Red Ranger 1

This Eliza storyline is shockingly badly written. It feels as though we're meant to see Roo, who's coming from a place of compassion, as in the wrong, and the utterly awful attitudes of Alf and Marilyn, wanting a vulnerable child to be locked up or made someone else's problem, as somehow right. Well, sorry, but the more we get of this, the more I feel like I'd rather side with Roo than be wrong than side with the not-in-my-back-yard brigade and be right. It doesn't help that Marilyn's a pretty unpleasant character most of the time anyway (I really hoped to see some humility over her smug matchmaking towards Tane and Harper going wrong but nope), and that one of Alf's biggest weaknesses is his tendency to ignore her faults and overindulge her, so naturally he takes her side over Roo and doesn't even consider that Marilyn might be the one causing trouble. Abigail was being ridiculous as well.So, the problem isn't that she doesn't love Mali back (which, ironically, was the issue with Tane and Harper, not that she knows that), the problem is that she thinks moving in together isn't a big scary commitment but saying the L word is? I think the only way to sum that up is "first world problems". Oh well, she seems to have decided that being in love isn't relationship death by the end, so that's that little drama sorted. I wasn't too keen on another storyline of everyone talking about someone who isn't in the episode either.There was a brief moment of interest when Remi challenged Justin's assumption that Sonny's involved in stolen car parts despite being at odds with him presently, but then he just slipped back into towing the line. So Justin tells Remi and Bree what Cash said, even though he hasn't told Leah? Is he trying to create marital problems?

I had absolutely no sympathy for Harper here. She's not a victim in this. She hid the pregnancy from Tane for months because it was easier for her. She got carried away in her (and Dana's) schoolgirl fantasy of marrying a good-looking guy she'd fancied for ages, when it was obvious to everyone else that she'd never be more than a poor substitute for Felicity, and Tane wouldn't have looked twice at her without the baby. And now that everything's inevitably gone belly-up, she's back to acting as though what's best for her is the only important thing. Whilst Tane yelling at her wasn't helpful, I wasn't too keen on Cash acting like her guard dog. Tane shouldn't have proposed for the wrong reasons, but Harper was just as much to blame for letting things get that far. I wasn't sure Tane going to see her so soon after was a good idea but he seemed to get some concessions out of her. I can't really blame either Kirby or Mali here. Kirby does have a job to do and can't expect Mali to let her out of work whenever inspiration hits. But on the other hand, if she does want to focus on her music, resigning is the best option. It's not even as if she walked out and left him in the lurch, she's actually given him notice, something virtually unprecedented in television. Eden's attempt at an engagement discussion gets derailed again by Cash's ennui. Levi definitely blurted out too much information there. And Mali possibly has as well, given Abigail's shocked look and the promo.

That was a rather short "day before the wedding": It felt like it was still early in the day at the end of last episode but a few scenes in it's suddenly night again! I must admit that scene at Salt was possibly the only time I've felt sorry for Tane in the build-up to the wedding.It was obviously meant to demonstrate Tane's lack of interest in the ceremony but if I got ambushed the day before my wedding by a celebrant trying to make out that coming up with a "little surprise" for the bride was expected of me, I'd react the same way: I don't think I've ever been to a wedding where that was considered a requirement. That said, John's probably the person I feel most sorry for here, if this was only the second wedding he'd been asked to officiate and it hasn't happened. Anyway, both Tane and Harper let it go on longer than it should have done, but at least they stopped it going too far.(That said, given the show's determination to give Tane a family, I would not be surprised if they suddenly decide a few months down the line that Tane does love her after all and they get back together.)Dana seemed to have her head in the sand a bit, hoping it would all work out.So did Harper, for the most part, and it still seems to be there: Despite promising Tane they'll still be a family, she seems to have no idea what that actually means. I was wondering if the cache of goodies Tane found were from his family but it turned out not to be: Did they even know he was getting married? (We even saw that old family photo recently, and even though a good chunk of the people on it are dead, Nikau and Gemma are still around.) Oh, and I do like it when the show remembers Harper and Cash are friends, with him going to check on her. Elsewhere, Kirby was being a bit erratic in suggesting Eden propose to Cash after the wedding and then trying to get her to do it the previous night instead.And her trying to juggle her singing career with a day job seems to be coming unstuck.

I see today's episode has been moved back to 1.30pm to accommodate it. I've not seen any other changes so far. ETA: Continuity announcer at the end of the episode confirmed it'll be back to 1.45pm tomorrow, so presumably episodes will be moved whenever they clash with a match and/or its coverage.

It only took five minutes around Tane and Harper for Eden to do a backflip and agree with Cash that they shouldn't be getting married.And that's after being on the receiving end of Hurricane Dana! Harper is having doubts, Dana, after being fully on board last week, now seems to be recognising those doubts as well. Tane...hard to say. I think he's still in the same head space of knowing he doesn't love Harper but still wanting to marry her and be a family anyway. Are Harper and Tane living together now? I feel like I've missed or forgotten her moving in. I was disappointed to hear John hasn't done any weddings apart from Leah and Justin's, what happened to all the interest he was getting on his website? I had to raise my eyebrows at Cash saying he's always known what he wants, given he actually did break off his engagement to Eden. It seems to have got her interested again anyway, although Cash's worries about Tane got in the way of her declaration. Levi did manage to tell Mackenzie he wants a family, see how that goes once the Law of Inverse Fertility kicks in.

Gage's presence in the Bay has got a lot of people's spidey-senses tingling.In a way, Cash has put Justin in a difficult position by confiding in him, since it's left him obligated to tell Leah only half the story.Everyone continues to put too much focus on Sonny.It's not entirely unfair, since Sonny twice dragged Theo out there to do a job for Gage, but Theo is definitely doing his very best to stay in.By the end of the episode, Sonny's pretty much washed his hands of him.I wonder how Leah and Justin will see him moving out? Theo complaining that Sonny used to be fun was enlightening: For probably the first time in his life, Sonny is trying to be the grown-up in the room. Lacey's expression changing after Cash and Gage had gone was a bit telling, it's almost like being a tough girl is partly an act to fit in. She is very keen for Theo to compete, but then so is Theo. Fair play to Irene, once John was back she was conciliatory and even apologetic towards him.I must admit I was kind of hoping Irene would stick to her guns and not want to risk attending the wedding rather than being won over by John's magic touch.It was sweet of him to offer to stay off the alcohol with her, anyway.Probably not much chance of her having to go home during the vows, since there's unlikely to be any alcohol around at that point! That's later. And we're back to Cash getting grumpy about being best man to a couple who aren't in love or at least one of them isn't.Given that everyone involved is being honest about what they want, I still feel like Cash should just go with it and try to be true to that, instead of feeling like he has to pretend it's a "proper" wedding.

Ah, just managed to sneak in then: If it had been a month later... On an unrelated note, why did Sonny feel the need to rush in and distract Kirby when she was walking away from Theo and Lacey?

So Justin's met Gage, which has opened up a whole can of worms.Justin, Leah and Remi all seemed to have reached the conclusion that Sonny has got Theo into trouble with the River Boys, which isn't entirely untrue, but Theo is doing his very best to make sure he stays in trouble with them.Still, I'm not sure what Sonny's game plan is here.Getting Theo to sell the car would pay off Theo's debt and free him from the River Boys but Sonny seems to be offering to pay back Remi, offering to pay Leah board and splashing the cash around with meals at Salt and the Diner, even though he seemed to give all his last batch of earnings to Remi and doesn't have any other source of income? I don't think Irene has any right to feel offended, given she was the one demanding John stay away from her because she found it difficult. Anyway, at least she's reached out to him. Crikey, that was a really mistimed line from Irene, sarcastically claiming to be enquiring about "the flipping pope": When was this shown in Australia?! Kirby got herself in a bit of a tizzy: It is possible to fiddle with something too much. Justin seemed to rightly guess she was procrastinating and put a stop to it.

That's almost a contradiction in terms!

Eliza had answers for Roo, but how much of it was true? There was probably a grain of truth in it, but her explanations for the bandage and the knife felt very much like her telling Roo what she wanted to hear.I do wonder about her parents though: I doubt Eliza would have just been sent to her gran if she was considered a danger to her parents.I don't think she intended to use the knife on anyone, I think she just liked the idea of having it.It's debatable whether Tane's alpha male act did any harm but it certainly didn't do any good.Eliza burning the teddy was, I guess, her drawing a line under that association, but it may not have been that positive an association in the first place. Kirby frets while Justin and Remi try desperately to act like hardnosed businessmen but in the end they got it over the line.Bree was liking the idea of living alone but soon found herself missing company, so I wonder how long that will last? Mali belatedly asks Abigail to the wedding after a bit of prompting and teasing. Remi's starting to worry about what Sonny's getting himself into: It's good in a way that he's trying to be responsible but at what cost?

It always felt like they were riffing off it a bit when they did that storyline about the woman who miraculously survived a skydiving accident only to get killed by a car on leaving hospital. Roo is trying to balance being supportive of Eliza and worrying that she might be dangerous.It feels like Eliza should have been in specialist care in the first place: Where exactly is her social worker and why is Roo having to go to Harper for advice instead? I did continue to appreciate Eliza winding Marilyn up.The sensible thing would surely be for Roo to take that knife back to the bait shop rather than moving it around the pantry.Eliza once again gets intense at someone taking her stuff, but it's less defensible when it's something she's stolen herself. I'm not sure what to make of her buying a teddy bear for the baby: On the face of it, it's a sweet gesture, but she seems to have an ulterior motive in trying to get close to Tane and Harper again. Well, neither of Mackenzie's secrets stay secret for very long.Levi didn't get the answer he expected and Mackenzie didn't get the response she'd hoped for.I suspect it's not going to be left there.She also didn't anticipate Mali calling Dean if she didn't give him a straight answer, although in that case it may well be left there. Harper's back and Tane's response is basically "Oh. Yeah. You." It's kind of ironic, given how much he leaned on her as a friend, that he doesn't really know what to do with her now they're engaged and expecting a baby.I wonder if some of the things Mackenzie said about having an idea stuck in your head hit home.

I think Eliza is officially my new hero: I definitely appreciate the temptation to wind up Marilyn the way she was.Irene showed her nasty judgemental side again, dubbing Eliza "a nasty piece of work" based purely on Marilyn's side of the story without even bothering to meet her first.Despite her attempts to support Eliza, Roo is obviously thinking about what Marilyn's saying, given her checking Eliza's room. Mackenzie was being very annoying for most of the episode. Her dictating what Levi can and can't tell people was very controlling and it was a shame in a way that he stuck so slavishly to her wishes and didn't fill Mali in.I'm disappointed that her bullying seems to have worked out and Mali and Abby have agreed to him moving back in.And after all that, it turns out it's just because she suddenly wants a baby? Well, you can tell Tane wasn't expecting that one! Dana was pretty much just in the episode to make up her quota, but her and Abby as friends is an interesting idea.

Again, there's a feeling that while Marilyn will probably be right, she's still the most unpleasant person in the storyline.Her "You can't let her think she's got away with it" summed up everything wrong with her attitude.She's the established foster kid who doesn't like this new girl getting in the way and upsetting things.I had to smile at her ridiculous overreaction to finding Eliza on the stairs, as if she was expecting Eliza to pull out a flamethrower.(And yep, Roo and Marilyn really should know better than to have private conversations without checking anyone's in the hallway!) I'm not sure how harshly to judge Roo's insistence on giving Eliza the benefit of the doubt, she does seem to embrace her explanations a bit too readily.But as ever, it's not clear how genuine Eliza is being: Is there a part of her hoping this fresh start will go differently? Theo continues to be so careless he's got Sonny, who's pretty much a manchild, thinking it's all too much.If Theo gets his car fixed, which seems to be the idea, I'm not sure why he'd still need the money.Are the loans repayments that bad? There was some amusement watching Dana get blind drunk and a bit defensive at another reminder of Xander.Tane seemed a bit uncomfortable with her reassurance: Is the fact Harper likes him more than he likes her starting to weigh him down? I can't say I blame him for turning Eliza down, he has the safety of the others to consider.

I guess it was hard for the police to work out who did what, aside from the one who was daft enough to punch Cash. (Then again, given that he had Gage out for his blood, maybe he thought he'd be safer in jail.) Lacey showed a less attractive side in squaring up to Eden, and I'm bewildered that Theo thought it would be a good idea to take Lacey up to Salt straight after, and that Eden actually served her. I did feel a bit sorry for Lacey with the way Gage was pushing her around afterwards though, so maybe it's no wonder she seems to have found an alternative in Theo. It's hard to see why Theo is going down this route which is making Sonny seem like the level-headed one.Did he want to play white knight with Lacey, or is it the money that attracts him?Or both? It does underline the fact that Dean feels like a throwback to a different era where they used to romantacise that sort of knucklehead bad boy.Now we're seeing what dating someone like would really be like. Marilyn came across as deeply unpleasant here, and it's frustrating that we're probably meant to be on her side.Impersonating Roo to dig up dirt on Eliza just because she acts a bit weird sometimes was a pretty jerk move, and it's hard not to see her "We might not be safe!" as her catastrophising even if Eliza did start a fire. (Which has already been hinted at with her having that lighter.) At least Leah and Justin didn't immediately embrace it. I liked the chat between Cash and Eden about her feeling aimless.

I was mostly left disappointed that Levi was so quick to indulge Dean's psychotic behaviour.There was no need to shut Todd in a boot, it was pure sadism, they could just as easily have stuck him in the back seat and maybe even had Levi looking after him there, it's not like he was in any shape to try anything. Levi taking the blame for stealing the car wasn't really the heartwarming moment the episode made it out to be either, especially with Dean and Karen being their usual charmless selves. It doesn't help that the ending was a complete anti-climax. After we've been told Roscoe's really dangerous, he doesn't put up any fight with Dean at all, and the show demonstrates a rather casual attitude to how dangerous waving lit matches around near accelerant is. Back in normal land, Rose is saying her farewell. I'm sorry to see her go: It's been very refreshing to have a police officer who's both good at her job and professional, rather than one who's turning a blind eye to her friend's crimes or abusing her position. So it's a shame we're stuck with Cash, who isn't as good. I know she and Mali were close once but it feels like we've long since moved on from then so I'm not sure a farewell was needed. I don't object to it but I'd rather have spent more time on her last scene with Cash, although it's nice she had one anyway. There's a touch of Ryder and Bella about the fact they looked like they could have been more than friends at one point but the fact they have stayed friends in a way makes it more special.It's a shame John isn't around for the wave-off, because Rose was probably fonder of him than most people are. I wonder how Forrest will react to Remi pretty much being able to offer a blank cheque! And I notice Remi seems to be getting on better with Cash now Sonny has taken the focus of his ire! I wondered if Karen was still with Brett when she made that comment about her fella last week so nice to get confirmation.

I don't think this stint is doing Dean any favours at all.It's feeling like a greatest hits version of hits that weren't even that great.As much as it'd be nice if the show could leave the River Boys alone, at least the current show portrays them as the sort of people anyone with any sense would give a wide berth.Dean being portrayed as heroic for stealing a car and torturing an injured man feels like a throwback to tropes the show seemed to have moved away from.Two kids with a third on the way, a long-term relationship and possibly earning an honest living (although we haven't been given much clue as to what, if anything, Dean does for a living these days), and at heart he's still a little boy playing cowboys and indians and not wanting the police to spoil his fun.Not that the police are anything more than their usual inefficient selves, failing to notice not one but two stolen cars turning away from their road block.Oh well.At least Mackenzie and Levi are aware of Ziggy's pregnancy, even if this wasn't the circumstance anyone wanted them to find out.We don't get many details about the escape but Todd comes across as someone just caught up in it. The recap of "Everything Dean's done for the last week, relevant or otherwise" left me fearing we'd spend the entire episode in Queensland but thankfully we had some normal stuff back in the Bay.Irene seems more like her old self and Rose is quietly winding down.Justin really needs to learn to read a room, that's twice he's casually told someone about Kirby's solo career and left everyone face-palming.I can understand Eden's frustration that they pretty much seem to be restarting Lyrik without her.

Ah, right, yes, I seem to remember you're outside the normal region. I can see why that would be a problem. Alf's episode count:Suspended. Not for the first time in recent months, Leah didn't appear at all even though I think she's still around. With Alf, John and Harper all away at the moment too, I can't help wondering if their wages were needed to fund the Queensland trip! I can't say I'd missed Dean being a grump these last two episodes, although he did get some good one-liners in there.It was kind of interesting that he and Levi both made the decision to cut the trip short at around the same time.Maybe they've got more in common than they think although Levi also didn't know what to make of Dean a lot of the time.Mackenzie did at least make the point that Dean wouldn't like people to judge him on his past.It kind of feels like an interesting character drama has been derailed by the introduction of a couple of stock baddies.Someone should have reminded them that this kind of thing happens when you go on holiday in this show. Good that Irene managed to resist temptation.Still not clear if Eden knows the full story behind her recent absence but Cash definitely does. Nice of the youngsters to pop in to check on Irene later and I'm glad Rose talked about her taking her and Xander under her wing: It's a shame Irene missed out on the chance to say goodbye to him.Anyway, it seems to have given her the confidence for take two!

As someone who only ever has the basic package of free channels, I'm again rather bemused at the idea of 5* not being as easy to watch as Channel 5. And failing that, there's always the website! Anyway, for those of us who found the episode (I almost always watch the 6pm showing on 5* so it's business as usual here!), I must admit I forgot that moment of Sonny meeting Gage, the apparent new River Boy leader, yesterday, but he was hard to miss here.Theo realises these aren't the sort of people to mess with but quickly gets reeled in by a pretty face, not that I don't understand him liking the look of Lacey (as the credits named her) despite her odd choice of boyfriend! Sonny made a decent foil for him. Has Theo told Justin and Leah that they've got a new house guest? (And where is Leah? An episode with Justin, Theo, and Irene started back at the Diner, and she's conspicuous by her absence!) Irene seemed to be doing well until she went missing on the trip back to the Diner.She assumed that everyone knows she's been in rehab, which begs the question of does Eden know if Irene's hoping to be served alcohol at Salt. Cash gets the promotion and Rose gets to break the news: Well, they weren't going to give it to one of the extras, were they? (Even Jo Devlin's bombed off to Reefton Lakes!) Justin did a very good job of dropping Kirby in it there, but thankfully Remi's still in a good mood with her even if he's not with Sonny, and remembered all the times she's been the household's main breadwinner. Justin seems to be enjoying this management thing, even if he did forget the champagne!

Mackenzie's indicated in the past that she considers Mali and Tane family, certainly more than "lodgers".(This is Summer Bay, the found family capital of soaps!) Eliza recalled going to school but not getting on with the other children. Karen got beers for herself and Dean and wondered if Ziggy wanted a soft drink, which I took as a sign she did know, but maybe there was some detail on Monday that I missed. Today and we're again in that weird twilight zone of episodes that aren't shown on Channel 5, with the 1.45pm showing having moved to 5* for the rest of the week.Well, Sonny finally pushed things too far.As Bree noted, he seems to have some affection for Remi but also a lot of bitterness and jealousy.While he has a reputation as a bit of a "woman-eater", there was probably an aspect of wanting something of Remi's. It wasn't clear whether it was Bree or Sonny who filled Remi in, but either way it's enough for him to have had enough.Whilst Remi might have a trust fund now, he survived for years while seemingly not asking for anything from his family, which Sonny doesn't seem to grasp. Kirby brings out the big guns in the shape of Theo in order to convince Justin to be her manager.Well, I can understand her not wanting another Forrest and instead being keen to have someone who will work with her and respect what she wants.I get the logic of asking Remi for a loan before a bank but I can also see why Kirby wouldn't want to go there, especially with the timing being what it is. Marilyn goes to Irene to unload about Eliza but gets thwarted by the schedule.I'm assuming her comment about Jett being troubled when he came to live with "us" referred to the Bay in general: He famously mugged Marilyn shortly after he arrived, but he was pretty well-adjusted by the time she moved in with him and John and certainly by the time they adopted him.It seemed like Irene was getting a bit too fixated on her schedule but she ended up giving Dana a logical explanation for why she's reluctant to attend the wedding.

A man-eater? Well, they were living with Mackenzie at the time! Dean continues to be more than a little stubborn, when even Karen has realised the situation might be more complex than "He cheated on his wife so we should throw rotten eggs at him." I guess he's at least trying to make an effort now. And Levi made the point that it took Eden a long time to accept them together as well. (Abby was pretty much there the moment she turned up.) The fact that Ziggy's pregnant just kind of gets dropped in there: For someone who was once adamant he'd never have children, Dean seems to be putting together quite the football team! It was nice to get some back story for Eliza, with the reveal of her being forcibly removed from her parents and then her grandmother dying. I'm guessing that's it for her as far as the youth programme is concerned, and we'll see if Roo follows through on her having to go to school otherwise.She is quite lucky she's not being charged.Marilyn's about turn beggared belief: One minute she's being all kindly towards Eliza, then she suddenly wants her locked up because...she smiled at her? It wasn't even a particularly sinister smile, in fact it was the most friendly she's ever been towards Marilyn! But yes, I'm getting Heather vibes from her too and wouldn't be surprised if it turned out she killed her grandmother. (On the other hand, given previous information, wouldn't she have been about ten at the time?) Seemed to be a slight continuity error: Marilyn says Eliza's home early but the session already seemed to be finished when she lost it at Scott. Kirby seems surprisingly keen on a solo career given how it went last time, but I guess it wouldn't mean leaving Lyrik in the lurch now and her only other option is not doing music at all. Mali and Abigail seem to be falling into that couples pattern of having a new problem each week which then gets solved in the next episode!

Well, Dean isn't any more charming than he used to be, determined to take offence at anything Levi said while insulting him with anything he said.Still, let's be honest, he didn't say anything that people on here and people on the show weren't saying when he and Mackenzie first hooked up.Tane and Mali weren't at all happy with him to start with, Eden and Felicity even less so.So while we've had a year to get used to the idea, this is Dean's first chance to have his say.On the other hand, what's he hoping to achieve?He's driven Levi away, but he's driven Mackenzie away too, which he probably didn't want.It was also poor timing for this to happen while Karen was there being her usual indiscreet self. Eliza continues to be a troubling enigma.I have to agreed with Slade's assessment above about her seeming completely disconnected from everything and not quite seeming to understand the appropriate way to behave around people.On the other hand, there is a certain vulnerability about her.There are moments where she does seem genuinely touched by the effort Roo makes for her, and even though I suspect she was mainly doing it because it makes life easier for herself, she seemed to be doing her best to behave the way she's supposed to at the class.But then, of course, she snapped.In her head, it was probably perfectly reasonable:Scott had taken something of hers and she was making it give him back.But it was a pretty extreme way of doing it, and as Tane says, she needs to learn to control this sort of impulse.(I did find myself wondering what Karen was like at that age, with them both being in the same episode.More gregarious probably, but quite likely with the same tendency to do what seemed right at the time without thinking of the consequences.)It's pretty obvious that the sequence got trimmed by Channel 5 to remove some of the shots of the broken bottle, mainly because Roo suddenly appears out of nowhere! More trouble between Mali and Abigail again, with them almost reversing.Mali seems to want to go back to what it was like when they were last living together, while Abigail wants to prove she can survive on her own.Even if he's right, Mali's comments about Eliza seemed unfair: I'm not sure he's ever even met her, and he just seems to be gossiping based on what Tane's said.

Alf's episode count this week:Three, and he was credited on Tuesday for no appearance. I agree that it seems at times as though Roo is trying to convince herself when it comes to Eliza.Even at the end of this episode, she doesn't have the full story and continues to believe that Scott provoked Eliza.I do think Tane's oversimplifying when he said that Eliza enjoyed hitting Scott: I don't think she's sorry, but I'm not sure how much enjoyment she got from it.I definitely don't think Tane should give up on Eliza after one session, but setting ground rules is the right idea.She didn't exactly seem receptive though.As with a lot of what she does, it's hard to tell to what extent she was genuinely hurt by the idea of Roo giving up on her and to what extent she's manipulating the situation. Abigail was being very irritating and needy and seemed to have forgotten her assertion that she and Mali need to stop being in each other's pockets, expecting him to neglect his work and spend time with her.I'm surprised he was won over so easily.It's a shame that poor timing means Mali ends up moving back in (which neither of them really agreed to!). I certainly take Levi's point that he needs to meet Dean some time if he's going to have a life with Mackenzie, but he seems to be assuming a lot.Nice to hear that Imogen seems to be doing well.

Without looking it up, which I probably should do, my brain is thinking it was Harper that found Irene after she fell down the stairs? I think John was keeping his distance from her at the time? It's increasingly hard to get a handle on Eliza.Her fascination with Harper's pregnancy almost makes me think there was something similar in her history that's triggered this.I'm not really sure how to describe her demeanour.I wouldn't call it cold, which suggests a deliberate rejection of feelings towards others.And she doesn't seem to be getting any enjoyment from it.Yet there also seems to be something bubbling just under the surface, some emotion she can't quite access.She's very matter-of-fact.It's hard to know what to make of Roo's determination to give her the benefit of the doubt, especially since we know Marilyn's probably right.Is she in denial or just erring on the side of caution? Remi gives an explanation to Sonny, who seemed to accept it and extend his own olive branch to Bree. While I think a lot of it was boredom, he was rather generous with Theo, helping him out just to be a friend. So Remi's off to meet Bree's mum, will we get to see it?

Well, I guess we finally got an answer to what Irene's problem with John is but it wasn't a particularly satisfactory one.Given that Irene was pushing John away when she was at her lowest, he'd almost be the last person who'd remind her of all that, rather than Leah or Marilyn. Frankly the whole thing just feels like a weak plot device because Shane Withington's name came out in this week's holiday draw. It was hard to have much sympathy for Sonny.As Remi said, it's time he learned to hear the word no. I guess I have some empathy for him feeling that everything goes Remi's way and nothing goes his, but I feel like that's only half the story.Remi's had a lot of things fall into his lap without having to work for them, but he's also had to work hard for other things, whereas Sonny just seems to spend his whole time expecting handouts.He did manage to charm Justin anyway, and he's probably not a bad person underneath it all, but Remi's reasons for wanting to be there for Bree are just foreign to him. Moving forward a bit with Rose's leaving then.Turns out Bree is fine with being left on her own.I did wonder if she'd ask Remi to move in, but I suspect he wouldn't want to leave the band, even when they're not a band.

Still no real clue as to why Irene's avoiding John, even though he's now clued in.She doesn't seem to dislike him, so is she worried he'll somehow disrupt her routine?Dana dragging John back there against Irene's wishes could backfire badly, although it seems to be holding so far. A good chunk of the episode seemed to consist of characters telling things we already knew, with Abigail filling in Kirby and Rose on her new role, but it was all handled in a friendly manner and I guess it's good to build these relationships. Cash being referred to as the perfect cop was a bit laughable.I kept waiting for someone to add "Except for a few months ago when he persecuted an innocent man, led his stalker right to him and ended up on an attempted murder charge, but I'm sure he's got over that." After that reference to the River Boys last week, we suddenly have one turn up, even if they couldn't be bothered to give him a name (presumably Bongo or something), so that seems to be rattling along.