2018 Season - UK Episode Discussion

[H&Alover]

Oh only me so far this week!!!   Colby didn't go to Ebony's trial but she's been sent down. 

Glad Robbo and Tori had a follow up conversation re the sperm donation after his getting grumpy with Colby and finally telling him what was making him uptight. Would be a big thing to take on, he lost Lucas and Sofia and the chance to be a dad to Kat's baby so to be asked to father another baby is not something to be taken lightly.    I think Robbo was quite touched when Tori explained 'why him', that she hadn't just pulled his name out of a hat, he hasn't now completely dismissed the idea but if it all goes ahead and everything works out he will want to be involved, he's that type of guy as Tori has pointed out, look how he was with Kat and in that case the father was around.   Why is everyone Tori's told been so surprised he's her choice? Be interesting to find out what Jasmine's reaction will be when/if it comes about, will, I'm guessing, be NDH they'll be using for tests etc.  I do hope Tori has taken into consideration it may not work. 

On the other side of the baby stories in the bay, Dempsey suddenly reappeared, following Jasmine, trying to find her? and has dropped the bombshell she's having a termination.  Jasmine has been accused of poking her nose in but this time she was right Dempsey did owe it to Mason to tell him and face to face, though  it was painful for both.  I'm not sure she fully knows herself why she needs to do it and Mason is devastated but it is Dempsey's decision.  Mason's question 'what about us' did get the response 'there is no us' was harsh but true if she hadn't fallen pregnant they would likely never have got together again, just been workmates maybe dated off and on. Wonder what Tori will think - there she is having to resort to IVF to get pregnant and on the other side Dempsey a young healthy woman is having a termination.  At least Mason took his anger out on an inanimate object though going to be more to come bound to be.

A resolution between Coco and Ryder with Coco calling it a day on her and Ryder being girlfriend and boyfriend, I think both of them are relieved just to be friends from now on. Ryder was always trying too hard to impress Coco but then she didn't help by talking down to him, deliberately or not, and not taking him seriously. Going to be awkward at first but they'll settle down.

Jasmine does the right thing by not revealing Willow's secret because as she told Irene it wasn't hers to tell and still gets it in the neck.  Irene mentioned she had one of the Braxton's living with her so not much would surprise her but did she point to the room that isn't there? We didn't see all the confession from Willow to Irene but we did see the important part - her admission she was there when Alf got hit. She still blames herself for Dean getting himself into strife but it was his decision, he would have known what could happen but he did it because Willow is a friend, plus he loves her.  Not surprising Irene got hot and bothered when finding  out Leah knew about Willow's addiction but the same thing applied it wasn't Leah's place to say anything.  That, actually, Irene could live with it was the rest.  Does the fact Irene threatened to get a screwdriver to undo the hinges on the bathroom door mean you can now actually lock it from the inside?  Small point from the other week when Willow moved in and Irene said she'd been dry for about 20 years - I guess she's not counting her falls off the wagon, one very recently.

Wow  Those scenes with Maggie ogling Ben were pretty hot!  Full marks to Kestie Morassi's acting, no words needed the expressions on her face and in her eyes said it all.  How Maggie managed to restrain herself and not drag him off there and then was a wonder. Mind you Ben was looking very fit in more ways than one, fans face,  even Marilyn commented on it. Well done Ben remembering it was the anniversary of their first date. Btw 63 days down now so another couple of weeks gone since we last saw calendar/it was mentioned.  John  & Ben getting concerned Maggie was getting hot because she'd been out in the sun too long - nothing to do with the sun guys! The little chat Maggie had with Marilyn helped when Marilyn told her her sexual interest being revived was due to her meds, loved the double entendre about Maggie needing bed rest!  Oh dear all that prep Maggie put in, cooking dinner, wearing that slinky dress and the wig, making sure Ziggy and Coco were out of the way, turning the bedroom into a boudoir, luring Ben in then he backs off!  I'm hoping it wasn't Maggie he was rejecting but a fear of maybe hurting her in some way or doing harm, it has been a while.

[CaptainHulk]

Maggie looked too damn good.

No wonder some of the YR11 lads get detention!

I think the last attractive 40+ woman this show had was Beth Hunter (not as smoking as Mags, but still)

Half of me is like "Ben, she's prime and there for the taking, get in, lad!" Other half of me "I understand, mate. You don't wanna rush things."

 

 

 

 

[D.B]

Well, I have a lot to catch up on! 

Well, to start off, I feel very bad for Mason, I get that Dempsey would be extremely frightened  after the bleeding, but still there were better ways to handle it rather than push Mason out and then run off without letting the father know. Jasmine was right, she owes it to actually talk to Mason about it, because I feel the decision should come from both of them. Then again, I do feel that maybe Mason being full-on about it didn't help and as H&Alover said it is pretty much her own choice, but still I really wish that things were going to work out between the two, but now if she's already planned the termination, there's little chance.  I never really liked Mason before this year, and I feel awful for him.

While I'm glad that Ryder, Coco and Raffy became friends again, and that Ryder told Coco the truth (with help from Dean of course, in all fairness to him), I think that both were left off way easy. Coco pretty much bullied Raffy and Ryder flat-out lied in front of her just to get his girlfriend's favour, and yet in the next episode, they were all acting like the argument never happened!  While I feel sorry for both Ryder and Coco, I'm glad they broke up, their relationship wasn't doing anyone any favours really. 

I found John and Marilyn annoying trying to tell Robbo how to run the gym, I mean, it's his first day on the job, give him a chance to get comfortable with it, though I did like the little congratulation party they gave him.

I'll be honest, I found Tori's fumbling around a bit funny, though finally she dropped the question to Robbo (who, as others had pointed out, would pass on good genes! ). I like that Justin was being straight with her and helping her out, though I could have done without him thinking that Robbo was the worst donor out there, he has a good heart, is kind, smart and compassionate, and again I still believe like H&Alover what happened with Novak was self- defence. Though in fairness, I completely understand why he wouldn't want to at the start, bringing back memories of the family he loved and lost, I'm glad the show is remembering this. I'm glad that he is thinking it through and seeing the possibilities instead of refusing it straight without a second thought, though we must consider Justin's thoughts about him being part of the kid's life, and how Jasmine would think, because I will still be interested in the two together. 

Willow confessing to the robbery to Irene was a big step, and it's good that she accepts responsibility, but I'm not entirely sure about Irene and Leah's reactions, I mean yeah she was part of the robbery, but Dean was the one to knock Alf down and was very persistent that they leave him there without any help, so I'm not entirely getting the show's attitude that Dean is innocent in the whole thing when he really isn't. It will be interesting to see what Willow will do next.

On 28/09/2018 at 15:19, H&Alover said:

D.B. We could play the if so and so hadn't done so and so then so and so wouldn't have done this or that game for ever but at some point it has to come to a natural end otherwise anything anyone had done in the bay could be attributed to something someone had done years ago,

You know what, I agree. You're right in that it is a bit extreme to blame people for events years before or after, it was just how I felt at the time (with some degree of justification). You and I are probably never going to agree on the whole Hunter-Charlotte thing, but since they're all gone now, there's little point in arguing about it now. I guess we move on.

[H&Alover]

14 hours ago, D.B said:

Well, I have a lot to catch up on! 

You know what, I agree. You're right in that it is a bit extreme to blame people for events years before or after, it was just how I felt at the time (with some degree of justification). You and I are probably never going to agree on the whole Hunter-Charlotte thing, but since they're all gone now, there's little point in arguing about it now. I guess we move on.

Hi there, was getting worried I'd be talking to myself all week. !  Agree D.B. until our next debate then. 

I was thinking after Ben turned Maggie down maybe he was worried he wouldn't be up to it and didn't want to let Maggie down, but it was more complex than that.  Marilyn knew when she saw Ben all grumpy that things didn't go as they should have. I know Marilyn has been accused of sticking her oar in before but this time she had good advice for Maggie and her suggestion that maybe Ben needed to get used to seeing Maggie as his wife again  instead of someone who he was looking after seemed about right.  It could have been also that Maggie was so full on with her seduction it caught Ben completely unprepared. What is good about the Astoni's is they talk about their problems instead of letting what may start out as a small problem grow into a big one.  I was kind of half hoping Maggie and Ben would slip off to the bedroom after their talk, but hey there's still time, just let it happen naturally.

Can completely understand Mason's reaction, he's got to hit out at someone, verbally that is, Dempsey's not only left him, quit her job and moving away but having a termination.  He may not have been keen on being a dad at first but he came round and to be honest seemed  more up for being a parent than Dempsey was.  It's good that Justin & Brody are there for him, no news if Tori knows, but I guess she'd have been filled in.  Brody would know more than any of them that pushing people away does you no good, he did that when he was on drugs but Justin, Tori and Mason stuck by him.  True Mason had justification of not wanting to have anything to do with him after the accident but he did eventually come round.

Willow is good with her disappearing acts, Justin has jumped to the conclusion she could be off gambling, which could be likely seeing as she is a new recovering addict, but he should have more faith in her.  Even Dean is worried and that was before he knew she'd been called to testify against him. But as we saw she turns up at Yabby Creek police station and hands herself in, one thing though is Colby the best person to interview her considering their friendship, there has to be other cops at the station.

To Alf & Leah it may have looked Dean was quite relaxed by his impending trial with his trail of ladies but as we now know  him better than that it was a front and it seemed only Ziggy saw right through it.  He did consider the chance of doing his taff (?) apprenticeship while inside.  I don't think anyone has thought Dean was innocent of Alf's attack, though it was an accident, he's admitted to it after all.  It's the fact he owned up to it that's changed the towns attitude and be more lenient towards him.  Btw a week has flashed by, the first time we saw Dean get his summons it was two weeks away now it's a week.

 

[atrus]

Well, colour me relieved that Coco and Ryder have called it quits. I never felt it was anything more than a rather superficial relationship, if you can even call it that; and Ryder is definitely better off without her. Coco had gone from bad to awful over the past two weeks being so cold towards Raffy, particularly with the BS about them pretending to be friends for public consumption. If I were Raffy I'd have told her to go jump, but it's testament to what a nice person Raffy is that she was the one feeling bad and trying to salvage things. Some of the dialogue around Raffy 'lying' felt simplistic; Coco must have known deep down that it wasn't on to just ignore Ryder's texts and then not turn up at his house without a word. She also knows from experience how hurt Ryder gets when she doesn't respond to him; so it's not like Raffy had said anything really controversial or that the three of them didn't all know deep down was true. To be fair to Ryder (who's still benefiting from residual points from me after the whole Ty saga) he was also defensive of Coco to Raffy when they spoke about it - it wasn't like he'd been unequivocally slagging off Coco to Raffy, which is how the storyline later implied things had gone. And he never asked Raffy to go barrelling in on his behalf, which I maintain she could have done more diplomatically. But equally, he should have stood up to defend Raffy straight away, if only because that's what she was trying to do for him. I think part of the reason he didn't is because he was actually quite blind to what a brat Coco is - but the scales since seem to have fallen from his eyes, and he stood up and did the right thing eventually (thanks to advice from unlikely wise sage Dean). It was also made quite clear that it wasn't this that killed their relationship, but a more general realisation of incompatibility. If only Ty was still around to help Ryder pick up the pieces...

Hunter: well, generally speaking I'm very much with the people who feel that he did so much bad stuff early on in his stint, and with so little comeuppance for it (not doing as much bad stuff anymore hardly qualifying as redemption in itself) that the character was always tarnished by that and never really able to to overcome it. As such, the low-key, not-particularly-happily-ever-after felt about right for him. However, I will say that I thought Scott Lee has been excellent, particularly in his emotional departing scenes. I think he's consistently been one of the strongest of the young cast (which is no mean feat, since most of them are pretty strong). I feel like the most problematic aspect of Hunter's departure has been showing up how redundant Leah has become of late; I don't really feel like she's ever been as close to Hunter as these scenes implied, and the somewhat overwrought stuff between them here therefore jarred a bit, even if the emotion between the actors was obviously genuine.

I continue to side with Willow over Jasmine in their disputes, meanwhile, largely because Jasmine is so smug and self-righteous every time they talk. Willow should have been more honest about moving in with Irene, but equally I think she was trying in her head to make proper amends, not make it about the living situation. What followed was the usual 'gawd save us' routine we get every time Irene gets a new housemate who rubs her up the wrong way, and I actually thought she was quite harsh to Willow - really only saying anything about her bad habits in one big snap, rather than giving her a fighting chance to change her ways. Incredibly, Willow managed to lock herself in the bathroom which, yes @H&Alover, I guess means Irene has finally got that door sorted! But I liked their reconciliation after that, and how Irene convinced Willow that she'd only feel comfortable with herself if she did the right thing by Dean, even at the cost of her own freedom. Elsewhere in River Boy Rejectsville, surprised to see Kate Ramsay turning up, since last I heard she was in The Bold and the Beautiful. Much as I never rated Kate as a character, I do rate Ashleigh Brewer - and so I'm happy to welcome her into the Summer Bay fold.

What else? Quite enjoying the Tori baby storyline and I think Penny is at her best in the cringy comedy stuff they occasionally give her. Robbo as donor is an interesting choice, not least because I like their friendship - but they need to be very clear about what the terms of any donation are. If Tori is wanting him to have no involvement in the upbringing of the child, as she seems to be implying so far, then Robbo needs to be certain he's comfortable with that; for my money, having been a father already and having lost his kids at that, he's likely to want more involvement, even if he doesn't know it yet. And I felt sorry for Mason with Dempsey's shock decision, although I was feeling just as sorry for her; we don't know much about her or her motivations, but I think it came across that the miscarriage scare really knocked her for six, and she doesn't seem to be in a great place right now. Then again, I wasn't really convinced by her snap decision to start forging a relationship with Mason in the first place, so sad to say, this might be the natural outcome, much as it clearly sucks for Mason.

Brody and Ziggy - glad they're working at things and haven't given up at the first hurdle, although increasingly concerned at the amount of scenes Ziggy and Dean are getting together. And Maggie and Ben - I really loved the stuff with Maggie admitting she had a crush on her husband, and then the dramatic twist as he decided he couldn't sleep with her. It all felt like a very authentic result of what they've been through with the cancer, but I'm sure they'll get back on track sooner or later.

[H&Alover]

Dean would have got a shock if he'd realised he'd been hitting on a cop!   If that was what I thought it was that Colby was holding in his hand seems him and Chelsea - the new cop - were more than just girlfriend/boyfriend but were  engaged!  Must have been a pretty dramatic break up seeing as he wasn't exactly over the moon to see her.  

Coco and Ryder are better friends than boyfriend/girlfriend but they did give it their best shot - twice!   Just means Ryder is likely to be   being left out sometimes with Coco and Raffy, he doesn't seem to have any male mates from school.

I commented on the fact about Colby being the one to interview Willow considering their history and Willow did give him an out by saying she'd speak to someone else but to give him his due he acted professionally even though he must have been torn.  He did try and dissuade her but she stuck to her guns. She did give everyone a scare by going under the radar but after going to see her dad probably just wanted time to herself to think about what she was going to do.  Dean & Justin 'working' together  didn't come off.  Understandably Dean flipped out and tried the old 'we're mates, can't you fix this' ploy on Colby once he found out what she'd done but  it didn't work.  It is a long shot that Dean will get a shorter sentence even with the extenuating circumstances even  if the judge considers his actions as such. Does Alf know yet about Willow's involvement in his getting walloped?  Say what you like about Willow & Dean and their at times somewhat dubious morals regarding the law  they are there for each other, Willow could have kept quiet, Dean would have reluctantly done his time, but 10 years is  a big sentence.  She didn't ask him to take the rap but if it had been the other way round she'd have done the same thing. Friendships like that are rare.  I did like  that Colby promised to look in on Willow's dad when/if(?) she goes down.

We do see that Robbo agrees to be Tori's sperm donor but as you've suggested atrus he won't be content to just sit back after the procedure, if it works. He'll behave for the reason Tori chose him.

Had to feel for Brody when he was trying to get that band Ziggy wanted to see to come and play at SALT.  He kept the fact he played the guitar quiet, didn't look like Jackson Heywood was faking it either.

 

[Slade]

I wasn't happy Raffy forgave Coco so easily after Ryder told her the truth.  If that had been the other way round, I suspect Coco would have made her suffer before even contemplating forgiving her.  I can see why Raffy would want to just go back to being friends since she doesn't really have anybody else.  But really Coco made her very unhappy and the fact that she was prepared to end their friendship like that shows she really isn't worth it IMO.  Now it's like nothing's happened. Whilst I understand she whilst she was still annoyed with Ryder for not being honest I think he was essentially right about Coco being selfish.  I don't normally like John sticking his nose in but I think he was right getting them to settle their differences so they can work on their school project.

 

I think Ryder and Coco have both done the right thing deciding to be friends.  Ryder obviously didn't want that and only suggested it to preempt Coco finishing with him.  Objectively the fact that she was getting annoyed with him all the time, the way she suggested she wasn't herself with a boyfriend (although I suspect she meant with Ryder as opposed to another guy) and the fact that Ryder wasn't himself as Coco acknowledged shows a relationship wasn't the right thing.  I do think he was a bit too needy so being with her wasn't good for him.

 

It didn't occur to me initially that Tori was being insensitive asking Robbo to be a sperm donor.  I can see why Justin would have reservations being an uncle to Robbo's kid.  I would actually like to see Robbo and Tori together and even though they don't see each other romantically at the moment, I'm hoping this will change.  It would be better at the expense of Jasmine.

 

Unfortunately don't really have much sympathy for Mason.  Any other outcome other than Dempsey going through with the pregnancy would have been unacceptable to him.  So even though it wasn't necessarily the right thing to do, I could understand why she was going to leave and have an abortion without telling him.  I don't think she should be forced to go through with the pregnancy if she doesn't want to have the baby.  It was a terrible basis for having a relationship and it probably would have been doomed to failure.  As Mason himself said it wasn't like when he was with Beth and as Dempsey mentioned if she wasn't pregnant they wouldn't have seen each other again.  In hindsight she probably would have been better off not telling him in the first place just had an abortion behind his back.

 

With Willow, frustratingly people continue to want to help her.  I would hate to live with her as already demonstrated by the way she has conducted herself at Irene's.  Then we have Justin and Dean (who was prepared to sacrifice so much for her).  Although it was a different girl every night of the week.  Got to hand it to him -  I was even laughing when he tried it on with Chelsea.  Hopefully she won't be as annoying as her character in Neighbours.

[Red Ranger 1]

Alf's episode count last week:Three.

Been away for a week, just caught up and got six episodes to comment on, so this may take a while...I'll start where I left off, with Coco getting let off way too easily.After about two weeks of treating Ryder and Raffy like dirt, all it takes is a very perfunctory apology and Raffy's back being her best friend like nothing's happened, while Ryder acts as though he's lucky that someone as wonderful as her (?) would look at him.Until she didn't, of course, and we did at least get Raffy and Ryder's little bonding moment as she stalks off.Unfortunately, it's now feeling a bit like Brody's making the same mistake as Ryder, running around trying to please Ziggy and feeling like he can't be himself.

Tori finally blurted out what she wanted to Robbo.I said that there was no way he'd father a child and then have nothing to do with them, and the fact that he's already lost two children makes that even more unlikely. Tori did eventually get a bit of perspective and have a proper conversation about it.Also loved Colby's response.

I would never suggest that Ben should sleep with Maggie to make her happy: If he wasn't comfortable with it, then he was right to say no.However, given how vulnerable she was and how much courage it took to put it out there, there were a lot more sensitive ways to do it than just walking away from her.Sadly, it felt like the situation was never really resolved: Their scenes in the next episode seemed to be missing the ending, as if something was cut, and then today we get a throwaway remark that they're sharing a bed again.I'm guessing that's all they're doing, and they're waiting until it feels natural for both of them before being intimate again?

I do definitely feel for Mason.I get that it's Dempsey's decision but her treatment of him was completely cold.She involved him in the decision, she told him he was going to be a father, she let him support her and the baby wholeheartedly, then she took it all away from him.Mason really is the nice guy that always finishs last.I am wondering if, given neither we nor Mason actually saw her have the termination, she's going to turn up next year with a baby saying she changed her mind, because otherwise I don't know what the point of it all was other than a way to tick a box and say "Okay, Mason's had a storyline this year."Despite this, I am liking seeing Mason kick back at life, especially with his refusal to humour Justin and Willow, who were indeed treating him like a doormat.In fact, Justin has been pretty insufferable these last three episodes, ordering Dean around and then playing the "She's my girlfriend" card, so he probably deserved it.

Irene, Leah and Jasmine's "Wait, that was Willow?" scene as they all spilled her secrets by accident was funny if a bit illogical in places: How would Irene know someone had stolen gym equipment without knowing it was Willow?I agree that Irene in particular seemed keen to treat Dean as a loyal friend protecting Willow rather than someone who was as involved as her: Did Willow even explain that it was Dean that stole Irene's money behind her back?But yeah, Willow has done the right thing in owning up, although as ever it's hard to take claims that she and Dean could be looking at ten years seriously given the way these storyline usually go. (See Brody's trial last year.)

And yes, the debut of Chelsea, as played by Ashleigh Brewer, who once had storylines playing opposite Orpheus Pledger and Sarah Roberts in Neighbours.I almost didn't recognise her with the blonde hair, which I'm going to tell myself is a disguise to avoid the one-woman Facebook campaign to kidnap her and force her to go back to Neighbours and announce her character isn't dead after all.Maybe it's partly the familiar face, and partly the fact that I've long viewed Colby as a borderline-corrupt borderline-jerkass, but I find myself mostly on her side.I didn't quite get whether she knew he was a River Boy while they were together or didn't find out until the rest of the police did.

[Dan F]

4 minutes ago, Red Ranger 1 said:

And yes, the debut of Chelsea, as played by Ashleigh Brewer, who once had storylines playing opposite Orpheus Pledger and Sarah Roberts in Neighbours.I almost didn't recognise her with the blonde hair, which I'm going to tell myself is a disguise to avoid the one-woman Facebook campaign to kidnap her and force her to go back to Neighbours and announce her character isn't dead after all.

God help us if Chelsea goes the way of Yabbie Creek's other female coppers of recent years....

[H&Alover]

Welcome back Red, hope you had a good break, missed your input. 

Know what you mean Dan, unless you are a nameless  minor female cop you end up dead!  Don't know if it was the fault of the make up department but Chelsea/Ashleigh was very shiny!  Her and Colby's back story leaked out suitably, I thought, slowly. She had known back in the day, after his time being a River Boy he'd been one, she mentioned his tats, be hard to hide them as he and her were sleeping together. Romance obviously got very serious if they were engaged. Also from what she said she'd been questioned when he had  his tribunal oh and her dad's a cop. From what I could gather he broke it off because of her doubting he'd broken from the River Boys.  The look on Dean's face when he worked out the connection between Chelsea and Colby was a picture and of course he had to keep teasing Colby about it. Colby really took him by surprise by blowing up at him the way he did when Dean asked, not surprisingly, if he could 'lose' Willow's statement.  Chelsea's not been there five minutes and already bending the rules by letting Dean off when he had his meltdown at the Morgan's.

All of the Morgan's have their own respective worries at the moment but it seems Brody is the only one it seems has some control over his life.  Tori's life is in limbo, Justin is on tenterhooks waiting to hear how long Willow will get, Mason is devastated about his 'girlfriend's' decision which he had no say in, Raffy is having the problems a lot of teenagers have.

Bold step Maggie going out wearing her wig and she certainly is looking better than she has lately.  Will we be seeing Kestie with a shorter hairstyle to keep line with the storyline of  her hair growing back? Would it be usual for Maggie to get such important results over the phone even if it was good news? Perhaps she & Ben will celebrate.