Shortland Street - General Discussion

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[carld2]

I can't believe Esther is pregnant again! I don't want to see her have another baby and I don't really want to see her play out an abortion or miscarriage story either. A part of me wonders if she and Marty are leaving the show. I would miss Marty, but if it finally puts an end to this incredibly draining nonsense, I don't care. It would also explain why they have mostly moved on from her and Rahu (who, now that we know is somewhat sexually free, would make more sense to me as a pairing with Jack than he did before, although I don't see that happening).

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Part 392 from Anthony:

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[justinate]

Oct 27, 2022 6:15:37 GMT -5 carld2 said:

I can't believe Esther is pregnant again! I don't want to see her have another baby and I don't really want to see her play out an abortion or miscarriage story either. A part of me wonders if she and Marty are leaving the show. I would miss Marty, but if it finally puts an end to this incredibly draining nonsense, I don't care. It would also explain why they have mostly moved on from her and Rahu (who, now that we know is somewhat sexually free, would make more sense to me as a pairing with Jack than he did before, although I don't see that happening).

Yeah I am astonished that she is pregnant again. Three times in three years, and for a heart transplant patient!!!

I kinda thought Rahu was always portrayed as being sexually free - wasn't that his introduction to the show, wanting to move to Sydney to avoid a policewoman ex on whom he'd cheated?

I'm disappointed he didn't turn out to be Jack's love interest, but Raj is definitely more Jack's speed - if there's one thing we know about this show, when there's ever a setup for heartbreak, the show will always have Jack go down that path. I do feel there is a marked deterioration in how the show portrays the heterosexual romances versus the gay one. We've seen Marty and Monique in bed/in the bath, we've seen Jojo and Logan banging in the back of an ambulance - but Jack and Raj only get fully clothed aftermath.

[carld2]

Oct 27, 2022 9:38:15 GMT -5 justinate said:

Yeah I am astonished that she is pregnant again. Three times in three years, and for a heart transplant patient!!!

I kinda thought Rahu was always portrayed as being sexually free - wasn't that his introduction to the show, wanting to move to Sydney to avoid a policewoman ex on whom he'd cheated?

I'm disappointed he didn't turn out to be Jack's love interest, but Raj is definitely more Jack's speed - if there's one thing we know about this show, when there's ever a setup for heartbreak, the show will always have Jack go down that path. I do feel there is a marked deterioration in how the show portrays the heterosexual romances versus the gay one. We've seen Marty and Monique in bed/in the bath, we've seen Jojo and Logan banging in the back of an ambulance - but Jack and Raj only get fully clothed aftermath.

I was thinking more about him being willing to have a threeway with Nicole and Maeve and then talking about his having threesomes before, but true enough.

I agree about the double standards. I was surprised they even had the scenes earlier this week with Raj and Jack on the couch and kissing because up to that point we had seen almost nothing - they had left the entire core of the relationship offcamera, aside from a few kisses. This was the first time we got to see them as any kind of couple. I know the relationship will falter soon enough, but I wish the buildup had been better as on paper this had potential to be a very interesting story for Jack.

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New clip from Anthony:

[anthonyl]

Oct 27, 2022 9:38:15 GMT -5 justinate said:

Oct 27, 2022 6:15:37 GMT -5 carld2 said:

I can't believe Esther is pregnant again! I don't want to see her have another baby and I don't really want to see her play out an abortion or miscarriage story either. A part of me wonders if she and Marty are leaving the show. I would miss Marty, but if it finally puts an end to this incredibly draining nonsense, I don't care. It would also explain why they have mostly moved on from her and Rahu (who, now that we know is somewhat sexually free, would make more sense to me as a pairing with Jack than he did before, although I don't see that happening).

Yeah I am astonished that she is pregnant again. Three times in three years, and for a heart transplant patient!!!

I kinda thought Rahu was always portrayed as being sexually free - wasn't that his introduction to the show, wanting to move to Sydney to avoid a policewoman ex on whom he'd cheated?

I'm disappointed he didn't turn out to be Jack's love interest, but Raj is definitely more Jack's speed - if there's one thing we know about this show, when there's ever a setup for heartbreak, the show will always have Jack go down that path. I do feel there is a marked deterioration in how the show portrays the heterosexual romances versus the gay one. We've seen Marty and Monique in bed/in the bath, we've seen Jojo and Logan banging in the back of an ambulance - but Jack and Raj only get fully clothed aftermath.

I think the reason for these story swerves in regards to Esther is because from what I've read, the actress is pregnant again in real life. Otherwise, it makes little sense for another pregnancy for Esther given she just had a baby. And there's far more drama if Marty is the baby daddy. It's left Rahu sort of wandering with no story though and makes me wonder what's in store for him.

As for Jack, it seems like his story changed as well. He was clearly headed for a triangle of sorts between he, Rahu and Esther but the show dropped all that and moved him onto Raj with little buildup. I think they needed it to get to a certain place quickly which is why the early part of it happened off screen. That said, I like the story and think it has much potential. I just wish the build up had been better. That's really my only issue.

[carld2]

Oct 28, 2022 7:34:10 GMT -5 anthonyl said:

I think the reason for these story swerves in regards to Esther is because from what I've read, the actress is pregnant again in real life. Otherwise, it makes little sense for another pregnancy for Esther given she just had a baby. And there's far more drama if Marty is the baby daddy. It's left Rahu sort of wandering with no story though and makes me wonder what's in store for him.

As for Jack, it seems like his story changed as well. He was clearly headed for a triangle of sorts between he, Rahu and Esther but the show dropped all that and moved him onto Raj with little buildup. I think they needed it to get to a certain place quickly which is why the early part of it happened off screen. That said, I like the story and think it has much potential. I just wish the build up had been better. That's really my only issue.

Thanks for replying, as always. That makes sense, but does the show not have other stories to cover real-life pregnancies now? I know some old soap stories along those lines would not fly today (like when soaps used to just say "oh you've gotten fat"), but you'd think they could just do camera angles and have them wearing extra baggy scrubs.

I wish the actress a healthy pregnancy and baby.

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Part 395 from Anthony:

[justinate]

I didn't realize the actress was pregnant IRL. That does make more sense, but I do think it's very lazy writing to have the character pregnant again - as Carl has mentioned, there are myriad other ways to hide a pregnancy on-set, and it's downright reckless to keep showing a heart transplant patient getting accidentally pregnant three years in a row. I thought GH was bad in that respect, but even they didn't get Maxie pregnant annually (she did, ultimately, give birth thrice).

I am not against Jack and Raj as such - they're a hot couple and there's plenty of built-in drama, but the lack of onscreen development for the relationship is definitely a problem because Jack would never have jumped headlong into an affair with a married man just like that. And I can't help feeling gay fans are being shortchanged because every heterosexual couple gets proper bed scenes (and Jack did too in the past, like when he was just having fun with Zack, so why not when he's actually in love?)

I actually don't think Rahu was ever intended to be bi/Jack's next boyfriend. Even if they were forced to rewrite stuff because Esther's portrayer became pregnant, they could've put her in a triangle with Rahu and Marty, and had the tried and tested Who's the Daddy drama. They could've written Rahu as a schemer who fakes the paternity test to make himself the dad to cling onto Esther, or Esther could've chosen to pretend Rahu was because she doesn't want to disrupt the Marty/Monique engagement, or thinks she's going to lose the baby and doesn't want to put Marty through that again (since Dawn made him believe he was the dad of Prince's baby that she miscarried), etc. And all that is assuming they even wanted to go down the full-term pregnancy route with her, instead of hiding it, aborting it or miscarrying.

[carld2]

So is Vivienne gone for good? I know she was never a central character, more of a guest character who likely just stayed longer because of Michelle's abrupt departure, but I thought she worked so well with Chris and as a parental figure to Amelie. I wish she'd at least gotten an oncamera exit rather than just Chris dumping her as she begged forgiveness.

After the time building up Viliami and Vivienne, the whole thing amounting to one grimy session on the couch with Chris finding out almost immediately was odd.

[justinate]

Oct 29, 2022 4:19:41 GMT -5 carld2 said:

So is Vivienne gone for good? I know she was never a central character, more of a guest character who likely just stayed longer because of Michelle's abrupt departure, but I thought she worked so well with Chris and as a parental figure to Amelie. I wish she'd at least gotten an oncamera exit rather than just Chris dumping her as she begged forgiveness.

After the time building up Viliami and Vivienne, the whole thing amounting to one grimy session on the couch with Chris finding out almost immediately was odd.

Is she gone for good? I assumed she was just taking a break and would return shortly to fight for her relationship. Meanwhile Vili is on a downward spiral and her paternity secret is still not out. I've missed some episodes but what happened to Tom's attempt to sue for custody of Amelie?

[carld2]

The other thing I'm confused by...we see Dawn tell Stanley that his beloved cat is dead, then a few days later he pops up again to breezily chat with Jack about there being no such thing as bisexuals?

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New clips from Anthony:

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And another:

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Clips 397 parts 1 and 2 from Anthony:

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And part 3:

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Part 398 from Anthony:

[carld2]

I hope Jack's story with Raj is not already over.

As for Esther and Marty:

[dylan]

Is Esther serious? Going through with this pregnancy is madness. She could die, and then Kiwa is left without a mother and Pikitia is left with no parents. Just so bonkers. The idea of going to NY was already crazy (what about Kiwa who is in Raglan??) but this is beyond crazy. I'm a bit gutted that she isn't going though. I'm so tired of her character.. ugh.

[carld2]

Nov 2, 2022 12:43:57 GMT -5 dylan said:

Is Esther serious? Going through with this pregnancy is madness. She could die, and then Kiwa is left without a mother and Pikitia is left with no parents. Just so bonkers. The idea of going to NY was already crazy (what about Kiwa who is in Raglan??) but this is beyond crazy. I'm a bit gutted that she isn't going though. I'm so tired of her character.. ugh.

I wish Jack had mentioned this to her. The show really does seem to have a hard time writing stories about abortion at this point.

She and Marty have both been written into such exhausting corners. Does anyone think she loves Marty and would want to be with him as an actual couple? The last time she couldn't get away fast enough. I'm just done with all of this involving them.