As Frilly stress Lizzy out, did the SWs forget her heart defect? Will there be long term llama drama karma in The Archers?

[PseudoBadger]

I thought Elizabeth's conversation with Johnny verged on emotional blackmail.

It's all about connections and power. Johhny could no more tell Lizzie to get stuffed than she could tell Russ. Johnny knows his place, as further evidenced by him not being involved in talks on The Future of Bridge Farm.

Johhny could no more tell Lizzie to get stuffed than she could tell Russ

Hmm, I think he very politely, because he always is polite, did just that.

Johnny is pretty much the only Archer at Bridge Farm who does any regular work.

Who actually owns Bridge Farm?

Didn't Lily have any female friends at college? A few of them laughing about what a sad twat Russ is would have removed the glamour at one fell swoop.

A couple of eps ago Lily mentioned to her mother that others had questioned Russ's motives. The only on-air remarks were the trenchant observations by Freddie, who had the sleaze bag sussed from day one.

The Lowfield summaries site has been broken for a couple of weeks now. Are there any other Archers summaries sites?

@Gersemi I don't know that it would. I had a pal who was having an affair with a music teacher at our school. She was 17 and he was 23 and we thought he was a sad, old (!) perv and told her as much but she paid no heed. I mind he said to us "Call me Richard." And my other pal just looked at him and said "Ok... Dick." Quite often if your friends take against your man it's further proof to you that you need to protect and defend your man. The more of an arse your man is the more intense the urge to go out with him against the odds. I was queen of the crap boyfriend in my 20s so I know this first hand.

Also whatever Lily may say there will have been grooming in this situation so the advice of her friends or her mother will not be particularly effective when up against whatever Russ has told her about their 'true love against all odds'.

I don't like Will but I did feel for him over Poppy. Big moment in a child's life. Well done Clarrie for helping them through it.

The new Editor still isn't in place. We have an interim Editor. I'd assumed no major change in direction would take place while we mark time but who knows. It's been months since the new Editor was announced but presumably he's working out his notice in his old job while they go through their interminable recruitment procedures to replace him.

The Lowfield summaries site has been broken for a couple of weeks now. Are there any other Archers summaries sites?

I don't know of a site as such, but the podcasts show a summary.

I don't like Will but I did feel for him over Poppy.

Yes - its good when we're made to feel sympathy for someone who is inherently an unsympathetic character.

a man with the attributes you describe, lass, wouldn't be remotely interested in an 18yo. He'd want an equal, so that would be even more unbelievable.

That's a lovely sentiment.

I had to turn the shopping scene off. It was ridiculously overdone.

I get the Lizzie knows just how headstrong Lily can be, she was quite an adventurous girl herself, wasn't she? But I don't buy her being ramraided for luxury household items like that.

Johnny is increasingly reminding me of the tortoise in the Hare and the Tortoise. Slow and steady wins the race. He’s working hard at college studying agriculture and learning on the job - Tom assumed superiority in that conversation, but Johnny knew exactly what he was talking about, disagreed, but knew better than to shout his mouth off. Tom is all about making a fast buck and nothing about farming - Natasha criticised him for over-diversifying and yet his plan is to diversify further in search of a quick fix. Likewise in comparison with Freddie - Johnny had more sense than to be led astray. He knows he has been given a great opportunity by Pat and Tony and is not going to throw it away. He’s a great character and is starting to have real depth.

It's funny how we can hear the same material but have different reactions. I was getting cross with Will, not sympathetic. He should have been selling the first day at school as an big, exciting adventure and I was getting worried that, instead, Poppy was going to pick up on his anxiety and trepidation.
Luckily, she seems to be made of more resilient stuff than him. (Unless that "change of clothes" comment signified something?)

A man with the attributes you describe, lass, wouldn't be remotely interested in an 18yo. He'd want an equal, so that would be even more unbelievable. I don’t agree. The journalist Lynn Barber’s memoir An Education about how she was groomed as a schoolgirl by a much older married man details exactly how this might happen. He was a sophisticated charmer who preyed on young girls - that was his thing. Her own parents were complicit because he groomed them too and they were too unsophisticated to see through his charms. The same could not be said for Elizabeth - herself the victim of a charmer in the past - which makes her reaction all the more unbelievable.

I agree with LillianGish about the madness of wanting to diversify into yet another venture when the point Natalie picked up on with the farm is that it's already too diverse. Unless she's going to say they should junk several of the current ventures in favour of alley culture or whatever it was.

You may be right, Lillian - I suppose there are, unfortunately, men who go for youth and a powerful position re their target (though the Russ-lily dynamic doesn't seem exactly the latter now).
You're spot on about Johnny, he's shaping up to be the solid, reliable farmer which The Archers needs at its core (one of the reasons I never believed they'd send David to Northumberland)

Johnny is such an interesting character. He is the natural inheritor of Bridge Farm - the eldest son of the eldest son - but, because of the circumstances of his birth, this right has been denied to him. He also hasn’t had the advantages of growing up on the farm so is having to put in the hard slog (he’s not a natural college student, but top marks to Tony for encouraging him) both on and off the farm to make up for this. Had circumstances been different and he’d been born on the farm he could easily have been as entitled as so many of the other land-owning offspring in TA. Instead he is humble and grateful for any chance- he is listening and learning - he will overtake them all.

Why is Tom so rubbish. I can't quite put my finger on it. Is he not very bright or is it a character flaw? except I cant work out which one. Weak? indecisive? or maybe he is just not cut out for farming.

I suppose Tom was also somewhat pushed in a direction he wouldn't have chosen my John's untimely death.

Yes, the Bridge Farm dynamic is interesting. I love Johnny. Well written and well acted.

R4, I agree that Will wasn't handling it well, but what I was empathising with was his situation.

TBH, considering the overthinking which occurs on some MN threads re kids starting school etc, I'm not sure Will's flapping was particularly unusual!

Tom seems to get enthused constantly by new ideas without being prepared to work out the downsides.

It really makes no sense whatsoever to go in for an expensive new venture purely for the purposes of adding to the range of home-grown stuff that one small farm shop sells. It can't ever recoup the costs unless they also have a market elsewhere, which in turn means producing a high volume which realistically wouldn't be possible without bringing in more staff. I suspect Pat 'n' Tone are going to agree with Helen and Johnny, which should provoke an interesting reaction from Tom.

Johnny is by far the most decent Archer - no accident that he was raised far far away from all other Archers!

Tom is.... I don't know what the word is. He can't settle to anything can he?

When Helen and Willyum were talking at the school gate I had a horrified 'oh god no' thought - they wouldn't get together would they? Not even in Bizzaro Ambridge?

No way Mrs Arthur, the social class boundaries in TA are impenetrable.
I sooo need to get off here and do some work.