Quelle surprise! Rob hasn't FOTTFSOF and is in fact hiding in the bushes at Henwee's school. Discuss the latest unlikely Archers events here.

[PseudoBadger]

What do we want?
Realistic storylines!
When do we want them?
As soon as the writers see this!

Quite right Ohtheroses! Don't forget the depression, near loss of her husband and the business disasters. I sometimes wonder if I'm listening to the same programme as everyone else.

I don't think Pats horrible either, she not a trained child psychologist, she is just trying to do her best with Henry and doing what a lot of us do, make herself feel better.

actually, Pat was the first person we have heard acknowledge to Henry that he might be feeling upset, she was calm and comforting, told him that he was safe and that mummy, grandma and grandad etc are all there to look after him....I think she did a good job.

She acknowledged that he might be upset ... and then told him not to be. And never actually asked what he was upset about.
She did a lot more talking at than listening to.

I didn't say Pat is horrible, I said what she did (shutting Henry down) was horrible. I still think it was.
But, it's not real life, so all is good.

Good point sealsong.
Am I being a bit slow here. Are we to assume that the Minneapolis trip was planned before the abduction and he was going to take jack to USA.?

The Minneapolis thing has to be crap. No way in the period of time since he was summarily dismissed could he have got a job there and got a work visa. Especially not while lurking around Ambridge living in his car. (Or could he have got a green card before, not sure if they lapse if you then stop living 'permanently' in the us?)

He couldn't have got a passport for Jack that quickly, could he (if at all). If I was the police tracking down a kidnapper, I'd have checked when he bought the ticket (and if he also had a ticket for a baby), and whether he entered on a tourist visa waiver or work visa/green card.

It doesn't make sense. How could Rob take Jack with him if he were going to start a new job etc., even putting aside the passport issues?

Were his bags packed and his ticket bought just in case the kidnap failed?

Why does Helen appear to sound disappointed whenever Rob's departure is mentioned. Is it because once things get back to normal she'll no longer be the centre of attention?

Pip's such a hypocrite (yet again) ranting on about how her parents always automatically think the worst of Toby when it's only a couple of days since she assumed he'd disappeared and she was never going to see her money again.

And how come pip's round at Helens - we're so proud of you etc - when she's not spoken to Helen once since well before the stabbing. That convo made it sound like they were Bessie mates.

Well done Mr Policeman for jinxing everything at the end with your, "we don't have to worry about Rob Titchener any more!"
Because now you've said that, we definitely do.

Am I the only trying to picture Rob in Minneapolis, queueing up at the Paisley Park Museum of Princeliness?

It would be so him. :o

Bob Dylan and the Coen Bros come from Minnesota, which has always made me think well of the place. The only other thing I know about it is that it gets very cold in the winter (this comes from Fargo). Actually, if he crosses the kind of people portrayed in Fargo, they'll sort him out.

He couldn't possibly have got a passport for Jack, could he? He's had no unsupervised contact with him at all so no possibility of taking a passport photo. Now, I concede that passport photos for babies are a nonsense and he could probably have got a picture of a similar baby instead, but then there's the countersigning. Do both parents have to sign a child's passport application form?

He certainly couldn't have got a job and a green card since being sacked. It took my son weeks to get a visa to go to Washington for a summer internship in a government-run museum, so I can't imagine it is a quick process to get a green card, even in normal times.

I don't think Rob had a plan to go to Minneapolis initially. H was right, he had no real idea what to do with Jack but when his attempt to take him failed he finally realised he had nothing left. My guess is he then just kept driving and got himself a flight to the only place in the world where he has some contacts who don't know about all his recent history.

I think Pat was trying to get the message across to Henry that Rob had done a bad thing and wasn't coming back. Nobody seems to have tried to do that before. Pat isn't a counsellor. But Henry really needs to know that Rob is out of his life.

She acknowledged that he might be upset ... and then told him not to be

Isn't that what we all try to do? To reassure someone? There's a difference between "don't you dare cry" and "there's no need to cry".

And never actually asked what he was upset about.

I think everyone knows at this point.

Agree with Bertrand. Rob had no plan but had to get out of the country fast.

Not Bertrand - BluePheasant! But also agree with Bertrand re. Henry.

They definitely should start being more honest with Henry about Rob but maybe not immediately after he has been in involved in a kidnapping and witnessed another physical struggle between his Mummy and "Daddy"

Efferlunt that's my thoughts exactly. Pip never speaks to Helen.
No wonder Henwee is confused, his family have spent the best part of 2 years telling him how wonderful his new daddy is, then they expect him to stop loving him, virtually overnight. Henwee still loves Rob, and they are ignoring his feelings, and telling him how he should feel. That's why I'm annoyed with Helen and Pat.

And never actually asked what he was upset about.

Pat did, sort of I thought - though put as a question of the likely cause ' are you sad because rob has gone away' (something like that?) - after he'd been playing up. Maybe I'll have to LA - the way I remember it was that she explicitly acknowledged he was sad, and the reason for it, and then tried to reassure.

Obv Henry ought to have some professional help but I thought Pat did pretty well - much better than Helen (ok, low bar). Her main mistake, possibly, was that she doesn't realise there may be more than just rob going - Robs rejection of henry in favour of his real son jack. I think they've laid the groundwork for longterm deeprooted sibling rivalry ... which is the stuff of TA.

Pip never speaks to Helen.

I'm not sure thats entirely true, pretty sure Pip has been in the shop or somesuch in the last few months. I don't think that exchange was too inappropriate for relatives in the circs.

Her main mistake, possibly, was that she doesn't realise there may be more than just Rob going

Yes, that. It was a Rob Special: a one-to-one that no-one else heard. If anybody listened to Henry then they might find out that
'Daddy' has been visiting me at school.
'Daddy' has been telling me to keep secrets.
Because I kept secrets Jack got kidnapped. It's All My Fault.
'Daddy' isn't actually my Daddy.
and, worst of all,
'Daddy', who I love, doesn't love me. He only loves Jack.

Nobody has asked because nobody cares. All they do is boss him about and crush the vitality out of his life. They care more about the state of Henry's trainers than the boy himself.

Spot on R4.

Ti just don't believe that rob hasn't burnt all his bridges in the past. From what Jess said in court he was constantly running away from his cock ups. So I don't believe he has any reason to go to Minneapolis

If I remember correctly there was a conversation when Pip visited Helen when she first got out of prison.