2022 Season - UK Episode Discussion

[H&Alover]

Flick is remembering the last time Eden and Cash got together when she dumped him and she knows how low he was when Jasmine dumped him.  Cash did tell Felicity he knew what he was doing and it wasn't anything serious. Remi was lovely with Eden, he can be a grown up at times, he accepted she's changed and can have real feelings.  The fact that Flick has defriended Eden could cause a bit of a hitch with Tane's proposal plans. 

Theo and Kirby were caught up with the SALT arrangements and polishing up their song.  It was poignant seeing the Morgan clan.  Heather didn't appear to go in any of the other rooms, just the living/kitchen diner area. 

Although Tane didn't need to ask permission from Cash to ask Felicity to marry him, it was quite sweet he told him what he was going to do and hoped he approved and wanted him to be there when he proposed.  Seems he's quite the traditionalist. Of course it's actually a real head turner that a Parata is going to be a cop's brother-in-law, who thought that would ever happen!  Cash obviously didn't 

That cliff top we saw Tane and Felicity at was a kind of special place for them wasn't it? It was there they saw the sunrise together and told each other they loved each other after one of the illegal poker nights. 

Didn't look like a good response from Flick. 

 

[Foellfan]

Something I noted was the photograph, nice touch that we had Mikaere in there, I know it's only a TV show but putting the assumed face to the name is nice touch.

[pembie]

2 hours ago, Foellfan said:

Something I noted was the photograph, nice touch that we had Mikaere in there, I know it's only a TV show but putting the assumed face to the name is nice touch.

Disappointing for the guys who’s face it is though he will never get to play the role unlike there is ever any flash backs 

[Slade]

I do kind of agree given how Heather's acted she probably would be better off out of Summer Bay.  However,  she obviously wasn't happy before, else why would she have tried to find Marilyn in the first place?  Also, is this the first time she's done anything like this? Rose and Cash didn't find any criminal record when they did a background check on her but it wouldn't surprise me if something like this has happened before, but it really doesn't help knowing very little about Heather's past.

Felicity is being ridiculously over the top.  Even on My5 it described Eden's actions as a betrayal.  Cash is a big boy and I'm sure he can handle her all by himself.  If anything she should be thanking Eden.  Cash is not in a good place at the moment and sleeping with Eden at least gives him some sort of outlet.

[atrus]

Well, I'm afraid I'm going to have to stick up for Marilyn a little bit having caught up on the last three weeks. All this stuff about her lying to Alf and Roo all the time she's known them: well, firstly, a point that seems obvious to make here is that Alf and Roo aren't actually owed the totality of her life story if she didn't feel able to tell it - nobody is. Did Alf owe it to Marilyn to tell her all about the fact that his first wife hadn't drowned after all and was in fact living it up in Merimbula, purely on the grounds that they've known one another for 30 years? I think not. So I sort of resent the implication that she's somehow wronged them simply by not telling them about this very painful chapter of her life. Plus, I agree with whoever said that Roo has been awful throughout this, always taking Heather's word over Maz's - and she was particularly quick to leap to the conclusion that Marilyn was lying when she said she hadn't sent that message to Jett. That just isn't something Marilyn would have ever done, even at the height of her organophosphate-addled unusualness earlier in the year. And in that context why should Marilyn feel that she wants to trust Roo with this information about her past now? At least there are sane people like John and Irene around who actually know Maz isn't capable of this, which I appreciated seeing because it showed up Roo's poor behaviour. I also dislike the repeated statements we've had in the scripts that Roo and Maz are 'best friends' as if this is somehow timeless gospel, but I don't think we've ever heard them describe themselves thus before. It's one of those many occasions in soap where the phrase 'best friends' is leveraged to make the secret-keeper in question look worse than they are. Of course Roo and Maz are close, but she's been close to Leah, Irene and Alf for much longer periods.

As for Marilyn's actions per se - well, honestly, the first thing to say is that if she'd officially put Heather up for adoption, I feel like she wouldn't be copping half the flak that she is for having left her to be raised by her other biological parent and his wife. It clearly wasn't sustainable for them all to live together, and so she took the decision that she thought would be best for the child at the time. Maz claims that having no contact was part of the arrangement - but whether or not you buy that as justification for her opting out of Heather's entire life, this is after all what happens with adoptees very frequently, and we don't call that abandonment. Or, I don't; abandonment is when you dump a baby in the street (or leave a child in the house while you go to the shops and never come back) and leave it to its fate without making any alternative arrangements. Rather, this is the relinquishing of care to other willing (and in this case, known) caregivers who feel better equipped to do the job. And in Maz's case it sounds like this happened under a degree of coercion. I'll agree it's a bit much that Maz wants a relationship now and yet to keep it secret from everyone in her life (though, she hasn't said she wants this to be the permanent arrangement - rather that she's building up to telling people), and is now making poor choices in pursuit of that. But all of this is informed by the facts that (a) Heather showed up under false pretences and started gaslighting everyone, rather than addressing it head-on like an adult, which has put Marilyn in a very unusual situation as regards telling her friends; and (b) that Marilyn has never been the maturest or most together person in the room. It seems to me that she's almost always had the weight of crushingly low self-esteem on her; the opinion of her beloved Mr Stewart is going matter deeply, and she's terrified of losing his respect; and ultimately, she has always chosen to avoid problems by plastering on a smile and happy voice and pretending they don't exist rather than confronting them head-on; it's part of her DNA at this point. So, this is all very much in character for Marilyn, and her flaws and foibles are part of the reason she's been such a firm favourite character for so many decades. She's always cut somewhat of a tragic figure, and I don't think the show is trying to claim she's perfect or that her behaviour as regards Heather is beyond reproach. But equally none of that justifies Heather gaslighting her or terrorising Maz's friends and vandalising their property. And the writers may or may not have thought about how this links in with Marilyn's previous issues around children, but we can think about it, and read that as valuable subtext to the story, whether it's intended or not.

What else is going on? Little of interest, in honesty. Any stakes in the 'Ziggy keeps her pregnancy a secret from the Bay' storyline are rendered null when you think about what this means in practice. 'Oh, so, umm, Xander and Rose don't know Ziggy's pregnant.' Well, so what? Is it any of their business, other than that they're regular characters? It just underlines the fact that Ziggy and Dean are quite an isolated unit these days with no real connections anymore (apart from Mackenzie, who already knows). They could do worse than bring in Dean's mum Karen as a permanent fixture at this stage, to give the characters a bit more sense of purpose and direction.

Elsewhere, the 'Jerkass Cash' saga has long since outlived its sell-by-date, and I'm basically done with this character and all who associate with him. Hot tip: don't make characters a jerkass for months unless they've literally been on the show for a decade, because when you do it to a character whose name viewers barely remember yet (or is that just me?) it will only make audiences bored and angry. I was warming to the band a bit, particularly since Justin and Theo have become involved, until Cash/Eden became a thing, and now this silly row with Felicity - who cares, about any of it? And then we have Dr Bree seemingly considering cheating on her husband with two separate men before we've even met the former, which is doing her character no favours; and plans for the latest daft public marriage proposal, courtesy of Tane (doesn't anyone in Summer Bay ever twig that this is an intrinsically bad idea, given the long history of upsets?)

On the plus side, Xander isn't getting a massive tattoo per patient death anymore - or at least, I gather that was the intended implication of him deciding to flaunt existing said tattoos in public.

[CaptainHulk]

Ugh, just done Friday and Today's.

Yawnfest.

That "fall" felt tacked on.

[pembie]

13 minutes ago, CaptainHulk said:

Ugh, just done Friday and Today's.

Yawnfest.

That "fall" felt tacked on.

What fall was that? 
Felcity saying yes to Tane just to get Lyric to shut up with their cheesy singing haha they need new material they always use that song 

[CaptainHulk]

57 minutes ago, pembie said:

What fall was that? 
Felcity saying yes to Tane just to get Lyric to shut up with their cheesy singing haha they need new material they always use that song 

Eden mashed herself up while they were walking, refused help from Remi and Cash.

And I do have *some* sympathy as I rolled my ankle about 3 months ago getting off the bus and it swelled up like a cricket ball and it was a real bitch getting around for two weeks.

[Slade]

Justin called it.  The reason why I'm not keen on the whole public proposal is that if the individual doesn't want to get married then they are in an impossible position.  TBH - Tane really should have known better.  The fact that Felicity avoided answering the question when Tane asked and the fact that he didn't ask her directly should have been a red flag.  It will be interesting to see how long Felicity waits before telling Tane she doesn't want to get married and only said she did because Tane put her on the spot.

I didn't agree with Leah confronting Heather at the caravan but trust Marilyn to blame Heather leaving on her.  Maybe if she came clean and told everybody about Heather it wouldn't have got to that point.  And I think she knows deep down she handled things very badly and only has herself to blame.  I suspect that Heather telling Marilyn she doesn't want to see her again is just another form of punishment.  I just don't think Heather would travel all that way without some sort of resolution.

Felt a bit sorry for Rose the way Cash was short with her.  Now that he has decided to be bad cop, I liked how he has no filter and confirmed to Eden, Remi was the one who told him she has a thing for him.

[Red Ranger 1]

On 13/11/2022 at 23:38, atrus said:

So, this is all very much in character for Marilyn, and her flaws and foibles are part of the reason she's been such a firm favourite character for so many decades. She's always cut somewhat of a tragic figure, and I don't think the show is trying to claim she's perfect or that her behaviour as regards Heather is beyond reproach.

I agree it's in character but she's a character that, while I accept other people like, I've disliked for a long time for precisely those reasons. She coasts through life with a sicky smile, a baby voice and a wide-eyed "sweet innocent little me" attitude, refusing to grow up and deal with reality.She never has to take responsibility for anything or face the consequences of her actions, because she's always got people like Alf and Roo mollycoddling and babying her and treating her like she's the child she acts like. And yes, they do act as though she's perfect. For all the criticism Roo's had for not trusting her, even now she's banging on about how kind and lovely Marilyn is usually and how she's the best person she knows.I'll try not to rant too much because I'm just repeating myself but...It's not just that she didn't tell people her life story when she met them, she already knew Alf and the others when this happened (which is why I really don't buy her "I had no choice" stance), and instead of being honest with them, she told a story of what she'd been getting up to since she last saw them which seems to have been a distortion of the truth at best. This might explain her selfish attitude where children are concerned (especially other people's children), but it doesn't excuse it. And I still think there's an inherent contradiction in Marilyn both acting like the victim who was coerced into giving up her child, and acting as though she did something noble in giving up her child to the people doing the coercing: She left her daughter with people she knew weren't very nice, not looking back or making any attempt to make sure she was all right, which counts as abandoning in my book.

Today and...more of the same, as Marilyn goes into full "It's all about me" mode while everyone around her falls over themselves to tell us what a lovely person she is. While I don't think it was Leah's place to warn Heather off, Marilyn had weeks to fix things with Heather and preferred to sneak around and hide her. It's all about how ashamed Marilyn was. It's all about how she wanted to connect with her daughter. Except what she really wanted was to live out the fantasy of having a joyful reunion with her daughter without it intruding in the reality of her life in Summer Bay where no-one knows what she did. She might not have said she wanted to keep it secret forever but she really didn't want to have to answer questions about when exactly she was planning to tell people.

Rant over and...yeah, public proposals are never a good idea.I will say that Felicity looked pleased when she first saw the ring, until reality set in and she realised she'd been put on the spot in front of a big crowd.Tane, to be fair to him, did try and say that she didn't need to answer straightaway or say yes, but she still felt she had to.Would she have said it in private? I'm not sure even she knows.I know she hasn't been on the show that long, but I do think the fact Tane's the only person she's said she's in love with makes it feel special.

Eden did the right thing going along with the others but keeping her distance from Felicity, which meant things didn't get spoilt (broadly speaking). I wondered what Kirby was going to do with no keyboard, turns out she was just there to sing. Remi telling Cash how Eden felt might have seemed like a good idea at the time but it's just made things awkward between all of them.