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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mel O&#039;Drama" data-source="post: 190551" data-attributes="member: 23">SEASON ONE Episodes #1-5This time round it’s more clear than ever the series has a different tone to the Pilot. It feels cleaner and simpler. Which is a little contradictory as the ties that bind the various characters are becoming more soapily involved, with tantalising little titbits about the ways people are connected. Fisher and Alf, for example, are (or were) brothers-in-law. And Fisher is thus Roo’s “Uncle Donald”. Was it mentioned in the Pilot that Fisher teaches at Summer Bay High? I don’t recall it, but here we are.It’s difficult to pinpoint, but the voice of the series is different. Perhaps by necessity there’s more story and less message. There’s certainly a sense of absence. Even though Episode One of the series picks up the story where the Pilot left off with the same cast and even the same director, it lacks the sensory experience I had with the Pilot. I feel more objective as a viewer, and there have been no goose pimples or tears. Not from my side of the screen, anyway.This is perhaps understandable since the Pilot had a clear journey to take with themes to explore and it did so confidently. Now the roots are planted we’re down to the business of being an ongoing series with branches waiting to shoot out in numerous directions.That’s not to say the series isn’t confident. I’m guessing the powers that be had been working hard fleshing out the characters’ backstories. Including Tom and Pippa’s. When Frank was twitterpated after meeting Roo, he asked Tom if he knew he loved Pippa when they first met:Every once in a while, one of these little revelations will be casually dropped. For a character it might be a dirty little secret but to us it's an exciting bombshell. My favourite so far came during what had started out as a routine conversation in the store between Fisher and Ailsa:These are all crucial little expositions that give us clues that Summer Bay might well be Peyton Place Down Under.Fisher is proving interesting to watch. He’s so difficult to read. There was a great scene where he bawled Bobby out for consoling Sally during school time (she was being bullied by S&D’s very own Tick, if I’m not mistaken. And Haydon Samuels was uncredited, despite his soap pedigree). Then Fisher softened and held Sally’s hand as he walked her back to the little school across the road.There was also a nice moment where Fisher picked on Steven to speak about Ptolemy and looked at him with what could have been quiet respect when Steven spoke authoritatively and accurately. In a nice touch, Lynn was behind Steven looking proud as punch.The relationships between the young characters are very watchable for their mercuriality.Steven and Frank have reached an understanding, building on that breakthrough at the end of the Pilot. I don’t think Series Frank has called Steven “Einstein” once.Carly and Bobby’s relationship, too, has seen a thaw, which has felt satisfying. And knowing the big picture it’s also fun to see the support between Bobby and Roo. But then Ailsa is Roo’s enemy at the moment (with so much goodwill in Summer Bay House, the conflict has to come from somewhere). There’s something quite real about Roo manipulating her father into keeping Ailsa away from her territory, and I loved the scene where they had a guilty conversation full of white lies to cover up their respective rendezvous with Frank and Ailsa.I like the irony that it was Bobby who sent Frank in Roo’s direction. Now, as thirty years ago, their first meeting felt special. One can tell immediately that Big Things lie ahead with it.Incidentally, I noticed that Celia and Roo were credited in the end titles from the first regular episode, despite Roo not appearing until Episode Three and Celia still an episode or so away. I hadn’t really noticed before as I used to cut out the credits so I could fit nine episodes on a 3 hour videocassette. I’d always understood that the end credits - unlike the opening titles - were updated per episode and mentioned only those who appeared in the episode, so I’m curious about this choice.The series’ first proper end-of-episode cliffhanger was a good one. Carly being caught in a riptide is purely situational on paper but I can forgive it, partly because it was utilised to tap into character (Carly’s vanity causing her to go for such a wild attempt to get Matt’s attention by pretending to drown; the fact that the idea was Bobby’s threatening the fragile detente with Bobby; Bobby’s guilt about it going awry actually being used to build their relationship rather than the obvious conflict). But also because as a Jaws fan I’ve always enjoyed the imagery around it. If only H&A’s nods to Jaws had ended there!!Oh, and I’ve always loved the little snippets that come at the end of the end credits, meaning the viewer has to watch or miss out. Back in the day, I would gladly miss the beginning of Neighbours - which began on BBC1 a few minutes before H&A ended on ITV - in order to get the full picture. They really set this series apart. They were a little ahead of their time, perhaps. Marvel films do this all the time now.</blockquote>

Verification: Who played Sue Ellen in Dallas?