2018 Season - UK Episode Discussion

[Slade]

Whilst I'm team Robbo, I do have to give credit to Ash for the way he 'switched' sides and batted for the prosecution.  I had to laugh at Tori.  When Justin and Robbo learned that Ash was willingly going to testify for the defence this immediately raised suspicion with both of them.  But Tori (presumably because she's decided she's in love with Ash again) thought everything was going to be OK no questions asked.  I still continued to like the way she supported Robbo in court though and I liked Robbo's speech whilst on the witness stand.  TBH I wasn't really that surprised when the Feds showed up and hauled him off.  I would like to know what the jury's verdict is though.

Whilst I was annoyed at Dean for threatening Justin, I didn't think he was behind Ava's disappearance as that would have been too obvious.  Whoever this mystery woman is Ava doesn't seem frightened of her at all.

 

Found Maggie annoying re Ziggy but I'm glad she came round.

[H&Alover]

First off when did Aus trials turn into the American format, defendant sitting next to his counsel at  a table and not in the dock, witness box next to the judge, when we had John's trial it was in the English style.

Who are Brenda Carpenter and Genevieve Lemon?

Would Ash be allowed just to switch sides like that?  I know the prosecution have got to paint the defendant in the worse possible light but I certainly didn't see an evil psychopath siting there and his behaviour since he arrived in the  bay didn't match that of one. Most of what Ash said was true, about how he Kat found the tool box and what was in it, Kat's shock about finding out about Robbo's 'true' identity, but the rest of it was speculation, yes her faith in Robbo was shaken but speaking to him after convinced her he would never deliberately hurt her. Why was Ash helping Kat anyway, I've forgotten? There wasn't any mention of Carter holding a gun on Robbo at the Marina which I guess was shown to the jury. No way was that woman a reporter and do they allow mobiles in a court room? What the hell did happen with the cross examination of Robbo that Kurt was so worried about?  He definitely made one emotional statement, if I wasn't already a fan, I would have been after that, willing to go to prison, OK I know he was going to do a runner but was talked out of it by Alf, he was emphatic about not having any memory of being Beckett Reid but mentioned he had had another identity and had a wife and children who had died. By the way Kurt was speaking to Tori and Robbo after it seemed like there was a lot more that we didn't hear which is why he thought the verdict would be  a lot longer to reach. No-one seemed/seems to have a list of BR's crimes which if we are to believe the original premise go back quite a few years. He was about to be given the verdict for Novak's and Carters'.  Who knows how the Fed's minds work, they are a law unto themselves in most countries, overruling local and even state bobbies and it seems trials. Must have been a reason, which I dare say we'll find out soon, why they waited so long, like you Slade I would have liked to have known the verdict whichever way it would have gone.  They know a lot about him going by the trailer and if the photo we saw was anything to go by he was a fed!  If that's the last we see of Kurt it'll be  a shame I liked him, he certainly scrubbed up well.

I think Ava took off by herself as a way of punishing Justin for not taking her surfing like he promised, though matters were taken out of his hands in that regard. As Tori (I think) pointed out she does have form for running off, Justin feels guilty as he wasn't able to spend as much time with her as he wanted. Buddy may not always be the best guard dog in the world, but even he would have made a noise if someone had sneaked into the house during the night/early morning and would 'they' have taken time to snatch a sleeping child and pack her backpack? Olivia and Hunter find said backpack tonight. She is a sensible kid though and no way can I see her going off with perfect strangers, she did seem very at ease in that house, too at ease in fact, could she have been drugged? She took the news 'daddy wouldn't be able to pick her up' too well. Surprisingly Dean wasn't the first person Justin thought of as having a grudge against him, well not since The Syndicate anyway, until he saw him and naturally snapped, just as well Ash was there to hold him back.  As we thought he was just goading Justin about him having a go at Willow over the knife incident, Willow already knows he wouldn't hurt children and of course Colby does too but can't say anything. Out of the blow Dean offering his and the RB's help in looking for her, they can go places the cops wouldn't/couldn't and speak to people who wouldn't speak to the cops. The though occurred after could the people who have got her be the mysterious 'they' that Colby, Jai and Dean were after all those years ago?  If they've been watching any of them they would have made the connection between Willow, Justin, Dean & Colby by now, it would be a way to getting Colby to back off.

Well the Martha saga ended flatly, while I'm glad she Alf got to speak properly and she was right the Alf of 30 years ago wouldn't have understood about her borderline personality disorder, hell she didn't understand it herself, as I thought she left because she was scared she might hurt Alf or even worse Roo. I do think TPTB missed a chance by Alf not telling her about his PTSD therefore letting her know he would have understood now. Liked his chat with John who didn't hold back in confirming he could be  a stubborn goat. the usual promise of Roo and Martha keeping in touch - yes right.

Wow the harvesting of Ziggy's stem cells has moved on a pace, thought it would be a couple of weeks. Understandable Maggie is upset seeing her child suffering.  as it turned out just a coincidence  she gets gastro just as treatment starts. Wise decision  to take her to hospital to get a proper diagnosis.  Loved the banter between Coco and Ziggy, offering the bucket so hopefully her aim would be better and so funny her wearing rubber gloves.   Sweet her getting Brody to come and see Ziggy, never mind she looked awful. Maggie's reaction would be true of any parent, but as Ben pointed out Ziggy is just on her sick bed which she would rather be than have Maggie on her death bed. Of course if the boot was on the other foot Ben would be having the same feelings as Maggie is. 

[Dan F]

48 minutes ago, H&Alover said:

Who are Brenda Carpenter and Genevieve Lemon?

Genevieve Lemon plays Hazel, the woman who's got Ava. She previously played Lou Carpenter's sister Brenda in Neighbours in the early 90s.

She's also the mother of Darcey Wilson, who played Matt Page's little sister Eloise.

[Red Ranger 1]

So, no real follow-up to Robbo's abrupt disappearance, apart from more spooks being spooky and a few references that we'll get to later.Not that I missed it because it was the Ava stuff I was most interested in.I'm surprised there was nothing further about the mysterious Hazel, meaning in a way we're ahead of the characters, although the answers we have just raise more questions.We're still no further to finding out how Ava ended up with her: Did she find her wandering the streets (with the bag?) and somehow convince her to come with her? Did she take the bag later on to make it look like Ava was a runaway? Still, some great character stuff (although I could have done without Olivia looking for yet another excuse to get back in with Hunter), with Justin's palpable fear at Ava going missing striking home, and it's good to see the show's once again at the point where something like this affects the whole community because they know the Morgans.Raffy demonstrates again why she should be with her family:Her scene with John and Marilyn was good, but that's where she belongs.And I got the first sign of the chemistry between her and Ryder that I've heard talked about in other threads, with their hug being rather sweet: I'm not sure I want them together, but much like the VJ/Olivia/Hunter group we've got a situation where the third wheel actually works better with either member of the couple than they do with each other!

I remember the Ash haters being quick to cheer Colby on when he lost his temper with him after this was shown in Australia, but I found it grossly unprofessional (although probably influenced by other factors, see below) and massively unfair: Ash has been as worried about Ava as anyone but it's understandable he'd be affected by the person who indirectly caused the death of his son being removed from the legal process and you'd expect the local police to show at least some interest in an alleged murderer not facing trial.All year Ash has had people telling him to trust the courts and the courts have been shown to be worthless and justice hasn't been served.Colby gets points for at least putting Ash (and Tori) in the picture once he did have information, so once I again I found my opinion of Saint Tori lowered as, with her niece missing and Ash searching for her, she feels the need to sneer at him for, er, telling the truth in court.Oh well, at least she put it aside when she was at home and after months of acting like she's the most important person in all this she's finally accepted it's out of her hands.

I was very disappointed that Jasmine says she's going to phone Mason and then spends the rest of the episode obsessing over Colby before "helping" him in the adult manner.(Also, when she says he was short with her that morning, it was actually the previous day.)There's probably some lingering resentment about the way Mason was discarded, but even before that I didn't see the sense of this pairing: Two rather bland pretty newcomers need to be properly integrated into the show, not closed off together. Colby at least has the history with Willow and Dean and his secret to hang him on, but Jasmine's introductory storyline was over within a couple of weeks of her arriving, she seems to be another character whose family are going to remain vague and off-screen, and her friendship/whatever with Mason gave her a link to the rest of the show that hooking up with a guy we don't know any better than her doesn't.I was hoping she'd move in with Leah but instead she's stuck out in a van.As for Colby, we get a hint of who he's searching for: Is he old enough for that to be his daughter, as I sort-of suggested a while back? Could the "they" that he and Dean referred to mean he was actually chasing her kidnappers?If so, you do wonder why Dean hushed that up, given that that's mitigation right there.Maybe he was trying to protect Colby but it is possible to be too noble.

So, with us carrying on over the Commonwealth cliffhanger, we are now seeing episodes that were only shown in Australia a month or so ago, and on Monday we will only be 20 episodes behind (although Australia's on 6 episodes a week for at least the next two weeks, so expect that to keep changing).Don't say it too loud, Channel 5 might notice!

[atrus]

Was Olivia seriously using Ava's disappearance as a way of spending time with Hunter, despite what he said the other day? Apparently so, but happily her machinations played second-fiddle to the finding of Ava's bag, providing confirmation of what we already knew to the searchers - that someone has her. No more sightings of Genevieve Lemon, sadly, but some sound performances and poignant moments to make up for it. Difficult not to feel for Justin and his horror at the unfolding nightmare - and a sweet moment with Ryder and Raffy too, which redeemed Ryder's glib remarks from the start of the episode.

So, more hints at what's going on with Colby - he totally out-Ashed Ash at the police station, which I assume was meant to tell us in no uncertain terms that he's been personally affected by the Ava situation. And later we appear to get a sense of why, as we see him flicking through another missing persons file on a little girl. Undermining all that, I felt, was him breaking off from the search to make sweet love to Jasmine. It felt a little jarring and unnecessary - especially after all his hand-wringing about his 'professional ethics' the other day.

Meanwhile, there was a bit of a drought on Robbo news, other than Colby relaying what he'd learned about the conspicuous Fed mopper-upper to Tori and (unwisely, I suspect) to Ash. Clever way of continuing the story at the end there without having to pay Jake Ryan for an appearance.

[D.B]

Wow, what an episode. 

Ava's disappearance has just seemed to have gotten much worse. I can't even begin to imagine what it's like to be in Justin's shoes as a father, especially since he just got her back, even if it was for a while. He already felt like he failed her before and now he feels like he did it again, only  this time maybe, (hopefully not) with worse consequences. I did like how the whole community got behind the Morgans and helped; that's what I really loved the most about the show, how when times get rough, the community gets together and look out for each other as Alf has said many times before. As others have said above, I was furious at Olivia for using this dark time as an excuse to spend time with Hunter. Someone should have strangled her. Raffy, on the other hand, was very impressive,  clearly knowing that, despite her troubles with them, it is with her family where she belongs, no matter how much I love her with John and Marilyn. Her and Ryder were very cute, it's good to see that he has time for her as well as Coco, who I want to see helping Raffy the way Raffy's been helping her.

22 hours ago, Red Ranger 1 said:

I remember the Ash haters being quick to cheer Colby on when he lost his temper with him after this was shown in Australia, but I found it grossly unprofessional (although probably influenced by other factors, see below) and massively unfair: Ash has been as worried about Ava as anyone but it's understandable he'd be affected by the person who indirectly caused the death of his son being removed from the legal process and you'd expect the local police to show at least some interest in an alleged murderer not facing trial.All year Ash has had people telling him to trust the courts and the courts have been shown to be worthless and justice hasn't been served.

Well, I have to massively disagree: I get that Ash is understandably furious that Robbo has once again escape the legal system (though I can tell there's something more to it), but clearly, even someone like him can see that there are much important things than his desire for revenge right now. A kid is missing and presumed kidnapped, I felt Colby was in every right to put Ash in his place (I'm not exactly an Ash-hater, but he's far from a favourite), I know that justice must be served, but in an life-or-death situation, the police has to put everything aside to resolve it. Besides, the feds have Robbo, even if he's guilty of his past crimes (I'm still out whether he's Beckett Reid or Ryan Shaw), it's not like he's on the run again, some form of the authorities have him, meanwhile the police have to try and save Ava, they have no time for Ash's outbursts, even though he's trying to find Ava as well. And, as you said, this is probably personal for Colby so I can forgive him for possibly overreacting.

22 hours ago, Red Ranger 1 said:

I was very disappointed that Jasmine says she's going to phone Mason and then spends the rest of the episode obsessing over Colby before "helping" him in the adult manner.There's probably some lingering resentment about the way Mason was discarded, but even before that I didn't see the sense of this pairing: Two rather bland pretty newcomers need to be properly integrated into the show, not closed off together. Colby at least has the history with Willow and Dean and his secret to hang him on, but Jasmine's introductory storyline was over within a couple of weeks of her arriving, she seems to be another character whose family are going to remain vague and off-screen, and her friendship/whatever with Mason gave her a link to the rest of the show that hooking up with a guy we don't know any better than her doesn't.

In fairness, Jasmine did plan to look after Mason, but then after hearing Ash talking about Colby's outburst, felt like he needed someone as well. Jasmine's a smart woman, she always known Colby as a calm reliable officer sine she came to the bay, she can tell something is wrong. And beside, Mason isn't completely alone in this, he has his family and friends (even if they do include Hunter and Olivia), while Colby seems to be probably suffering from the same thing and has no one to turn to. Of course, it would have been nice to see Jasmine to comfort Mason, she was just trying to be there for Colby as well  and maybe their feelings got ahead of them, that has happened before on Home and Away. Although, just like Ash's outburst, it wasn't very suitable at this time, even though I do like both of these characters and I'd like them as a couple.

Can't wait to see what happened to Robbo.

[Slade]

Whilst I liked that Ash put his differences aside with Justin to help him find Ava, his reaction to the Feds seizing Robbo right from the courtroom annoyed me.  So when he stormed round to the police station I was cheering when Colby bit his head off even though I thought it was unprofessional.  There is a missing girl and Ash was making it all about him.  Although I suppose Colby squared things when he gave Ash and Tori off the record information about Robbo's records being erased.  This is a good thing as it looks unlikely Ash will get his justice revenge now.  I guess this means Robbo's lawyer is going to make a name for himself this time.

Ryder also annoyed me when he dismissed Ava's disappearance as something that would be typical for a 10 year old so I was glad Colby called him out.

 

I slightly raised an eyebrow after Colby was abrupt with Jasmine when she tried to talk to him as he was coming out the Diner as she was just being friendly and I thought he was slightly out of line.  I did like the fact that she was confiding in Leah about it.  It was obvious how keen she was so much so that my immediate thought during that scene was it's not going to take Colby very long to sleep with her.  But I didn't think he would tap it in the same episode.  I dunno, I just have doubts about him being boyfriend material because I'm not sure he's in the right head space.

 

Felt really sorry for Justin.  I think he did the right thing calling Nina.  Although I suspect she will hit the roof and Justin will get complete blame regardless of the circumstances.  I liked that Colby was very sympathetic towards him.

 

Despite my annoyance with Ryder earlier on in the episode I liked that he went round to the Morgan's to support Raffy and I also liked that she hugged him.  That scene just reminded me why I would still prefer to see these two together rather than Ryder and Coco.

 

Once again I laughed at Olivia's initial reaction to Hunter when he came into the Diner.  It felt like she she was still slightly reeling and couldn't get over the fact that Hunter turned her down.  Although she hasn't given up and has adopted the more patient old tactic of doing it under the guise of friends.  Although Hunter hasn't questioned her motives but given what's at stake he should take any help he can get.

Looking forward to seeing the follow-up to Robbo.

[H&Alover]

21 hours ago, Dan F said:

Genevieve Lemon plays Hazel, the woman who's got Ava. She previously played Lou Carpenter's sister Brenda in Neighbours in the early 90s.

She's also the mother of Darcey Wilson, who played Matt Page's little sister Eloise.

Thanks Dan - not being a Neighbours watcher I wouldn't know her.

[H&Alover]

Although we saw later there was more to it Colby's blow up at Ash was extreme to say the least.  Ash is meant to be Justin's mate yet he was more concerned about Robbo being snatched from the court by the feds which the local cops or courts, they are pretty much a law unto themselves, had no control over so to his mind thus escaping justice, it did however have the desired effect and Ash was left looking suitably sheepish.  I knew before he opened it that file wasn't  Ava's but a little girl called Belle Nixon, I'm going for his sister, I didn't catch the date of the poster but guessing, again, it may have been 10 years ago around the time the crash happened.  So I'm going to stick with my theory of it being the same people who have snatched Ava just because Justin is connected to Willow and by association Dean and Colby. As an aside we actually know nothing really about Colby does he have parents, brothers, sisters?

I'm sticking to my thought that Ava snuck out of the house after Justin popped in, she is a resourceful young girl (took her bag, change of clothes and money) and I think she was going to her nan's (Nina's mum).  As Hunter mentioned to Olivia while looking for her and Liv queried whether she would have walked that far that she first pitched up late at night having travelled from the city to an unknown town to look for her dad and at night.  I reckon Hazel and accomplices had been watching and just their luck she walks straight into their hands so to speak. I believe she was dragged into a car and drugged and her bag slung. Hunter did exactly the right thing, picked the bag up to check it was Ava's but left it where it was and rung the police. Quite possible Live did have thoughts of getting closer to Hunter while looking for Ava but wasn't on his mind at  all. I know the police had to be thorough and investigate all possibilities and go over the house looking for clues, taking prints of all who had been in the house recently Robbo's will be there, Ash's etc. but there were no signs of a forced entry, Buddy didn't make a noise and Ava certainly would have. It's been so tough on all of them considering what they have been through with the Syndicate, but especially on Justin, his running up and down the beach shouting her name was heart breaking, he needed to be doing something and as long as someone is at the house it has to be better than just sitting there. That call to Nina wouldn't have been easy to make, he put it off for as long as he could, of course Nina will blame him forgetting Ava had run away from her to find Justin.  Ryder, not meaning to sound flippant, was probably thinking of the times he's run away from home.  It was nice he went to see Raffy though and their hug was sweet.  Under normal circumstances Coco would be there for Raffy but understandably she's got her mum to think about. Annoyed though that the 'grown up' Morgan's still treat Raffy like a five year old and avoid being honest with her and keep insisting Ava will 'be fine'. Justin, love, you could drive yourself mad thinking 'what if, 'if only I had'.

It's great that the whole of the bay are helping in some way to find Ava, whether providing food for the cops, looking for her or in any other way, true bay spirit.

With all this drama going on at the Yabby Creek cop shop I suddenly realised we haven't seen McCarthy, is he away, you'd think the Fed guy, I'm guessing he's a Fed guy, who's swooped in and removed all of Robbo's/Beckett Reid's records would have wanted to speak to the sergeant rather than a senior constable and if McCarthy had been there he would have something to say. Colby is just following on in the steps of other cops, Jack, Charlie and Kat by revealing things they shouldn't to interested parties.

So Colby and Jasmine decided to put 'their talk' on hold for the moment in place of other forms of comfort.. I reckon though it was more of a comfort bonk on Colby's side. That goes pear shaped when she accidentally comes across that file.

So not quite all quiet on the Robbo front, he's driven to this guarded complex in a black out 4x4, to this all very military looking place, marched into an interview room and it's suggested he starts remembering things quickly. There's tons of photos of him on the wall, some from when he was Ryan Shaw and others making me think the Feds had been keeping tabs on him since he arrived in the bay (or since they realised he was there).

[Red Ranger 1]

On ‎17‎/‎05‎/‎2018 at 21:13, D.B said:

Well, I have to massively disagree: I get that Ash is understandably furious that Robbo has once again escape the legal system (though I can tell there's something more to it), but clearly, even someone like him can see that there are much important things than his desire for revenge right now. A kid is missing and presumed kidnapped, I felt Colby was in every right to put Ash in his place (I'm not exactly an Ash-hater, but he's far from a favourite), I know that justice must be served, but in an life-or-death situation, the police has to put everything aside to resolve it. Besides, the feds have Robbo, even if he's guilty of his past crimes (I'm still out whether he's Beckett Reid or Ryan Shaw), it's not like he's on the run again, some form of the authorities have him, meanwhile the police have to try and save Ava, they have no time for Ash's outbursts, even though he's trying to find Ava as well. And, as you said, this is probably personal for Colby so I can forgive him for possibly overreacting.

No, I still think Colby was out of line.At the end of the day, he was acting as the public face of the police and he can't just yell at everyone who comes in with a request that he thinks is unimportant.Was he planning on telling everyone who had their bike pinched or their homes graffitied that day that he didn't care because there was a missing girl and the police are incapable of multi-tasking?Ash made a reasonable request, and deserved a reasonable response.Even the other police officers seemed to look at Colby as if to say "What the hell are you doing?" I think the fact that Colby later calmed down and gave Ash the information he wanted shows that he knew he was wrong as well.

Alf's episode count this week:Five! Things go a bit crazy in Commonwealth week, with Tori, Justin and Robbo all appearing in four.

It's a bit worrying that all the show's big storylines at the moment seem to hinge on convoluted back stories with massive holes in them.So, after completely failing to properly explain how and why Martha faked her death, we get the full story of Robbo.And if you think about it for just a second, you realise how dumb it is.I mean, I said about six months ago that Robbo was an undercover cop and Dylan went after him because he found out, so it's pretty much "Is that it?" And my other theory, that Robbo assumed the identity of a shadowy criminal that no-one had seen after he was caught or killed, actually makes more sense than the federal police making up a criminal and having Robbo pretend to be him.I guess putting a file on police records makes sense if they were trying to attract the attention of corrupt cops, although the implication up to now has been that he and Novak were working together for years.But then, why have Robbo break cover in order to warn Kat rather than have him stay as Beckett Reid and send someone else to warn her, which could have saved not only her life but Pete Symes' as well? At what point did the feds find out Ryan Shaw was in Summer Bay calling himself Robbo, and why just leave him to his own devices? As it is, he kept Kat alive long enough to testify more by luck than judgement before getting her and several other people killed.(And what's happened to Dylan?Who was the woman Robbo and Kat found dead?Part of his cover, if he had the tattoo that pointed to her done just beforehand?)Their cover story was so effective that it led to a police task force being set up to hunt and possibly kill Robbo:Did the feds not think at that point that it might be an idea to let them know the left hand was fighting the right?Even if they thought Robbo was on top of things until the psychiatric report (even though there'd been evidence of his amnesia before that and even though the bodies were piling up and he'd nearly died several times), why then wait weeks to intervene and do it when he looked more likely to be released than he was the previous day if anything?They've basically just gone "Well, we could put up a stop to this, but let's hold off until the Commonwealth Cliffhanger" haven't they?Also, it's worrying that we're probably meant to be going "Oh, thank goodness, Robbo's a good guy" and ignoring the fact that he's still a criminal, and that the feds are basically covering up crimes committed by one of their number gone rogue, erasing all record of his wrongdoing and turning a blind eye to him carrying out what was at best an unauthorised execution.Novak isn't entitled to a fair trial and Robbo is considered above the law.Guess it helps to have connections.

And then we have the reveal of Colby, to which I may as well repeat what I said yesterday: Assuming (and I admit it wasn't stated outright) that he, Dean and the ill-fated Jai stole the car to get after his stepfather when he kidnapped his family, why didn't they just tell the police that? Sorry, but if this is meant to make us think it's okay for Colby to abandon one friend to die and another to rot in jail...it doesn't.And if Willow was meant to be part of that crowd, why doesn't she know about Colby's sister?Are they officially kidnapped?We see a lot of Missing posters and cuttings that only mention Bella, and ignore the fact that she's presumably with her mother, so..? I guess it demonstrates that Colby and Jasmine have bonded that he told her.

So, it's the quieter stuff that continues to be the most enjoyable, and I love seeing Summer Bay as a tight-knit community who look out for the families in their midst again.There was a time around about when Casey died when it felt like most of the community were a bit sad but didn't really know him that well which summed up how fragmented the cast had become: Here, they're all behind the Morgans and Astonis, with that lovely scene of Alf, Marilyn and Olivia all pitching in to help out without being asked, while everyone scours town for Ava (who really didn't look drugged at all to me...and I'm hoping that that storyline doesn't go nuts as well).It did frustrate me once again however to have Marilyn trying to get Raffy to go "home" when she is home!