2023 Season - UK Episode Discussion

[Red Ranger 1]

At this point I have to ask "What the hell is Theo playing at?" The episode starts with him blowing Kirby off in order to follow Ava about, instead of sending Ava home on her own and saying he'll join her once Kirby's back at work.He then interferes with Justin's attempt to discipline her, when he should have stayed out of it.And finally, Ava is rude to Kirby, and instead of sticking up for Kirby, Theo just carries on involving Ava in what he's doing, which is pretty bad boyfriend behaviour.Is he really naive enough to think he's just the "cool older cousin"? I get the impression he's being influenced by his own experience with his father and that's causing him to empathise with Ava more than he should when she and Justin clash, but he surely knows that Justin isn't his dad.

There are only so many times Felicity can be awful to people and then look upset before it starts to get wearing, so I'm glad she was honest with Cash and Eden.I guess it remains to be seen whether this is the end of her drinking but she does seem to be heading in the right direction at least.

Not much to say about Xander, Rose and Mali in storyline terms but the banter between them was quite light and entertaining.

[H&Alover]

I think Theo is acting the 'cool, older cousin', though of course he is no actual relation and he does look on Justin as a dad.  Justin did jump to conclusions about Ava not having finished her assignment which he has before now with Theo. Btw confirmation of Ava's 'new' age - 16. Maybe he took her home as he felt he should take responsibility for her.    Wouldn't have killed Ava just to send a text back to Justin even only to stop him hassling her.  Ava was rude to Kirby which he should have pulled her up on.   Methinks Kirby has twigged that Ava has a serious crush on Theo, due to her mentioning how crushes from fans can turn into something more serious, but of course she doesn't yet know how serious Ava's 'crush' is yet.  

Of course Cash had to be a big, surly cop, Flick turned round from what I'm guessing was a random spot check so police could check if the folk they stopped had been drinking, their  insurance details/licence/faults on their car etc. He would have done that if anyone else had done it and the van was hardly inconspicuous. Flick just panicked her breath would have be able to be smelt but  Eden would have smelt it if not in the house but certainly in the van. It was total madness on her part and just got her into more trouble.  May have just been me or did she not actually breathe into the breath test gizmo or don't they have to do that nowadays?  It may have been just over the limit but the way she was driving and putting Eden through another ordeal was not on.  

Nice chat with Cash and Eden with seemingly no awkwardness and  no mention of their recent bother, just discussing how to handle Flick.   As Eden said to Felicity she was OK about the accident as she didn't remember anything about it but Felicity was awake all the way though it. OK Flick saying she'll get help but will she and who is going to be there to see she does.  Oh btw - again - Felicity had locked the van door but left the windows open.    Not saying the other van occupants  are a thieving mob but even so. 

Needed some light relief from that which the scenes with Xander, Rose and Mali gave us, nice easy banter between them all.  He wasn't really going to take her out on a board was he considering she'd never been out on one before.   

[Red Ranger 1]

Alf's episode count this week:Two, then he left town.Only Irene, Marilyn, Justin and Dean managed three.

Well, after being a bit blinky-bonkers last episode, Theo behaved pretty sensibly here, turning down flat Ava's attempts to go to an over-18s club and order alcohol, encouraging her to spend time with Justin and trying to send her home when she turned up at Salt in a not-exactly-age-appropriate dress.It's a shame that his and Kirby's evening has been ruined.I was saying to myself "Don't let her get away again, don't let her get away again"...I know hindsight's a wonderful thing, but given that she'd already done a runner once, maybe Theo should have kept an eye on the bathroom to see if she came out instead of being upstairs in Salt?

Things progress between Rose and Mali after her attempt at "surfing".Rose was very quick to think the worst of him, which Mali could have avoided if he'd just been honest about the messages in the first place, but they seem to have sorted it out by episode's end so...that's all right? It's a shame they didn't answer Bree's invitation, but the potentially awkward menage a trois actually went quite well.Bree and Remi are definitely taking things slow though:He doesn't even get a handshake now!

[atrus]

Looks like penny's finally starting to drop with Theo and he's drawing back a bit, happily, which likely means his behaviour so far has just been based on naivety rather than anything else. Promo suggests things are stepping up a gear on Monday.

Not much to add on Rose and Mali, they seem a nice enough couple.

[H&Alover]

Theo was acting the grown up so good for him.  Oops though Ava overheard him saying she was 'just a kid' maybe 'pushing' her in to turn up at SALT to scupper his and Kirby's date. To be fair it was down to Kirby to make sure Ava hadn't done a runner, it would have been a tad odd if he'd been hanging around outside the ladies loos. Do they still have upstairs ones as well as downstairs ones?  Seems she's not at home either.  Sone TV mags are 'saying' she's escaped but from where and whom? 

OK not as if many of us can say in all honestly we haven't dabbled in under age drinking but she was pushing it, he was, if you like, a stand-in for Justin so NOT a good idea to even hint at it.  Maybe we shouldn't, in these 'enlightened' times, dictate what a young woman/girl wears  in case she's judged and it's assumed by some she's a certain 'type', but Ava is Justin's 16 year old daughter so of course he freaked out, it's a dad thing.  It wasn't his fault he wasn't there for a lot of her life, he had no choice. 

Things seem to have moved on from what we saw and Kirby knows.

Phew - Mali didn't take Rose out on the board.   He did enjoy winding her up when she wanted to give up by saying what would Xander say by her giving up after a few attempts.    Knowing how she felt about secrets maybe he should have been honest about who it was, but maybe he felt embarrassed about the fact it was his sister checking up on him.

Bree, then may be a great doctor/surgeon, but is rubbish at cooking.  The party did go  well  and yes I agree Remi did back off as  Bree  asked but I bet she didn't think he'd take it that far by just leaving.  She did drop a few hints as to how her meeting with the counsellor went, it seemed it was one of those group meetings and she didn't say much as she felt she hadn't been in such a  bad place as others.  But just because Jacob wasn't a violent thug, though he did hit her, to her it wouldn't have been so bad as others she heard about. 

[Dan F]

Perfect example of the Morgan House 'Room of Requirement' in today's ep....

Two weeks ago that door opened into the room Ava is staying in. Today it opens into a random corridor that leads to Theo's room. Keep an eye out, and in another couple of weeks it will revert to its previous state...

 

[Red Ranger 1]

Yes, I was wondering about that! The Morgan house has always seemed to have more bedrooms than doors, so I was thinking "Okay, if there is a corridor down there, then that would at least explain where the extra rooms are, but have we ever seen a bedroom behind that door or not?"

Anyway...I know hindsight's a wonderful thing again, but maybe someone should have considered looking for Ava at home? Leah seemed to take quite a while to grasp the situation as well, although she seemed to have a better handle on things than Justin in the end...not that Justin seemed to listen and we didn't even get to hear about her trip and how VJ and Luc are! Ava, whilst still not coming across as particularly dangerous, does nevertheless seem a bit unhinged.(Really, sniffing Theo's shirt?)At least Kirby had the sense to look into it.

Rose didn't take much encouragement to stay with Mali, so that's okay, I guess.Of course, it meant she was in the firing line when big sister Elandra turned up.I can't quite tell if Elandra was being offensive towards Rose or not...

[Dan F]

54 minutes ago, Red Ranger 1 said:

Yes, I was wondering about that! The Morgan house has always seemed to have more bedrooms than doors, so I was thinking "Okay, if there is a corridor down there, then that would at least explain where the extra rooms are, but have we ever seen a bedroom behind that door or not?"

Not properly that I recall in recent times, but Justin was talking to Ava at that same door a couple of weeks ago after knocking on it. So unless Ava is sleeping in the corridor, and Theo is stepping over her everytime he goes to his room...

[H&Alover]

We're not suddenly going to have a door that opens into Narnia are we? 

Anyways, it still didn't explain some TV mags saying  Ava 'escaped' when all she did was, it seemed, was get out of The Surf Clubs  downstairs loo window.  Glad Justin didn't blame either Kirby or Theo for not keeping more of a close eye on her.  I must admit I was surprised she went back 'home' as I would have thought she'd be hanging around somewhere and enjoying  the fact they would be worrying about her.   OK Justin took her phone off her and it was left on the dining table - wasn't it, so why didn't she ring Justin to put his mind at rest - oh yeah - it had run out of charge - believe that if you will - if that was the case don't the Morgan's have a land line?  Rewind my previous thought about her going home. The fact no-one was home gave her the perfect opportunity to sneak into Theo's room and do just what she liked, pretending she was his girlfriend, wearing his shirt, posing on his bed,  ditching his and Kirby's photo in the bin. 

To be fair to Leah she wouldn't have had a clue what had been going on that night. Just as well Justin decided to take Leah's call so he could stand the posse down.  Everyone was tired, Justin and Theo were stressed so maybe it was best to leave it until  the next day. Going back to Ava and not that I'm condoning violence but she seriously needs a slap.   She is so dismissive of people and rude, dissing Leah saying it wasn't 'her home'  er me it is isn't it?  Justin doesn't want to be seen as a 'hard' dad, but he is doing her no favours by letting her walk over him.    Ava's attitude towards Kirby at the Coffee Cart table was also out of order.  I'm guessing she didn't retaliate because of who Ava is, Theo's surrogate cousin and then Ava getting really antsy when Kirby just handed her backpack as anyone would do just being helpful. 

Now did we all miss a scene that prompted Kirby delving into Ava's backpack and finding that album so revealing what we already knew.  That won't be easy to explain, Ava will flip,  as it was an invasion of privacy, not as if the bag fell over and the contents fell out,  the album  was zipped up in that sleeve. 

Oh I did feel for Mali, being caught out by his big sister - well one of them -  with his girlfriend. He must have felt so embarrassed being treated like  a naughty little boy.  I can imagine the thought going through Elandra's mind when told by Rose she'd heard all  about her "You've heard all about me, but I've heard nothing about you".   Rose did have the sense to take herself off so Elandra and Mali could talk.   Though if Elandra had shut up for about five seconds Mali may have had the chance to tell her why he's made the decision he has. Methinks it's because that although he loves his family and likes being around them,  being in the bay means he has time for him.   How old is  he supposed to be - early 20's? 

[Red Ranger 1]

Well, for the most part, the issue of Ava's stalking was handled well, with everyone being told one by one (first Theo, then Leah, then Justin) and all of them accepting the situation.At least until Justin finally talks to Ava and immediately accepted her "I got over it when I met him" excuse. Sorry? It's been obvious to everyone apart from Justin that Ava had a crush on Theo since the moment she laid eyes on him, so it clearly didn't go the way she said.If I was Justin, I'd keep checking that bin to make sure she hasn't retrieved the book.(In fact, I was fully expecting the episode to cut to her retrieving it after Justin telling the Diner ladies it's all sorted.)That said, I do agree with Justin and Theo that finding out the "stalker" is only Ava removes the sense of danger somewhat.

I'm not quite sure what Rose did to impress Elandra but she seems to be on side with Mali's move, although the rest of the family may take longer. Mackenzie gives away free food again, blatantly this time: I'm not sure if it was Mackenzie or the writers who should have thought harder before telling Felicity not to do that anymore, but it's making her seem like a hypocrite either way. Of course, she soon has bigger things to worry about with Gabe's news. I do feel some sympathy for him, it's a horrid thing to have to cope with.I guess in the end getting tested didn't achieve anything except letting him know what's to come.