2018 Season - UK Episode Discussion

[Red Ranger 1]

I kind of want to dislike Dean for going there with Willow, but I actually feel sorry for him: She did make the first move when he seemed uncertain, and he went up in my estimation by refusing to brag when Brody gave him an opening. It feels like Willow was using him to make herself feel better and has carried on because she doesn’t want to hurt him, which she’ll probably end up doing. (Mind you, by now I find it hard to see him as anything other than gay, which isn’t helping with the relationship.) I actually thought Justin was way too harsh on Willow telling her she’s not good enough, even though I get that he’s hurt and therefore understand it. I don’t think Brody did anyone any favours by going tittle-tattling to him about it when, even though he was right, he didn’t actually know what had happened. And yes, forgot to mention Willow now being a regular.

That’s a pretty big turnaround from Raffy and Ty, from arch-enemies to sharing meaningful looks in the space of one episode. Mind you, chances of a double-date seem far off at the moment. I’m still finding Coco hard to like, it almost feels like she’s playing the sick mum card whenever Ryder calls her out to make him look/feel bad and shut him up. I wasn’t entirely sure about Maggie turning her class into an impromptu cancer forum, although it does seem like she did the actual lesson afterwards.

I rather liked the quasi-friendship scene between new young adults Willow and Jasmine, with Jasmine giving good advice that Willow sadly ignored. Shame that Jasmine continues to be clueless and rather annoying with Colby, hanging around being vaguely stalkerish and looking for any crumbs he’ll offer her. I wonder if she finally twigged that he’s got issues that having sex with her won’t fix at the end. Again, whilst I don’t particularly dislike Colby, I found it oddly satisfying to see Justin and John call him out for being rubbish. I’m guessing Ebony’s using a false name but frankly even that shouldn’t be enough: It’s not like her first name’s particularly common, so you’d expect Summer Bay’s finest to do a background check on Hazel and twig that she’s got a daughter of that name. Actually, on past performance, maybe you wouldn’t…

[Trudy Heine]

I remember Ric also got a car dropped on him, luckily he survived

[pembie]

16 hours ago, Red Ranger 1 said:

I kind of want to dislike Dean for going there with Willow, but I actually feel sorry for him: She did make the first move when he seemed uncertain, and he went up in my estimation by refusing to brag when Brody gave him an opening. It feels like Willow was using him to make herself feel better and has carried on because she doesn’t want to hurt him, which she’ll probably end up doing. (Mind you, by now I find it hard to see him as anything other than gay, which isn’t helping with the revelations.) I actually thought Justin was way too harsh on Willow telling her she’s not good enough, even though I get that he’s hurt and therefore understand it. I don’t think Brody did anyone any favours by going tittle-tattling to him about it when, even though he was right, he didn’t actually know what had happened. And yes, forgot to mention Willow now being a regular.

That’s a pretty big turnaround from Raffy and Ty, from arch-enemies to sharing meaningful looks in the space of one episode. Mind you, chances of a double-date seem far off at the moment. I’m still finding Coco hard to like, it almost feels like she’s playing the sick mum card whenever Ryder calls her out to make him look/feel bad and shut him up. I wasn’t entirely sure about Maggie turning her class into an impromptu cancer forum, although it does seem like she did the actual Again, whilst I don’t particularly dislike Colby, I found it oddly satisfying to see Justin and John call him out for being rubbish. I’m guessing Ebony’s using a false name but frankly even that shouldn’t be enough: It’s not like her first name’s particularly common, so you’d expect Summer Bay’s finest to do a background check on Hazel and twig that she’s got a daughter of that name. Actually, on past performance, maybe you wouldn’t…

I could of sworn that Dean warned Justin not to let Willow go meet Hazel alone when trying to get Ava back because the whole family were really dangerous So this meaning Dean must already know about Ebony 

[Slade]

I loved the disapproving look Brody gave Willow and Dean as they were leaving Salt.  I also have sympathy for Dean because I feel he is being used.  Although funnily enough we have a similar situation with Colby and Jasmine.  I feel Colby is using her but unlike Dean I don't have as much sympathy for her because she doesn't have the history with him that Dean does with Willow.  She also knows exactly what she's getting herself into.

I tried to keep a close eye on Willow and Jasmine's chat by the beach.  I kept wondering if she was going to mention that she knows Colby very well and that she, him and Dean are all good friends.  But she didn't say anything.  Although when Colby broke down in his flat latter on that day he did mention Dean to Jasmine.  So there's a possibility the police could find out he's a former River Boy.

I'm actually glad Justin told Willow he could do better than her but I suspect when he finds out about what Nina said there will be quite a turnaround.

Whilst I stand by enjoying Olivia and Ty being at loggerheads.  I have to admit, I couldn't stop smiling through their scenes when they were getting on.  One of the best parts was looking at other people's reactions (Ryder/Coco/Marilyn/John) veering between bemusement and almost acting like there as a ticking time bomb that was about the explode at any point.  They obviously fancy each other.  I did suspect something like this purely because there were continual references to Raffy being a third wheel re Ryder/Coco so the logical thing would be to introduce a guy around the same age into the equation.  Not sure she's going to want to move back to the Morgan's now.

I've mentioned before that I really liked Coco when she first came to the bay.  I thought she had real potential but whilst I think generally she's good mannered and pleasant, I don't think she's a particularly nice person (Although I wouldn't describe her as being particularly unpleasant).  This has been indicated throughout her friendship with Raffy and how she's now acting towards Ryder.  She's also very self absorbed.  A lot of this is masked by Maggie's cancer so she comes across as the poor, loving daughter that just wants her mum to get well.

[atrus]

Hmm. I like Willow, but it seems like she's fallen into a vicious circle of poor life choices here. I didn't like her sleeping with Dean, both because it was largely done to make Justin jealous and because it's clear that Dean's completely in love with her and probably always has been (putting the Colby jokes aside for a moment). And then for her to go from starting an "it can't happen again" conversation with Dean, to an "aww, shucks, go on, then - I'll be your girlfriend" thirty seconds later was just ridiculous. I find it impossible to understand why someone would leap into a new relationship they feel lukewarm at best about so soon after the last one - and not for the first time with the H&A twentysomethings, there's a sense that everyone involved are acting a bit too much like teenagers.

Onto the actual teenagers: and it's good to see Ty and Raffy still getting on, although clearly Raffy is getting a little bit too attached. Felt rotten for Ryder: Coco's going through a bad time and I understand why she's made this connection with Jeremy, but she really has been pretty icy towards Ryder ever since she got back - and while he didn't cover himself in glory over the past couple of days either, I felt like most of that was an adverse reaction to the way he's been treated. Nonetheless, it's probably good in the long run that Coco ended things; it's far better than leaving him dangling as she has been doing, and I feel it's pretty clear by now that they're light years from being a Summer Bay supercouple.

I think Maggie dealt with the elephant in the room exceptionally well at school - there was obviously an atmosphere in class and it was much better to get the issue out in the open and have a quick chat about it, rather than pretending nothing was wrong. Good to see Ben telling the hot air balloon saboteur where to stick his job - on top of being an insensitive jerk, he seems more concerned about punctuality and not yakking on the job than literally any builder I've ever known, so he would only have become very trying, very fast if Ben were to stay. Things not looking good for Maggie in the cliffhanger; hopefully this isn't the start of a more serious decline.

Elsewhere, Colby was annoying me by being unnecessarily shouty, and Jasmine by following him around trying to psychoanalyse him. And what, more Ebony today? We'd only just got rid of her the day before.

[Red Ranger 1]

I continue to find Coco hard to like, which is a shame: Even when she was at Maggie's sick bed, I didn't have much sympathy for her.There does seem to be some logic to her reasons for talking to Jeremy, and I cringed at Ryder's suggestion she didn't need Jeremy because she's got him, but I wasn't too happy at Roo's utter lack of sympathy for Ryder, which was reminiscent of Irene's attitude towards Olivia: Assume the other party's done nothing wrong, then take their side anyway when it turns out they have.The kicks keep coming where Maggie's concerned, and while Baz wasn't 100% unsympathetic, in a way he gave Ben no choice but to quit, although he may regret it in the long run.

I'm possibly being a bit hypocritical here, since it's not too long ago that I criticised the idea of being friends with benefits without the friends, but I think my problem with Jasmine is she doesn't just want to be a friend to Colby, she wants to be the special friend that he tells everything he won't tell everyone else.If I was him, I'd have decided a long time ago that the sex wasn't worth the constant yapping, which I thought he was going to do at the start but then he went there again.Of course, now he also has Ebony on his case, as she appears in more episodes than half the regulars this week.

That older nurse who often appears without credit (and I think had a hand in forcing Nate to resign to protect Tori last year?) got addressed as Isabel on Monday.Only remembered that when she was helping Tori today. Not sure if it's worth caring about but I'll file it away anyway...

[H&Alover]

Missed a couple of days of being on here so will have to be a quick resume.

Missed a couple of days of being on here so will have to be a quick resume.

Yes Raffy was a rebel when she first moved in with John and Marilyn, she'd been moved out to live with them against her will because the Syndicate was back in the Morgan's life and they wanted to keep her safe. her life with Hope was hardly secure with bad guys calling round all the time. Every time she did go back something else happened, Brody and the druggies, then Tori hiding Robbo, at least none of that happened with John and Marilyn. Perhaps she was getting tired of ping ponging back and forth and just wants to concentrate on her studies. I'm glad she was the bigger person and apologised she didn't want John and Marilyn losing out on the chance of fostering in the future.  At least if nothing else it gave her and Ty to talk properly and find they had something in common. Apart from Ty not eating Marilyn's lunch and dumping it, have we seen him actually eat anything there?  Methinks the lady was protesting too much when she kept denying to Coco she didn't fancy Ty. I loved the bemused looks on John and Maz's faces when Ty and Raffy were having their conversation at breakfast and she remarked 'just because they are talking quietly, they think we can't hear them'.

As for Coco maybe Ryder did go about it the wrong way and not be able to say the right words,  but he does care for Coco and no he can't understand in the same way Jeremy can, but he's there not on Facebook or whatever it is, he can listen and give her a hug. Brody doesn't understand what Ziggy is going through but she hasn't pushed him away. 

It seems Roo has been made acting principal, whether that is actually official wasn't made clear. Neither Ty or Raffy gave her a reason why they were fighting, just traded insults, then Ty walked out.

I think Maggie's impromptu decision to tell the class was because she knew they knew what was wrong with her and just wanted to get it out of the way and to stop speculation.   We don't if anyone else other than Ty asked any questions but it was different from the usual one we may have expected. Maggie showed sense, for once, and went home when she was feeling a bit woozy.  Coco kept  as clam as she could under the circumstances and called the ambulance.  Even though Ben explained the situation to Barry, something he hadn't wanted to do, he still showed a complete lack of concern by demanding Ben stay at work after he got that call. Frankly I would have told Barry to stick his job too, He got off light really the Ben we first knew would have decked him.  Certainly not looking good for Maggie, can't have been easy for Ben to ask 'that' question but sadly Tori can't give a definitive answer, neither I dare say will the oncologist, we didn't see her Friday but hopefully we'll see Ziggy at her bedside this week. TPTB do seem to have researched everything very well, covering all the angles.

Colby does blow hot and cold with Jasmine who in turn does seem stalkerish at times and she should know better than anyone what that is like. I can't remember how old Bella was when she disappeared, but I'm guessing she may be in her teens by now.  We got a little bit more background as to the history between Colby and his step dad. I had the same thought before  as Colby that despite becoming a cop to be able to track her down better he hasn't had much luck in doing just that. I'm thinking Jasmine hasn't a clue about the River Boys and who they are as when she saw Colby's Blood and Sand tat she didn't make any comment about it. On Colby for a cop he was utterly irresponsible by leaving the flat door unlocked so Ebony could just stroll in and have a poke around.   He is next on her list to ruin, though I thought she was going to leave him till last. Colby is only one cop, there are others out there so unfair Justin having a rant at him every time, though I suppose it's because he's the one living in the bay so the easiest target.

Oh Willow - yes your decision to break with Justin so Nina couldn't stop him seeing Ava is tearing you apart  but snogging Dean in front of him to show you 'don't care' is never a good idea. You could argue Dean shouldn't have used the fact Willow was drunk to sleep with you when she dragged you into bed, but as we all know he's been into her for years but it's happened now. Didn't realise Willow and Jasmine were that close unless it happened it was her that was there when Willow needed someone to talk to. Jasmine gave good advice about telling Justin the real reason she broke up, she could have stressed that Justin didn't have a go at Nina so making things worse. Anyway all academic anyway because as just before she was about to Brody told Justin about what had developed between Willow and Dean the night before.  Well what he assumes happened as Dean to give him some credit didn't actually say so. I also feel like Dean is going to get hurt as Willow didn't have the heart to tell him it really, really was an one off, despite them having been an item when they were young.

So Robbo has made the decision, rather reluctantly I thought, to go back to being a Fed, glad he got to say a goodbye to Tori.  Will he be able to just walk back in and take up from where he left off, he'd spent goodness how long as an undercover cop, then months suffering from amnesia.  Hope it isn't the last we've seen of him.

Look who pops up this coming week Ash and he does look a lot better than he was the last time we saw him.

[Slade]

So Ebony's decided to get rid of the neck brace.  I'd be curious to know if she's actually been convicted of a criminal offence.  She's taking a hell of a risk telling Colby her brother was a police officer.  What if Colby gets suspicious and decides to do some due diligence?  Whilst I wouldn't go as far as saying she's stalking Colby I think it's rather ironic this has been mentioned given the entire premise of her backstory was being stalked.

 

I've found Coco and Ryder equally annoying.  Ryder shouldn't have been texting her continuously, of trying to message Coco online and should have just backed off.  On the other hand I really don't like the way Coco's been dishonest about Jeremy and avoiding Ryder.  It feels as though she's used his lack of understanding for her trying to deal with Maggie's illness as an excuse to dump him when the reality is she didn't want to go out with him anymore anyway but didn't have the heart to tell him.

[D.B]

I feel like I'm the only person here to feel like Jasmine isn't being stalkerish at all, she cares for Colby very much, she knows that he's going through a rough time, she just wants to be there for him, in my opinion. I don't like that Colby's sister is now being used as Ebony's revenge scheme , I felt like there could have been more potential in it than this. 

The Astonis continue to be the highlight, even though Coco continues to be annoying. I know I should probably have more sympathy to her than I should, but I don't like how she's treating Ryder, who's just trying her best to be there for her, even if he did seem a bit controlling there when he said she didn't need to keep texting Jeremy. I hope that Maggie will be alright, while I felt like Barry was a t**t, as an employer he should expect that Ben does his job to the best of his abilities. Though I completely support Ben when he told Barry to stick his job. 

 

[Red Ranger 1]

It’s probably a sign of how little interest I have in Colby and Jasmine that I’m actually really enjoying Ebony’s behaviour. She’s given Jasmine’s confidence a big kick as Jasmine continues to act like talking Colby into a friends-with-benefits arrangement means that she’s his girlfriend and he isn’t allowed to confide in anyone but her. I guess she at least invited Ebony to join them at Salt, even if it was clearly through gritted teeth. And Colby seems wonderfully oblivious to it all, not twigging why Jasmine’s getting pouty about him chatting to another girl. I almost wish Ebony was making a genuine play for Colby rather than it just being a means to an end. (By the way, I notice she was credited as Ebony Harding today. I assume that’s the name she’s using in Summer Bay, although unless she’s really good at whipping up fake ID that raises a whole load of other questions. Is Brody paying her cash in hand or something?)

I continued to be annoyed by Coco’s treatment of Ryder: Even when he says all the right things, she still throws a tantrum at him and then uses Maggie as a get-out card. I did wonder momentarily if she had a point about Ziggy sending Brody away, but the rest of the episode demonstrated that while she might not want him there the whole time, when she wants support Brody’s the first person Ziggy call, whereas Coco just seems to find Ryder an irritant. Roo mentions the school’s got a temporary principal, so hopefully it’s not her.

And the hits just keep on coming for the Astonis. It’s extremely disconcerting because we know how this sort of storyline usually plays out: Someone gets cancer, they have treatment and they get better. The fact that every treatment they try fails to work means I’m left with no idea how this is going to end.