Sons & Daughters Watching/rewatching/discussing The Aussie Hit Show

Richard Channing

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Uh-oh...
View attachment 17072

Seriously now, should we do 2 Watching S&D threads? One for first-time watching and the other for the re-watchers? Not that I remember everything that happened, but I don't care about spoilers since I probably wouldn't have a clue what it's all about. Or at least I'd get excited about all those things to come.

It's the first time round for me but I'm just skipping posts that look like they'll have spoilers in them. I'll probably go back and read them when I'm caught up. Which won't take long the rate I'm going. It does get rather addictive! And I am more and more fascinated by Patricia. She's a pretty complex character with many layers to her. I also have a real soft spot for Kevin! The actor who plays him is great actually. Anyway, I'm on episode 75 now and will certainly watch a few more tonight.
 

Mel O'Drama

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This is part of the fun of random viewing, I suppose. We're all at different stages. But weirdly not all that far apart from each other. I hit Episode 85 last night, so I'm probably about half a dozen episodes ahead of you Richard. And I'm guessing Alexis is a little ahead of me. Willie has watched perhaps two months' worth of real time episodes more than I have. I have a feeling you'll all be miles ahead of me within a few weeks.

It's a rewatch for me. I've forgotten a heck of a lot, which isn't surprising given I think I've only watched the first half of the series once in full. So I'm just treating Willie's synopses as teasers for the goodness to come.
 

Willie Oleson

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Yes, it wouldn't be much fun to split this thread in two camps, maybe we could start every new post with the approx episode number?
I'd hate to post everything in hidden spoiler blocks.
Willie has watched perhaps two months' worth of real time episodes more than I have.
Not really, tonight I'll start with # 115.
 

Mel O'Drama

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Mel O'Drama

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Per week ??:yikey:

Yep. Is that shocked because it's a lot? Or shocked because it's ridiculously slow compared to our current rate of watching it?


Wikipedia tells me...

The series was broadcast on the Seven Network, initially four days a week for half an hour at 19:00, but in later years, in two one-hour shows per week, and finally in one hour-long show per week, although this varied in different parts of Australia.



I'm averaging four a night this week.

That's a nice pace to be going on with, RC. A week's worth of episodes per night. You're lucky that you get to feed your addiction as needed. Back when it first aired, my local network showed just three per week. That five day gap between Friday and Wednesday's episode was sooooo long.
 

Alexis

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I just checked my YouTube history and found out where I left off. I do watch a whole lot of crap on there, it took quite some scrolling back to find it. Turns out it was episode 80... Should have been easier to remember than that I think. Anyways I am gonna go watch some more tonight and then probably more tomorrow when I am off too.
 
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Willie Oleson

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Well, mother is back, chewing the scenery like there's no tomorrow.
Lying, bluffing, conniving, intimidating - it makes me smile from ear to ear.

One of my favourite scenes from the previous episodes is when Beryl shows Kevin the nursery-in-progress, which used to be his bedroom.
It's not a big emotional scene or anything, but it shows that he has burnt his bridges, it's the end of his childhood.
Somehow it brought a lump to my throat.
 

Mel O'Drama

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#91

As the episode count hits the early nineties, things are sooooo good. The sudden eruption of conflict as a result of the partnership at Woombai has brought out the best in everyone.

Patricia has gone full on Lady Macbeth. She's just marvellous when she's cornered and faces losing it all. Ruthless, manipulative and so very, very good at both. She never ceases to impress me. The only thing I don't approve is is that she reads magazines backwards, which drives me to distraction.

Fiona has had some fantastic scenes too, which have tied in with earlier revelations about her lost child. As I said before, seeing Pat McDonald as Dorrie since my last watch has really given me an appreciation that she can play these two very different roles.

Rob's arrival too has thrown some interesting new dynamics in. I'm enjoying the friction between he and John in particular.
 

Willie Oleson

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The sudden eruption of conflict as a result of the partnership at Woombai has brought out the best in everyone.
Yes, the fact that the show's "fairy godmother" became everyone's #1 enemy was such a fascinating development.
But now I feel it has affected Jill the most of all characters.
 

Julia's Gun

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As the episode count hits the early nineties, things are sooooo good. The sudden eruption of conflict as a result of the partnership at Woombai has brought out the best in everyone.

Patricia has gone full on Lady Macbeth. She's just marvellous when she's cornered and faces losing it all. Ruthless, manipulative and so very, very good at both. She never ceases to impress me. The only thing I don't approve is is that she reads magazines backwards, which drives me to distraction.

Fiona has had some fantastic scenes too, which have tied in with earlier revelations about her lost child. As I said before, seeing Pat McDonald as Dorrie since my last watch has really given me an appreciation that she can play these two very different roles.

Rob's arrival too has thrown some interesting new dynamics in. I'm enjoying the friction between he and John in particular.

Ep: 87

Oooh this is quite exciting, i'm just trying to catch up with you dudes in the episode count with Mel o'drama. Loved seeing Pat manipulating Gordon, making out she still loved him, but just getting him to reveal where he really stood with Babs - it reminded me so much of Abby with Gary in Seasons 2 & 3 of Knots - playing the innocent and saying they've always loved their man, (to postpone the divorce in this case) but really totally manipulating them inside out and being just as deceitful they've always been - I'm just hoping Gordon & Babs will really get it together - their noses are just the same size and they really are a match made in Heaven... Is this going to happen (Spoilers most welcome...!)
 

Mel O'Drama

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#100

It's far too easy to watch at the moment. Somehow I've watched ten episodes today, and it doesn't feel like it at all.



And yet another hunk with gorgeous hair joins the cast of S&D.


I must confess I'm not paying too much much attention to his scenes. All I know is that Lynn doesn't like him and he has a piece of paper. John aside, the younger Palmers seem to have the scrapings off the storyline floor at the moment.


And after watching episode 100 I feel a new chapter has begun. Some feuds will end, some others will intensify - but the innocent days are definitely gone.

I've finally made it into three figures as of this evening. How exciting.


, the fact that the show's "fairy godmother" became everyone's #1 enemy was such a fascinating development.

Yes. It's good to see Fiona with some bite. Thank goodness for Poligrip, eh?


But now I feel it has affected Jill the most of all characters.

This could be a good thing, I think.


Loved seeing Pat manipulating Gordon, making out she still loved him, but just getting him to reveal where he really stood with Babs - it reminded me so much of Abby with Gary in Seasons 2 & 3 of Knots - playing the innocent and saying they've always loved their man, (to postpone the divorce in this case) but really totally manipulating them inside out and being just as deceitful they've always been

There are definite similarities there. And each feels very truthful and organic.


their noses are just the same size and they really are a match made in Heaven...

Awww. That's beautiful.


Is this going to happen (Spoilers most welcome...!)

Well...
 

Willie Oleson

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... - 125

"Gordon kept you on here out of sympathy. It'll soon become obvious to him that you're as out of place here as all the other old junk that was dragged up from Woombai".
upload_2019-7-12_23-31-28.png

Patricia is eating antagonists for breakfast, but this is really nothing compared to what she's going to do to Barbara.

We must avoid tension, nothing should upset the bride-to-be or jeopardize the wedding plans! Thankfully, Angela is very capable of upsetting herself.
What a perfect timing to fall in love with the very tall gardener with the dramatic vibration in his voice.
But eventually it's going to happen, THE Sons & Daughters wedding (sorry Kevin, sorry Susan), and they're really making the most of it.
Various soundtracks are being used, it starts with a jazzy version of the S&D intro during the wedding ceremony and it ends with a disco-in-the-background-sound - and there's some nice cinematography going on.
upload_2019-7-12_23-50-8.png


These 2 episodes seem particularly vintage, and Jill looks gorgeous in her blue Dynasty dress (not in this picture).
upload_2019-7-12_23-52-16.png


And then there's the whole melancholic idea of having most of the cast together in one place, gosh...it's such a long time ago.

Susan is waiting outside the hospital room (Beryl's doctor could make a description of the flu symptoms sound like the most horrible disease ever) and for the sake of reality there's an extra walking in the corridor. But there's something about this "faceless" man...
upload_2019-7-13_0-7-10.png
 

Mel O'Drama

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Watching a series on YouTube is quite a novelty, as I mentioned before. I'm enjoying the additional interactive angle of reading the comments section as I go along.

Some are just plain funny (a favourite of mine from an earlier episode simply read "Fiona has huge feet"). Others have got me thinking a bit. Like this one...

Patricia doesn't love anyone except herself. She just wants to own people. I like an evil character, but not if they don't have at least 1 good quality about them. There is absolutely nothing to like about her, or any reason to ever feel sorry for her.

There is a ring of truth to what they say about Patricia not loving anyone but herself. She does love, of course. Perhaps Angela and David most of all. But through a very distorted filter. Much of her behaviour at this point could be seen as fuelled by narcissism. There's probably a good argument for borderline sociopathy, should anyone care to make it.

What makes a difference though, is that the combination of acting and writing allows me to see Patricia's side of things. I may not share her outlook but I can understand it enough to know that she feels justified in a lot of her actions. And while I may not approve of those actions, they're completely in character given what I know about Patricia and her perception of the world around her.

As for there being nothing to like about her. Well on that level there's been nothing but praise for her in this thread. Even in the last few posts...

Well, mother is back, chewing the scenery like there's no tomorrow.
Lying, bluffing, conniving, intimidating - it makes me smile from ear to ear.
Patricia has gone full on Lady Macbeth. She's just marvellous when she's cornered and faces losing it all. Ruthless, manipulative and so very, very good at both. She never ceases to impress me.
Loved seeing Pat manipulating Gordon, making out she still loved him, but just getting him to reveal where he really stood with Babs
 

Willie Oleson

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There is a ring of truth to what they say about Patricia not loving anyone but herself. She does love, of course. Perhaps Angela and David most of all. But through a very distorted filter. Much of her behaviour at this point could be seen as fuelled by narcissism. There's probably a good argument for borderline sociopathy, should anyone care to make it.
I've been thinking about this after I watched the wedding episodes. A lot of the characters behaviour and motives is influenced by the story, of course.
It's actually surprising that she fell in love with David all over again, considering that she once hated him for being unemployed and lacking the same ambitions that she had.
Then again, they are not in that situation anymore.
Right now I think the show want her to be the no holds barred villain, and she's more a female JR than the Australian Alexis.

She wants the best for Angela, but it seems like a substitute for the life that she didn't have when she was young, and it blurs the distinction between love and control.
Patricia didn't want to have anything to do with John, once she realised that she had to (for family reasons) she started to control him too.

The way she lies and pretends and manipulates so effortlessly can only be interpreted as psychopathic, imho. In this regard she's very much like Alexis.
They're so devious they can even convince themselves that it's all about love - or whatever "good" reason.
The dinner scene when she pretends to be upset because of James' death (hoping that Gordon would agree with her "time off"), the thing with the soup and Rosie was so catty and funny.
Starts at 12:42

Like I said, it also depends on the current plotlines, and as we know she'll be on the receiving end of soapy shenanigans and misery later on in the series.
 

Mel O'Drama

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I wonder, how does Neighbours compare to Sons & Daugthers? Does it have memorable characters?

Half the cast was probably in S&D at some point!


Had Neighbours and Home And Away run for six or seven years like most Aussie soaps up to the late Eighties the entire series would be considered as iconic as S&D, Prisoner and the others. Unfortunately, they've run so long, the franchises are somewhat diluted in terms of truly memorable characters.

But if we focus on just the early years, then there are no end of them...














They didn't have the same degree of wild melodrama as the Hamiltons in those days, but they were very enjoyable indeed. And more than a little memorable.
 
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