Latest UK Episode Discussion (2006-2017 Seasons)

[Brian]

As you mentioned it Brian, maybe it should be you.

[H&Alover]

Welcome back Slade.

Hope you are all having a good Easter, weather where I am a lot better than yesterday.

Not only Josh or Andy not calling an ambulance when Andy ran Casey and Maddy off the road but Heath not calling an ambulance when Adam was near to death after Brax run him down.

Did seem a very quick end to Spencer and Sasha's romance, second time that a couple have finished while still in love with each other (Casey and Tamara in case anyone had forgotten). This time Sasha couldn't use the excuse she thought it was Spencer, she had plenty of time to stop it. I'm glad Jett apologised to Sash and nice gesture with the flower. Maybe he felt embarrassed about telling her the real reason for him wanting to be a representative was so Gina wasn't forgotten.

Difficult times for both Heath and Bianca, especially now she knows it's a boy, she doesn't want to deprive Heath of the time he lost with Darcy and yet naturally it would be very painful for her to be closely involved with the baby. Is her decision that Heath goes to visit Jess and the baby in Melbourne going to work? I don't know how the law works in Australia but wouldn't Heath have to contribute financially to the baby's upkeep? Irene gave some sound advice without taking sides. From what we saw whatever decision that has to be made is going to be made sooner sooner rather than later, another case of history repeating itself.

[Red Ranger 1]

Do you get a break from early shifts, Red?

Well, I do early and late shifts alternate weeks and get bank holidays off, but I'm on it for the rest of the week.

On a side note, earlier on this week, how did Brax know Nate was a doctor?

Well, even if they've never met before Brax knew of Nate because Kyle told him about him when he visited.

Today's ep!Wasn't too happy about Ricky giving Josh the brush off, would it really have hurt her just to give him Brax's phone number?Ah well, she came round and helped in the end and I'm glad Brax gave Josh the answers he needed.I have to admit Brax and Ricky working together again felt very natural.Wonder what she promised to get Adam to play ball?

Well, I'm not sure Chris trying to start an argument was a good idea but Sasha and Spencer's strained politeness was obviously going to drive them and everyone else mad.Loved Spencer beating on Chris as a way of channelling his anger, prompting Sasha describing Chris' counselling techniques as "annoying people until they attack you."The two of them living together was never going to work and is perhaps a sign that her moving in wasn't a bad idea.Ah well, Spencer's gone to live with Roo now, who's apparently competing with Irene over who can take in the most strays.Sadly, that'll probably mean he's back in a caravan.Irene's money jar idea didn't quite have the desired effect but she ended up with a lot of dollars."Respect the money jar, Irene."I'm kind of glad Chris and Sasha are the ones to stay on since I really like their interaction.

Doesn't seem like Heath's storyline moved on much:Okay, we've now got a baby, although that was obviously going to happen from the end of the previous episode, and we've got a name for him but nothing's really been resolved over Heath's involvement in his life or Bianca's stance.

[Slade]

Welcome back Slade.

Cheers.

Felt sorry for Bianca when she looked at Heath and Jess with their new son. She looked hurt and it was totally understandable. I think she's in an impossible position. Heath is a good guy and will want to spend more time with his kid but this will hurt Bianca because (a) it will make her think of Rocco (b) she will feel excluded because she's not the baby's mother. With Darcy it is a completely different kettle of fish because Tegan is now longer here.

I do think that Heath and Jess are also in an impossible position too. Heath is trying to do right by everyone. He loves his wife but obviously will want to be a good dad so he can't just abandon his kid. And the problem is both Jess and Harley come as a package now. It was unfair of Bianca to issue him an ultimatum but from her perspective given her state of mind I can see where she's coming from and I would imagine there's a good chance she will end up pretty miserable and worry how it will affect her marriage.

Can't remember if Jess knew Heath was with someone when she slept with him but regardless that's done. I think she did the right thing coming to Summer Bay and telling Heath because he had a right to know but I honestly believe she isn't trying to cause any trouble but wants the baby's father in her son's life.

I said a while back that I didn't think Heath and Bianca should have gotten married so quickly especially after he slept with someone else. Probably a better alternative would have been to cohabit for a couple of years and take it from there. Obviously it wouldn't happen in soapland. Still, all seems like a bit of a mess.

[Brian]

Hadn't seen the back garden of the Braxton's place before - didn't know they had one.

What has got me thinking lately is how all the characters pay for their mobile phones, which they constantly use to keep in touch. Whether they have a contract to pay monthly, or top ups when required, where do they get their money from? Especially Josh, who never has any money and the other school kids. Any ideas?

[haaf14]

Well, even if they've never met before Brax knew of Nate because Kyle told him about him when he visited.

On a side note, earlier on this week, how did Brax know Nate was a doctor?

Thanks for clarifying that for me Red

Hadn't seen the back garden of the Braxton's place before - didn't know they had one.

What has got me thinking lately is how all the characters pay for their mobile phones, which they constantly use to keep in touch. Whether they have a contract to pay monthly, or top ups when required, where do they get their money from? Especially Josh, who never has any money and the other school kids. Any ideas?

Well Brian, money does seem to grow on trees. I don't how Josh can afford his phone bill but when Phoebe was staying at the caravan park there wasn't a logical explanation how she was paying for her van. She stayed with Chris as she couldn't afford anywhere as to live.

[H&Alover]

We have seen the Braxton's back garden before, I remember Ricky and Nate having a chat about the baby on the back step and we've seen Heath and Kyle out there.

Well at least this time there was a doctor on hand, unlike when Nicole gave birth with only Angelo to help!!! Realistic looking new born too, all mucky and not miraculously clean as they usually are. Poor Bianca when she saw Heath, Jess and Harley (welcome little feller) . Heath will want to go to hospital with them, but is going to feel awful about Bianca. Now the baby is actually here it's now real for Heath. Wonder which hospital they went to as the local one is out of action?

Jess was aware Heath was on his stag (or bucks) night, then he thought the wedding was off which led him to have a cry on her shoulder and the rest. It was why she was shocked to find out Bianca wasn't his girlfriend but his wife.

Didn't we all say this when Sasha moved into Irene's with Spencer and what would happen if they split up? Their being nice to each other just wasn't natural but Chris winding them up just made it worse. One of them had to move out and it made more sense for Spencer to move back to Roo's. I didn't understand Sasha getting so upset about Spencer telling Roo about their breakup.

Methinks Ricky has deeper feelings for Brax than she is willing to admit which would explain her snapping at Josh, at least she had the decency to apologise later. Not sure Brax setting his lawyer on Adam would have helped much, I think Ricky said she'd tell Adam she visit if he revealed where Johnny's body was and wouldn't if he didn't. Funny how Andy and Josh have different opinions about finding Johnny, Andy doesn't want to know and Josh does.

Good point about the phones Brian, I guess the ones who are earning, Sash, Chris, Spencer pay from their wages. Maybe Jett pays for his out of the pocket money John gives him. Haaf14 it was never explained how Phoebe managed to pay for anything, did she bring an unspecified amount with her? The only one who has mentioned money and that she's running short is Denny.

[Red Ranger 1]

I think there's been some speculation that Phoebe was earning money busking.Whether that would be enough to afford the caravan rent is anyone's guess but then I'm not sure she's ever had a regular job so I guess she's learned to get by.

Man, I love Chris.He was the highlight of that episode as usual, loved his "pre-emptive stalk" line among other gems.Denny did seem to respond to his offering to get her a coffee until he backed off and did the whole play hard to get thing.Still, the way she was ranting about him to Alf afterwards was a clear sign that she liked him and I'm glad that she agreed to a date, I can see them being a cute couple.

I sympathise with Bianca on an intellectual level but I really can't feel her pain and I remain resolutely on Heath's side.She may have backed off from her ultimatum but her alternative, basically giving up on their marriage because she's randomly decided he's going to fall in love with Jess, isn't any better and I'm glad Heath isn't going to just accept it.Brax actually gave him some pretty good advice.

I think I've given up on Andy, every time I think I might like him he reminds me why I don't, I think I'll just stick him in the "Tolerate him if he behaves, hate him if he doesn't" box.I get that he's got a justifiable grievance against Brax but he needs to grow up and deal with the situation and be the brother Josh needs, not storm around picking fights with everyone.Brax answering back when Andy turned up at the house was okay but it was daft of him to go and lecture him about being there for Josh, he was never going to just accept it and Brax was better off just helping Josh himself, which was what he ended up doing.Casey's character seemed all over the place here, he goes from telling Andy to get knotted to trying to play pop psychologist to criticising Brax for doing the same thing to giving him advice again.

[haaf14]

That was really great what Jett did, trying to get memorial for Gina. I was glad that John was able to see it Jett's speech.

Zac ain't going to be too happy after todays programme. At least Evelyn was trying to do the right thing by telling Hannah to tell Zac about Andy otherwise it could blow up in their faces however as he has just seen them, then I get the impression it is not going to go down that well.

[Red Ranger 1]

For much of this episode, it was hard to see anything attractive about Matt and to a certain extent, despite a few hints, Spencer saying Sasha likes him was a bit left field.I was slightly annoyed that Sasha only seemed to go after Spencer to have a go at him for embarrassing her when Matt had already done that without his help.However, Alec Snow took the sensible decision to play Matt's last scene with Sasha completely straight, giving the impression that Matt's laddish behaviour is all a front and he is actually a fairly decent person when he lets himself be.It makes it seem less unlikely.The speech thing seemed a bit strange:Did Matt organise it and how did Tamara not know about it?And who were they giving the speeches to?I was expecting a school hall, not a tiny classroom with about twenty students in it.(Was that meant to be the SRC?)Do they even have a school hall anymore?I don't think we've seen it since Martin Bartlett's day.

Well, John did a bit more to break up one of Andy's fights, not that anyone noticed.Still not sure why, other than boredom, Hannah is hanging around with him.And if they're meant to be a secret, they seem to be meeting in public an awful lot.Only the second mention of the fact Johnny was technically Andy's stepfather.Nice that Oscar and Evelyn acknowledged they messed up by keeping Zac and Hannah apart.Telling Zac was not the way to handle it, Evelyn telling Hannah to tell him was more sensible.It was obvious Zac would see Andy and Hannah at the end but...where were they?Obviously nowhere near the farm, which makes the coincidence of Zac wandering past even more coincidental.It looked like the road where the Braxtons and Palmers live but where would they all be there?

It was nice to see Casey helping Jett out.John's jokes were awful but Jett managed to speak from the heart in the end(and I liked Tamara's little words of reassurance).So it's spelled out that Marilyn feels like an outsider where the subject of Gina is concerned.Nice that Alf picked up on it anyway.