Gina Austin - Sonia Todd

[Jamey-Maria]

The problem doesn't lie with her 'mothering' abilities with all children/teenagers, if it did she wouldn't be as good of a principal as she is. She has so much guilt over Xaver, Brendan and Hugo that she over compensates with work and other children like Mink and Romeo. Whether it's intentional or just luck on the writers part it works very well imo.

[Red Ranger 1]

Frankly, I think there is a kind of lack of ability there or at least a lack of judgement.It seems to me as though she put all her effort into Brendan, partly out of love but at least partly to prove a point. Her whole speech to Martha about putting Brendan in a community house felt to me as though it was less about what was best for him but more about what made her look good, that she was playing the martyr and felt that if she didn't give up her life to look after him and relied on the professional instead people would think she was an uncaring mother.Ironically, it just made her look like an uncaring mother.As a result of all that, she badly neglected her other two sons.She expected Hugo to spend all his time helping her with Brendan and, when he took off instead, she pretty much forgot about him and didn't have any idea what he was getting up to.Then she did exactly the same with Xavier.I think there's good intention on her part but I have a hard time seeming her as a person with any real mothering skills.

Maybe I'm harsh on her but frankly I've never got past that moment in her first episode where Xavier asks her if she's proud of Brendan and her response suggests she isn't.

EDIT: Sorry, went a bit over the top there.Feels guilty about her own children so overcompensates with others.Okay.Well, her abilities as a teacher and principal feel a bit unproven to me since we've seen little if any interaction between her and the students so I'll leave that for now.The stuff with Romeo I didn't have a problem with, call it overcompensation or whatever, it was simply a matter of helping him realise what he wanted to do and giving him the means to do it and it played out over a sufficient timescale.But Mink?Okay, you can argue that she wanted to help her for whatever reason.But on the same day that she decides to help her, in one five minute conversation, she transforms her for a ticking time bomb into a happy and productive member of society?I'm sorry but that's supermum territory and is pretty difficult to reconcile with her making a mess of things with her own children both before and after.Which leads me to think that someone on the show actually thinks that Gina is the "earth mother" that some of the audience kept insisting she was.

Edited June 1, 2010 by Red Ranger 1

[superman's girlfriend]

I'm guessing it's always eassier with strangers kids than your own

I reckon the apple didn't fall far from the tree in Hugo's case cause before this whole mystery got unwrapped we could actually concentrate on more lifereflecting storylines. Like the days Hugo didn't know how to handle Brendan, like Gina's still often is treating people.

She said she saw a lot from her in Mink but that it was only a shield, John must really like that shield a lot cause they started off with her wildsurfingdays same taste of music but still.. from time to time she opens up to him, but still not perfect ... !

[Foxy]

But Mink?Okay, you can argue that she wanted to help her for whatever reason.But on the same day that she decides to help her, in one five minute conversation, she transforms her for a ticking time bomb into a happy and productive member of society?

I do understand what you're saying here, but it was more than one five minute conversation - Gina and Mink had several scenes in which Gina tried to get through to her. On all occasions she failed, so I think the change in Mink was more down to herself letting somebody in as opposed necesarily to what Gina was actually saying. Gina wasn't saying anything that Mink probably hadn't heard before, but it was Mink choice to finally allow herself to listen, rather than any super-mum words from Gina.

[Red Ranger 1]

But Mink?Okay, you can argue that she wanted to help her for whatever reason.But on the same day that she decides to help her, in one five minute conversation, she transforms her for a ticking time bomb into a happy and productive member of society?

I do understand what you're saying here, but it was more than one five minute conversation - Gina and Mink had several scenes in which Gina tried to get through to her. On all occasions she failed, so I think the change in Mink was more down to herself letting somebody in as opposed necesarily to what Gina was actually saying. Gina wasn't saying anything that Mink probably hadn't heard before, but it was Mink choice to finally allow herself to listen, rather than any super-mum words from Gina.

I understand your point of view but that's really not how it came across to me.It seemed more like they were trying to make out that it was all down to Gina:Even recently, we had Romeo telling Jill about how much she'd helped Mink.Fair enough, they'd had scenes together before but they were mainly characterised by mutual disrespect rather than Gina actually making more than a token attempt to get through to her.Up until that episode, when she found out about Mink being innocent, Gina was pretty dismissive of her and just seemed to see her as someone that was dragging Romeo down.Yes, they had one or two scenes together earlier in that episode and it is just about possible there was a cumulative effect in there.But Gina gives Mink a patronising lecture and instead of laughing in her face she breaks down in tears and promises to be a good girl from now on?If that really is just a case of Gina being in the right place at the right time, rather than actually doing anything useful, then that just proves that she was completely the wrong person to have in that scene and they should have used someone who genuinely has a rapport with teenagers, like Miles or Irene, rather than someone completely random like Gina.

[j.laur5]

I really don't get all the Gina dislike as I think she is the best new character in the last four years.

Red Ranger, I think you are being hard on Gina because first off all Gina was dead set against Brendan moving into the home and it was only until she realised how happy he would be there.

I think she did a good job towards Mink and I think it's good how Gina showed her tough love a bit more as I think it works, like with Xavier the other night.

I hope Gina stays on the show for a long time and I have a feeling she will and she will be a good mainstay character.

[Red Ranger 1]

Red Ranger, I think you are being hard on Gina because first off all Gina was dead set against Brendan moving into the home and it was only until she realised how happy he would be there.

I am hard on Gina at times, I accept that, I think it's a case of a character making a bad first impression on me and not really winning me round yet.Have to admit she hasn't been annoying me so much since Hugo left, I think the relationship with John brings out the best in her(well, at least when she's not treating him like a criminal for breathing the same air as Jill), she seems softer and warmer with him and also more nervous and unsure of herself, which helps humanise her.As for the Brendan issue, I think she tried to keep him with her for the wrong reason and let him go for the right reason:I think in a sense she tended to overcompensate for Brendan's disability(while simultaneously undercompensating with her other sons)and perhaps held him back by doing too much for him, there was also a sense that she didn't want Brendan to go into a home because she saw it as a personal failure if she wasn't the one looking after him.I think she changed her mind when she realised that he was actually capable of looking after himself more than she'd thought.But she's hardly perfect on that score, as the way she mishandled Brendan after Hugo's "death" demonstrated.As someone said, I think Gina tries to be a good mother but she doesn't always succeed and she doesn't always go about it in the right way.Her "tough love" approach with Xavier is somewhat variable, there are times when it's appropriate and she's right to stick to her guns but there are other times when it just comes across as harsh and arrogant.

Edited July 8, 2010 by Red Ranger 1

[maciam]

Since Gina doesn't have her menopause, does anyone else thinks she's pregnant??

I think so, by the way she told John..

[Red Ranger 1]

Since Gina doesn't have her menopause, does anyone else thinks she's pregnant??

I think so, by the way she told John..

I wondered that too!I'd love it if the show did go that way, it'd be nice to see an older woman(and a married one at that!)going through it and how John and Xavier react to it.

[Julez]

Since Gina doesn't have her menopause, does anyone else thinks she's pregnant??

I think so, by the way she told John..

I wondered that too!I'd love it if the show did go that way, it'd be nice to see an older woman(and a married one at that!)going through it and how John and Xavier react to it.

Has there been any follow up on this storyline yet? I feel like I've missed it.