2018 Season - UK Episode Discussion

[H&Alover]

A Happy New Year to you all.

I suppose the only good thing about Raffy's seizure being on screen was that people knew where she was. It looked to me like Brody was hanging back rather than being pushed put of the way and too many people crowding her wouldn't have been good. Her original plan to explain her symptoms sadly didn't go her way and she's now left more humiliated.  Bit late taking the vid down, the damage has been done. I agree wrong decision on her part not to want to see Coco and Ryder, they are on her side, but good that none of the family pushed her into seeing them.  She may feel more comfortable seeing them at home.  Raffy isn't stupid so keeping her from seeing what the kids were saying would have come out eventually and made her feel even worse by her family 'protecting' her.

No guarantee Neil will keep his word telling Colby where Bella is even if he does break up with SG.  His information didn't sound all that kosher as he all but admitted it wasn't though police data bases.   Bella was taken against her will when she was a child, whether she has adjusted to her new life we don't know. He won't know that until he finds he. Colby is being evasive with SG about what went down, but I dare say she'll ferret it out of him or her dad. She's definitely a cheerful drunk rambling away, I'm guessing  she isn't aware of the Robbo/Jasmine/Tori triangle otherwise she wouldn't have made the baby jokes.

It was clear Robbo didn't realise the full implications of the IVF process when Tori explained about the embryos, how many were viable, the number she wanted to freeze etc.   Jasmine was actually being more realistic than Robbo by putting off taking their relationship to the next stage because as a midwife she knows the problems Tori faces.

[Red Ranger 1]

I think I'm at that point where a break's made me feel more generous to characters than I was beforehand.I haven't been a fan of Colby a lot of the time, but I cheered at him sending Neil packing here.Dean gave him some good advice about finding Bella another way.I have been a fan of Chelsea a lot of the time but it's felt like a lone voice: Hopefully her unflinching support of Colby here will convince people that not liking the River Boys isn't a good enough reason to hate someone.

Talking of which...My generosity seems to have extended to Justin, Willow and Dean, as I can't bring myself to dislike any of them even though they all made bad calls.Justin has created an impossible situation (even Brody had a dig at him) but he's not a bad bloke and doesn't seem to wish Dean any harm: He'd never call him a friend but I think he was sincere about calling him a good worker and not wanting him to go back to jail.I guess we'll never know, but I think if Willow had been honest about how hard she was finding it when he found her upset, instead of saying what he wanted to hear, I think he'd have at least listened.Willow coped as best she could but can't spend a day ignoring Dean and then think she still has the right to lecture him.Dean was unnecessarily annoying at times but seems to be trying to make the situation work.

It's frustrating that the show has so totally ruined Marilyn and Raffy for me.I liked their friendship when Raffy was first working at the Diner but having Marilyn act like Raffy is hers and repeatedly stop her going back to her family has left me hating every minute of screen time they have together.I was dreading a scene that tried to convince us that Marilyn's the only one that knows how to handle her: Fortunately it didn't go down that route and she didn't have any more luck with her than Brody did.Raffy remains in a bit of a dark place.Where's Mason in all this though?He'd usually be the ideal person to get through to her.

21 hours ago, H&Alover said:

Bella was taken against her will when she was a child

Or, to put it another way, her family moved away?

[H&Alover]

I think Colby's step dad who was a bad lot, bit of a crim, took off with Colby's mum and Bella,  Colby's half sister, leaving no trail, so not just moving away.

Good for Colby telling Neil where to stick his offer, though he was tempted and SG even said she'd agree to break up with  Colby as she knew how much finding Bella meant to Colby.  Assuming Neil was telling the truth and Colby did find Bella there  wouldn't be any reason for them to get back together after would there? Folk never learn not to have a private conversation in public do they, Colby telling Dean all about Neil's ultimatum, which he hadn't mentioned to SG, in the caravan park when she pops up behind him. Full marks to her for having a go at her dad, pointless her threatening she wouldn't be inviting him to the wedding, he wouldn't have gone anyway. Smiled at Dean's offer to get the boys onto Neil, he also offered his help in finding Bella.

Willow is in a tough spot, she can't avoid Dean completely and they do do community service together, but she could be more civil towards him, unless she thinks being cool is easier then being friendly and giving him false hope.  But he has acknowledged what they had is over.  He proved to be the bigger person by asking to be moved to a different CS project and he was right to have a pop at her, she can't have it both ways. It was never going to be easy Dean working at the garage, but Ziggy was there to calm things down between them, I guess his quitting puts an end to his apprenticeship.  He and Ziggy do have a good rapport and light bulb moment when she thought of Ben giving him a job, even if unpaid.  Oh so obvious she was after a favour - a big one - when she approached Ben in the Diner. He, Ben was on a losing wicket really, despite his protest of never employing Dean - yes Dean Thompson - ex River Boy from Mango River, is there another Dean Thompson in town? Very crafty/clever of her just to march Dean up and present him to Ben.  As said before more to Dean than meets the eye, clever forward thinking re the maybe initially large surf board for the 14 year old, and asking for commission on any boards he sells, impressed Ben. 

Another thumbs up for Dean who after listening to Ryder moan about blaming himself for Raffy and her not wanting to see him told him to stop texting, calling and just get himself round there. Which he did and after a rocky start, stuck it out until she exited the loo.  He may be a dork sometimes but then he goes and does and says the right things.  He impressed Justin when he got her to actually leave the house and go to the Diner.  No sign of mention of Coco. As a small aside, what did the other Morgan's do if they needed the loo and Raffy wouldn't come out?

Marilyn can't help herself regards Raffy, John is more restrained and she did turn up at the right time when Brody had to leave, well Raffy wasn't talking to him anyway. Even Maz though, as you said Red, couldn't get through to Raffy, which being female to female you'd think would work.  John gently stopped her approaching Raffy when she and Ryder came in the Diner, but then Raffy got her Year 11 results and was happy so naturally she was pleased for her.  Sadly Ryder's results were the opposite, not surprisingly.  I hope as been already mentioned in the trailer he is wanting  to do the re-sit for the right reasons, because he wants to continue with his education and not just so Raffy won't be on her own.  

Neither Alf or Roo handled Ryder that well, Alf was his usual tough self whereas Roo was too much far the other way, the idea of a belated 18th party was lame.

Maggie's idea of a small coffee morning seems to be like Topsy - growing and growing, she'll need to rein Roo in though otherwise she'll will be taking  over.

[Red Ranger 1]

I found Ziggy annoying for the first time in a while. There was no need for her constant sniping at Willow and Justin, and she definitely shouldn’t have told Dean Ben had given him a job when he hadn’t: It ultimately worked out but it wasn’t fair on either man. There seemed to be a concerted effort to make Dean as likeable as possible: Normally he’d be lashing out but he never switched out of affable even when resigned to going to jail. But going from relying on Willow to get him out of the mess he’s made of his life to relying on Ziggy isn’t much of an improvement, and he needs to start making good choices instead of throwing his life away just to annoy Justin and needing his friends to come to his rescue. It’s odd because despite consistently making a mess of his own life, he often gives good advice to others, as he did with Ryder here. And by the way, I really haven’t got used to Dean and Ryder going for a drink together yet!

Marilyn annoyed me again with the way she was taking over: It’s not her place to talk to Raffy’s school or arrange a counsellor for her. So I’m glad her efforts continue to fall flat: She even arguably made the wrong call by stopping Raffy looking at her phone when it was a supportive message from Ryder, although given her later reaction to him supporting her it might not have helped anyway. (I did notice a message from Ty defending her on the feed, which is a nice touch.) But in the end, Ryder was the ideal person to help her, the perfect blend of annoying and endearing as he basically bugs Raffy out of her downer. I loved the way he insisted he wasn’t going anywhere and then asked Justin if that was all right, and Justin again did well giving them space. Of course, Ryder’s not perfect, and it’s finally dawned on him that messing up his own life out of self-indulgent guilt has just hurt Raffy more. Roo again flops as a parental figure, thinking she can magically fix Ryder’s problems with a party. I’m not convinced Alf’s big speech would/did make any difference but Ryder’s got a fair compromise. (Incidentally, the education officer popped up in 2015 as a doctor who looked after Leah after her coma. That’s one I stumbled across by accident, D.B.!) And the redemption of Coco continues with her being nothing other than a supportive friend to Ryder, hopefully she stays like this.

The school system gets more and more confusing as the characters look set to start “Year 12” less than a year after starting “Year 11”, which doesn’t even make any sense, not least because of Roo referring to it as “the start of the HSC” when she made a big deal months back about the HSC starting in Year 11, not Year 12. This contradicts every other time Year 12 has started, it seemed to confuse an awful lot of Oz pace fans when this screened over there (the general consensus seemed to be that some Australian schools do it like that and some don’t) and even Alf didn’t seem to have a clue what Roo was talking about yesterday, so I’m guessing this is something Summer Bay’s just adopted.

I have a lot of sympathy for Mason, and I’m glad that the promised rant from Ben in the promo didn’t really happen. He’s been affected by this as much as Ryder, yet while Ryder has everyone running around trying to help him, Mason gets everyone bugging him when he’s trying to study. So yeah, maybe it’s partly his fault for choosing a silly place to study but they should have read the situation better. I notice Leah suddenly having scenes worrying about him: With both VJ and Hunter gone, does she consider Mason the next best thing?!

[H&Alover]

That was sneaky of her, but to give Ben his due he did give Dean a go and found him OK, surfing is something Dean is into so is going to be  interested. From my angle it seemed Ziggy was more into helping him than he was expecting her to help him.  It is hard to remember Ryder is 18! Btw it seems as if Dean isn't throwing the money he got from his dad around, he's got it stashed in his van and only taking what he needs when he needs to, good for him, would be very tempting to spend it on wine, woman and song and waste the rest.

I guess Maz was concerned Ryder's text would be another bad text, but she could have glanced at it first to check.  To be fair Maz (and John) have had the OK from the Morgan's to lend a hand, ear or whatever is needed regards Raffy.  Still no scenes between Raffy and Coco although both have appeared separately.  Good, though no real surprise, she passed her exams.  Loved Maggie saying she wanted to know the news as a mum rather than a teacher. I think, as Ryder said, he's wanting to resit his exams not only to be there for Raffy but because he actually wants to.  Not sure how meaningful that talk Alf had with him was but it seemed to convince Alf Ryder was genuine in wanting to sort his life out.  Hence perhaps Alf's later rant at the Education lady. I hope this doesn't mean the end of the fun Ryder altogether though.

Wonder if each district has it's own rules as regards HSC and which year sits it, heck if them in Oz are confused what chance do we stand?

Maggie certainly knows which strings to pull and to good effect.  Not sure whose argument/reasoning swayed her, but I liked Alf's passionate defence of Ryder

That trailer between Ben/Maggie/Mason did look more than it actually was.  He is pushing himself far too hard, shifts at the gym, hospital and studying for his exams.  It did cross my mind when he told Leah at least it was quiet at the gym was 'hey why don't you move into Maz & John's' which was Raffy's initial reason for doing so.  If the Diner was still less hectic than home that's saying something.  It did start off quiet and but then the whole town seemed to congregate there, being very vocal, if there had been any other customers all that racket would have driven them away. He tried to keep his head down, but no Irene, Ben, Alf wanted to involve him in their discussion so I was on his side when he finally exploded!  He's the one that needs some attention now.  Btw Red I think at 23 he may be too old to be under Leah's tender care.

[Red Ranger 1]

Alf's episode count this week:Three.

Well, I did like the first scene between Mason and Ben, with them both understanding the other's business is important.While it's kind of good that Mason apologised, I think he owed an apology in return for everyone else's lack of consideration: Irene was particularly intrusive yesterday, constantly touching and nudging him, yet she seemed to think it was all Mason's problem here.Jumping the gun must be an Astoni family trait with Ben calling Tori against Mason's wishes, but again it worked out and she was a help to him.I also liked seeing him and Jasmine hanging out as ever.

It's a shame given that it seemed an interesting idea when it was first mooted that I'm struggling to muster much interest in Robbo and Tori's IVF.It perhaps doesn't help that they just seem to be having the same conversations over and over.

[atrus]

Fantastic acting from Olivia Deeble again in the atermath of the seizure. It's a horrible thing for a teenager to deal with but Raffy's lucky she's got such a supportive family around her - Justin and Tori in particular dealt with it really sensitively, and Brody was trying his best too. Sad that Raffy didn't want to see Coco and Ryder, or leave the house, out of embarrassment. Nice to see that Ty was one of the commenters on her video though, and apparently the only one sticking up for Raffy. Inspired by Dean's advice, Ryder got his act together and proved he was a great friend; lovely stuff with him parking himself outside the bathroom until Raffy came out. Alf continued not to see the wood for the trees as regards Ryder, myopically focusing on his education when it was clear there were more important things going on for him. I get that his education is likely to have longer-term significance but sometimes, friendships do take precedence in people's priorities and I'm not about to criticise Ryder for that. Happily, the two priorities coincided after Ryder realised he wouldn't be able to support Raffy if he didn't progress to Y12 - and it was good to see Alf fighting his corner with The Department.

I'm definitely warming to Chelsea now we've seen a more fun side to her character, and I only have sympathy for her given what a father she's had to put up with. What he did was so unreasonable that I didn't get why Colby didn't just agree to ditch Chelsea for Bella, and then go back on his word as soon as he had the information? I would have done exactly that in his shoes -- no-one can deliver ultimatums like that and reasonably expect them to be honoured. Still, it was satisfying to see Colby turn him down, and even more satisfying to see Chelsea ban her dad from the wedding.

Annoyed that WIllow is going along with Justin's Dean ban - it just seems really cruel. And if she's the one who's refusing to even talk to him, she should be the one who goes to Mangrove River or Reefton Lakes for community service, not him. I didn't blame him for telling Justin where to stick his job, in honesty. Glad Ziggy intervened on his behalf by getting him the job with Ben.

Pleased for Tori and Robbo for their embryo success. I continue to think that the sudden Jasmine relationship only exists to provide a conflict in the Tori/Robbo story, but I guess you could argue the same for the parenthood story in the Jasmine/Robbo relationship. In any case, I know which one I'm more invested in.

Elsewhere, yawn at Study Addiction for Mason, in which his douchiness inevitably resurfaced.

And the 'big' 7000: wow, that was so inauspicious that nobody here even seems to have mentioned how inauspicious it was I know it's not a major milestone compared to the 30th earlier this year, but I find it sad that H&A continues to have seemingly no interest in its history or heritage on these occasions.

[H&Alover]

I guess we are meant to assume Irene and co apologised to Mason off screen as he obviously did. The intervening bug is catching but Ben did do the right thing and in turn it helped, in a small way, to take Tori's mind off her IVF problem, only two viable embryos left though, so a lot riding on the one she had implanted working. 

Not being an expert no idea what the average would normally be, three/four? As has been mentioned not straight forward as any of them could have thought at the beginning, despite two of them being medical.  We saw from the trailer Robbo for whatever reason didn't mention to Jasmine he'd actually been in the room when Tori had her implant and wasn't pacing up and down outside.  She has been remarkably supportive, hiding the quite reasonable doubts she has to be having even though both Robbo and Tori don't have any romantic interest in each other, they are having a child together. Sweet mention of Lauren having to have an emergency C-section throwing her birth plans out of the window. Interesting  to see the implant itself.

Lots of talk of Ryder's re-sit and  Alf fishing how he did, Maggie only said that Ryder himself felt confident he did well. Maggie pulled even more strings in that the Board allowed him to  do it at her palace. The Fund Raiser seems to have taken on a life of its own, hope after all the work everyone is putting in it goes well.

Not been anything said about Karen, hope she doesn't get forgotten about.

 

[Red Ranger 1]

I found Ziggy incredibly annoying again.She bulldozed Ben into hiring Dean, and now suddenly she's acting like Ben shouldn't actually let Dean do the job she forced him to give him and hanging around the shop criticising everything Dean does, even though Ben and Alf think he's doing fine? So basically she manipulated Ben into giving Dean a job that she doesn't think he can do? Again, the overall feeling is her being unfair to both men.

So, we get confirmation that Ross hasn't kidnapped Bella, and is her legal guardian and perfectly entitled to move away and take her with him without leaving Colby a forwarding address.So Neil not telling him where she is is unpleasant but not actually illegal.Colby seemed a bit too snappy at times, and Chelsea's already less uncomfortable about Colby and Dean considering committing crimes in front of her, which I have mixed feelings about but I guess she saw it as just theoretical and not worth making a fuss about.Given how much she's given up for Colby, he'd better be worth it.Robbo's reasons for not helping seemed like he was just trying to keep it interesting: He did, after all, get Lance to look into Ebony without any evidence she'd committed a crime either.

I was willing to give Robbo a pass for not mentioning that he was in the room to Jasmine in front of Tori (even though bringing a third wheel to their date was rather thoughtless).But when Jasmine then gives him the opening to tell her and he chooses to keep it to himself...definitely bad boyfriend behaviour.I do like that Jasmine and Tori are both trying to be considerate of the other one rather than tearing strips off each other: Jasmine doesn't blame Tori for asking Robbo to come in with her, she's just upset that Robbo lied about it.

Oh yeah, and 7000 episodes.I wasn't expecting a big cast reunion or anything, or even think they should have had one, but I'd have hoped for them to schedule something more thrilling than Tori and Robbo's IVF drama for that slot.But hey, it's just numbers.Who remembers what, say, the 7000th episode of Coronation Street was about?(*Looks it up* Tony Gordon revealed Jed Stone alive in the Rovers.)

[H&Alover]

I thought that too Red, Ziggy was the one who tricked Ben into taking Dean on yet from what we saw last night she'd done an about turn and didn't think he was up to it.  Dean doesn't really help himself to be fair by not taking it seriously, but I reckon that is because he is not as confident as he wants people to think he is.   He's not been given any real responsibility before having been written off as a no good River Boy from Mangrove River so this is a whole new ball game for him.  Still she did give him the thumbs up after Ben approved of the new layout.  Alf's face when Dean suggested, jokingly, it was time for a hug!

As Robbo said Ross taking Bella  away wasn't breaking any law as he is her dad, plus her mum was with her, it's just that he isn't/wasn't exactly an upstanding member of the community and Colby was concerned about her and her welfare.  From what he said about Ross stopping Bella going to dance glasses, it does sound he was very controlling.  Well you can't say either he or SG didn't try all the avenues they could to trace Ross, but Ross being the guy we've been lead to believe he is, I don't suppose there would be much on line to be able to find him, he'd be under the radar. Even if there wasn't a rift between SG and her dad her wanting her mum to go through his papers was a BIG ask. Was that the first time we heard she's got a sister?  Neil sounds like a husband/dad who is used to his family doing things his way, seems SG is just like him in  that regard, probably why they clash. Now she isn't being a stalker SG has been very supportive of Colby so good girlfriend material.

That was a tad awkward lunch between Tori, Jasmine and Robbo, maybe him not telling Jasmine he'd been in the room with Tori wasn't deliberate, it was very last minute and he hadn't planned to, though his later "I was trying to protect you" excuse was pathetic.  From Tori's reaction when Jasmine expressed surprise he had been in the room, she obviously didn't know she didn't know.  Yes that opening Jasmine gave him was pretty wide and although not the biggest of lies that have been told in the bay, it wasn't the point, Jasmine would have understood given the reason why he did it so no reason for him not to tell her.  Maybe he was just about to when Tori rang him to give him the heads up  but Jasmine got in first. It's nice that Tori is thinking about Jasmine and urging Robbo to stop worrying about the baby for now and go see Jasmine and have some them time. Not totally excusing him but I think he's trying to please both of them and he has been out of the dating game for a long while so not used to straight forward dating let alone the added complication of being a dad with  a friend.

From what we saw in the trailer SG and Colby are suspicious of where Dean got the money to pay for the PI, we know Willow knew of the cash Dean's dad  gave him, but I thought Colby also knew about it, but obviously not.  Typical of the rarely seen side of Dean to want to help Colby like that. Btw not sure how wise it is he is keeping it the van given what the crime rate is like in the bay  as remarked by by Alf when he said the crime rate went up when Dean came to the bay.

Is it too early to wonder when Roo and Alf will get the news Morag has been taken seriously ill then we will hear she has died?