Shortland Street - General Discussion

[dylan]

It's sad to see the direction that this show is taking. I can't wait for this odious Brightshine storyline to end. How long has this been going on for anyway? Certainly at least since September/October. What a disaster.

[cupid]

Timely, though. www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/distressing-police-called-as-queer-community-targeted-by-protest-at-auckland-library-drag-reading/UTQGWO5IHBBKLHVZ4NA4J6KBAQ/

But I do wish Jack could catch a happy storyline.

[dylan]

That's true. I do love that Shortland Street discusses social issues, but it's become so focussed on Brightshine right now that it's lost its charm. Now it's so bleak and joyless. It feels more like an American (or British) soap, which is not in any way a compliment.

Also, Vili is an idiot. He believes that Maeve killed her son, and now he thinks that Jack is some sort of creep? Wow.

[justinate]

Yeah, really disliking Vili at the moment. And Madonna. The two of them deserve each other at this point.

But Jack has become a real idiot. I can understand Dawn, who has never been the brightest, going around trying to ferret out the accuser's identity, but Jack? He must be losing brain cells having her for a bestie.

And there's Drew. Wow. Blowing his top at Harper sleeping with a random while he knows he's covering up his own affair with her best friend/ex? I'm just waiting for Nicole to turn out pregnant. Although it would mean four women were pregnant at the same time (Esther, Lovely, Cassie and Nicole) which has to be some kind of record, even if two of those babies didn't survive.

I liked Lovely, too bad she is gone but at least she isn't dead. Really would prefer something awful happens to Madonna and Lovely adopts Joy instead. And really, how is she free? She ran over Marc and then deliberately delayed his evacuation from the hospital, causing his severe burns - he still doesn't want to report her?

[carld2]

The worst thing about this story is you know when it's all over, Viliami and Jack will likely never talk about it again, even though it's always going to be there in the background.

I'm already seeing people on Youtube saying Jack is a groomer trying to force young men into being gay. I know it's just idiots, but does this show ever think about the consequences of the poorly done social issue stories it keeps pumping out?

[justinate]

Mar 2, 2023 12:20:02 GMT -5 carld2 said:

The worst thing about this story is you know when it's all over, Viliami and Jack will likely never talk about it again, even though it's always going to be there in the background.

I'm already seeing people on Youtube saying Jack is a groomer trying to force young men into being gay. I know it's just idiots, but does this show ever think about the consequences of the poorly done social issue stories it keeps pumping out?

Based on today's episode, it's not going to be dropped - which makes me fear for what happens next that will put Jack in the firing line again. Hopefully next time Jack will not brush off Viliami's cruelty.

While I agree this is a fraught social issue that the show was better off not touching, I don't think it would played a significant part in nurturing those commenters' mindsets. I've seen similar comments accusing Arthur on Emmerdale (a 15yo out gay boy) of molesting and trying to convert another obviously-closeted boy of the same age. The poisonous groomer rhetoric is down to the politicians and other public figures who are spreading it.

[carld2]

Mar 3, 2023 7:45:18 GMT -5 justinate said:

Based on today's episode, it's not going to be dropped - which makes me fear for what happens next that will put Jack in the firing line again. Hopefully next time Jack will not brush off Viliami's cruelty.

While I agree this is a fraught social issue that the show was better off not touching, I don't think it would played a significant part in nurturing those commenters' mindsets. I've seen similar comments accusing Arthur on Emmerdale (a 15yo out gay boy) of molesting and trying to convert another obviously-closeted boy of the same age. The poisonous groomer rhetoric is down to the politicians and other public figures who are spreading it.

I didn't think the story would be over quite yet, but given how quickly stories on this show burn out, I think we are still going to have this dropped soon enough, which bothers me, as in real life, there's no way Jack should ever want to go near Viliami ever again.

I agree people are likely to say these things no matter what, at least Emmerdale does not have any established characters saying these things. Shortland Street has chosen to repeatedly have a "good" leading character accuse a gay man of grooming.

[carld2]

Thank goodness for the scene where Jack pointed out to selfish "friend" Dawn that she is never there for him when people spew homophobic bile in his direction.

I really do wonder if this is leading to an exit story for Jack. He's faced homophobic abuse at work for months - two different workplaces - and is now seen as a groomer and not even allowed to be near a child. I could see him taking Kate's offer to return to Central, or just leave, period.

Viliami is a piece of shit and I'm never, ever going to forget this storyline, even if the show will ASAP, just as they have forgotten what he did to Jojo.

[justinate]

Jack did look really offended, and realistically this is the kind of transgression you don't forgive, but you're probably right that Vili will get away with it especially if next week's spoilers mean what I think they mean.

SPOILER: Click to show

I have the feeling Vili is himself the victim of child sex abuse and that's why he's so paranoid about it. But it should not be an excuse for him to falsely accuse, insult and harass Jack. I hope Jack won't be expected to be the bigger person and wave off any need for an apology from Vili.

Did you catch that Tyler had been shipped off to a Brightshine "camp"? Are we thinking conversion camp? Rebecca is a well-established hypocrite of course but that would be a new low considering her own concurrent same-sex affair, subjecting a child to that kind of mistreatment. I was wondering if they'd have Vili "redeem" himself by investigating Tyler's absence and end up rescuing him from the conversion therapist. I would've liked it to be Jack but in this case I think he should steer well clear before he gets the People of the Valley treatment (where a gay teacher wanted to rescue his gay student with a crush on him from his homophobic dad but ended up sleeping with the lad and permanently labeled a groomer).

I don't think Reuben Milner wants to leave; he tried that once but came back and pretty much said he wants a lifelong career on Shorty, so unless the show has tired of writing for Jack, I'm optimistic this isn't leading up to a farewell. But they sure are enjoying heaping the misery on the character - at least we saw Stanley! I'm glad he, unlike the rest of these characters, is able to stand on principle and refuse to work at Brightshine's Shortland St.

Speaking of Kate, wasn't she back for a longer stint? She's totally disappeared and you'd think this is a moment where Jack needs someone who's firmly in his corner, like his stepmother. She would definitely be useful to knock some sense into Jack for drinking the Rebecca kool aid. He is a complete idiot to believe her narrative, not realizing that she only sped things up after Chris's lawyer got in contact or that she got him to drop his complaint and, apparently, back her all the way.

Maeve is setting herself up for the same epic fall Jack had last year when Hamish's crimes were revealed after he'd spent months blindly defending him. But the complete 180 the character has done is pretty hard to reconcile with her previous activism, even accounting for the shock of losing her only child, her incarceration for murdering him, the end of her marriage and now possibly the abortion of her only grandchild.

[carld2]

Mar 7, 2023 11:03:01 GMT -5 justinate said:

Jack did look really offended, and realistically this is the kind of transgression you don't forgive, but you're probably right that Vili will get away with it especially if next week's spoilers mean what I think they mean.

SPOILER: Click to show

I have the feeling Vili is himself the victim of child sex abuse and that's why he's so paranoid about it. But it should not be an excuse for him to falsely accuse, insult and harass Jack. I hope Jack won't be expected to be the bigger person and wave off any need for an apology from Vili.

Did you catch that Tyler had been shipped off to a Brightshine "camp"? Are we thinking conversion camp? Rebecca is a well-established hypocrite of course but that would be a new low considering her own concurrent same-sex affair, subjecting a child to that kind of mistreatment. I was wondering if they'd have Vili "redeem" himself by investigating Tyler's absence and end up rescuing him from the conversion therapist. I would've liked it to be Jack but in this case I think he should steer well clear before he gets the People of the Valley treatment (where a gay teacher wanted to rescue his gay student with a crush on him from his homophobic dad but ended up sleeping with the lad and permanently labeled a groomer).

I don't think Reuben Milner wants to leave; he tried that once but came back and pretty much said he wants a lifelong career on Shorty, so unless the show has tired of writing for Jack, I'm optimistic this isn't leading up to a farewell. But they sure are enjoying heaping the misery on the character - at least we saw Stanley! I'm glad he, unlike the rest of these characters, is able to stand on principle and refuse to work at Brightshine's Shortland St.

Speaking of Kate, wasn't she back for a longer stint? She's totally disappeared and you'd think this is a moment where Jack needs someone who's firmly in his corner, like his stepmother. She would definitely be useful to knock some sense into Jack for drinking the Rebecca kool aid. He is a complete idiot to believe her narrative, not realizing that she only sped things up after Chris's lawyer got in contact or that she got him to drop his complaint and, apparently, back her all the way.

Maeve is setting herself up for the same epic fall Jack had last year when Hamish's crimes were revealed after he'd spent months blindly defending him. But the complete 180 the character has done is pretty hard to reconcile with her previous activism, even accounting for the shock of losing her only child, her incarceration for murdering him, the end of her marriage and now possibly the abortion of her only grandchild.

I definitely don't think that Reuben would leave by choice, but I had wondered if someone might have decided if the character had nowhere else to go. Then again that's true of at least 4 different characters currently on the canvas, and they're still around...

You're probably right about Viliami. And that would be another instance of a story that should have been about Jack ending up being about someone else. If that is where the story is going, they did a lousy job setting it up. What else is new at present.

I did think Kate would be on more often, after the interview the actress gave talking about going back to work, that and the clear hint of more Chris/Kate that was dropped. Maybe the story was ended abruptly, or they are just waiting until Brightshine is finally done.

Always good to see Stanley.

Maeve is another character sacrificed for the plot. I don't think the Rebekah/Maeve aspect was necessary for the storyline. They could have just as easily had Rebekah harboring feelings for Maeve and this leading her even deeper into a messianic complex.

I remember when this story started last year we heard that Brighsthine did not do conversion therapy, which absolutely means they do, as we wouldn't have heard it otherwise. It would be nice if Tyler could stay around, maybe get taken in by CeCe or something, but he'll be lucky to survive the story without killing himself.

[dylan]

Conversion therapy is banned in New Zealand, so Brightshine is also committing a crime in that case (not that it's the only crime they're committing/have committed)

[cupid]

Yeah, but is it conversion therapy, or is it *nudge nudge wink wink* bible studies camp. Where you happen to end up feeling very ashamed of who you are.

[justinate]

Is the implication today that Jack was the one who outed Rebecca? I'm sure they wanted it to be the twist but it made no sense. Last we saw, he was still completely snowed by Rebecca and oblivious to how she'd manipulated him into dropping his complaint about the interns' incompetence and had only hastened the dropping of the false allegation after Chris's lawyers contacted her office. If he wised up to both those things offscreen, I hope they at least have him explain or flash back to it. Otherwise there's going to be all sorts of opprobrium coming his way.

Also, I guess Brightshine is trying to embellish its supposedly progressive credentials by letting Rebecca keep her lesbian romance - I will admit I didn't see that coming. Rebecca trying to convert an unwilling Maeve into a Brightshiner though - entirely predictable.

Another thing I didn't see coming - Esther being ill with the same disease as Marty and Rahu's brother. How on earth could she have caught it? And also, if Marty had only just been exposed to whatever it was, how the heck did his condition deteriorate so much more rapidly - and seemingly more severely too, if he's having kidney failure?

Three twists in one episode - I will say the show is keeping me on my toes.

[cupid]

I think we're supposed to think that's the implication, but that actually Jack went and told Rebekah what people were saying and she then let it out, keeping her in control of the situation.

[dylan]

Yeah that true. They would need someone to testify that the camp involved conversion therapy.

Wow, what is the matter with Jack? I really don't get him these days.

[justinate]

Mar 8, 2023 13:24:06 GMT -5 cupid said:

I think we're supposed to think that's the implication, but that actually Jack went and told Rebekah what people were saying and she then let it out, keeping her in control of the situation.

You're better than this than I am - didn't guess that was Jack's motive.

But I'm irritated why neither Chris nor Nicole tell Jack and Maeve, respectively, what exactly Rebecca has done - now that Drew and Nicole's affair is public knowledge, there is nothing holding them back from revealing that Rebecca was blackmailing Drew over it to force through her anti-abortion policy.

Of course, it's as dumb as Drew and Nicole not figuring out who might've spilled the beans to Rebecca about their affair when the only other person they'd told is their therapist, who is a known Brightshiner!

I really, really hope Maeve is playing Rebecca because her conversion to Brightshine is just so beyond the pale.

[dylan]

It's so frustrating that they've made all the characters so inept and helpless just to prop up this Brightshine storyline. Now Monique knows that she's been recording the "therapy" sessions, but is she going to tell anyone? Probably not. And Jack thinks it's GOOD that what's-his-name was sent to that camp? I just don't get these characters.

[dylan]

Eating my words after today's episode. That was brilliant!

[justinate]

I feel so perplexed by the latest episodes. So Rebekah is the one who murdered Wilder, not Scott - even though we watched him drown Wilder?

And I thought they were going to keep Rebekah in the wind, to return and rain chaos at a later date - not have Maeve fall into bed with her again.

There've been a lot of disgruntled fans expressing their unhappiness with the show's new look, but the producer reveals that ratings have gone up. I'll be honest: I'm not thrilled about the direction for Jack, and that's ultimately my main discussion point here, but overall I do find myself more engaged in the show than I have in a long time - like I'm actually curious to know what happens next, even in dumb stories like Logan's parents and diblings.
www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/tv-radio/131489454/shortland-street-producer-oliver-driver-defends-criticism-about-shows-new-look

[dylan]

There are a lot of bizarre turns in this story that haven't made much sense. I'm so glad this is finally coming to an end.

Jack has become so insufferable lately. I don't get why they are writing him like this. The fact that he sided with Rebecca over and over again was baffling.

[carld2]

Jack is just written for whatever suits the plot, plots that seem to have less and less to do with him. I was more put off with how blatantly he was used to advance Viliami's story than anything with Rebekah.

I also think it was a lazy choice to reveal Rebekah as Wilder's killer when we saw Scott do so. Just felt like trying to throw more drama on.

I found the interview with the producer to be defensive, and also very thin. No one is criticizing the show for its "new look" because the new look only lasted for about two weeks.

The choice of the Brightshine story to dominate so much wasn't the worst idea, but what made it worse the choice of backup stories, like Logan's creepy sister and the stuff with Esther and Marty which managed to be depressing and completely forced and lacking in genuine feeling (as you knew they were never going to be happy together and their reunion never felt believable in the first place).

There's just something not right at the core of the show at present, especially in way of the relationships.

[justinate]

Oh the producer's definitely on the defensive, but people online do seem vocally opposed to the changes. I agree that hardly anything has changed about the look of the hospital - you'd think they'd have taken the opportunity to change the paint scheme at least, maybe some of the layout - but nope. Everything from the reception desk to the break room to ED to the CEO's office look identical. The only set that's changed - or rather been eliminated - is the IV, replaced by a new eatery, and the addition of Chris's new penthouse. (There was more of a change when Chris's previous house burned down, and we got the set that's now Drew and Harper's place.)

I still don't understand why they made Rebekah the killer of Wilder. Maeve would still have blamed her since Scott didn't act on his own, his orders came from the top - which is Rebekah.

I guess Logan/Dawn and TK/Cece (what little we see of the latter) are currently the stable couples. We seem to be rid of Daisy but replaced her with the even more irritating Stevie Lee. Do we need so many characters connected to Logan? When Jack can't even get a boyfriend?

I don't care for Marty and Esther but even for the most solid couple (which they never were) it was too much to throw at them right after their wedding. I also want to know how Esther's kids are fine when they were also in the contaminated water with her and Marty?

Maybe things will improve now that Chris is back in the CEO's chair - although I do think there is something grating about portraying the only person who can set the hospital to rights as the same straight white man who led it into any number of scandals over the years - while the Maori man and the lesbian woman are turfed out.

[carld2]

Mar 19, 2023 12:08:05 GMT -5 justinate said:

Maybe things will improve now that Chris is back in the CEO's chair - although I do think there is something grating about portraying the only person who can set the hospital to rights as the same straight white man who led it into any number of scandals over the years - while the Maori man and the lesbian woman are turfed out.

I wonder if this is all an attempt at overcompensating for the negative response the whole story about Chris' white privilege forcing him out of the CEO position received.

[cupid]

Well the lesbian was only ever going to be short term - that was a story with an end date. And wanting that story to run was what removed TK, but yeah, they've made their choice about who should be in charge for now. We'll see if there's an underlying reason for that or just putting a status quo in place.

[carls]

They have a real problem with writing storylines and relationships for Jack. Most of his relationships have been short-lived, and every so often the writers will start to build something up or hint at something, but then completely forget it. I think apart of the issue is that his love interests are often guest characters so the relationships don't last, like are they unwilling to get him with a core character?? I don't see why he can't have a relationship that lasts longer than one month. But tbh, even when his love interests have been main characters (such as Lincoln), the writers find some way to mess it up. Also, I feel like the writers seem kind of uninvested in him. It just feels like he's...there lol.