2018 Season - UK Episode Discussion

[H&Alover]

Christina isn't that much older than Hunter, she said herself it wasn't that long ago she'd been a student so I'd put her mid 20's.

I don't think Robbo is that shallow, yes OK he's a guy and can appreciate a good looking woman, but there is more to him than that. I don't think Jasmine realises that Robbo has feelings for her and not just as a friend either.  I hope she lets him down gently as she is the first woman he's felt seriously about since Kat.  It was good he opened up to Jasmine about his family and lovely to see him laugh, he didn't do it that much when he was with Kat, but of course he didn't know who he was then.

No-one suggested or told Dean to apologise to Alf & Irene did it off his own bat and he would keep Willow's name out of it. I've said before he is a complex character, does some real bad things then redeems himself by doing something good, like taking the blame for the whole Alf thing, knowing he could go back to prison. How much leeway has he got with his bail seeing as it looked like he was leaving town? 

Don't know if Willow & Dean intend to 'use' Colby by asking him to do things he can't because he's a friend who happens to be a cop. To be honest wouldn't most people be tempted to ask a favour from a cop mate?

Irene echoed what I said about John and his problem being he looked on Ty as replacement for Jett. To me Marilyn was totally out of order accepting the new  foster placement without talking to John and Raffy first who is part of the family so would be affected. Marilyn may be up for having a new chid/teenager so quick but John isn't and both of them have to be in agreement for it to work. I wonder if John is being more honest with himself than Marilyn is being with herself.  He recognises he needs more time, but mayhap Marilyn is throwing herself into it to take her mind off Ty, even if her tracking down his mum and reuniting them was her idea.  Raffy is choosing to stay at John & Marilyn's, last time she wanted to go home after finding out about Ty, Justin said she should stay put so they are in no hurry to have her home.

Ben did seem in a hurry to transform Ziggy's room, she's only just moved out, give it a week at least, haven't asked the 'missing' Coco if she would like  to up size.

 

 

 

[Red Ranger 1]

According to interviews, Christina's meant to be 30 (which, to be fair, she kind of looks) so about ten years older than Hunter.

Today! And Colby continues to have difficulty keeping the promises he made at his tribunal.He says all the right things to Willow, then promptly goes and does what she wants.I'm still left thinking that if he got sacked no-one could really say it was unfair.And again, his using police resources didn't help at all, and Willow would probably have made the same choice to threaten to throw herself under the bus if Dean doesn't wake up to himself if Colby had simply reminded her of the bail conditions.Possibly not a good moment for Justin to turn up, although Willow did her best to act pleased to see him! Alf suddenly seems surprisingly sympathetic towards Dean, more so than Irene and Marilyn.Incidentally, since when did he refer to Don as "Fisher" as he does here?

Must have hurt for Robbo to put it on the line and get rejected like that, but on the whole I'm left thinking he should pull himself together.Okay, so he's noticed that Jasmine's a girl, but it'd be silly to throw away a friendship because he can't deal with the fact he fancies her.Mason has to deal with it...

Marilyn lost her remaining points by childishly burying her head in the sand and refusing to talk to John.Even her visit to Maggie felt more like a way of avoiding going home than genuinely altruistic, although to be fair she did have some good advice for her in the midst of all the hippy nonsense.Ben probably could have come up with a more appropriate hobby for her than arts and craft though.I really need to look back at that shot of the days chart and freeze frame it at some point, because it looked like they'd crossed off 10-15 more days than they should have done! Has there been a big time skip or something?

[Slade]

On 06/09/2018 at 15:47, H&Alover said:

Kat was still seeing Ash - on the quiet - during her suspension.  Colby was mixing with dodgy types - Dean & Willow - before so no change there.

You've missed my point.  A prerequisite for Kat being allowed to rejoin the force was that she didn't engage in a relationship with Ash for 3 months because he's been convicted of a crime/served time in jail etc.  The police allowed Colby to rejoin the force despite his refusal to end his friendship with Dean.  Dean is a River Boy and as such as a police officer Colby is not allowed to be associated with them because they're a gang with criminal ties and a relatively high profile one at that - There was even an episode where Ebony Googled them (or whatever search engine she was using) and a site of Australia's most notorious gangs was the first hit with the River Boys listed as an entry.  And we had a recap last week where Colby was insisting to his superiors he was no longer one of them despite not wanting to end his friendship with Dean.  There is clear double standards here with what happened with Kat and what happened with Colby as there was not even a 3 month probation period which was what I was getting at (Although admittedly she was allowed to date him afterwards).  Whether Kat or Ash were seeing each other before the probation was up is irrelevant.

So Jasmine moves onto actually flirting with Robbo all under the guise of being his 'friend' and then when he falls for her and declares his feelings she tells him she's not interested.  She's been leading him on and it's out of order.  I made a point like this a couple of weeks ago when Jasmine was spending time with Colby that if he did fall for her it would be her fault and here we have an example where it has actually happened.

[H&Alover]

Christina - older than I thought.

Willow hasn't been the first and certainly won't be the last to ask a friend who just happens to be a cop to do them a 'favour'.  But yes Colby's resolve did crumble pretty quickly, exactly what Robbo was trying to warn him about. Willow didn't appear to have any idea Dean was out and about and not staying at the flat and Colby had to explain the terms of his bail, such as having to report to the police, not clear if it had to be Yabby Creek or any cop shop,  by 10am the next morning or he was back inside. Good to see Colby was concerned about how Dean's disappearance could affect her recovery, nice to get the message she is still going to GA.

I didn't see it as Jasmine actively flirting with Robbo, it's just the way she is, though her bouncing after him like an excited puppy annoyed me. She fancied Colby which was a whole different thing.  Had to be hard for Robbo, he just misread the signals and this is his first foray into a relationship, or not in this case, since Kat and that was a long time after his wife so relationships for him aren't entered into lightly.  I guess in his (former) profession long term/deep relationships weren't an option. Good in a way he didn't keep it to himself and in a way make it worse for himself in the long run by telling  her now. Mason has had more experience at being rejected even though he's a lot younger than Robbo and done a fair bit of dumping himself.

From the short conversation Willow & Justin had it seemed all went well with the access arrangements.  Obviously has to be a typo but in one TV mag this week it 'says' Colby tries to get Robbo & Justine together, either Justine is a sudden new character, or perhaps it meant to say Justin!!!!

That was a brief shot of the chart on the fridge door, time does seem to have sped by, first and last time we saw it only eight days had passed!  They do do time skips on H&A from time to time - sorry - when suddenly a few days is suddenly a few weeks. A whole week passed from Jodi arriving and her leaving yet as we saw it it was only a couple of days.  When you think of how long Ben & Maggie have been married you would think he'd have some idea of what interests she's into. Oh Maggie spoke to Diana if only in a one way conversation.

Marilyn staying out of John's way is not gong to solve anything, the longer it's left the harder it's going to be to reconnect. She'd normally be the first to advise someone they need to talk to the someone they have differences with. Btw does she have a job lot of those earrings, as in all of the colours, because I've seen black, blue and red!

[Red Ranger 1]

Confirmation in this episode that it wasn't poor continuity and Maggie actually is meant to be 43 days into her 100 days, even though a fortnight ago it was only eight.At this rate, she'll be done within a month.I actually didn't think Maggie's painting was anywhere near as bad as was made out: Okay, it was hardly photo realistic, but you could tell what it was and it was well-proportioned.I've seen worse in art galleries!The extra crockery was probably more helpful to Brody and Ziggy though, although I can also understand them wanting to hang the painting somewhere.

Dean, not surprisingly, responds to Willow's call, and I assume went to the police station for his check-in although it wasn't actually confirmed! I can understand Justin's reasons for helping him out and he really needs to stop turning down that job at the garage, although it's another case of a character being in the wrong and having broken the law but we're meant to sympathise with them and think they shouldn't be punished just because they're on a long-term contract.They're also kind of glossing over the fact that this all started because Willow stole from Brody and Ziggy, and Dean covered for her, so she's hardly innocent even if Dean was the more guilty with regards the incident the police know about.Incidentally, why did Willow say she was going to ask John for her job back when she's already been given it back?Did they take it off her again when she was arrested?

I wouldn't say Jasmine's been leading Robbo on, she did seem to be oblivious to the fact he was interested in her, she even made a point of checking that their "thank you dinner" (which was his idea) was platonic.So I'm still of the opinion that Robbo needs to pull himself together.I'm glad Colby pointed out to him that he's enjoyed spending time with Jasmine and he'd be silly to throw it away just because certain things aren't on offer, although he then avoids hanging out with her anyway!

[Slade]

On 11/09/2018 at 13:50, H&Alover said:

I didn't see it as Jasmine actively flirting with Robbo, it's just the way she is, though her bouncing after him like an excited puppy annoyed me. She fancied Colby which was a whole different thing.  Had to be hard for Robbo, he just misread the signals and this is his first foray into a relationship, or not in this case, since Kat and that was a long time after his wife so relationships for him aren't entered into lightly.  I guess in his (former) profession long term/deep relationships weren't an option. Good in a way he didn't keep it to himself and in a way make it worse for himself in the long run by telling  her now. Mason has had more experience at being rejected even though he's a lot younger than Robbo and done a fair bit of dumping himself.

It's difficult because part of me does accept she's probably unaware of how she comes across and I do feel there are some females that are flirtatious by nature - Anytime they interact with certain males.  But whether it's deliberate or not though she's still doing it IMO.  This is actually the third time something like this has happened.  There was Mason at first.  Then Colby a couple of weeks ago where she was worried that he liked her.  And now we have Robbo.  Admittedly with Mason there wasn't a chance for that situation because of Colby but he saw meeting up with her as a date and a possible chance at romance.

The way I see it Jasmine's been using a lot of her time to hang around Robbo and you only need look at the episodes last week at the gym, the way she was looking at him when he was boxing (which suggested that she found him physically attractive) and mucking around with him when they were talking afterwards (Would she be doing that with Alf or John?).  Then there was their 'date'.  The way she dressed and was interacting with him.  The following morning when he ran into her on the beach she was standing in front of him in her bikini telling him their 'date' was fun and that they should do it again.  He's very much a person who keeps himself to himself and doesn't have a lot of opportunities to meet people.  So I'm not sure what else he's supposed to think.  Even if you use the argument this was purely platonic from the start, I have to wonder why Jasmine was going out of her way to be such good friends to Colby (after he was released from hospital) and now Robbo, someone who's not particularly sociable.  I think it's possible that she finds him attractive and was open to the possibility of dating then changed her mind because she felt he had too much baggage.  So possibly she's quite fickle.  It's also worth noting that even Irene thought that there was something going on and was joking with Jasmine about it, asking her if she was ready for her 'date'.  So at the very least Jasmine's been quite naive and lacking in social awareness in addition to the flirting.

Had to laugh when Irene said Jasmine had done nothing but support Robbo - Hanging around him for a few days is nothing but support him.  Although I did agree with Irene that Jasmine should steer clear of him and I wasn't keen on Colby guilt tripping Robbo into maintaining their friendship.

I'm surprised Leah is so supportive of Tori's idea to have a baby.  Not just because it's with a stranger but more so she would be doing it as a single mother and Leah of all people should know how difficult that is.  I thought her argument with Mason was ridiculous and the stuff at dinner was a shambles, although I did enjoy the fact that Mason inadvertently revealing Dempsey was pregnant, briefly ruined Tori's moment.

[pembie]

I still find Jasmine incredibly boring 

[H&Alover]

Jasmine did seem genuinely shocked that Robbo fancied her and mortified she had given him the impression he felt the same, I think it's just her nature and the way she comes across to blokes.  Maybe that was the trouble with David, although they had dated, he thought there was more to the relationship than she did and we know he didn't take well to being dumped by her.  She did keep stressing their 'date' wasn't a date, just a meal between friends, Robbo himself said it was just a thank you for her help. I know it's awkward to completely avoid someone in a small town like the bay, but not sure Colby gave Robbo the right advice about not talking to Jasmine, it's still raw with him and his pretence he's 'OK' with being friends didn't convince me.

I loved how honest Ziggy was about Maggie's painting!  Ben's face when he first saw It didn't give any clues as to whether it was good, bad, awful. Wonder where they'll be hanging it.  Though judging by their row later Brody could be wearing it. First the shower needed fixing now the cooker isn't in full working order.  I wasn't aware that Dean & Ziggy were that friendly she puts off going home to talk to him half the night.

I think if Dean hadn't reported in, he'd would have been behind bars rather than wondering around the bay. At least Dean & Justin were honest with each other about the reason Justin was helping him - Willow, although not a full on couple again - yet - he's still in love with  her, Dean is in love with Willow who loves him, but is  in love with Justin. He's finally accepted that now and has now been persuaded that trying to prove to the court he's making an effort to turn his life around will benefit everyone and eventually accepted the job, Justin looked reluctant to shake his hand, but that would have just come across as churlish. Justin did a damn good job in persuading Alf to give Dean his van back, though his comment about would happen if he caused any more trouble made me laugh - "your tootsie's won't touch the turf". Must have taken something for him to admit he's scared of going back inside, well it is likely Brett or his pals will be there.  Trouble with Dean & Willow they both act first and think later but what they do is mainly to help a pal out.

Leah was right Tori was putting off telling her family about the IVF because she wasn't sure what their reaction would be.  It doesn't help Mason has his own baby problem happening at the same time but of course being oblivious of Tori's dilemma so chuntering on about having a baby with a stranger, though it could be argued he does 'know' Dempsey. In Tori's case he - the father - would be.  He is getting rather carried away about being a dad and not taking Dempsey's feelings into consideration, he's sworn he'll be there every step of the way and will, somehow, support her afterwards, but Dempsey is the one who will be carrying the baby and may have health problems  - I get the feeling it's going to be a long five weeks. Typically the wrong end of the sick was grasped and Mason thought Tori thought he should tell the others about Dempsey, completely  ruining  the calm approach Tori was hoping for her announcement.  Justin was very supportive after though as were Mason & Brody.  Still Raffy to tell though. 

John & Maz still avoiding each other not a good atmosphere for Raffy to be around. Give them a shake or knock their heads together or get the bloody pepper pot out!

[D.B]

Well, I enjoyed seeing all the Morgans together again, there have been less scenes with all four of them together these past two years (let alone five). I did feel sorry for Tori, she did kind of get overlooked by Mason's big news, but it's nice to see her get support from her brothers, especially from Justin, since he's the one out of the three who know most about how important being a parent can be. While I get that Mason's excited, I can also see why Dempsey was so freaked out by it all, she has a say in it too, and I guess it was all a bit overwhelming. 

While I do have some respect for Dean for apologising on his own accord, but the fact remains, he would have been happy to see it all brushed under the carpet and forgotten about, he'd be happy to manipulate the rest as well. Though it was hard to take Irene seriously when she mentioned forgiving people when she was happy to have an arsonist living under her roof for a long time now. Meanwhile Willow is trying to cover his back and getting Justin to help is surprising, but still nice. I presume he did check in to the bail hearing Colby mentioned, but I honestly confused as to why Dean still turns down the garage job, don't turn away the help when it's given to you more times than you deserve! While he needs to pay for what he did, I feel like he's a complex character, he's got some morals. While I like that Ziggy wants to help as well, I understand why Brody's not entirely Dean's best fan right now. 

On a lighter note, I've really enjoyed the Robbo and Jasmine scenes, they're very different, but they work really well. I don't think Jasmine's leading him on, she's just being a nice person, if being a bit clingy. It's great to see Robbo happy again after a long while, we haven't seen him like this since Kat. As for the revelation of Robbo's feelings, I can see both sides: I feel really sorry for Robbo, but he should still keep that friendship between the two because it makes both of them happy. As for Jasmine, I like that she was straight up about it, she just likes him as a friend, it could have been worse and she could have actually led him on, forcing the two in a relationship both (at this time) don't want, but she didn't. I hope they'll be able to get their friendship back on track. 

Brody got a house for him and Ziggy, which was...nice, I guess? I enjoyed the banter between them and Ben, though I could have done without Maggie keep assuming the two will come running back after a short while, though I do sympathise with her being stuck in the house, she wants a sense of purpose again, and I can really understand her. 

John and Marilyn-meh. I can see points in both their arguments, but neither are acting rather impressive here.

 

[Red Ranger 1]

Has Tori started taking hormone injections already? She followed up her meltdown with Leah by giving Mason a similarly-uncalled for rant, even though he was quite right that his situation isn’t ideal. It seemed to be Mason’s episode for getting it in the neck from unreasonable females, with Dempsey’s rant at the end: She seemed to think that “deciding together” meant she decides and he goes along with it. At least she seemed a bit more reasonable in their chat today. Ziggy showed her immaturity again by staying out for hours without considering Brody. Still, I did like all the Morgans gathering to support both Tori and Mason…minus Raffy, not for the first time. Episode counts probably played a part but it’s annoying that she is once again missing important events with her family because she’s with the Palmers. I hope this doesn’t play out without her having any scenes with Tori or Mason; they were in the same episode today but she apparently still doesn’t know what’s going on and is instead running around after a couple who made big promises about providing her with “stability” that they now apparently can’t keep. “My family’s falling apart,”she whines: No, girl, your family’s waiting for you to come to your senses and go home. Sweet that Ryder misses Ty.

I like that the town rally round to help someone but there are times when it does seem rather arbitary who they consider worth helping and who they don’t: I can’t help thinking there are others who’ve done no worse than Dean who’ve been outcasts and/or left to their fate. Dean’s saving grace is that he’s loyal but he has the dodgy moral compass you’d expect of someone who had the Braxtons as role models: If breaking the law is the easiest way to help people he cares about, he’ll do it, to the point he’d rather steal from people than ask them for help. Still, maybe he’s learning. His handshake with Justin seemed an important moment: I suspect they’d rather die than admit to being friends but, even if Justin is mainly doing it to help Willow, that’s probably what they are.

No sympathy for Hunter. Even leaving aside his history, he was warned that getting involved in a relationship with his tutor could cause problems with his future and was a bad idea, yet his decision making process didn’t seem to go beyond “She’s hot so I’m going to sleep with her.” Sure, Christina’s hardly blameless but he pushed for this and now he’s reaping what he sowed.