2018 Season - UK Episode Discussion

[Red Ranger 1]

9 hours ago, H&Alover said:

Quinn wasn't even at home was she, so maybe Ryder just meant home?

Presumably her tour on the ship finished, it has been nearly a year.Ryder did say at least once, possibly more, that he was going to Queensland because she was there.

Well, my worst fears were pretty much confirmed, as we get Raffy absent from Morgan scenes with a throwaway "She's with John and Marilyn", as if she's moved back in in name only.I get that it's early days, but it feels like she's spending as much time with them, and almost as little time with her siblings, as she was before.But anyway.I was inclined to think that Jasmine should cut her losses, but she and Robbo do seem to be back on an even keel and he's understanding of her position - she's trying her best to be okay with it but there are going to be wobbles - so maybe she should stick it out for now.I liked her having some more friendship scenes with Mason, who here and with his family, and with Maggie yesterday, demonstrated what a nice guy he is for all his cockiness.(Okay, his advice to Justin didn't quite work out but it should have done.)

Willow was a pretty bad girlfriend here. There was absolutely no reason for her to stand Justin up and ignore his texts just so she could have a far-from-urgent conversation with Dean and give him some terrible advice. (It might have been better if Dean had listened carefully and actually given Rick some time instead of just rocking up the next day, but Willow didn't have a clue what the situation was and the outcome would have probably been the same.But at least Dean got $50,000 out of it so not a total loss.)And the result is Justin's ultimatum.I can understand his frustration, he's trying to make things work with Willow, and he's done his best to accomodate Dean, but no-one's going to put up with their girlfriend treating her ex as number one priority and them as a very distant second.(For all the talk of "they're family", Willow didn't seem to have seen Dean for ages before he turned up in Summer Bay.)There's been a lot of rather extreme criticism of Justin elsewhere on the forum over this this, I suspect mainly from Dean fans, but we need more than a promo fodder line to get a clear idea of how justified Justin's stance is.He can't really dictate who Willow's friends with, but I think he's well within his rights to expect a bit of respect rather than being treated like someone she only gives attention to when Dean doesn't need her.(Which he didn't in this case but she let Justin down anyway.)

[H&Alover]

D.B - we don't actually know when Raffy slipped out and I did say 'did neither Tori or Mason check on her before they went to work?'  But yes she could have done just the same if she'd still been at John& Marilyn's.  Well, she's only been home what two days and she's back off to John & Marilyn's I'm guessing that's where it is, for  a sleep over with Coco, but what's wrong with a sleep over at the Morgan's? Btw that does then mean Coco knows Raffy is home. Talking of Raffy & the Morgan's, well specifically Brody this time, cough, cough, excuse me isn't there someone you, Ziggy and Leah should be talking to about 'your' decision about putting the news about Raffy's epilepsy on Leah's vlog, you know who I mean it seems you haven't learnt from her very recent valid complaint about people - her family - making decisions on her behalf. It's personal to her and down to her, apart from the teachers at SBH being aware, who she tells and it should be in her own time. As we did see she was not happy about it. The last time Brody did the vlog Raffy was in a coma and no-one knew what her condition would be so that was understandable. 

I don't think it's a matter of Dean butting into Willow and Justin's relationship, more Willow dashing off to see Dean every time he has a crisis.  She could have easily have rung/texted Justin to say she'd be late instead if leaving him waiting.  We did get to the core of what was really bugging Justin, the fact she'd slept with Dean.  But it was after she'd dumped him, due to Nina's ultimatum, so they weren't together and it was a rebound thing on her part.  It was an ultimatum from Justin despite his protests but Willow's choice, though it is going to be hard and now Colby is having to take up the slack which won't bode well for his and SG's romance.  Dean did take her advice incorrectly, she did tell him to give Rick a few days but he went back the next day, I hope he uses that $50,00 wisely, get  a home for him and Karen for when she comes out of hospital which looks like it could be a while seeing as there is no diagnosis for her condition yet. I don't know how far $50,00 goes in Australia but he could also use it to pay for her treatment should it be needed.

Seeing Robbo holding Tori's hand in hospital must have been a shock for Jasmine and has got her doubting if she can carry on as if everything is OK.  It's going to get more harder when the next stage is reached, won't go into details but you know what I'm talking about.

Maggie has made a start on building up her fitness and Mason will make sure she doesn't over do it.  Did seem some friction with Maggie seemingly getting annoyed everyone was trying to muscle in on her project.

SG did appear to be stalling on ringing her dad and letting him know she and Colby were engaged, he, from what she has said, is a pretty straight down the line guy, so that's where she gets it from.  He and Colby had been friends, treated Colby like a son, apparently, until he found out about his connections with the River Boys.  Now he's suddenly rocked up so wait until he finds out about Dean  and the fact Colby is friends with him. I can see another ultimatum on the cards.

[Red Ranger 1]

Alf’s episode count this week: Four.

Wow, it gets worse by the episode: Now Raffy’s even staying at John and Marilyn’s again! (Which is even more galling when you remember when Raffy wanted to stay with her family while her niece was missing, Marilyn was all “No, no, you have to be with us” and practically had to be ushered out the door while looking sulky.) We did at least get a couple of overdue Raffy/Coco scenes and they were worth it, but it was frustrating to have them talking about the great night they had with Ryder: Why aren’t we seeing that instead of yet another episode of John and Marilyn simpering over her (which even she’s getting fed up with) while only one of her family appears and is treated like second fiddle?

So, it does definitely look as though Justin actually does want Willow to stop being friends with Dean. I can understand that, it does feel like he’s spent months sorting out Dean’s problems in the hope things will settle down for him and Willow afterwards, yet instead there’s a constant string of dramas. But I can’t justify it: If Justin has to dictate who Willow’s friends with in order for the relationship to work, then he’s fighting a losing battle. To be fair, he did seem to realise that but was quick to believe Willow’s reassurances. Colby wasn’t as annoying as the promo indicated but I did enjoy seeing our shiny girl mock his “Mangrove River family” speechifying.

Chelsea also got a laugh with the casual way she told her dad about her engagement in a voicemail. Steve Nation as her dad, who popped up a couple of years ago as Kyle’s lawyer. I can kind of understand his stance – Colby’s already put Chelsea’s career at risk once by dragging her into a cover-up and he seems the sort to carry on doing it (and already has, not that Neil knows that) – but by abusing his position he’s crossing the line himself. There seemed to be an awful lot of people forgetting things they should know today: How can the townsfolk not know Colby and Chelsea are together when they’ve been kissing in public for weeks and Justin congratulated him on the engagement? Why didn’t Colby know Chelsea didn’t tell her family he was in Summer Bay even though she told him that last episode?

Well, the show was never going to follow Maggie climbing mountains, so unless Kestie was going to take a very long break from the show, I guess it was inevitable she’d give up that one. Still, I have a lot of sympathy for her: This was meant to be her thing, her way of showing that she’s survived and she’s capable again, and Irene and Roo should have recognised that instead of trying to take over. I liked the callback to Coco’s letter, but her turning Maggie’s advice back on her felt like it wasn’t playing fair.

I have to agree with H&Alover: It was not Brody or Leah’s place to tell the world about Raffy’s epilepsy without talking to her. All they needed to do was tell people that she’s out of hospital and getting better. Sadly, people still aren’t very good at keeping an eye on Raffy and she has yet to learn not to go off on her own: Okay, she didn’t want any grown-ups involved but she should have at least got Coco and/or Ryder to help out. In a way, she’s lucky the seizure didn’t happen before she started the stream, but having it happen so publicly is just going to make it worse. A shame, because she was actually giving a good account of herself.

And that’s it until January. Bit of a cliffhanger for us…

[H&Alover]

 

As predicted Raffy was furious for Brody 'outing' her epilepsy without getting her OK first.  When she was in a coma I think  it was fairly common knowledge, but her epilepsy is or was just known to her family and close friends, it's tough enough for teenagers these days with social media broadcasting everything they do and the fact she is now 'different' will make it really hard for her at school.  Brody should have known better and shouldn't have been 'bullied' into by Leah and btw Leah it was too late to take down the vlog. Would he have liked to have been outed over his drug use? It's already driving Raffy crazy with her family and John & Marilyn asking how she is every five minutes but now she'll have the SBH kids, those that care about her, doing the same.  Apart from Abi that is, but she'll soon get slapped down.  Good advice by Coco to ignore the texts but easier said than done so she decided to take control and do the streaming and put her account out there. Maybe it was good that those concerned could see something wasn't right and it looked like she was found pretty quickly. But not so good she is suffering from short term memory loss like she was before she went into hospital. No one seems to be doing a good job of keeping an eye on her, slipped out of her home and now as soon as Marilyn and John's backs are turned she's off again. John did advise Marilyn to back off from hassling Raffy too much. I too was disappointed to hear about the sleepover second hand, which  also included Ryder, but I guess as he had done his three days we couldn't see him. As an aside pity we didn't see how cheeseburgers are good for people suffering from epilepsy.

I was wondering if SG's dad had been in H&A before so thanks Red for the reminder he had.  See now where SG gets her straight down the line stance, but considering her usual, it's the truth or nothing speeches before now she seems to have been a tad economical with it herself, confessing to Colby she didn't tell her dad she knew he was in Summer Bay before transferring there and not telling him she knew all about Colby's connection with the River Boys and not just at the time of the  tribunal. I can understand he is a concerned dad, but she's an adult and can make her own decisions which she already did by following Colby to the bay. That's going to be an interesting discussion when H&A comes back regarding Neil's suggestion that if he, Colby, doesn't dump SG or quit the police he won't find out about what he knows about Bella and you're right Red that is abusing his position to get what he wants.   Was that really not the first time Colby & SG have been so public with their affections and in uniform too.

I hope even though Maggie has decided not to pursue the climbing of the State 8  she doesn't drop her exercises with Mason, not a bad idea to keep fit and build up her muscles. She may have come across as stroppy dismissing Roo & Irene's ideas it was as we both said Red her idea and now it was being taken over even if Roo & Irene meant well, but as we saw after her talk with Ben and Coco reading the letter she'd written her made her rethink, wasn't it handy it said just the right thing about letting people help you even if you thought you could handle it all by yourself.  Someone will come up with something that will make Maggie think 'that's it', that's me!!!

By my reckoning, unless I'm wrong with my estimation, we'll be two months  behind when we see H&A again, episode 6995 was seen in Aus 27th October. I'm guessing it'll return 7th January 2019? 

[atrus]

On 19/11/2018 at 18:02, Red Ranger 1 said:

I'm still not feeling very generous about John and Marilyn's "de facto guardian" status giving them special privileges.The whole point of being a temporary guardian is that once the child goes back to their family, you take a step back, like they have done with Ty and Jordan. This is only an issue because of the bizarre set-up whereby John and Marilyn are living in the same small town as Raffy's family, which they think gives them the right to a say in any decisions concerning her, even though they didn't feel the need to consult the Morgans when Raffy was living with them.The Morgans may have consented to Raffy living with them, but given how they were ambushed, their only alternative was dragging her home.(Which they've finally managed to do:Good for them.)

Totally agree on how foster families should work, but I think that stepping-back process kicks in only when you're categorically informed your services are no longer required. There was no clear conversation of that kind with John and Maz - just a vague assertion that Raffy would be with the Morgans to help her recuperate, but no real sense of what was going to happen after that. Presumably, all else being equal, Raffy is going to return to the Palmers once her condition is under control, and therefore they're bound to continue to consider themselves responsible for her. Also, the 'ambushing' and 'only alternative' kind of implies that the Morgans have been sitting around angsting over how to get back their missing sister, but as far as I can see they're just as acquiescent about Raffy living with John and Maz as everyone else. Sure, they may have been ambushed at first, but if they really wanted Raffy back permanently they could (and should, in my view) have made that call at any point in time, but particularly after the hurt that was caused with Raffy and Ty dating and living together, when it all fell apart. And part of the issue is this isn't a traditional fostering arrangement - Raffy made a choice to live there when things were difficult at the Morgans', but since decided to stay and largely seems happy with it. It's not as if her brothers and sisters have always been part of her life, either, so it's very different from a scenario whereby she'd always been a part of that family and now suddenly isn't. That all said, I still think it makes more sense for her to live with them than at the Palmers', apart from anything else so we can see that family situation develop, and because you'd think that development would be what everyone in the family would want now that all the life-threatening escapades at the Morgans' are (for the time being) over. I guess the real-life justification is that the writers need something for John and Maz to do other than loitering around the Diner poking their nose into other people's business, but I agree it isn't particularly satisfactory.

Anyhow... Loved the Dean/Ryder dynamic this week; it's an unusual pairing but works really well, and I loved their mutual blokey encouragement of one another to resolve their issues - although it does underline the point I made a week ago about boys being expected to 'man up' and stop feeling sorry for themselves as a (usually subsconscious, I think) gender prejudice, whereas no-one would ever dream of telling a teenage girl in distress to 'woman up'. Even if similar 'stop feeling sorry for yourself' sentiments are expressed, the imperative isn't there in the same way - as highlighted by Dean further gendering matters by sticking 'princess' on the end, as if 'manning up' is the opposite of how a woman would behave. Anyway, I'm not complaining about Dean saying it - it's totally in character, and his specific intentions in doing so were very good - just that it highlights the wider societal problem I was talking about, and specifically in terms of Ryder, the deficiencies in the way Alf in particular has been handling him. That notwithstanding, Ryder was selfish in not getting in contact with Raffy to assure her of his safety, but happily Dean talked him around and he contacted her, before heading home anyway and reconciling with the olds. Roo and Alf were both still annoying me somewhat in their attitude towards Dean, but at least they both had the good grace to apologise for their rudeness. Like others, I'd have liked to have seen Ryder's reunion with Coco and Raffy on-screen, rather than hearing about it second hand; Dean aside, they're really his only friends and it would have been good to see them weigh in with some positive support on his return, as I'm sure they did.

Sad for Dean, after biting the bullet, that things didn't turn out so happily with his family as his dad seemingly didn't want anything to do with him; hopefully this won't be the last we hear, and Dean will at least get to know his sister somehow even if his dad remains standoffish. While I like Justin most of the time, occasionally he does something really off, and this week was one of those occasions. I hated him telling Willow to choose between him and Dean - just awful. Given the support he showed to Dean throughout his troubles with the law, and how Dean deliberately stepped back so that Willow could be with Justin, I thought their relationship had moved beyond this kind of macho posturing. I get why Justin's insecure about Willow and Dean's friendship, but it's clearly more complicated and long-standing than "she's hanging out with her ex" and there are other ways of dealing with it than demanding that she cut all ties. And as others have said, if he feels he's forced to throw down ultimatums in order to make his relationship work, then he's surely on a hiding to nothing anyway. It all made me start wondering whether Willow and Dean aren't better together after all, whereas previously I'd been fairly solidly Team Justin.

This incessant-talking-about-Raffy in Leah and Brody's cookery videos struck me as a massive red flag right from the outset, and was always bound to provoke a reaction like this; I'm surprised neither of them considered the possibility sooner. Particularly after Leah gave Ryder such a hard time for posting that video of her without her permission, you'd think she'd be clued into the fact that consent is important with things like this, particularly when there's a medical dimension as in Raffy's case. Nice (and surprising, given extras' propensity for cruelty) to hear that most of the SBH students were supportive - 33 pity messages is nothing to be sniffed at, and I would've liked Coco to emphasise to Raffy that it proves how well-liked she is. Convenient timing that her next fit would hit just as she was recording the video.

The arrival of Chelsea's dad provided some much-needed context for her character, and began to humanise her a bit in my eyes and explain some of her behaviour thus far. Compared to him she starts to look eminently reasonable, and I'm guessing much of the pressure she's been piling on Colby has been down to an ingrained fear about how her father, who seems like a consummate prat, would react to news of their reconciliation, and his exacting standards more generally. Hopefully when she finds out what daddy dearest has been up to, she'll come down more firmly in Colby's corner.

Finally, an unexpected return to Coco's letter from Maggie, which was a nice touch I thought. Although, yeah, easy to take someone's almost-dying words and throw them back in their face a few months later in a totally different context.

Can't believe we're at season's end yet again. Ridiculously early, but since I'm likely not to to post here again until 2019 - happy Christmas, everyone.

[Red Ranger 1]

13 hours ago, atrus said:

Totally agree on how foster families should work, but I think that stepping-back process kicks in only when you're categorically informed your services are no longer required. There was no clear conversation of that kind with John and Maz - just a vague assertion that Raffy would be with the Morgans to help her recuperate, but no real sense of what was going to happen after that. Presumably, all else being equal, Raffy is going to return to the Palmers once her condition is under control, and therefore they're bound to continue to consider themselves responsible for her. Also, the 'ambushing' and 'only alternative' kind of implies that the Morgans have been sitting around angsting over how to get back their missing sister, but as far as I can see they're just as acquiescent about Raffy living with John and Maz as everyone else. Sure, they may have been ambushed at first, but if they really wanted Raffy back permanently they could (and should, in my view) have made that call at any point in time, but particularly after the hurt that was caused with Raffy and Ty dating and living together, when it all fell apart. And part of the issue is this isn't a traditional fostering arrangement - Raffy made a choice to live there when things were difficult at the Morgans', but since decided to stay and largely seems happy with it. It's not as if her brothers and sisters have always been part of her life, either, so it's very different from a scenario whereby she'd always been a part of that family and now suddenly isn't. That all said, I still think it makes more sense for her to live with them than at the Palmers', apart from anything else so we can see that family situation develop, and because you'd think that development would be what everyone in the family would want now that all the life-threatening escapades at the Morgans' are (for the time being) over. I guess the real-life justification is that the writers need something for John and Maz to do other than loitering around the Diner poking their nose into other people's business, but I agree it isn't particularly satisfactory.

I agree it's not a traditional fostering situation but I'd have thought the fact that Raffy hasn't been officially fostered and has only been living with John and Marilyn with her family's permission made it more temporary rather than less.I certainly haven't seen anything to suggest that the Palmers are still regarded as her default home and that she's only staying with the Morgans again until she gets better.(For a start, she's never going to get completely better, even if the seizures will hopefully get less frequent.)It didn't seem to be what John and Marilyn thought either, there was no "So when's she moving back in us with then?", more trying to push their way back in and still be relevant.So I'd say that that scene at Salt with Justin and Tori where they told them Raffy was moving back in them was them categorically being told that their services are no longer required, and typically they've tried to find a way around it and frustratingly succeeded.I agree that the real-life reason for the arrangement seems to be giving John and Marilyn something to do, but that's resulted in a lot of decision that don't make sense.Keeping her there for the Ty storyline was bad enough, keeping her there afterwards was downright wrong.So I'm applauding the Morgans for finally stepping up and doing what's right for Raffy rather than making the popular decision.No, we haven't had the Morgans angsting about Raffy coming home, but Justin was clearly devastated when she announced she wanted to live with John and Marilyn permanently, but hid it so as not to upset her.Similarly, when she expressed a desire to go back to her family after the Ty situation, Justin told her she'd always have a home with them but allowed John and Marilyn the opportunity to pressure her into changing her mind.Now you could argue, and I would too, that Justin and the others should have put their foot down and insist she come home.Raffy should not have been the one calling the shots, John and Marilyn even less so.But as I said, the Morgans' choice was to acquiesce to Raffy's wishes and let her carry on living there, or to demand she come home whether she wants to or not. And now they've finally done that, that should be the end of it.But instead the show is trying to make us sympathise with John and Marilyn and think it's perfectly fine for them to continue to dominate Raffy's screen time instead of leaving her and her family alone.

[atrus]

2 hours ago, Red Ranger 1 said:

I certainly haven't seen anything to suggest that the Palmers are still regarded as her default home and that she's only staying with the Morgans again until she gets better.(For a start, she's never going to get completely better, even if the seizures will hopefully get less frequent.)

Possibly I've misinterpreted, then - I kind of assumed that she would just end up back at the Palmers' once things had stabilised. (And to be honest, I'll still be surprised if she isn't back there in a few weeks.) Although, as you've said yourself, if the Morgans are simply contracting out the care of Raffy to in-home visits by John and Marilyn anyway, then the arguments for her needing to be there because of Tori and Mason's medical supervision seem to fall flat on their face. I'd still make the case for her living with her family because they're her family, though - a fact that almost everyone involved seems intent on permanently overlooking.

2 hours ago, Red Ranger 1 said:

Similarly, when she expressed a desire to go back to her family after the Ty situation, Justin told her she'd always have a home with them but allowed John and Marilyn the opportunity to pressure her into changing her mind.Now you could argue, and I would too, that Justin and the others should have put their foot down and insist she come home.

Yes. I can't remember what I said at the time, but with hindsight I really think the Morgans should've stepped in the moment they found out she had become romantically involved with Ty and, at the least, strongly made the case to Raffy that they wanted her to come home. Raffy would have vehemently obejcted, no doubt, but in that circumstance I can see an argument for them exerting their authority and doing what was in her interest. They could have sold it to her by telling her she'd therefore be allowed to date Ty in the normal fashion, rather than being chaperoned round-the-clock by an overbearing John and Maz - and then when things inevitably fell apart (as they are wont to at that age, even putting aside Ty's sexuality issues), she wouldn't have been stuck under the same roof with him, which would have made getting over it hugely easier.

[H&Alover]

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year everyone - see you in the New Year.

[CaptainHulk]

12 Ryders Storming

11 Raffys Fittings

10 Thompsons Trashing

9 Buddys barking

8 Alfs a-flamin'

7 Leahs cookin'

6 Irenes flippin;

5 "Oh My Gawds!"

4 Maggies Milfing

3 Ben's surfin'

2 Beach Trips

And a Long-ass UK Season Breaaaaak!

(Kind of made up on the spot)

[Red Ranger 1]

11 hours ago, atrus said:

I'd still make the case for her living with her family because they're her family, though - a fact that almost everyone involved seems intent on permanently overlooking.

Oh yes, I agree entirely. It feels like the show's made exactly the same mistake they made with Luc last year, although ironically with the blood tie in the opposite direction: You can't say a child's part of one family, then have someone swoop in and take her away from them and expect the audience to be happy about it.