2018 Season - UK Episode Discussion

[H&Alover]

No way am I suggesting Hunter is an innocent but he hardly had the best role model growing up, Charlotte lied to him for the first 16 years of his life, damage like that lasts for years,  and she was very manipulative, so no wonder he doesn't like people lying to him now, Olivia did just that so no surprise he was angry, hurt by Christina doing the same thing, totally out there but is it coincidence they had the same first name initial? He has come a long way and turned his life round.  Christina, though is still the adult in this thing and she did have a big say in Hunter's future.  Good that he owned up to it being him booking the room, I don't remember him harassing her that much to meet at the motel. He didn't drag her there by the  hair and keep her prisoner and she did go back for second helpings which was when her husband burst in. I'm glad he stopped Leah sticking her beak in, he's old enough to sort it himself which he did. I think he gave her every chance to admit her part in it, neither were innocent, it does take two to tango after all.    I knew that blonde woman at Salt was more than just a customer looking at her lap top. Who did Hunter say she was - a student rep?

Vicious circle with John & Willow, of course John is going to be distrustful given he is old school but she was also right in saying how can she prove he can trust her if he won't leave her alone in the gym.  But she appears to be willing to see how it goes and accept John's judgement and rules. Dean seems to be fairing better at the garage, like the rapport between Ziggy & Dean, after all she did have a bad girl rep herself.  Dean seems willing to buckle down and it appears he has been hiding his light under a bushel (or should that be bonnet) by his knowing what was wrong with the car Ziggy was working on and Justin confirming it when he came back, nice she hinted to Justin Dean could be of more help than just a grease monkey tiding up.  He did accept Justin's offer of going for an  apprenticeship, sure they can get round his not   being academic. I guess, as Dean said, his years of nicking cars were of some use, joke! Dean rightly said Brody wouldn't be happy knowing Ziggy was getting on with him after what happened at Salt, but as Ziggy pointed out he did keep them safe when it was going down.

Nice chat between Dean & Willow with him looking like he has accepted Justin & Willow are back together, even if she wasn't sure they were.  Frankly it is too soon for her to be back in a full on relationship, she is has only been in rehab a few weeks and as Brody would tell her at the moment she needs a friend not a boyfriend. 

 

 

[Slade]

Towards the tail end of last week I thought that Hunter could have had the woman and the placement but would end up losing both.  Now, whilst I haven't particularly like Christina's conduct I do feel she was backed into a corner and felt she had no choice but to lie.  I did end up feeling quite disappointed with Hunter because to me it felt as though Christina still cares deeply for him and he's betrayed her.  So I really did not like that.  It's a difficult one because if I was in his position I'm not sure I could be responsible for ruining someone's career.  On the other hand Christina is claiming he harassed her which is a very serious allegation and if he has to leave the Uni because of that, it doesn't really bode well for his future.  I know if he left they might not mention that on his record but all it takes is for someone who knows about this to be at another uni he goes to and he will be remembered as the student who harassed his teacher and was forced to leave.   It's a shame for me as I'm still hoping for a relationship between them.

[Red Ranger 1]

So, let me get this straight.Christina suggested to Hunter that they both withdraw their accusations and he drop out of uni and get a transfer to somewhere else.He instead exposes her as the liar and gets her sacked... and then drops out of uni.So, basically, he ruined her life for nothing? Why did he do it if he didn't even want to stay at uni? To punish her for hurting him or for lying about him (which she didn't do until he tried to get her into trouble)? Because he's had Leah in his ear, acting like a saner, law-abiding version of Charlotte, believing that someone else is to blame for Hunter doing the wrong thing and he shouldn't have to face the consequences (which, given that she was the one on the receiving end of Hunter doing the wrong thing for so long, has a bit of a tinge of Stockholm Syndrome)? As often with Hunter, the morality is extremely questionable.Even he doesn't seem convinced that Christina deserved what he's done to her, which doesn't stop it being yet another black mark against him.(To be honest, I'd have accepted him losing the placement but staying on at uni, that felt like a fitting punishment.But having him drop out turned it from survival instinct into revenge.)

I also really wasn't keen on Justin stopping Willow saying things he didn't want to hear by having sex with her.It felt like it was meant to be somehow romantic but instead came across as controlling.Willow did manage to get the words out eventually: It's possibly a bit late to talk about taking things slowly when she's spent about 24 hours straight having sex with him, but I get that it's too soon to live together as a couple.Justin did at least give decent advice to Mason, with some out of the box thinking.I got the impression Dempsey wanted much the same thing with her impromptu lunch.Them raising the baby as a couple was always a possibility so I'm not sure why Mason looked so stunned at the idea.Still, I do slightly question Dempsey's motives since she seems to have latched onto pretty much the only person she's got in her life.

[Little bean]

Red, I couldn’t agree more re Hunter.  I’m beyond tired of him!

[pembie]

16 hours ago, Little bean said:

Red, I couldn’t agree more re Hunter.  I’m beyond tired of him!

Spoiler

I thought they had big plans for him given how long we have known he was leaving

 

[Red Ranger 1]

I thought it was unfair of Mason to blame Justin's advice, since I think he actually pointed him in the right direction.He was being pulled all ways here: I quite liked seeing Jasmine in the mix, although still no indication that Raffy's been clued in! I think his solution, that he and Dempsey give being a couple a try but don't jump into living together or anything, was probably sensible and it does seem Dempsey has made a more measured decision than at first appeared.I wasn't too keen on Tori's meltdown, although watching her get more and more neurotic throughout the episode as she waited for logic to go flying out the window and the queue to disappear was rather amusing.

A few amusing in-jokes about the permanently off-screen gym owners, with Alf and John's conversation about them never having been near the place and using John as an on-screen mouthpiece.Still, it looks like we definitely won't be seeing them now with Robbo taking over.That kiss...Jasmine definitely didn't pull away, at least not at first, but hard to tell whether that was instinct or whether she actually does have an attraction to him in there somewhere.

[H&Alover]

So no winners with Christina and Hunter, she loses her job and career for inappropriate behaviour with a student, which is as it should be,  and he loses his placement for this year at least.  I think what was Christina's undoing was her saying she wanted to be with him, nothing  to do with teaching/tutoring/mentoring. Leah & Alf may have been all 'It's OK you can do it next year' but Hunter was right although he has seemingly come out of it nearly blameless, uni's are insular places and even rumour can follow you around and that can be a lot more damaging than the actual truth.  Staying at his current uni isn't a viable option and as Slade said even he went to another uni this escapade could follow him.  Not the total end he can always return to uni in the future, he's only 19. The facility bosses told him it wouldn't be on his record but it will still be in their minds.  Leah & Alf were for putting all the blame on Christina and he was the poor little innocent but in Hunter's favour he accepted he played a big part in it too and it wasn't all down to Christina, he knew full well what he was doing and even, it seemed to me, would have carried on seeing her if she hadn't been married, that's a big lie for anyone to get their head round let alone a teen.

Willow has made the right decision which Justin finally agreed with that she and he need space between them otherwise they'd be spending the whole time in bed.  Btw I hope those strawberries they were scoffing were OK and didn't have any hidden extras.  She has plunged straight back into a full on sexual relationship which is not good for an early recovering addict.  If she is living somewhere else they can see each other as a normal couple and have breathing room, they'd both end up exhausted else. Liked Tori's little dig, 'is Willow having Brody's room or sharing yours?' 

Mason was getting varied advice from his family, but ultimately it was down to him and what he felt was right.  Justin was the  only one who had been there, done that with him and Nina, who knows who that would have worked out if they had given it a try.  Mason & Dempsey have done it back to front, only met twice, once at the date night, then at Ziggy & Brody's wedding, slept together, now she's pregnant. He has given it a lot of thought and does have his family to lean on, annoying as they can be at times, and ask advice of, she doesn't have anyone which is rather sad.  Having said that she does now have the support of the Morgan's. They need to get to know each other like any other couple would do, try and out the baby out of their minds and go on dates like other couples. I did like how Mason had remembered Love Actually was one of her favourite films, good start now they can find out more about each others likes and dislikes.  They don't have to declare undying love and devotion to each other, if they find things aren't gelling between them have the courage to admit it as soon as they can so they can still be friends at least rather than hanging on.  Did we know before Dempsey was a midwife?  Dempsey's decision not to tell anyone will have be rethought now she's keeping the baby won't be able to hide it forever and of course Jasmine is now in on the secret.

I was in serious danger of slapping Tori by the end of the episode that or chucking her  laptop out of the window.  If her profile  is to be believed she is 36 which for any woman means her biological clock is ticking loudly, but if like Tori you have fertility problems it's more like a time bomb.  Also as usual her being a doctor doesn't help matters she'd know more than most of us mortals the problems involved. I don't how these  clinics work but I would imagine they'd put couples who had fertility problems first.

Nothing mentioned about the mythical owners of the gym since it was sold to them, now it's all John can talk about which is fair enough they pay his and 'others' wages.  Where have all the trainers, apart from Willow gone, I think Mason had to drop out because of his uni/hospital work.  We did see other people wandering in and out at times, moving towels, equipment etc.  Obviously what Jasmine said to Robbo  a couple of weeks ago did get through as he has now expressed an interest, at least he'd be hands on, and knows from a fitness angle what he's doing.  First thing would be check those books out and see just how well it's going at the moment.  I think that is the first time he's mentioned out loud he's got a lot of dosh thanks to the Feds. People skills may not be his forte, but as Jasmine said once he has the right people in place, who better than Robbo to make sure to make sure he's got the right trainers, then he can appoint someone to do the day to day tasks ordering  equipment and other day to day stuff.  Robbo can do what he does best train clients.  Btw can I put my name down  please?  Following another little chat with Irene and her saying again her and Robbo were just friends she did seem to be enjoying that 'well done on getting your verbal offer accepted' kiss.  I think, initially, it was Jasmine being Jasmine, bouncing into Robbo's arms and hugging him, then it, um, got more interesting.

[c120701]

Are we really on 13 episodes behind Australia or am I wrong? I think we were 10 episodes behind at one point on Channel 5, so I don’t think this is the closest we’ve been since the move from ITV.

[Red Ranger 1]

9 hours ago, H&Alover said:

Mason & Dempsey have done it back to front, only met twice, once at the date night, then at Ziggy & Brody's wedding, slept together, now she's pregnant.  Did we know before Dempsey was a midwife? 

Where have all the trainers, apart from Willow gone, I think Mason had to drop out because of his uni/hospital work. 

They met in between at Salt, and it's been mentioned several times that Dempsey's a midwife, going back to when she and Mason first met.And Mason was working at the gym in both his episodes this week!

1 hour ago, c120701 said:

Are we really on 13 episodes behind Australia or am I wrong? I think we were 10 episodes behind at one point on Channel 5, so I don’t think this is the closest we’ve been since the move from ITV.

No, you're right. We were only 5 episodes behind on Channel 5 back in 2010, which is the shortest gap I believe. But with 7 Network going back to 6 episodes a week, the gap should carry on widening.

Anyway! I have some sympathy for Coco.She feels that she's let Maggie down by falling behind in school so she's trying desperately to make up for it, which ironically is putting so much pressure on her that she's not taking anything in.But good grief, is she capable of having a relationship that isn't one-sided?Ryder was being a bit needy, acting as though he didn't have anything else in his life and bombarding her with text messages, but not calling him or going to see him was very bad form, even if she didn't know what he was planning, and she didn't seem that bothered when she found out.That serve from Raffy was kind of deserved, I wonder if Raffy's thinking that she tried her best with Ty and it flopped through no fault of her own, while Coco has Ryder worshipping her without really doing anything to keep the relationship going.(Also worth remembering that Raffy stopped pursuing Ryder herself for the sake of her and Coco's friendship.)

Tori and Raffy finally have a scene, but instead of Raffy being filled in on Tori's IVF plans and Mason's impending fatherhood, Tori worries a bit about Raffy's school results (which the Palmers obviously didn't think to clue Raffy's family in on, the sort of proprietorial attitude which resulted in her moving back home last year), then promises a conversation with her en route to the farm which we then don't get.Leah's suggestion that Tori find a donor she knows does seem a bit bonkers: Is she expecting her to wander up to Robbo/Colby/Dean/Hunter and go "I want a baby, give me some sperm"?

I'm slightly disappointed the show's going down the conventional route with Robbo and Jasmine developing feelings for each other, although some more obstacles have inevitably shown up! Nice touch that John didn't know Robbo's real name...and it's suddenly dawned on me that Robbo mentioned his time in the Feds to John yesterday.Is that meant to be common knowledge now?

[pembie]

Spoiler

Naa Tori's donor should be kept scerct even from us Abit rubbish it's going to be Robbo. 

Cast a load of male characters to the show sprinkle them in each having a main story of their own then throw in little clues to them each possibletly being the donor 

Abit like a blind date guess who game would have been much more fun