2025 Season - UK Episode Discussion

[Dan F]

Onto the 2025 season we go, and as per the norm of the past few years we begin 8 weeks behind Australian airings.

A reminder that the thread runs at the (proper) Channel 5 pace, so anyone watching a day early on 5Star, or via 5's on-demand offering, should take that into account and not post any spoilers.

[Red Ranger 1]

Well, you can tell it's a new season from the new intro and outtro! I'm guessing Australia still has the same generic Channel 7 closing titles that they've had for 20 years or more, so those shots of the Bay at the end must be just for us overseas viewers!

And as is often the case after a big cliffhanger, nothing's really been resolved at the end of the episode: Tim's still unconscious and Harper's still in surgery. And Cash and Tane are both starting to grate somewhat. Not much else to say about the medical drama but there continues to be a mystery over what's happened to Tim. Remi seems to think Cash is responsible and Eden seems to think it's Nerida. Going by who's a main character and who isn't, Eden's more likely to be right but Nerida would have to be a bit of a ninja to knock out both Cash and Tim. Maybe that's not what happened? Cash seemed to get a flash of seeing Tim hit the ground...

Meanwhile, Victor Stone from Neighbours has turned up as a detective who isn't taking any of Cash's nonsense and is probably going to be even less inclined to indulge him than Rose is. Cash has at least managed to move on from "You need to stay away from Tim!" to saying they need to be protected but still isn't very convincing even without the concussion. Bit remiss than neither Remi (who found out from John last episode) nor Cash (who was there) mentioned the vandalism to anyone until Justin, Theo and Kirby walked in on it. Did Cash not even mention it in his rambling voicemails?

[CaptainHulk]

  On 10/03/2025 at 19:06, Red Ranger 1 said:

Meanwhile, Victor Stone from Neighbours has turned up as a detective who isn't taking any of Cash's nonsense 

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Maybe Vic's leading a double life, cop by day barman by night or whenever

"Yeah, Mel. Can you mind the bar, I've gotta pop out."

 

  On 10/03/2025 at 19:06, Red Ranger 1 said:

Well, you can tell it's a new season from the new intro and outtro! I'm guessing Australia still has the same generic Channel 7 closing titles that they've had for 20 years or more, so those shots of the Bay at the end must be just for us overseas viewers!

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Yup. With the promos.

(Seen for myself)

 

[H&Alover]

Hello 2025.

At least people can't complain "Well that got sorted out pretty quick".  

Plenty of surgery going on in two different locations and very different surroundings.  Good to see Bree is back to her old self, not faffing about as to what to do, assertive and decisive about how to treat Tim.  Giving  clear instructions and advising the paramedics when they turned up as to what the situation was. Has it ever been mentioned Kirby had been in medicine? Not surprising Remi and Justin would think Cash was involved  going by his previous behaviour whenever he and Tim ran into each other, was it Remi who saw them arguing the previous night? He ushered Eden back in but odd she didn't seem that concerned he didn't come back in even allowing for the fact he may not have wanted to spend the night with her after she admitted she still loved Cash.   For all we know Tim and Cash did have a fight, Tim would have had a reason as he would blame Cash for Eden still being in love with him.  Both had head injuries, Tim's of course being the worse so could have knocked each other out.  Even without the problem how did Nerida get   to that hotel, how could she have tackled two grown men.  It's  a stretch that she crept up on Cash, knocked him out then went for Tim. But then she'd have to get away again.   Bree,  the old assertive Bree, told   DS Townsend where to go, saying Cash has concussion so not able to  be questioned yet.  

Never seen Neighbours so I hadn't seen Craig Hall before but he was pretty tasty.  He is new to the whole thing so he wouldn't be taking anyone's word for what happened to whom and why.  He doesn't know any of them so would just go for the facts  as he should.   Get everyone's statements, go through them, check up on Nerida, get her alibi etc.  Hope CSI, if they were brought along,  are able to find some sort of proof as to what happened, blood on rocks,  bruises on knuckles, DNA.

Remi had his reasons for not telling them about the break in and the trashing of their house.  Not that he would have listened to Cash anyway.  Kirby at least was on Cash's side saying it wasn't Cash's style to do that or vandalise Tim's car, and why would he trash their house, it was Tim he was  after.  They don't know though, unlike us and Cash, Nerida said something like someone would burn for what they started but that is only hearsay.  It appeared from the note left by the cops they had taken fingerprints so Kirby, Remi, Eden and any others who had been in there recently will have to submit theirs to eliminate them.   Surprised John didn't come over and explain what he and Cash had found.  I'm surmising the cops questioned the neighbours to ask if they'd seen any strangers, they do have NW don't they? 

Second op of the day, which I have to admit was pretty tense, was holding my breath a couple of times.  Tim wasn't on his own then he had an obstetrics surgeon to take care of the baby side of it.  Naturally there has to be a hiccup when Harper's bp went up, but was resolved.  Even in the most routine op/procedure there can be  unexpected  problems.  Maybe Levi shouldn't have snapped at the anaesthetist but I guess he would be used to it.   Levi was really put on the spot when Harper asked him if it came down to it to promise save the baby.  Must be  a really tense time for Dana and Tane.  Even Dana, being  a nurse, it  would be above her level.    

Edited March 11 by H&Alover

[Red Ranger 1]

The question seems to come up a lot, with us watching the show at three different paces at least so, hopefully for the last time, yes, Kirby has mentioned that her family wanted to be a doctor and she studied medicine before joining Lyrik.

Townsend has quickly turned out to be one of those frustrating police officers who decides straightaway that they know who the culprit is and doesn’t look at anything outside their narrow view. Sure, Cash is the obvious suspect and they should be investigating him, but it’s a mistake to ignore all other possibilities, not least because you can bet that if it goes to court, his lawyer will be quick to point out that the case is based on circumstantial evidence that can be explained by things the police didn’t bother to investigate. I don’t blame Remi for going to the police, especially with Cash heading straight for Eden the moment he got out of hospital and generally acting like he’s the person she most needs protecting from. It’s a shame Eden cut him off as a result, but I think they’ve been through too much for it to be permanent. Rose is not doing anyone any favours by being so blatantly Team Cash. This was not the time to bend the rules, when she’s got a detective who already questions her loyalty breathing down her neck.

So, it seems Bree rediscovering her mojo is enough to get her back at work. I still feel like she hasn’t done enough to safeguard against things getting on top of her again, but I think we’re meant to think “Storyline over.”

Harper comes through the surgery then. Tane was being obnoxious still, snapping at Dana because he thinks people should be coming out of theatre to talk to him rather than focusing on Harper and the baby. To be frank, Dana loves Harper more than him, she did not deserve to be his punchbag. Anyway, she’s basically gone “Well, that’s my episodes for the week done, I’m off.”

[CaptainHulk]

I'm watching UK pace too, just on another platform. 

[Dan F]

  On 10/03/2025 at 19:06, Red Ranger 1 said:

I'm guessing Australia still has the same generic Channel 7 closing titles that they've had for 20 years or more, so those shots of the Bay at the end must be just for us overseas viewers!

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Though they did randomly treat Aussie viewers to the new international closing credits for the season finale.

[Medea Fleecestealer]

Agree on the cop thing Red Ranger 1.  Just because Cash is a suspect is no reason to not at least make enquiries about Nerida to eliminate her from the suspect pool.  But hey, we're talking about H&A writers here who ignore such things when it suits them.  

[H&Alover]

Any new investigator would be like Townsend, they don't know the locals like we or the Yabbie  Creek cops do and just go with the evidence in front of them. They or rather he, isn't biased towards anyone  because they, the local cops  know the person. He's heard from the people who were there and what Cash had been like with Tim so any new suspect would be put on the back burner for now.  We know vandalism isn't Cash's style and no way would he trash Lyrik's house, his ex lives there and he had no problems with Kirby or Remi so why would he.    Rather late in the day Townsend asked forensics to look at Tim's car after Eden had tried to clean it  Shouldn't the cops be asking if anyone had seen anyone new about or ask if any of them have CCTV?   John should be able to back Cash up, he walked in just after Cash entered Lyrik's house and the state it was in, he couldn't  have done that much damage in such a short space of time. 

The invisible Sarge is still just that,  as it appeared Rose is in charge. That was  a bad move on her part letting Eden see Cash seeing as she is part of the investigation.  She did believe Cash when he said he didn't hurt Tim, well as far as he knows anyway, he is suffering from concussion so his memory could be fuzzy.  

Remi was just saying it as he saw it and as said there had been other instances when Tim and Cash were going for it like when he was ejected from the party and there were other witnesses, Justin, Kirby, Bree, Theo and Tane.   One good question from Eden why didn't he intervene when Tim and Cash had their latest row?  You're right Red Eden and Remi have known each other for far too long for it to be  a permanent split.   She's gone to see Tim now, is it guilt that she's gone to see him as she feels responsible for his injuries after telling him she still loves Cash? 

I dare say Bree will be still doing her 'exercises' to keep on top of her OCD and hopefully she told the people in charge what the problem was/is so not over entirely. 

Tane was acting  the way many relatives do in soaps when a  loved one is in serious surgery, panicking about why is it was taking so long and them not being told anything. He was lashing out at Dana because she was there, but for once Dana took the wise move of walking away.   There were a  few tense moments but  both came through OK. He was suitably thanked by Tane and Harper and as we saw later by Mac!  Another string to add to Levi's bow. Rather sweet when Harper was worried about the baby not moving then he showed her he'd woken up by giving her  a kick.  

Dana has gone to see Xander then now is all OK  with Harper and babe.   

[Red Ranger 1]

I'd say Townsend is definitely biased: He decided Cash was guilty pretty much the moment he saw him which means he can conveniently ignore anyone who says otherwise because, in his mind, they're either lying or wrong.

The Summer Bay grapevine definitely seems to be flawed at the moment: I get that we're only a day or so on from last season's cliffhanger, but it's well into the episode before Mali and Abigail find out what's gone on.So, Abigail thinks it was Nerida as well.And it turns out that, despite the small time frame, things have definitely progressed between them since we last saw them. Again, I can see why Mali would be going for it, but I'm not really sure why Abigail is, her liking him seems to have come out of nowhere, which does leave me wondering if Mackenzie might have a bit of a point, however much she's in no position to judge given the similar list of red flags when she and Levi got together.

Then again, talking of relationships that have come out of nowhere, I struggled to maintain interest in Tane and Harper's scenes, not helped by the fact they're just so boring together. Tane wants to move in with her? With Cash in a cell, that's going to leave the house rather empty.

Seems it's not just Bree then, Kirby's got a confidence boost from her medical heroics. I did like her chat with Theo, but it's a bit odd that, John appearing yesterday aside, there's been a distinct lack of stalwarts so far this season, and then Alf, Leah and Marilyn all pop up for one scene!