2024 Season - UK Episode Discussion

[c120701]

Copying over to this thread:
 

Today’s episode was probably the closest to an old school Home and Away episode I’ve seen in years. The way the news of Felicity spread by word of mouth, into the Diner, rather than just mobile phones, it reminded me of Shane’s death.

[CaptainHulk]

15 hours ago, Red Ranger 1 said:

Not much else going on except a very brief recap of Irene, and John finding someone was light-fingered at the surf club. (Is the Australian dollar not worth very much at the moment? I was aghast at the idea of Levi carrying a couple of hundred bucks around with him, and now John treats $480 as if it’s small change!) Levi probably should have found a place other than the room Rose was in to make the call if he didn’t want her hearing!

£1 = sub $2 (but pound's been weak a while)

 

[H&Alover]

 Jaqui wanted to leave and for it to be dramatic, not Felicity driving off into the sunset.

I thought the episode was handled very well, I'm guessing tptb took advice on the procedures on doctors assessing if  a patient is brain dead that Bree and Levi did.  It was very informative I thought, then the wait to check again this time with a neurologist.  It would be hard enough for any doctor/specialist to having to break that news to relatives/friends but more so if the patient is a friend too.   Had to be hard for Cash but then realising  Flick wasn't coming back.  Looking at  a less severe ending, even if Flick had come round she would likely have suffered severe brain damage laving her unable to move, communicate which she would have hated. 

Cash's snapping at Eden would be so right, you lash out at the ones nearest to you, but as said he apologised right away.   Next thing, I suppose, will be how long they can leave Flick, Bree said there has to be a time limit, someone else may be needing that machine, only so many in a hospital.

Going off piste a moment, what was Felicity's  feelings about  organ donation?

I'd forgotten Remi wasn't at the  after party party as  Bree was at work so I guess he went home which is why he only found out that morning, tipped off by John that someone, heard/saw  an ambulance at the Surf Club the night before taking Felicity away, obvious  response to go to the hospital when he couldn't get Bree on the phone and be there for Eden and give Bree a probably much needed hug.  Wise decision for him to go, Cash doesn't need a crowd round him.  Tane took himself off again and Levi had to fill him in how the first assessment went.

Then he rang Abi, just asking her to call, brotherly reaction I guess  wanting to know if your little sister is OK. 

Where are Kirby and Theo?

I did like, if that is the right word, about how word got around, Maz and  Leah being informed face to face by Justin and John.   

John was a bit careless leaving that much money lying around, was  it just sitting in a box on his desk?  How sharp eyed Abi must have been, she'd never been in the Surf Club before. Come to think of it, did she go in the Surf Club?    Levi's a conventional soul, gone up in my estimation,  carrying actual money in his wallet, most people shun it and use cards.   She must be in desperate need of money.

[Slade]

1 hour ago, H&Alover said:

Jaqui wanted to leave and for it to be dramatic, not Felicity driving off into the sunset.

Yeah, I wondered last week when you said it looked like Felicity was having an aneurysm whether you already knew what was going to happen.

I agree with Red Ranger about Felicity's ending in that it should have been her smiling and riding off into the sunset.  I also agree that Tane has pretty much run his course as a character (One of the problems with him is that he's never really had a group of friends, just family - Mali/Mackenzie, it feels as he's paired with them by default), although I am interested to see what happens when he finds out Harper's pregnant.  However, I don't think they should have left together.  I thought she deserved better than him.  I do feel he was in love with her at the beginning but when he effectively ended the marriage after the pregnancy thing, he's not acted like someone who's in love with his wife.  It's frustrating because given how Felicity started off, whilst I still thought she clearly had issues (which was one of the reasons she didn't want kids), she did manage to turn her life around and integrated quite well into the community, prepared to get involved in hosting events to raise money for charities, was a good friend to Eden and the other Lyric band members and did support Mackenzie prior to her becoming romantically involved with Levi.  John's reaction said it all really.

I do also appreciate Bree's role in this.  It must have been very difficult for her given she's friends with Lyrik having to be Felicity's doctor and breaking the news to Cash knowing how it would affect everybody else.  I also quite liked Levi alongside Bree.  Hopefully this will bring him and Eden closer together.

 

[pembie]

I would have liked Felcityto have join Lyrik once Kirby went solo 

[Red Ranger 1]

Not every dramatic exit has to involve someone ending up dead on a slab. If they're determined to keep Tane around and use Harper to give him a family to make him seem relevant, then we should have seen Felicity find out, give them the hell they deserve and get out of town, not have her conveniently drop dead so they never have to look her in the eye and face up to what they've done.

Anyway, I like how they kept the momentum going over Felicity even with all the key players not in the episode.It makes sense that Mackenzie would be as affected by this as anyone: No matter how much they fought, deep down she and Felicity were always there for each other, and as she said, now that's gone and she's faced with having to cope on her own again. That note from Felicity was so her and really does underline how full of life she was. I'm not sure about Mackenzie going to "say goodbye" to Felicity, mainly because I can't see that going down well with Cash...

And even the stalwarts at the Diner are affected, with Alf even being allowed out of his cupboard to join them.I kept wracking my brains to think when Leah was in the same situation: I'd forgotten that it was with Justin! (In fact, I remembered when they were the other way round first!) While Mali's issues extend beyond what's just happened, it obviously doesn't help. Kirby was in annoying mode a bit when she wouldn't give him the sketch back but seemed to make up for it later.

I'm not sure anyone's doing Abigail any favours by covering up for her.The surf club have got their money back but Levi's basically enabling her and has got no way of knowing that she's not going to do anything like this again.John went a bit far covering it up too, and just when Alf was being understanding for once!

[Medea Fleecestealer]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but surely Tane should be the one making decisions about Flick.  Although they're separated they're not divorced so he is her next of kin in these situations, not Cash.

[Foellfan]

^

You make a good point, unless she changed it back over perhaps.

Yep, Jacqui got the drama, the crying and the impact just not the gore a stunts but well done to her!

In a sense, Flick was never going to go quietly, not that kind of character, also she spent her tenure in the Bay as well as her backstory being risky, taking chances and generally being a human explosion both in postive ways and the negative, I think the swift yet shocking end was in some ways appropriate as, to me anyways, she gave vibes of 'Live fast, die young, who cares as long as you enjoy it?' type of person.

I think Tane will struggle, as even when you love someone and it didn't work out, you can't forget the impact they had on you, good/bad or whether you want to forget or not.

[Red Ranger 1]

49 minutes ago, Foellfan said:

she gave vibes of 'Live fast, die young, who cares as long as you enjoy it?' type of person.

I don't agree with that at all, and I don't think that really reflects her character arc. It's more a case of "Suffer constant trauma and misery punctuated by brief bursts of happiness and attempts to rise above it all by finding enjoyment where you can, only to have your bright future snatched away from you by a cruel twist of nature." The Felicity we saw in that last episode, and in the months leading up to it, was not someone who wanted to die young, it was someone who was hoping for a long and happy life. As she said to both Tane and Cash in her last conversations with them, that was her dream.That's what she deserved and that's what she should have got.

[Foellfan]

I didn't mean she wanted to die in the literal sense more the kind of, we're only here for a while so grab life by the proverbials and shake everything out of it because you only get it once and you only regret the chances you didn't take, vein; a lover of life but with no great plan/expectation just dive in and hang on.

It's no critisisism at all, there are those in life for whom mundanity is a fate worse than and that's how she struck me from the first day and, though she tried to bury it at times, it's a personality trait that I think stayed in a way. Just her whole way is big, brash, bold, hence her being perfect bar material kind of rev 'em up, get 'em soaked, every day's a party! There's always a glint of mischief.

Happy ending would've been safe, mundane; even with Rory, if they'd done the whole 'I wuv u Wory, mwah, mwah, let's start a new life." I think would've been too soft, . I could've seen her hanging out the roof of his truck with a vodka bottle in hand with a 'See ya, wouldn't wanna be ya!' yell as they rocketed past the Summer Bay sign, kind of a 'forever wild' vibe.

Where Tane/Harper/baby would be concerned say, she wouldn't have liked it one bit but then she probably would inwardly acknowledge that they were in the places they needed to be, he was ready to go in a new direction but she was happy on her path, they were a fun detour and if Rory had still be there, he would've given her that freedom and, ahem, other benefits, no strings. Kind of a best of both worlds deal. Most wild people only calm down because they are forced to and I think she still had that in her  to go with a bang and why not, eh?

I mean when you look at her closest friends, Lyrik, they are all kind of Bohemian drifters, looking for the next adventure not fussed where/when or who, just let's see where it takes us. (I know they are in the Bay at the moment but we know they did kind of bum around beforehand). I think in a sense she did as she was told for Cash's sake sometimes, given his job.

(Who knows, may even write it one day!)

I think as well, the desicion behind this S/L was partly Jacqui herself as she did say in a few interviews that she wanted Flick killed off, both for drama but also so that she (Jacqui) had neither the temptation to stay or go back later, many actors have said similar working on soaps generally as it's easy to fall into that comfortable monotony and not stretch yourself, which is kind of the pre-requisite of acting, I think it's different if you have a family and want to have a steady wage and do the job you love but if, like Jacqui, you don't have dependents then it's always good to try and spread your wings if you can and get as many different characters and experiences as possible. She could well do very well even though it's a fickle biz at times.

Your description of the arc is very true to life sadly, for a lot of us in non-forum life; strangely I think it does make you appreciate those little moments, scant as they can be sometimes, because they hold immense value as they can be the sustenance through the storms.

I think this will impact Eden as much as Cash but in a different way in that when you are someone who plays your cards close, don't trust as easily as average; the rare occasions that you do let persons into your world, they are there for both a good reason and for good so their rarity makes the loss huge and life changing in ways that people don't always understand and, also if you're not an openly emotional person, people can mistake this for either not caring or being impenetrably strong, Eden is neither but one wonders if she will kind of get forgotten in support stakes, not intentionally of course.

I have to give HUGE props to the set/prop designers for the amazing sunset board that Mali was carrying and those who create the artworks for the characters etc.;                                                                                                        I think Kirby's fixations were a weird kind of trying to process complete chaos that grief is, as humans I think it's still something we can't solve is it, really?

Edited October 3 by Foellfan