2018 Season - UK Episode Discussion

[D.B]

I swear, Dean is completely unbelievable. Justin and Ziggy both give him legal, morally-better, and safer ways to make money and he refused them just to be dodgy! While I don't agree with Ziggy letting him off the hood, I can understand why, it wasn't long ago she was doing that stuff herself. Dean gets some points for getting rid of the skimmer, though the business with Brett probably isn't over yet. 

Coco's view on things is interesting, after almost losing her mother several times now, she suddenly seems to have the feeling of making every moment counts. Ryder continues to act very maturely and impressive.  I'm very happy that Maggie's treatment worked, her and Ben's reaction to the news was heartwarming, though afterwards they seemed very uncertain.  Maybe they're just overwhelmed or becuase they've been recieving only bad news before and things usually got worse, they may not have actually thought that it would work and now they have now idea what to do. 

The Morgan banter was great to watch, we haven't seen that much of it in a while. I get where Brody's coming from, he's been very patient with Ziggy's family troubles so it can be expected that eventually he would have a tipping point. Mason was a really good brother here, playing around with Brody sympathetically, and giving Tori really good advice.  I think this would be a very good direction for Tori,  though by her reaction at the end, it's hard to tell what was the result of the pregnancy test. 

 

[Red Ranger 1]

Alf's episode count this week:Four, and he was credited on Thursday for no appearance.

Ty's situation: It's a tough one.Marilyn has never been a particularly mature person, so at least she's consistent about that, and her behaviour here underlines it.Poking around in someone's private writing never goes well and it seems like she's mostly motivated by what makes her feel better than on what's best for Ty. That said, John is just sticking his head in his sand and believing what he wants to believe.As usual, Raffy demonstrates that she's the most mature person in the household by actually having a grown-up conversation with Ty about it.As ever, I feel like commenting on the inconsistency of their attitude towards Raffy and her family, although I guess at least they aren't stopping her having contact with them, just living with them.

A lot of other things going on so I'll try and get through it: I wasn't expecting Olivia back so soon, and she did a pretty good job of giving Jasmine a pep-talk. Tori's test was negative but seems to have given her another shake-up about the state of her life. Ben and Maggie are honest with each other so hopefully they can deal. And Jasmine's comment on Robbo's lack of friends suggests that someone's noticed that, while she feels like she belongs in the same show as Irene, Leah et al, he often doesn't.

[CaptainHulk]

Caught Wednesday-Friday. Been busy as

First 2/3 of that was a snoozefest.

Regarding "I'd have given anything to have known my parents" Writers probably forgot Maz had parents who appeared in 1991 and they were opportunistic, scrounging arseholes who couldn't have cared less about her!

 

[D.B]

I can't really agree with Marilyn's decisions here. Poking into Ty's private notebook isn't definitely not what a responsible mature foster parent would do unless there was reason to suspect something bad was going on and she should really respect Ty's decision about not seeing his mum: it may be  the right thing for him, it may not be, but it's his own decision, not Marilyn. John seemed rather pig-headed about leaving it alone and I can't really agree with him either. I do believe both want what's best for Ty but their own selfish reasons seem to take over their reasoning instead of actually talking to Ty about it, like Raffy does. 

In all fairness to her, Olivia dealt with the failure of the interview very well and she admitted to her mistakes and was proud to stay at the Bay, so good for her, though it's a shame the job opportunity didn't go well. She was very good this episode, giving some good advice to Jasmine. While I wouldn't have used the word traumatised, I felt that was a small bit of an over-exaggeration, I get why she would be a bit shaken. I also like how she wants to be there for Robbo as his friend, because Robbo isn't really close to anyone in the Bay with the exception of Tori, Colby, Alf and sometimes Justin. And Tori and Colby become connected with him due to the events that happened, so it would be good to see him with a friend outisde that circle. Looking forward to see more of Robbo and Jasmine.

The other stuff that has me interested is Tori. So sadly the test didn't work, but it did lead to a good chat with Leah about her life and what to do with it. As I said before, it will be a good direction for Tori to have a baby, so hopefully it will work out for her. The Ben and Maggie stuff was good as well, it's nice to see them being honest with each other about their fears of Maggie coming home. 

[H&Alover]

Have to agree the end of Ebony/Lisa was rather flat, I was fully expecting Colby getting out just in time only to dive back in and rescue her, although her still being alive does leave the door open for her to reappear at some future date. Prison do we think or secure hospital so she can get the help she needs, though if it's anything like the one Mick was in it won't be long before she's back! Don't agree about Robbo being stupid doing what he did - it's the sort of thing he'd been trained to do and good to see he'd lost none of his instincts by diving for that lighter. Guess Ebony realised she didn't stand a chance of knocking it out of his hand so did a runner. I'm guessing after her blurting out 'he made me do it' she was questioned further at the station and she confessed it was her who killed Hazel.  Weight off both Colby & Robbo's shoulders, now only his tribunal to worry about.

Don't know about Hunter coming on too strong with Christina she didn't put up much of a fight in resisting him although it hasn't reached the next stage yet.   She is the adult and his tutor so as Leah said, once Mason had accidentally blown his cover,  she is in a position of trust and should have shut it down and stopped training him  but ensured someone else took it over so he didn't lose out on the sports gig. Is Leah going to warn Christina off?

To be fair Willow wouldn't stop pushing Justin as to why he wanted to help her so he probably felt him blurting out he still loved her would shut her up, which it did. It does appear she is still seeing a counsellor and attending GA which is a good sign and she's moving in the right direction.  Naturally there has to be a misunderstanding, she got seriously side tracked by Jasmine and the Robbo/Colby thing so that's why she was off the radar. She's obviously been paying attention at GA as she brought up the not getting involved in a relationship while in early days of recovery clause. Oh Justin just how is she going to able to 'forget' you said anything!!!!

Must be traumatic for Ben & Maggie, great she's going home but at the hospital they've had help a push of a button away.  Luckily Maggie confided in  Roo who spoke to Tori and  Ben spoke to Tori so Tori could tell Ben & Maggie to speak to each other about their fears.

Ty answered my question about how long he'd been with his grandparents - 10 years. I don't think Raffy meant to make it all about her, she was trying to empathise, though it was a different situation, her mum had been married to another man at the time and maybe with all that happened after with WP she was in a safer place.

I think John is being the sensible one here, letting the fact Ty has chosen not to see him mum be the end of it, if he changes his mind so be it and it did seem to me he was having a wobble. Maz on the other hand, while I understand her reasoning, could be opening a whole can of worms, once that lid is off, it's off.

 

[Slade]

On 20/08/2018 at 13:51, D.B said:

Also, if I may ask, if he still did have feelings for Jasmine, how exactly would it be her fault?

Initially I thought there was a possibility she liked Colby because of the way she was acting but subsequent scenes following showed she had moved on.  My point about it being her fault was not necessarily it was her fault that he did still have feelings for her because I don't really think he did have - Just wanted to sleep with her.  It was more developing feelings after being hospitalised by Ebony.  Given the state Colby was in and the fact that they he and Jasmine already slept together, her going out of her way to spend time with him could be misconstrued as interest.  Even though she was trying to help him rehabilitate it seemed as though she wanted to spend time with him outside of work. As I mentioned previously I even thought she was interested until I saw the scenes which obviously Colby was unaware of.  My statement of course was on the assumption that she didn't confront him about his feelings.

 

Found it funny the way Jasmine was focusing on Robbo.  Is he the next friend with benefits?  Watch out Mason.  Although Olivia doesn't seem to want her spending time with Robbo kind of like the way she didn't want Mason spending time with her either.

 

Shame about the anti-climax with Ebony as she was one of the few characters I really enjoyed.

 

Once again Marilyn being absolutely annoying, ignoring Ty's wishes and the advice of her own husband.  But I guess she's shown herself to be selfish considering she (and John) previously manipulated Raffy into staying with them rather than letting her stay with her family.

 

[Red Ranger 1]

21 hours ago, CaptainHulk said:

Regarding "I'd have given anything to have known my parents" Writers probably forgot Maz had parents who appeared in 1991 and they were opportunistic, scrounging arseholes who couldn't have cared less about her!

I guess she meant when she was Ty's age she'd have liked to have had parents that wanted to know her.So, she met Ty's mum.And she was probably hoping that she'd be another opportunistic scrounger but, while she's not completely blameless in this, giving up on Ty for ten years or so after one failed to attempt to see him, she also seems to be genuine and basically decent.And while Marilyn would probably be happy to go back to Summer Bay and forget about it, given that she opened the box she kind of has a duty to let Ty know what sort of person his mother is.It was slightly disappointing that, after seeing John's point of view last episode, Alf suddenly snaps back to automatically defending Marilyn in his obligatory scene.John's rapping was a reminder of what a good character he can be when given the material.

I don't think Leah did anything wrong here, not enough to justify Tori going off in a sulk anyway.It is very understandable that someone Tori's age, who's hardly ancient but not exactly in the first flush of youth and basically lost eight years of her life, might want to go down this route rather than hope she meets the right guy before she hits forty, and there's nothing wrong with that choice, but at the same time there are pitfalls and Leah was right to point them out.She did support her in the end anyway.Nice to get an update on VJ and hear that he's getting on with his life.

And Maggie's home.She seems to be being overly paranoid at letting her family near her, but given that they've needed masks and gowns to see her in the not-so-distant past, it's understandable.A very mixed reaction to the countdown chart, it gives them a sense of progress but the huge number of unticked boxes is pretty daunting.Still, it should be a healthy guide for us as well as the Astonis and shows that the programme's unlikely to forget that this should still be ongoing.

[H&Alover]

John does in this scenario seems to be the one wearing the sensible head and he's definitely not happy about lying to Ty & Raffy who aren't stupid and not buying the  Maz is in Yabby Creek/the city line. Nice btw to see Raffy & Ty back to how they were before she fell for him.  Nice little side reference from Alf about John's previous parenting skills, meaning Trey for those of us who remember him. It's not down to John to tell Ty what Marilyn is up to that's down to her to confess.

Not sure how Marilyn managed to track Jodi down, but looked like they were meeting in a public place. I can see why Marilyn wanted to see her, only right we got her side of what happened, Ty only knows what he's been told. If what Jodi said about her in-laws was true be interesting to know exactly what they told Ty about his mum, the old lie about she doesn't want you?  He was only six so would be easily persuaded she didn't want to know him. I don't want to be accused of racism but could that be part of why they didn't, as she claimed, like her? I thought Jodi mentioned  they get some kid of injunction out against her if she didn't stop coming round or trying to contact Ty. Again, if what she said was true about her situation back then, then imo she did do the right thing by asking them to look after him.  Of course there may be more to it, health issues she hadn't mentioned to Marilyn. She was genuinely happy to see Ty as he is now, but then it turned somewhat unnerving to me, her desperation to see him and begging Marilyn to persuade him to see her, did warn Maz about that lid!  From watching the trailer the reunion  is going to happen a lot sooner than later and not go well surprisingly.

Agree there Red about Leah advising Tori, to me she was just trying to be realistic.  I know Tori is going into this knowing she will be a single mum, whereas Leah had that position thrust upon her, but Leah had her friends, Stella and her mum  & dad to help her. A lot of the time though Leah was on her own and she does know how tough it will be. I'm kind of guessing Tori could be in her early 30's.  She's a doctor so knows, or should, not to leave it too late, assuming she can get pregnant that is.  When is she letting Justin, Mason, Brody and Raffy in on her plan?

Talking of Leah, so like her going off on one when she found out about VJ's new girlfriend on FB, crumbs he's only just met her, they haven't declared undying love.  I can see why he didn't mention it while she was visiting, didn't want the poor girl getting the third degree.  I get he needs to be careful and not introduce  every girl he meets to Luc, which as we know by the way Leah has brought him up  the way she has he won't.  Sweet to hear btw she's walking and talking.

Maggie must have felt conflicting emotions being 'released' from hospital, glad to be going back to her own space, bed but scared about what has become familiar surroundings. Loved how Ziggy & Ben were bonding over the cleaning and her little dig about his favourite daughter helping him while the lazy one was at school.  From the look on Maggie's face I don't think their, I dare say well meant idea, about keeping her things separate, went down that well, almost as if she is being  kept in quarantine  in her own home. Are there going to be two sets of bed linen on the bed or is that me taking it  too far? The chart is a double edged sword, very daunting at the moment, but as you say Red, if they keep it a good time line for us.

[Chair]

Tori is probably about 32. It was during my non watching period but I think she and her friends went up for a plane ride for her 30th in 2016.

[CaptainHulk]

Yo, Yo, Yo!

Bus it!

The Mack Daddy JP be puttin' it down for SB!

WORD!

They should have had him beatboxing while unintentionally spitting which grosses Raffy and Ty out, then Ty's mum walks in wondering WTF to think!  

Had this had gone on while Jett was still there, he probably would have shook his head and left to go surf or something!

Cutting to Ty in today's, I'm guessing his story arc is

At an end

I just wish it wasn't cut to make way for more tedious Dean/Robbery stuff (which probably won't be interesting until the episode it appears in)