Melody Jones - Celeste Dodwell

[Red Ranger 1]

Some interesting points being made here and I'm agreeing with a lot of it.I genuinely don't understand this whole Melody hating which seemed to spring up the moment she appeared and has built up more and more momentum.She did seem a bit judgemental when she first appeared but that was down to her mother's influence and she quickly seemed to realise her mistake once people sat down and explained it to her.Aden was a lot worse for a lot longer yet somehow he can do no wrong.Nicole I've actually always quite liked which may have something to do with her appearance but I think it's because they made sure that whenever she stepped out of line she always paid for it.

Melody on the other hand doesn't seem to be able to do anything right.She tries to see her boyfriend after her mother orders them to split up and she's accused of being selfish and not caring about him.A boy tries to force himself on her and she's accused of overreacting and unfairly turning the town against him.(Whereas Aden's allowed to use him as a punchbag because...he's Aden.)She breaks off ties with the mother that treated her in an abusive fashion and she's criticised for not being fair towards her.Even when she feels guilt over the death of someone she didn't like, she's accused of being self-centred and making it all about her.And now that she really has gone off the rails, there seems to be a whole queue of people waiting to go "See?We told you.She's nasty."

The whole thing about not making allowances for anyone else's past is nonsense.As has been pointed out, Aden used his past as a legal defence for actions that were blatantly criminal.I know it's a little thing but last year Don Fisher tried to give Annie a detention for not doing her homework and Sally overruled him because of her home situation.And the reason Aden hated Geoff in the first place was Tony was giving him preferential treatment because of his background, picking him when he kept turning up to training late or not at all.

Having said that, I'm not too keen on this whole rebellion storyline.It seems to be the result of the same logic as Aden's breakdown:use the most extreme and overly dramatic way of showing that a character has problems.I'm hoping there's going to be a decent pay off and going from the rumours I've heard it does look as though the end's in sight.

[John]

I think this discussion misses a whole lot of points. Melody at the moment is a thoroughly unlikeable character. I don't like her at all. However what is our reaction to that? Do we hound her off the show? It seems to me that if we consistently did that we'd end up with a whole lot of nice, bland characters who were horribly boring. Also where does compassion come into all this? Do we want to watch unlikeable characters turn their lives around by interraction with other caring charcters in the show who sometimes are prepared to sacrifice their own feelings and egos for somebody they don't like but who needs their help. I think that has the potential to be good drama. "Ducks for cover"

[Jody]

This topic is such a pleasure to read. It's good to see other people who find Melody interesting and understand that there is more to her than just some selfish brat. I find Melodys problems to be so much more realistic than some of the other dozen teenagers rebelling storylines HAA as done in the past.

I agree with most of the people who have pointed out how badly Miles is handling this situation. He seems more wrapped up in his relationship with Kirsty than in helping Melody. He seriously needs to wake up and take notice of what hapenning in her life. This is really making me dislike Miles.

As for the writers I think they are not doing a good enough job with this storyline. I don't get how they could have done such an amazing job handling the Aden storyline yet they handling this one so terribly. Instead of having Miles play a bigger role it's as if they've just handed it over to the teenagers.

Another thing thats annoying me about this is the fact they seem hellbent on making Nicole into this saint while completely ruining Melody. I get that Nicole is going to become involved in this storyline because of Melodys obssession with Geoff but somteimes it seems to be coming of as this storyline is more about the troubles it's causing the Geoff/Nicole relationship than about Melodys struggles. I wish we would start getting more scenes of Melody herself dealing with whats going then Nicole groaning about about how frustrated she is with everything(with good reason but still) and how Geoff is still completely oblivious to everything as usual.

Alot of people were saying about how she trying to be rebellious is laughable. And that her flirting is cringeworthy and so is her outfits. About this in my opinion I think we are meant to feel that way. You can't expect a girl who just months ago had her first kiss and before that probably never spent time alone with a boy or got to hang out with other kids her age much to suddenly be an expert on flirting and dressing up. I hate storylines where they have an innocent girl rebel and shes suddenly doing it like a pro. It's not realistic at all. I like that they are making her terrible at it. It kinda shows how sheltered she was that she doesn't even know how to act out properly without looking stupid and embrassing herself.

My hope for this storyline is that they start focusing more on Melody and her problems and get Miles more involved in her life.

Edited December 18, 2008 by Jody

[mokhashin]

Nicole I've actually always quite liked which may have something to do with her appearance but I think it's because they made sure that whenever she stepped out of line she always paid for it.

This is one of the reasons I like Nicole a lot. She has been rebellious, she's been bad, she's done all wrong at times, but there hasn't been one time she hasn't been caught, and paid for her actions.

Melody on the other hand doesn't seem to be able to do anything right.She tries to see her boyfriend after her mother orders them to split up and she's accused of being selfish and not caring about him.A boy tries to force himself on her and she's accused of overreacting and unfairly turning the town against him.(Whereas Aden's allowed to use him as a punchbag because...he's Aden.)She breaks off ties with the mother that treated her in an abusive fashion and she's criticised for not being fair towards her.Even when she feels guilt over the death of someone she didn't like, she's accused of being self-centred and making it all about her.And now that she really has gone off the rails, there seems to be a whole queue of people waiting to go "See?We told you.She's nasty."

I have to agree with this part, what ever Melody does, it seems to be the wrong thing, whatever it is. But I think there is one reason behind this. IMO Melody doesn't seem very nice. Whereas Nicole and Aiden tend to have the nice bone in them, they just try to hide it. They seemed remorseful at times, and caring, even in their worst acts. But still I have not seen this in Melody. I think part of her upbringing force her to be selfish, and in need of a lot of support from others, but still, I have missed any KIND actions from her.

The whole thing about not making allowances for anyone else's past is nonsense.As has been pointed out, Aden used his past as a legal defence for actions that were blatantly criminal.I know it's a little thing but last year Don Fisher tried to give Annie a detention for not doing her homework and Sally overruled him because of her home situation.And the reason Aden hated Geoff in the first place was Tony was giving him preferential treatment because of his background, picking him when he kept turning up to training late or not at all.

Yes, I think everyone has used their past as an excuse for some of their actions, BUT there is a limit to it. This storyline ha gone on too long, I would have loved to see some change already. Some developement in her character, please.

Having said that, I'm not too keen on this whole rebellion storyline.It seems to be the result of the same logic as Aden's breakdown:use the most extreme and overly dramatic way of showing that a character has problems.I'm hoping there's going to be a decent pay off and going from the rumours I've heard it does look as though the end's in sight.

They seem to drag this Melody needing Geoff thing on too long. I'd love to see her character interacting with other people than Geoff and Nicole. Miles is supposed to be taking care of her now, and they are hardly ever in the same scenes together. I used to love the foster housing before, when the adults were interacting with the youth they were responsible for, but Miles is only in scenes with Roman and Kirsty. IMO Melody's character has had a lot of potential, but they have wasted some of it, and now she has just become a smileless boring third wheel.. BUT having said that, she seems to be a train wreck a sort of, atm, don't want to watch, afraid of the disaster which will happen with her, but can't look away either..

[Lise]

Melody is one of the more interesting characters at the moment IMHO. I can understand why she's acting the way she is. She does just seem like a very confused young lady. For her whole life her mother controlled EVERY aspect of her life and she finally escapes her clutches and doesn't know how to handle her self. She seems to lack common sense because she's never needed any.

I agree, that Miles seems to more wrapped in Kirsty than looking after the children in his care.

Celeste is doing an amazing job. She does train wreck brilliantly.

[Red Ranger 1]

I have to agree with this part, what ever Melody does, it seems to be the wrong thing, whatever it is. But I think there is one reason behind this. IMO Melody doesn't seem very nice. Whereas Nicole and Aiden tend to have the nice bone in them, they just try to hide it. They seemed remorseful at times, and caring, even in their worst acts. But still I have not seen this in Melody. I think part of her upbringing force her to be selfish, and in need of a lot of support from others, but still, I have missed any KIND actions from her.

I'd live to be able to refute this but I'm having a hard time doing so.Aden and Nicole do clearly have good in them.(Although I'd defy anyone to say they watched Aden last year and thought "I'm sure he's a nice guy underneath it all"-and he's never really expressed any guilt over the way he treated people back then.)Melody I always found to be essentially pleasant and good-natured when she was first in it, but I agree, apart from coming to Geoff's defence when Annie was declaring all-out war on him for humiliating her as I mentioned earlier, it's hard to think of an example of her being kind to others. Although opportunities for her to do so have been few and far between, usually she's the one in need of help.I did, however, think she was remarkably forgiving of her mother, telling her she loved her and urging her to get help even though she'd just tried to kidnap her.

[grumble bum]

Melody needs to wake up to her self. There are people around her who care about her, but she wont let people in. Miles is unfit to look after her. He is to busy trying to please Kirsty. Melody needs to take some responsibility for what happened in the final episode. Grow up abit and see that people are only trying to help you.

[Adelle2008]

I think the only reason Mel still likes Geoff and wants him to be her boyfriend is cuz when she was with him everything was going well in her life. She was happy. She thinks if she's with Geoff everything will be alright and she will be happy again. Mel you need to find happiness in life but you cant relie on Geoff to make you happy!! She really is going down a dangerous path...poor girl you need some guidance!!

[Laura]

I do, like a lot of people, find Melody very annoying. But what we have to remember is that she has been through a lot these past few months which is why she is the way she is. She isn't selfish or anything shes just unhappy. I don't agree with what people are saying about that she was happy with Geoff and thats why she wants to be with him. She may have been at first but then afterwards her mum got involved and she wasnt allowed to see him and thats where all the problems started with her mum then with Axel. I think she will soon be back to how she was when she first arrived just like they do with all characters. None of them stay really bad.

[Jody]

I've been wondering about Melody's character recently, and where they could go with her. All I can hope is that when she is done being villianised, while I do like her acting out storyline, I'm not enjoying them using it to give Geoff and Nicole something to do, we will get to see some of the old Melody back. While I've enjoyed watching her recently I still miss the girl she used to be. And I would also like to see her become closer to Ruby and Annie. I think they could make a nice little group of friends.

Edited January 8, 2009 by Jody