UK Episode Discussion

[Slade]

It's funny, I see Amber as the Maddy from Neighbours at the moment.  A character that's reasonably self-absorbed that now a significant part of the show is centred around.  Also a certain number of characters think that the sun shines out of her backside, which I most certainly do not.  I don't find anything remotely entertaining about her and I hate her and Daniel as a couple.  This is a girl who has cheated on both of her boyfriends.  So this week has been a result as far as I'm concerned.  That moment when Karl announced that Josh was the father of the baby was beautiful.  I loved the self-satisfied victorious expression on Josh's face.  And I loved even more the look of totally dejection on both Amber and Daniel's.  I especially loved the part when Daniel started throwing around the chairs at his bar because he couldn't deal with the harsh reality that he has to raise another mans child if he and Amber are to stay together.  Now that's karma for stealing Amber off Josh.  I've quite enjoyed seeing him try to act all civilized regarding Josh trying to support 'his' girlfriend.  But there's no way he's going to be able to sustain this.  He's suppressing his real thoughts and feelings and it's just going to build up until him snaps and I suspect that he will get fed up and want out of the relationship.  I actually couldn't give a stuff whether Josh and Amber get back together, I just want to see Amber and Daniel split up.

And then we have the whole Lauren/Brad/Terese thing.  I'm with Terese on this one.  This is the second time Brad has lied to her and I really don't blame her for being suspicious and paranoid.  I actually don't blame Lauren (well at least not entirely) but this whole thing is going to cause serious problems especially now they are all going to be grandparents.  I find it quite funny that Lauren and Brad have a daughter together and will be having a grandchild together too.

I had mixed feelings about the whole Ezra thing.  In terms of entertainment although I don't dislike Terese, I did enjoy Ezra trying to make her suffer.  And I really enjoyed the way he tried to make life difficult for Sheila.  If he tried to assault his son's ex girlfriend he deserves everything he gets (it did annoy me slightly the way Terese tricked her into getting a confession out of her by offering her an internship).  I'm going to give Terese the benefit of the doubt and assume this was to protect other women and as some form of retribution.

Again had mixed feelings about Sheila.  Whilst I really dislike her, I did admire the way she defended Nate so for that reason am glad she got out of this defamation law suit thing.

I wouldn't mind seeing Paul and Naomi together however what bothers me about her not wanting to get back with Brennan is by the looks of things they are trying to get Paige and Mark back together.  So to prevent that I actually would have preferred to see Naomi and Mark rekindle their relationship.  I don't like the way Paige used Tyler (did they actually sleep together down the well?).  At the moment I still don't find Paige likeable and I would not like to see her get back with Mark for the simple reason that I don't think she deserves to be happy.  They seem to still be dragging this thing out with Michelle but now things appear to have gotten really serious with Tyler taking a really hefty beating.  And with Sonia spotting something was amiss with Tyler and that guy earlier on it will only be a matter of time before Mark finds out.

So Georgia's gone away for a few months to support her mother with her fight against cancer.  I seem to remember Jade going away and her and Kyle breaking up shortly after so I wonder if something similar will happen here.

[Red Ranger 1]

It's ironic but like Slade I kind of view Amber as Neighbours' answer to Maddy, except from the opposite perspective: She's a character I'm fond of and have a lot of time for, yet there seem to be a large number of viewers who hate her, and when I hear their reasons I'm again reminded of how we all seem to interpret storylines in vastly different ways.In fact, it even seems to have bleeded over to on screen, as they recently had an episode where Imogen tries to list all the things she's had to forgive Amber for, but she could only think of two and in my opinion Imogen was at fault both times.(Especially the school captain thing.)I really don't care that Amber cheated on Josh: I wish she hadn't, because it didn't show her in a good light, but Josh was a rubbish boyfriend and a pretty sorry excuse for a human being.His smug reaction to impregnating Amber, as if the child is just the latest weapon in his campaign to steal her back, is utterly disgraceful, so I loved that not only did Daniel show he was the better person by ignoring his provocation but then punctured his ego completely by brushing aside his desperate attempts to organise meetings to discuss the baby.And now that's prompted Josh to show how utterly unsuited to fatherhood he is by trying to show Amber what a man he is by getting into debt and investing in a pyramid scheme.I am so looking forward to this blowing up in his face.

I am feeling very sorry for Lauren at the moment, who seems to be getting it from all sides by selfish people who don't care about her feelings.She's got Brad acting like a jealous husband and scaring off anyone that goes near her, Terese acting like a jealous wife and forcing randoms on her to keep her away from Brad, and now Paige apparently plotting to get her parents back together even though Lauren's told her she's nowhere near ready for a new relationship.It's a shame because, after going off her big time earlier in the year, I was starting to like Paige again but this last week has put me off her again.Tyler also seems to have plummeted in the likability stakes although he's a bit better, and I do feel sorry for him having both Imogen and Paige use him as a rebound and then dump him.I didn't like Mark and Naomi together, not that I like the idea of Paul and Naomi either, so I'm probably just in favour of Paige and Mark but I wouldn't mind if they all just stayed single.

So, looks like Georgia's gone, although she's still on the opening titles and everyone's talking as though she's coming back.I liked her at first but went off her big time as she got less quirky and more self-righteous, so can't say I'll particularly miss her.

Amy Williams, there's a blast from the past.Well, we've had all Paul's other children come back in the last ten years, I guess it was about time they got round to her.I'm liking her so far but if they're setting up a feud between her and Naomi that could be awkward.The spark between her and Kyle is rather amusing though.

[Slade]

I have to admit I kind of enjoyed it when Jimmy blackmailed Susan and Sheila (although I wasn't particularly happy about him doing it to Karl).  The whole awkwardness about Sheila liking Paul was really funny and I'd completely forgot when they were trapped inside the freezer together.  Funnily enough Sheila seems to have actually been a lot better since then.  She's moved on from generally being unpleasant and appears to have fully accepted Paul and Naomi.  So for the first time since she's been on the show (I think) I don't find her completely unlikeable.  Her getting involved with Brennan's dad seems to have done her the world of good too as she is focusing more on herself and less on other people.

I quite like Naomi and Paul together but keep thinking somewhere down the line he's going to hurt her just like he did with all the rest.  Still not sure what to make of Amy.  I didn't like her attitude towards Naomi about what happened with Sonia but she's been OK since.  I really hope nothing happens with her and Kyle because obviously the writers are heading for that direction.

So the writers have incapacitated Toadie again although it looks more permanent.  I've found it hard to sympathise with Sonia simply because for the most part although I don't dislike her as a person I find her quite annoying.  She's just so dramatic about everything and I find watching her a chore.  She's messed up big time with the insurance although I like that Toadie hasn't blamed her.  Toadie's mum helping out could be interesting although I suspect she will drive Sonia up the wall.

I'm really, really not happy about Paige and Brennan.  After unsuccessfully trying to sabotage Terese and Brad's marriage as I said before why should she be allowed happiness?  I was annoyed when Joey Dimato caught up with her and Paige took him out as I was hoping that he would make her suffer.  And funny now that's she's with Mark she's stopped being unpleasant to people.  See that's the problem with her.  When things are going well for her it's alright to be nice to everyone but when things are not going so well that's the time to be unpleasant.  I was glad that she and Mary made up though as I did feel quite sorry for Mary the way Paige was treating her before.

I'm really not happy about this whole thing with Brad/Lauren/Terese.  I was extremely displeased how Matt just had to accept what happened with Lauren and Brad so took great satisfaction at Lauren finding out about Matt and Sharon Canning.  She deserves to feel like that.  And it was especially good as Matt did it before he tragically lost his life.  However judging by Brad and Lauren's moment a few weeks ago and the fact that Brad and Terese are at loggerheads (particularly with today's episode with Terese turning up drunk to the charity concert rehearsal), I'm assuming this is headed for a full on affair with Brad and Lauren or at the very least them sleeping together.  Anything else would be pointless as they've already kissed.  As much as I'm not happy about it, objectively it would be a good direction to take as we could see the fallout with their respective families.  I still think for the most part Brad is a redundant and useless character anyway but at the moment he is serving some sort of purpose and I did quite like the way he helped out with Ben's Cyber bullying last week.

I'm soooooo glad Amber and Daniel are over.  And the writers have finally gotten Daniel and Imogen together (finally).  I often find Imogen quite annoying and self-righteous but I love the way both Paul and Terese are firmly behind them, especially given that Paul wanted Daniel to get shot of Amber.  Amber's face when she saw them together was priceless.  And then again at the hotel with Terese.  Objectively she hasn't been that annoying since she split up with Daniel.  I honest don't care about her and Josh but have to admit what he is doing is pretty bad.  And it was bad advice from Aaron to not only tell him to keep up the pretence but give Josh his phone to help him.  Although at least he's told Josh to be upfront about it and tell her the truth.  When Amber finds out about this, it is going to hurt her really bad, especially given that having this friend is the one thing I think is keeping her going at the moment.  She really feels she can confide in this person, given that Amber thinks she is in a similar situation i.e.the pregnancy and she can't turn to Daniel because he's moved on, she can't turn to her own mother because of what is happening with Brad, I'm not sure she feels she can talk to Paige and the rest of her family are elsewhere.  Like I said when it comes out about Josh's lying and pretending to be this pregnant mother she's Amber's been in contact with this is not going to be pretty.

[Red Ranger 1]

I am not at all happy that the show put Daniel and Imogen together.To be honest, I think I was against it right from the start, when he first turned up and Imogen spent ages being a cow towards him for no other reason than that she's a prig.Then she got worse, spending a year alternating between yelling abuse at him and stalking him, to the point that I thought that if they got together it would show he had no self-respect, if he liked someone who treated him like that, and that she'd be rewarded for being a dreadful person.And here we are. And even worse, Daniel is now trying to pretend that he never loved Amber and it was Imogen he liked all along.He's feeding her the same lines he fed Amber and making the same "It's different with you" promises, so he's either a lying sleaze or a deluded fantasist.And Imogen, after spending two years leading on nice guys and dumping them as soon as they get serious, has sex with him after one kiss because "I've been saving myself for you." So she's obviously living in fantasy land as well.It's a relationship built on nothing, come from nothing (Daniel clearly had no romantic interest in her when he was with Amber), and once more Daniel's gone after a girl with a boyfriend because he's decided she's The One. (Poor Plot Device Caspar, another in a long line of decent guys treated badly by Imogen, made all the worse by the fact he seemed to want to be friends with Daniel who just wanted to wreck his relationship.)Yet somehow everyone's acting like this is a great thing and anyone who dares point out what a mess the relationship is (eg Brad) gets browbeaten with the fact that they're Meant To Be.Even Amber basically apologises to Imogen for getting in their way.I was annoyed at Paul's reaction at first, but then I remembered he was accepting, if not enthusiastic, of Daniel and Amber's relationship until they started getting serious and wanting to move in together and get married, so I think it's less a case of him thinking Imogen's right for Daniel (he was quick to try and point Daniel elsewhere while Imogen had a boyfriend) and more a case of him being pleased that Daniel's having responsibility free sex rather than dealing with marriage and children.

I'd query Daniel apparently having just stopped caring about a child he was going to be a father to a few weeks ago, but half the time it's hard to tell if Josh and Amber care either. Josh just gets worse and worse, resorting to cyber stalking Amber and acting like he only does it because he cares.And the fact that Aaron saw nothing wrong with it was disturbing to say the least. I’m glad that Amber found out and told Josh to stay the hell away, but the way that she forgave him for selling illegal peptides after two episodes leaves me thinking he’ll worm his way back in quickly. (Another example of Neighbours’ insular morality: The company’s still out there, presumably putting more people in hospital like Kyle, but hey, Josh wasn’t arrested, that’s the important thing, right?) If Daniel and Imogen is viewed as a healthy relationship, I wouldn’t be surprised if we’re expected to think Josh and Amber should be together.

 

I’m not keen on Naomi being with Paul, she’s already turned into another woman convincing herself he’s a good man while her brother rots in jail for something Paul put him up to. I’m kind of interested in Toadie’s accident. I’m very interested in Russell, who seems like a decent man but Tyler’s fear of him is very believable and he’s not doing much to alleviate it, just expecting him to get over it. The Dimato storyline had a typically weak conclusion, with the guest characters dragged off in handcuffs while Tyler, Paige and especially Bailey get let away with their wrongdoing for no good reason. I’d like something to happen between Kyle and Amy, but only if the Georgia thing’s resolved first.

 

My sympathies have shifted to Terese now, who is increasingly the odd one out while Paige still seems to be stirring up trouble in her father’s marriage. Brad has become even more of a jerk, not helped by both Josh and Paige egging him on and acting like Terese is the one in the wrong. And Lauren just seems to have given up any pretence of not being interested in him and is flirting like him like there’s no tomorrow, as if she’s forgotten about Matt already.

[Homeandawayfan.]

I would not take Amber or the baby on if I thought I was the father and then found another man was the father. I would always have it in my head this baby is not mine even if I may bring the baby up. Being the blood father means everything to some men. So if Daniel did have any reservations about the fact he is not the real father, I could understand. Some men go to pieces if they are told they are not their child's real father, take the Jezza Kyle Show for example.

[Red Ranger 1]

I've lost a lot of respect for Daniel over this.It just feels like he makes things up as he goes along to justify his behaviour to himself.His reasons for breaking up with Amber were ridiculously vague, with a lot of "It's not working anymore" talk (ironically, most of it from Amber with Daniel trying to get things back on track).And now he's making big speeches about how he knew when the wedding was fouled up that he and Amber weren't going to work out but he didn't want to admit it, which is quite plainly not true.I'm glad that Amber is still keeping Josh at arms length and refusing to forgive him for his cyberstalking, despite Imogen and Paige wanting her to get over it.(Imogen is annoying me more and more: Amber tried to tell her something important about Terese not going to AA but Imogen brushes it off with "No! She's definitely going!" and Amber's left with a "Okay, if I try and tell you the truth you're not going to believe me and throw a tantrum so I'll just keep quiet" expression.)

On a similar note, I'm glad Amy remained cross with Paul for a bit over his stealing the letter and screwing about with Terese and Brad's marriage, even if she did end up forgiving him via an unlikely "He helped out at the yard for a bit so that makes it okay" Neighbours contrivance.Naomi, after seeming very deluded about Paul, suddenly seemed to grow a backbone when she told him she loves him but doesn't like him sometimes.I'm glad Toadie decided not to sue her though.

So looks like that's the end of Georgia, despite a mismatched episode where one minute Kyle seems to be going to wait a year for her and the next he seems to have ended the marriage.I was never a huge fan of them so don't mind that much but making out that Georgia regretted getting married pretty much straightaway feels like a complete retcon.

[CaptainHulk]

Am I evil for Cheering Tyler for Belting Russell? If so, I don't wanna be good. Not Tyler's biggest fan by any stretch (least favorite of the Brennans, TBF), his old man seems like a dickhead who was looking for someone smaller and weaker to take out his frustrations on as Mark and Mrs Brennan had long since gotten lost and knew Aaron would lay him out for the 10 count.

 

[Slade]

Very disappointed about the whole Georgia/Kyle thing.  It does make me wonder if the actress left so soon after they were married then why bother putting that into the storyline.

I'm extremely frustrated about this whole Brad/Lauren/Terese thing.  I'm quite disgusted with Brad and Lauren.  Brad has always been a waste of space as far as I'm concerned and given that he kissed Lauren before it was hardly surprising that he slept with her but I really expected better from Lauren, especially after how she was upon finding out about Matt and Sharon Canning.  Whilst I haven't always liked her I've always thought that she was a person with certain principles but this is not a case of the heat of the moment thing as far as she was concerned.  She made a concious decision to do the dirty with her friend's husband.  It  annoyed me that every time Brad and Terese had argument outside the front of their home Lauren just happened to be standing there in the background acting all innocent as if butter wouldn't melt.

Then there's that b*tch Paige, who I'm actually starting to hate.  It now really feels like she's won and succeeded in ruining someone's marriage.  Although it was unprofessional, I didn't blame Terese for stopping the order Lassiters had with Harolds.  And it really annoyed me the way Paige confronted Terese about it.  I often find Paige to be quite a confrontational person and part of me was hoping that Terese would have lamped her when she grabbed her arm.  As far as Paige is concerned Brad and Lauren can do no wrong.  Even Amber didn't agree with what they did.  I really hope Terese tells her that Lauren had feelings for Brad when Matt was still alive.

Whilst I generally find Imogen quite annoying I do like the way she has stood up for her mother.  Josh's attitude has been very disappointing and as far as I'm concerned mirrors how this whole thing has been portrayed i.e. Terese was treating Brad poorly (let's ignore the fact she has a drinking problem and should be supported) so she deserved to be cheated on by him and Lauren.  She should stop going on about it, deal with what's happened and get over it.  It feels like any time she tries to say anything she's being portrayed as unreasonable.

Whilst I'm no fan of Susan's, I do feel she's in a very difficult position and I thought she did well not to judge Lauren.  I actually don't think it was fair of Terese to ask her to take sides.  I will say though that perhaps it may be better if she and Brad do think about ending this marriage as this is not doing her any good.

I wasn't sure what to make of Paul telling her initially.  I do think he was trying to be a friend but it also felt like he wanted to get back at Brad because he doesn't like him.  Perhaps a better option would have been to confront Brad and Lauren and give them a time constraint to come clean.  Alternatively if he felt he didn't owe them anything then perhaps he could have told Terese face to face rather than emailing her the photos although there is the issue that she probably wouldn't have believed him.

I think when Brad and Lauren moved back to Ramsey street at the same time we always knew this would happen but I think the fallout would have been even better if Matt was still alive.

Naomi is absolutely right not to want to marry Paul.  His track record is hopeless.  She should just be honest and tell him.  Don't think he would finish with her because of that.

Mixed feelings about Russell leaving.  Whilst I think he clearly has a tendency to be quite an unpleasant person now that the truth is out about him beating Tyler when he was younger I would rather have him stick around to deal with his sons but if anything to pacify Sheila.  She has actually been OK as of late and with no object of desire she is going to go back to being completely unlikeable.

It was good to see Stonefish again.  Quite liked the stuff with him and Toadie.  Didn't really like Sonia's attitude towards him even if she did have a point.

I actually really liked Courtney so it's a shame she finished with Josh.  She was a good distraction from Amber and I actually enjoyed the interaction with Courtney and Amber this week giving Nate dating advice re Aaron.

That new kid who worked with Kyle was so annoying.  I hated his attitude when Amber was trying to give a talk in the classroom.  Just hope her baby is going to be alright.

 

[Red Ranger 1]

Any sympathy I had for Lauren a while back has gone out the window with her sleeping with Brad: There's just no excuse for it and it is more than a little frustrating that the show seems to be trying to portray Terese as unsympathetically as possible to hide the fact that she's the wronged party in this.Only Imogen seems to be on her side and she's so shrill that it's hard to agree with her on principle.Josh's attitude has been less than impressive, although that's pretty much him all over.I'm glad Amber was annoyed with Lauren, because that's a realistic reaction to have.

I must admit I did cheer when Tyler punched Russell but I was disappointed that the show suddenly turned Russell into more of an obvious antagonist in order to give the storyline a neat solution.Tyler's actually my favourite Brennan: Mark is dull and annoying with a tendency to be self-righteous, Aaron is all right most of the time but then he does something like encouraging Josh to go on stalking Amber and makes me dislike him.It was ironic that it was the scenes with Sheila that added a bit of much needed depth to the resolution of Russell's storyline and stopped it being too black and white, making it clear that he needs to face up to his problem and get counselling.

Nice as it was to see Stonie, it felt like a waste to have him just turn up for two episodes and then leave again.

[Slade]

I continue to remain extremely frustrated re the whole situation with Brad/Terese/Lauren. I accept that Terese probably should have taken up Paul's offer and moved into one of the apartments and her main motivation for staying was to punish Brad but to me this whole thing seems wrong on so many levels.  It's like because Brad and Lauren were this "golden" couple of the past we're meant to root for them now.  No chance.  It just annoys me how Lauren comes across with the sweet butter-wouldn't-melt act and we're meant to be OK with her stealing someone's husband and moving him into her love nest.  I actually really dislike her now.  In saying that I didn't like Harold's being trashed.  I don't believe Terese did it.  It just doesn't seem her style and I was glad Brad stuck up for her.  I seriously wanted to strangle Paige when she accused Terese of being the culprit and was glad Lauren called Paige out on her hypocrisy.  But instead she retorted with some lame excuse that it was OK for because it wasn't a grand opening when she trashed Harolds unlike Terese.  Really can't stand Paige and am hoping something bad happens to her.

One of things I dislike immensely about Susan is her judgemental self-righteous attitude in certain situations and the one time I wanted her to be like that i.e. to call Lauren out for what she was doing to Terese, she decided to remain "impartial" and support both of them.  I'm actually glad she'll be out of the job when Erinsborough High is bought.  I'm surprised how good Amber is being about this given that it hasn't been that long since Matt died.  I do think the pregnancy has something to do with it and she doesn't want any stress for her or the baby.  It's funny because out of the three witches (as I like to call them) she was the worst a while back but I actually think she's been OK as of late and can't really fault her for anything.  She's tried to be sympathetic to everyone.  Piper is a traitor as far as I'm concerned.  I don't care how much see wanted to see her dad she shouldn't have gone round to see him at Lauren's.  So as annoying as I find Imogen I was sort of on her side.  As an aside I found it really funny when Imogen and Daniel met the Judge Imogen was trying to impress for lunch and Imogen couldn't handle the fact that Daniel got on better with the Judge than she did.  Her childish strop afterwards was also amusing!

I'm actually glad Naomi and Paul are over.  It was OK while it lasted but they weren't right for each other.  I have to admit I did quite enjoy Paul planning the whole revenge thing on Josh for sleeping with Naomi but Paul once again showed the deeply unpleasant side of himself.  He was going to send Josh to jail just because of that.  The thing I don't understand is that Paul obviously cares about Terese and Daniel but he was more focused on revenge than the effect it would have had his friend and nephew's relationship.  I actually don't blame Daniel for moving out although I think he will be back.  Interesting how Naomi only thought Paul was vile after he launched a tirade against her when she finished with him for good.  I'm not to fussed she's gone actually although I did like the friendship with Imogen.

Despite the numerous previews at the end of the episodes that spoiled it and dragging it out for a week (Why couldn't they have just tried surprising us as viewers?), I've really, really enjoyed Stephs return.  It's been (certainly for me) a refreshing change from all the stuff with the Turner's and Willis's.  I really enjoyed the way she turned up, applied for the job at Lucas's garage and got on really well with Tyler.  I also enjoyed the scenes with Amy.  I enjoyed the stuff with Karl and really liked how sympathetic he was towards her.  I also really liked the interaction with Toadie.  The best part about that was Sonia's jealousy.  Whilst I don't dislike Sonia, as someone who often finds her annoying I took great pleasure at that and the fact that Steph has more of a bond with Toadie than she does.  I think I said this a while back and it's worth noting just how well Steph gets on with mainly male characters - Tyler, Toadie, Karl.  Amy seems more like one of the lads than the girls.  Despite the fact that Steph stole his baby even Lucas is prepared to give her another go (Really good to see him and Vanessa again BTW).  I really hope she sticks around longer this time and am looking forward to seeing what they decide to do with her character.