2018 Season - UK Episode Discussion

[Red Ranger 1]

So. Ebony continues her nefarious scheme to, er, get Justin to buy her a new car.(Well, okay, suing him for $100,000 is kind of a big revenge.)I'm not sure if she's planning to drag Tori into it somehow.I'm guessing she's not directly targeting Mason, who never met Boyd, but does see him as a useful pawn: I almost want to like their scenes together, so need to remind myself she's evil.Ziggy made the most of a small part, she played well off Justin's permanent downer.

As annoying as Olivia was being, I again found myself frustrated at how keen Irene is to take Hunter's side over hers.Maybe she didn't need to be quite so standoffish, but it seemed like Irene thought Olivia was making assumptions about Hunter telling her to stay away, then when she found out it was true she continued to view Olivia as in the wrong for doing that.And another case of a character saying something and then immediately contradicting themselves: Hunter says them staying away from each other was impossible and then seemingly says they should do that.Unless he means they should stop trying to be friends but not actually avoid each other?Haven't they already tried that?It's about time they actually did move on instead of saying they're going to and then still having scenes together all the time.

I'm assuming that Lance was mostly winding Robbo up about spying on him and found out about him tackling the smugglers when the feds got the report of the arrest.So, apparently that's Robbo gone for a bit, although it didn't really feel like he's gone for good.There seem to be a lot of people taking breaks at the moment.Did all the actors book on the same cheap package holiday or something?

[D.B]

Yesterday: 

Ben and Maggie yesterday were, as usual, to me the highlight of the episode. Her worries about going public with her new changes are realistic and very well acted. Ben reassuring her and basically being her rock along with Ziggy is so sweet, this year has really making me love the Astonis (compared to last year when I hated them.), they have really grown on me. 

On 11 June 2018 at 19:25, Red Ranger 1 said:

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.

Yes, fair play to Mason, he did try to save Hunter even when the fighting was still going on. I've pretty much been up and down with Mason for the past two years, but I'll give him this, he does try to help people. Like Robbo. As to Olivia..I'm sorry, but Hunter ending up in hospital doesn't change anything. I get that she cares for Hunter, same as Leah and Mason (though God knows why), but she is just acting like such a pain, that, like Red and atrus, I almost feel sorry for Hunter - but then I remind myself of the events of 2015 and 2016, and my sympathy for him goes back to minimum (remembering this is a talent that sadly the current community members that were there don't seem to have). 

Well, I'm glad that Robbo was on hand to save the day, again. And, while I perfer that Robbo stays at the Bay so we could learn more about his past (such as his family, the owman he and Kat discovered and the fate of Dylan Carter), I do look forward to him being a cop again, because I think that he fits into the job, I don't think that he would be side-tracked by personal issues like every officer in the show, and he wants to help people, that's how he got into this mess in the first place. 

On 11 June 2018 at 19:25, Red Ranger 1 said:

I ended up being a bit annoyed on John's behalf: Robbo continues to be rude to him, and confuses 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.

As usual, when it comes to discussing Robbo, I have to disagree with you: to me, John is being guilted into apologising, he did it because he realised that if Robbo is willing to put himself at risk to save a kid he barely knows, he's not that bad a guy. While I agree with you that the community other than Ash and Tori deserved the answers that he probably knows, I think that John needs to give Robbo time to sort this out on his own. I just hope that now him and the community will now get along. 

Today:

I'll be honest here, I feel like Lance is pretty much influencing Robbo to come back to the force. He may have knew the old Ryan Shaw but he doesn't know Robbo. He may have been one of the best, but while I think it will lead to good results, he deserves a break from it. He's lost so much from it. Well, Robbo's off to become a fed again, to help protect people and to maybe discover more of his past. Thankfully, this isn't the last we see of him, we'll probably see how he's doing with the world of federal agents, but I actually miss him already, him and his storyline has always been enjoyable to watch. Can't wait to see him again, hopefully he'll feel better and more at peace when he does. 

Ebony- I'm beginning to lose a large amount of my previous interest for this story, because honestly Ebony just seems petty. Her sueing Justin for the car doesn't really seem like the revenge she was claiming for earlier. Don't get me wrong, I don't want her to hurt anyone, but it would be interesting to see the characters she's after in actual peril. I did feel sorry for Mason, because it's obvious that she's just using him, and knowing him, he might start to have feelings for her and have his heart broken. I don't really like Mason, but he doesn't deserve that again.  But shouldn't Tori recognise that Ebony has a fake neck injury? 

Hunter and Olivia- again, I have failed to care. Sorry. I just have hate for these two. 

[atrus]

An episode I was struggling to pay a great deal of attention to tonight, I'm afraid. More scenery-chewing with Ebony - she was so obvious in faking her injuries yet we're still supposed to see her as this ultra-formidable foe. If faking whiplash is going to be the apex of her scheming, then, meh. And more tangential angsting with Robbo and AFP guy.

Ominously, the Hunter and Olivia scenes were the most engaging of the lot - and their 'goodbye' was really nicely acted, even if the writing of it seemed a bit confused. I put 'goodbye'' in quotation marks because presumably it will be nothing of the kind, and they'll be back to chatting to each other in the diner by next week, if not all-out dating.

[Slade]

On 07/06/2018 at 14:20, H&Alover said:

Raffy wasn't, in my eyes, coerced, she's a very savvy 15 year old and her life at the Morgan's has been somewhat dramatic to say the least.

It's irrelevant IMO how savvy she is.  Even the smartest adults can be manipulated if they are not emotionally in the right head space and regardless I still don't think she was mature enough to be able to knock them back.

Initially I was on Raffy's side because I thought Ty was quite rude after watching his first episode.  He was better in the next one so now I think John had a point when he told them to sort out their differences (Even though I did like Ty's 'Resting skank face' remark).  Although them constantly being at loggerheads might actually be a good thing as Raffy might decide to move back in with the Morgans.

I disagreed with Hunter's advice re Ryder.  Multiple ignored text messages is normally very bad (If you really liked someone would you keep ignoring them given that it literally takes a couple of minutes to respond).  I think Coco should have been honest and said she didn't want to see him but given how annoying and persistent Ryder can be I can understand her deciding not to respond because she didn't want to deal with him at that particular time.  I think there's an argument that perhaps Ryder should have just left it but if your in the situation is often hard to think rationally.

Haven't been able to really get into this cancer storyline with the Astoni's but I do admit that I found the shaving of Maggie's head fairly significant.  Although the end result looked more like she used shaving gel with a Gillette blade after using the electric shaver.

Despite the serious nature of Hunter's injury, Olivia's panic and her subsequently getting all clingy at the hospital with him made me laugh again.  Particularly when everyone present bar her could see Hunter was just sick to his back teeth and wanted to be left alone.   She was just getting obsessive and completely oblivious to how she was coming across (re my point above about not responding to text messages in this case Hunter ignoring her).  Although I think it was a bit out of order for Hunter to get Mason to tell her (But found her reaction towards seeing him in the Diner very amusing).  Even saying that when they had a chat it was hilarious seeing her disbelief that he wanted time away from her i.e. she's so wonderful how could he possibly think that.  I am glad they talked things through though.

I was disappointed when Tori said she initially didn't want to be friends with Robbo.  He was impressive once again taking on those guys when they were giving Hunter a hard time.  It did look as though they'd cut out part of a scene at the beginning of Monday's episode as we just saw Hunter lying there and one of the men was already disabled.  Ironic Robbo's left now that people have started to accept him.  I do like the fact that he's a very modest person.  I do think him leaving without saying goodbye is kind of fitting although I'm disappointed that he didn't get to bang Tori.

Great to see some more Ebony.  I like how she's now working on Tori as part of her revenge plan.  I do think from her perspective given what happened to her brother, she's going quite easy on them.  Whilst she may or may not come across as convincing, I'm not surprised Mason is so quick and eager to believe her or feels sorry for her, after all she's hot.

[Blaxland 89]

I liked the scene with Raffy and Ty on the beach. Reminded me of old Home and Away

[Red Ranger 1]

Well, Raffy was in full-on brat mode here. Frankly, if Marilyn had forced one of her "hippy rabbit food" packed lunches on me, I'd have chucked it away too.Actually, I'd have brought it home uneaten so I guess Ty's more thoughtful than I am.I really didn't like the way Roo demanded he apologise to Raffy, seemingly without any attempt to actually find out what had happened: As far as I could see, Raffy both started it and ended it.I'm thinking back to the days when Spencer and Maddy were first living with Roo, and people were complaining that it wasn't a proper fostering story because their parents didn't treat them badly enough and they should be with them, and I disagreed because it seemed to me their relationship with their parents had broken down and they were better off with Roo.So, maybe there are people thinking the way I did then and disagreeing with me for the same reasons, but this is how I feel: They've brought back the fostering angle with completely the wrong character. Here we have John and Marilyn wanting to send away a boy who needs somewhere to stay because their priority is a girl that's got a family that she gets on with and who want her back.As a result, my sympathy for them was somewhat limited, because they created this situation by taking Raffy away from her family.I found myself not even liking Raffy during her climbdown because I had to sit through her rewriting history and saying when she moved in with John and Marilyn she felt safe for the first time, which had me shouting at the set because it's complete nonsense: She hated living there, it never felt like home to her and she didn't feel properly secure and at home until she was back with her family so why is she there again?

Meanwhile, Ebony. Settling out of court was a smart idea but Justin was probably best off getting something in writing because what's to stop her going back on it now she's got the money? Mind you, her smug "Sounds like blackmail to me" didn't sound at all like blackmail to me. As for Justin and Willow, I quite liked them as a couple but watching them have the same conversation over and over again is causing me to lose the will to care.

[D.B]

Things I forgot to mention yesterday: 

While I do think that Lance should give Robbo more time to process everything and to pick up the pieces of his life, I do enjoy the brother-like-relationship they have. I do like that Robbo is becoming a fed again, he's found his calling,like Tori says he wants to protect people. I just hope that we'll see how he does with it. Also liked on how professional and sympathetic Mason and Tori were when dealing with Ebony, who has a clear problem with their family, and Ziggy and Justin's banter. 

Today:

Well, I'm very glad that Raffy and Ty made a truce and now hopefully start a very good friendship, even if at the start, they were still having a go at each other. Raffy has been acting like a real brat recently, but now I think she's made up for it. She genuinely does care for John and Marilyn, so it's good to see for all of their sakes, she's prepared to start again with Ty. And now, with things now peaceful in the Palmer house, I think now that Ty can feel more comfortable and settle in more with the community. I was disappointed with John and Marilyn prepared to give up on him at the first sign of trouble. I mean, it's only been for a week! I know they want what's best for the two kids, but it would be much easier if they let Raffy move back to her actual family. Well, at least all four of them can now move forward now that they all forgave each other (not that Ty did anything wrong). 

The Ebony saga continues...(*sarcastic clapping*) Of course Justin going to convince her to settle out of court was going to end up with her doing something dodgy.  Though I'm confused as to why she's going to say he blackmailed her, when they already settled out of court. 

The Willow-Justin-Dean storyline- I saw this coming, I don't already like it, and I'll admit that Willow, despite being one of my favourites and I do feel sorry for her, really disappointed me today. She still won't tell Justin the truth for ending their relationship, though I guess that's to protect his relationship with Ava, so I'll forgive her for that. But it's obvious that she kissed Dean to make herself feel better and now it's leading him into believing in a relationship between the two. And that's going to end up with him being hurt. This disappointed me because I always preferred these two as friends. 

 

[Slade]

It's a shame Raffy made up with Ty as personally I was actually quite enjoying them being at loggerheads and particularly enjoyed the scene at the school where she slapped him in front of everybody (although I would have liked Ryder and Coco being there just to see their reaction like last week in the Diner).  I also thought the fact that it was making life difficult for John and Marilyn was an added bonus.

One thing I like about Ebony is the way she struts around.  There seems to be a certain grace about her.  I'm curious to know the motivation behind recording Justin and trying to make it look like he blackmailed her (where he offered her quite a reasonable out of court settlement).  I'm not sure what it's like in Aus but here it's illegal to record somebody without their consent so surely it would be inadmissible if she were to hand the recording over to the authorities.

It's frustrating seeing Justin pursue Willow like this because I really don't think she's worth it.  I don't think she's in the same league as Scarlett and even Phoebe (who at times was highly annoying) was a lot better than her IMO.

[atrus]

Ugh, more Ebony. Have we found out if she's using an alias? Because she's being credited as Ebony Easton (when they can be bothered with a surname) and surely all these legal/hospital documents must have a false surname on them, or else one of the Bay residents would have made the connection with Hazel by now? She'll certainly need a surname if she's signing a contract of employment; was getting a job at Salt part of her evil plan all along?

Glad to see Willow added to the contract cast - she's earned that, I think - although surprised that Dean wasn't added with her, as he feels like a permanent fixture too. Maybe it's just because he hasn't been around quite as long. No need for her to be as cruel to Justin as she is being, I thought, though I guess she hasn't had much success scaring him off in more polite ways.

Raffy was awful again for the first half of the episode, but it was good to see her finally swallowing her pride and trying to make things right with Ty, for John and Marilyn's sake. Yeah, I'd have ditched the rabbit food too - and I don't see why that was somehow lower than telling Maz to her face that he didn't want it. While I do think it's ridiculous that Raffy is living with the Palmers rather than her own family, I think that since they offered Raffy a permanent home and she accepted it, it would be wrong for them to go back on it now just to protect their future fostering chances. And to be fair, they weren't to know when they made the offer to Raffy that the agency was about to do a U-turn and send them Ty, or indeed that he and Raffy would loathe one another.

[H&Alover]

Um, if Ebony is broke how come she can afford a lawyer to send his letter to Justin? Is it a no win no fee company? As I 'said' earlier neck injuries like whiplash and the damage (or not) they can cause is very hard to disprove. Ebony did do her homework, but didn't overdo it with too much medical jargon. I would imagine $100,000 is a ball park figure and it would have been a lower pay out if it had gone to court.  We have no idea of what Ebony's skills are, I'm talking as if she was a legitimate claimant, which would entitle her to that much money in future lost earnings. The cost of the car can easily be settled, Justin is in the trade after all, though the medical costs are something else as she could maintain she needs long term care not just for the physical injury but the mental trauma and distress. I think Ebony was banking on Justin wanting to settle out of court because as he said it could drag on for years which isn't part of her plan. Her story is she lives out of state, is Easton a fairly common name, she would have had to give a surname to the cops and the hospital and wouldn't they have wanted to see her medical records to check her history? It is the usual procedure. Maybe she is going to doctor the tape she made to make it sound like Justin was blackmailing her?