2018 Season - UK Episode Discussion

[Red Ranger 1]

Alf's episode count this week:Five! Roo didn't appear, although at least we know where she is.

It felt a bit of a stretch for Leah to say Hunter's in their care when he's 19 and was happy to move out and shack up with Olivia a year ago.I kind of wanted Alf to follow through on his threat rather than have it neutered. Deliberate or not, Hunter pretty much has used Jennifer and then discarded her, although I guess dragging it out would have been cruel.I really didn't like Olivia involving herself even though she made a few good points, it felt like she was delighted that Hunter and Jennifer were faltering.And it's hard not to observe that girls need to have emotional problems to get involved with Hunter.Some of Leah and Hunter's comments on the differences between the relationships had me rolling my eyes somewhat and it's clear Jennifer has a lot of self-esteem issues.

Talking of self-esteem issues, Coco was really getting herself in a tizz and misinterpreting everything Ryder said.Their date managed to be both awkward and sweet at the same time and it's nice that the show isn't portraying teenagers as ultra-experienced.Raffy continues to be a good friend.

It was nice too that the show tried to pull things back on recent portrayals of Ash as the bad guy and that the rest of the town are beginning to regret letting him isolate himself.I think even he is beginning to feel like he's lost Robbo as a convenient target for his anger: He's a long way off forgiving him if he ever will, but he seems to feel like he's done all he can and it's out of his hands.He's realised by now that he can't actually kill him so has to put up with the law dragging their feet (if not by that much).Him looking at the baby scan was nicely poignant.It was good of the Bay's menfolk to rock up with beers and show him they were there for him, although I'm not sure how much he actually appreciated it.The scene order at the end was really weird, as if the episode was running short and they moved a couple of scenes from the start of the next episode over.We see Ash get trapped under a car, then we get an unrelated scene, then it cuts back to show he's still under the car.

[c120701]

If Hunter had tried what Jennifer did on her, it’d be attempted rape and people would be up in arms. He repeatedly said “no” but she continued to try and force him to sleep with her.

I wonder if we’ll get a Ken reference from Irene when she finds out about Ash.

[Little bean]

Oh Ash......if only you had activated “Hey Siri”

[atrus]

The approach of the weekend usually seems to herald the resumption of The Hunter & Olivia Show, and this week was no exception. I felt it was a bit rich of Irene to give Hunter such a serve for 'tormenting' Olivia, when she was hectoring her for weeks prior to the break-up, including with sly digs in front of other people not unlike Hunter's on Thursday. Nonetheless, I don't want to see Olivia going back to self-harming and so I was glad they buried the hatchet somewhat.

I've decided I like Jennifer a lot; she's fun in a flawed kind of way and gets some good lines.  ("And what a lovely monastery it is. ... Maybe we can pick out some ankle-length skirts while we're at it.") But there was something really not right about the way she was throwing herself at Hunter. As others have remarked, if the roles had been reversed and it was Jen who had told Hunter to stop kissing/lunging at her as many times as he did, it'd be considered a serious problem. I think she's very well observed for a guest character, and would be a gift for any actor to play; she's very funny but with a really tragic streak to her too. She dares to say things that none of the other characters would, e.g. about Alf and his house rules ("It's not my fault they're all prudes") but at the same time, she's got real proto-bunny boiler tendencies ("I want to break up." "No!") which clearly come from a place of loneliness and neglect ("It's not like I blame you. My own dad doesn't even want me around.")  She's evidently way too invested and insecure to be used as a rebound, so I'm glad Hunter at least tried to end it - though I remain of the view that he probably shouldn't have gone there in the first place.

Glad that Maggie has had some good news on the cancer front, and that Ben came clean to her about the court case in the end - honesty is definitely going to be the best policy going forward if the family is to survive this. I continue to warm to all four Astonis and particularly Ziggy, who had a lovely scene with Coco confessing to her that she was going on a date with Ryder (although it was a bit mean of Ziggy to immediately blurt this to the 'parentals'). There's something refreshingly innocent about the romance between Ryder and Coco, if you can even call it a romance. I'm not even sure either of them are going into this for any reason other than that it's the done thing, which makes it fairly awkward viewing - but it's sweet in its own way.

JENNIFER (to Ryder): If I was into guys that look like you - which there's no way that I am - I would give you a shot."

COCO: Does he expect me to be like Jennifer?
RAFFY: What, stupid and abrasive?

I loved how the Hunter/Jennifer and the Ryder/Coco threads interplayed, with the former pair's dysfunctional relationship setting a really poor example for the latter - and Coco and Ryder clearly terrified of being under pressure to emulate a Hunter/Jen kind of romance. Ryder's ridiculous lines, such as about oysters being the food of love, were obviously his means of papering over his own insecurities, but just ended up terrifying poor Coco. I thought it was nice how he admitted to Coco that he was just as inexperienced as she was (I laughed out loud at his deadpan delivery of "I might act all confident..." - given that he doesn't at all), and that the limit of his ambitions for the time being was "a bit more kissing... only if you were up for it". As ever, Raffy was a brilliant grounding influence, allaying Coco's doubts and proving she's more mature than either of her friends.

[Helena]

Can you please help me I have posted on fanfiction request about two separate fanfictions but no one has helped yet I would like story number one to be about brax having a child with autism and the second one to be about brax being in a relationship with bianca Scott and heath to be in a relationship with Charlie buckton by the way brax is Darryl Braxton 

[Dan F]

49 minutes ago, [email protected] said:

Can you please help me I have posted on fanfiction request about two separate fanfictions but no one has helped yet I would like story number one to be about brax having a child with autism and the second one to be about brax being in a relationship with bianca Scott and heath to be in a relationship with Charlie buckton by the way brax is Darryl Braxton 

Please don't keep posting this in various threads (I removed your other post in the Quick Question thread), your original post in the correct thread is enough.

If an author sees an idea that they'd like to develop then they can do, but ultimately it's up to them - no-one is obligated to take on requests.

[Helena]

Sorry I just wanted people to notice me I didn't mean to keep posting about it

[Slade]

On 27/04/2018 at 14:42, H&Alover said:

I missed that Slade - good one!  They do slip those in now and again.

Did you ever watch Sunset Beach?  It was a US soap broadcast during Five's early years.  The storylines were ridiculous and the acting at times diabolical but I found it simply quite brilliant.  The voiceovers by the presenter during the closing credits were often hilarious.  He would take the p*** out of the characters and the storylines.

 

On 27/04/2018 at 19:29, c120701 said:

If Hunter had tried what Jennifer did on her, it’d be attempted rape and people would be up in arms. He repeatedly said “no” but she continued to try and force him to sleep with her.

Unfortunately that's the society we live in.  It always worse when a male does something bad than a woman and always worse if something bad happens to a woman than the same thing happening to a man.

 

I felt sorry for Jennifer again.  Hunter definitely used her.  2-3 weeks ago when Hunter tried to move things along just after he told Jen he wanted to take things slowly, she expressed reservations when she was pondering her thoughts by the peer.  So it looks like she was right all along although it hasn't helped her being so full-on.  I don't necessarily think Hunter's done this in the malicious sense but I believe he wanted to try and get over Olivia and was hoping his feelings would change towards Jen.  But alas there reached a point where he realised she just wasn't right for him which he acknowledged in the episode.  I'm really not happy with Olivia.  Even when Hunter told her things weren't going great it felt as though she could barely contain her glee.  I actually think she's been quite manipulative and very opportunistic, offering 'impartial' advice under the guise of 'mates' but for her own selfish reasons.  Now that Jen has been around for a little while I would like to know more about her backstory.  There were suggestions that she had some sort of eating disorder or some type of problem when she was picking on Coco but that seems to have been dropped.  We know she feels neglected by her dad, which might explain her dating preference considering that she's dated older guys and she tried to hit on Mason but it doesn't seem particularly traumatic (and those guys don't seem that much older than her anyway)  I would also like to know the circumstances of her gang disappearing as she seemed to have no friends when Coco hosted that event.  Will be interesting to see if she reverts back to her old self.

Still continuing to like the guardian role that Leah is playing towards several of the younger characters.  And I really like the way she is looking out for Jen.  I find I'm liking her character so much more than the year or so leading up to VJ's departure.

 

Whilst I currently don't like Ash I wouldn't wish a car falling on anyone and hope he is OK.

Can't really get that excited about Ryder and Coco although the confidence she gained when she got back after spending time with Diana appears to have completely gone and she's obviously very self conscious again.

[H&Alover]

The way Ash is behaving now made me wonder if he is heading for a breakdown or depression. He's lost a lot of people recently, Billie, Luke, his brother, who seems to have vanished, Luc, Kat, their baby and Tori and his friendship with Justin is broken.  Now his anger over Robbo has abated he seems at a loss.  It was a nice idea for Justin, Alf and John to rock up but it didn't seem to make any difference. His working hard looks like he's trying to block everything out. 

I don't think Hunter meant to deceive Jennifer, she just happened to be the first girl who took an interest in him after his break up. Naturally he was flattered but although they both said they would take things slowly it escalated very quickly. He did say she seemed to be very intense.  Remember she came onto Mason first at the gym and when he gently turned her down she looked ready to accuse him of coming onto her until she learnt the truth, then she turned her attention to Hunter. She may have not been happy with Alf's house rules but if that is the way he wants things to be she should accept it.  I'm glad Hunter resisted  her come on when she found they were all alone in the house. I wonder what exactly the relationship is with her dad, he came across as over protective when he dropped her at the beach and Coco, who she said she was meeting wasn't there, then he left her waiting for him at the Diner.  Next when he learnt she'd gone off to the Uni open day, stormed in and dragged her off. Don't forget he flew into a rage when he found out Coco had hit her, wonder what happened when they got home? He seemed more than happy to let her stay with Leah but is now refusing to even take Leah's calls about her coming back home. Is it his usual practice  to play mind games with her, rebuff her when she plays up then ignore her in a bid to make her grovel to get back in his good books, not physical abuse but mental? It was only meant to be just a few days until she went back home but she asked if she could stay for a few weeks?  It's not going to work her staying there and no way could she go to Irene's as suggested.  It's taken him a while to admit to it but now Hunter has seen the error of getting too involved with her and is finishing it, if she lets him.  Olivia may or may not have her own reasons but maybe she 'saw' something in Jennifer that neither Hunter or anyone else has that she's damaged in some way, takes one to know one. Another thing, when she am d Mason found Hunter sitting in his car getting drunk she told him she'd been let down by someone she loved - her mum maybe? I don't think she's on the scene, I checked back on his storyline and he asked Leah out when it looked like her and Alf nay have been buying the Diner but she turned him down as she'd only just broken up with Nate.

The up story after the down story lines was Ryder and Coco.  That was really sweet Both insecure and nervous - both asking advice - Ryder - Hunter and Coco - Raffy.   I smiled when after he said she looked beautiful in the dress Raffy had chosen she told him he did too, then qualified it by saying nice  and he replied beautiful is good.  Coco looking terrified when Ryder was talking about he didn't know if she liked doing things outside or inside, completely getting the wrong end of the stick,  I'm glad he followed her from Salt so he could explain properly what he was talking about - that was a waste of Alf's $50 if only Coco ate the oysters.  Pretty brave of him admitting he hadn't been on a proper date and they started again and walked off hand in hand, pretty sure there will be some more kissing involved.  I think differently atrus, when he was flirting with Coco and Raffy he did come across as confident, it's when it comes down to a one to one situation he becomes less so.

[atrus]

Not much to say today, as the Ash drama fatigue continues to set in; it feels like somebody in the writers' room really likes watching this man bawl. I suppose it's a good job Tori was there to advise, as I'd imagine most people's instinct would be to get the car off as fast as possible. But I can't see this life-and-death love-in between them lasting very long once Ash is (inevitably) out of the woods, and he remembers that Tori is still Robbo's one and only cheerleader. Oh, except that Alf apparently now thinks it's 'nice' that Tori's giving Robbo support, after having led the wolfpack at the Surf Club the other week (his line didn't appear to be delivered sarcastically, although Tori's retort was).

Elsewhere, Jennifer finally took no for an answer from Hunter, but it looks like she's got bigger problems to contend with from her dad. In a way I hope they continue, because I feel like she'd be a good permanent addition to the show - perhaps she could go and live with John and Marilyn instead of Raffy, who has an entire family of her own, being forced to keep them company in perpetuity?