Darryl 'Brax' Braxton - Steve Peacocke

[DocZed64]

Okay the latest episode was my favourite so far... I actually teared up! Sad but true... Might therefore be my longest rant to date... we’ll see.. lot's of racing thoughts.

Firstly Heath – I felt bad for him at first. Everyone is against him, including his own family. YES he deserves it but urghh I have a heart I can’t help but want to give him a pat on the shoulder (hug would be going too far). Lol because he is misunderstood right lol?!? But it didn’t last, don’t worry. I remembered if he thought/listened first before he acted then he wouldn’t be in this position. I would love to think he listens to Brax’s heavy handedness but Heath is like a child and has a serious case of oppositional defiant disorder. There is a power struggle between the brothers and Heath clearly wants to prove himself (silly fool it’s not really going to work out well for him)

I loved how Ruby and Casey ran to Charlie and Brax after seeing Heath. Both of them really scared of Heath (and Ma).. I mean why? What do they think he is he capable of? Yes he will be point blank angry – he is after all looking at time inside for this but to actually physically hurt people that his brothers care for... Hmm intriguing

Great mother-daughter moment and hug between Ruby and Charlie. 1 down 2 to go at least =).. can’t express how much I have done a 180 with Ruby. She is stepping up... hope it stays this way!

I need to see some interaction between Brax and Ruby soon too.

Mini-heartbreak scene with Ruby and Casey. Shame the kids have to suffer for all the adult-problems. Very admirable of Casey to put Ruby’s safety first. Is he protecting her from Heath, RBs or Jake’s gang.. hmm I guess all 3 of them makes sense

*big sigh* “Nothing is gunna keep you and me apart.. You hear me... Nothing” – why is it so easy to forget the bad when he comes out with cute lines like that!? WRONG THOUGH.. get rid of the drugs they WILL keep you apart!

Okay I think THE best acting Steve has done so far was in that interview room. I honestly felt like I was watching the Joker in Batman. I had my hands covering my face most of the time as I was truly shocked at the coolness/cockiness of it all! I had a serious urge to grab my psychiatry book and smack him with it.. it was seriously a semi-psychotic grin he gave (Still managed to look pretty hot doing it in all honesty though). And this has been at least AT LEAST the 4th time he has referred to this life he has as a GAME.. what is with that wording?! “If you can prove that, you deserve to win the game” [ME IS FREAKING OUT]

Gosh the last scene was sad. You know about time there was no lying and playing with words. No denial therefore accusations were confirmed. It is a good thing she loves him or else he would be toast! She confessed her love before he did. Love the way he said I love YA.. haha true to the bad boy character!

Morag was right.. Charlie doesn’t know him.. at least not all of him. But now she is on her journey to finding out. PS BYE BYE Morag - that was a nice quick cut you got there!

“I was never a boy scout, you knew that, so what is your problem”... for a smart guy that was a silly question Brax! AND the cop and the girlfriend are one person. ONE. JUST ONE!

Brax-to-Joyce “If it was me being you I would have kept me waiting at least another half an hour” [PLEASE be them or else I just spent 15mins ranting about the JOKER!]

<3Brax! “I’m trying to change the game but I can’t do it by myself” ... hope the new game is nicer - Cluedo sounds like it would be fun!

FULL ON BRAX-CENTERED RANT.. Sorry MY BAD - Hope no one fell asleep

Edited July 29, 2011 by DocZed64

[LauraPhilly!!]

I could never fall asleep while reading your rants DocZed!

They are highly amusing!

By the way, if Steve Peacocke doesn't get Best Actor/Best New Talent at the next Logies, I will seriously be writing a letter of complaint to TV Week!

What an amazing actor?!

Edited July 29, 2011 by LauraPhilly!!

[Whitney]

He did an incredible job... lovin' him more and more each scene. His acting is awesome

I agree Doc Zed 64. You and I must have the same way of thinking. Interrogation was awesome... My stomache fluttered when he said nothing would keep them apart... and I too almost teared up at the end when they said ILY but Charlie could not handle the truth. She knew he was not a "boy scout" but I dont think she thought he was that involved in the shady stuff (or she atleast hoped he wasnt, espcially with his love for Casey, and all that he has changed, espcially leaving the RBs).

Really excited about the promo... he looks like he is crying talking to her, and at the door... I think I am going to cry monday for sure. I think the beach scene will be tuesday... and that looks awesome too... the way Charlie confronts the situation with Tegan and the ILYs. Wonder what he will say back??

[lollypop]

What worries me is just how blassé Brax is about everything. It's like he's completely detached from reality. He doesn't seem to understand the fear that Ruby, Casey, Leah, Liam etc are living with everyday because of the Riverboys. The fact that they are terrified of these boys should strike a chord with Brax, make him realise what exactly his double life has done to these innocent people. But he just doesn't seem to care as long as Charlie is still sweet on him and he can keep Heath and the "Boys" off his back. The fact that he's lived in that world for so long, he doesn't seem to undertand the affect it has on outsiders.

Sure Brax may have acknowledged that if the Riverboys found out about his double life that he would be a "dead man". But doesn't that speak volumes about the code of ethics Brax and the Riverboys lived by and continue to live by. If they would "kill" their own learder over something like that, surely then that says a lot about the type of life Brax has chosen to live for the best part of his life. And it's obvious Brax himself isn't above using violence to "sort people out". I mean for Gods sake the man slaps his own brother around to knock sense into him.

Brax has a serious case of double standarditis. Which is rich coming from a man who as far as we know, has no education (i.e HSC), has never done an honest days work and has earned his money by cultivating and selling an illegal drug.

-He wants to put his life on the straight and narrow, however he's doing that by running a business he purchased with drug money.

-It's okay for the rest of the Riverboys to do jail time for the crimes they've committed, but Brax shouldn't go down for being the leader and the brains behind most of their big operations.

-He can feed Charlie a tip off about what the Riverboys are up to because Charlie's his girlfriend, but if any of the other boys dob him in, then that's a betrayal and they should pay for it.

-It's not okay for Charlie to do her job as a police officer and put dangerous criminals (i.e. the Riverboys) behind bars to protect her family and friends, but it's okay for Brax to tip off the "boys" about the cops making raids or asking questions because that's him protecting his family.

-He wants to be free to make his own choices but Heath has to bow down to his orders just because Brax doesn't agree with what he's doing.

-He EXPECTS honesty from Casey and Heath and Charlie, but he doesn't seem to mind spinning lie after lie, after lie.

Where does it end. When will he realise that a person can't have everything their own way and they can't continue to bully and manipulate people to get what they want. The world has a way of paying back bad karma to those who have cheated their way to the top. Brax's time will come.

Today, Charlie got a small glimpse of what her lies have done to the people around her. The fact that Ruby and Leah have both expressed their fears, I think that opened her eyes up more to just how dangerous this all really is. I think it also made her wake up to the fact that she doesn't know Brax and that she did choose to ignore a lot of stuff that she shouldn't have because now it's coming to bite her up the back side big time.

What worries me about Charlie is, she seems fine to be with Brax at the cost of her own career and her own safety, but what about the safety of others? What about Ruby? and Leah and VJ? and Liam, Bianca and Irene ete, etc. Does she honestly believe the Riverboys would just stop at her and Brax. Would a serious threat made by Heath or one of the others towards Ruby, make her realise just how dangerous the game she has been playing is? When will she finally realise just how badly she messed up? She may have lost Brax (for the moment anyways), but how much more will she lose before the year is out? This thing is far from over.

Peoples eyes have been opened up to a very dangerous world. One that could have serious consequences for everyone involved. Charlie and Brax engagaed in a game that was based on lies and deceit and it's coming back to haunt them ten fold. If we chose to see only what we want to see in a person, then we only end up hurting ourselves. If we chose to ignore warning signs and the threat of danger because of selfish reasons, then we end up hurting others. Charlie and Brax would do well to remember this. Because right now they're paddling towards a waterfall of chaos and destruction and I wouldn't be surprised if limbs, as well as hearts, are broken.

Edited July 29, 2011 by lollypop

[DocZed64]

I could never fall asleep while reading your rants DocZed!

They are highly amusing!

By the way, if Steve Peacocke doesn't get Best Actor/Best New Talent at the next Logies, I will seriously be writing a letter of complaint to TV Week!

What an amazing actor?!

aww Thanks for that! I do enjoy a good rant about him.

I agree about Steve Peacocke deserving to win at the Logies.. be sure to let non-Aussies know how to vote if at all possible =)

@Witney The promo does look very good. Even more heartbreak in store.

Not sure how you can backtrack to Tegan after having being with Charlie

.. mind-boggling

--Let's see how it plays out. Im sure there will be surprises in store even with all the information we have been given!

Edited July 30, 2011 by QUIET ACHIEVER
Spoiler tags added.

[lollypop]

Well considering how easily Brax backtracked towards Heath and the Riverboys after he said he "wanted out" it doesn't suprise me that he would backtrack to Tegan.

I hope Charlie keeps her common sense about her and remembers just how little she knows about Brax and the reason why she broke up with him. I don't want to see her running back to him just because she feels sorry for him because he gets the living daylights beat out of him by Jake. It won't change who he is or what he's done and the writers would do well to have Charlie retain a little self respect in all this and have her listen to her head and obey the warning signs rather than her heart. Because that hasn't worked out well for her at all!!

[Red Ranger 1]

Okay, been thinking about the "Brax is working for the police" theory, the chances of which in my opinion are close to being zero, and here are my thoughts:First, if he is an undercover cop, there's no way the River Boys could be charged with anything because that's pure entrapment.Undercover cops can't gather together a bunch of surf bums, lead them in committing crimes and then arrest them all for it, they could only arrest a gang for something they would have done if they hadn't got involved.So it would only make sense if the River Boys are below the police's radar and they're going after a bigger fish.Secondly, if he is working for the police and all the bad stuff he's done is just to maintain his cover, why would he then throw all that hard work away and quit the River Boys? Surely his superiors would have something to say about that.

Whilst I wouldn't be surprised if there are more revelations to come, I doubt it would be as game changing as that.

[lollypop]

Also someone working undercover either as a cop or an informant wouldn't be stupid enough to risk jeopardising an undercover operation by engaging in a romance with cop!! Another factor which points away from Brax being an undercover cop!!

[DocZed64]

A criminal engaging with a cop is also pretty ridiculous too though lollypop.

I guess I want the s/l to go down the undercover informant for the cops route because that is the only way I saw/see it working out for Charlie and Brax. Also because with anything that I watch whether it is a tv show or a movie - you tend to back the "heroes" of the story not the "villains" if that makes sense. Haha although this is a soap - I still want it to play out this way... that he is the hero of the story. Isn't there always supposed to be a moral to every story told? Although some say they will get away with their crimes.. I can't see that happening either... cue my theory! *shrugging shoulders* lol just the way I think (Note I am a little naive)

I feel as though they have brought in characters for a short while to do a bad deed and they are out before long. ie Penn causing all the havoc he did, Will killing Penn, Dean as the rapist. It just seems to me that a year-long s/l has been planned for the RB characters and like I have said in the past, if I was a writer I would want to do something that surprised my audience.

I agree I could be completely wrong in my thinking. But kudos to the writers for giving the audience so much confusion re the characters several sides.. they are definitely colorful!

An alternative for this s/l could be about the transformation of a "bad" character in to a "good" one over time for whatever reasons ie family/love. But after the interview with Dan Ewing recently, he mentioned how it is always interesting to play these characters and to find out why they do what they do. He said that is what makes the characters so interesting. Im not sure the actor even knows what the background is but I know we'll get some sort of answers from the writers in the end if not before.

<3Brax! I'll make an exception to support the "villain" of the story if that is what he is.. just this once. He can count his lucky stars for the magic grin!

[Red Ranger 1]

It would be interesting to know how much they planned out in advance.There was a point when Brax could go either way, when he could have been a decent guy with a bad reputation or slightly dodgy but not necessarily needing to be punished.But the way it's gone, whatever excuses or redeeming qualities the character might have, it does seem like he needs to be brought to account for his actions.Having him get away with it and/or become a good guy would feel like a cop out.It is hard to tell why he's been fooling around with Charlie if, as seems to be the case, he's a committed criminal. I think that, certainly initially, it can be possibly explained by an arrogance that led him to believe he could get away with anything, with perhaps a touch of keeping your enemies closer.As it stands, unless there is a big twist coming, he does seem to be the most obviously villainous regular in the show's history and there'd need to be some pretty creative plotting for him not to get the comeuppance he deserves.