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“Welcome to Summer Bay”: Rewatching the early years.
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<blockquote data-quote="Spells &amp; Karma" data-source="post: 200925" data-attributes="member: 23"><p><u><span style="font-size: 22px">Episodes 241-243</span></u></p><p></p><p></p><p>Three episodes - around an hour of screen time - have changed the<em> Home and Away</em> landscape dramatically and irrevocably.</p><p></p><p>What’s more, it’s been done in an expansive way. There’s an incredible amount of backstory in these episodes. Flashbacks to numerous different eras - from the early Fifties through to just a few months ago - have been but the beginning of filling in gaps. The dialogue has told us new information about characters’ histories. Things we have been curious about, and things we didn’t even know we wanted answers to. No stone has been left unturned, and one character’s history dovetails with another’s to tie them together in a way that’s unexpected and delightfully incestuous.</p><p></p><p>Take our first stop: 1985. We knew that Martha had died three years before the series began. And we knew that the Stewarts lived at Summer Bay House at that time. But we hadn’t seen it with our own eyes. Until now. The fact that we arrive there immediately after Martha’s funeral takes on a new poignance considering we’ve recently “met” Martha through flashbacks.</p><p></p><p><img src="https://i.vgy.me/4EcmTl.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /><img src="https://i.vgy.me/Fsko9Z.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /><img src="https://i.vgy.me/bGX1l1.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /><img src="https://i.vgy.me/ftt9bi.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p>Justine Clark pitches up her voice enough to convince us she’s fourteen years old, and the sepia does the rest, as Roo tells Alf she’s found her Mum’s diaries.</p><p></p><p>In real time, Alf tells us he couldn’t face looking at them and put them away. And forgot about them until he met Ailsa. And that’s when the dialogue, rather than flashbacks, transports us back to an earlier time:</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Flashbacks can be a little jarring. At the very least, there’s a possibility that the viewer will find the new world presented so novel that it will remove subjectivity, leaving the viewer to watch with amused detachment. The structure of these episodes very carefully finds a way around this by involving the present as much as possible. The dialogue leading up to it creates an intimacy that allows the audience to “meet” these characters from earlier times through the eyes of the character who is being told the story.</p><p></p><p>A great example of this would be Alf telling Ailsa about Bobby’s mother while they’re seated on their sofa at home:</p><p></p><p></p><p>As Alf mentions Martha, so begins a sepia flashback to 1970 as Martha arrives to meet “Bugsy” (an affectionate sobriquet that Martha gave her, we learn. Because Bugsy’s glasses gave her a bug-eyed appearance). Present day Alf’s voiceover continues for a further twenty seconds over the scene, allowing the viewer to be gently taken into that world while keeping one foot in the familiar. And bugger me if Bobby’s Mum isn’t Olive from<em> On The Buses</em>.</p><p><img src="https://i.vgy.me/NGSrTJ.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /><img src="https://i.vgy.me/DbMiee.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p>And at the end of the sequence in which Martha told Bugsy she’d make arrangements for the baby to go to a good home with an old schoolfriend, present day Alf picks up again as we’re taken back to the continuing conversation in the living room. Only now both are standing, Ailsa emerging from the kitchen with mugs of hot drinks for them both. And she does seem like the kind who wouldn’t sit still for a flashback.</p><p></p><p>Ailsa questions why Martha would arrange for the baby to go to a creep like Al Simpson, and we get more history through dialogue, this time regarding Bobby’s adoptive family:</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Judy Nunn and Ray Meagher are just fantastic at selling this material. Meagher is almost offhand with it all, making it seem relatable. And thanks to Judy Nunn you can really see the wheels turn over in Ailsa’s mind as she takes on the information and puts the pieces together.</p><p><img src="https://i.vgy.me/1kDsX1.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p>Alf nods grimly, and the secret is a secret no longer. Bobby’s mother is disclosed at the end of the first act of Episode 241. And the route to get there was so tortuous - and so satisfying even without the reveal - I’d almost forgotten this is the reason we started digging in the first place.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p style="text-align: right"><em>continued...</em></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Spells & Karma, post: 200925, member: 23"] [U][SIZE=6]Episodes 241-243[/SIZE][/U] Three episodes - around an hour of screen time - have changed the[I] Home and Away[/I] landscape dramatically and irrevocably. What’s more, it’s been done in an expansive way. There’s an incredible amount of backstory in these episodes. Flashbacks to numerous different eras - from the early Fifties through to just a few months ago - have been but the beginning of filling in gaps. The dialogue has told us new information about characters’ histories. Things we have been curious about, and things we didn’t even know we wanted answers to. No stone has been left unturned, and one character’s history dovetails with another’s to tie them together in a way that’s unexpected and delightfully incestuous. Take our first stop: 1985. We knew that Martha had died three years before the series began. And we knew that the Stewarts lived at Summer Bay House at that time. But we hadn’t seen it with our own eyes. Until now. The fact that we arrive there immediately after Martha’s funeral takes on a new poignance considering we’ve recently “met” Martha through flashbacks. [IMG]https://i.vgy.me/4EcmTl.jpg[/IMG][IMG]https://i.vgy.me/Fsko9Z.jpg[/IMG][IMG]https://i.vgy.me/bGX1l1.jpg[/IMG][IMG]https://i.vgy.me/ftt9bi.jpg[/IMG] Justine Clark pitches up her voice enough to convince us she’s fourteen years old, and the sepia does the rest, as Roo tells Alf she’s found her Mum’s diaries. In real time, Alf tells us he couldn’t face looking at them and put them away. And forgot about them until he met Ailsa. And that’s when the dialogue, rather than flashbacks, transports us back to an earlier time: Flashbacks can be a little jarring. At the very least, there’s a possibility that the viewer will find the new world presented so novel that it will remove subjectivity, leaving the viewer to watch with amused detachment. The structure of these episodes very carefully finds a way around this by involving the present as much as possible. The dialogue leading up to it creates an intimacy that allows the audience to “meet” these characters from earlier times through the eyes of the character who is being told the story. A great example of this would be Alf telling Ailsa about Bobby’s mother while they’re seated on their sofa at home: As Alf mentions Martha, so begins a sepia flashback to 1970 as Martha arrives to meet “Bugsy” (an affectionate sobriquet that Martha gave her, we learn. Because Bugsy’s glasses gave her a bug-eyed appearance). Present day Alf’s voiceover continues for a further twenty seconds over the scene, allowing the viewer to be gently taken into that world while keeping one foot in the familiar. And bugger me if Bobby’s Mum isn’t Olive from[I] On The Buses[/I]. [IMG]https://i.vgy.me/NGSrTJ.jpg[/IMG][IMG]https://i.vgy.me/DbMiee.jpg[/IMG] And at the end of the sequence in which Martha told Bugsy she’d make arrangements for the baby to go to a good home with an old schoolfriend, present day Alf picks up again as we’re taken back to the continuing conversation in the living room. Only now both are standing, Ailsa emerging from the kitchen with mugs of hot drinks for them both. And she does seem like the kind who wouldn’t sit still for a flashback. Ailsa questions why Martha would arrange for the baby to go to a creep like Al Simpson, and we get more history through dialogue, this time regarding Bobby’s adoptive family: Judy Nunn and Ray Meagher are just fantastic at selling this material. Meagher is almost offhand with it all, making it seem relatable. And thanks to Judy Nunn you can really see the wheels turn over in Ailsa’s mind as she takes on the information and puts the pieces together. [IMG]https://i.vgy.me/1kDsX1.jpg[/IMG] Alf nods grimly, and the secret is a secret no longer. Bobby’s mother is disclosed at the end of the first act of Episode 241. And the route to get there was so tortuous - and so satisfying even without the reveal - I’d almost forgotten this is the reason we started digging in the first place. [RIGHT][I]continued...[/I][/RIGHT] [/QUOTE]
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“Welcome to Summer Bay”: Rewatching the early years.
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