H&A Spring Break - From the Bay to LA

[Red Ranger 1]

And so Vinnie Week begins! It is always interesting to look back on characters that you didn't like at the time and did later.It took me a while to warm to Vinnie, yet watching this he seems to be, well, Vinnie from the off.There is a touch of laziness there which would probably have got my back up quickly but he's already charming Justine.Three months on from the last Shannon episode and it seems there was a mass exodus going on at that year: Selina's gone as well and there's a new generation of foster children ensconced in the Ross house.Tiegan is already being portrayed as much older than Sam and we're less than a year on from her debut.

Alf on his high horse, although I guess you've got to give him points for sincerity which I think is why Ailsa decides to support him at the end.Marilyn refers to Alf as "Alf Stewart" for possibly the only time.This is of course leading up to Marilyn putting her foot in it at the P&C meeting by being a bit too honest and Tiegan saving the day with an impassioned speech.There's a certain amount of irony running through this, not only with Marilyn's apparent belief that there's no sex and violence in Romeo and Juliet, but with Duncan and Rachel's trip to the children's film at the cinema leaving them scarred for life.(Look what it did to Duncan.) Ah yes, Rachel Mark 1! There were howls of distress when she got recast: Not that there was anything wrong with Mark 2 but she was pretty cute.

[beau_t]

Oh I completely forgot about the 2 Rachels. Both cute as buttons. I remember liking the first one (wasn't she the sister of Angel's son Dylan in real life?) and being disappointed when she was recast, only to then find the 2nd one just as adorable. I'll always remember her spilling the beans about Vinnie's cancer "He's got something wrong with his tentacle"

[Blaxland 89]

Wow. I blooming love today's Vinnie episode. My favourite era apart from late 88 early 89. Late 97, early 98 had such a good mix of characters. Today's episode was so under melo dramatic. Which is what I like. Just felt like very real people. Very good at character writing and well acted. Which was what was needed after a crazy couple of years. Just look at that nice played down ending with Alf and Ailsa. See, modern writers. You don't need a dramatic cliff hanger everything! The episode included all the older characters. In fact the only ones we didn't see where Chloe, Lachie, Joey and Aaron. Maybe Casey not sure if she'd gone by then. Nice to see Sam a little older but still felt like the same person. They must of aged Duncan up a lot, seeing him sat there with Rachel. In that scene, with Duncan and Rachel, if anyone can tell me the song that's playing I'll love you forever? Been searching for ages. Carly got a mention too. Good time for continuity. All in all a very underrated time. I remember thinking when it was first shown what a good character Vinnie was. Never thought he would have lasted so long though.

[atrus]

So much more light than dark in this episode, with plenty of interesting stories that don't require some kind of catastrophe to keep viewers watching.

It keeps striking me as I watch these old episodes how much Alf has mellowed over the years. He's almost exclusively cast as the wise sage nowadays, whereas I used to enjoy that 'blustering reactionary' aspect of his personality. Nowadays that mantle has been taken up by John Palmer, and Alf is a lot less easy to provoke into flamin' outrage than he used to be. It's an entirely believable path of character development, though.

I do like Vinnie a lot, tiresome though he could occasionally be. He reminds me very much of a friend I had in primary school. This may be controversial but I do feel that Chris Harrington is a more interesting twist on the same basic 'charmer' archetype.

[CaptainHulk]

I actually wanted to watch the next episode after tonight's - the Marat/Sade story which involved Pippa, Ailsa, Alf, Don & Marilyn.

That's the one that got the award!

[Blaxland 89]

I actually wanted to watch the next episode after tonight's - the Marat/Sade story which involved Pippa, Ailsa, Alf, Don & Marilyn.

That's the one that got the award! Did it really? I never knew that. Thanks.

[Jamie2811]

Just watching tonights episode, noticed Selina wasnt in the opening titles. I thought she was still in the show at this point, leaving in 1998.

Good to see Vinnie in his earlier days, most of what i can remember of him is 2000-2002 stuff. A very watchable enjoyable episode, shows you dont need explosions, murders and car crashes to make a good show.

[Dan F]

Just watching tonights episode, noticed Selina wasnt in the opening titles. I thought she was still in the show at this point, leaving in 1998.

Good to see Vinnie in his earlier days, most of what i can remember of him is 2000-2002 stuff. A very watchable enjoyable episode, shows you dont need explosions, murders and car crashes to make a good show.

Selina left a couple of weeks before today's episode in 1997 - she made a one-off appearance in 1998 for the UK episode where she reunited with Steven.

[Slade]

Couldn't really get into that episode. There were positives though. Really liked the scenes with Tiegan. I'd forgotten that she actually was quite a good character. I enjoyed her interaction with Justine. I wasn't sure what to make of stuff with Alf and Jesse. Thought Alf was a bit harsh but could understand his frustration if he thought people were taking the mick. Although it was funny that Alf wasn't prepared to cover Jesse's shift but Jesse ended up looking after Duncan so Alf and Ailsa could go to the PNC meeting. One thing that always bothered me about Jesse and Rachel was that Joel and Natalie ended up with her and then Will and Jesse was excluded. I remember the first version of Duncan. Seemed so innocent. A far cry from his reincarnation. Then there's the V-man or Patterson as Fisher always called him. I didn't actually mind Vinnie. Thought he was OK but really didn't think he was anything special at all and couldn't understand what the fuss was about.

[H&Alover]

So nice to see Vinnie again! As was revealed his dad had just gone bankrupt so now he was going to have to work for a living, did I hear him right and he told Alf he was 18? No you're not being controversial atrus there are shades of Vinnie in Chris. As atrus said Alf was a lot grumpier in those days accusing Don of corrupting the youngsters yet refusing to read the book to find out if it was true, his more stubborn side coming out. Of course the more fuss he and others made the more the kids were going to want to know more about it and be determined to put the play on. Great speech he made to Alisa about not wanting the kids of the bay led down the wrong path and so Alf, but not by not knowing what parts of the book Donald was going to put on his argument would have been a bit weak. Am I right in remembering Marilyn went against Don after she had read it? Wasn't there another book that caused a lot of controversy, it had to do with the rights of passage? I must say Tiegan's reading has come on in leaps and bounds. Was there any actual sex in Romeo and Juliet or was it more implied? It would have been good to see the next night's episode, but I'm guessing the kids won the day, though wasn't Tiegan told to stay home and look after Christopher?

Alf wasn't having a good day all round was he, Jessie letting him down at the last moment, though Jessie could have explained why he wanted to change his day, then Alf would have understood, even then, then Marilyn having a go about him thinking about putting in video games, (to think they were the big new thing then) but not being willing to let Don put on his play.

Seems odd seeing other people living in 'Leah's' house, quite a few folk lived there before having a permanent owner.

Maybe reincarnating kids has a detrimental effect on them certainly did with Duncan! Mainly, or partly, I think that was down to Alisa she did have him late and did tend to spoil him and let him get away with a lot.

Jesse did a runner after a car crash, then ended up in prison so Will and Gypsy fostered Rachel, he did return and track her down but seeing how happy she was with them he let her stay with them.