New posts

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mel O&#039;Drama" data-source="post: 202498" data-attributes="member: 23">Episodes 255-257   (...continued)Over at the Stewarts, the harmonious atmosphere that’s prevailed there for some weeks now continues. For starters, we’re casually dropped some good news at the top of a scene. Ailsa is admiring the flowers Roo has sent her:<img src="https://i.vgy.me/rbL460.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" />Now the throwaway aspect of this dialogue was disappointing. After all the drama and worry about whether or not Ailsa should have the test to find out if the baby has Down’s Syndrome we find both the test and the result have all happened offscreen. I can’t help feeling that we were robbed of at least a scene in which Ailsa told Alf the good news. Instead, we’re left to wonder and play catchup. It’s an anti-climax to say the least.Not that there’s much time to dwell on this. Because Roo arrives with another present for Ailsa. She presents her with a bag which contains teddy bears and suchlike:<img src="https://i.vgy.me/IToYxs.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /><img src="https://i.vgy.me/rh2Y9a.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" />Naturally, it’s a beautifully warm scene between the two women in a relationship which feels as though each has truly earned the others respect. But more than this, it keeps alive themes which are important for us to remember. Roo has been through events that have scarred her emotionally. And while she seems happy and together on the outside, we know that she is still recovering and vulnerable. So her reaching out to Ailsa means even more to them and to us. Behind the scenes, Morag is putting schemes into action. She does the groundwork by telling Alf she’d like Roo to come and stay with her when she moves into the Blaxland place. An offer which, of course, she needs to validate with an explanation that plants a seed with her brother:This is the third such mention in two episodes of Morag viewing Roo in a maternal light. Once again she’s throwing a daughter to the wolves so that she can have what she wants. Nick’s part of the deal is to visit the Stewarts and convince them that as investors they were entered into a competition and have won first class tickets for an around the world trip with $5000 paid towards accommodation. Despite her earlier antipathy towards Macklins, Ailsa joins Alf in snatching Nick’s hand off. He also pointedly returns some shopping of Roo’s to the house, and makes sure  the poison pen letter is on top where it is duly found by Ailsa and given to Alf. <img src="https://i.vgy.me/4OkZuU.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" />This is where months of groundwork put in by the writers start to pay off. It sets the wheels in motion for responses to an absolute betrayal. One that characters, for all their hopes and good will, feared was inevitable and had in some way prepared themselves for. They may have closed their minds to any such suggestion. They might (and indeed some have) chastise others who held a less charitable outlook. But once the floodgates are open, there’s no time to think before the deluge hits, leaving nothing but devastation and undoing months of gentle forward steps in a heartbeat. The change is instant. And it is absolute.Roo comes home, enters the living room and smiles warmly at the flowers she’d bought for Ailsa earlier. She glances down and sees two packed suitcases:<img src="https://i.vgy.me/A5v1SJ.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /><img src="https://i.vgy.me/qJSbvO.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /><img src="https://i.vgy.me/NL1ViD.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /><img src="https://i.vgy.me/bAsjvq.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /><img src="https://i.vgy.me/SvHI9Q.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /><img src="https://i.vgy.me/pySZTT.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /><img src="https://i.vgy.me/j4ETht.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /><img src="https://i.vgy.me/5l59uL.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" />And Roo becomes collateral damage of the Macklins’ business strategy and Morag’s materteral ambition. There’s a terrific moment where Roo just looks at Ailsa and holds her gaze. Neither says anything, but the silence speaks volumes and their connection has gone. Instantly. As much as we, the audience, with the information we have, are completely on Roo’s side, we can also fully understand Alf and Ailsa’s responses. The doubts that they believe have just been realised are the same ones we may have held ourselves, if we didn’t know better. It’s a brilliant way of telling a story from multiple perspectives....continued </blockquote>

Verification: Who played JR Ewing?