UK Christmas Break

[Red Ranger 1]

It was a good episode - im guessing this was only a few weeks into the 2009 season with it being Jack's funeral so im guessing it was on Five around February this year?

That was actually only the second week of the 2009 season, so yeah, we got it in February.

[Zetti]

Good news, everyone, we had subtitles!Don't know if they were bombarded with e-mails but if so, thanks to those responsible.

It was interesting, given that those episodes were only about a year ago, that I thought Angelo, Hugo and Xavier in particular looked a lot younger.I think Angelo having a less severe haircut and Hugo not having as much stubble helped.Historically, Hugo's first appearance.Interesting he had absolutely no interaction with Martha, I thought their friendship started up pretty early.Less noticeably, I think that first episode marked the last appearances of Matthew and Tim, both of whom seemed to just fall out of the show when they ran out of things to do.

It's a bit ironic looking back:Everyone seems determined to put Angelo away when he'll be back in a few months and Kirsty's insisting Summer Bay's home when she'll be gone in...a few more months.It was also probably the real end of Kirsty and Kane, you can actually see the moment when she decides it's over when she's talking to Miles even though they did end up giving it another go.Also possibly the first sign of how irritating Ruby could be at times:Going to Jack's funeral just so she can stalk Xavier seemed like a blip at the time but now sadly it's more the norm.

I emailed them Am so happy I got it. I only watched the first one cos I watched the 6.30pm hollyoaks but I was chuffed to have subs

[Red Ranger 1]

I miss Claudia.I know I'm probably the only one but watching that first episode kind of reinforced it. They could have done a lot more with her and Geoff's relationship but it just got chucked out.Geoff and Ruby really haven't grabbed my interest in the same way.

Other things of note:Well, a week after I pointed to the scenes that made it clear Annie knew about Aden and Nicole, there they were.Also the scene that should have put paid to all the claims Ruby didn't like Annie anymore when she was suddenly friends with Nicole but somehow didn't.Probably the most obvious case of Charlie turning a blind eye to Aden breaking his bond.("You're lucky Alf isn't pressing charges."Anyone ask the guy he was throwing around the forecourt if he wanted to make a complaint?) Kirsty's spot-on tirade at Roman.Nicole showing an unerring knack of being drawn to the wrong guy.Martha having a shower in her underwear.Charlie, Miles and the muffin...

And apparently nothing good happened between Angelo leaving and him coming back, since we got those episodes on consecutive days in this so-called Best of 2009 season.In retrospect, you wonder if the hand was just an excuse to stick him back in Summer Bay, although as it turned out it was connected to the case he was investigating.Given what we now know, I'm kinda wondering how the hand of a man drowned in a sealed hold ended up severed from his body, floating around in the water and being chewed by a shark.Got a strange feeling we may never know...

[Slade]

Surprisingly enjoyed today’s episodes. I wasn’t even planning on watching them then I just happened to see Roman and decided to anyway. Didn’t realise at the time this was effectively the beginning of the end. This time around I found his behaviour at the dinner table quite amusing (although still felt slightly uncomfortable) and once again enjoyed the serve Kirsty gave him. I also took note of Charlie’s line when Aden went after Russell about violence not solving anything. She was obviously reciting something out of a textbook because I don’t recall her applying the same logic when she tortured Grant. Also another scene with Jai and Aden that I completely forgot about.

After all the stuff that’s happened with Martha/Hugo/John in particular the election campaign it was interesting seeing him and Alf on the same side. I could almost feel Charlie biting her tongue and thought she did really well to restrain herself. The second time around really enjoyed the stuff with Nicole and Trey which left me thinking it’s a shame things turned out how they did. Also enjoyed Charlie’s “What the hell are you doing here?” reaction at the end upon seeing Angelo.

[alreetlike]

Angelo looked loads younger in the first batch of episodes (Jack's funeral etc). He had a lot more hair too, and was like a little puppy compared to the nasty big dog he is now.

I've had a look through the other episodes which are to come, and removed them from my series link because I feel like I only watched them yesterday for the first time!

[Red Ranger 1]

Also another scene with Jai and Aden that I completely forgot about.

You know, that really didn't occur to me.I remembered those two scenes perfectly but the brain somehow didn't click that both Jai and Aden were there.

Awww, more Geoff and Claudia.Ahem.Interesting the way Angelo was portrayed in those episodes.He seemed a lot more stiff and formal at times than he does these days, but then I suppose that's a natural reaction when everyone around you hates you.In retrospect, it seems even more likely that when he went to see Tony he knew he was there to stay.He also seemed to care what people thought of him a lot more then, whereas nowadays he'll accuse Hugo of everything he can think of and not care who it upsets.After another six months or so of Hugo acting suspiciously, it's still hard to know what to make of his shark story.I guess we'll either find out he was lying or not.Ruby's attempts to support Xavier seemed a bit...variable, at least with regards effectiveness.(And it does seem a bit awkward having her throw words like "hypocritical" around.)One of the few occasions Georgie is actually addressed by her first name(during the scene with Charlie in the office).

Even in retrospect, hard to work out the rights and wrongs of Jai and Nicole's argument.Certainly Nicole and Trey's relationship didn't end well for either of them but on the other hand if Jai and a few others [including Nicole ironically] had given Trey more of a chance it might not have got that far.I got accused at the time of reading too much into Nicole's mildly ambiguous statement that she's not on the rebound from Geoff but I'd forgotten that, if she wasn't just trying to get a rise from Roman, Nicole basically says at the start that she'd rather be with Aden than Trey.Especially given the hints in the recent [uK] episodes, I'm wondering if she actually ended up with Trey on the rebound from Aden(and maybe she's been on the rebound from him ever since?).