Shortland Street

[Bright Eyes]

Another question that just popped into my head. With Jimmy mentioning getting a lawyer against Bella, has this show ever had court scenes? There haven't been any for the three years I've been watching.

[Dion]

I'm guessing you're not counting Mo's court appearance as they didn't actually show him in court (only in the waiting room).

But yes, the show has done several court scenes over the years:

1995 - Hone Ropata goes on trial for murder after punching his nephew's gang member friend, causing his death in the 1994 finale. He was acquitted. To be honest, Hone should have been charged with manslaughter and I think today would have definitely received a short prison term.

1997 - Caroline Buxton goes on trial for murder of her friend Annabel Lustwick. Caroline had helped MS sufferer Annabel kill herself in a euthanasia storyline, but was accused of murder and convicted in the 1997 season finale. Evidence later proved that Anabel had been planning on killing herself for some time, thus corroborating Caroline's story. She was released from prison. Like Hone, if Caroline had been charged with a lesser crime (Assisted suicide in this case), she'd have gotten approximately a year's sentence, but the crafty writers got her out of this situation by having her being accused of murder rather than euthanasia.

2004 - Victor Kahu faced his second murder charge in less than two years when accused of killing Geoff Greenlaw. Highlights of the trial included Judy Brownlee leaking his name to the press (in revenge for the way he'd treated the now dead Anne) and Li Mei Chen perjuring herself to give Victor an alibi. Victor was found guilty, but was released on CHristmas Day after it emerged Dominic had killed Geoff.

2009 - Maia had confessed to killing Ethan Pierce. However the judge decided that given Maia's recent mental instabilites, her confession was unreliable and threw it out of court. Thus the case against Maia collapsed.

I don't think we saw any court scenes while Chris was in prison, we mainly saw him in prison on remand.

[Dion]

I don't think it's a real show. It sounds like it's something along the lines of Scandal or Revenge.

Maybe it'll become a recurring reference like 'Tides of the Heart' in the 90s

[Dion]

Part 2 in my series of characters that went from frontburner to footnote, this time we look at Dr Frank Malone. While not as overly dominant in storylines as Anne was, Frank was on the frontburner for most of his time on the show, even though his storylines (besides his relationship with Rachel) ultimately had no long-term consequences.

Frank joined the show in mid 1997 during an era of the show that can now be defined by the absence of one character (Chris Warner). Fulfilling the role of 'doctor with a social conscience' (a role filled by TK now) Frank was first seen running his own community clinic and was hesitant to join the private clinic that was Shortland Street then. A brief flirtation with Grace Kwan led nowhere as she soon departed (but not until after accidentally chopping her own finger off whilst on the phone with Frank - "FRAAANK I've chopped my finger off!" and having it stiched back on).

We soon learned more of Frank's past when his ex lover Bridget Hastings arrived. They had split up after Frank's sister had died (I'm a bit hazy on the details, but IIRC Frank had caused his siter's death in a drink driving accident). Frank and Bridget eventually reconciled, but split soon after as Bridget was more interested in David Kearney.

A one night stand with Donna Heka also went nowhere (beginning to sense a theme here!) but by early 1999 Frank was embroiled in a love triangle with Rachel and Daniel Buchanan. At this time, Shortland Street clinic had been defrauded of $1 million by Oscar Henry and Frank (acting CEO while David was away) brokered a deal with Central CEO John Harlan (Played by Matt Chamberlain who now plays Murray!) that almost made Shortland Street into a satellite of Central. Rachel and Frank clashed over this deal, but in the end David returned and put a stop to it meaning Shortland Street would remain a private clinic (for another two years anyway).

Daniel eventually left town and Rachel and Frank got together. Like Rachel, Frank had a drinking problem, but whereas Rachel had already admitted this to herself and been sober for about two years at that point, Frank stubbornly refused to deal with it. Eventually Rachel received a job offer in the US and decided to take it, marking the first of her exits. Frank then drunkenly hooked up with Aleesha Cook.

After learning Rachel had reconciled with Daniel and married him, Frank made plans to move to Antarctica, but these plans fell through when Aleesha turned up in the 1999 cliffhanger saying she was pregnant to him. Frank turned out not to be the father after all and a will they - won't they developed with new clinic boss Sofia Martinez, a former hotel manager who was now running the clinic on behalf of it's new owners. Frank was initially suspicious of Sofia, but was convinced she was working in the best interests of the clinic after she used her own money to buy new premises after the old clinic succumbed to liquefaction after the 2000 earthquake and had to be condemned. The two finally hooked up, but despite the writers spending months of building their relationship, they were over within weeks. During this time, Christopher Hobbs (who played Frank) was also joined on the show by his two sisters who were playing characters totally unrelated to Frank.

Another attraction between Frank and Dr Cassie Moore then developed, but in the meantime, Frank had become involved with a married woman (I forget all these characters names so please bare with me). Cassie found the woman's husband bludgeoned and was briefly accused of the crime, but it was the wife who was guilty. However she quickly died of CJD (commonly referred to as mad cow disease). Cassie and Frank hooked up soon after that, but he was attacked by the son of a deceased patient and left for dead in the 2000 finale.

Cassie tried to help Frank but he suffered from mood swings as a result of his brain injury and quickly cast her aside for Rachel when Rachel returned. Daniel then turned up wanting Rachel back and Rachel cast Frank aside. Frank then left town, telling Rachel never to bother her again if things didn't work out with Rachel. Rachel soon decided to dump Daniel and stayed in Ferndale, eventually growing closer to Chris...

[Bright Eyes]

Great write up, Dion. The finger chopping scene sounds like a must see. LoL I also love that Shorty went and gave someone mad cow disease. Did they ever deal with SARS? This Frank, frankly, sounds like a bit of a boor and a bore. What did you think of this Daniel person? Do you think Chris is truly Rachel's best pairing? If so, anyone you perceive to be a close runner up?

As for today, my eyes lit up in shock when Pania murdered Caleb outright. She has damn lost her mind. I am loving this story.

Edited July 17, 2015 by Bright Eyes

[Dion]

I don't recall the show ever dealing with SARS - possibly because the outbreak was contained pretty quickly (within a year). CJD is a different story as its been more of an ongoing thing. Yeah you are right about Frank. I didn't like Daniel much either - a bit too Chris lite for me.

I guess Chris is Rachel's best romantic pairing, though part of that is due to longevity. However, Rachel's best pairing overall I think was with Nick Harrison, which was interesting because it was completely platonic except for a three week period after Rachel got struck by lightning (After being struck by lightning Rachel suddenly decided she was in love with Nick and pursued him, despite Nick trying all sorts of methods to turn her off. Nick finally caved and the two got into bed but Rachel got another electric shock and came back to her senses before they could do anything much to Nick's relief). I liked it when Rachel started mentoring Evan Cooper because Nick and Evan are a lot alike so it made sense to me.

After Chris, Rachel's best romantic pairing was probably with Rangi Heremaia. I'd go so far as to say that it was also Rachel's most passionate pairing. They were on-off for over a year back in '96, constantly breaking up and getting back together. But ultimately they were too toxic for each other. After Rangi was temporarily paralysed in an accident, Rachel felt obligated to stay with him and began drinking heavily for the first time. Rangi eventually left Rachel and she spiralled out of control, eventually resulting in Nick intervening and calling her father (also an alcoholic) in to help.

[Bright Eyes]

I really liked Rachel mentoring Evan, too. It was another good instance of how well this show evolves their characters.

I only just saw the promo for next week on Facebook. It seems I shouldn't have counted Caleb out yet. Whatever happens (yeah, he'll probably bite it), I know the one hour Monday episode is not going to disappoint. Kylie isn't going to have to grow eyes on the back of head, poor thing.

[Bright Eyes]

"Do you remember Michael Jackson?"

Today's episode was so, so good. Kylie needs to play a better game though if she doesn't want to be Pania's next victim. If only Brooke were around to teach her how to get this bitch.

I have my problems with Dana, but her and sexy Curtis do have loads of chemistry.

[Dion]

Oh yes, lately I've been wishing Brooke was still around.

[Dion]

Switching the bodies and having Caleb cremated was quite low for Pania (though obviously not as low as murder lol), taking into account traditional Maori cultural beliefs concerning burial.

How long will it be before Margaret lands herself a job at Shortland Street....

[Bright Eyes]

Margaret was annoying shoving herself as if she had never left. What most annoyed me though was where she thought the remotes should go. How the hell did it make any sense to keep them so far away from the TV? That's grounds for divorce! LoL However, the actress was great when she and Mo had that big argument. And yes, I'm sure she'll be working for Shorty in the next couple weeks.

Pania is going to rot in hell and I can't wait to see TK get burned in the process. I'm actually surprised Clementine has managed to stay so quiet about all of this. Surely that girl will end up singing like a canary to someone soon enough.

[Dion]

Clementine is following in the hallowed footsteps of Shortland Street's original young receptionist archetype Kirsty Knight, spreading the gossip when it suits but also having a switch that turns to detective/secret keeper mode. The incident with the thieves several months ago was classic Kirsty, as was her confrontation with Pania when Pania was bullying Bella.

[Dion]

Part 3 in my ongoing series "From frontburner to footnote".

This time we look at a relatively recent character, that being Nicole's long forgotten half-sister Morgan Braithwaite.

Morgan was introduced in 2008, towards the end of the Ferndale strangler story as new nurse that also happened to be an old girlfriend of Joey Henderson. She popped up for a few episodes basically declared her love for Joey and then disappeared from the screen, returning several months later as the purchaser of Joey's drawings (interestingly it was implied that she'd been working at Shortland Street all along just off screen).

Gerald bullied her for a while, but the two eventually became friends and slept together. Unfortunately for Morgan, soon afterwards Gerald discovered his asexuality and after trying celibacy for a while, Morgan slept with Hunter McKay. Gerald and Morgan broke up. After a brief flirtation with another guy who also happened to be asexual Morgan eventually took up with Hunter again.

Morgan faced money problems and entered into a somewhat dubious surrogacy arrangement with her friends Trent and Cindy (Commercial surrogacy is forbidden in NZ and couples must also go through ECART - Ethics Committee on Assisted Reproduction Technology if they want a legal surrogacy arrangement - this explains the details http://www.smithpartners.co.nz/library/articles/family-law/what-is-surrogacy-understanding-the-process-and-law-in-new-zealand/).

As ECART (or merely the ethics committee as it was referred to on the show) had turned down the surrogacy attempt due to Morgan never having given birth before, Morgan impersonated Cindy and had an IVF plantation and was soon pregnant with triplets. Hunter couldn't handle all this and soon split with Morgan.

After Trent and CIndy suggested aborting one of the triplets so the other two would have a better chance, Morgan decided to keep them herself and married Gerald partly so as to be in a better position to keep the triplets (as surrogacy is pretty much treated like a normal adoption anyway, it was not strictly necessary for her to marry Gerald as Morgan had all the legal rights to keep them) and partly as they still had feelings for each other. In the end though, Morgan gave birth prematurely and give the triplets to Trent and Cindy anyway.

Gerald and Morgan seperated, and Morgan soon found herself a new friend in the form of Nicole Miller (A character who of course would end up being totally insignifcant ). Both Gerald and Hunter were suspicious of Nicole and thought she may have had romantic feelings for her as Nicole's bisexuality was established early on. However, Nicole soon revealed she was in fact Morgan's half sister (Leanne's husband had cheated with Morgan's mother).

Kieran Mitchell's brother Sean (posing as the other mitchell brother Sid for reasons that I forget) showed an interest in Morgan as Christmas approached. Meanwhile Nicole had wanted Morgan to join her family for christmas, but this was turned down by Leanne (then an offscreen character of course). And so Morgan wound up at the fateful 2009 Shortland Street Christmas party. Chasing after Tania who was upset that her ex boyfriend had hooked up with her mother, Morgan had the misfortune of being run over by Kieran Mitchell as he desperately raced to stop Sean from burning down the IV. Kieran, who had a passed out Rachel in the car with him, put Rachel in the drivers seat and took off. The last episode of 2009 then ended with the chilling close up of dead Morgan.

While the storyline dealing with the aftermath of Morgan's death did occupy a fair chunk of 2010, once Kieran died it seemed that everyone else forgot all about her. Even Nicole does not mention her poor deceased half-sister all that often. I was hoping that Nicole might name her baby Morgan (it's even a gender neutral name), but alas that was not meant to be. The nature of her death (and that it was only five years ago) does mean that she does mean she has a place in some fans memories, but honestly that's more to do with the fact that Kieran killed her.

[Dion]

And we're back after a downtime lasting several days while they updated the forum.

Well Thursday's cliffhanger with poor Clementine's hand certainly got people talking. I'm glad she turned out to be alive though. But now it looks like she may be permanently paralysed.

[Bright Eyes]

What I know of Morgan, other than being Nicole's half sister and Kieran killing her, is all in the brief scene of one of the fabulous montages on YouTube, where Kieran and Ash from Home and Away are hanging off of a cliff and Nicole tells the guy with her to let "Ash" fall because he killed Morgan, to which Kieran finally admits it was him. I was shocked that a good character like Nicole was allowed to be so callous in that moment.

 

Speaking of callous, Pania was fantastically vicious to Kylie today.

 

As a rare negative aspect, Clem and Alex's exit felt so abrupt. Clem was never a particular favourite of mine, and the show truly did surprise me by having her actually be hurt, but getting rid of Alex as well seems unnecessary. Plus, it is really odd to have Lucy's apartment, which has always been full of merry-go-round roommates since I began watching, left with her as the only tenant.

Edited August 8, 2015 by Bright Eyes