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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mel O&#039;Drama" data-source="post: 201926" data-attributes="member: 23">Episodes 249-254   (...continued)Things have come to a head with Nick and Stacey. Most of it has been typically beige Nick and Stacey stuff in the beige soulless Macklin office:There have been melodramatic negotiations, with Nick riding roughshod over Stacey and Stacey in return working out some of Nick’s angles and trying to use it for the good. There’s even been a bitch slap in the diner. It’s probably considered important, but feels fairly disposable to me.<img src="https://i.vgy.me/Pt1uOB.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" />As things come to a head with Nick’s machinations and the full extent of his troublemaking is coming to light, there’s a little promise of interesting things ahead. But more on that later.Over at the Stewarts, the poison pen letters have continued:<img src="https://i.vgy.me/rOCRVf.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /><img src="https://i.vgy.me/eeieTD.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" />Rather than simply a threat with a hint of mystery, these are now cleverly being used to strengthen the ties that bind and even move communication forward in the family. With Ailsa’s previously hidden concerns there in black and white, Alf is enlightened to the extent of the implications from the pregnancy:<img src="https://i.vgy.me/L0Ndgu.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" />Alf and Ailsa’s relationship has been a revelation this time round. There’s an incredibly special chemistry between them and once again it shows how much I’ve underestimated Ray Meagher’s performance in these early days of the series. This isn’t Alf at his most nuanced, but there’s genuine care going on behind those eyes.Ailsa’s line about Alf being happy and not wanting to spoil it for him is almost identical to those spoken by Pippa in this run of episodes when speaking about Tom’s job offer. I can’t help thinking of those Sons and Daughters YouTube comments which criticised patriarchal Australian soaps, because these scenes strongly suggest a matriarchy in which strong women protect men by withholding information. Thus once again making their miscommunication seem virtuous and heroic. It’s a trope that can be found the world over - including those Aussie soaps of a decade earlier.Alf’s newfound knowledge, and the family coming under threat from an unknown outsider leads to scenes of harmony around the dinner table, and the same four characters who recently raised a glass to Ailsa’s pregnancy come together around the dinner table for a motivational Alf speech that wouldn’t sound out of place coming from Jock Ewing:<img src="https://i.vgy.me/LG4Pix.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" />These episodes have seen the culprit unmasked - at least to the audience. When the earlier note was written we saw the camera pan from a promotional Macklin Resort picture to the typewriter.When the next note is written it follows a scene of Frank and Nick at the Macklin office. And we see Nick sit at the typewriter and bash away, before pairing the letter with a photograph. He then places it in Roo’s drawer and makes sure Frank finds it. For the first time since his skinny dip, Nick has done something that’s held my attention.<img src="https://i.vgy.me/kw79EL.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /><img src="https://i.vgy.me/CW1BeY.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /><img src="https://i.vgy.me/1xyZNB.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /><img src="https://i.vgy.me/euNUsW.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" />One thing that struck me about the “Naughty Girl” note is that it lacks the quotation marks that have characterised the other letters. Is this significant, or an oversight on the part of either Nick or the props department?This also raises a thought that I neglected to mention when Bobby got her poison pen letter: if Alison was inspired to write it after hearing about Ailsa’s note by Chinese whispers, is it just too much of a coincidence that she used exactly the same capital-letters-in-quotation-marks style? or is that simply the house style for poison pen letters? ...continued</blockquote>

Verification: What month follows July?