Oscar MacGuire - Jake Speer

[homeandawayroxsomuch.]

I think we're seeing a pattern here. Home and Away seem to always touch the subject of mental health issues (i.e. bulimia, anxiety, etc) and things like dyslexia, but then they seem to not exist a few months later. And these types of storylines are really few and far between anyway. On the other hand, alcohol storylines are featured most years. My first memory of an alcohol storyline was Kit Hunter's. Imagine the number of alcohol storylines since then. Jesse. Dan Baker(?) Lucas (kinda). Casey. Zac. I have 3 memories of eating disorder storylines (Jade in 2001 - I only know of this through YouTube clips, Matilda in 2006, and Melody in 2008). I have 2 memories of characters with dyslexia (Seb and Casey). But this storyline is the first I've seen in just over ten years of watching Home and Away full-time in which a character has had an anxiety disorder (although it seems that both Dex and Casey have had panic attacks before). When I was younger, Home and Away was my first time of learning about some things (when Kit was heavily dependent on alcohol, I was at an age young enough to not know about the dangers of alcohol), but it's not been that good for learning about other things. Maybe Lucy and Louise should stop with the Braxton/Barrett focus, drugs/alcohol focus, and bring some more focus on mental health. Teach to a new generation perhaps?

End of rant.

[pembie]

I wonder if Spencer's bipolar will ever be mentioned again Anyhow they are doing quite well with Oscar at the moment.

[homeandawayroxsomuch.]

I was so glad to see Oscar seem happy in episodes 5999-6000, and his offering of advice based on his counselling sessions to Zac. It was adorable and he reminded me so much of Dex and Edward (Dunglass) in a way, not that I know why. But I'm now wondering where his storyline will go ... :/

[Gazza]

Im loving the character of Oscar at the minute took me a while to warm to him but I think the current storyline with him being responsible for running over Tamara, im glad they have decided to carry the storyline into an aftermath with Oscar really struggling to come to terms with it.

[homeandawayroxsomuch.]

Why can't Jake Speer be eligible to be nominated for Most Popular New Talent? He only came in as Oscar in September 2013 and didn't really get much of a chance to shine until 2014. I'm just feeling really disappointed that he's not in any of the Logie nomination lists, while Neighbours' Harley Bonner (who I don't really like) is in the lists. I'm also annoyed that as a UK viewer, I can't vote > Can we give Jake Speer an honorary Logie please?

[Red Ranger 1]

That sounds a bit strange: Harley Bonner first appeared in Neighbours back in May 2013 so it can't be that Jake Speer's been around too long.Maybe he just hasn't been nominated for some reason?

I think Oscar is one of the better newer additions, not least because on the whole he comes across as a genuinely nice person, which you can't say about most of the current teens.I know some fans are annoyed by his constantly hanging around Maddy but personally I like his loyalty to her.And I like that his anxiety issues still flare up from time to time, as they would do, it's the sort of thing that you can manage but will never quite go away and I thnk it's been handled well so far.

There have been missed opportunities though and, with the possible exception of Evelyn, he's drifted away from his family a bit.He had a good relationship with Denny when she first turned up, but it's been neglected so badly that when they had scenes together after Casey's funeral they felt like strangers.It'd be nice to see him have a bit more to do with her and Zac.

Edited January 13, 2015 by Red Ranger 1

[homeandawayroxsomuch.]

Oops, I should have been a bit more clear. Harley Bonner wasn't in the Most Popular Male Talent list. He was in the Silver and Gold Logie lists. Whereas Jake was in NONE of the lists. Neither was Philippa Northeast (Evie). Kassandra Clementi (Maddy), Jackson Gallagher (Josh), Charlie Clausen (Zac) and Cassie Howarth (Hannah) were all in the Silver and Gold lists and Jessica Grace Smith (Denny) was in the Most Popular New Talent list (but she only came at the beginning of 2014 so she DEFINITELY counts).

I think Oscar is the best recent addition (along with Josh, he's my favourite character) in a while. I get annoyed by his hanging around Maddy as well, but I'm increasingly being "Awwww" over his loyalty to her. He's a truly lovely character, and you can't say that often. And yeah, I agree that he needs to have more stuff with Zac and Denny. Most of his stuff with Zac lately was when he was having problems at community service and exercising loads and rebelling a little then.

[Slade]

When I look at Oscar now, I just think to myself what a shame. Initially I thought he wasn't the most exciting character but I liked him. I thought he was a much better version of Geoff when Geoff first appeared i.e. led quite a sheltered life and had a certain level of naivete but nowhere near as judgemental or self righteous and fairly likeable. I had a lot of respect for him when Evelyn disgustingly wanted him to save himself from getting in trouble for the hit and run on Tamara and was prepared to let her own uncle not only suffer the guilt but also go to jail and Oscar fessed up and did the right thing. I also respected the way he just tried to get on and do his community service and felt bad for him when Mitch started picking on him. I also initially had sympathy for him when he started getting the panic attacks a while back and when he over exerted himself during his training. I feel now that Maddy has completely ruined him. His head is so far up her arse that it has effectively nullified any character development. His entire existence has transcended into doing the right thing by her.

I don't blame him for falling for her. She's physically very attractive, he was spending time with her so I get that from his perspective he saw that as bonding even though Maddy just wanted the company because nobody else really wanted to spend time with her. When she used him to get revenge on Evelyn stealing her man, again I couldn't blame him for sleeping with her. I'm willing to bet virtually any single heterosexual teenager in his position would have done the same thing. And I initially felt sorry for him afterwards when Maddy was spending time with him and she slapped him on the bottom and kissed him in front of Mitch obviously to make Oscar seem more manly (although how she thought Mitch would lay off after that is beyond me). What has annoyed me since is that there have been a number of occasions where it has been obvious that she doesn't love him and he should be focussing his energy on trying to move on rather than forcing something which isn't there. And every time he does seem to wake up and smell the coffee he falls back into the trap again.

Take the dance, although she invited him she virtually blanked him repeatedly asking when Josh was coming. Even Zak asked him why he was prepared to put himself through this and he basically admitted he was a doormat, hoping for something. He should have just walked out at that instant and left her on her own. She apologised and gave him a sympathy dance later on but she shouldn't have been given that luxury at that particular moment (I also appreciate there was more important stuff going on). Fast forward and he starts hanging out with her again (dropping anything any time she calls her like some subordinate). He's forgotten that she's in love with Josh and only wants to hang out with him because she's bored and he's helping her buy some new clothes courtesy of Roo's plastic. When he told Roo and after he rejected her when she made a pass at him I thought 'Yes' but then he keeps trying to pressure Josh and Evelyn to get back together almost as a way to ensure that Maddy has no chance of getting back with Josh so he can have her all to himself (What!?). Don't get me wrong I like Josh/Evelyn but Oscar's motives were fuelled significantly by self-interest IMO. When Maddy was sick the first time it just annoyed me how he turned up at the hospital almost hassling Nate and then when he didn't get the information he wanted he went back to her place with three presents and couldn't take it when Maddy told him that she was pregnant and the baby wasn't his. You would think at that point he would back off but no he's chasing her again and then had a go at her for trying to use the situation (i.e. the pregnancy) to get Josh to try and fall in love with her even though he was doing EXACTLY the same thing. When he realised the baby could be Josh's he tells him the truth (knowing full well that it risks the wrath of Maddy) so fair play he went right up in my estimation and I thought he's got him self out of the situation (he wanted to do the right thing but there's still the self-interest argument too) but here at UK pace the latest instalment of the whole Oscar-trying-to-make-Maddy-fall-in-love-with-him thing, she has cancer, Oscar knows and well he's "supporting" her.

I find the whole thing incredibly frustrating and tedious. It's like watching a football match with your favourite team and they keep missing so many golden opportunities to score. There are times where some of Oscar's behaviour has bordered on cringeworthy. The whole thing wreaks of desperation. I actually think this is quite realistic but from a viewers perspective (certainly this viewer), I'm sick to my back teeth of him going after her. It's not as if he doesn't know how she feels about Josh because she's made it clear several times. So it's gone way beyond her leading him on. I don't really think he gets on with Evelyn (obviously because of Maddy) and I can't remember the last time I actually enjoyed a scene with those two. I don't think there is enough interaction with Zak. I remember seeing the scenes at the party recently and when Sasha/Matt/Spencer/Josh spent a night out in the woods. I enjoyed both of those and wish Oscar had been part of that. But he seems like an outsider not sufficiently interacting with some of the younger characters.

I live in hope that he will somehow fall out of love with her but other than a superhot chick turning up meeting Oscar and love at first sight, it's not looking good. Oh well.

Just my opinion...

Edited February 19, 2015 by Slade

[dee123]

Yeah. I agree. He's been wasted.

[Red Ranger 1]

I take the point but I guess it all depends on what you think of a relationship as to whether or not you think one or both of the characters in it are wasted.I accept that it's a bit different since Maddy and Oscar aren't a couple but their relationship, friendship, whatever you want to call it means they spend a lot of time with each other.If you look at other young characters, Josh and Evelyn have largely been defined by their relationship since they got together, Evelyn hasn't had any storylines that haven't involved Josh and very few scenes that don't lead back to their relationship, Josh has been a bit better served by having stronger links to other characters and storylines but it's still primarily about the relationship.Same with Sasha and Matt, since they got together Matt's had a few things with his family but I don't think Sasha's really had anything that hasn't involved Matt since the school captain stuff at the start of last year(and, actually, that ended up involving Matt too).Spencer has been without a significant other so hasn't appeared as much.So yes, I agree that Oscar hasn't had any storylines that haven't involved Maddy in some form since the hit and run about nine months ago.(He had the eating disorder storyline as well, which was basically his storyline and Maddy, although involved, was very much a minor supporting character.)But I like his scenes with Maddy so continue to like Oscar not in spite of them but almost because of them.If you don't like the friendship/relationship/whatever, then I accept there's not much else to enjoy with Oscar, and I agree that it's a shame that his relationships with the likes of Zac, Denny and Evelyn have been somewhat neglected.