2018 Season - UK Episode Discussion

[Slade]

Monday's episode showed exactly why I really dislike John.  The way he was conducting himself during during the community service, arrogant, thinking the sun shines out of his backside - Extremely annoying.

I was cheering when Mason told Tori to get over herself at the hospital as I didn't like the way she let Robbo down initially.  And I also liked seeing Tori get out of shape when Mason told her Jasmine knew about Robbo being a sperm donor.  Thinking about this some more, I don't think Robbo should be doing this now as he seems too dependent.  I was surprised at Jasmine's level of selflessness advising Tori not to completely discount Robbo.  Although assuming the ship has sailed for those two, I'm sure another guy will show up that she will just want to be friends with and end up fancying.

It was reaching the point where I was almost finding Ryder unbearable so I'm glad he's gone back to his usual level of annoyance.  Although it was good to see him getting on with Raffy/Coco and they are friends again.

[pembie]

I haven't really been watching much I'm up to the point when Chelsea has just showed up and man she's quite the sizzler on the hot scale isn't she? But I of the small amount of neighbours I have seen I prefer the actress with brown hair lol

That's been my highlight so far this year

Dean and Willow  a Justin seem to go around in circles so their very boring 

Robbo and Tori I find that a odd story 

Ryder going bad looks to be good though 

I don't like Mason that much this toughen version is much better 

[Red Ranger 1]

Well, the rehabilitation of Coco continues with her insisting on staying close to Raffy despite the danger.It did look like she could have gone for help straightaway and the reason for her not to was a bit arbitary: I assumed at first that they were trapped in the basement but then Ryder just walked out! Still, as it turned out, they were better off waiting for Dean to figure it out than wandering around the bush looking for someone. Actually, Raffy could probably have crawled out without help, but I'll excuse that one with the concussion.I was worried after the girls doing the bare minimum to indulge Ryder last episode that we were heading for another falling out, so I was pleased that the episode opened with them feeling sorry that it hadn't worked out the way he hoped and trying to make it up to him, even if that didn't really go that well! And there didn't seem to be any recriminations between them at the end.

Justin's attitude to Dean annoyed me again, as did Leah being instantly suspicious of him, even if she wasn't entirely wide of the mark.He couldn't have anticipated Ryder would decide to rush out to the hideout and, while he could have shared his suspicions earlier, he didn't actually know where they were.He seems to be alternating with Mason as the town's whipping boy.

[H&Alover]

 

As we thought Dean got the blame from all sides and all he did was tell Ryder about his old secret hideout - he didn't know he would go trotting off here and with Raffy & Coco.  He had a suspicion that's where he may have  gone and he did follow through by driving up there just in time for Ryder to come running down the steps, btw it looked like he was able to get out the front door or close by when earlier they had to break in by levering up the corrugated iron over the window. He did keep his cool and decided a better way of getting Raffy out was at the tunnel exit end  and he did try to reach her but he was too big and didn't want to risk any more rubble falling on her by trying any further. May have been just me but Colby didn't seem aware of the exit when he himself used to hang out there. That house I have to say must have looked pretty spectacular in its heyday.  Maybe Raffy could have wriggled out on her own but it would have been risking a lot, she was better off staying still till help arrived, I liked how Coco stayed with her and only moved when Ryder insisted.  Ben, Maggie, John, Marilyn, Leah and the Morgan's are going to be angry with Ryder but he didn't haul Raffy & Coco off by the hair, they were both up for it.   Apart from Raffy's concussion Ryder and Coco got off with scratches and bruises.  Handy how shiny girl - sorry - Chelsea was just the right size to squeeze into that space.  She was acting all stalkerish again earlier (I think it's how up close she gets to Colby when talking to him)  - women can be  stalkers too - but did her job professionally at the house and during the rescue.  From what we saw of the trailer I do agree with her about Colby blowing hot and cold, make your mind up lad!

Liked the way the whole Raffy's staying at Coco's and Coco's staying at Raffy's back up story fell apart as they usually tend to.

John was just being the John we know and 'love' always a bit up himself though I preferred his attitude rather than Marilyn's, she would have been all gushy, they know where they stand with him and if they get his respect in the end they know they would deserved it.

I think Mason's outburst and talk with Tori has calmed him down and although not back to his 'old' self is a lot more amenable and listened to Tori's doubts about whether not to go ahead with Robbo as donor.  Hasn't been revealed if either Tori or Leah knows Irene knows about the whole donor thing.  That was a selfless act by Jasmine to advise Tori to go with her initial instinct to choose Robbo as the donor. It's maybe scuppered any chance of her and Robbo being a couple, but never say never, this is a soap after all, but to me the way she was thinking if it's going to make him happy then she'll be happy. He did open up more about what happened that last time he was with Lauren and Jasmine was a good friend and listener.  He answered honestly about did he think he was replacing Lucas & Sofia with this potential baby and was sure he wasn't, well maybe a bit, but mainly this time he wants to be there for his child and sees this as a second chance.  There is still a way to go, more tests, more counselling,  have we seen Tori have her counselling btw?  Talking of Tori a touch arrogant of her did she really think she'd be able to back to where she was on the waiting list? 

[Red Ranger 1]

When the episode opened with Chelsea bawling out Dean as well, I thought we were going to get more of the same, although I think she was more angry with Colby than him.Interesting that Brody, who hasn't been Dean's biggest fan in the past, had a more generous view of his role in things than Justin does.I do see why people refer to Chelsea as stalkerish, but she seems too sane, and the attraction to be too mutual, for me to see her that way.She's not really done anything that, say, that ex of Ziggy's that turned up trying to win her back didn't do.I did think that his conversation with Dean was going to put Colby off the idea of getting back with her, but then they got back together anyway!And Dean got to see his mum's mostly all right, but still doesn't give a stuff about him.Well, not until the promo anyway.

Maggie was indeed looking good, although I'm guessing her hair hasn't grown back since she's still in the wigs.Not sure how accurate the chart jump is this time but doesn't seem as egregious as the last one.I'm not so sure Brody was handling things as well as Justin thought: He might not have been going in the back to snort coke this time, but he still seemed pretty stressed.I guess he was on top of things though, at least until the stove blew up with the sort of timing normally reserved for visiting vicars.

And we're at the point where all the characters who were in the first half of the week have used up their quotas and been shunted off screen, with the remaining characters constantly saying they're going to see Coco or Raffy and then us not seeing it.

[DialMforMorag]

Gosh, is it me or are the current episodes a *real* bore and the writing is *real* cheesy?!

Colby and Chelsea ... On and off, on and off, on and off... I mean, come on. And Chelsea's only been in the Bay a few weeks! Dread to think what they are planning to do with these guys. Meh. 

Coco/Raffy/Ryder ... They are seriously becoming such a boredom three-some. The hype over them staying at the haunted house overnight was ridiculous and Raffy getting knocked out in the tunnel was so over the top. Double Meh.

Dean ... What is keeping him in Summer Bay? And how is he affording it? He was literally skint yesterday yet he manages to afford drinking beer at Salt...?! Stone the flaming crows. 

Willow ... How did she manage to skip jail for credit card skimming?! Nah, in the real world - she'd be in the clink. Flaming Sheila.

Tori/Robbo ... Tori constantly jumping from one emotion to another then another one again. She is such a teenager in a middle-aged woman's body. She's a professional doctor for gods sake. There's no way she would ask Robbo to be the father of her kid, given Robbo's past. Also, Tori is hardly seen at work these days...

Mason ... Lashing out all the time, miserable so-so. A character really stuck in the mud. God save Ireland. 

Jasmine ... Lushing after Robbo like a rabbit caught in the headlights, and again (like Tori), you hardly ever see her working at the hospital. Another character stuck in the mud. My gawd. 

No disrespect to any of the actors playing these characters, but the current writing team are just making these characters really unbelievable and they seem to be jumping from one emotion to another. It's making these characters really unlikable and unrelatable.  

Apart from Maggie and Ben's cancer journey (which has been very well acted), give me Alf/Irene/Leah/Marilyn/John/Roo stories to get stuck into. I'd rather watch these guys than the aforementioned characters. 

I love Home and Away and have watched it for years and years but honest to god, the way the show is becoming, I'm starting to dread the next episode I'm going to watch...

Rant over!

[j.laur5]

7 hours ago, DialMforMorag said:

Gosh, is it me or are the current episodes a *real* bore and the writing is *real* cheesy?!

Colby and Chelsea ... On and off, on and off, on and off... I mean, come on. And Chelsea's only been in the Bay a few weeks! Dread to think what they are planning to do with these guys. Meh. 

Coco/Raffy/Ryder ... They are seriously becoming such a boredom three-some. The hype over them staying at the haunted house overnight was ridiculous and Raffy getting knocked out in the tunnel was so over the top. Double Meh.

Dean ... What is keeping him in Summer Bay? And how is he affording it? He was literally skint yesterday yet he manages to afford drinking beer at Salt...?! Stone the flaming crows. 

Willow ... How did she manage to skip jail for credit card skimming?! Nah, in the real world - she'd be in the clink. Flaming Sheila.

Tori/Robbo ... Tori constantly jumping from one emotion to another then another one again. She is such a teenager in a middle-aged woman's body. She's a professional doctor for gods sake. There's no way she would ask Robbo to be the father of her kid, given Robbo's past. Also, Tori is hardly seen at work these days...

Mason ... Lashing out all the time, miserable so-so. A character really stuck in the mud. God save Ireland. 

Jasmine ... Lushing after Robbo like a rabbit caught in the headlights, and again (like Tori), you hardly ever see her working at the hospital. Another character stuck in the mud. My gawd. 

No disrespect to any of the actors playing these characters, but the current writing team are just making these characters really unbelievable and they seem to be jumping from one emotion to another. It's making these characters really unlikable and unrelatable.  

Apart from Maggie and Ben's cancer journey (which has been very well acted), give me Alf/Irene/Leah/Marilyn/John/Roo stories to get stuck into. I'd rather watch these guys than the aforementioned characters. 

I love Home and Away and have watched it for years and years but honest to god, the way the show is becoming, I'm starting to dread the next episode I'm going to watch...

Rant over!

Dean is a new nice bad boy like Kyle/Matt/Hunter were before.

Dean is the big brother that Ryder needs.

[Jamie2811]

11 hours ago, DialMforMorag said:

Gosh, is it me or are the current episodes a *real* bore and the writing is *real* cheesy?!

Colby and Chelsea ... On and off, on and off, on and off... I mean, come on. And Chelsea's only been in the Bay a few weeks! Dread to think what they are planning to do with these guys. Meh. 

Coco/Raffy/Ryder ... They are seriously becoming such a boredom three-some. The hype over them staying at the haunted house overnight was ridiculous and Raffy getting knocked out in the tunnel was so over the top. Double Meh.

Dean ... What is keeping him in Summer Bay? And how is he affording it? He was literally skint yesterday yet he manages to afford drinking beer at Salt...?! Stone the flaming crows. 

Willow ... How did she manage to skip jail for credit card skimming?! Nah, in the real world - she'd be in the clink. Flaming Sheila.

Tori/Robbo ... Tori constantly jumping from one emotion to another then another one again. She is such a teenager in a middle-aged woman's body. She's a professional doctor for gods sake. There's no way she would ask Robbo to be the father of her kid, given Robbo's past. Also, Tori is hardly seen at work these days...

Mason ... Lashing out all the time, miserable so-so. A character really stuck in the mud. God save Ireland. 

Jasmine ... Lushing after Robbo like a rabbit caught in the headlights, and again (like Tori), you hardly ever see her working at the hospital. Another character stuck in the mud. My gawd. 

No disrespect to any of the actors playing these characters, but the current writing team are just making these characters really unbelievable and they seem to be jumping from one emotion to another. It's making these characters really unlikable and unrelatable.  

Apart from Maggie and Ben's cancer journey (which has been very well acted), give me Alf/Irene/Leah/Marilyn/John/Roo stories to get stuck into. I'd rather watch these guys than the aforementioned characters. 

I love Home and Away and have watched it for years and years but honest to god, the way the show is becoming, I'm starting to dread the next episode I'm going to watch...

Rant over!

I feel the same way, I'm finding it such a chore to watch lately and I struggle to care about most of the characters. For the 30th anniversary year it feels very underwhelming. 

[atrus]

"Is this why VJ lives overseas, to get away from your nagging?"

Yes, Ryder - yes it is.

Thought everyone was going a bit OTT this week blaming Dean for Raffy's accident simply because he mentioned the haunted house to Ryder. Even Ryder had no reason to think the place was structurally unsound and so can't really be blamed, let alone Dean. Coco and Raffy went along with it, too - they're not ten-year-olds incapable of thinking for themselves. (I'd make the observation that Coco occasionally acts like one, but she was much better this week and definitely regained some of the points she's frittered away of late by being a good friend while Raffy was trapped.)

Interesting to meet Dean's mum who obviously has a lot of problems; it sounds like there was real tragedy in his childhood (Willow's story about their first meeting being particularly sad) and it explains a lot about the River Boys becoming his safety net. Which also casts further doubt on Chelsea's boringly black-and-white views about the River Boys, and Colby's continued links to them - I'm getting a little tired of all that push-pull stuff already. If McCarthy and the police hierarchy have accepted Colby's past (and they seem to have totally given up on stopping him from associating with Dean), I don't really see why Chelsea needs to keep making it an issue - and I share Colby's frustrations every time she does. Particularly since I don't recall anybody asking for her opinion. If she doesn't like who Colby is and what he was, why stalker up out of the blue in the first place? Based on performance so far, I'd have been as happy if she hadn't.

Not much to say on developments elsewhere. Mason continued to be unjustifiably douche-ish to all and sundry, but the stuff with Brody and the duck-liking food critic was fun.

[D.B]

Well, to start off, I did feel a bit more sympathy for Mason since Tuesday, he's still acting unbearable, but he actually show his feelings of rejection, and it made it more understandable. And to be fair, it must be hard for him to listen Tori about her own problems when it has been worse for him, since he was actually going to have a kid. Still I completely agree with Tori's decision to send him home, just because they didn't show him acting badly around other staff and patients, he still wouldn't be in the right state of mind and he still could have acted less jerk-like. I do feel like his family,  other than Brody who has tried to support him, could be more understanding and sympathising with him, but to be fair, Mason isn't making it easy. I'm glad he's trying to be better and apologised, though I would have liked an apology of Tori for not being there for him more. 

As I expected, Ryder's trip to the abandoned house ends with disaster, though thankfully not as bad as I originally thought it would be. It was interesting to see that Coco had trouble lying to Ben were she was going, since she had no problem earlier on when she pretended to be friends with Raffy to get her parents off her back. And it was curious to see that she was actually believing Ryder's story. I did like the rather impressive way she, after going through some terrifying trauma, continued to look after Raffy until Chelsea, also impressively, got her out with Dean's help. I actually felt sorry for Dean, getting the blame from Chelsea, Dean and Justin, when really he had no idea that Ryder was going to actually go there, I feel like he was just trying to impress Ryder, and he did play a big part in getting them to safety. And I felt bad for him when he went to visit his mother. I still like her, but I didn't appreciate Chelsea's attitude towards Dean like she really knows him. I wouldn't agree with the idea of her being a stalker, she's just concerned about whether Colby has his priorities in the right place, which is questionable. Also, after he goes all about the two of them being over, he suddenly kisses her? I'm not very sure about the two getting back together, but we'll see where they go with it. 

I'm glad Robbo went back to the counselor and actually talk about things, even though some of it, like his last conversation with Laura, was very painful. I honestly didn't like Tori's attitude though, I mean, she didn't see how the second talk went, so she shouldn't be jumping ahead to conclusions without knowing the full story, and just dropping him after giving him all this encouragement. Jasmine's behaviour has really helped reminded me why I like her, she was very selfless, letting Tori know that she should give Robbo another chance and giving up her chance of happiness with Robbo (well, temporarily, anyway). So Tori and Robbo are going ahead!