Archers thread #173: The Fall of the House of Grundy? Discuss The Archers here.

[Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g]

Thank you, @PseudoBadger, for kicking off this long, long series of Archers threads.

All views on The Archers welcome here! New blood welcomed, and of course we are always delighted to welcome back former or occasional listeners/posters. We don't all agree on all points, although we do mostly try to be civil about it. Most of us are posting tongue in cheek a lot of the time, so don't worry about revealing that you wish we were hearing more of Pip, or other unusual views.

Spoilers: not on this thread, please! We don't wait for the omnibus to discuss the weeknight episodes, but we do try our best to avoid cross-contamination from https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/radio_addicts/4636789-the-archers-spoilers-thread-7-cant-wait-for-702pm-join-us-here, where spoilers are positively welcomed!

For newer listeners, lurkers or those who just have no idea what we're talking about, @DadDadDad has created this useful thread: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/radio_addicts/3557323-For-Archers-fans-a-guide-to-acronyms-on-the-long-running-discussion-threads-and-any-other-meta-thread-questions-you-may-have - BOOP point for him! (See thread for explanation.)

I chose the thread title to echo one I used three years ago, which is here if anyone fancies a trip down Memory Lane: www.mumsnet.com/talk/radio_addicts/4320618--Archers-thread-130-The-Fall-of-the-House-of-Aldridge-Discuss-The-Archers-here. That was the thread where I caused all sorts of confusion at the start by not starting it before the old thread filled up, but others stepped in, fortunately.

At that point I see Ruairi was heading off to London to start his degree, which he has now finished, with none of us any the wiser about what he studied or where. Perhaps this will finally be mentioned now he's graduating.

And now, over to you!

Oh I’m on a rare night out and missed it!

who resigned?

why did Eddie do!!

That was extremely funny.

Emma resigned from the TeRum on the basis that she and Fallon can no longer work together (I think, I was parking at that point).

Eddie has gone all tribal and made it clear that Emma should not have “grassed” on George because “that’s not what you do to family” and he very much blamed Susan and Neil for strong-arming her into it. Just at that moment Susan popped round to discuss A Plan for Poppy and Kiera if the worst happened and Eddie laid into her. Susan held her own, including saying that it was about doing what was right, which Eddie had none of. He was truly nasty. It ended with Will and Ed turning up, Will dragged Eddie off and Ed comforted a shaken Susan.

Oh and Tom was an absolute cock, so everything as normal there.

So what’s fallons take on it all?

She blames Emma for George having caused the accident, as far as one could tell. So she has gone full Harrison, I suppose.

Oh dear. Just when we thought she was going to ditch the loser, she's turning into him.

I thought it was more that she blames Emma for having let it drag on and not shopping him as soon as she knew.

What I found off was that Emma immediately agreed that if she were in the same position again, she would act the same way. I thought she would have learned her lesson and gone straight to the police.

Human relationships are complex - particularly between parents and children. I’m sure we would all like to say we would dob our kid in immediately but I doubt it

I honestly don't know how I would act in that hypothetical situation. But Emma is still going through the consequences of not telling immediately. You would think her mindset right now would be that she's handled things badly and, if given the same choice again she would go one way or the other (dob him in straight away or don't dob him in at all) rather than repeat the mistake of hesitating, compounding lies, and trying to appeal to his better nature for ages and then eventually taking action when her hand was forced.

Yes I would expect her to acknowledge she didn’t handle it well but that she was so conflicted she didn’t know what to do or where to turn

shame Fallon has gone full harrison

Eddie was irredeemably vile tonight. Is this a major character development?

I've never thought we were supposed to really dislike him; if anything they tried to write him as a loveable rogue but that was Rob, Clive and Matt levels of just plain nasty.

I'm not sure it will last.

It was funny and rather sweet how Fallon and Emma were suddenly ad idem on Tom's pompous self-centred twattery. I could almost see them reconcile over that. But what will do for Fallon's full Harrison mode is Harrison himself. Whether she will find more sympathy for Emma is another matter. She needs someone other than Jolene to talk to, dramatically speaking.

Someone upthread or on an earlier thread referred to the Code of the Grundys. It was a joke then, but the SWs were putting a marker down, IMO. And Eddy has never had any respect for the law. What's shocking now is how he has no respect for what is right, but OTOH he has had a rod in pickle for the Archer family since ever. It is in the blood. Something to do with how the Archers cheated them back in the mists of time. So he won't give a damn for Alice.

*Eddie

I think Fallon is angry because the accident has exposed flaws in her marriage which may be irreconcilable. They were there anyway, and some other serious problem would have brought them up, but they have come up now because of this, so that's what she's focussing on.

That's a good comparison. ISTR Kaleb having no clue who the Prime Minister was, and I suspect George would be the same.

So I really think Eddie should shut his big gob, lets be faìr George has been brought up with Eddie showing him its ok to duck and dive, lie and cheat, no wonder George has turned out the way he is. He has also had his mum letting him get away with everything, just half heartedly telly him off but never listerning to anyone who tells her about George's behaviour. No wonder he is the person he is today. He will never know right from wrong no matter how many times Susan and Neil try to teach him.
Eddie has shown his true colours now. Oh and he has Fathered two dim wits.
Why is Oliver doing the shopping? I never understand the dynamics of that household.
Tom is an arse and just thinking of his business, not really concerned with Emma or Fallon.
Bridge Farm have spread themselves too thin are are paying the cost they thought they were a dynasty but they are just poor farmers whould have listern to their kids too much and now because of George and having too many Grundys working for them, Bridge Farm will be in a lot of trouble.

Someone needs to get it through Eddy's thick skull that if Susan and Neil had worked it out, it was a matter of time before more people did - and indeed that Alice might well remember.

Why does the "Thou shalt not grass" mantra not extend to "Thou shalt not fit up a totally innocent person"?

Yes, on one hand he’s rarely been outside Oxfordshire, was baffled by London, had no idea about politics and yet runs a very successful and profitable business by, what, 21? Just goes to show there’s more than one way to be successful and savvy.

Eddie is none of them, he only tries to get ahead by cheating because he thinks he deserves to take rather than having to earn. And like every Grundy Grifter type I’ve known, he comes out swinging when he’s held to account. With a hefty dose of whinging about how hard done by he is. People like that really grind my gears!

it is entirely possible that they are on zero hours contracts or something tho.

Really excellent writing at the moment. And I never ever say that.

Emma’s situation last night actually nearly made me cry for her. I obvs have zero-tolerance for what George did and while I hate to see a young man’s future being written off, he needs to learn actions have consequences. However, IRL Emma will never get over this humiliation. And It seems so cruel for Susan to have to go through all this too.

When I first started listening 10 years ago, I could hardly sit through episodes with S and E but now I find them compelling. The ramifications of what George has done and how it has impacted on his family’s position in the village will reverberate for the rest of their lives. Susan took decades to claw her way back from her own fall from grace and to become respectable- it seems desperately cruel to take it away from her.

Eddie seems to be another character who has undergone something of a personality change in recent years. He was never one of my favourite characters, and you obviously would not have bought a used car off him, but I always thought he was supposed to be a cheeky chappie/ loveable rogue. He is now just deeply unpleasant and has gone 100% to the dark side.

They mentioned at the start of all this Chappaquiddick stuff that one character would have "life altering" consequences.

Might be for either Eddie or Susan as well as George