Will it be porridge or curtains for Knob? Await a sensible and sensitive ending to That Storyline on The Archers thread.

[PseudoBadger]

Threads are moving so fast! Will this thread be here to welcome SOK?

enoch as long as you have this

I don't think they can take that route. If a single listener thinks that the only way out of their personal Helrob hell is to kill themselves, because that is the way Helen escaped, the storyline has failed. It may drag on, but they must show a positive future for Helen & Henry without resorting to a violent death on either side.

Helen knows. She knows it's all wrong.

She said something like "It's Rob! It's all Rob!" which suggests to me she was referring to a lot more than the boarding school thing.

She also completely agrees and understands what the consultant was saying. What she doesn't understand is why Knob and Arse are so keen for her to go against such strong advice.

Enoch have this one too

Thanks Bore. God that was grim.

I absolutely agree Sticker.

But boarding school for a reception age child is genuinely bonkers. So again, it sounds like Helen is delusional when she suggests that Rob is planning it

I still can't bear to listen, but thanks for the catch up on the thread.

Agree this can't end with any death. Unless just after rob is cornered by the cops he lets out an evil laugh and says 'you'll never catch me - insert full confession here' and then plummets down the sinkhole

Poor Helen. She knows it's wrong though, she said 'it's Rob, it's always Rob'

Ursula is a snake. Her and Rob the Nob are so deceptive, it really was very distressing listening tonight. I was so hoping that she would drive home and tear strips off Rob, but as usual, he has twisted the situation and made it seem like it's all her fault for being irrational. Aaarrrggghhh. He needs to get gone!!

Didn't Hel say say she'd kill him?

Perhaps a stay in a MH unit is exactly what Helen needs. A detached stranger, like the doctor this evening reiterating his professional opinion on the HB idea, would delve into her problems and should be able to find the common link. Rob wouldn't be there to put her down or speak over her. Kristy tried to convince her that Rob was the problem and Helen repeated her view tonight, but there's too much history between them. A stranger's view would be harder to argue with, especially if several of them gave a consistent message.

Ugh, that was horrible. Sat listening in the bath while the water went cold around me, and that was more comfortable than that episode.

Having lived with a man who sucked everyone around him and his fucking awful family, into the nightmare of their delusional minds, I find the Rob/Ursula combo utterly convincing.

For a split second I changed my mind and thought I could quite happily see Know meet some horrible demise.
But no.
Public shaming is what he deserves.

I was hoping that knob was pulling the wool over ursillas eyes and manipulating her too, but after listening to her lying through her ill fitting false teeth, I could really do with shaking her head off.

It is brilliant. You know someone said it was implausible and of course, when women tell about men doing this to them, it does sound incredibly implausible.

When in fact, it's textbook.

He's made her look like the lunatic, the problem, even to her own family. He's set her up so that she is the unreliable witness.

This is what happens in abusive relationships. I have a friend who lost custody of her son to a violent, abusive man who was utterly charming and plausible to all her friends, family and the court. She'd left for a refuge with nothing but the clothes on her back and her child and even then, the judge didn't believe her because that's how good her xh was. And of course by that time, he had lots of evidence that she was mentally unstable. Because he'd made sure she was.

In some ways I hope they drag this storyline on for years, because that's how it happens in RL.

But if they do I might have to give up listening because it's so draining.

They can drag it out if they don't insist on dedicating 50% of episodes to it.

It would be better to not hear from them for a while then back again briefly (maybe in the shop) then a few scenes at home etc

They are ramping it up by giving so much time to it

Yes maybe they'll back off a bit for a few weeks, having set it up so perfectly

Horrible episode.

But in contrast to what's happening at blossom hill cottage, how lovely to hear Bert is enjoying having the Fairboys to stay and standing up to Lynda.

As Lorker said earlier, Ursula feels implausible - why is she colluding in the abuse and control of Helen? What does she get out of it psychologically or emotionally? And if Rob had mentioned a crap childhood before, are we having a case of ret-con on our hands?

It must be a very well sound proofed house as he didn't even bother to lower his voice

I wondered about that when he hit Helen. ISTR that earlier in the scene he was telling her to keep her voice down in case Ursula heard her, but a few minutes later he was shouting himself.

But boarding school for a reception age child is genuinely bonkers. So again, it sounds like Helen is delusional when she suggests that Rob is planning it

But if he were to suggest that, it would put an end to all his plans of shunting Henry off there - which he'd probably blame on Helen also.

Dysfunction runs in families. It's not a disorder or a diagnosis. I wonder if co-dependency is an issue with Rob and Arsula? The consequences are never good....

The masterful lying, they lie as easily as they breathe.

Someone tell me that nobody gets away with that level of duplicity forever?? :(