Archers thread #176: In which Ian puts the I in PTA. 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'd like to hear more from Wesley the ashtray collector, 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.)

Thanks to @DeanElderberry for the pithy phrase in the thread title and @CaptainMyCaptain for suggesting it should go in there. At least we've got the spooky disco out of the way for now. Plenty of wooden dialogue in the last few episodes that could go on the village bonfire next week. It's all been too dispiriting to discuss in greater depth. I'll just say that I don't hold out any great hopes that the production team will make a good job of reflecting concern in the farming community about the changes announced in the Budget to inheritance tax for farms. So often they get an expert to talk them through stuff like this but instead of ending up with a realistic storyline they pick out the bits they like the sound of and cobble them together in a totally unrealistic way. Maybe I'll be proved wrong this time. I hope so.

Over to you!

Curtains, not a solitary idea what that was about.

Justin not going to wake up in the shower and go back to his normal self he is? Sort of a rural Dallas?

I'm pretty sure the reason George is now safe but needs lots of money is precisely the fact that he is paying off his "mates". It's a matter of time before they increase their demands and he demands that his family bankrupt themselves to keep him safe.

I just don't think George would be that good at acting, esp to Emma. No, he's gonna go fully to the Dark Side

Helen’s entitled streak was showing tonight. Curtains are expensive but she was wheedling on, not even offering to pay something towards them. Also, did anyone else feel as though she was mentioning a survey in a way as though Kirsty ought to pay for it? I’m assuming this is the first time Helen’s bought a house, so she’s not necessarily understanding how it all works.

I thought the Rex/Justin/AI stuff was quite funny (although totally ridiculous), but I was absolutely baffled by both the reappearing purse and the heavy emphasis on curtains.

However, I now listen to the Archers in a 'let it wash over me and don't think too much' way, which I must say is much more relaxing.

I think Kirsty should call Helens bluff and say she is putting the house on the market and an EA is coming round at tea time.
And Megan went off quick must of read my last post (as if). Dont really care about George or Emma or any of that family.

However, I now listen to the Archers in a 'let it wash over me and don't think too much' way, which I must say is much more relaxing

Whilst that is no doubt a wise approach @noodlezoodle I fear these threads would cease to exist if we all followed suit.

I'm indebted to Fink and others who've speculated on the IT/AI that might have been used in that bizarre episode. I'd just assumed Justin was - in MN parlance - on glue.

Another thing on the AI - Justin asked what was happening and it said Kirsty was clearing brambles - had one of them gone in to say that was what they were doing or is this AI actually Hal?

Also, what was all that stuff about muesli?? Kirsty’s mum annoyed her so much she drove her to muesli? Is that a thing?

what have i missed about all this Christmas Carol stuff (obvs i have heard the eps)

Have the SW or PTB made a comment about it?
It's all poop, anyway. meh

but I was absolutely baffled by- Fallon's party. And Kirsty's mother's insistence that Kirsty had to go to it and that Fallon was so pleased Kirsty was there.

I felt sorry for George being locked up and given Codeword and Sudoku books to while away the time. What on earth was Emma thinking?!? Talk about putting a target on your back. Clearly he needs cash to keep Baseball sweet. Is the max allowance £50 per day? Thats going to rack up- Ed and Em are going to need to start cutting down more trees…

I thought the gear change in G’s behaviour was excellent- he has found a way to survive in there but will clearly come out far worse than when he went in. Vulnerable George who loves his Grandpa’s horse Bartleby will be gone forever.

Dont really care about George or Emma or any of that family. 😮 This is the only story I really care about at the moment. It is the storyline which has healed a huge crack in the Grundy family by bringing Will and Ed back together and putting them very much on the same page while opening up a new crack as George now looks likely to slip back down the ladder that Susan and Emma have been trying to pull the family up. I also think that the SWs are doing a much better job passing the baton to a new generation of Grundys/Horrobins than they are with some of the other key families. We have scarcely heard from Clarrie or Eddie and I don’t feel we’ve really missed them as the younger generation is now more than capable of doing all the heavy lifting plot wise (I don’t think the same could be said of the Brookfield Archers).
i thought the significance of the curtains was that Kristy felt she needed an excuse to let Helen know she was in a hurry with the sale and this was her rather roundabout way of doing so. I ca’t believe Roy will be having his old curtains shipped to Bulgaria anymore than the windows at Beechwood would be the same dimensions as those at Willow Farm.

I'm new to this thread, but I've listened to TA for years.
Just lately I keep getting the feeling that there's been a parallel series running that I've never heard, and I've suddenly been switched over to that one. All sorts of subplots that have me thinking "Eh??"
A bit like the Umbrella academy lot must feel when they suddenly find themselves in a different timeline, and history has changed a bit.

Welcome @NotbloodyGivingupYet
That's as good a theory as any as to what's going on at the moment!

I'm hoping that TA will do a Dickensian Christmas tale for the show this year (which they'll pull out of the bag in mid-December, as usual) but that the surprise will be that it's not A Christmas Carol. Maybe George could use the time he's not doing sudoku or educational courses to channel his inner Lynda and put on a rousing performance of The Cricket on the Hearth or The Chimes, with all his new pals in stellar, clearly redemptive, roles. It's about as likely as anything else in TA at the moment.

Good point. How did Robert know?

When Rex came in the first time, while Kirsty was on a break between bramble clearing sessions, he asked how it had been going so he knew that was what was happening that day.

I don't want to dignify the AI - Justin scenes with too much thought, but that bit was reasonable and could have been a pre-record from Rex, although it doesn't explain why it wasn't his normal voice. Are we to believe that he deliberately recorded himself putting on a computery- sounding voice to fool Justin into thinking it was an AI-generated speech? The 'fact' that the AI could recognise the word 'today' in Justin's question and play the appropriate prerecorded answer is impressive enough, they don't need to pretend that it was anything more.

Is the max allowance £50 per day? Max allowance is £50 a day but you can transfer only £19 per week to your spending account. (I’m not sure what, if anything, you can do with any surplus in your “private cash account” You can’t have cash in prison, so transactions with Baseball are presumably in goods. I have heard mention of tins of sardines as a currency.

Poor Emma is delusional. George is not "cheeky" he is deeply unpleasant.

I can't believe that they let him get away with talking to them in that rude unpleasant manner. And his rude nasty comments about other people. Do they (Emma, George and Will) not realise that by not calling George out they have created a deeply nasty person.

George's attitude would put most employers off employing.

And his lying, conniving and criminal behaviour before the car crash rather demonstrates his underlying nature.

I think it is too late for him to change.

Veiled reference to Kirsty's Mum being flakey and nuts?

(Not that she strikes me as being either).

Robert, pretending to be an AI, in Rex's voice: "Daisy, Daisy..."

I've listened to Wednesday's episode while driving home. %?£! me backwards, what the hell was that? By the time Justin was whimpering about purple butterflies and people who stood to lose their jobs ("Oh, the people!"), I was wondering if the car's exhaust system was diverting into the car itself and I was off my tits.

I thought the gear change in G’s behaviour was excellent- he has found a way to survive in there but will clearly come out far worse than when he went in.

Fortunately someone has managed to wrench The Good Ship Archers back on course because the twist in the George storyline last night was excellent. I completely agree with @JoelenesParrot.

And...sudoku? Why didn't they just take him a colouring book and some crayons?

It's all poop, anyway. meh

@Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g - my early nomination for thread title courtesy of @Brefugee

I can't believe that they let him get away with talking to them in that rude unpleasant manner.

Why break the habit of a lifetime? George has been hopelessly indulged by Emma since he was a child; it's how he's ended up where he has.

I see where they are going with Justin. Anyone see The Santa Clause?