Darryl 'Brax' Braxton - Steve Peacocke

[DocZed64]

Warning: very long rant coming up. It reflects how much I loved the episode.

5430 – Nearly 200 episodes since the Braxton’s and RBs entered HAA. I thought it was an absolutely amazing finale. I thought it was an ABSOLUTELY AMAZING preview and promo. It feels SAD. Like really I'm feeling pretty dramatic - like someone pulled out a piece of my heart and is crushing it as we speak. I don’t like it. But time heals all wounds x *hugs to people who feel the same*

The 3 Braxton’s together in one scene - the way it should be. As usual I felt sorry for Heath at times and then want to shake him at others. Why doesn’t he realize about ‘action and consequence’. April actually looked really pleased with herself. I get that he is a naughty boy with all his drug dealings and fighter fists however he does have his moments of being soft. Easy for a girl like April to be blinded by the flickers of ‘good’ he displays. He really can’t be blamed in this situation. He is a man and when a pretty girl [who btw is not under any influence] throws herself at him – it would just be un-physiological if he didn’t go along with the flow. I have to admit as wrong as it sounds on paper - it looks good. They are pretty together [picture perfect]. I can see chemistry between them. Haha erm was their hook-up PG?? I don’t think so. Im not complaining. Im old enough to watch lol. Hmm not sure where it can go with his stupid and bad-boy-ness and her brain and perfectionism. It would be a serious case of opposites attract if these two actually got together. Have a feeling after the way she was grinning away like a school girl that he is going to have to crush her hormone-filled heart. Got to laugh at the picture of Bee next to her bed. Ohh how three is a crowd. Ohh and Dex’s picture was on the other table lol 4 is also a crowd in this case!

I adore Casey. Who confused us and told us he was going to come back changed and dark? Lol juvie gave him a glow imo. He and Ruby have been so adorable together. I have got to feel bad for Heath being the odd one out. No Buckton cousin around in the world? I really loved the mother-daughter scenes especially when Charlie wasn’t her usual uptight self regarding Casey too. I really hope that wasn’t the first and last of them like that! Ruby can’t believe Charlie kept a secret? Ahem ?*laugh out loud* -moment. Erm she managed to keep Brax a secret for the longest time AND also her own past...’Im your mother not your sister’-secret... Just saying!

Ohh Charlie’s ILY to Brax! Of course he knows but it doesn’t hurt to share. I liked that she questioned if he knew about Stu; although a little worrying that she didn’t already know the answer to that question. But a great response from him: “Like a lot of the boys, Stu’s had a tough life. That’s what brings us together”. I had my thoughts of how the s/l would go with Brax. Some undercover theory. But maybe it was this simple all along. Brax was a bad boy with a tough up-bringing. A good guy on the wrong tracks and given the chance a good guy on the right tracks.

Oh their conversation explains Heath being free. Charlie hadn’t processed his paperwork. Lol as long as there is an excuse for him being free Im happy. Given that Charlie is supposedly the most competent cop in town no one else could possibly process his paperwork now, could they?! Oh he better eat his words! How dare he say “Im not sorry to see the back of that cop” – you better be sorry! Considering she gets shot because of Heath’s idiotic move on Jake’s drug crop. In summary Chax fans should be hating on Heath.

It was a really touching moment when she was putting her badge on and her last look in the mirror. Big sighhh giving up your career for love! Hmm the love really must be out of this world. The knock ...and gosh Jake looks so evil! Prison really didn’t give him a glow. Bang Bang. She hit the ground! *fingers crossed* she is not dead

If this s/l means they stay in the Bay and this is the only way then so be it. I am selfish like that!

I actually cried after seeing the promo. A great song choice. “I won’t let you go” by James Morrison. OMGosh Brax don’t let her go! It really felt like the end. Especially the way it showed their story. In my eyes a really beautiful story of ‘THE-ONE’ love. Like all great sad movies or stories I felt all the emotions in that 60second promo. Seriously brought tears to my eyes. I take it she is on life support and he doesn’t want to take her off! Arghh don’t do it! Let’s try the Sleeping Beauty story: kiss her and see if she wakes??? Brax in tears = heartbreaking! Urmm I am only studying Medicine but 2 gun shots in the abdomen does not mean death necessarily. Not in real life and not in SB. It’s not a walk in the park [urghh and she is soo tiny] but nothing is decided. I have faith [NOT in denial] that she survives. It is a gut feeling. Can’t explain it! However if Esther has decided to move on from HAA; I wish her the best. Dreams are for pursuing not just to have while sleeping imo. Stunning actress; beautiful person it seems!

How cruel are people. Gosh I get that people don’t like the s/l but reading things like “die woman die” makes me so angry. I LOVE the storyline. I ADORE the characters and I ADORE the actors who play them so well! I have never enjoyed a storyline so much. And YES it is probably due to the fact that I have a heart. The writers don’t owe anybody anything. They have a job to do which is to write entertainment and they have done that in my eyes. No matter the ending and how sad or happy it is, the journey has been so amazing to watch!

I will really miss sharing on this thread. I miss Chax already. It is all good. I will be back ranting in January if nobody minds. Maybe a few things to say if I get to see some more awesome promos before then.

Peace out! Enjoy the holidays folks =); Chax fans enjoy a break from this obsession

<3Brax! “No one’s going to take you away from me” – PLEASE, Please let this be true

Edited November 25, 2011 by DocZed64

[LauraPhilly!!]

Omg DocZed, I am really going to miss your rants after every episode that Brax is in!

It may be a ghost thread when it comes to posts but believe me, I and tonnes of others no doubt, read your rants everyday!

I pretty much agree with you about everything.

I'm pretty much resigned to the fact now that Charlie

dies.

Seeing that the OS have released a gallery of their best moments and that the sneak peek for next year shows a summary of all their best moments, the idea of Charlie

surviving

doesn't look all that possible to me...

Hopefully, I'll be proofed wrong...although it does seem unlikely.

Jeez, I wish we didn't have to wait...6 weeks and 3 days to find out what happens!

Waiting over the weekend alone kills me sometimes!

[Whitney]

Finale was awesome!!!

Hoping the promo for next year is not what it seems

[alice93]

Warning: very long rant coming up. It reflects how much I loved the episode.

The writers don’t owe anybody anything. They have a job to do which is to write entertainment and they have done that in my eyes. No matter the ending and how sad or happy it is, the journey has been so amazing to watch!

<3Brax! “No one’s going to take you away from me” – PLEASE, Please let this be true

Amen.

[Aquamarine]

Probably the only River Boy I care for at the moment. <3

Edited December 25, 2011 by Aquamarine

[Red Ranger 1]

I've slowly, over the latter part of this year, come to the conclusion that Brax is the biggest lowlife ever to grace the regular cast.He is completely without redeeming features.Okay, "completely" is a bit of an exaggeration.He does genuinely care about people like Casey, Charlie and Heath but only when it suits him.He'll defend them and try to protect them up to a point but if it's in his best interests to use them or abandon them then he'll do it.

I just don't know why we would be expected to sympathise with him.I find it astounding that some people seemed to see him punching Heath down a sand dune as a cool moment when it was actually an act of completely unprovoked brutality, just another example of Brax using violent bullying tactics to get his own way.The whole thing with Hammer was absurd, with us apparently supposed to see Hammer as the bad man and Brax as the hero when they were exactly the same: Same ends, same means, same victims.Hammer was motivated by loyalty to his brother, a quality that in Brax is somehow portrayed as noble no matter how bad the things he does as a result are (notably having Liam beaten up for reporting Heath).And Brax demonstrated that he was perfectly prepared to murder Hammer:It's only chance that Casey prevented his first attempt and Charlie did the job for him.

He's a criminal, not because of what he does but because of who he is.He has that mentality where he does whatever's going to benefit him, whether it's legally or morally right or not.His idea of "going straight" seems to mean not selling drugs anymore but it doesn't mean he's suddenly a good person because he's nothing of the sort.At the start of the year I thought he might be a good person with a bad reputation but it's the other way round, he's a bad person who convinces people that he's the pleasant side of the River Boys because he's intelligent and personable.I actually really hope that

Charlie does die

because the show can't demonstrate that someone can behave like Brax and be rewarded with a happy ending:There needs to be proper permanent consequences to his actions, not being stabbed and then being fit enough to get into a fight a week later, and if he's not going to receive any legal punishment then

having the woman he loves die because of the life he leads

will have to do.

Unfortunately I suspect Esther's only just finished filming and will be on screen until March/April and they've only announced her departure now to convince people she might actually die.

But I could be wrong.

[Pierced Musie]

... And I have come to the conclusion that the only reason I watched h&a in 2011 was because of Brax (& river boys in general). Love him or hate him it does not matter because it is getting people discussing the show again. I would rather have a morally grey character than a load of vanilla characters because that is just... boring. But then I was the one all those years ago I liked Sarah Lewis and Zoe !

[Red Ranger 1]

Really?I'd say Brax is the main reason why I only enjoy one episode out of three these days.Frankly, they've written themselves into a corner:He's gone too far to be redeemed and become too popular to get his comeuppance so we're left with a bunch of repetitive storylines that can basically be summed up as "He does the wrong thing.Nothing happens as a result."To me, that's true boredom.

[Pierced Musie]

I'm not very good at explaining why a character interests me so I apologize about this post

I do think that halfway through the year they screwed up Brax and went too far over the line but I'm hoping that this year they can pull it back. Though I like Chax I am hoping that they begin to show Brax with other characters because I find those scenes interesting.

[alexx]

I've slowly, over the latter part of this year, come to the conclusion that Brax is the biggest lowlife ever to grace the regular cast.He is completely without redeeming features.Okay, "completely" is a bit of an exaggeration.He does genuinely care about people like Casey, Charlie and Heath but only when it suits him.He'll defend them and try to protect them up to a point but if it's in his best interests to use them or abandon them then he'll do it.

I just don't know why we would be expected to sympathise with him.I find it astounding that some people seemed to see him punching Heath down a sand dune as a cool moment when it was actually an act of completely unprovoked brutality, just another example of Brax using violent bullying tactics to get his own way.The whole thing with Hammer was absurd, with us apparently supposed to see Hammer as the bad man and Brax as the hero when they were exactly the same: Same ends, same means, same victims.Hammer was motivated by loyalty to his brother, a quality that in Brax is somehow portrayed as noble no matter how bad the things he does as a result are (notably having Liam beaten up for reporting Heath).And Brax demonstrated that he was perfectly prepared to murder Hammer:It's only chance that Casey prevented his first attempt and Charlie did the job for him.

He's a criminal, not because of what he does but because of who he is.He has that mentality where he does whatever's going to benefit him, whether it's legally or morally right or not.His idea of "going straight" seems to mean not selling drugs anymore but it doesn't mean he's suddenly a good person because he's nothing of the sort.At the start of the year I thought he might be a good person with a bad reputation but it's the other way round, he's a bad person who convinces people that he's the pleasant side of the River Boys because he's intelligent and personable.I actually really hope that

Charlie does die

because the show can't demonstrate that someone can behave like Brax and be rewarded with a happy ending:There needs to be proper permanent consequences to his actions, not being stabbed and then being fit enough to get into a fight a week later, and if he's not going to receive any legal punishment then

having the woman he loves die because of the life he leads

will have to do.

Unfortunately I suspect Esther's only just finished filming and will be on screen until March/April and they've only announced her departure now to convince people she might actually die.

But I could be wrong.

Absolutely, completely agree with alll of this! Very well put.

Pierced Musie - I agree we need characters that have many layers, faults, that screw up, can be nasty, mental, suicidal, depressed etc. all to create drama and suspense. We also need the 'vanilla' characters as you put it, otherwise we simply don't care about them. But Brax is everything Red Ranger just discussed. I feel the same towards Heath, although the only 'human' element that could possibly be seen to redeem his actions is that he is a sheep and doesn't seem to have a mind of his own.

The River Boys on whole, its annoying TV to me, frustrating and it isn't Home and Away. Its the producers latching on to this years 'popular' drama format, whereby the bad guys are the stars of the show and are seen as 'cool', no matter what they do.

I know you said you can't describe why you like him, but I'd be interested in knowing why anyone likes him - the fans have got to be seeing him as a good guy deep down, despite there not being anything on screen to give that impression. Every time I see him in tears over Charlie in the promo I think, I hope she dies so that it can act as some sort of punishment for being such a prick in life because if he is contracted to stay on the show for the foreseeable future, he obviously isn't going to be punished legally.

Edited January 17, 2012 by alexx