much they decided to do it again.Not sure if Casey going there is consistent with his established history either.Not only that, we seem to be getting the exact same storyline, with a cold and snobbish bully of a principal using the situation to try and take the job off "our" principal.Normally no-one would remember but with the early episodes currently being repeated in Australia, it's as if the writers were sitting down watching 7Two one morning and said "Hey, let's do that storyline again, no-one will notice."In context, it actually works pretty well and Montgomery is a nice cold villain who you can actually believe exists, someone who takes joy in breaking the spirit of those she considers beneath her.Bianca standing up to her was a cool moment and it's nice that it gave Heath the impetus to carry on with his studying.

There was actually a bit of discussion on that continuity in the spoiler and Aus discussion threads, this is what I managed to establish in the end:

A post I made in that other thread:

Just to note, I'm currently going through some 1998 episodes and Mangrove River High has been mentioned, so it evidently did re-open at some point in the 90's.

Whether it was mentioned on-screen at some point in the 90's, or whether it was an unexplained continuity glitch, is still something we may not know for some time - but if it was a mistake then it was one made in 1998, not in 2013.

For those familiar with older storylines, it was mentioned when Lillian was busted selling drugs (along with the guy she sold them too) - Donald wanted to expel them, and said Yabbie Creek wouldn't take them but Mangrove River would (figures )

The fact that the Braxton's went to it means it obviously reopened at some point

Obviously they're mentioned as being past students now for the current storyline, but I don't know myself whether Brax or Heath had previously been mentioned as going to Mangrove River High - when Casey first arrived he had just been expelled from Yabbie Creek High.

Whether they had or not, it was more a question of whether it was previously established within the show whether Mangrove River High had been reopened since 1991, or whether the current writers had disregarded continuity (or were unaware of it).

As it turned out, it had indeed been mentioned as being open in 1998, so any debate about lack of continuity doesn't fall on the current writers on this occasion.

There was indeed a cockup with Casey though, as you mention RR1 - the backstory on the official site claimed that he went to Reefton Lakes High, whereas it was stated in the episodes that he was expelled from Yabbie Creek High - so now I guess it's Mangrove River High, either that or he got expelled from all three!

[Red Ranger 1]

Thanks for the info, Dan.I thought Casey was said to have been expelled from Yabbie Creek, seemingly the go-to for where troublesome new students got kicked out of.Don't think it's been mentioned before where Brax and Heath went and actually I still don't think it's been said outright that Brax went there although it seems likely(incidentally, now we've got an on screen age for him, albeit one a couple of years younger than many of us assumed, he would have actually been at high school in 1998:Heath probably not).We could probably have assumed Mangrove River was re-established at some point in the intervening 20+ years but interesting to know there's firm evidence of it in the past.Now we'll just have to wait and see if they ever explained it...

[H&Alover]

Yes Red the drawing of trees by Oscar and Evelyn definitely a twins thing.

Well done Heath for calling the meeting (and Casey) for taking Tam, she is part of the family. He (Heath) didn't even try to become Brax, but put the two options before the group and asked for their opinions. Right decision reached, imo, not only will reopening Angelo's bring in much needed revenue it will be something for Brax to come back to, assuming he's not going to be locked up for at least ten years. Good idea Brian of Ricky working at Angelo's give her something to focus on.

Nice one Kyle by pointing out to Bianca that although he is also a Braxton, he had better chances than the others did and his foster family didn't give up on him and believed in him. She was guilty of lumping them all together just by the reports she had heard of Mangrove River High, though once we saw the head, it did explain a lot of things.

I hope Evelyn knows what she is doing, just what evidence is she hoping to put together? I get the feeling Murray isn't completely taken in by her and now Freya has been what banished? Of course Oscar couldn't have gone with her, but pretty risky going by herself and Spencer has had his head turned pretty quickly even allowing for the fact he wants treatment other than drugs for his bi-polar. So he's been there five minutes and being allowed to go on the Discovery weekend, Murray has plans both for him and Evelyn. I noticed Sasha didn't mention Evie's plan to Oscar, probably guessed he'd try and stop her. I suppose it could be argued Oscar is a pretty unusual name and the odds of any other recently arrived 16 year old having that name is on the long side.

Ms. Montomery makes Morag come across like Maria from The Sound Of Music!!! Hearing the way she put her pupils down, even an old one like Heath who she still couldn't resist having a dig at made me think no wonder the pupils have such a reputation of being trouble if the Principal's attitude (which I dare say rubs off on the rest of the staff) is like that. Heath working in the gym was not good enough for her, probably disappointed he wasn't inside! Loved the look on Ms. M's face when Bianca casually remarked 'Heath Braxton, he's my husband'. Yes 630si, where did Ms. M get the idea she'd be

Principal at SBH? It's 'Bianca's' school and yes she is new, but she is a lot more opened minded than the Gorgon. Has she got that hairstyle to make her look even more severe? She must be older than she looks, Heath is in his mid twetnties (?) and got kicked out I suppose when he was 14/15, younger (?) when she was responsible for him going to juvvie.

I couldn't believe Robyn would sink that low either and big pat on the back to Kyle telling Indi and Chris what she had told him, though knowing her she'll deny it. He's mature enough to work his own way through his feelings for Tam and the fact she is now with Casey and their relationship was a lot more recent (and longer) than three days a year ago. Although I'd go with Indie wanting to kill her, a better idea would to be to play her at her game then let her have it with both barrels. But as 630si says she needs help, a lot of it!

Poor Jett, him fretting about what he had done to make Nina dump him and he hadn't done anything!!!!! An over reaction by her parents to just pack her off to boarding school!

Is it just me or is Bianca's hair getting darker?

[Red Ranger 1]

So, we finally get to see Maddy visit Josh and finally get an acknowledgement of the fact that they were at the school around the time it burnt down.We can presumably take it as read that they weren't involved in it but Maddy lying to the police was dumb.(Shouldn't she have had an adult present when she was interviewed?Shouldn't Josh, unless he's meant to be 18?)Not sure if it'll be raised again. Very disappointed in Roo who seems to have learned absolutely nothing from recent experiences:She drove Maddy away by trying to split her and Josh up so now she's doing it again?Josh breaking up with her was noble but I wish he hadn't done it.

Robyn coming to her senses and deciding to leave town happened a bit abruptly but I guess she realised she'd crossed a line.Chris acknowledging that the situation could be avoided if he'd been straight with Robyn from the start is nice character development.Unfortunately, Indi seemed a bit uncomfortable:I think she does still have feelings for him but it's like she's had to go through losing Romeo again, with the accompanying grieving process and difficulty moving on.Loved Chris telling Irene to get her decaf.

John and Marilyn didn't do a particularly good job helping Jett, it's only a day since he learned Nina was going on, he's not quite at the "Cheer up, mate, there'll be other girls" stage yet.Nice use of his friendship with Indi in her telling him it's all right to miss her.And, after it appeared to be put on the shelf indefinitely, John and Marilyn are finally fully aware of each other's feelings.It'll be good to see how that develops.