2021 Season - UK Episode Discussion

[H&Alover]

Lustin - NO PLEASE! 

Kids do tell it as they see it and Jai certainly saw it!!!  A bonus for him though is he gets a bed all to himself. 

Quite a bit of discussing going on.  Bella and Nik deciding to pair up Ryder and Chloe, again. Bella didn't just blunder in, she was picking up from that rather awkward chat between Ryder and Chloe when he was with Alf and asked her the right questions, did she like Ryder, is she sure he rejected her, talk to him.  She played it well with Ryder giving him the nudge in the right direction to have that - rather short conversation  as it turned out - in that well used stock room, it certainly sees a lot of action.   If I hadn't seen what had gone on before I think I may have been fooled by then rushing out like they did. 

Then Nik turns the tables on Bella by suggesting she talks to Willow or rather she lets Willow do the talking, as he can see it's not just Willow hurting it's Bella as she is missing having Willow as part of her 'family'.  We only saw half of the conversation, but Bella did seem more reasonable, she actually seemed to be actually listening admitting she both loved and hated Willow.  

Willow wasn't too overpowering with her talk with Amber but after Jai's revelation and Amber's previous insistence her and Dean were just co parenting and nothing was going on, it was something that needed to be said.   Willow knows what can happen when Dean has been let down.  I know she was against it last time but Amber and Dean do need to get something in writing regarding Jai's care, supposing something happens to Amber, she is his primary carer, as it stands it'd be her mad mum who'd be in line to look after him being Amber's next of kin. 

So Susie is a real Real Estate Barbie, just not called Susie.  I can't comment how it works in Aus, it may be like here where a particular agent has their own client  base and earns a commission on each sale but still answers to the boss of the Estate Agents.  It may then have been the case that she was assigned Tori and Christian's case, but this time, if I remember correctly, she offered to look for a house for Justin and Leah so was acting on her own without her bosses knowledge.  This in betweener guy that Leah and Justin gave her their cheque to give to him  -$90,000 - wow - once banking it must have drawn her share out, hence the wad in her bag.   Is the cash from the new Surf Club account going to be joining it?   I know it is not much  consolation to Leah and Justin, having , it seems, lost all that dough, but they aren't homeless.

[CaptainHulk]

90 Gs is still a fair bit!

[c120701]

Leah and Justin almost deserve to lose their money for being stupid enough to wait overnight to confront Susie / not calling the Police the moment Irene told them what Willow had found out. I hate when soap stories rely on characters being stupid, gullible is one thing, but ignoring such strong evidence is another.

Also, where has Leah’s money all gone? She sold half the Beachside Diner business, got a payout for Dan (which the Den can’t have lost completely. She bought a third of the Pier Diner from Roman & Irene before buying Roman’s third (but according to Lynne & Ada they’re equal partners so was maybe acting on Irene’s behalf as well). 
Her house wasn’t insured, but she still owns the land it stood on, if she sold it she should have some money from that too. Maybe Zac got a good divorce settlement.

 

[Red Ranger 1]

I agree that everyone seemed to grasp the idiot ball hard here, Leah being the worst offender.I'm still trying to work out exactly what Susie's plan is and how it works.She seems to be entirely self-employed, relying on a hastily assembled website as a credential, yet as Leah points out (and doesn't get a proper answer to) she actually is showing people round houses somehow.Is she somehow convincing enough to have agencies handing over keys to her, but then doesn't pass offers on to them and pockets the money herself?Was Christian her original target and then she switched to Leah and Justin, or did she deliberately only show him places that were unsuitable because she thought he'd be more likely to do some digging if he found something he wanted? (Also, a good chunk of that money was borrowed by Leah and Justin from one of Susie's friends, right? So she's basically given them the money to take it off them? Seems a roundabout way to get her hands on a small percentage.) But yeah, everyone was being ridiculous here. I can understand Irene going to see Leah and Justin first, but once it became clear they weren't going to take immediate action, she should have been straight to the police to tell them about Susie's false identity and find out whether she was wanted under her old name. Leah handled it okay at first, going round to demand answers from Susie and wanting to wait while she investigated, but then let herself get fobbed off with a "Well, I won't sort it today" and snide remarks about small town gossip (sure, ignore the warnings of someone you've known for 20 years because the guest villain is rude about them) and proceeded to spend hours doing nothing about it instead of looking into it herself.And then stood around the surf club for ages, simultaneously blaming Justin for everything whilst being in a whole heap of denial about there actually being a problem and insisting Susie will turn up with an explanation any minute. It's like they want her to get away.

So, apparently after Ari came round he went "Hey, while I'm here, could you give me a shave?" As I predicted, the Paratas' skirting the law, including Tane voluntarily hiding stolen goods for Leon before they were being coerced, gets brushed under the carpet.So they could basically have sorted this out by calling the police last season.Still not really feeling we've been given any reason to want Ari and Mia together, apart from a whole load of back story about her being the great love of his life that he was with for years but has somehow never mentioned before now.

Looks like Willow and Bella are back on an even keel then.I guess Willow's honesty did the trick: She could have told Bella what she wanted to hear and said she wished she hadn't testified against Colby, but she stood by it as the right thing to do, and Bella seemed to respect that even if she probably doesn't agree.

[H&Alover]

Until Willow found out what she found out, and no offence to Willow but I didn't think she'd be that savvy to try another way to track 'Susie' down, there was no proof she had done anything wrong,  but as others have said why wait until the next day to confront Susie/call the cops.  Although, as said, there was no proof it gave her enough time to make plans to do a runner.   The money was Justin and Leah's as Leah said it was nearly all their life savings.  The banks had turned them down as they were small business owners which  played right into 'Susie's' hands.  It was her 'suggestion' they try  alternative means to secure the mortgage.   I must admit I'm somewhat confused.com was this Imogen Simons real and Susie is a fake name and had Imogen played the same game back in WA?  She, whoever she is, must have had as Red said access to keys to various homes as she showed Christian and Tori round a couple and then there was the one Leah and Justin  looked at.  Justin said he'd been to the Realtors, when they denied all knowledge of him, did he not mention Susie being their agent which would, if they were on the level, would have been their cue to say they had never heard of her?  Soos, being  a good con artist, would have talked her way out of it anyway with a load of Realtor speak about how it works differently within the business.   

I thought Leah had done her homework on this loan guy to make sure he was kosher, I remember Irene asking  her about it due to her distrust of Soos/Imogen/?.   Neither Justin or Leah did anything wrong initially, they have just put their trust in the wrong person and if you're meant to be savvy business people like Leah and Justin even more embarrassing to admit you've been taken in.    Like any con person Susie was very convincing, that's how anyone can get taken in.  There are bad conmen/women because if anyone has seen Hustle - the English one - they were good conmen whose mantra was 'you can't con a honest man'  and they were after some real slime balls.   Susie is the other kind as they don't care who get hurt in the process.   

No surprises really in the trailer, though Irene was on the dumb side going off to see her alone, she had been warned.  'Susie' has bag full of cash and has transferred all the lolly in the new Surf Club account into hers.  Said account I noticed was under John's name putting him under suspicion he was involved in her con. 

We didn't even know Mai existed, apart from an oblique mention of a woman Ari lived with, until Chloe turned up.  I imagine he never talked about it as it was too painful and he knew it was all down to him that he'd lost it all. It did take him a while to admit he liked Mac even though he enjoyed chatting and flirting with her. Wouldn't be so much fun, either,  if we found out all about a newcomers past  life the moment they rocked up.  Plus it would mean no surprises to be found out as time went on.   Did Mia make a decision about sticking with Ari, as she now knows why it all happened.   Tane got to explain it was all down to him, but he shouldn't make promises that it wouldn't happen again, events have a habit of conspiring against you.

Perhaps the cops thought getting Paul, a big fish, was worth letting letting smaller fish, like Ari and Tane go.

Good news that Willow and Bella are back together, if you see what I mean,  all credit to Nik getting Bella to listen to Willow.  Bella did confess she had missed having Willow in her life and as Nik knows once someone has gone from your life for good, as in his dad, it's too late for regrets.  Colby is still alive and I think he'd want Bella to forgive Willow, she did do what she did to protect not just herself but Dean and Bella.  Dean will be chuffed.  Had to laugh at the look on Nik's face when Bella and Willow took themselves off for some girlie time and left  him standing there all bemused. 

 

[CaptainHulk]

Ryder, I don't think Susie gives a monkeys if you and Chloe are getting fruity, she's about to blow town!

Irene's first mistake was telling her she was gonna call the cops. She should have kept her talking and stalled her but not in a suss way.

 

[Little bean]

That’s quite a Mary Poppins styleee bag Susie’s got going on there. First poison and now a handy dandy bottle of chloroform. Not sure why she didn’t just grab the nearest heavy object to bonk Irene on the head but I guess she’s just one of those soccer Moms who has something on hand for every eventuality. 

[Red Ranger 1]

As a wise man once said: This is why evil wins, because good is dumb! Leah and Justin find out that the person they gave all their money to hasn't used it to pay for their dream house and is an imposter.Do they a)call the police, b)confront her and not let her out of their sight until it's sorted or c)spend half a day hanging around outside the surf club for her to turn up, get fobbed off by contradictory stories and convince themselves that she's busy sorting out their house? It's like they were so determined not to believe that they'd lost their dream home that they just let themselves lose a lot more. Irene didn't do any better, deciding that instead of calling the police with what she'd found out, she'd go and confront Susie on her own without back-up or evidence and make a big "I'm onto you!" speech, then (despite knowing Susie had already tried to incapacitate her once) turn her back on her just to give her every opportunity to escape. It makes it hard to feel sorry for any of them.The one I sympathise with most is John, who had more reason that most to trust her and wasn't given any evidence against her until today.So is that it, Susie skips town with a truckload of stolen money? Logic intervenes: Presumably the money in the bag was Leah and Justin's deposit, but we saw her moving money from John's account into one in the name Susie McAllister, which firstly suggests she has some sort of ID in that name and secondly...unless she drew $50,000 out very quickly, can't the police follow that money? (It's not like John doesn't know about the account!)

Ryder and Chloe were cute together, and I'm glad we saw that conversation between them and the mention of Chloe's father, so we know it's not just about the smoochies.I'm not sure why they're hiding the relationship though (especially since Roo clearly wasn't fooled at all): Is Ryder really that scared of the Paratas? Is it to make it more fun? Chloe indicates they haven't had time together "all week":Er, they got together two episodes ago, and a quick check of the timeframe shows it's only the next day still! Ari and Mia presumably had some big epic conversation for her to abruptly go from believing a life with Ari will always mean trouble to making out with him. Again, it doesn't feel like the audience have really been given any reason to invest in this couple, and Mia sticking around seems dependent on her being a regular rather than making any real character sense. Earlier references suggested Ari tried to talk Mikaere out of doing the job that got him killed, here he indicates he was stubborn and didn't want to help him. He's not actually regretting not going on the job with him, is he?

Is the shine of fatherhood wearing off for Dean already? He seems fine kicking a ball about, but helping Jai with an art project seemed way out of his comfort zone, while Jai was clearly loving having a dad to do these things with.

[CaptainHulk]

13 hours ago, Little bean said:

That’s quite a Mary Poppins styleee bag Susie’s got going on there. First poison and now a handy dandy bottle of chloroform. 

A rag full of Chloroform makes the patient go down

9 hours ago, Red Ranger 1 said:

Is the shine of fatherhood wearing off for Dean already? He seems fine kicking a ball about, but helping Jai with an art project seemed way out of his comfort zone, while Jai was clearly loving having a dad to do these things with.

Maybe the Glitter thing threw him, Probably in his days back on the River he'd be ripped for it! (Glitter is not seen as "manly" in many circles)

Heath: Gone full Princess have we?

Brax: I think his Tiara's slanted!

 

[H&Alover]

I may be giving Leah and Justin the benefit of the doubt but like most usually very savvy people they don't want to admit they have been taken in, they feel ashamed and embarrassed and Susie was very convincing, she had got all the local business people to donate to the Surf Club Fund Raiser and not peanuts either going by the sum she transferred into her account - 50K!   It wasn't just them being led by the nose it was John who, of course, wouldn't/couldn't believe his Susie  was a con woman.  Like you Red I felt sorry for John, his phone call to Jett said it all, will everyone, including the cops think he was part of it?  Despite their recent rockiness I think Marilyn will be there for him as well as Alf, though it won't stop him calling John a galah.   John does tend to be susceptible to a woman's, especially an attractive one's, flattery and lets it go to his head.   She, like most con artists would have more than one identity, how about checking up where she was working in WA, Willow found her that way so should be a doddle for the cops, did she do a runner from there and travelled to the opposite side of the country.   I hope her phone, which she likely thinks has been destroyed, is found as they can find the booking for the flight she made.   Where's Angelo when he is really needed? 

What will all this mean for the Fund Raising? 

I said before, Irene, for someone who  is usually very bright, was very dumb going to tackle Susie/Imogen alone, then winding her up at that,  the poisoning in a manner of speaking was done at a distance, this was an actual assault.  Doesn't everyone carry chloroform around with them?   

Ari and Mai are giving it another go, much to Chloe's delight, after initially teasing them.  Maybe it was Ari not only not  succeeding in talking Mikaere out of the job but also refusing to go on it with him, which was why he felt he had to help Tane out.  We can only hope Tane doesn't get himself into any further fixes.   Though Ari and Mia being a couple again will raise other interesting points when Mac gets back.

At last Ryder and Chloe make it official, after a fashion.  Rather moving the swapping of dad stories, they kind of have something in common there. I guess the Parata's and Mia are the protective sort and anyone getting involved with their stepdaughter/cousin/niece/daughter would be warned about what would happen should she get hurt.  Ryder is/was going to tell Bella and Chloe is/was going to tell Nik seeing as they were the ones who tried to get them together in the first place, but it doesn't quite work out that way.  Isn't  the first time a young lad has been warned to be careful around their sister, Ryder already has been when he took up with Raffy. How come the girl is never warned not to hurt someone's son/brother?  That smile on Roo's face certainly said she wasn't fooled, but wisely kept her own counsel. 

Come on, you have to admit painting with glitter isn't Dean's forte,  he did try and give it his best shot. Could Jai calm down a bit so we can understand what he is saying? Who says Amber would have been any better just because she's the  mum?