2025 Season - UK Episode Discussion

[Red Ranger 1]

I wonder if Cash and Eden have realised that their original wedding date would have coincided with the season finale and decided to move it back so there's less chance of anyone being kidnapped or crashing a car on the way there. Even though they left things in a better place than they could have done, I was surprised to hear that Eden's not only stayed in touch with her father but invited him to the wedding. And I'm not entirely sure of the wisdom of that, given that chatting on the phone and texting is one thing but Eden did seem to find being in the same room as him triggering, so see how that works out. Abigail being the matron of honour from hell to Eden was amusing and rather scary, and a nice callback to when Eden was on the other side and desperately trying to find a wedding dress that Felicity would like.

John pulling out of being celebrant is a shame. I can see his reasoning, such as it is, but it feels like an emotional gut response.I don't think Irene actually thought he was Jett, she just got the names confused. And while I can understand his desperation, if Irene is going to forget him, I'm not sure spending all his time hanging around her is going to stop it. So I hope he changes his mind, because it would mean a lot to them and it would mean a lot to him. Bad timing for Irene to walk in on Leah and Justin messing around, the fact she wasn't angry, just upset makes it worse.

They seem to be positioning Sonny as a kind of lovable bum, which works to an extent, but even little things like him handing Leah the money for coffee last episode had me thinking "Where did that come from? Does he have a money tree?" Is the idea he does odd jobs to make what little money he needs? I like that someone finally used the phrase "found family" which does seem to be what the fostering angle and the whole show has evolved into, the idea that the people around you that care about you become your family.

Spoiler

Yes, that's Bobby and Greg in the spoiler tagged video above, from Lynne's first scene. Some of the clips were a bit brief and a bit obscure but there was a couple of Ken and one of Angelo.

 

[c120701]

On 02/09/2025 at 15:38, Dan F said:

I was secretly hoping that, since Alf hasn't managed to bring up the fact that he himself was a foster parent (briefly), he might have suggested Roo reach out to Pippa at a point where she could have done with some advice about Eliza or Cohen. Or even when she was first considering becoming a foster parent.

Just a passing comment that she'd spoken to her would have been a nice reference to the past, which I'm sure wouldn't have caused the universe to implode.

Anyway, today's ep was the moment we were talking about a couple of weeks ago, Irene's signing over the diner being a very significant scene both off-screen and on-screen:

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It’s also the first time since 2001 that the Diner has been in sole ownership, I did think briefly that it was the first time in it’s history, but there was that spell between Ailsa’s death and Theo Snr buying Leah’s share.

On 02/09/2025 at 20:03, Red Ranger 1 said:

We got another nice flashback montage for Irene: Mostly post-2004 clips (or whenever they moved to widescreen), although they managed to sneak Selina in there. At some point I'm going to have to go back and look at that latest nostalgic photo shelf: Shane and Angel's wedding photo front and centre, and a familiar Kane and Kirsty photo off to one side. I wondered why they included that phone conversation with Jett, but I guess it was to set up Irene getting him and John confused. Irene still manages to be straight talking with Dana though, and a nice moment between her and Sonny at the end after Justin explains her history.

Shane & Angel’s Wedding was an odd one to be in there, but then Irene & Angel were quite close when they worked at the Diner together.

I always find it a little odd that there are none of her kids, but I assume that’s to not draw attention to there being none of her kids as they are today. Maybe they’re in her bedroom. 

I loved the clips of Irene’s various wards. 
 

I wonder when Alf will ever get a scene with Irene. Does Ray batch scenes in advance or something? You’d be forgiven for thinking that he and Lynne don’t get on.

[Red Ranger 1]

41 minutes ago, c120701 said:

Shane & Angel’s Wedding was an odd one to be in there, but then Irene & Angel were quite close when they worked at the Diner together.

I did ponder the fact that Damian was best man, but if that was the connection she'd probably have one of the whole wedding party up.

[H&Alover]

I personally thought six months was a long time to plan a Wedding, how long does it take to get everything together?   They have happened in a few weeks before now. I know there are processes they have to go through in Aus that we don't have to go through in the UK but still six months? 

Hardly any soap Wedding goes without a hitch of some kind.  I  thought of Eden being Flick's Maid of Honour as she was just like Abigail is at the moment - truly sisters in that regard.    That came out of nowhere that Eden and Jimmy have been  keeping in touch, we still have three months to go so she's likely thinking things will be stable enough by then. 

Is John thinking that Irene won't last longer than three months  in her currant condition which is why he's told Eden and Cash he can't be their celebrant?  He didn't say why so that means her news isn't public knowledge because if Cash did know he would understand as he had been a lodger at Irene's and he thinks a lot of her.  Irene, of course, was not a happy bunny when she found out so he had to tell her she'd called him Jett which she denied.  

It was lovely seeing that talk between John and Dana sharing their concern about Irene and her forgetting names and should they mention it when it happens.  Has Irene been to any talks/courses about dementia/Alzheimer's with others who are going through it?    Of course Dana got a  real  surprise when she got home to find Irene and Sonny having a dance, she's got some good moves.   I wondered how he managed to pay for that coffee and it seemed he did pay for that hotel.  Anyways Irene likes him. 

 That was strange Alf  talking to Leah about being sole owner being  sure she'd manage, no mention he'd been to see her/talked to Irene.   

How much of  a drastic change is Justin thinking of to the Diner, must admit it has looked like  it is for a while now, but you get used to it.   I know Maz doesn't have an invested interest but she works there so her input would be good. 

Looks like there is a big bump in the road to Remi and Bree getting back together going by the promo.  To be fair it did look like he had only just found out about him being mentioned on Avalon's album.   

[Red Ranger 1]

I did feel sorry for Remi, being blasted by Bree over something he'd literally just found out about. Still, he lost a lot of sympathy by going round to corner Mack like that. I'm not sure Levi needed to go as far as he did in response but he needed telling. I'm actually glad that Kirby kept her side of the bargain and publicised Avalon's release. I don't know if the idea is that she couldn't finish the album as planned but she's managed to get one single done? Anyway, it's sent Bree spiralling again.

Eden and Abigail get included in the very small loop aware of Mackenzie's IVF. How serious is Mackenzie about not wanting to go through this again? I'm glad Eden finally put her foot down and told Abby to stop pushing her to make a decision about the dress.

It was inevitable that Leah would have a go at Justin about Irene being upset but they had a nice chat.As Leah pointed out, getting people's names wrong isn't confined to those with Alzheimer's by any means, but I get why Irene thinks it's different for her. The blackly comic part of me wonders what happens if Irene can't remember she's written everyone's names on the back of the photos...

Edited yesterday at 19:35 by Red Ranger 1

[Dan F]

On 03/09/2025 at 19:55, Red Ranger 1 said:

I wonder if Cash and Eden have realised that their original wedding date would have coincided with the season finale and decided to move it back so there's less chance of anyone being kidnapped or crashing a car on the way there.

Cash & Eden:
If we bring it forward several weeks, we'll be perfectly safe and clear of an Australian finale date!

Channel 5:
Hold my beer...

[H&Alover]

I did too and Remi and Bree had started off the day so well.  Someone who actually doesn't have their phone on all the time!   He had only just heard via Justin, but Bree found out through Kirby so must have thought he was keeping things from her.  I thought it was the album Justin mentioned, did that mean Avalon found someone else to finish it for her?  Then the next bombshell - Avalon expecting him to perform with her at her gig at Salt.  No way would that work - I'd leave town if I was him to avoid her.  To be fair to Remi he doesn't  know about Mac's IVF treatment, but he could have cottoned on a lot quicker seeing how bad she was looking and then throwing up that she was sick. 

Btw who was running Salt, Mac is off sick, Eden looking a Wedding dress pics and Abby was with her.

Levi tried to talk Bree down from her ranting over Remi, but then got called away to attend to Mac. 

I'm certainly no medical expert but I guess every woman reacts differently to IVF treatment, especially the first one.  I suppose TPTB and Emily Weir did their research into how it can affect women.  No disrespect to Levi and he is a doctor but he's not a  woman so in no way could he understand what Mac is going through, but then you could also say that about another woman who hasn't been there.   It is good that Abigail and Eden know about it  so can support Mac and it did bring some humour into it when they ordered Levi out.  Looking at the various pics of Wedding dresses took her mind of her  sickness for a while. There were quite touching scenes with Leah and Irene, Justin didn't  mean anything bad about revamping the Diner but maybe  a tad too soon as Irene said down the line she would have forgotten what it looked like before.     It was a lovely  photo of Irene and Leah that Maz took but Maz has been there for  a good long while  so why couldn't she have her photo taken with Irene  too.   I know what you mean about the names on the  back of the photos, she'll be thinking who's Selina -  for example.   

Have we seen Don in any of the old pics, I know he wasn't particularly close but they did work together and became  friends.  

Seems, from the promo Roo's plans have been stalled due to this guy who 'says' he's Cohen's dad.    Yes or course David would have to inform the authorities as in the adoption people.  

[Red Ranger 1]

Alf's episode count this week:Three. A fairly quiet week mostly, with only Irene, Leah, Marilyn and Justin also managing three.

They finally addressed the issue of why Cohen hasn't been at school then, at least partly. And it seems he's the right age for Summer Bay High, so at least 11? Having teased us like this, I hope he actually does start there instead of getting pulled out like Eliza did. As I've said before, they can have school age characters without actually needing to show them in school. Anyway, the end of the episode shows one way they might put a stop to it. It's kind of frustrating because up until then Roo had done a good job of telling something wasn't quite right with Cohen (Alf was utterly clueless) and handled it fairly well. I hope she doesn't go blaming Cash, who might have chosen his words more carefully but obviously didn't intend for Cohen to do this. But then that ending demonstrates how Roo jumped the gun and, instead of giving Cohen a home for as long as he needs it, convinced herself that he should be there permanently, even though there were avenues still to explore. I mean, she would have been with Frank when Tom and Pippa adopted Sally, so she probably knew about that, but they waited a lot longer (even if it did kind of go the same way near the end).

Remi actually handled things reasonably well with Bree, and gave Mackenzie an apology that was necessary on two counts. Bree acting as though play the song would solve something showed a lack of understanding though. It doesn't matter how good the song is or how much work he did on it, Remi's going to be reminded of what it led him to do. So Bree's next mission is to try and reignite his love of music. Given that she's not in the episode, I'm not entirely sure whether Eden's agreed to this? We did get a reference to an album today so I guess Avalon managed to pull enough together for that.

Levi and Mackenzie are mostly wandering around and occasionally intersecting with other people's storylines, but we get a bit more information about where they are on their IVF journey, even though a lot of it went over my head!

[atrus]

Has it been three days? It's been three days.

Heartbreaking scenes with Irene and Leah. Definitely think it would have been prudent to leave off the redecoration discussions for a while, but clearly that isn't what mattered to Leah so all is forgiven. John was annoying me a bit though, making it all about him that Irene had 'forgotten who he was' just because she called him the wrong name, which is a slightly different thing. I get that it would be upsetting in the context of Irene's condition, but not great form of him to then go and put it on her and make her feel bad about it. 

Just choked on a croissant at the mention of Summer Bay High - so the sinkhole didn't come back after all, then! Of course, it was inevitable that something would happen between that mention and Cohen actually having to go there, and so it proved with news of the inevitable relative being found to presumably crush Roo's dreams.

I was hoping we'd heard the last of Avalon but it seems she still lingers in the form of song. Remi is doing nothing to ingratiate himself at the moment as far as I'm concerned, but I'm equally finding it hard to care about Bree moaning on about it. 

Edited 18 minutes ago by atrus