Andy Barrett - Tai Hara

[Red Ranger 1]

They do seem to be trying to take Andy down the same path as Heath…and it’s not going to work. Because they’ve forgotten what worked with Heath, or perhaps never knew. For me, Heath’s relationship with Bianca was almost the least important part of his redemption, it wasn’t what made him a good person, it was what he could be once he became a good person. The change came when he learned he was a father and was determined to be a good person for his daughter, and with the catch-22 that once people started treating him like a human being, after even his brothers initially didn’t think him worth much, he became one.

And they so nearly got it right with Andy. He did a lot of bad stuff when he first came in and continued to do so. But again, he began to change when people began to treat him as though he’d changed: Brax and Casey gave him chance after chance, more than he deserved, and it meant a lot to him, that they thought he was worth more than he himself thought. And then Casey died and it affected him and he was determined to be a better person, to make up for his part in it.

And how did he do that? He murdered Jake. Ruthlessly, cold-bloodedly, without remorse. And damned himself forever. I know some people can excuse that but I can’t. It wasn’t noble, it wasn’t necessary, it wasn’t finishing him off when he was as good as dead already. It made sure that Andy was past saving. If it was a genuine act of sacrifice, if Andy had turned himself in instead of Kyle protecting him, if he’d actually saved Brax at the cost of his freedom and maybe his soul, then maybe there’d be redemption of a sort there. But it didn’t. It didn’t save Brax and it didn’t harm Andy, he just got on with his life as if it never happened. And where are we now? Brax is in jail and Andy isn’t, even though Andy’s the one who’s a murderer. And that just points to the true inequality of justice on the show: Brax gets charged with Dean’s murder because the police make the evidence fit, but there’s no homocide investigation into Jake’s murder, just a bunch of local uniform who give up. Josh becomes an accessory to murder by telling a blatant lie that could have been broken by mininal cross examination and Emerson just accepts it. Yet a few months earlier, Oscar tries to make a statement clearing Zac of the hit and run and is telling the truth and Emerson basically tells him to go away. He wants to put Zac away more than Andy?

So what have we now? The resurrection of Andy’s shallow and twisted romance with Hannah, because if he’s got a girlfriend that must make him a nice guy. Desperate attempts to portray him as a caring big brother who looks out for Josh, after months of him trying to keep Josh in the gutter and keep him away from Maddy, Summer Bay, school and anything else that would have given him a better life. Andy pressuring Nate into letting Hannah go home when she’s not ready, moving himself in with her family and making her utterly dependent on him, to the point that Denny has to put aside all the harm Andy has done to her family (cutting Zac off by letting him be blamed for his drugs, getting Evelyn kidnapped by his enemies) and beg him to help them. He’s not a nice person, however much people might try and convince themselves he is, however much he might want to be. And ultimately, he has to pay for his crimes or the show really has lost its way.

[kmp1963]

Unfortunately RR1 it appears he won't pay for his crimes. Apparently the current producers believe that cold blooded murder is the path to redemption

And I do believe it is an example of how badly the show really has lost its way.

[Pantherboy]

RR1, I wholeheartedly agree with everything you have said in your excellent post on Andy Barratt.

On Neighbours last week (sorry to those who aren't Neighbours fans!), one of the characters said "Everyone deserves a second chance, but they have to pay for what they have done first". Never a truer line has been said. As RR1 has pointed out, Andy has had many, many chances (& apart from the chances Casey & Brax etc have given him, by my count, Hannah has broken up with him 5 times so far - & a couple of those times, what he did should have been deal breakers to her ever taking him back again - yet here we are with them together once more), & he certainly hasn't paid for, or suffered any real consequences, for what he has done - in fact we have basically seen the opposite.

We know that Andy will be around the Bay for some time to come, so obviously the authorities won't be finding out about him murdering Jake any time soon (or else he may end up as a cell mate of Brax's - now there is a thought!.......). But surely, as RR1 correctly states "ultimately, he has to pay for his crimes or the show really has lost its way". This HAS to come back to bite him & I will be mightily unhappy if he doesn't get found out for the murder eventually, or down the track it doesn't become Andy's exit storyline when the time comes for the character to leave he show. In the meantime, unfortunately I am sure we will be seeing more storylines showing Andy as the redeemed great guy, with the producers/writers hoping that over time viewers, along with those who already seem to excuse his past behaviour, will forget all about the dirty deeds he has perpetrated (what murder??).

It is good depicting characters cleaning up their act & turning their lives around, but IMO it is equally, if not more, important to show that there can be real (& sometimes serious) consequences for your actions, especially something as heinous as cold-blooded murder - & that is what it was (no matter how much it is perceived that the person deserved it - as I have seen suggested by some on various H&A forums). I am with you RR1, I will never excuse what Andy did. Accordingly, I will never accept the "New" version of Andy until such time as he is brought to account & pays for his actions.

[kmp1963]

RR1, I wholeheartedly agree with everything you have said in your excellent post on Andy Barratt.

On Neighbours last week (sorry to those who aren't Neighbours fans!), one of the characters said "Everyone deserves a second chance, but they have to pay for what they have done first". Never a truer line has been said. As RR1 has pointed out, Andy has had many, many chances (& apart from the chances Casey & Brax etc have given him, by my count, Hannah has broken up with him 5 times so far - & a couple of those times, what he did should have been deal breakers to her ever taking him back again - yet here we are with them together once more), & he certainly hasn't paid for, or suffered any real consequences, for what he has done - in fact we have basically seen the opposite.

We know that Andy will be around the Bay for some time to come, so obviously the authorities won't be finding out about him murdering Jake any time soon (or else he may end up as a cell mate of Brax's - now there is a thought!.......). But surely, as RR1 correctly states "ultimately, he has to pay for his crimes or the show really has lost its way". This HAS to come back to bite him & I will be mightily unhappy if he doesn't get found out for the murder eventually, or down the track it doesn't become Andy's exit storyline when the time comes for the character to leave he show. In the meantime, unfortunately I am sure we will be seeing more storylines showing Andy as the redeemed great guy, with the producers/writers hoping that over time viewers, along with those who already seem to excuse his past behaviour, will forget all about the dirty deeds he has perpetrated (what murder??).

It is good depicting characters cleaning up their act & turning their lives around, but IMO it is equally, if not more, important to show that there can be real (& sometimes serious) consequences for your actions, especially something as heinous as cold-blooded murder - & that is what it was (no matter how much it is perceived that the person deserved it - as I have seen suggested by some on various H&A forums). I am with you RR1, I will never excuse what Andy did. Accordingly, I will never accept the "New" version of Andy until such time as he is brought to account & pays for his actions.

To true, unfortunately the audience were all quite happy to overlook or just forget the Braxtons crimes, none of which they actually paid for or showed much remorse for. And given this history, the producers no doubt believe they can pull the same swifty with Andy.

[Angelica]

I agree that this has been the problem with Andy's redemption storyline is that it hasn't been earned. Instead, all his misdemeanours have been brushed under the carpet, and suddenly, we are supposed to accepted New Andy. I agree that this has been the same problem with the Braxton's. All these crimes that keep getting committed lose impact when they are treated so trivially by everyone in involved. While I can understand the sentiment that Jake would have continued to have destroyed Brax's life, I think it would have made the story a lot more palatable if Andy had shown at least some conflict about the idea of taking someone's life (especially in the situation where the person was unable to defend themselves in any way because they were attached to a machine) or shown some guilt afterwards.

The whole redemption via Hannah storyline doesn't help either. Partly because Hannah is such an awful character that it is hard to see why anyone would want to be with her or believe that she could spark a change in Andy. But also, partly because I find these "you make me want to be a better person" storylines really trite and shallow. At least with Heath, most of his change was related to him becoming a father; first to Darcy, and then to Rocco. His relationship with Bianca progressed because she saw his better qualities as he grew into his father role (it never felt like they were trying to attribute much if any of his change to Bianca). Heath went from being my least favourite Braxton to my favourite in a way that felt very organic. I just don't feel they have taken the same steps to develop Andy as well. I think part of the problem is that from the beginning, people have been giving Andy the benefit of the doubt, and a million chances, before Andy had ever done anything to prove that he deserved it. Contrast that to say Kane's redemption, where though he never really paid for the alleged assault on Dani, at least spent a lot of time trying to prove himself to the community before anyone (other than Kirsty) gave him a break.

[kmp1963]

Like with Heath before him, Andy's case of SUPTS just doesn't work for me.

I hate this guy, every time he smirks that smug face makes me want to hit the off button.

[Slade]

I hated him at first after running Casey of the road and wanted him gone but now Andy is one of my favourite characters. I do agree with Angelica in that it's all happened too quickly and did actually prefer it when everyone hated him but I enjoy a lot of his scenes. Whilst I'm not a fan of Hannah I do like the stuff with her and Andy at the moment. I like the effect it's had on him becoming her part time carer and taking on a certain level of commitment. I also like the way whenever he's with her sometimes he has a smile like a Cheshire cat all over his face. I'm quite satisfied that Denny has put her personal feelings aside towards him for the sake of Hannah's recovery. And I like the fact that she still doesn't like him but has accepted that his efforts are helping Hannah. I liked the fact that Evelyn was fighting Andy's corner when Josh was annoyed with him when Hannah almost drowned although I accept that Andy was unbelievably stupid letting Hannah go on a boat without a life jacket. Whilst Josh has the Braxtons to take care of him, I do think Andy needs to work on their relationship but I do like the consistency that they still see each other whilst having separate storylines and are effectively living separate lives.

Not only do I not have a problem with him killing Pirovic but I'm glad he did it. I really liked Charlie so it's good to see some payback for her cold blooded murder. And let's not forget he killed Casey too. I think Andy did Brax a massive favour. Given that he already escaped from custody and already killed two people dear to Brax, Pirovic would have dedicated the rest of his existence to making Brax suffer and who knows who would have been next - Heath, Darcy, Harley. I'm glad Emerson didn't have the sense to follow the investigation up and with any luck this won't come back to bite Andy although I suspect either he will be brought to justice someday or one of Pirovic's cronies will catch up with him eventually...

[pembie]

I just find Andy pretty dull

[dncllpyk]

At first I hated Andy for running Casey and Maddy off the road but he grew on me and now he is one of my fave characters now that Spencer and Sasha have left. I used to be a huge fan of him and Hannahs romance but starting to now like it anymore never have been a Hannah fan really and sick of the way she treats him I think he could do better

[kmp1963]

This post is a bit late, but I wanted to say it anyway.

No Andy, Hunter doesn't need protecting, he needs help. Something he won't get as long as stupid people like you and his delusional mother, continue to cover up his crimes.

BTW, he grew up without a father because said delusional mother lied to both him and Zac all his life. YOU, grew up without a father because of your good mate Brax. 

Just in case I needed reminding how wrong Andy is as a character, this reminded me of everything I hate about him.

Right, I know the Braxton fans will have their usual go about mentioning him, and yes I know he didn't kill Johnny, but he did cover it up all those years without any apparent remorse. And, yes Andy you also grew up without a father because daddy was a violent crime who should have been behind bars with his good mate Danny.

However, more relevant is the interesting parallels I see between that story and the current Hunter stories. In both cases a teenager did something that may or may not have been intentional, resulting in someone getting hurt.

But in both cases the situation was made much worse by the decisions of the adults around him, attempts by said adults to cover up the teens crimes led to much more serious and long term consequences.

Alas the show does not seem to be interested in exploring such themes and resorts to such devices to excuse the initial crimes.

Sorry, some of this should have been in another thread. However, I am now holding Andy partially culpable for subsequent events due to Hunters actions. And no matter what I think of Billies earlier actions, nothing excuses his willingness to let her go down for the fire.

Edited September 16, 2015 by kmp1963