Latest UK Episode Discussion (2006-2017 Seasons)

[Red Ranger 1]

Again, episode counts mean that while we get April and Dexter discussing Indi's decision to leave, Chris and Sasha finding out either gets deferred until next week or happens off screen.Actually didn't mind April and Dexter that much in this episode, their bickering was genuinely amusing and the making-out-on-the-couch was kept to a minimum(although they still shoehorned in a bit of it).So, we know that Winston's okay but Harvey's status remains a mystery.I was actually expecting Nina to be forgotten about after her episode last week so I'm pleased that the storyline still seems to be going on and does actually feel like it's going somewhere.(And she was in the promo.)

So, we get an explanation for what Murray's up to.Er, maybe.Evelyn's "We have to get married to each other and then to them" was a bit weird:Unless we're talking group sex, I'm guessing the plan was for them to be "married" as part of the community and provide lots of children that Murray could indoctrinate from birth, mainly for the power trip.It does raise the question of what exactly the "horrible" thing that happened to Freya was(and what's the bet we never see or hear from her again?)and it's perhaps something we're better off not knowing:Was she forced to go through with a marriage and, ahem, provide her wifely duties?While it's good that she got through to him, and she apparently didn't realise what was going to happen to him as a result(although that's a bit naïve after what happened to Oscar), Evelyn putting Spencer in the firing line so she could record what happened is slightly dubious.And she seemed to take an awfully long time to find and help him, given it was dark.Going by her comments, she's possibly trying to maintain her cover so she can go back for Ethan(her original intention, after all)once she's got Spencer to safety.

Incidentally, Casey said that no Braxton has ever got the HSC:Guessing either he doesn't know Kyle did or he thinks he doesn't count.Tamara didn't exactly seem in a rush to put him straight but maybe she didn't think it was the time.

[H&Alover]

I wondered how Evelyn worked out what was going on at the ceremony in the clearing. Although it looked obvious the 'marriage' to each other was symbolic, how did she work out they then would be paired up with an older member of the cult? Spencer did look like he was in a trance, right up until he said 'no', severely disappointing Murray, who immediately put it down to Spencer's bi-polar, Maybe Freya refused to do what was expected of her and was banished until such time she changes her mind? Is Ethan aware of what happens and it did seem part of the package that if Evelyn went through with it, she'd get to se him. What puzzled me Red wasn't the fact it took so long for her to find Spencer, it was the fact no-one was on guard and the shed wasn't locked. Now perhaps she has enough evidence and when she has got Spencer safe, complete with phone(?) Zac can go in with the police. Although Murray can (and probably will) argue they are over 16 and did it willingly.

Nice scenes of John and Jett on the beach with Jett revealing he knows his and Marilyn's secret, and good that John finally admitted that he is struggling finanacially.

I remember Kyle told Tamara about his getting the HSC, but she's obviously not passed on the news.

[630si]

You've said three things I was thinking of saying Red. Loved Jett's little smile when he saw and overheard John and Marilyn having their chat and hug, that's cheered him up a bit. Casey's reverse psychology with Heath was brilliant and I liked the clump round Heath's head and he said he was just practising! I was wondering when he would bring up the matter of his HSC again, any quesses that it not going to be that easy. Every time he tries something gets in the way, plain giving up, prison, being in hospital, prison, hospital again. Great that Heath passed the first module and he's owned up to Bianca, hope she doesn't try and help him too much, it's something he needs to do by himself.

I suppose Jett 'losing' Nina just because she's going to a different school isn't in the same league as Harvey being missing at sea (and maybe dead). But he's only 13/14 and at that age a thing like that is a major event. Forget to mention yesterday the hiccup in continuity - Roo was wearing her scarf in the Diner - when she was sitting on the pier with Indi it had gone - back at the house she's wearing it again!!!

Good point about the girls from MRH and the rest of the boys for that matter, it is all currently about Matt. As for uniforms there can't be an unlimited number of them to supply the MRH pupils whose parents can't afford new ones.

So Indi is planning to leave the bay, where does that leave Heath, Casey and the rest of the staff at the gym, is she going to close it or put someone else in charge? I felt for Chris, the only woman he's really fell for and she's dumped him.

I too am wondering what will happen to the gym. Will she sell it?! If so who would be interested? And I'll also repeat a lot of your guys questioning around the girls having little focus from MRH. It did seem that the entire school arrived on just the one bus so I think we have to use our imagination a little bit with this merger. Speaking of which, how many times has Casey attempted his HSC now? It feels like it's been at least 3. I hope he completes it and has something he can be proud of being he first Braxton to complete it. It will also represent how far the Braxton's have come since arriving in the bay. Along with Heath and his transformation to a family man.

I also enjoyed Jett's little smile when he saw John and Marilyn. Was almost "my work here is done" sort of thing and may make him think a little less about his problems with nina moving away.

[Brian]

Casey is not the first Braxton to get HSC. Kyle has.

I hope that Eve manages to get the proof on her phone to the police and Murray gets arrested. I've seen enough of that cult - it just does not fit in with Summer Bay. Hope the other young inmates get out, but there will much work for Social Services then.

[H&Alover]

I like the term 'inmates' Brian!!! Let's not be ageist though, what about the older 'inmates'?

[Red Ranger 1]

Well, guess that suggestion that Oscar and Evelyn had a "twin power" was leading up to something.Shame Leah has to develop arbitrary scepticism, as if she's forgotten everything that happened with Kirsty and Jade even though it made the papers at the time.(Why not use Tamara in that scene and give her something to do other than hang off Casey?She even said she was eating at home.It's like there's a timeshare thing going on at that house:Either Leah and the MacGuires are there without her or she and Casey are there and everyone else is out.I don't think she's had a single scene with Hannah or Oscar.)So, we and Evelyn see Ethan for the first time in yonks.Oddly, his and Murray's untimely arrival turned out to have no effect on anything since Zac and Hannah turned up a few moments later and took charge anyway.It's hard to see if Ethan was starting to see the light or if he's still too far under Murray's control.I was half-expecting Kyle to be in on the rescue party and that scene of him and Ricky chatting to Zac be there for a reason but I guess it was simply to recap the plot and let us know where Zac's staying.

Not saying I agree with Montgomery, but do we have to have yet more Casey-taking-his-HSC drama?Actually, I was at least half in agreement with her over telling Tamara off in class, she wasn't exactly being attentive.Ricky irritated me enormously again, forcing Kyle to apologise to Casey over something that was at worst six-of-one-half-a-dozen-of-the-other and where Casey both set the tone and threw the first punch(okay, shove)without Casey doing the same, then giving us another stepford smiler "I'm going to look after Josh because I promised Brax" declaration(yeah, like she did a good job of that last time).Still, nice to see Heath taking charge and doing something nice for her and Kyle and Casey falling into line.

[Brian]

What about the older inmates, H&Alover?

Does someone know, when I press QUOTE on a post, why I cannot reply straight underneath it, as I used to. Now I have to type on a separate REPLY form like this?

[H&Alover]

I'm having the same problem with quotes Brian (when I tried it, it appeared on the bottom of the page I'd already typed) also spoilers doesn't work anymore.

While Social Services would probably take care of the younger members of the cult, who would take care of the older members?

What an amazing coincidence that Murray and Ethan then Hannah and Zac both turn up at the exact place where Evie runs out of the wood!!!! Evie does like to bite people doesn't she, I remember her biting Kyle when he grabbed her. As I thought Ethan didn't know what happened at the Discovery weekend and Murray very neatly sidestepped his question by saying Evie had been contaminated by outsiders. As this has scuppered Evie's idea of going back and rescuing her dad they will have to put plan B into action. At least they now have proof of what is going on at the sanctuary/cult.

It may be my memory is going but I don't recall Leah having a fringe last week. Maybe her memory is failing as she seems to have forgotten Kirsty and Jade.

Montgomery snitching to the Board about Casey being an ex-con backfired on her as it gave Bianca an idea for getting round it. I'm guessing Montgomery doesn't know about Zac being an ex con, though it won't do her any good as the Board know about him. Tam did deserve her telling off, SBH pupils are supposed to be the good guys.

I liked Heath's quip about Knuckles and Noodles making up (again).

I thought that was really lovely of Heath to ask tell the others Ricky was going to see Brax instead of them, the big softy, he really stepped up to the plate there. Does it really take that long before an inmate can get visitors?

[Red Ranger 1]

Yeah, the Quotes thing is a problem on lots of forums, not just this one.Someone tipped me off that it works on Google Chrome but not Internet Explorer so I just use that if I want to quote someone. Never had a problem with spoilers.

So.Looks like that's the end of the lodge and hopefully the end of Murray, although he didn't exactly seem defeated.Arresting Ethan too seemed a bit harsh, although thinking about it letting Evelyn go on the weekend could qualify as criminal neglect and allowing Oscar to be beaten up, if the police are aware of that, definitely would.It's reached the point though where the show seems to be requiring the viewer to take leaps of logic to make sense of the sanitised version we're being given.So, we can think about what horrible things might arise from a forced marriage but on screen all we've got is the characters adopting a rather 1950s morality whereby arranged marriage(or even pretend arranged marriage!)is "horrible" all by itself, which doesn't really sell the point:What happened to Spencer is far more horrible than a hippy wedding.Nice to see Roo finally take an interest in Spencer, however briefly, he got involved with the cult long before Harvey went missing and she didn't seem to care. Frustrating that Maddy is just down the corridor and no-one bothers to tell her what's going on.Nice that Nate encouraged Spencer to build some bridges.A nice moment between Spencer and Evelyn too and the first real interaction we've had between Oscar and Evelyn without her either being brainwashed or pretending she is.The bit where they revisit the shattered remains of their old life was rather emotional.

Maybe I'm wrong but I can't actually remember when Leah's hair changed so having Bianca suddenly comment on it, even with the "At last someone notices", was a bit weird.I was actually more thrown by VJ's crew cut.Maybe that's because we haven't seen him in, like, forever.Leah suddenly getting a job at the school which she's clearly not qualified for is a bit make do.Interesting that Bianca seems certain Matt didn't do the vandalism, rather than giving him the benefit of the doubt, which brings us back to Montgomery and leads me onto the arson at the school and, if it's actually something other than a plot device to get the Mangrove River kids in SBH and cause some brief drama for Josh and Maddy...could she have done it?She did seem convinced she'd be allowed to take over Summer Bay High, maybe it was her way of getting a more prestigious position?

Scenes of Brax and Ricky in jail fell a bit flat:They didn't say anything of import so presumably the idea was to show how heartbreaking it is for Ricky being separated from him, but I haven't really liked her recently so I don't really care.Annoyed she got to have the last word with Josh, Brax very belatedly doing the last thing doesn't entirely repair the damage he's done and Josh has no reason to look on him with fondness, but nice that Josh recognises that ultimately Debbie and presumably Andy were responsible for their own actions and he can't use Brax as an excuse to mess up his life. I'd like to say it's good to have Alf back but I'm really not sure if it is:I didn't like him that much when he went away and he can't even get in the door without snarling at Josh and Maddy simply for existing.I wish he'd brought Sally back to kick him into line because Roo and Marilyn aren't up to the job.I'm sure that the fans who want Alf to be like he was in 1988 are enjoying it but I'd rather have 2010s Alf back rather than undoing all his character development for the sake of drama, something the show does far too often.

[Brian]

Good analysis Red.