2018 Season - UK Episode Discussion

[Pierced Musie]

Less said about that Dean moment the better. I know he hasn't been around long but I felt it was out of character that he would say something like that to Ava. For me it was yet again shifting a character to fit the story... which has been happening too much lately.

Buddy yet again upstaging everyone! Such a diva that he refuses to perform tricks for the stupid humans. He is too cool for this show. #Buddy!DaBigDawg!

[Blaxland 89]

Anyone notice the sign outside the bait shop. In black pen it said Palm Beach SLSC.

[Red Ranger 1]

Well, I can't really see that Ash did anything wrong there. Everything he said was essentially correct. The only real grey area was that I don't think Kat ever thought Robbo would kill her, which Ash sort of implied but didn't actually state outright:His reference to her reaction to finding the hit list was slightly ambiguous.Otherwise, sorry but she clearly was shaken and horrified by the discovery:Her faith in Robbo may have been restored pretty quickly but it was definitely shaken for a while there.If Kurt wasn't expecting any of that, then he's not as good at his job as he thinks he is.Even if he'd called Ash himself, chances are the prosecution would have cross-examined and Ash would have said all that anyway, so Kurt should have been prepared for it.And Robbo again shows this isn't as simple as him taking responsibility for what he's done by nearly doing a runner for at least the third time.Assuming he actually hasn't, although he's still around in the promo so we can probably assume that.

So...that's it for Martha? Hard to tell.Roo put the brakes on her visiting Summer Bay in the immediate future but looks like they're staying in touch so it's kept open.Much like Quinn, I guess.Alf gets the full story and it shakes him.He can't really say for sure that he'd have been understanding, and to be honest neither can I.Alf's never been the most open-minded person, and he was even worse thirty years ago.I like to think he'd have dealt with it eventually (after all, Ailsa had quite a few mental health issues over the years and he stuck by her) but I'm not confident his initial reaction would have been helpful.I liked seeing John taking on the sympathetic ear role again.

Hard to know what to make of Ava's C-plot here (except that if that's meant to be Raffy's bed she was in, it's gigantic!).The immediate evidence is that she's run away, but we've got The Hooded Stranger to factor in, and Dean as a probable red herring.Looks like it may scupper any chance of Justin giving evidence...

[atrus]

A lot of inconsistent writing today as regards the townsfolk and their feelings about Robbo. In their first scene, Alf was acting like he'd never had a problem with him at all, in stark contrast to the almost-lynching at the Surf Club a few weeks ago. It's almost as if someone's tipped him off a few weeks too late about Robbo having been made a regular character. Likewise for the Morgans - Justin flipped his lid the last time Robbo was allowed to wander around his house while Ava was there, yet this morning no-one even batted an eyelid as Robbo stood by the breakfast table admiring the drawing Ava was doing, while preparing to head off for his double murder trial. The only surprising thing about Ash turning up as a witness for the prosecution is that nobody on Team Robbo considered that possibility before now; and for a clever man, Kurt being so casual about Ash's presence outside the court didn't really ring true.

So, Ava disappears, and it's 50/50 whether she's run away (possible, having done it before, and having been in full-on spoilt brat mode earlier in the episode for no particularly good reason) or been snatched by whoever was watching the family in Salt the other night. The recap appeared to have been constructed to make us think it was Dean watching them, which probably means it wasn't - but either way, I simply don't buy that he would kidnap Ava.

Not sure whether we're supposed to take Roo's last scene with Martha as the end of this storyline, or just an interval in it. If it is the last we're going to see of her, I must admit I feel pretty underwhelmed by it all. There's been some solid acting but the story has been quite low-key, and lots of questions remain unanswered. So I hope there's more to come.

[atrus]

Well, I was going to come on today and query why the episode felt like a season finale - only to read posts elsewhere on the board and find out that it was!

I can't deny I'm intrigued by both of the major cliffhangers. Admittedly if you'd asked me to place bets on who'd kidnapped Ava, a bewigged Brenda Carpenter wouldn't have been my first answer - but it was a suitably creepy reveal. Can't even hazard a guess at who she is or what her motivation might be - the credits give us a name, Hazel, but that definitely doesn't mean anything to me. Ava seemed happy enough to be there from the little we saw; could Hazel therefore be someone already known to Ava? Or is Ava just smiling because that's her default expression? Either way, this is surely going to give Nina all the ammunition she needs to ban Justin from seeing Ava for a hundred lifetimes.

Meanwhile at the courthouse, the feds busting in and carting Robbo off before he could be sentenced was just as much of a surprise as Genevieve Lemon. The magistrate's reaction made me laugh, as if this kind of inconvenience was par for the course. I've almost given up trying to follow the tendrils of Robbo's backstory, but this development suggests we're finally going to get some of it cleared up for us, and not before time. I'll be surprised, given the circumstances, if very much of it is satisfactory - starting with why the feds allowed the trial to begin in the first place if they were even halfway minded to storm in and lay waste to it. Surely they could have pulled strings and had it adjourned if they wanted to bring Robbo in first?

I'm glad Ben was as blunt as he was with Maggie as she continued to talk up the idea of not allowing Ziggy to donate the stem cells; it seems that, in her emotional state, her train of thought simply wasn't making much sense, and so she needed to hear what Ben had to say, harsh as it sounded with all the talk of deathbeds. Hopefully Maggie will take heed and things will go to plan.

Elsewhere, Alf and Leah's conversation about everything being back to normal following the Martha saga seemed to suggest that she was nothing more than a Monster of the Week - although the door has apparently been left open for her to return at some point, with Alf declaring that he doesn't know whether they'll see her again. As I've said previously, I imagine it's most likely to come back into play when some new Stewart relatives are required.

[CaptainHulk]

Gen Lemon was Brenda Riley, though you're half -right, Carpenter being her maiden name.

[D.B]

Holy god...what a couple of episodes. 

Well to start off, Robbo's trial. 

23 hours ago, Red Ranger 1 said:

Well, I can't really see that Ash did anything wrong there. Everything he said was essentially correct. The only real grey area was that I don't think Kat ever thought Robbo would kill her, which Ash sort of implied but didn't actually state outright:His reference to her reaction to finding the hit list was slightly ambiguous.Otherwise, sorry but she clearly was shaken and horrified by the discovery:Her faith in Robbo may have been restored pretty quickly but it was definitely shaken for a while there.

Actually, I agree with you here Red, what Ash said was pretty much true and while I also thought Kat would never think that Robbo would kill her (I don't believe he would have intentionally hurtled her), the idea that she was living with a supposed killer is what anyone would think if they had what Kat and Ash had. Kat's restoration of her faith in Robbo annoyed me to the extreme, but it was shaken, and rightly so. Now, I have felt that Tori has acted so annoying and self-righteous that it felt impossible for me to like her in this storyline, but I was proved wrong, she did act very mature and supportive of Robbo during this which made me hope that there was still hope for her yet.  I did enjoy Alf's conversation with Robbo.

As for the Feds bursting in...shocking but didn't really make sense. I guess it's because they believe that Robbo is Beckett Reid and that he's a very important criminal to be locked up, but if that's the case, why would they allow him to be free this whole time?  Or allow the trial to go in place if they were just going to shut it down in the last few moments? It's like they were guided there at the last moment for a dramatic affect by a unknown force called...the writers.

As for Ava's disappearance, I'm actually intrigued in the Morgans since a very long time ago. Justin's anguish feels so real, it's not a surprise that he attacked Dean, who is still probably innocent, and despite my feelings against him, I'm happy he's willing to help Justin. Really impressed with Willow, who was able to to get Dean and Justin to stop fighting and focus on finding Ava, and Ash, whom I expected to be strolling around the place going on about Robbo but instead he's being a good friend to Justin so good on Ash and Willow. On the other side of it, not impressed with Tori, who' still putting Robbo, a man she doesn't really knows, (of course, I'm glad she's helping him, but still) above her family. As for this Hazel...looks like trouble, but I'm interested in why she's doing this. 

As for the Martha storyline.... is this the end? If so, for Martha, Roo, Alf, and the rest of the viewers and myself, I'm disappointed. There was so much emotional depth from Martha, Roo and Alf that they should have done more with it. Of course, it may not be over yet. 

I can't wait to see what the Feds want with Robbo and see more of the Astonis.

[Red Ranger 1]

If that was meant to keep us in suspense over the Commonwealth Games, then frankly I'd probably have given up caring about Robbo's storyline.The trial was an utter joke in storytelling terms.We're told it's really complicated and there's a lot of evidence to sift through and yet it's all over in a couple of days.And the jury were obviously bored and wanted to go home.No-one even seems to know what Robbo's on trial for: The only crimes we hear mentioned are the ones he committed after coming to Summer Bay (or, in the case of Dylan, shortly before), yet his big speech is all about "I don't remember Beckett Reid's crimes" without any mention of the crimes that he does remember and whether or not he should be punished for them.We have Samantha telling someone that something's changed overnight but it clearly hasn't, she got a similar reception from Robbo the previous day and the feds obviously just want to make a big entrance at a dramatic moment to set up a cliffhanger rather than doing something that actually makes sense.

I was more interested in the Ava storyline.It was good to see Ash completely put aside his desire to see Robbo punished and help Justin out as soon as he heard what was going on.And Dean also takes another step towards being three-dimensional by offering to help Justin even though he keeps trying to hit him.At least Justin doesn't seem to have to worry about Ava not eating.Ava seems to think she's perfectly fine and that Justin knows where she is, but I'm intrigued to know how she came to be with Hazel in the first place.Did she go out for an early morning walk?Did Hazel turn up at the door and convince her to come with her and not tell anyone?I notice Ava's age was given as ten on the missing notices, which is a bit more like it.(Incidentally, I'm beginning to wonder if there's at least three different sets of credits, the ones we get, the ones Channel 7 put online and the actual broadcast ones where episodes have been cobbled together to fit however many they've decided to show that week.People said Martha was credited as Martha Stewart when she was simply Martha, and there was a lot of talk when this was shown about the surname Hazel was credited with which we didn't get.)

Maggie was heading towards irrationality here.I get that seeing Ziggy ill was her worst nightmare come true and she was right to take her to hospital, but then she ignores the doctor and insists on a blinkered dogmatic viewpoint, so I'm glad Ben pulled her up too and hopefully he got through to her and made her see she'd be hurting Ziggy by refusing the donation.Coco struck a good balance between caring for Ziggy and teasing her and it felt like a realistic sisterly response.

[Pierced Musie]

Did I sit on the TV remote & switch to a US soap? That whole court scene so just WTF . Waiting for Ice T to show up with an explanation..

Poor Dean. Don't know if it was Willow or Colby who broke his heart by asking him if he took Ava but that face... He looked like a kicked puppy. I understand why he would be accused but hate the way it was built up. I really want him to be the one to find Ava now. 

As for Ava... Where was Buddy & his protective instinct? Unless he is the one who set it all up for the lolz. Probably also the one who set up Ryan/Breckett/Robbo/Jim-Bob. #Buddy!Master-of-the-Universebay. #BuddyObsession.

Ben and Maggie broke me a lil in that kitchen scene. Damn you H&A!!

And yesssss, that is the Ash that I remember being introduced. Had time for others when they are in need, even if not in sync with those who need help.

[CaptainHulk]

The Fed stuff was done for the sheer WTF moment. "HALT! WE ARE FEDERAL MARSHALLS AND WILL TOTALLY SHOOT YOUR ASS IF YOU DO NOT COMPLY!"

"YOU'RE FIXIN' TO TASTE LIQUID HELL RIGHT ABOUT NOW!"

(That last one was from a real US Traffic inciden)

And Buddy seems to be gaining a Fandom!