2021 Season - UK Episode Discussion

[CaptainHulk]

Talk about Boom! Shake the Room!

[Red Ranger 1]

Alf's episode count this block:None, but at least we know where he is. Tane didn't appear either, even though he was mentioned as being in town.

And if there was any doubt that Channel 5 are out of synch with the blocks, that was obviously meant to be the big end of week cliffhanger, rather than the rather weak "Nikau goes to Sienna's flat" cliffhanger we got on Friday. That...pretty much came out of nowhere, the only foreshadowing being a reference to them leaving the food truck outside the surf club overnight.

Before all that...I'd forgotten there was a point last year when Ryder and Jasmine seemed to be having scenes together.Bella at least had a few friends at the launch (but only the ones who hadn't used up their episodes for the week, so no Irene, and no Dean but then I guess it's not exactly his scene).But...yeah. That didn't really ring true.I've never been convinced Bella and Nikau are right for each other, but I do accept they're serious about each other.So, no matter how many times he said "Where's the limo?", I didn't buy Nikau spending what seemed like hours hanging around at Sienna's flat instead of just giving up and catching the bus. And while I imagine Sienna considers sleeping with him a sacrifice she's prepared to make, Nikau didn't seem drunk enough, upset enough or aroused enough to go there.(Honestly, there was no spark in that kiss whatsoever.)And on the basis of photos that were a bit compromising but hardly damning. I don't know if it was the acting or the writing but it didn't really work.

(And, of course, the whole thing could have been avoided if kids today actually used their phones as phones and spoke to each other instead of sending texts all the time...)

Whilst I wasn't entirely on board with Jasmine giving them the cold shoulder last episode, I agreed with her that if Christian's going to ring up demanding an explanation, then he has to accept he might not like it.

I feel like Roo crossed a line here. Okay, she read Kieran's letter and appreciated the sentiments. The next step should have been to tell Martha about it and let her decide what she wants to do.Not make a unilateral decision to have Kieran sleep on their couch when she knows that's not what Alf and Martha want.

[CaptainHulk]

^ Well, we all know the brown stuff's about to hit the fan and it's going to blow back on some people

 

[H&Alover]

It wasn't only Dean missing, true it's not his scene, but he is supposed to be Bella's big 'brother'.  I was expecting Ari and Mia to be there seeing as Bella is Nik's girlfriend.  We could, always assume, don't like using  that word because you shouldn't, they turned up later off camera with Irene.  Totally shallow comment warning -  I loved Jasmine's dress. I liked that she told Bella Colby would be proud of her so he at least got a mention.  Sneaky of Ryder to keep Jasmine in the dark about how good it was, but good decision as he would be slightly on the biased side.  It meant  a lot to Bella that Nik should have been there, he was her muse after all and the folk seeing the photos could see him in the flesh.  

It was very much telegraphed what was going to happen between Nik and the spider - sorry - Sienna, a slow seduction which indicated she'd done this before.  I wonder how much of what she told Nik about what happened between her and Emmett was true, I think she was the more driven one and more likely to dump him as he wasn't as ambitious.   You couldn't have Nik too drunk Red, he'd need to be able to do what Sienna wanted him to do.   One TV mag called it an affair - what! - it was one night stand so nowhere near being called an affair!   Of course Sienna wants to keep him there, but I hope he keeps to his resolve and goes home, he did use to be the run away from things person but he's changed now and is the more the face it head on guy.  Allegra was bloody lucky to get those shots of Bella and Emmett, as him holding Bella's face and the hug were both spontaneous and we know innocent moves and wouldn't you know it no-one in between Allegra and them  so she had a clear shot. 

You don't talk to your friends on your phone if you are young Red, what's the point of that?  That way leads to no confusion and you'd know it wasn't who you were supposed to be 'talking' to.  Though you could say the same about John and 'Susie'  they only texted, though to be fair I think he did try and ring her with no joy.   How is Allegra going to get Bella's phone back to her and wouldn't she have to delete all those messages? 

Christian for all that he is a brilliant surgeon turned out to be very naive over Rachel and not seeing how she really felt about him until she virtually spelt it out for him. His words about having a dance partner already obviously referring to Tori and meant I think not just his dance partner.  Not unheard of for a patient who has been so reliant on one particular doctor to develop what feel like real feelings for them.   He didn't help by telling what he did about him being saved so he could save her. I'm hoping she has got some support back home and won't be on her own. 

Kieran's letter, which I'm glad we got to 'read' seemed genuine, but as I said in an earlier post writing things like how sorry you are and you've changed  is one thing meaning them is another.  I did watch his face when he was back at the house and alone and he didn't seem to be playing a game, not like we saw when he was last in the bay.  Out of the two of them - Marilyn and Ryder - it was Marilyn who took the sight of  Kieran standing there better, but Martha is Ryder's step nan so be more personal for him.   Not the sort of thing you could talk to Martha about over the phone, that's a face to face thing.  I think Martha should read the letter, but alone with no pressure from anyone and make her own mind up.  Kieran did say if she didn't want to know he'd go for good. 

Something else they are fond of in the bay - explosions!   The food truck would have been where it was anyway regardless of it having been left there overnight.  It must have been locked otherwise Ryder would have definitely mentioned it so I don't think it had been interfered with.   My guess is it is just an accident and was something to do with whatever they used to fire up their grill/oven for the hot food, though would TPTB go down  the faulty gas canister route again? A few bodies lying around, your regulars and extras.  Marilyn, Ryder, Bella, Emmett, Chloe, who was right in front of it, from what we saw in the trailer Jasmine, though she looked OK at first, got injured too. 

Oh - do we think Roo has filled Alf in about Susie?  

 

[Slade]

15 hours ago, CaptainHulk said:

Talk about Boom! Shake the Room!

You're definitely a late 80s / early 90s person.

The cynic in me initially wondered whether Keiran's lawyer wrote that letter for Martha.  I do think Roo's being too trusting but I do in a way admire her compassion because I'm not sure I would trust him.  I'm surprised Marilyn was so cool about it.  I'm assuming Roo warned her beforehand.  Ryder's reaction is about right and I agree with him that Alf is going to hit the Roo when he finds out.

I didn't have an issue with Jasmine telling Christian not to call her if he didn't want her opinion but this happened because she was giving him and Rachel uncomfortable looks at the Diner rather than taking Christian to one side and voicing her concerns (not that it's any of her business anyway).  I do think Christian should have probably had a word with her then and there rather than calling Jasmine later on.  I felt a bit sorry for Rachel.  Whilst I think she was very aware about Christian and Tori and was trying to spend time with him in the hope something would happen romantically, I can see why in her position she would do that.  And I do think Christian was leading her on a bit, even though he apparently wasn't aware of that either.  I do wonder how she will cope.  Physically, presumably she will recover eventually but mentally I suspect she will struggle, especially given she appears to have no friends on top of getting her hopes up and being rejected like that.  It's funny because although I don't like the way this has happened, a small part of me was hoping that there was something romantically on Christian's side because now they've had this connection for nothing.

Whilst I think Sienna lies and manipulates, I do think when she was telling Nikau about Emmett and what life was like dating him, she was being honest.  Nikau's a lucky boy.  I wouldn't have minded being in his position.  Sienna's obviously done this to remove Bella as an obstacle and have some sort of hold over Nikau but when she first recruited Nikau, I did wonder if she fancied him.  So maybe a small part of her slept with Nikau because she wanted to.  That Japan gig must be worth a lot of money if she's pimping herself out like this.  Whilst I also don't buy Nikau and Bella as a couple, objectively, I just don't buy Nikau doing this either.  Not after what has happened with him and Bella.  I think he would have been more likely to have left Sienna's flat, head back to Summer Bay and confront Bella and Emmett first.

 

15 hours ago, Red Ranger 1 said:

or aroused enough to go there

Really hard to fake it....you know, when you're acting.

The explosion was a massive surprise.  Never saw that coming.

 

[Red Ranger 1]

Not quite sure where to start with that one.A few characters got to be heroic in the aftermath, and a few seem to have potentially serious injuries (although Chloe's awake by the end of the episode, so probably not that serious in her case). Mia was completely out of line with her "Why aren't you hurt?" attitude towards Ryder, complete with ridiculous reference to "your food truck": I'm sorry, wasn't it Chloe's idea in the first place? Ryder didn't do himself any favours with his OTT "It should have been me" (er, why?), and then he goes and treats Mackenzie the same way Mia's treated him, with just as little justification, ironically at the end of an episode where Mackenzie's been completely nice throughout for the first time in months. (She even held it together on hearing about Mia's pregnancy.)

I give Nikau credit for not immediately going off on one over the fact Bella spent a lot of the episode consoling Emmett, given he presumably thought they'd spent the night together.At this point, it's hard to work out what Sienna's plan is.Nikau now knows the truth so..? If Sienna's planning on using their liaison as leverage, that means keeping Bella and Nikau together, which was apparently not what she wanted. If she's intending to break them up, then Nikau would blame her and be just as likely to refuse to co-operate as he would if he didn't want to leave Bella.

[Slade]

I wonder what Allegra will make of Nikau sleeping with Sienna as contrary to how she's acted, she does seem to have a conscience.

Felt sorry for Emmett.  Hopefully he will get his eyesight back.

The way they did the preview on Monday, I thought Jasmine was a goner.

Mackenzie was a lot better in that episode.  Hopefully she will let go of the bitterness for her own sake.

I wasn't happy with the way Ryder accused Mackenzie of being responsible for the explosion.  Because of that part of me is hoping that the investigation shows that either he or Chloe is at fault.

[Little bean]

Weirdly the only person I cared about in all that was Emmett! Is that the last we are going to see of him? Hope not. 

[Red Ranger 1]

Ryder continued to be obnoxious towards Mackenzie and is really lucky Dean was in a calm mood.Fair play to him for apologising afterwards. The "faulty gas line" seems to be a redo of the "faulty gas cylinder" that contributed to the caravan park explosion, and like that will probably be shrugged off without anyone being held responsible.Anyway, despite his earlier behaviour, I'm glad Ryder's agreed to go back to work for Mackenzie, although no word on Chloe, who was the reason he resigned in the first place.

So, Sienna's going down the blackmail route. Which as I said, is spectacularly ironic, because in the space of two episodes she's gone from trying to get Nikau to break up with Bella, to needing Nikau to stay with Bella because otherwise her dirt on him is worthless.

Kieran seemed to be sliding into the role of trusted and responsible adult figure here, but the camera lingered on him often enough (notably an otherwise needless close-up of him when Ryder mentioned liars) for us to think there might be more going on, and his confession to Roo at the end seems to confirm it. Don't know what his secret is yet, but the promo had hints.

[H&Alover]

That must have taken some time to put that explosion scene together and was very well done.  Dean was certainly on the ball dashing out with the extinguisher and keeping calm. I thought Ryder's reaction towards Mac was just what it would be. She has been a right cow towards everyone lately, but although she was  poaching  Chloe and Ryder's customers by offering better deals, she was after ruining their business not injuring people and potentially killing someone.  That is definitely not her style.  Maybe not the best way to bring her to her senses but having Ryder turn on her like that got to her than anything Dean had been saying.  He had a very good point that running away would make people think she was guilty. I was glad to see Ryder was willing to talk and listen to her the following day and he looked like he was believing what she was saying.   She has got a long, long way to go though and a lot of bridges to build.  She did take the news that Mia was pregnant very well, even though she overheard it by accident  and  it is still meant to be a secret as Chloe probably shouldn't have told Ryder.  It certainly came across that she has come to terms with Ari finishing with her and had moved on with Mia by the way she was talking to Dean, there was no bitterness or anger in her voice.  She has  made a start by offering Ryder his job back which he's accepted, but how will it go down with Chloe?   Liked her teasing of Dean when he was sitting there looking all smug. 

I thought it was a totally natural mum reaction by Mia blaming Ryder and the, to us, inane  question as why wasn't he where Chloe was when the truck blew up and the "Your  food truck".  Another natural reaction for Ryder to say it should have been him, everyone says that - another cliche to cross off the list.  Mia did forgive him  without words when he turned up at the hospital, he did do a great job with the first aid which went towards her not being more injured. Thankfully not too many really serious injuries apart from Chloe and Emmett, but Jas did then collapse later and seems to have a head injury.   We didn't see Maz again but I'm wondering if it will bring back memories of when she got burnt when John had his brain tumour and was setting light to things. Where was John btw, when he finds out he'll want to be there for her.  Chloe is awake but has a long road it was said to recovery. Worst news was Emmett who could be left blind in one eye which for a photographer who relies on his eyesight to give him a living is devastating.  Hope we hear more about his progress I like him.  TPTB did go down the faulty gas canister route, but how could Ryder know it was faulty, he had used them before and had no problems, just an awful accident.  It was Roo it happened to last time  so in an odd way they are  keeping it in the family.  Again has Roo told Alf?

From going to being so anti Kieran Ryder was really listening to his advice and was grateful to him.  He did look a bit shady at times and I guess it says a lot for him he told Roo he hadn't been entirely truthful with her.  I have to admit the thought crossed my mind he had something to do with the explosion. 

Bella and Nik found out what had been occurring when Bella 'found' her phone and they discovered they had been conned.  But, of course there is the matter of Sienna having her wicked way with Nik and now using it to get Nik to do what she wants otherwise she'll make sure Bella finds out, has she got secret film footage on her phone?   Tane was pretty sharp on picking up on there was something between Nik and Sienna and Nik did confess to him later that night, and he gave him the right advice he has to tell Bella and take whatever happens. I honestly thought he was going to  tell her, but he chickened out and owned up about the Japan gig instead.  As so often happens the truth will come out, then Bella and Nik will be over. 

Sienna was so two faced about Emmett, after all this time slagging him off she was coming across as so concerned and saying he had such real talent I really, really  wanted to slap her!  Rose Riley is doing a great job in making Sienna such a hated character, she has no redeeming traits at all.