2022 Season - UK Episode Discussion

[Dan F]

The 2022 season is now upon us, as ever please be mindful of not posting spoilers, and that includes discussion of episodes which have aired on 5STAR.

We begin the season exactly 5 weeks behind Australia, set to increase further with Seven's usual showing of six eps per week.

[Red Ranger 1]

(Quick check of listings.) Currently 26 episodes behind Australia, so it hasn't increased that much yet. Yet.

I was convinced that Mia was going to evade the police long enough to stash the body somewhere, so it was a bit of a relief when Cash actually did find Matthew's body and I even dared to dream they might have a satisfactory ending. This dissipated thanks to some absurdly unprofessional behaviour from Cash, as he treats Mia like an innocent little lamb. Why on earth was she sitting by the side of the road, staring into space, with no-one keeping an eye on her, for what seemed like about an hour going by what's going on elsewhere and the fact that there was time for forensics to arrive and retrieve the body? She should have been cuffed and locked in a police car the moment the body was found, or at least after how long it took to say "May I ask why you have the corpse of this car's owner stuffed in the boot, madam?"/"No comment." While she was quite right to request a lawyer, he then decides to tip-off Ari, let them have time alone to conspire and then agree to a deal with Ari to let Mia off the hook without even knowing what Ari's got to offer. So instead of the person who killed Matthew or even the person who tried to cover it up, he has...Ari, who has apparently decided to do a Kyle and throw his life away by deliberately going to jail for an awful woman's crimes, a woman who couldn't abandon him fast enough when the positions were reversed. If Mia had a shred of decency, she'd tell the truth or at least take the rap herself, not pull a few token guilty expressions and then let Ari throw himself to the lions for the sake of her and her brat of a daughter. Ari isn't even smart enough to use the "protecting Mia" excuse, instead telling the police that he killed Matthew just because they were having an argument. It doesn't even seem to have dawned on him that while the courts might just about accept that Chloe and Mia panicked and thought Matthew was a danger to them, and let them off lightly, they're going to throw the book at a big burly guy with a history of violent crime who could have subdued Matthew without clobbering him over the head with a brick.

Mind you, staying alive seems to be proving a bit too difficult for most of the Bay at the moment.I was glad that, after his uncharacteristic silence last episode, Alf at least tried to challenge Martha's decision, but we haven't moved past "She's an idiot" yet. Meanwhile, I was thinking that the episode was doing a better job of showing Theo's phone was out of reach than they did when Marilyn couldn't drag herself two centimetres to hers, and then they had him grab a branch to pull it towards him, only to give up after a couple of seconds even though he was still touching it! And that's nothing compared to Ryder's lack of survival instinct. He hasn't heard from Theo in three hours, yet he keeps on calling him until his battery's nearly run out, then he calls Justin but instead of leading with "I'm trapped in a box underground with a limited air supply" he just asks "Have you seen Theo?", then waits until the last second before trying and failing to call 000. Is staying alive that hard?

[CaptainHulk]

Doo doo doo Doo doo dooo...

Okay, That's my Twilight Zone bit out the way. 

HTF did Mia think she was gonna *get away with it*? Yes, she was doing her best Lewis Hamilton impression but come on, maaaaan.... I was thinking deep down "If Matthew somehow isn't in that boot, I am DONE!", they would have pulled that crap before so I put nothing past the writers anymore. Maybe Mia will get beamed up by Aliens right at the moment of sentencing or something...

I'm surprised Ryder hasn't "surrendered to Nature" yet in that box given how scared he is! I had a Bee Gees rebuttal about remaining  alive but retracted it due to being too on the nose.

I'm amazed Theo hasn't bled to death or instant PTFO; that laceration did look pretty horrible.

 

 

 

[H&Alover]

Well hello to 2022!!!  Has narrowed the gap between us and them a bit but the extra episodes in Aus do muck it up if, like me, you check in to see how they viewed the episodes 

It was her speeding in Matthew's car then that Cash was chasing Mia for - which wasn't a good idea considering the body in the boot,  but not having been in that situation I can't say how I'd behave.  He didn't even clock it was her until the road block, but her demeanour should have alerted him that something was up, he knows her after all.  Where was she going to run to, cops all around and maybe she thought "oh well, this is it".  Plus she would have been in shock. Not sure of the protocol in Aussie arrest situations, but I did notice the 'you are under arrest' statement Cash said to Mia is different to ours. Maybe the cops can inform relatives, rules are bent a lot in soaps.  There wasn't a conspiracy Mia had no idea Ari was going to 'confess'. 

Mia didn't abandon Ari it was him that told her he didn't want her or Chloe to visit him inside or contact him. 

All very worthy and loving that Ari is willing to take the rap but he hasn't thought it through very well as there are a quite a few flaws:

(1) Matthew's blood won't be on any of his clothing -there is on Mia's and her hands

(2) Matthew's DNA won't be on him

(3) His DNA won't be on Matthew

(4) if any fingerprints can be lifted from that brick - they won't be Ari's - his dabs will be on the system but Chloe's won't, unless she's been nicked for something in the past and been charged

(5) when the police do a check on Ari's whereabouts at the time of Matthew's death it'll - or should be - established he was at Salt at the time.  I know an exact time of death can never be established but the time scale would eliminate him from being at the scene

(6) the phone message he left Mia saying "Chloe's told me what happened"  - if it just doesn't come up "Missed calls" and no message recorded that is

(7) which depending on what Chloe told him would make it hard for him to say how he killed Matthew and what with.  She was pretty traumatised when he came home with the pizzas and might not have been that coherent. 

Be very interesting to see how Tane and Nik take the news, it'll certainly shake them to the core.

Soap law regarding mobile phones up and running again - if you fall or collapse it has to be just out of reach.  We've had three recently - Mac, Marilyn and now Theo.  Again until we are in that situation who are we to say "oh you can reach that".   Theo did manage to hook it only to knock it further away and I agree with CaptainHulk that barbed wire round his ankle did look very, very painful  and I don't think his cries of pain were in any way wimpy, looked like his other leg was injured too.   The coffin can't be that far out of town, maybe a short drive,  as Theo went back to the Diner,  had that talk with Chloe and was making his way back when he slipped.

Going by what we saw in the trailer he  must get hold of it so phones Justin who - guessing  here - is in close proximity to Roo as he wouldn't want to waste time  trying to round her up to go with him.  Theo had no idea of where he was exactly so Justin and Roo did a good job tracking him - rather like Cash & Ari tracking down Anna.  Give him his due Theo's first thought was they find Ryder. 

Most of the time Ryder was underground he was looking at all the posts he was getting with the occasional call to Theo - his phones  got a bloody good range too and from underground in a place surrounded by trees!  He worked out the amount of time he could spend under ground safely with 30 minutes over, sort of things he'd do being more academic than Theo.   Of course that's not taking into account the coffin could have collapsed.   Again all very well 'us' saying 'why didn't he do that' but he was panicking by then and you tend not to think clearly then.  Not looking good for him. How much more can Alf cope with?  It certainly didn't look good for him - Lovely Logan to the rescue? 

Did we get to the bottom of why Martha  said no to the transplant?   I know Irene suggested Roo asked her outright.  I'm still going with my theory she feels guilty at leaving Roo when she was a child and feels she doesn't deserve accepting it. 

 

 

 

[Slade]

Initially I found the priceless expression on Cash's face when he saw Matthew's body in the boot of the car quite amusing but I was also annoyed with him for letting Ari have a minute with Mia to get her off the hook.  I actually don't think it's realistic that he bought Ari's story and I hope that both Mia and Ari get done for perverting the cause of justice.  I still wouldn't be satisfied with that as right now I want Chloe in jail.  Although given what's happened she's going to be riddled with guilt so hopefully she will suffer for a little while at least which is something.

I'm interested to know what the fallout is going to be with Tane.  If that had been my brother, no way would I let him take the rap.  I wonder if Cash's involvement will affect his relationship with Felicity.  Hopefully it will cause a divide with Chloe/Mia one side and him/Nikau on the other.

[CaptainHulk]

Who'd have thunk Roo and Justin were great diggers? Then again, they've been known to dig their own bloody holes at times!

And if anyone kicked off like that at a hospital in Real-Life (even with just cause), they would be bounced instantly

[Red Ranger 1]

I find it impossible to have any respect for Ari. He's behaving like a pathetic alpha male who thinks he can swoop in playing the big hero and solve the problem, when in fact he's just made things worse. Mia is an abject coward, making token signs of support while just letting him throw his life away. Tane, I suspect, is trying to support Ari's decision, ridiculous as it is. Nikau, for once, is perfectly justified to be upset, but isn't really contributing much beyond yelling "It's so unfair!" a lot. Which brings up to Chloe. Yeah, great job helping her, Ari. She's now got the double guilt of having killed one father and (indirectly) sent the other one to jail, and as with Bella's repeated breakdowns, she's never going to get any help with it so long as the blinkered adults are telling her black is white and she has to keep quiet about exactly why she's messed up. Her babbling about "I didn't tell anyone" to Mia shows her grasp on reality is extremely tenuous.

Martha's behaving much the same as Ari: Doing something that she think is noble but from another perspective is actually pretty selfish. Just like Ari would rather see Chloe burdened with more guilt than have to see her punished, Martha would rather that Roo suffer the pain of losing her than the other way round (even though in both cases, the alternative has a better chance of a good outcome). I actually hope Roo sticks to her guns and refuses to have anything to do with her.

Well, Ryder's 30 minutes of air apparently kept him alive for 12 hours or more, although to be fair that was just a figure that someone on the internet made up. I can't really blame Alf and Roo for being furious with Theo: He might not have put Ryder in that box (well, he kind of did, but only with his consent), but he was the one that went off and left him there just because he was hungry.

[pembie]

I do wanted Mia to ram those police cars that blocked out of the way grand theft auto style 

Ryder and Theo are meant to be so popular with all these viewers but nobody in the bay follows their channel Justin does but he never got any message about a new live video I’m not so sure how exciting watching someone in a coffin would be for like 12 hours anyway 

And Ryder never called anyone till his battery was flat if you were panicking you would think stuff the video and just call surely very cheesy 

[Psychic Wombat]

I don't understand how Mia can not be charged with accessory to murder since there were about three cop cars at the scene when they pulled her in. I also don't understand how Ryder could have survived over night in the box with zero oxygen, I don't think he'd last longer than a couple of hours. It always amazes me how they go into hospital with life changing injuries and within days are back to normal without any lasting effects whether it's a swollen brain or chronic poisoning. Only the Summer bay cancer epidemic seems to stop them. 

[Slade]

I can't believe Tane is prepared to go along with this.  He's happy for his brother to do a life for something he didn't do.  I was practically cheering Nikau on when he was constantly kicking up a fuss throughout that episode.

Again question marks with Cash letting another person see Ari who shouldn't.  Felicity made a good point to him about Ari helping them.  Given that Cash spent time with him it's still surprising how easily he accepted Ari's confession initially.

I actually really liked the Felicity/Tane scenes.  She was the one providing support this time and seemed a lot calmer than her last few appearances.

There were some funny moments:

• Theo screaming when Justin/Roo turned up (I wouldn't find it funny if it was real life of course although I do wonder if their ratings are going to go up after this video)
• Roo telling Jasmine Theo was buried in a coffin when she asked
• Roo telling Martha what did she care when asking how Ryder was as she was leaving them anyway
• Alf completely biting Theo's head off at the hospital (Justin would be the same)