Shortland Street - General Discussion

[kevvoi]

Next part courtesy of Anthony:

[carld2]

Why do Louis and Jack have such different hairstyles? Is it the lockdown?

[dylan]

Yes, the hair and makeup was cut so now the actors are in charge of their own styling.

[justinate]

The redemption of Tom seems to have begun. Spare me.

Spoilers for the next 2 weeks (my comments in brackets):

SPOILER: Click to show

Monday 1 November - Tom learns the truth. (presumably whether he's Angela's baby daddy)

Tuesday 2 November - Louis pushes the limits. (definitely not his sexual limits, sadly)

Wednesday 3 November - Louis falls on his sword. (I'd have preferred he fall on Zack's sword.) Jack's rocked by an unexpected setback. (Finally, we have some gays again.)

Thursday 4 November - Jojo proves irresistible to Louis. (Go away Jojo, find your own boy.)

Friday 5 November - Louis makes a shocking move. (It's only shocking if he falls into bed with Zack.)

Monday 8 November - Jack's heart strings are pulled. (I was afraid he was going to be moping after Rico again, but the next spoiler indicates it's not romantic.)

Tuesday 9 November - Jack fights to do his best for a young patient. Tom takes on a mother of a problem.

Wednesday 10 November - Jack goes down a rabbit hole. Tom will do anything to prove his loyalty.

Thursday 11 November - Jack gets buyer's remorse. Tom and Maeve fight for their love. (The Jack spoilers for 10 & 11 are interesting. I think Jack needs a break from romance so a medical/career storyline might work.)

[carld2]

Oct 31, 2021 12:15:43 GMT -5 justinate said:

The redemption of Tom seems to have begun. Spare me.

Spoilers for the next 2 weeks (my comments in brackets):

SPOILER: Click to show

Monday 1 November - Tom learns the truth. (presumably whether he's Angela's baby daddy)

Tuesday 2 November - Louis pushes the limits. (definitely not his sexual limits, sadly)

Wednesday 3 November - Louis falls on his sword. (I'd have preferred he fall on Zack's sword.) Jack's rocked by an unexpected setback. (Finally, we have some gays again.)

Thursday 4 November - Jojo proves irresistible to Louis. (Go away Jojo, find your own boy.)

Friday 5 November - Louis makes a shocking move. (It's only shocking if he falls into bed with Zack.)

Monday 8 November - Jack's heart strings are pulled. (I was afraid he was going to be moping after Rico again, but the next spoiler indicates it's not romantic.)

Tuesday 9 November - Jack fights to do his best for a young patient. Tom takes on a mother of a problem.

Wednesday 10 November - Jack goes down a rabbit hole. Tom will do anything to prove his loyalty.

Thursday 11 November - Jack gets buyer's remorse. Tom and Maeve fight for their love. (The Jack spoilers for 10 & 11 are interesting. I think Jack needs a break from romance so a medical/career storyline might work.)

SPOILER: Click to show

I would like to see Jack in a no-drama romance for a while, just fun, but since that isn't happening, clearly, a medical story sounds like a better idea.

I don't even know what this great love Tom is meant to fight for - if it's Tess, it will take me a while to buy that. The spoilers are so vague at first I thought it meant he was going to be with Maeve, but I don't think the show would go there.

[justinate]

Jack's new story kicked off today, with - what else? - a death. (Good God, everyone surrounding this guy is a target for the Grim Reaper.) This time it's his friend Victor from rugby - I don't recall this character, but apparently Vic was a good friend who encouraged Jack to take up medicine after his sister Pixie died. (I smell a retcon - didn't Jack end up quitting rugby because no one was supportive other than his best friend/first crush Archie from Riverdale?)

When Vic arrived as a badly injured patient, I thought he was going to be Jack's new love interest, but then Vic offered to hook him up with his (Vic's) gay brother-in-law. Then he died on the operating table. So no husband to "turn" for Jack.

Anyway, it looks like that was just a prelude because awful Madonna is now supporting a Christian sect that prohibits lifesaving transfusions from a teen leukemia patient. The patient herself wants the transfusion but is prevented by her fanatical father. Maeve, who can be aggravating herself, looks set to help the girl get the transfusion and I suspect Jack will be roped in, too. Rather different to what I expected at the start of the episode.

Speaking of guys Jack has "turned", they posted an interview with the actress who plays the birth mother of Harper and Drew's foster son. Ryan Carter who used to play Drew's bicurious (?) brother Chef Cam pops up in the background, joking about being the most hated character. It wasn't clear if he's just there because he works backstage now, or whether Cam is due a reappearance on the show. Of course, Cam left claiming he was never into guys, so it's not like he would be much of an improvement over Rico.

In other news, Louis is too stupid to live, and Tom is now a daddy.

[dylan]

So depressing. I don't get why they would bring an old friend back just to kill him off a second later.

I noticed that they just quietly removed Rico from the cast list, so I guess that's it then.

[carld2]

Nov 4, 2021 11:29:44 GMT -5 dylan said:

So depressing. I don't get why they would bring an old friend back just to kill him off a second later.

I noticed that they just quietly removed Rico from the cast list, so I guess that's it then.

A part of me feels sorry for the actor who plays Rico, as he was given nothing but crap, but I didn't think he was that good, and he had no real chemistry with the guy who plays Jack. I do wonder if the Tom and Rico story was meant to be as short as it ended up being.

(that reminds me - who would you all say Jack DID have chemistry with over the years, romantically?)

[carld2]

Nov 3, 2021 9:12:46 GMT -5 justinate said:

Jack's new story kicked off today, with - what else? - a death. (Good God, everyone surrounding this guy is a target for the Grim Reaper.) This time it's his friend Victor from rugby - I don't recall this character, but apparently Vic was a good friend who encouraged Jack to take up medicine after his sister Pixie died. (I smell a retcon - didn't Jack end up quitting rugby because no one was supportive other than his best friend/first crush Archie from Riverdale?)

When Vic arrived as a badly injured patient, I thought he was going to be Jack's new love interest, but then Vic offered to hook him up with his (Vic's) gay brother-in-law. Then he died on the operating table. So no husband to "turn" for Jack.

Anyway, it looks like that was just a prelude because awful Madonna is now supporting a Christian sect that prohibits lifesaving transfusions from a teen leukemia patient. The patient herself wants the transfusion but is prevented by her fanatical father. Maeve, who can be aggravating herself, looks set to help the girl get the transfusion and I suspect Jack will be roped in, too. Rather different to what I expected at the start of the episode.

Speaking of guys Jack has "turned", they posted an interview with the actress who plays the birth mother of Harper and Drew's foster son. Ryan Carter who used to play Drew's bicurious (?) brother Chef Cam pops up in the background, joking about being the most hated character. It wasn't clear if he's just there because he works backstage now, or whether Cam is due a reappearance on the show. Of course, Cam left claiming he was never into guys, so it's not like he would be much of an improvement over Rico.

In other news, Louis is too stupid to live, and Tom is now a daddy.

Every time I decide to give Madonna a chance...

I guess at least the twist with Tom isn't out of the blue, as his issues with Tess having a kid and the scene with him on the phone arguing about money were setups.

[dylan]

Let's do a recap of Jack's romances:
- Him and that tutor in 2015 - awful
- Him and Cam in 2017 - okay but very short/not great
- Him and Charlie in 2017 - not good
- Him and Dion in 2018 - way too fast, not good at all imo
- Him and Lincoln in 2018/2019 - awful imo
- Him and Rico in 2021 - not really given a chance but not great

Yeah I agree with you. I think they've all been pretty bad. I think there was an opportunity to explore Jack and Rico as a couple but the writers really bungled it, so it's hard to say. But yeah the chemistry between them was not very good.

[carld2]

Nov 4, 2021 16:45:49 GMT -5 dylan said:

Let's do a recap of Jack's romances:
- Him and that tutor in 2015 - awful
- Him and Cam in 2017 - okay but very short/not great
- Him and Charlie in 2017 - not good
- Him and Dion in 2018 - way too fast, not good at all imo
- Him and Lincoln in 2018/2019 - awful imo
- Him and Rico in 2021 - not really given a chance but not great

Yeah I agree with you. I think they've all been pretty bad. I think there was an opportunity to explore Jack and Rico as a couple but the writers really bungled it, so it's hard to say. But yeah the chemistry between them was not very good.

The main one I saw was Lincoln, which I hated.

Were he and Mathiu together given any type of romance oncamera?

[dylan]

Oh, right I forgot about him. I think they kissed once. I don't remember seeing much chemistry between them at all.

[kevvoi]

New clips courtesy of Anthony:

[kevvoi]

New clip courtesy of Anthony:

[carld2]

Nothing Jack-related, but an interesting look at how the show is handling kissing scenes:

thespinoff.co.nz/tv/05-11-2021/why-chris-warner-is-pashing-a-piece-of-perspex/

[justinate]

No Jack in next week's spoilers, so I assume his patient arc will wrap up this week?

The show seems to have fallen into a rut. I'm really not interested in Madonna's religious woes - this is the same woman who didn't want to let her daughter join a school trip to another religion's house of worship, which tells you just how intolerant she is. Chris playing an ageing Dr Love is just not cute. (Especially since I liked him with Michelle.) And Tom seems to be getting a constant stream of stories at breakneck pace but it's not enough for me to obscure his awful initial arc with Rico. (If Rico really is gone, what a terrible gig that was!)

I personally liked Charlie the most of Jack's boyfriends, but of course they turned him into a druggie. Cam was the one with the most potential, which is why in spite of the horrid way they wrote him out, I wouldn't mind them replaying that story if Cam has done some growing up while he was away. Plus he has the tie to Drew and his family, unlike all the other love interests who are solo.

I remember there was one more boyfriend, the cop who just seemed way too mature for Jack who was still a teen at the time. I don't recall his name - Danny? - but he was on concurrently with Charlie. I can't even remember how they broke up but I think Jack chose Charlie over him, and then Charlie's demons caught up to him and Jack was out in the cold.

Jack and Mathiu had negative chemistry and their romance took place largely offscreen. I got the feeling that the show was caught on the back foot when Reuben Milner decided to leave and they opted to give Jack a happy ending after all the misery heaped on him (dead father, sister, boyfriend...). Which would've been fine, except given the limited time they had no other option but to make his current love interest "the one", even though absolutely nothing had developed between them to justify an engagement and moving in together to care for Jack's cancer-stricken mother.

[dylan]

I agree about the show being in a bit of a rut, though I feel like this happens fairly frequently before the show picks up again. I'm also getting very tired of Madonna's Catholicism. She's all right when she's not going on about it, but they can't have her storylines revolve around her religion for much longer. I remember in 2005-2007 there was a character (Baxter Cormack) whose one personality trait was his born-again Christianity, and it was the absolute worst. Luckily we were spared when he fled town to join a bizarre spiritual healing cult led by some American multi-millionaire (of course).

Charlie was all right until they made him a druggie. Oh right, I forgot about Darren! He was actually pretty cool. I really enjoyed his first, albeit brief, appearance in 2016, when the Hannahs reconvened with Margaret while she was on the run from embezzlement charges. Good times.

[carld2]

I think the show is suffering from the loss of various characters but also the relationships they left behind. Boyd's friendship with Drew. Sophia's relationships with Louis and CeCe. Eddie with Leanne and Nicole and Esther. And so on. There aren't as many believable or long-running friendships or relationships on the show now. Instead, we get stuff like Tom being incredibly cruel, for little reason, and now we're meant to forget and move on.

[justinate]

Jack worked very well in the Hannah family unit. Too bad everyone's gone except for Curtis's occasional guest stint. I always assumed their stepmother Kate would return after the actress had some extended maternity leave but she just vanished completely. (Hopefully it won't be the same case with Esther.) Speaking of Kate, her older son Blue also just disappeared after that genetic sexual attraction storyline with Sophia. TBH I don't really miss Sophia, but I fear for the Kings now that the family unit they were building up with Cece, Louis, Sophia, TK and Tilly is down to just the first two. The Kings were the best family introduction since the Hannahs, IMO.

Can I also just say that the constant return to the boogeyman of the "boys' club" is wearing thin. Not that I dispute its existence, but the way the show portrays it feels self-defeating. The pay discrepancy story was good but since then, they seem to play Drew's casual misogyny for laughs, then bring in a feminist advocate who bullies Damo.

I truly hope the Jack plot hinted at in tomorrow's preview is a misdirect because I will be really pissed.

[carld2]

Nov 11, 2021 12:27:06 GMT -5 justinate said:

Jack worked very well in the Hannah family unit. Too bad everyone's gone except for Curtis's occasional guest stint. I always assumed their stepmother Kate would return after the actress had some extended maternity leave but she just vanished completely. (Hopefully it won't be the same case with Esther.) Speaking of Kate, her older son Blue also just disappeared after that genetic sexual attraction storyline with Sophia. TBH I don't really miss Sophia, but I fear for the Kings now that the family unit they were building up with Cece, Louis, Sophia, TK and Tilly is down to just the first two. The Kings were the best family introduction since the Hannahs, IMO.

Can I also just say that the constant return to the boogeyman of the "boys' club" is wearing thin. Not that I dispute its existence, but the way the show portrays it feels self-defeating. The pay discrepancy story was good but since then, they seem to play Drew's casual misogyny for laughs, then bring in a feminist advocate who bullies Damo.

I truly hope the Jack plot hinted at in tomorrow's preview is a misdirect because I will be really pissed.

It feels like lip service, when, other than Marty, most of the leading men at present aren't especially kind in their treatment of women. A lot of the current episodes feel a bit like lip service.

(speaking of that, I didn't realize how much Tom's hair has also grown out...that lockdown sure did a number for the stylists)

I agree Sophia was mostly irritating, but I miss her relationship with Louie. He doesn't have much of anyone now.

I get the feeling the Jack story is about him feeling pressured into this family unit he can never fit into in the way this Tori woman wants him to, rather than Jack ever being involved with her. What I don't understand (if this is the story) why they need to have two stories a few months apart about women throwing themselves at him. Have they just run out of ideas for the character?

[carld2]

Well, that turned out to be nothing - I wonder if Marty is going to end up involved with the mother (Marty always seems to end up being sloppy seconds).

justinate I was pretty shocked by how bad the new ball-busting lady doctor's acting was at the end of this newest episode. I know it's early days, but oof.

[justinate]

Thankfully Jack shut down the Tori romance sharpish. I agree it's bemusing that they thought two straight women throwing themselves at a gay man back to back would make for good storytelling. And Tori doesn't even have Tom egging her on to think she has a chance with Jack. I wonder if Marty is right and she and Keeley are scammers faking her mysterious illness that seems to be nowhere?

I do feel bad for Marty. He always seems to get crapped on. I suspect Esther's exit (due to the actress's pregnancy) threw a spanner into his next story and now he's floating around aimlessly.

Is it just me, or does the new Head of Surgery, Francesca, look a lot like Vivien (Chris's love interest)? The two of them could easily be sisters, IMO. I really don't care for her character - why are they letting her get away with bullying Damo? Do they want to prove Drew right?

The spoilers are out for the following week, no Jack in them.

[dylan]

I'm also not really liking this new doctor. The same actress played another surgeon called Jennifer Mason back in 2010, and she was also not great (though not as bad as Francesca has been so far). The really annoying thing was that all the other characters worshipped her and kept going on about how amazing she was. Dreadful. I don't see the resemblance to Vivien.

Regarding Keeley and Tori, I was actually thinking of something more along the lines of Münchhausen by proxy, but that may be even worse.

I like Marty a lot. I wish they could figure out what to do with him. I think a pairing between him and Esther would be so boring - I don't feel that there is any chemistry there. Esther really should just be with Curtis IMO because she really lacks chemistry with the other male cast members. Honestly, I like her but I feel like her character's exploration has kind of run its course, and I don't really see what storylines there are left to tell for her.

[carld2]

Nov 14, 2021 15:22:46 GMT -5 dylan said:

I'm also not really liking this new doctor. The same actress played another surgeon called Jennifer Mason back in 2010, and she was also not great (though not as bad as Francesca has been so far). The really annoying thing was that all the other characters worshipped her and kept going on about how amazing she was. Dreadful. I don't see the resemblance to Vivien.

Regarding Keeley and Tori, I was actually thinking of something more along the lines of Münchhausen by proxy, but that may be even worse.

I like Marty a lot. I wish they could figure out what to do with him. I think a pairing between him and Esther would be so boring - I don't feel that there is any chemistry there. Esther really should just be with Curtis IMO because she really lacks chemistry with the other male cast members. Honestly, I like her but I feel like her character's exploration has kind of run its course, and I don't really see what storylines there are left to tell for her.

They're probably both a bit too nice, but I would say they could pair him with Tess once the Tom story is over. I almost said Dawn, but I prefer them as friends with a past, as we'd probably just have another cheating story if they reconnected.

[dylan]

Okay. Definitely not Dawn - they were together once and that was enough. And I'm assuming Monique is gone?