2018 Season - UK Episode Discussion

[D.B]

Dammit, Coco, be honest with Ryder, and stop using your mother's illness as an excuse! Honestly, I know that this is hard for her, no-one would want their love ones to go  through cancer, but the way she seems to be making this all about herself is rapidly decreasing my sympathy for her. Ryder deserves the truth, he's been a great support for her these past few months. 

With that rant out of the way, I was absolutely moved by the Astoni storyline here, Maggie was unbelievably brave. The family scenes as they all supported her in her decision to cut all her hair, is emotionally beautiful. Unlike other cancer storylines, I feel like it hasn't been rushed or over-simplified. It has a great pacing and superb acting from all the actors involved. Ben telling Maggie that she looked even more beautiful afterwards....so moving. 

While I found the scenes with Ryder, Hunter and Mason a bit funny, I'm not sure about the friendship between the three, mainly because of the age difference between Ryder and the other two. Also I didn't like how the two of them were winding him up a bit too easily. It seemed a bit cruel on how they seemed to be giving him bad advice on purpose

Probably going against the grain here, but I was thrilled when Tori told Robbo that she wanted the two of them to be friends. I saw a lot of people on this forum who want the two to be a couple, but I would actually like to see the two of them to be great around each other  without having feelings for each other, we don't see that a lot in this show (few notable examples that I liked were/are Alf and Irene,Nate and Leah and Brody and Evie,). I agree with you Red, Robbo seems now like the Bay's James Bond or Jack Bauer. I liked that we saw Lance again, and I actually like the idea of Robbo going back to the feds. It would give him something to do, and I think it would suit him, he wants to help people and do some good. And it looks like we get to see him a hero again after a long time, as we see Hunter in real trouble with some very-dangerous looking thugs. 

Look forward to next episode.

[D.B]

Also, do the police know about Robbo's actual past now? How will McCarthy and Murray and the rest feel when they found out that the guy who was believed responsible for the death of their partner is actually a federal agent? That would be interesting to see.

[CaptainHulk]

Raffy isn't really doing herself any favours, tbh.

[atrus]

Strong scenes again with Maggie and the family. I said at the start of this cancer storyline that it was difficult to imagine why the writers had pursued it so soon after the Astonis' arrival, as no-one watching would be fooled into thinking it could actually be fatal. But I'm willing to admit that I missed the point: the more I've seen of the storyline, the more I've come to the conclusion that actually, this was a very clever hand to play in getting the audience to root for and care about the entire family more or less from the outset. And the sympathy they're gaining from viewers is well-deserved: the whole thing has been so well-written and well-acted, without any feeling that it's being rattled through at speed so viewers don't get bored. The truth is, if a storyline like this is good enough, there's no reason to be bored, and this stands with the best of them. In contrast it brings to mind Terese's cancer on Neighbours of late, which seemed to last about six weeks and to be largely an excuse to prolong an already tedious love triangle. With the Maggie story, Home & Away has done it a hundred times better. Oh, and speaking of Neighbours, Ben finally standing up to the hot-air-balloon-saboteur-turned-belligerent-tradie was great too.

Raffy continues to act in a way I consider beneath her. Ty isn't totally blameless; he seemed to be deliberately standoffish on the way to school, and the 'resting skank face' remark wasn't nice. But then Raffy did have an intentionally mardy look about her, and has been giving him a totally unjustified amount of grief pretty much since he arrived. In contrast, Marilyn and John seem to be handling things about right so far, with none of the delusion you'd perhaps expect from Maz about how everything ought to be harmonious and perfect. For once, indeed, she's coming over as the most pragmatic one, with her incisive, "of course he doesn't want to be here, darling".

Spoiler

Seemed like Ryder was the only one Ty actively attempted to make an effort with; he even summoned up a smile for him.

In totally unrelated news, I wonder why the writers have decided that the Coco/Ryder relationship should go south so quickly? I know why I hope it's going south. Seriously, though, even if it's nothing to do with the Ty storyline...

I don't think Coco and Ryder falling apart is an unreasonable development; I said a few weeks ago that it felt like they were dating just because it's what's expected of kids their age - and the speed at which Coco seems to have lost interest in Ryder in favour of Jeremy pretty much reinforced that point for me IMO. Nonetheless, Ryder has clearly taken it to heart and seems to care more about Coco than she does him. I know she's got a lot going on, but to my mind it doesn't excuse how she's behaving towards Ryder. As he gave her the opportunity to say on Friday: if she doesn't want to be with him, she should just be upfront about it. But it's cruel to just ignore him indefinitely and leave him hanging, then be cold with him every time they see each other.

Actually, after defending him the other day I'm going to have a bit of a rant about Mason, too, for different reasons. I thought he was horrid to Ryder on Friday, by deliberately giving him dud relationship advice and then laughing at him when it backfired. He even seemed to have a bet on with Hunter about how badly he'd managed to screw things up for Ryder, too. I know nobody really takes Ryder and Coco's relationship seriously, but Mason's young enough to know how intense feelings can be at that age - and to treat it so lightly was really out of order, I thought.

Elsewhere, Tori was also in mardy cow mode with Robbo, but at least she sort of came around in Friday's episode and made it clear it wasn't personal. Well, not very personal, anyway. Still unclear as to why we need to see Robbo hang around and angst about his career when he doesn't seem to be on speaking terms with anyone in the Bay - although perhaps the arrival of the shonky smugglers at the end of the episode will help turn things around in that regard?

[D.B]

56 minutes ago, atrus said:

Actually, after defending him the other day I'm going to have a bit of a rant about Mason, too, for different reasons. I thought he was horrid to Ryder on Friday, by deliberately giving him dud relationship advice and then laughing at him when it backfired. He even seemed to have a bet on with Hunter about how badly he'd managed to screw things up for Ryder, too. I know nobody really takes Ryder and Coco's relationship seriously, but Mason's young enough to know how intense feelings can be at that age - and to treat it so lightly was really out of order, I thought.

Yes, while I did find the scene a bit funny, I thought it was horrible as well. I though Mason would have been more sympathetic towards Ryder because he hasn't has the best relationship history either. But instead he just seemed like a bit of a bully. 

[H&Alover]

Agree with other posters on here the Astoni cancer story line has been dealt with beautifully and sensitively and I say Astoni cancer story because it isn't just about Maggie it's about all of them. It did seem a quick U-turn of Maggie's 'I'm not ready to shave my head' to 'Let's do it' but sometimes that happens, everyone is different. Maggie  may have cone to the decision on her own later but Coco just speeded up the process by suggesting it.  Maggie's speech echoed the majority of women that their hair is what they feel defines them and makes them feel feminine, it appears the cast and production team did the right research and talked to patients who are or have gone through the same thing. the actual head shaving was lovely - if that is the right word - all of the family in it together, the shot of them looking in the mirror was wonderful. and as D.B said Ben telling Maggie she looked more beautiful was moving. Congratulations to Rohan, Kestie, Anna and Sophie. Kestie hasn't been the first actress in a soap to shave their head to be able to relate to women in real life who decide to do that. Lesley Dunlop in Emmerdale did it when her character Brenda had cancer.

Having said that about Coco it doesn't excuse her attitude towards Ryder, OK he didn't know what was occurring  at that time, but she could have told him she'd met someone and put him out of his misery, she is his first love so bound to feel vulnerable and unsure. Hunter and Mason teasing him didn't help and isn't  Hunter nearer his age than Mason.

Onto Robbo who is still feeling lost, Tori didn't need to be so stand offish with him and her frankly childish avoidance of him on the beach was beneath her, but did at least redeem herself by actually talking to him later and agreeing they could be friends at some date. I'd like to think the local plod do now know his true past, in fact they could use him and his expertise  to find Hazel. Wouldn't it be rather tricky his returning to undercover work, his photo has been in the papers.  Spooky that just as he tells Lance thanks but no thanks he spots Hunter having an argument with some shifty guys on the pier, cop instinct kicking in I guess. Btw I suppose we should have guessed something was going to go down the number of times Hunter brought up getting those items to the pier. Neatly done by Robbo strolling down to the pier rod in hand and casually asking what the bother was.  There may be well be three of them but they have no idea of what they are letting themselves in for and anyway when did the bay become a dropping off point for drugs, if that it is what the bundles in the boat were? Hunter, as we saw, doesn't come off well and I also wondered if the fight brings back to Robbo what happened on the boat between him and Carter s nothing has been mentioned about that incident. Robbo taking them out will certainly reverse peoples opinion of him (again).

[Dan F]

4 minutes ago, H&Alover said:

Kestie hasn't been the first actress in a soap to shave their head to be able to relate to women in real life who decide to do that.

Kestie didn't actually shave her head (though she has had a haircut), it was a bald cap.

But it's certainly one of the best make-up jobs I've ever seen for a TV show - usually they stand out like a sore thumb.

 

[Red Ranger 1]

At the risk of being the resident Mason apologist: I get what he did to Ryder could be viewed as a bit cruel and childish, but Ryder was being very annoying and even Roo palmed him off on Hunter, so I can't really blame Mason for getting rid of him.Whilst I laughed at it, I guess the bet wasn't very nice, but I suppose the likely outcome was that Coco would either reassure Ryder or put him out of his misery (neither of which happened but that's not really down to Mason). And he did buy Ryder a milkshake!

And I think Mason did show today that he's a basically decent bloke, rushing in to help Hunter when the danger wasn't entirely over.I'm beginning to see why Olivia and Jasmine hang out, she's behaving towards Hunter the way Jasmine does towards Colby. As well as repeating the clingey ex behaviour she demonstrated towards Hunter after Charlotte's death, which then, as now, almost makes me feel sorry for Hunter.He probably should have just been blunt with her instead of palming her off on Mason, although I guess that's him getting his own back for Ryder!

Well, it's nice that Maggie shaving her hair off isn't just a case of going "I win!", as once the euphoria's over she has to deal with the downside: She worried that losing her hair would make it obvious she was sick, and it does.Ben continues to do a good job of being supportive and the balcony breakfast was a nice idea.

I ended up being a bit annoyed on John's behalf: Robbo continues to be rude to him, and continues to disrespect the townsfolk somewhat by expecting them to just forget everything he's done without any explanation, yet somehow he gets guilted into apologising because Robbo beat up a punch of bad guys.The smugglers (no word on what they were smuggling) being part of what Lance is investigating is a bit of a coincidence, but it's also a bit of a relief in a way since it stopped them just being a bunch of generic baddies only there to give Robbo the opportunity to play hero.

[atrus]

Continuing to appreciate the Maggie scenes; she's bound to be self-conscious, but credit to Ben for saying all the right things almost all of the time. And while he's always putting the most positive spin on things, ultimately the reason he's successfully buoying her is that he's being honest: the cancer hasn't changed who Maggie is or how he sees her.

Great - an avenue for Robbo to stick around and have more crime adventures. I hope this isn't going to be his only function. After everything that's happened I'd expect him to be a bit more resentful about the myriad ways the feds let him down, but already he's back on board. I'd prefer to explore more about his backstory if he's staying, which remains pretty threadbare - particularly the stuff about his family. It's still not really clear whether his memories are now 100% back to normal or whether things are still pretty hazy, and I think we need a bit of clarity on all that before moving forward.

Oh, Olivia. It's rare that anyone's able to provoke much sympathy for Hunter in me, but today she managed it. Everything she says and does is dressed up in an ostensibly selfless, 'Hunter needs me' narrative - but in fact she's putting herself first, like she always does. I get that she was shocked and upset by what happened: but how can she not see that the reason Hunter doesn't want to reconcile is because she hurt him irreparably by cheating - and that he's doing his best to get on in life without her? And to add insult to injury, the absolute last thing any teenage-or-thereabouts guy wants to share their hospital bed with is a rainbow-coloured teddy-bear. In that context I'm glad Mason - who did redeem himself today - effectively made it clear that it was her specifically that Hunter didn't want to see. It's the only way she's ever going to learn.

[H&Alover]

Well it fooled me Dan F!   I guess make up departments learn from others mistakes and there is more they can do to make it realistic than there used to be. Naturally now she's had it done the fact she has cancer is going to be there for all to see so I could see why she was wary about going out (and back to school). She doesn't want to be Maggie with cancer, she just wants to be Maggie, her family not blinking an eye or treating her differently is one thing but outsiders, for want of  a better word, will.  'We' are unsure of how to behave, do we ask how they are, ignore it and treat them the same, very tricky.  At the moment it's only Irene and Marilyn who know how she feels and would treat her the way they always have. The only close friend she has is Roo and she hasn't seen the 'new' Maggie.  That was a lovely idea of Ben's, breaking her into the outside world gradually, they do really come across as a loving couple with their ups and downs.

Well that fight was over pretty quickly with, ignoring the three thugs, only Hunter getting seriously injured. Handy Marilyn caught sight of what was going on and alerted John and getting the cops.  Contraband, that covers a multitude of sins, natural to assume it is drugs, but could be anything.  Not sure I liked the idea of Lance spying on Robbo or as he calls him Ryan as to him Robbo is  just another cover name, he does seem to be using him for his own (or the Feds) purposes. Lance was right he does know Ryan and that his natural instinct is to help people where he can, Robbo did look like he'd been 'won' over.   As for his attitude towards John, frankly I don't blame him after the way John treated him a couple of weeks ago, ready with the rope! He did, though, once John, 'trapped' him, accept his apology.  I guess now John has given his approval, in the absence of Alf, the rest of the town will do their usual turn around (wonder they're not dizzy) and be falling over Robbo to make amends. Wonder how it went at Yabby Creek cop shop when he went to give his statement?  We didn't see if Leah thanked Robbo for stepping in or if it was off screen.

OK Olivia you do still care for Hunter, we get it, but her over reaction was exactly that.  If he didn't have a headache before her fussing over him certainly would have given him one!  Even Leah, who's his ex step mum, knew when to back off. Admit it was scary his fitting like that and Mason proved he has the making of a very good doctor by his treating of him at the scene and on the way to the hospital, kept calm and was professional. Did my eyes deceive me or was another doctor other than Tori treating Hunter at the hospital? Olivia really was a pain and had to be dragged away. Her bringing in all that stuff was totally unnecessary, he was going home that day so a tooth bush and toothpaste? Bit cowardly of Hunter to ask Mason to tell Olivia to stay away, but guessing as he isn't up for an argument took the easy way out, not that I think it'll deter her and he'll have to do it for himself in the end anyway.