2026 Season - UK Episode Discussion

[Dan F]

6 minutes ago, Red Ranger 1 said:

Not so long ago, Marilyn said Zane didn't have a phone but here she apparently gets a text from him. Was she lying or has he got one since? Or did he use Mali's phone?

She definitely bought one for him, as she gave his new contact details to Leah alongside his banking details etc. and he also text her from it to say he'd got his L plates.

I think her only claim that he didn't have one since then was when Austin was demanding she call him and get him home - so her lying in that instant was perhaps understandable.

[Red Ranger 1]

3 minutes ago, Dan F said:

She definitely bought one for him, as she gave his new contact details to Leah alongside his banking details etc. and he also text her from it to say he'd got his L plates.

I think her only claim that he didn't have one since then was when Austin was demanding she call him and get him home - so her lying in that instant was perhaps understandable.

Ah, okay. I wondered if I'd missed something in all that but it's still not really ringing any bells, except maybe for the text about L plates. I can remember them setting up an e-mail address for him but I don't remember a phone.

[Dan F]

7 minutes ago, Red Ranger 1 said:

Ah, okay. I wondered if I'd missed something in all that but it's still not really ringing any bells, except maybe for the text about L plates. I can remember them setting up an e-mail address for him but I don't remember a phone.

Just checked and it was in 8778:

MARILYN: Yeah, and you can update his contact details, ’cause I got him a phone today. He’s very excited about that.

[Serenity6063]

13 minutes ago, Red Ranger 1 said:

Ah, okay. I wondered if I'd missed something in all that but it's still not really ringing any bells, except maybe for the text about L plates. I can remember them setting up an e-mail address for him but I don't remember a phone.

Yeah she told Leah and Alf that she got him a phone x

[Red Ranger 1]

52 minutes ago, pembie said:

I kind of lost sympathy for Zane after Austin spoke the most sense throughout the story

Did he though? No-one's pretending Zane didn't do what he did, and Austin's perfectly within his rights to not forgive him for it, but punishing him for the rest of his life for something he did when he was seventeen just means another life wasted.

[pembie]

1 minute ago, Red Ranger 1 said:

Did he though? No-one's pretending Zane didn't do what he did, and Austin's perfectly within his rights to not forgive him for it, but punishing him for the rest of his life for something he did when he was seventeen just means another life wasted.

True very true Marilyn sent Zane on his downward spiral by contacting Austin before then he seemed to be doing ok but seeing Austin again set him off wanting to go back to prison didn’t it? I might be wrong 

[H&Alover]

I can see the  reasoning why she lied to Austin about Zane not having  a phone so she couldn't ring him but he turned up anyway.  

I may be in a minority but I think he had to contact Heidi/her family to put his mind at ease and I've said before he accepted the answer he got but Maz did take it too far by going behind his back and contacting Austin. . Even David said it wasn't his -Zane's - fault when Austin rocked up and threatened  Maz and Alf. 

Mali did say to John about Zane not being able to decide what food he wanted as before of course he'd have had no choice but to eat what was put in front of him for ten years!  I'm kind of guessing he hadn't much of  a 'normal' upbringing where mum/dad tells you to get up  at a certain time what you are having for breakfast/lunch/dinner when to go to bed so missed that routine. He's already punishing himself and always will and couldn't accept people would take him at face value. David has been very understanding and good to him then Zane hit that cop so he no choice but send him back to prison.  OK not a good move to smash up the Surf Club but no-one got hurt, handy that Tane turned up and was able to restrain him. But it was sad that he felt his place was behind bars and didn't deserve any kindness from people.   Even Alf felt sad about about it.

Leah & Justin have a got a lot to  catch up on. Reminds me that once again Leah had left Maz to run the place on her own. 

John, wrongly, got  a blasting from Maz but Mali was able to put her straight. 

Good to see Eden hasn't lost her sense of humour despite her prognosis.  It appears  she and Cash did have that talk. 

 

[Red Ranger 1]

While Marilyn hasn't made the right decisions at times (contacting Austin after the family had made it clear they wanted nothing to do with Zane being a particularly low point), there was perhaps little more she could have done. My sympathy for her is somewhat limited however, especially when her first impulse was to go out and kick John to make herself feel better: She admits to Mali that it's not John's fault but doesn't actually apologise to him. As for Zane, it's very sad that he couldn't give himself a chance. If he's just going to spend the rest of his life getting himself put back in jail whenever he's released, when he's still got so much life left, then that's just a tragic waste.

Nice to see Leah and Justin back. It's amusing that Justin's so used to Leah ploughing ahead on her own course that he was confused when she actually listened to him.

Cash and Eden seem to be in a better place mentally if not physically. John demonstrates his heart of gold again by giving Cash some useful advice about support groups.

[H&Alover]

Marilyn  being Marilyn would blame herself for what happened to Zane but I was glad Alf managed to convince her NOT to change the way she cares for people and see the best in them. We never knew what term Zane had been handed down.  

Leah was being her usual pushy self wanting Maz at hers  for lunch,  bit too soon for her I thought needed a little  bit more time. 

It came across to me at least it was a double edged sword Cash contacting  that support  group.  He was seeing the positive side whereas Eden was only seeing the negative which turned me of her  a bit. I know it gets boring saying this but every case is different. 

Abby  confessed to Levi who she had been seeing which didn't go down too well.  Levi was a bit harsh about  Richie just leaving Abby, but he didn't have much of  a choice, he was only in the  bay as he was stationed  at Yabby Creek nick and once he'd been kicked off the Police he had no reason to stay. 

 

Edited October 15 by H&Alover

[Red Ranger 1]

Much like Amelia, I can see both Cash and Eden's point of view. Cash was naive to think Eden would see something that happened to someone else as good news, but Eden shouldn't have been so dismissive of something that made Cash feel better. Anyway, they seem to have reached a point where they're going to accept each other's needs, so that's a positive.

I had some sympathy for Marilyn and I felt like Alf and Leah were making the same mistake with her that she made with Zane, looking for an instant magic solution to "fix" her. (Alf more than Leah frankly: He was the one who pressured her into it, while Leah just made the offer and then backed off when she said no.) Sometimes, when something sad has happened, you need to let someone be sad, not try and force them to be happy and smiley again a day later. And reminiscing about the fun time they were having while she went through it was insensitive. Unfortunately, we get treated to Alf's usual attempts to elevate Marilyn to sainthood, with him insisting she always sees the good in people one episode after she's thought the worst of John. And even when Marilyn corrects his attempts to claim she was the one that put Jett on the right track and points out that was Gina, he still tries to rewrite history and say she was there at the start too: Well, she forgave him for mugging her, but that was as far as it went. I agree that by the end Zane didn't want to be helped, and while she made some poor choices at times, I think for the most part Marilyn helped him as much as she was able. Could someone with more experience have done more? Who knows?

Levi was a bit harsh about Richie, although he did dump Abigail in a rather offhand manner when she was trying to support him. But ultimately, he did encourage her to make up her own mind, implicitly telling her to go for it if it was what she wanted, so points to him for that.