Aden Jefferies - Todd Lasance

[Red Ranger 1]

^I've said this so many times people are probably sick of hearing it but I absolutely hated the way they dealt with the aftermath of that incident.There seemed to be no real consequences to Aden's actions.He spent about two weeks in a voluntary mental health clinic(which, for all the talk of "breakdowns" and "not responsible for his actions", suggests there wasn't really anything wrong with him).The court case was farcical, people's reactions to what he'd done non-existent and his supposedly momentous public revelation of his abuse was never mentioned again.

What's more Aden never made any real attempt to make reparation for what he'd done.His way of dealing with it seemed to be to forget all about it(which seemed to be what the viewer was being encouraged to do).He made very basic apologies to Belle and Rachel:When Rachel was reluctant to immediately be friends again, he got uncomfortable and made a hasty exit and he went back to using Belle as a verbal punchbag pretty quickly.He never even attempted to apologise to his father, he practically had to be forced into the same room as him and again he left as soon as it got uncomfortable.In fact after the court case he actually said he wouldn't have been able to say what he did if his dad was there, suggesting he still feels anger and resentment towards him.

No matter how much the writers try to convince me he's a nice guy these days, and how many "pat the dog" moments they gave him with Melody, I have a hard time just forgetting that he basically got away with attempted murder.

[doola]

^OK, so I couldn't resist coming on to argue some of your points Red Ranger!

Firstly, I do agree with some of your points. The length of Aden's stay in the clinic was ridiculously short, and totally unrealistic in todays world (day releases as well!!). However, TV shows have to have some sort of artistic license, & they can't portray EVERY facet of a story realistically, or in a realistic timeframe (Kane's release from prison, for example! ), so I think viewers just have to accept these types of things, and let it go.

About his reparation for his actions. What exactly else would you have him do apart from apologising?

His apology to Belle was heartfelt and sincere, and that scene is one of my all time favourite scenes between Adelle. He accepted without question Rachel's reluctance to become friends straight away. I also think its a natural enough reaction to be uncomfortable & embarrassed when someone refuses an apology, so I don't blame Aden for beating a hasty retreat at that point, and not attempt to push the issue.

As regards Larry, I like the fact that his issues remain unresolved. (And I live in hope that we will see Larry again at some point). For someone with Aden's history, its entirely realistic that he still has confused feelings towards his dad - showcased by the fact that as much as he wanted to tell Larry in the hospital he loved him, he couldn't. Maybe Aden still does have anger and resentment towards Larry as you said, I don't blame him for that.

Finally, the guy had a complete mental breakdown so, yes, he got found not guilty. A correct judgement in my opinion. What he needed at the time was help to deal with his problems, not to be thrown in jail.

[Red Ranger 1]

^OK, so I couldn't resist coming on to argue some of your points Red Ranger!

Firstly, I do agree with some of your points. The length of Aden's stay in the clinic was ridiculously short, and totally unrealistic in todays world (day releases as well!!). However, TV shows have to have some sort of artistic license, & they can't portray EVERY facet of a story realistically, or in a realistic timeframe (Kane's release from prison, for example! ), so I think viewers just have to accept these types of things, and let it go.

About his reparation for his actions. What exactly else would you have him do apart from apologising?

His apology to Belle was heartfelt and sincere, and that scene is one of my all time favourite scenes between Adelle. He accepted without question Rachel's reluctance to become friends straight away. I also think its a natural enough reaction to be uncomfortable & embarrassed when someone refuses an apology, so I don't blame Aden for beating a hasty retreat at that point, and not attempt to push the issue.

As regards Larry, I like the fact that his issues remain unresolved. (And I live in hope that we will see Larry again at some point). For someone with Aden's history, its entirely realistic that he still has confused feelings towards his dad - showcased by the fact that as much as he wanted to tell Larry in the hospital he loved him, he couldn't. Maybe Aden still does have anger and resentment towards Larry as you said, I don't blame him for that.

Finally, the guy had a complete mental breakdown so, yes, he got found not guilty. A correct judgement in my opinion. What he needed at the time was help to deal with his problems, not to be thrown in jail.

Hey there, doola.Yeah, I'm going to try and argue some points.I've written essays about Aden's guilt or innocence but surely if he had had a "complete mental breakdown" then he wouldn't have stood trial in the first place, he'd have been judged unfit to plead.And to my mind, his actions were entirely consistent with his normal attitudes and personality and he knew exactly what he was doing.

Anyway, my main problem is that I don't think Aden ever really faced up to what he'd done.I really think he doesn't want to think about what he put Rachel and Belle through.That was why he left when Rachel was reluctant to be friends with him again(she didn't refuse his apology), because he didn't want to think about the fact he had a right to do so.And that's why, despite the apology, he started treating Belle like the enemy, abusing her over her relationship with Angelo and criticising her for giving evidence, because he didn't want to face up to what he'd done to her.Although he did eventually say that he understood he'd put her through a lot, after they reunited, that was when she'd already admitted she still loved him, so he knew it was safe to do so because she wasn't blaming him.

As for his attitude towards Larry, I'm not really sure how sorry he feels about what he did.He accepted that what he did was wrong and that Larry didn't deserve to die but that was as far as it went.At the trial, he said that he couldn't feel any sympathy for Larry over him being abused because of what it meant for him, which is probably how he still thinks.I actually think he's holding onto that anger and resentment as a sort of crutch, believing that he was justified in his treatment of him.That was why he couldn't handle seeing Larry at the hospital, because he needed to be able to feel bitter about him, which he clearly did during their conversation.A Larry who was genuinely sorry, and whose apology seemed to me a lot more heartfelt than either of Aden's, was something he couldn't handle because it meant he was wrong to treat him the way he did.And that was why he couldn't tell him he loved him, because that would mean admitting he'd been wrong to hate him.(It's interesting that his counsellor actually suggested that there was nothing wrong with hating Larry for what he did, he just didn't deserve to die for it.)

But then I think about things way too much.

[rachel&kim]

I agree Red Ranger, I never really bought into the 'complete mental breakdown' argument because he maintained afterwards, calmly, to his doctor that his father deserved what he was getting. It was only after councilling that he admitted that what he'd been trying to do was wrong. So the fact is in court, when he was pleading not-guilty, he still believed that he'd been doing the right thing. And that never really sat right with me.

Nor did the seemingly immediate re-acceptance of Aden into the bay. We didnt see anyone's reactions to the whole saga excepting Belle and Rachel. And even more than that, people that before wouldnt have given him the time of day (Irene, Alf, Geoff etc) suddenly seemed to believe that he was a good guy and forgot all about his trouble making of the past.

It's not that I think he deserved to be a social outcast, it's that they spent so long concentrating on the, albeit very well done, build up that they seemed to let it go afterwards.

But that seems to be the pattern with this show sometimes, with the Rachel/Kim break up they built up to it beautifully and completely dropped it after Kim left. The same with Martha's cancer, they seem to have completely let that go recently, there hasn't really been a mention of it in weeks, but that's for another thread.

Edited March 12, 2009 by rachel&kim

[Slade]

I second that and to rub salt in the wound one thing that STILL bothers me is the whole incident regarding Axel, where let’s face it he basically got away with GBH. The worst thing for me is not so much what he did but the fact that he didn’t show any remorse. And going back to the clinic when he went after Melodies dad and tried to reassure him he was no harm to her, he was actually bragging about putting him in hospital. So as I said before till this day - completely unrepentant and I don’t think he’s ever going to express any regret over that either. To compound matters further I still find it hard to believe that neither Tony nor Geoff informed the police or at the very least told Roman (Nicole and Belle fancied him so I wasn’t expecting either of them to say anything).

I too wasn’t convinced after the court case however over the last month or so I have definitely seen a change in character to the point where I didn’t think I would say this but I think I actually like him now. Well almost. And the reason is because I feel he hasn’t really put a foot wrong (bar when he very stupidly gave Belle the pills but he was trying to help her) and has just been trying to keep his head down and get on with things. And the fact that he turned down the opportunity to go to uni so he could stay and look after Belle does show some degree of selflessness. He has also tried to look out for Melody and Joey.

Regarding Larry I would also like to see him return as I still feel that remains unresolved and I suppose there needs to be some kind of closure.

We all know that Aden’s behaved pretty reprehensibly but there’s nothing anybody can do to really change that and I think the important thing is that he doesn’t repeat his past acts. I think it is unlikely that we will see a reoccurrence regarding the whole mess with Larry but I’m still not so sure about the Axel incident, because I feel given the right circumstances there is a possibility that he could relapse.

[Red Ranger 1]

I liked Aden a bit when he was first living with Roman and seemed to be change but after the way he behaved during the Axel incident I just accepted I wasn't going to like him.I'll put up with him if he behaves himself but that's as far as it goes.I think possibly his biggest problem is that he's almost incapable of admitting or accepting when he's done wrong.Which is why he's never apologised to Geoff or Angelo for the way he treated them, why to this day he thinks there's nothing wrong with what he did to Axel and why he needed a counsellor to point out that no matter how bad a parent something is you don't go around trying to give them a lethal injection and why he was able to stand up in court and go "I know I shouldn't have done it but he let me be abused so I had a good reason."

With regards to reparations, as a result of her spending her wedding day tied up in a shed watching a man experience liver failure, Rachel and Tony were left with an awful lot of costs for a wedding that never happened.So if Aden really did want to make it up to her, instead of expecting(or at least hoping) that she'd just go back to liking him after an obligatory apology, he could have offered to reimburse them, seeing as how it was basically his fault.

(And I notice someone's fixed that header...)

[KirstyEkua]

I think Todd is a great actor and has done amazingly well with the abuse storyline he had. I like Aden and think he's grown up a lot with everything that's happened to him and he's becoming a decent, likeable guy.

I have to agree with what people have been saying about the aftermath of the abuse storyline. What happened to him was horrific, but yet all it seemed to take was a few weeks in an institution and he was fine and accepted back into the community with open arms. It was like the whole incident with Rachel and Belle had been forgotten about.

I actually liked his apology to Rachel - it wouldn't have been easy for him to do that and i think he left so quickly for her sake, i can't imagine she actually felt comfortable around him. But there should have been some sort of scene between him and Tony. I doubt he would have been Tony's favourite person and i'm sure Tony probably felt a lot of anger towards him. But it was all pretty much ignored and Aden just walked around like nothing had happened.

[grumble bum]

I liked Aden last night. The look on his face when he thought that some one had hit on Belle. Nicole telling Aden that she was hit on by a girl. Priceless.

Aden is much better on his own without Belle. I can tolerate him better. Belle seems to hog the spot light when there together.

Aden without Belle. YES.

[adellejefferiesxox]

Hey thanks to the person who changed Aden's last name to the correct spelling Yes I loved the bit when Aden thought someone had hit on Belle, hmmm what would he do if he found out some guy really did hit on her! I loved his face when he heard a "girl" had hit on Nicole.

[~Zoe~]

Yeah, thanks to whoever corrected Adens last name I liked Thursdays episode aswell, when Nicole told Aden she'd been hit on by a girl - ha his reaction was funny