The 2010 Comebacks

[Skylover]

I was just watching the Walkers Return episode which aired today in the UK, and it made me think: I really truly believe that until the Walkers returned Home and Away was on a serious downward spiral. Since the first episode of 2010, things haven't seemed as interesting as previous years, and then Marilyn returns and there's light at the end of the tunnel. I feel that the majority of the permanent cast are seriously dislikeable, and when Marilyn returned despite feeling things were improving, because she had such litle screentime I still felt down-heartened. Does anyone else agree with me that the Walker family returning is another step which is going to bring Home and Away back to the top of its game? I feel like the Bay has been missing a proper family, and I know they're not a nuclear faily but their family interaction is something that has been missing and as far as I'm concerned will be welcome back to the Bay with open arms.

Well done PTB for bringing back two legends: Marilyn and the Walker family! :clap:

[Miranda]

Do you know Edward Skylover, I think I agree. I spent a lot of today's episode laughing at the Walkers' antics, either them or Marilyn's.

The new Dex seems much better, the old one was just... there. He didn't have any presence, whereas this one does.

I don't think the rest of the cast are dislikeable, just rather boring.

[Foxy]

They've bought fresh energy to the show, but it hasn't been all bad since the season return. In fact, some of the earlier weeks in the season, namely the race riots and resulting fallout, was incredibly strong material. I think it wasn't to everyone's taste because it was a change of pace from all the melodramatic high-jinx on the seas from the year before but in my view it was still strong stuff.

I can definitely see where you're coming from though - the last few weeks have been a bit stale, so it's nice to have some new people to enjoy, and hopefully things will pick up!

And whilst I would call Marilyn a legend, I wouldn't extend that label to the Walkers just yet - we've only spent a few weeks in their company, last year!

[Miranda]

Yes, I find Ruby, Xavier, Romeo boring as the teen group, although likeable characters there doesn't seem to be any spark about them. Even Leah and Elijah are fairly boring now, the writers should have made their relationship move much slower with them gradually noticing each other and humming and hahing in a more realistic way. They seem to have just seen each other and bam, that was it

I like the Walkers' potential to cause trouble and upset the applecart. What did Sid mean today when he said he'd changed?

[alreetlike]

Definitely agree the show has been lacking a proper family unit. I really liked the show around when the Sutherlands were in it - not necessarily because I loved the characters, but because it was good to have storylines that revolved around the family rather than random people living with other random people. I know there have always been waifs & strays taken in by others and this is a big part of the show but it's gone too far in the last few years, in my opinion. So I'm pleased to see the Walkers back - but I hope they won't do anything stupid like have Indi or Dex go off to live with someone else in the Bay.

[cadyctslover]

I was just watching the Walkers Return episode which aired today in the UK, and it made me think: I really truly believe that until the Walkers returned Home and Away was on a serious downward spiral. Since the first episode of 2010, things haven't seemed as interesting as previous years, and then Marilyn returns and there's light at the end of the tunnel. I feel that the majority of the permanent cast are seriously dislikeable, and when Marilyn returned despite feeling things were improving, because she had such litle screentime I still felt down-heartened. Does anyone else agree with me that the Walker family returning is another step which is going to bring Home and Away back to the top of its game? I feel like the Bay has been missing a proper family, and I know they're not a nuclear faily but their family interaction is something that has been missing and as far as I'm concerned will be welcome back to the Bay with open arms.

Well done PTB for bringing back two legends: Marilyn and the Walker family! :clap:

totally agree, i thought they were great characters when they arrived last year and was surprised to see them leave so soon. i'm sure it was never the plan to have them come back, but the fans have spoken , and they (the majority of them) are back by popular demand.

i really lost faith between Justin's arrival/Aden's messy exit and about two weeks ago at UK pace. but now it feels as though there is a new energy and enthusiasm to the episodes, perhaps because they genuinely saw 2010 as a re-birth, and the past month or so of eps were the first to be produced this year?

[Red Ranger 1]

Don't know if it's as simple as pre-Walkers bad, post-Walkers good.There's been some good and bad stuff this year.Things didn't get off to a good start with the race riot, a poorly conceived and overly dramatic excuse to redecorate the Diner, which for all the talk of "things will never be the same again" has now been completely forgotten about along with the refugees they were meant to be helping.(Unless Penn really is connected to all that?)Things picked up after that:the storylines with Mink and Rabbit were good, even if they did prove the adage that guest characters are often more interesting than the regulars.Geoff's departure may not have been perfect but it was better than most of the ones last year and all of the subsequent ones this year.

There seems to have been more of a focus on the characters which is paying off well.After a year when the writers seemed determined to drag him and Kirsty through the dirt as much as possible, Miles has rediscovered his 2008 spark and thankfully the attempts to portray him as crazy didn't affect it.Leah got a fun few months although the romance with Elijah hasn't really caught on, being typically rushed:In love about a week after meeting, sleeping together after about two weeks of dating and engaged about two weeks after that.Alf seems to have been shifted to the forefront a bit, being more of an elder statesman to the town and having a nice grandfatherly relationship with Nicole.In fact, after a period when they just seemed to be a bunch of people living together, there does seem to be more of an effort to make the caravan park crowd seem like a family, with Miles as the father, Alf as the grandfather and Romeo and Nicole as the two children.Goodness only knows how Marilyn fits in, a kind of mad cousin, I guess.Despite it not being popular in some quarters, I'm glad they've persevered with John and Gina's relationship, it's nice to see the old characters get a storyline that's not like the typical adult stuff.

A few others have fared less well.With no-one to care for apart from Ruby, Irene's barely left the Diner in months(although her involvement in the Jill storyline suggests someone's learnt a few lessons about how her alcoholism should be handled).Colleen's crossed the line from nuisance to nasty a few too many times.Charlie and Angelo's relationship seemed to be on the verge of collapsing under its own neuroses and hopefully will be allowed to settle down now.Taking Angelo out of the police station may well be a good move, since they do seem to have given some thought as to what to do with him.Marilyn's return wasn't handled very well at first, she seemed to spend her first few weeks taking over the house while Miles was made to look the bad guy for objecting to a crazy woman throwing his stuff out, but things began to improve around the time of the fake engagement when they actually added some proper banter between her and Alf rather than cloying mutual appreciation.Annie's return did her no favours and she'd have been better off staying in Japan, Hugo's return was even worse and typically sidestepped the issues raised by giving us a three-episode bad guy to topple as though that solved everything.Justin's stint worked well for about a week but ended with Aden committing yet another crime without consequence and Justin breaking up him and Nicole because he thought she was in the way.We had to wait two years for those two to be a couple, it should have been handled a lot better.I have to say as well that, especially recently, the balance between plot and character has occasionally slid too far towards the latter, I find myself sitting there at the end of an episode thinking that I enjoyed it but I'm not entirely sure if anything happened.

As for the current teen group...putting Ruby and Xavier back together when they can both be a bit irritating was a mistake and hopefully they'll be better off apart, Xavier's improving already.Romeo seems to have been miserable for about six months ago, as though everyone's forgotten he used to be fun.Nicole was great for the first four or five months of the year, having grown into a mature and caring character, but having her go back to sleeping with some guy she barely knows just because she's feeling lonely is threatening to undo all the hard work.Hopefully bringing in April, Indigo and Dexter will help and they won't end up going the same way.

Ah yes, the Walkers.The new Dexter is a lot more fun than the old one but they possibly need to put the pedal on the humour a bit and let it arise naturally from the character rather than being forced it. I'd quite like to see Indigo interact with a few more characters but the pairing of her and Romeo, something that was badly missing from her previous stint, is working well.Sid is basically the same character, not that there's anything wrong with that, but it almost feels like his history's been changed, having characters, notably Miles, apparently forget what really happened with Nicole and blame him and inventing a back story about a nurse to create tension at the hospital.They are working well together as a family so far and they could definitely be a good addition to the show.

[-Kevin-]

after a period when they just seemed to be a bunch of people living together, there does seem to be more of an effort to make the caravan park crowd seem like a family, with Miles as the father, Alf as the grandfather and Romeo and Nicole as the two children.Goodness only knows how Marilyn fits in, a kind of mad cousin, I guess.

Can I just say that is absolutely hilarious!! Gave me a good laugh!

[Miranda]

An excellent summary, Red Ranger!

[alreetlike]

Alf seems to have been shifted to the forefront a bit, being more of an elder statesman to the town and having a nice grandfatherly relationship with Nicole.In fact, after a period when they just seemed to be a bunch of people living together, there does seem to be more of an effort to make the caravan park crowd seem like a family, with Miles as the father, Alf as the grandfather and Romeo and Nicole as the two children.Goodness only knows how Marilyn fits in, a kind of mad cousin, I guess.

Agree completely with this, it had been bugging me for ages how it just seemed to be a dumping ground for various unconnected characters. Really liking the interaction in the house of late, especially between Nicole & Romeo. Hope they keep them as friends/adopted siblings rather than getting them into a relationship.