The Boring Austin Family

[charmed60]

^^^

Yes they are probably one of the only "family" units.

However, there still isn't a family in the bay that actually has a both a mum and dad (married) with kids. Most of the family are disfunctional.

Tachel

I really like the Austins for the reasons you've been saying. Finally they have a family that has all these intertwining issues and it's lovely to see. Talking of individual characters, Hugo I'm pretty indifferent to, but Xavier is really growing on me. I love the way he's being challenged in his current Aus storyline and I like his uncle relationship he has with Tony which is rarely used admittedly but when it is, I like it Brendan I just adore and am quite sad he's not a permenant character. Gina I also really like, I think they've got a lot of potential with her and it's about time they have a "mother" figure in the Bay. Some people have compared her with Beth and said they don't think she's as much of an "earthly mother" figure as Beth was but, I hated Beth as a character so that's fine by me I also like how they can explore the relationship between Gina and Tony and that the Austins are linked in with other characters, Tony and Rachel and now Martha with Hugo dating her. It's just nice to see this large extended family living in the same area and supporting each other through issues.

Rant over

[haaxhaa]

^^^

Oh yes silly mee!

How could I forget Tachel?

I must of forgot about Harry

Yes but that's still only one!

Why can't there be more than one functional family?

[charmed60]

^^ I guess it's coz he's so lickle and half of his screentime is spent as a plastic doll

I totally agree with you, before Tony and Rachel got married there was actually no married couple on the show at all. Now I know divorce rates are high these days but come on!

[Red Ranger 1]

Yes, with Aden and Belle's brief marriage over, Tony and Rachel are back to being the only married couple on the show.But then I can't remember the last time the show had a decent number of married couples.

I hope they don't try and turn Gina into the show's mother figure because she just doesn't strike me as very maternal.She's clearly not a Pippa/Natalie/Shelley/Beth "earth mother" type character and it'd be ridiculous to try and turn her into one.She's closer to Original Pippa/Irene who were a bit more fiery and harder but also very protective of their charges.But she's way too quick to think the worst of her sons and that's mainly why I've found it hard to warm to her.

[j.laur5]

I disagree with you so much. Gina has been a perfect new mother fingre on the show, especially tonight after the way she helped Romeo prove it.

And how can you say that Vanessa (Pippa) and Irene were harder? They seem perfectly soft mothers to me. In fact I thought Vanessa was softer than Debra.

Irene is firey but she has been a mother for a long time.

Natalie was very hard and friery if you ask me.

[Brian]

Agree with what a lot of you say. A complete family unit is sorely needed in Summer Bay and a mother figure - Irene is the best we have at the moment, but who's family is she from? Pity Sid didn't stay with his wife, Dexter and daughter. Could bring Mr Austen in as a father to complete that family.Too many teenagers running around without parental control - getting as bad as some inner city estates here!

[~Lynd~]

But she's way too quick to think the worst of her sons and that's mainly why I've found it hard to warm to her.

Exactly.She defends Palmer and makes Xavier out to be the bad one.After what Palmer did to Trey i can't believe she'd side with him over her own son.She makes me sick.

[Snapp]

So in order to make Gina, the dullest woman on earth, a regular character they shipped Brendan off to a home. That wraps that up very neatly for them, something really off about that. I'm sure he'll be back for guest spots but it seems it would have been to hard for H&A to have him as a regular character.

If the Austins are the future of H&A then it is in a even worse state then I thought.

[flea]

I think I am the only one who actually likes Hugo. I think his character is interesting and well acted. A pity however that he is stuck with dead wood Martha, who I really struggle to like. In fact I would say bar Xavier and Rachel, Martha would be my least favourite of the characters.

I wasn't keen on Gina's arrival, however I feel I could warm to the character, after starting to get interested in her a bit more, but Xavier is a big no-no for me. He bores me, can't act, and doesn't bring anything positive to the show. I would probably be happier if he wasn't around to be perfectly honest.

[ter06]

I hate the Austins. In what has been an incredibly bad year for the show, they are the icing on the cake. Were the casting directors blind drunk when casting Xavier? And how can they think Gina makes good television? There is nothing appealing about the woman whatsoever and now she is taking a shine to John Palmer! Hugo is the only vaguely intersting one and I've only started thinking that this week as his story seems to be going somewhere.

I am totally of the opinion the show needs a major revamp, this 21st year was supposed to be fantastic but it has been a big let down. I think the show has suffered since Kate Ritchie's deprartre and hasn't really found its feet. And with Kate Ritchie jobhunting it seems the perfect time to bring her back. The recasting of

Emily Symons is genius and I look forward to that, although somewhat apprehensively given the returns of past characters (Chloe, Pippa, Kirsty etc)