2026 Season - UK Episode Discussion

[James Martin]

Thankfully this Zane storyline has gone on the back burner and today we were on to the good stuff.

What an episode, very dark but all killer no filler; they packed a lot in and just when you thought there couldn't be any more... Bang.  Dana knows.

Roll the promo.

Amazingly, no reaction in the promo but tomorrow will be explosive.

Remi knows. Eden knows. Dana knows. This won't stay from Cash for long.

How does Sonny come back from this, especially if Dana leaves him?  There's been a fair bit of expositional dialogue about his brother, so keep an eye on that.

 

[Red Ranger 1]

Even Marilyn's too indoctrinated to call Alf out on his behaviour. Instead she blames everything on Leah, who was simply a bit hard on Zane during his trial, rather than on Alf, who's been openly hostile towards Zane. Except thinking about it, he's not been open about it which is even worse, he's been incredibly two-faced. He acts the supportive friend in front of Marilyn, then constantly undermines her efforts behind her back, such as getting in Leah's head and telling her not to trust Zane. He even waits until Marilyn's out of earshot before saying it's a good thing Zane's gone.

Mackenzie continued to annoy me, acting as though everything revolves around her. It's pretty clear she thinks Levi's sisters are below her in the pecking order and need to get out of the way, to the point of blatantly lying in order to get rid of them: She doesn't care if Levi needs to rest, she just wants him on his own so she can interrogate him. She did make the point that Levi isn't working as a surgeon anyway. His response was a bit confusing: Is he in danger of losing the use of his hand completely or just not improving enough to do basic emergency doctor tasks? (I guess there's always being a GP?) Meanwhile, we get a hint that Levi isn't the only Fowler with medical problems: If you're in a soap, a nosebleed is never just a nosebleed!

Jo made it a trifecta of irritating characters with her badgering Amelia. Which seemed to have the desired result, unfortunately.

That was a cute scene between John and Dana. I'm not sure there's actually any reason why he definitely couldn't both walk her down the aisle and conduct the service (I've actually seen someone do both, although it was a bit more complicated than that). So does this make John and Irene her Summer Bay parents?

[pembie]

As I said before Mac is incredibly cruel to Levi they are I think very mismatched these days 

[James Martin]

48 minutes ago, pembie said:

As I said before Mac is incredibly cruel to Levi they are I think very mismatched these days 

I've thought that. She seems to have this very miserable bitter streak, which I get after her run of heartbreak with having kids.

[pembie]

8 hours ago, James Martin said:

Thankfully this Zane storyline has gone on the back burner and today we were on to the good stuff.

What an episode, very dark but all killer no filler; they packed a lot in and just when you thought there couldn't be any more... Bang.  Dana knows.

Roll the promo.

Amazingly, no reaction in the promo but tomorrow will be explosive.

Remi knows. Eden knows. Dana knows. This won't stay from Cash for long.

How does Sonny come back from this, especially if Dana leaves him?  There's been a fair bit of expositional dialogue about his brother, so keep an eye on that.

 

You seem to be a episode ahead but no worries I get confused by the it only being on the app too lol it was good eh 

 

I take it back Mac wasn’t that bad and I get why Levi got angry by all Abby and Edens questions if this was the real world Levi might lose the control over his hand but really it’s being used so Amelia can stay I think 

Nice scene with Dana and John 

Oh Eden had a nosebleed 

[James Martin]

8 hours ago, pembie said:

You seem to be a episode ahead but no worries I get confused by the it only being on the app too lol it was good eh 

 

I take it back Mac wasn’t that bad and I get why Levi got angry by all Abby and Edens questions if this was the real world Levi might lose the control over his hand but really it’s being used so Amelia can stay I think 

Nice scene with Dana and John 

Oh Eden had a nosebleed 

As I understand it following the removal of the show from the main channel we're allowed to discuss an episode once the show drops at 6am UK now. 

Some posters have chosen to stay "a day behind" effectively putting them on a par with Ireland; I understand contractually RTÉ has to run at least a day behind the UK, but they always finish for Christmas with the same episode, so they get any specially written cliffhanger like we do.  Last year they also stayed on for two weeks after the intended finale (Theo's murder.)

[pembie]

3 hours ago, James Martin said:

As I understand it following the removal of the show from the main channel we're allowed to discuss an episode once the show drops at 6am UK now. 

Some posters have chosen to stay "a day behind" effectively putting them on a par with Ireland; I understand contractually RTÉ has to run at least a day behind the UK, but they always finish for Christmas with the same episode, so they get any specially written cliffhanger like we do.  Last year they also stayed on for two weeks after the intended finale (Theo's murder.)

It’s good that some people know what’s going on lol I’m simple l just watch lol

[H&Alover]

Alf has been openly hostile to Zane, but to be fair he has keep his own counsel about why Zane was inside,  whereas Leah was being two faced smiling at him, but then telling him he can't serve customers at the Coffee Cart, just clear the tables.  Ditto her pouncing on him for giving  Amelia the wrong takeaway, has she NEVER made a mistake? 

I saw it completely differently regards Mac, Abby and Eden, btw the way they were acting it appeared they'd  never visited him in hospital.  they were going on at him like the Spanish  Inquisition.  Levi was having the same thoughts I did, he may not be a surgeon at the moment  but the after effects of his injury could prevent him going back to it and as he said even in the role as an ED doctor could he do sutures  on a patient, fit a cannula?  Like  has always been said many times doctors/nurses make the worst patients, he's already itching to prove he can do it.  We saw the effect it has in the new episode as he felt helpless, but he was able to give the patients medical history to the paramedics.

Gong off on  a tandem, does the Surf Club  have CCTV?

I know it's only one nose bleed Eden has had - so far- but shouldn't she have gone home anyway, she can't go around bleeding on the customers or their food.  She may come across as  a bit dippy at times, but Abby gave the right advice on how to stop it.  I thought most people know now NOT to tilt your head back? 

Sonny's secret is out, Dana's  devastated, Cash won't be happy when he finds out Eden knew.  Remi guessed, rightly, Sonny didn't stay back in the city to see his brother.  

 

[James Martin]

I actually thought he was playing Operation in the kitchen in that scene.

[Red Ranger 1]

7 hours ago, H&Alover said:

Alf has been openly hostile to Zane, but to be fair he has keep his own counsel about why Zane was inside,

Like I say, I'm in two minds about that because in a way he's weaponising the secrecy by telling Leah and Justin "I know things you don't know and because of that I know you shouldn't trust him." Whilst I don't think Alf should be spreading it around, if he's not going to keep quiet but instead use the information against Zane anyway, then he might as well tell people so they at least know what it is Zane's being judged for.

Alf's episode count this week:Four.

I think we're seeing the differences between UK and Oz soaps here. In the UK, a storyline like Harper/Beau would run for a year or more. In many ways, I find Home and Away's method more entertaining, no-one really wants to see a sympathetic character get abused for a year, but it does make it feel rather superficial. Beau hits Harper once and a week later she's walking on eggshells around him, desperately trying not to do anything to trigger an outburst and backing away from conversations every time he gives her a menacing glare. It doesn't feel like anywhere near enough has happened to erode Harper's confidence to the point that she wouldn't just tell Dana or Tane or Cash what's going on, or indeed, given it's obvious to everyone apart from Dana how dangerous Beau is, just tell him to get out and never come back with a couple of her burly friends on hand to make sure he listens. I think the show's trying to get around it by putting the emphasis on Harper worrying about Archie and staying with Beau so that he's safe, but it still feels like thing have escalated very quickly.

Meanwhile, Sonny's house of cards is coming toppling down. It's ironic that it's happening right as he finally seems to be feeling some regrets: He was okay with doing what was needed to keep his supplying going so long as any damage that was being done was out of sight. But he seems to have picked up on the change in Harper where Dana hasn't, and then it's pretty obvious Beau was behind Remi's beating. Unfortunately, I found the ending a bit contrived: Did the costume department get confused? If Dana was at the hospital working, then fine, it makes sense for her to wander along and overhear, but instead she's wearing her lifesaving outfit so...why's she there?

Mackenzie got a bit of a taste of her own medicine when Levi took her generic advice the wrong way. I think he was being a bit hard on himself with regards Remi, he was able to do the basic checks at least.

ETA: I don't know if it's different in Australia, but whereas film and television tend to stick with the "I do" vow, most services I've been to in recent years actually do tend to go with "I will", to emphasise that it's not just something you're promising now but for the rest of your life. Which makes Dana's card to Harper a bit ironic!

Edited August 28 by Red Ranger 1