2022 Season - UK Episode Discussion

[H&Alover]

We are going to have to agree to disagree about Marilyn, but Heather was adopted by the Frazer's we saw the adoption paper and she had their name. I did  say attitudes were very different back then and Alf wasn't as modern in his beliefs as he is now. 

We definitely needed that light relief with Ziggy and Dean and that childbirth video, of course it had to be a very dramatic birth with all that screaming from mum, like Googling your symptoms. it can, I believe, be a very easy birth or in between the extremes. Have neither of them really not seen any births before, no One Born Every Minute in Aus or seen any births in drama programmes so had no idea of what was happening? I take it Maggie isn't coming over for the birth of her first grandchild.   it was Ziggy who wasn't sure Dean could cope but he seemed confident.  She did say something that has been said in Agony Aunt columns about the guy not feeling the same about his wife/partner once she had given birth. 

Don't forget Ziggy dumped Tane to go back to Dean and Dean wasn't over the moon when Ziggy got together with Tane as he didn't think he was good enough for her, he knew he was no angel but Tane had a rep too.  It is good to see them as mates, neither of them have any other guys who they could call proper mates. 

Jacob was very astute to work out Bree must have said something to Remi which is why he hurt her where her recent injury couldn't be seen.   Neither of them approached the other like she thought, they just bumped into each other which happens in a small town.  I'm glad Eden persuaded him to tell Bree he'd back off but if she needed to go somewhere safe he'd be there for her. We did see a scene on Wednesday where Jacob said he'd give up his job so he'd  could be with her all the time, but it wasn't in last nights. As Eden said Bree doesn't owe him because he supported her through medical school and because they have known each other for such a long time.

It was very awkward for Flick with  people being so pleased for her and Tane's  upcoming nuptials. She really should tell him like Mack advised her to that although she is happy to marry him she doesn't want to rush things.  He did pick up on her unease, then we saw in the trailer he saw her expression when she hugged him after the proposal.  

 

 

[atrus]

Hmm, not a great start to the year. Lots of action at Heather's fabulous family brunch, but all the campy melodrama and by-the-numbers, heroes-and-villains dialogue rang rather hollow, somehow, like the shell of a show that once had a soul.

I agree on some of the criticism of Marilyn to the extent that she walked out on Heather again when it's clear this girl is very messed up and needs a lot of help, but... something tells me the show probably isn't done with Heather, and I wonder if Maz's initial reaction will be reversed somewhere down the line as Maz gets over her own sense of inadequacy and puts all that aside to help her daughter. It certainly feels like it's going that way with Maz disappearing and the Forces of Good uniting to find her; she'll almost certainly be back in the bosom of the stalwarts soon, and I'll be surprised if that doesn't prompt a rethink of her decision on Heather. We need to see her again, for sure; for one thing, the stepmum in the freezer surely needs some modicum of resolution? If not, then it must be the most ridiculously perfunctory murder on the show for quite some time, and there've been a few.

Also, I'm not going to hate on Marilyn for walking out. While it's true that I'd have liked to have seen her step up (and still think she might), to be fair the responsibility for this is not all hers, and her reaction was probably prompted in no small part by the very considerable trauma that Heather has just put her through. I don't think anyone in Maz's shoes would be feeling great about themselves right now, or, frankly, over the moon at the idea of more mother-daughter time. And I don't honestly think it's an adequate response to say, "Ah, but all this just serves Marilyn right for the trauma she put Heather through by abandoning her as a child," as it suggests Maz ought to have had superhuman levels of foresight in knowing that Heather's dad and stepmum would be such terrible parents to her that she'd end up turning into a gaslighting, stalking, kidnapping (and possibly murdering) lunatic. That basically feels like heaping all the blame for whatever Heather's parents have done, as well as Heather's own actions, onto Maz, which doesn't seem reasonable; and I suspect we wouldn't think of doing the same to Roo if Martha's adoptive parents had turned out to be cruel and horrible (which would have been perfectly possible). Even if Heather's dad did see Marilyn as a disposable bit on the side and mistreated her in that regard, that doesn't necessarily mean she'd have automatic reason to believe he'd mistreat his own child. Not that we've had a whole lot of detail about any of this, anyway. And @H&Alover is right about changed attitudes; we do need to take into account that Summer Bay was very much imbued with a conservative small-town mentality back in the nineties; I seem to recall unmarried sex in itself was regularly a cause for raised eyebrows and sometimes outright denunciation, never mind a pregnancy out of wedlock. So, yeah, while I'd hope in her shoes not to have made identical choices, I'm still cutting her some slack on all this.

Onto Bree, and I think Eden's advice to Remi about not directly intervening but making it clear to Bree that he's there if he needs her was pretty sensible. Unfortunately Jacob is such a transparently obnoxious, misogynistic twit that even Eden herself was unable to resist a pointed jibe about him being a horrible wife-beater, which just exacerbated things further.

Not a great deal to say about the gigantic crock of nothing that was the rest of this week's events, of which Dean and Ziggy worrying about the birth was probably the high point. Does the fact Cash responded competently to a major police incident mean he's over his jerk phase? That seemed to be the implication. Elsewhere Felicity whines and stresses about the idea of marrying Tane in eight weeks, then when he suggests they take it at her pace which felt like a sensible resolution to the storyline, implodes in a fit of neediness and does a screeching 180 for no particularly clear reason, declaring that yes, it will be eight weeks after all, presumably because that tallies with the Australian finale and the producers can have the church explode or some equivalent. So all that angsting was an utter waste of time. As for Lyrik's music video... all I can say is I was pretty much with Minnie the plain-speaking director, in that they could all have benefited from a ceasefire on brooding and whining about their 'intense feelings' for five minutes to actually get the bloody thing filmed. The suggestion in Friday's episode that objectionable OG band member Bob is back in play does little to alleviate the growing sense of tedium around the band, meanwhile, although Kirby and Theo are so sickly-sweet as a pairing that I might just welcome any spanner in the works, even a Bob-shaped one.

[Antzz]

Is it just me but when Bree's around Remi she's always smiling and can be herself around him , She seems to tread on eggshells and fakes smiles around Jacob , such a sad situation i've been there myself .

[Red Ranger 1]

Alf's episode count this week:Four.

Unless I'm forgetting something, we never saw any adoption papers.What we did see was Heather's birth certificate, with Marilyn listed as her mother.So, sorry, unless it turns out social services were contacted and approved the situation, Marilyn was legally responsible for her and just up and left her because reasons.I really can't get behind the notion that 1995 Summer Bay was composed entirely of small-minded ultra-conservatives who would have all turned on Marilyn if they found out she was an unmarried mother.For goodness sake, it was three years after Sophie gave birth at sixteen (and Marilyn was there holding her hand when she was in labour, so she knows that) and I don't recall the likes of Alf, Pippa and Donald insisting she was a disgrace to the human race who should be tarred and feathered and paraded through the streets as an example of the sins of the flesh. They were ultimately supportive of her and they would have been of Marilyn if she could have been bothered to make more than a token effort to care for her daughter. (I don't even recall them being particularly condemnatory about the reveal that Angel had had a child when she was underage.) Yes, other people have played a part, but I really can't get behind the idea that Marilyn is completely free of responsibility for the choices she made back then and their outcome.

But I'm probably meant to be, because the good folk of Summer Bay have obviously decided they're going to demonise Heather and treat Saint Marilyn as a sweet and innocent victim of others' cruelty.Irene, again, was especially unpleasant, but then arbitrarily trying to drive someone out of town when she's forgiven worse from others has long been one of her less attractive traits.I can understand them wanting to make sure she's all right, but if she wants to deal with her latest unwelcome dose of reality by disappearing off to reinvent herself, let her. It wouldn't be the first time.

(I'm guessing the video Dean and Ziggy were sent was a lot more graphic than you'd see in a TV drama or pre-watershed documentary. Hence why it wasn't shown in a TV drama, just their reaction!)

I am glad that Tane and Felicity finally talked and, yes, that was a very sudden turnaround from Felicity but I guess she realised that this is the life she wants and it's nothing to be afraid of. I'm certainly relieved, since when Tane said the wedding was off, I was worried that was them breaking up. But yeah, eight weeks, hmm, how many more weeks of this season have we got again? (Although I doubt it was actually eight weeks in Australia, given their bonkers schedules.[Checks airdates]Yep, typically they raced through the next 40 episodes in only six weeks.)

A pretty swift turnaround from Felicity about Cash and Eden as well! I've had Something Like You stuck in my head since lunchtime, so I guess their video works! Kirby really should have told Theo about the text. I must admit I'm quite intrigued in the idea of Bob resurfacing, provided he doesn't cause too much trouble.

[pembie]

Great Lyric made the music video that doesn’t mean I want watch it Remi kind looks like he should be in a band but it isn’t Lyric Felcity and Tane should ask for a fee 

Dean and Ziggy looks like they were sent the Alien punching through the stomach scene from the Alien movie 

[H&Alover]

Oops, yes you were right Red it was her birth certificate we saw.  Don't forget we still don't know the whole story, just what  Heather told us.  She did paint a different scenario to Roo about how she was forced to give up her 'baby' to get her onside. I would  imagine, but again only guessing, they would have to have to have some paperwork to prove they were her parents to put her in that  school.  As has been said Roo took a chance of the background of who adopted Martha and that they would care for and love her. How would she have felt if it was found out Martha had been mistreated? 

I have the same feeling about Minnie as Theo does - very in your face. I couldn't work with her for long.  Lyrik's (with a k btw) vid does really seem to have taken off, which is why I reckon Bob has got in touch.  He's not jealous of Theo and Kirby, it's the band's success he's narked about and deliberately stirred it up by adding kisses.   Kirby definitely should have told Theo about Bob calling, always happens doesn't a mobile left lying around and a message flashes up and  the person it's meant for isn't about.   How would Kirby have felt if she'd seen a text from Chloe with xx's on?   They have got less gushy over each other, but then new  couples always go overboard in the PDA's. OG does that stand for Old Git?

They - Tane and Felicity - finally had the talk.  Both Eden and Cash told Felicity how lucky she was to be loved like that.  She does know how lucky she is, but it's not against the law to want to marry him when she wants to. He has made all the decisions so far, proposing without even thinking or giving her any hint about it.  Now he's decided they will be getting married in eight weeks time!  Didn't quite get the "Wedding's off" declaration as nothing has been arranged yet!  Her turn around and proposal to him meant she was now in control, well that's how I saw it. 

Not totally sure about Flick setting up Cash and Eden, natch she wants everyone to be happy, but with them coming from different outlooks, he wants cas, she wants serious, someone could get hurt. 

 

 

[christine king]

1 hour ago, H&Alover said:

OG does that stand for Old Git?

OG stands for original. So in this case they were talking about the OG 4 of them being Kirby/Remi/Eden/Bob and now it’s the new and some might say improved band with Kirby/Remi/Eden/Theo instead 

[Antzz]

6 hours ago, christine king said:

OG stands for original. So in this case they were talking about the OG 4 of them being Kirby/Remi/Eden/Bob and now it’s the new and some might say improved band with Kirby/Remi/Eden/Theo instead 

Are lyric an actual band though ...... There gigs always seem to be cancelled 

[pembie]

2 hours ago, Antzz said:

Are lyric an actual band though ...... There gigs always seem to be cancelled 

Sometimes they seem like a band that are professional and other time’s they seem like they are trying to break onto the scene they need less cheesy songs though 

[H&Alover]

21 hours ago, christine king said:

OG stands for original. So in this case they were talking about the OG 4 of them being Kirby/Remi/Eden/Bob and now it’s the new and some might say improved band with Kirby/Remi/Eden/Theo instead 

Thank you.

12 hours ago, pembie said:

Sometimes they seem like a band that are professional and other time’s they seem like they are trying to break onto the scene they need less cheesy songs though 

Lyrik's song went down well on the vid though so their fans obviously like cheesy.   I've read the H&A in Aus is ending 28/11/22 on no. 7945 and coming back in Feb 2023 -  no. 7946 so we'll be four weeks behind when they come back?