Belle Taylor - Jessica Tovey

[chelsjo]

Then there was the cheating on Angelo.Okay, Aden was the one that pressured her into sleeping with him and emotionally blackmailed her into keeping it going

Maybe I missed some episode/scene but how/when did Aden emotionally blackmail Belle into keeping their ralationship going alongiside her relationship with Angelo?

Um yeah what are you talking about it, RedRanger1? That never happened.

[Jody]

Maybe I missed some episode/scene but how/when did Aden emotionally blackmail Belle into keeping their ralationship going alongiside her relationship with Angelo?

You didn't miss anything. He didn't. He was the one who was always saying how much he hated all the lying and then ended it because he didn't want to keep sneaking around.

[valli]

It is interesting how people can look at the same things and see them very differently. A bit like that old story about the road accident witnesses viewing from different street corners.

I think you hit the nail on the head here. It's all about whether you like them/it or not.

Sometimes I feel like we're all watching different shows. The people who posted above me couldn't see the blackmailing Red Ranger accused him of, while I can see it perfectly. Belle was vulnerable and confused and Aden took advantage of that. She wasn't sure what to do; she needed Angelo for the investegation of the development site, but at the same time, she loved another man. She walks into her room and Aden practically ambushes her with the "You know you feel the same way. You know this is right". Of course she isn't going to turn him down when he puts it like that. If he'd said "I think you feel the same way. I think this is right" it would have another situation completely. When a person is already confused about her feelings towards a person, if this person then shows up and in a very clever way convinces her that he's the one for her, then she's going to agree, failing to see what he's doing to her. I call that emotional blackmail

[cicerid]

It is interesting how people can look at the same things and see them very differently. A bit like that old story about the road accident witnesses viewing from different street corners.

I think you hit the nail on the head here. It's all about whether you like them/it or not.

Sometimes I feel like we're all watching different shows. The people who posted above me couldn't see the blackmailing Red Ranger accused him of, while I can see it perfectly. Belle was vulnerable and confused and Aden took advantage of that. She wasn't sure what to do; she needed Angelo for the investegation of the development site, but at the same time, she loved another man. She walks into her room and Aden practically ambushes her with the "You know you feel the same way. You know this is right". Of course she isn't going to turn him down when he puts it like that. If he'd said "I think you feel the same way. I think this is right" it would have another situation completely. When a person is already confused about her feelings towards a person, if this person then shows up and in a very clever way convinces her that he's the one for her, then she's going to agree, failing to see what he's doing to her. I call that emotional blackmail

This is the bit where Aden pressurizes Belle into sleeping with him the day they get back together. I don't see where the blackmailing her into keeping it going comes into action. As stated above, Aden asks Belle to come clean from day one.

Anyway, you are right, it's all about whether we like the characters or not. When we do like them a lot, it's very hard to find them at fault and easier to find acceptable reasons why they act in a certain way. For instance to me, Aden did not pressurize Belle, he simply made her see sense so that she would stop all the innuendos between them and not waste any more time with the wrong man

[valli]

Yeah, it's difficult to find flaws in a character/pairing that you really like. It's much easier to find them if you don't like a character/pairing. It's like, if you look for flaws, you're always going to find at least one...

Anyway, Aden did ask her to come clean, maybe not from the start, but anyway. I see that as him making sure that she'll be the one who looks stupid if it ever came out. I mean, if he thought that it was so terrible to sneak around, why did he make her sleep with him in the first place or why didn't he end it straight away? Or why didn't he just tell Angelo? To me, it seemed more like he was protecting his own butt with his actions. Of course, I don't like him and never have, so it's easy for me to find the bad sides Anyway, this is the Belle thread, not the Aden one.

I don't like Aden and I just think it's too bad that he's dragging Belle down with him. She had so much potential *sighs*

[cicerid]

Yeah, it's difficult to find flaws in a character/pairing that you really like. It's much easier to find them if you don't like a character/pairing. It's like, if you look for flaws, you're always going to find at least one...

Anyway, Aden did ask her to come clean, maybe not from the start, but anyway. I see that as him making sure that she'll be the one who looks stupid if it ever came out. I mean, if he thought that it was so terrible to sneak around, why did he make her sleep with him in the first place or why didn't he end it straight away? Or why didn't he just tell Angelo? To me, it seemed more like he was protecting his own butt with his actions. Of course, I don't like him and never have, so it's easy for me to find the bad sides Anyway, this is the Belle thread, not the Aden one.

I don't like Aden and I just think it's too bad that he's dragging Belle down with him. She had so much potential *sighs*

Let's just agree to disagree then! Anyway, judging by your avatar we seem to agree on at least one character: I love Jack, always have and always will

[Red Ranger 1]

Now I actually think this is unfair because as you’ve already stated Tony already knew and Geoff even admitted to him earlier on in the episode that he was a witness. He actually could have stepped in and stopped him. Had he done so then perhaps Axel might not have needed to go to hospital. Yes I know he sought him out in the Den and he was angry about what he did to Melody but he had enough presence of mind to admit to Tony afterwards that it was wrong for him to just sit back and observe from the sidelines. Moreover he is supposed to be a devout Christian. Very Christian behaviour, don’t you think? Also based on what you said do you not think that both of them had a duty to go to the police (as they both tried to convince Melody to do the same thing regarding the incident with Axel in the same episode)? Failing that perhaps they should have at least alerted Roman to the fact. Furthermore earlier on in the episode, Nicole overheard Aden admit to Belle that he beat Axel up and she used his trust (of her keeping quiet) as an excuse to arrange a date with him. So you could argue in her own way she was just as bad.

Finally Belle was the one who found Axel and practically dragged him to the hospital by herself (although I’d assume it must be pretty close because Jai took Annie there a while back). So she can’t be all bad.

I agree, Belle wasn't the only one at fault.No-one involved behaved particularly responsibly.Geoff, understandably, was more concerned about Melody.Nicole...is Nicole frankly and, certainly at that point, I didn't expect any better of her.The people I was most disappointed in were Tony and Belle. Tony's response to the situation was to give Aden a lecture that he blatantly ignored but not bother to tell Roman or the police.As someone pointed out on another thread(and as someone else just pointed out), he went to see Melody to try and get her to press charges but didn't seem interested in getting Axel to press charges even though what Aden did was just as bad in my opinion.

However, Belle was the only person, except maybe Nicole, who actually "forgave" him for what happened.For those who aren't quite on top of the storyline, Annie tells Geoff what happened to Melody and he goes to the Den and tries to attack Axel in front of Aden and Belle, who break things up.Oddly, even though he sticks up for him when Geoff's there, even at that point Aden seems to assume Axel's in the wrong.Later, Annie arrives and tells Aden and Belle what happened.Belle decides to go and find Geoff to stop him doing something stupid but Aden seems more interested in finding Axel.Belle then finds Axel badly beaten and barely conscious on the beach and takes him to hospital(where he refuses to tell the police what happened).Clearly shaken, Belle goes home and tells Annie what happened and when Geoff arrives he neither confirms nor denies being responsible.Belle then realises there's a more likely candidate and goes to confront Aden, who isn't sorry about what he did but is worried that if Roman finds out he'll throw him out.(Which seems a bit odd, especially in retrospect when Aden did a lot worse and Roman didn't seem to particularly care.)Nicole overhears the conversation and promises to keep quiet.Later, at the Den, Belle tells Aden she won't tell anyone.Tony turns up and tries to impress on Aden that he did the wrong thing(having found out what happened when Geoff admitted he saw Aden attacking Axel and did nothing, which he at least had the decency to feel bad about)but Aden just stood there looking smug and Tony gave up and left.Belle was angry and stormed out.Aden follows her and says "Axel's scum.He deserved it.Trust me, I know."And Belle basically just accepts it. Then he starts flirting with her and, I believe for the first time, she doesn't seem to mind.Which seems like a very strange reaction.

Then there was the cheating on Angelo.Okay, Aden was the one that pressured her into sleeping with him and emotionally blackmailed her into keeping it going

Maybe I missed some episode/scene but how/when did Aden emotionally blackmail Belle into keeping their ralationship going alongiside her relationship with Angelo?

Sorry, I missed out on this discussion.I was referring to the scene at the end of the "reunion episode" where Aden and Belle are down on the pier.Aden tries to put his arm round her and Belle shakes him off, saying she doesn't feel comfortable getting cosey with him while Angelo's in hospital.Then Aden says(and this probably isn't an exact quote but this is the gist of it)"I'm trying to get better.If I don't have you, I won't be able to manage it."Which is a bit pretty extreme guilt trip and seems to be putting an awful lot of pressure on her on at least two levels.

[LAURZY!]

He didnt say that to her, i just re watched it and he said (i'm not writing out the whole quote) that he's changed and other stuff like that, and wants to know if she's with him or not, it's just a simple question! i dont think it puts pressure on her at all

I love how people see the characters differently, i cant see how Aden was emotionally blackmailing her at all, but others can. To me thats a sign of a great character. Because if you think about it, there are poeple posting on here who seem to really dislike Belle, but their still taking the time to post about her, she's getting a reaction out of people and whether it's bad or good, at least she's not boring like some of the other characters!!

Edited January 1, 2009 by LAURZY!

[cicerid]

Sorry, I missed out on this discussion.I was referring to the scene at the end of the "reunion episode" where Aden and Belle are down on the pier.Aden tries to put his arm round her and Belle shakes him off, saying she doesn't feel comfortable getting cosey with him while Angelo's in hospital.Then Aden says(and this probably isn't an exact quote but this is the gist of it)"I'm trying to get better.If I don't have you, I won't be able to manage it."Which is a bit pretty extreme guilt trip and seems to be putting an awful lot of pressure on her on at least two levels.

This is another typical example of how differently people can perceive characters and their actions. Aden tries to hug Belle after she admits to him that she tried to love Angelo but could not, because she never stopped loving Aden. When Aden then says he needs to know if Belle is with him or not, I see it as him saying no more games, I need to know that we are now actually together (no one can deny Belle had been giving mixed signals, saying she had chosen Angelo but always looking for an opportunity to be with Aden).

Anyway, we all so need new storylines so we can have new scenes to debate about! Bring on 2009!

[Red Ranger 1]

On a completely different subject, I noticed an earlier post where someone said Ric and Belle were like Geoff and Melody.Which I find interesting because I'd actually been thinking they were like Geoff and Nicole.Belle was someone who seemed to have been a bit rebellious and just hung around with whoever showed an interest, whether she liked them or not.Then she found herself going out with someone who was actually a decent guy and liked her as a person and it seemed to surprise her, as though she wasn't used to being treated with respect.I think it probably helped her grow up a bit.