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

I can understand Pat's shift in behaviour. She knows that the clan are stuck with Rob, now that he has married in. She's trying to make the best of it because she thinks it will make Helen happy.
You wonder what Rob's motivation is. He had it all but he's blown it by being too greedy - by rushing the marriage, rushing the adoption, rushing the pregnancy. (rushing the pregnancy - ain't that a euphemism!)

Brilliant summary by Gruach and BYOS. She's spent so long bigging up Knob and slapping down his critics she doesn't know how to perform a u-turn and she doesn't think anyone will believe her. What she doesn't know, and that is the brilliant dramatic irony of the situation, is that it would only take one word for almost all of Ambridge (Jim, Shula, Christine, Johnny, Ian, Tom, PC Plod who am I forgetting??) to start voicing their own disquiet. Many people have seen Knob's nasty side and also the way he makes them feel unable to speak out. Once she cracks she will find she has many sympathisers who will find her story only too easy to believe. Who will she confide in? My money's on Johnny - or possibly Ian which will prompt an immediate retaliation from Knob spelling the beans over Adam and Charlie.

The way I hear it, she isn't that sure herself that he's awful. She will still say things like 'but Henry loves you', and believe that she genuinely did forget about the stupid livestock thing, bring him biscuits and get that horrible gooey tone when she talks to him, a lot of the time. I don't get a sense that she even wants to perform a u-turn, most of the time.

I think Pat was initially making a valiant effort to like him because they're stuck with him, but since he said he does like organic little farms, she genuinely thinks he's ok! I'm finding Pat really annoying at the moment.

I do wonder whether Tony is going to get upset about Henry not being an Archer, though. He was very petulant about Henry not coming over the other night, and seems a bit more immune to Rob's charms than his dim wife!

Helen has pretty much no confidence about relationships, and I think she's still in that stage where there's still a small bit of her that accepts other people's judgement of Rob must be right, because after all, she's been wrong to often in the past. In that state (speaking from experience) there is a sort of disconnect between how you interpret what is happening to you, and reality. For me the scales only finally fell from my eyes when DP was foul to someone else and I was there to see it. The fact he could be so vile to someone who had done nothing to deserve it finally made me realise it wasn't me, it was him.

I think it's highly unlikely that Rob will do anything to Henry, but he's quite capable of being foul to Jonny, or Ian, or Adam, and if Helen were to see that maybe that would finally push her into acting.

I think the other thing that is possibly stopping her is that she doesn't know how she would explain it to Henry who does genuinely seem to like Knob. She's allowed Henry to form a huge attachment, calling him daddy etc and has only just come home from the Isle of Wight and announced they are married. Much harder to explain her reservations to Henry and explain why having presented him with a daddy she's immediately taking him away again.

Yes, yes, YES! ()

Such an ancient literary concept - "conjugal rights".

And so impossible for Helen to talk about.

A BOOP for the incredible cunning of the SWs.

Yes *Topaz8 I agree about Hester who's the actress? Her voice has a June Whitfieldish timbre to my ear, which would be good considering the Agatha Christieish turn that the SL has taken.

BOOP for a bit of common sense from Lil to Jen about mercy killing. IMO.

For me the scales only finally fell from my eyes when DP was foul to someone else and I was there to see it. The fact he could be so vile to someone who had done nothing to deserve it finally made me realise it wasn't me, it was him.

I wonder if Helen has had the opposite revelation. There was talk the other day about Rob schmoozing some customer, laying on the charm. Has Helen realised that Rob was putting on a schmoozing act for her all that time and that the new Rob is the real person.

It does annoy me that we are getting sucked into the SW's black and white version of this marriage. Can't they get their problems out into the open, have a good old row, make compromises and then move forward.

I don't think either the knob or Hell characters are that type though R4 they both seem too buttoned up and intense for that, it would be the end for them IYSWIM

Agree Peat. The pattern of their relationship has always been her pussy-footing around trying not to upset him - she's alert to the slightest nuance that he is becoming irritated and immediately nips whatever she is doing to cause it in the bud, apologising and smoothing things over. They would never have a row. They are an excellent example in fact of the old adage that couples who don't row don't necessarily have the best relationships.

Yes Lilian The SWs and the actors are brilliant, even more now that Helen and we know that it's the end as far as she's concerned she's extremely upset with him.

Does knob realise? Does he care?

The thing that worries me is that they're after a xmas ratings stealer and we have 3 months of build up

Maybe they will do a live episode and rob will get bashed over the head but everyone will switch off totally confused as they did after the tony goring

BYOS I think you might have hit the nail on the head with that. Sadly.

I don't think Rob does compromise. I also don't think he cares if Helen is upset - he's so absolutely convinced of his utter rightness in everything. He's a sociopath

Yes, there is no doubt that slow, steady and subtle - especially with brilliant actors like Helen and Knob who manage to convey so much with tone of voice alone - works much better on the radio than fast-paced action scenes where you really need to see what is going on to follow the story. Tony and the bull is an excellent example and also lots of the flood scenes such as the culvert rescue and Aunty Cardboard's leap to safety where you are left asking what happened there?

True Lillian and BYOS I hope there's not an EE denouement over the turkey and crackers

Hope not too. I loathe the new every Christmas EE drama, lavishly trailed for what seems a year beforehand. It gives me the rage.

I really, really hope they're not doing that boring soap thing of establishing lots of people with motives to hate Rob and then killing him off followed by several episodes of whodunnit. Apart from the utter tedium of it, I want Rob to survive and experience his downfall in excruciating detail

Toomuch Me too I don't watch ANY tv soaps any more, sorry apart from Downton!) because of that sort of crap. and the endless misery.

ppeat It's Virginia McKenna of Born Free fame as Hester.

I like the idea that it will be Johnny who digs a bit deeper and unmasks Rob.

Good grief! I didn't recognise her at all.

Hello, all. Just back from a glorious week in Greece and caught up with TA last night. Busy time both in Ambridge and on this thread, eh?

Please oh please let it be a combo of Johnny, Ian and Jim unmasking Rob. I hate him. That gaslighting about the animal pen was so blatant that even my husband, who doesn't listen but can't avoid hearing it some time, knew what was going on.

SOC thinks he's writing great literature.

How old is June Spencer???

She looks younger than some of them!

Just checked - she's 96! I want some of whatever she's on.