2023 Season - UK Episode Discussion

[Red Ranger 1]

Justin continues to come across better than the Summer Bay coven think.Once again, when presented with evidence of inappropriate behaviour by Ava, he immediately accepts it and is concerned.Despite Theo's concerns, Justin knows what he's like and never thought he was the one at fault, and even apologised for not taking him seriously.It's hard to tell how much of Ava's behaviour is gameplaying and how much she actually believes: She looked annoyed to see Theo and Kirby getting on but then just charged in anyway.A shame that she happened to come past at the exact moment Theo and Kirby were having a heated discussion and read too much into it.So after all that harping on about how Theo had to move back in, Leah ends up moving out herself, which makes her look like a bit of a hypocrite, and her reason didn't really hold much weight.(The real reason appears to be "Because Ada's used up her episodes for this week", with Kirby similarly getting sent away from the storyline, which I feel isn't going to have the same impact without everyone there.)

So, Gabe doesn't even stick around to do the dying-on-the-beach-watching-the-sunset thing.I'm not sure if Mackenzie ever really grasped that there was no happy ending here, and I wonder if Gabe would have stuck around longer if she hadn't pressured him into having chemotherapy that didn't really achieve anything except making him ill sooner.(I suspect he'll now drop the chemo since he only really started it to make her happy.)

[pembie]

I’m not sure who are writing these stories at the moment Bree and Jacobs awful abuse story Dean leaving just as Mac is going to go through a hard time I say that unless Gabe comes back his going to die off screen even worse than Ari dying of cancer how can you get such things so badly wrong  it kind of makes the Gabe character pointless if he isn’t even there to finish the story off

Ava I think we need some background on Ava it’s  good having a psycho around but I’m not sure I believe that the character of Ava would lose it so much with reality Leah didn’t really make any sense You’re daughter is slightly mad as a box of frogs so I will leave you to deal with that 

Oh and blockbuster week looked boring 

[H&Alover]

Leah, you have redeemed yourself.  Once she saw the photos of Ava she grasped why Theo had moved out and stopped pressurising him to move back in. She bit the bullet and showed Justin and very wisely didn't say "I told you so" when it dawned on him how wrong he'd been about Ava.  She didn't blame him, he was doing that himself, but he was doing what any parent would do, supported him and decided to move out so he and Ava could have time to themselves.

Ava had, I think been rude, when she was in the Diner, Leah had mentioned something to Irene as well so knows something of what had been going down. 

But we and all concerned such as Roo, Leah and Justin saw it was atypical as it was shown girls can be bad, even more so sometimes worse than boys. 

Before I move onto her following behaviour I have a feeling she is quite a disturbed young lady and there is a lot more to the way she is acting and why.   Are there problems at home? There were those scenes with Justin and Ava on the beach, then her cooking the biscuits, she seemed genuinely happy and relaxed.   

 I was surprised she didn't have her ear glued to the bedroom door when Leah took Justin in there to talk, but no she went off to Kirby's to deliver the biscuits, after then eavesdropping just walked in, I know the rules, everyone leaves their doors unlocked, but hasn't she heard of knocking?  She was very insulting to Kirby, how she held her tongue and temper I don't know, Theo just stood there dumbstruck.  Finally Kirby could take no more ushered Ava out, saying Theo would follow, then let her have it with both barrels, Ava did come back reckoning Theo was only pretending to love Kirby but it was her he really loved.  Very wisely Kirby didn't touch her, as much as she must have so wanted to slap her, not wanting to be accused of assault, juts asked, well ordered, her to leave.   Theo then gets those photos and tells Kirby he'll have to go home and see Justin, Ava sees the row, thinking she's won, but didn't stay to see them make up.   Justin meanwhile is panicking as he can't raise Ava again.  Theo nervously  walks in expecting to get it full blast from Justin obviously thinking he'd think he'd taken them, but much to his relief Justin had been made aware if what had happened and as been said apologised for the way Ava had been acting and making feel he had to leave.   Cranks up a notch or six tonight. 

Good point there Foellfan, Ava doesn't realise the danger she could put herself in.  Look what happened to Bella and that was completely innocent.  That could explain what I read in one of the TV mags.

You could be right there about Bree too, she isn't in the right frame of mind at all to be thinking of becoming a mum.  I know Remi would stick with her and be there all the way whatever she decides.

OK I apologise Gabe, you are a genuine guy.    It would hit anyone hard seeing someone going through chemo, especially the first time.  I know as always, everyone is different and how they react to having it.   Mac may think she can handle it and it may be easier the next time and she'll get used to it, if that is the right phrase. He saw how she was taking it and I guess knew he couldn't put her through it again so decided to leave.  There were enough &  going off when he asked her to go the the Surf Club to get his gelato and his "I love you".   Of course she had to bump into Roo who had been there with Martha so could sympathise, then she gets home and sees THE NOTE.   It's possibly irrelevant now but she, like Gabe would have support going through it, surely NDH have family groups for them to turn to so she and he wouldn't be alone for the time ahead?

[Foellfan]

I'm glad Theo finally gave Ava the short, sharp shock she needed but let's just say I'm glad he doesn't have a pet rabbit.....

I could understand Mackenzie feeling overwhelmed and being afraid to admit it, sadly, some people will shame you for it because you're not the patient.

Slightly O/T but there was an autobiography of  the actress Rebekah Gibbs and she talks about the moment her husband admitted he was scared and exhausted from the battle and she always she realised then it wasn't just her battle but theirs. He added his own chapter and I thought of it watching those scenes. (Sadly Rebekah was ultimately one of the unlucky ones.)

Although cancer literally infects a person it's effects are like a virus that spreads through the loved ones too and, no matter how much you read and research, there really is nothing that can prepare you for the raw reality.  

[pembie]

Mac leaving town I guess that’s the end of Gabe then I don’t really see the point to the story seems pointless and rubbish Ic they aren’t going to do these stories properly why bother?

 

[Red Ranger 1]

Episode count this week:Marilyn only appeared in one. Despite there hardly being any regulars in Summer Bay at the moment, it was a pretty sparse week for just about everyone, with only Justin, Mackenzie and Theo managing three episodes.

Well, Justin and Theo tag-teaming Ava seemed to meet with only limited success.It is, perhaps, just about starting to sink in that Theo isn't interested in her, but she seems quick to try and reinterpret facts.Scattering biscuit crumbs all over someone's home, while not a nice thing to come home to, was more childish than anything else, but destroying Kirby's notebook was an extra level of nastiness, designed to really hurt her by going after something she cared about.I can understand Theo confronting her, and it's not like she listens to Justin, but he really should have thought it through.He gives her a deserved serve, then when she storms off in a huff, he goes after her to make sure she's all right? Might have been better to just leave her to it.(Theo's side of the phone conversation suggested Kirby had followed Eden and Remi down the coast, which would at least explain why she hadn't noticed her house being wrecked, but the promo suggests otherwise.)

I'm afraid I don't really feel much for Mackenzie.It still seems like she made the situation worse by not accepting Gabe was terminal and here she seemed more annoyed with him for leaving her than anything else.It's just dawned on me that Gabe is another Mia: Introduced as the great lost love of a character who's never mentioned them, with us given no real reason to invest in either the character or the relationship. Anyway, the upshot is Mackenzie becomes yet another character leaving Summer Bay.(Is there anyone left?)At least it gives Mali somewhere better to stay than a caravan, even if it's not exactly convenient for work!

 

[atrus]

Thursday - Ava seems to have levelled up on the stalkiness spectrum since her previous appearance, moving from the realm of merely obsessive to actively delusional, as she turns up with biscuits at Kirby's place as if nothing has happened and expects to just be able to hang out there. On the plus side, she did interrupt Kirby and Theo's song; but I'm starting to wonder if some kind of diagnosis is going to be involved here, as it's getting harder to explain away her actions; being hit by an all-enveloping crush is one thing, but believing it's reciprocated - at least, that's what I took from her spat with Kirby - is quite another. A bit random that Leah is moving herself out, at just the moment when you'd think she'd want to be there to (offer support/stick her bib in - delete as applicable depending on your views of Leah). I tend to agree this is likely an episode quotas thing, because I'd put the chances of seeing her hanging out at Summer Bay House right now at roughly zero.

Friday - I'm not sure that 'laughing out loud and clapping with glee' is the reaction that the writers were going for from the scene where Ava was crushing biscuits into Kirby's keyboard, but there it was. (Sorry, Lyrik doesn't bring out my best side. ) But seriously, the level of malice here suggests that this girl needs some help. I can understand Theo losing his cool with her in the moment because she clearly isn't taking any outside perspectives on board, and all more tactful attempts to help the scales fall from her eyes have fallen by the wayside - though I do think there were gentler ways of delivering the message, nonetheless. But ultimately I think it's time that some kind of professional help was sought - and no, I don't just mean Roo. That's if they can rescue Ava from Possibly Evil Hitchhikee (is that a word?)

So, what, that's just the end of the Gabe story, then? What a monumental waste of time all that was, aside from proving that Emily Weir can act, which we already knew. And Mackenzie isn't even sticking around herself for us to see the consequences before jetting off 'up the coast'? Is the show strapped for cash right now or something, because it feels like everyone can't rush off-screen quick enough at the moment? It all feels very precarious and directionless right now.

[H&Alover]

Everyone is assuming and I'm not a fan of that word that Gabe won't be back - why?  

I agree foellfan, the person going through cancer treatment, be it chemo or radiotherapy, know what is happening to them, it's the relatives and friends who have to sit there watching them in pain and not being able to do anything about it.  That is why Gabe left to spare Mac, he knew what he went though before, even though she got angry saying it was her choice to be with him through it all. 

She's gone to stay with the lesser heard mum.  

Leah left so Justin could be alone with Ava to work things out on a one to one, father/daughter basis. There has to be a lot more going on in her life for her to get so fixated on Theo, though it could have been anyone, it just happened to be her dad's  partner's nephew.  We don't know how involved she is with her mum and step dad, has she many friends a lot of things come into play.  We have flashes of a 'good' Ava. Annabel Wolfe is playing her very well btw. 

Well the Ava storyline escalated at a pace alright.   Her declaration that she and Theo love each other was out of the blue, Theo has never given her any indication or 'mixed' signals that he feels anything like that.  Didn't Justin suggest to Ava she needed help as in professional which went down like a lead balloon?   May not, in introspect  been the best idea for Theo to slap her down, metaphorically, about the way he doesn't feel the same way about her that she does seeing the way she ran off, but he and Justin weren't getting anywhere with  being diplomatic for want of  a better word.  Her getting into a stranger's car/van does have repercussions, but if you saw a young man chasing a younger girl and she looked afraid of him what would you do? Nearly right about what I read.   

OK Kirby went to see Eden & Remi which explained why she wasn't there when Ava sneaked in, wasn't it at night, so where was Theo?  Unlawful entry and vandalism are two charges that could be levelled against her and how did she get in, key under the mat/flowerpot?  

[Red Ranger 1]

On 14/05/2023 at 14:05, H&Alover said:

OK Kirby went to see Eden & Remi which explained why she wasn't there when Ava sneaked in, wasn't it at night, so where was Theo? 

We saw that Theo stayed the night at Justin's.

Of course, that's about the only thing that does make sense, since Kirby is suddenly still in town, didn't go and see Eden and Remi after all (maybe we can be generous and say she was going to Zoom call them or something?), and stayed the night on Rose's sofa because of Ava trashing her house, which, um, happened the previous night and wasn't discovered until that morning? Oh, and Leah, said earlier that same day (in the previous episode) to be having a lie-in and due in work later, is now suddenly in the city with Roo? Do people actually read each other's scripts on this show?

After being pretty reasonable the last few episodes, Justin is suddenly blaming Theo for Ava's bad behaviour and not caring about what she's done.I know he's worried, as any parent would be in that situation, so maybe he deserves a bit of leeway, but he spent most of the episode being rude to just about everyone.Rose was a bit casual but, fair play to her, she did everything she could in getting people to keep an eye out for Ava.As it turns out, Random Bloke (named Conor in the credits) is just gullible and ends up on the receiving end of Justin's frustrations and Ava's manipulations.What was with the ominous music when he put something in the bin? What were we meant to think it was? Bloodied clothes? Body parts? (And what was it anyway, the remains of his lunch?)

So, it turns out John didn't even know Dean had gone.I found Irene a bit annoying here: John's text was rather abrupt but why didn't she tell him Dean and Ziggy had gone? She's not usually one to stay quiet, yet instead of actually addressing the point, she just makes barbed comments about Jai being more important than John. Marilyn was even more annoying:Given the way she talks about John, I do wonder how they ever got married.I can understand John being upset, but Dean and Ziggy's farewell note was very in-character for them and I'm not sure what more he expected.It certainly isn't fair for him to take it out on Mali.Friends come and go, that's life.Especially on this show!

[atrus]

Annoying misdirect with the Possibly Evil Hitchhikee being made out to be as sketchy and murderous as possible before the first ad break, then totally fine and normal after that. Was the show trying to teach us a lesson about the dangers of assuming the worst of people, or was it just a way of maintaining our attention? (Which, in fairness, it did in my case.) Either way, I thought this entire pudding was a bit over-egged really, with Justin immediately assuming Ava was with some kind of psychopath - whereas I'm sure 99% of hitchhikes don't end in bloodshed, particularly ones that have only happened because the driver thought the hitchhiker was already in possible peril from a third party. However Ava's later message clearly didn't help matters, and in that context I think Justin's actions were more understandable. He should probably have left it to the police and/or just focused on getting Ava away from the situation rather than throwing his fists about, but I can also see why he went in guns blazing in the heat of the moment.

I felt sorry for John being so affected by Dean's departure (especially because you can bet Dean isn't in Queensland pining for John in the same way), but he had no right being an idiot to Mali as a result.