The Archers Thread September 2015 - The One Where Helen Kicks Rob In The Balls?

[PseudoBadger]

Wishful thinking. I think she's in it for the long haul

Tom stood up to Rob about the cattle Rob had bought and quite right too. Rob had no business spending huge amounts on cattle that had nothing to do with the farm's ethos off his own bat.
The difference now is that Pat'n'Tone have handed the farm to Tom and Helen but Helen has a husband in tow so Tom is in a very unfair position and there seems to be an assumption that Rob has voting rights somehow. He must be worried about Rob's influence if Rob and Helen can somehow outvote him.
I feel that Old Tom would have shot his bolt too soon and Rob would have beaten him down quite easily. New Tom seems more likely to play a long game.

It's been unremitting misery for a while. Roy's marriage break up, Tom's nearly marriage, Kate being useless at everything, Ruth and David dithering re farm sale, Heather's stroke, Kenton's overspending, the flood, the Rob story, the road, Hazel and the shop, none of the elderly Ambridge inhabitants seem capable of living on their own in their own houses, Pip being unable to stick with her career plan, Matt running off with Lilian's money.
I think the script writers believe "realism" = everyone on prozac. The only time anyone is cheerful these days is when they are drunk.
It has stopped being entertainment whilst I prepare dinner so i rarely bother and listen to Brian Burnett on radio Scotland playing golden oldies instead. It all started to go wrong when they killed Nigel.

That's true, there is an unfeasible divorce/widowing ratio. I can only think of Kenton who's divorced. Not sure on Robert Snell? There must be others.

2rebecca SOC is ex-EastEnders - what else could we expect?

LilG is completely right as ever. Although, while I look forward to the boarding school story it can't realistically happen for at least three years.

R4 so glad to see we share a common vision of Brookfield's future.

Robert
Oliver
Emma + Will
Jennifer
Debbie
Jolene
Kathy?
Roy + Hayley soon
Kate soon.

Probably missed some ...

Robert
Oliver
Emma + Will - forgot them, seemed to barely count!
Jennifer - I didn't know she'd been married before
Debbie - she was married? to whom?
Jolene - thought she was widowed? Was she married to Fallon's dad then?
Kathy? - True, but she's barely in it now is she
Roy + Hayley soon - potentially
Kate soon - yep

2rebecca - Ed and Emma's wedding was nice. But barely seemed to break through.

I have a theory that Knob doesn't give a shiny shit about the stock in the shop, he's let Helen go to the dinner so that he gets overruled and now can argue with her about it. He is designing situations to level a quarrel at her, and she can't do anything to stop it. The cheese thing was his way of again asserting himself over her. He has no intention of going back to work, and it's just going to get worse and worse for her.

Oh also Ed lost his cows when Mike sold up and Tony had his accident

Could his meeting-avoidance be to do with cementing his new hold over Pat? So if Helen tells her he's overbearing, her mum won't believe it?

I suspect that the dinner thing was, in Rob's mind, a bit of a test for Helen - does she believe in him enough to put his ideas forward properly, she can't have done so, how disappointing that she didn't live up to his standards of wifely duty. Maybe it's all because she's working too hard, maybe she should let him take over with the cheese, and why worry her pretty little head about getting vegetarian rennet when it's so much easier and cheaper to use animal rennet?

I really want her not to be pregnant, I can't bear Knob strutting around being proud of his potency - and I particularly don't want any suggestion at all that his rape is validated by the wonders of Helen being privileged to become the mother of mini-Knob.

Oh, and shall we take bets now on whether the shop will open by half term or whether it will be a mess of builder's rubble? Or are the odds too short?

Meanwhile, on twitter....

The QI Elves ??@qikipedia 52 minutes ago
Female sharks can store sperm for four years before using it to fertilise their eggs.

A tip for Hellin maybe...

He didn't go to the dinner because four of them is too big a group for him to control. He prefers to pick them off one by one or when he and H can out-vote Tom 2 to 1. Plus, yes, I think it was a test of Helen's loyalty.

I wonder if we'll hear tonight that Henry wet the bed..?

I think the whole storyline is still being done in a very subtle way, especially now with the ambiguity in Helen's responses.

And I do think that it'll be Tom who stands up to him, maybe after a little chat with Charlie.

How old is Helen? They might make her pregnant and then have a miscarriage so Rob can put her under more pressure to stay at home.

She's 36 (i looked it up, I'm not weird or anything). i thought about a miscarriage too but when was Ruth's? Just last year?

Me too squeaver but things do happen at the same time, or nearly, don't they? It could in RL.

Yet they still needed a man to play the organ....

Helen twigged pretty quick that knob was being a knob. Master stroke from rob re the adoption. Will that drive her over the edge?

She's going to have to say yes to adoption, isn't she?

Wow, excellent call upthread about Knob wanting to adopt Henry. How on earth will she get out of that one?

Apart from LTB, there is no way she can say no to the adoption.

He's not happy about her not voting for his opinions at the meeting (unanimous) and that Pat and Tony are still involved. The calling back from night out on a petty/non-issue is a good plot development. I have sadly seen that tactic used in real life (not to me thankfully). He has a long way to quash her yet- she is remaking friends with Emma, much to his disgust and didn't stick up for his views. I liked the way it was written/played that he sneered subtly at the Sufferagettes.

And I can't believe how shockingly rude Lillian was to poor Jill. I really really hated Lillian at that point.

Also- the Jennifer investigating John T's death thing mentioned in this thread, mysteriously resurrected in the script tonight. Are they are using this thread for inspiration?

Hmmm, what would we like them to mention....

She can get out of the adoption easily. Poor little Henry might feel usurped by the new baby so why don't we wait til then and have a naming ceremony for the both of them together.

Didn't Phil teach Pip how to play the organ?

Pip used to be an organist- I remember because my nephew is too.

She can definitely play the piano well. Maybe the little ladies felt safer with a man on the premises.

I thought the mention of Patrick was odd and unnecessary