2020 Season - UK Episode Discussion

[pembie]

I'm travelling down to cornwall to stay with my parents while this virus stuff is happening anyway does channel 5 still show omnibus episodes of the show?

[Red Ranger 1]

  On 22/03/2020 at 16:30, pembie said:

does channel 5 still show omnibus episodes of the show?

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No. Two showings on Channel 5 (1.15 and 6.30), two showings on 5* (3.30 and 6.30, the latter being the next day's Channel 5 episode), plus time-shifted showings on +1 channels.

I was pretty much resigned to Jade's storyline ending in a damp squib.Nice that Ryder's off the hook and everything, but Jade skipping town without any retribution while Constable "Too stupid to investigate both suspects" Colby cheerily says they can leave her to them is rather unsatisfying.With any luck we might hear that she's been picked up somewhere, but it's just as likely that she'll be left free to carry on preying on men. There seems to be an awkward suggestion that while a boy who films girls and posts the results on the internet is treated as though he's as bad as a rapist, a girl who uploads intimate footage of a boy without consent isn't such a big deal.It just underlines how unbelievably stupid everyone was on Friday, right down to Alf kicking her out. People kept saying things like "Leave or we'll call the police." Um, shouldn't you be calling the police anyway, not waiting until tomorrow so she's got time to get away? While I'm glad Ryder and Bella are friends again, we really needed a proper apology not "Want to hang out?" And then we don't even see that much of them despite them spending the afternoon and evening together.Hopefully Mackenzie will now offer Ryder his job back:I said at the time that she was too quick to come down on Jade's side following legal advice from Colby of all people.

And Colby's not doing much better in his personal life. Bella pretty much outright tells him that there's no point her going to a counsellor when she can't be honest with them, and instead of offering a useful response, he just says that her mental health comes first, which is just words frankly. Either outright tell her that she needs to be honest even if it hurts him, or do the right thing for once and turn himself in so Bella doesn't need to keep it a secret.

Talking of secrets, up until now Nikau's seemed like he's the problem, but Ari's behaviour here showed distinct anger management issues.We get our first look at Tane, seemingly another uncle of Nikau, who appears to be involved in something dodgy.Despite this, I do feel for the family struggling to make ends meet.

Roo and Maggie decide they're going to be a couple of lady detectives, while Alf and Martha get alone time and do the crossword.

 

[H&Alover]

Of course calling the cops right there and then would have been the right thing to do, but how were they to hold onto her, anyone touching her would have been accused of assault.  If Yabby Creek cops get her description out there hopefully she won't be able to slip under the radar.  It is rare or pretty rare for the woman to do what she did and she has done girls/women who have been raped or gone through the same thing for real no good at all, it will bring an element of doubt into the investigation. To be fair to Colby she was very convincing and Mac took her side too. I was very disappointed by Bella's non apology but Ryder just seemed pleased to be friends with her again. Let's hope he gets a proper one from Mac. 

Now she is out of hospital and her promising Alex she'd go to a counsellor Bella's reneged already - from what we saw she  hardly opened up to the woman she was speaking to.  Looks like her home schooling is back on track too. Her and Colby shouting at each other is not helping Jasmine get through the aftermath of Robbo's death, although it wasn't their home they'd made  that little corner theirs.  

Makes you wonder what kind of guy Nik's dad was like seeing as the first thought to cross Ari's mind when he saw Nik get out of Colby's car was he'd been up to no good like his dad.  Gemma was the level headed one casually asking Colby if Nik had been up to anything and she looked quite chuffed to hear he'd helped out a local lad aka Ryder. 

Tane, Nik's uncle and Ari's brother does look a shady character - new and unimproved version of the Braxton's perhaps?  Ari does seem he wants to be able to put his past behind him but don't forget his flare up at Dean.  All apart from Gemma seem to be hot tempered, though I bet if it came down to it she'd give more than she got. 

Bella's face when Ryder told her Grumps and Martha were having alone time in the house.   Could have made it strip crossword solving to spice it up.  

Roo and Maggie - Summer Bay's answer to Rosemary and Thyme.   And wow already a clue!

Maz still seems to be dressing down. 

[baywatcher]

I'm back in the Bay again.  Gave up last year because I was finding the Robbo stuff so tedious but thought I'd give it another go once he was gone.

I binge-watched most of the 2020 eps today (in lieu of not having much else to do ) and for the most part enjoyed them.

Shame about Mason.

I think James, Penny & Sam have given great, nicely judged performances (although I did think Jasmine was a bit o.t.t. at the funeral).  That should finally shut the critics up about Sam's reality tv background.

Really enjoyed Alf & Martha's wedding and the scenes leading up to it.  Belinda looked lovely.  Good to hear that she will now be a semi-regular and around whenever Alf is.  Nice to see some older characters getting the spotlight for a change.

The Parata family seem ok so far.

I thought the Jade storyline was a like throwback to something we might've seen back in the late 80s / early 90s (without the sextape references obvs.).  It felt more in keeping with the show from earlier in its run to me.

Keep well and stay safe everyone.

[Red Ranger 1]

I continue to be frustrated to say the least by Colby. It feels like he's putting everything on Bella and then wondering why it's not working. He's not giving the counsellor all the information, and while he's not stopping Bella being honest, he's not making it easy for her either, just mouthing platitudes.And now he's just sticking his head in the sand and throwing more money at more therapy sessions in the hope they'll magically start to work.

Roo and Maggie are at it less than a day and have already found a clue that Colby and his chums didn't.They should just sack the entire police force and hire them instead.

So that's Alf and Martha off for a bit, with Ryder nearly putting his foot in it over the crosswords.If Jasmine was going to end up somewhere other than the flat, then it was going to be with Irene and Willow, and they can probably do a better job of looking after her for the moment.

[H&Alover]

It's not down to Colby to tell the counsellor what Bella's problem is, he's given her an out but she won't/doesn't want to take it, he played it clever though by not letting on he knows she didn't open up to Patricia. How is he going to afford it, he can't earn that much that's why he said to Bella they need another lodger to help with the rent. 

Roo and Maggie did say Leah had closed her vlog down back after the Teresa debacle so the police wouldn't have thought to look at it. Roo only considered it  as an afterthought.  Are they fitting in this detecting lark around home tutoring Bella? 

Bit ambiguous of Alf just saying Martha and he  were visiting his sisters.  

Jasmine has made the right move, there are too many memories of Robbo there.  Her going running like she did reminded me of when Robbo did that when he had things on his mind.

 

[Dan F]

  On 25/03/2020 at 15:35, H&Alover said:

Roo and Maggie did say Leah had closed her vlog down back after the Teresa debacle so the police wouldn't have thought to look at it.

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They would have been fully aware of Leah's site following Tommy's murder, so when the owner of said site went missing only two months later, it surely should have been one of their first lines of enquiry (it was said that it had been active since she first went missing). Once again though it's a case of having to show the police as being incompetent (and it only gets worse).

I went on a right rant to my mate when that line about Alf's sisters came up... sigh.

[CaptainHulk]

Colleen would have been struck dumb like she was that time with the lightning!

 

[Red Ranger 1]

I forgot about the "Alf's sisters" line. When Roo and Ryder started asking if they knew everything, I was left wondering if they even knew that Martha's alive!

Frankly, Colby told the counsellor so much about Bella (that he was her only remaining family since her father "disappeared", that she took an overdose to make herself sick to get her attention), that he probably should have added "Oh, and I murdered her father and buried him in a shallow grave, so there's that" if he was actually serious about helping her.

It is very strange that with John and Marilyn having been back from Mason's memorial nearly a week (they were virtually back before they left) we're only now having other people filter back into town.It makes sense that Tori and Justin would stay on a few days to spend time with Brody and Raffy, but Willow and Alex were talking as if the funeral was only yesterday and it's their first chance to talk about it.(At least they're now calling it a funeral rather than a memorial, suggesting he got a proper send-off.)After the flurry of interest in Leah's reactivated blog yesterday, things slow to a halt once Colby and chums get involved.It did occur to me that Ryder once posted something on there behind Leah's back, but maybe she's changed the password since then. Confirmation yesterday that Teresa's in jail if there was any doubt.

And, since she's only a guest character, Alex is offered a job away from the Bay. I don't dislike the character, but I think it would be best if Willow goes with her: It feels like a natural end to the character, rather than having them break up or try long-distance.

[baywatcher]

Nice scene with Justin & Ziggy.  I like their friendship.  I think James has given a great performance with his quiet grief over Mason.

Dean was a bit off with Alex, then Willow.  Hopefully his chat with Mac will change his mind (or attitude).