2025 Season - UK Episode Discussion

[CaptainHulk]

1 hour ago, Medea Fleecestealer said:

Seems Leah's turned a corner at last.  Pity she's pissed Justin off so much he doesn't want to talk to her now.  

I know Abegail was drunk, but would she really have gotten on board the train for a kip?  

And why would kids be putting graffitti in a tunnel?  You want your "artistry" to be seen and that won't happen in there.  And how would they even ride their bikes into the tunnel?  Would they want to bounce over the rail supports?  Would be a pretty bumpy ride.  Bad story writing again.  

Largely bc kids can be idiots?

[James Martin]

5 hours ago, H&Alover said:

Did the main cast/guest actors/actresses actually travel on a train or was it just  a carriage being rocked about in a  studio? 

My understanding is they shot on a real, moving train.  A significant number of the cast and crew had a trip away for it, with the location being a good four hours' drive away from Sydney.

Unsure about the wreckage as I assume they can't really destroy a "vintage" train for the purpose of filming.

[Red Ranger 1]

Alf's episode count this week:Three. As is often the case in finale week, things go a bit mad with Remi, Dana and Jo all appearing in four episodes.

Mali was an absolutely terrible boyfriend here and I'm annoyed that Abby somehow got convinced that she was at fault. I'll say it again: If you're going to plan a surprise, then you have to accept that the other party don't know anything about it and might not do what you want them to. Especially if you're going to outright tell them you're not interested in doing something with them and they should go off and have fun on their own. Mali going into a sulk, refusing to meet Abigail and going off on his own instead, as opposed to trying to salvage the trip and actually spend time with her, was the definition of petulant.

And Alf takes the award of second most awful person in the episode I'm afraid. He's great with Leah and then he spoils it all by being nasty to John just because he can. John's an old friend of Leah and Justin, he's known Justin as long as Alf has, Leah for over half as long as Alf, why shouldn't he ask if she's all right? Why does Alf feels this incessant need to treat him like something he's stepped in? And why do the people making the show expect the audience to be fine with it?

As for the train...I was a bit confused that at the beginning of the episode, Remi's sat with a blonde woman who definitely wasn't either Jo or Lacey, who were further along. Was he networking? Lacey probably had more time than that to tell Jo what Eddie was going to do, but I'm not sure anyone expected him to do that. I guess we should be grateful he wasn't planning to do it on stage! Nice chat between Justin and Lacey. Isaac was like a dog looking for a bone. Holden...is Richie Amblin from Neighboyrs and that's about as far as it goes.

It's to be hoped that we'll begin next season with Leah keeping to her epiphany and trying to make things up with Justin.

Boy, that stunt was bad. It was like no-one could work out a convincing way to make the train turn over, so we get some shots of it out of control but upright, some shots of cast being flung about in a way that doesn't really convey anything in storytelling terms beyond "we're crashing", and then cut to it on its side in a "Oh yeah, that's happened" manner. Was there even room for it to turn over? Whilst I'll wait until Monday to give a full opinion, I don't immediately see a problem with the promo showing the locals responding to the accident. We're told at the start that they've only just left Yabbie Creek, and the episode appears to only cover a few hours at most, possibly less. Whose area would they be in, the kangaroos'?

So yes, 6pm is the new 1.45pm for everyone except the Channel 5 publicity department and those legally obliged to print their nonsensical schedule, as they imperiously demand that everyone must treat their First Look/Streaming schedule as gospel despite having deliberately come back on a Friday so the blocks are messed up. I'm not sure why following the same blocks and schedule as last year is a particular difficulty in avoiding spoilers, given full details of the episodes have been freely available since they were shown in Australia last month, but hopefully anyone wanting to comment on today's Streaming/First Look episode will have the decency to use the other thread to talk about it, and those of us still watching at 6pm will know not to look in there if we don't want to know.

Seriously, isn't the whole point of streaming that you can watch the episodes whenever you like?

[c120701]

I wonder who dropped the ball and forgot they needed a train driver for them to use one of the crew.

[James Martin]

2 hours ago, c120701 said:

I wonder who dropped the ball and forgot they needed a train driver for them to use one of the crew.

Maybe that was the plan all along?

[James Martin]

4 hours ago, Red Ranger 1 said:

That stunt was bad.

Like I said last night, I've seen better.  To do this and the forthcoming WA shoot (still not TXed in Oz but both networks' socials have plugged it) so close together must be costing Seven a bomb, however.

I do get destroying a vintage train isn't really an option.  One of the reasons Titanic ran over budget is because they couldn't hire props because they were going to get extremely water damaged.  They had to make the lot from scratch.  So building a vintage train that they could destroy would also be pretty expensive.

[Dan F]

3 hours ago, c120701 said:

I wonder who dropped the ball and forgot they needed a train driver for them to use one of the crew.

 

46 minutes ago, James Martin said:

Maybe that was the plan all along?

I understand he had to step in last minute, through no fault of their own.

Just for context for everyone else, I mentioned in our preview story (spoilers for anyone at old C5 pace) that the driver seen on-screen was one of the show's 1st Assistant Directors.

5 hours ago, James Martin said:

Unsure about the wreckage as I assume they can't really destroy a "vintage" train for the purpose of filming.

The back end of the train carriage sticking out of the tunnel was just a wooden frame created by props. They also used the railway workshops directly behind the studio for some filming, I presume for the post-crash interiors.

[H&Alover]

I'll definitely  keep  schtum  then about the 6.30pm episode that I usually watch so thanks for that Red.

I thought the stunt was well done myself but it  being shot in the dark does hide a multitude of sins.  It can  all depend where you are  sitting/standing when the crash happens and  the carriage flips over.   I thought Abi was already  on the  train and just wandered off?   She wasn't meant to be there. 

I wondered why the  kids would be putting up graffitti  inside a tunnel  as they usually like their 'artwork' to be seen.  As  for riding their bikes on the rails there is gravel on either side of them you know so workers can get to any part of the track that needs repairing. 

I'm guessing the cause of the crash will come out at some stage and won't be laid at the hands of the driver. 

Alf was more than his nasty self towards John which was uncalled for.  Maybe he was prickly because it was about Leah  and who she wants to open up to? 

Could it not just be a random blonde Remi was talking to? He's a free agent now.   Did like the offer Sonny made about him and Dan joining the  1.6m club.    It did explain why he  was on his own. It wasn't really down to Lacey to give Jo the heads up that Eddie was going to propose, the fact he did  in public was a tad out there. 

I do have to say make up for the ladies was good, none of them looking like they had just stepped out of  a beauty salon, Mac with her hair all messed up like she had, well, slept overnight on a seat on a train. 

Hope I'm NOT giving too much away but David was doing what David does in the 'new' episode, giving orders and some ignoring him.