Hits
Sensational Sheila
There’s no denying what a great joy Sheila Canning brings to Ramsay Street and our lives. Not only is she the coolest gran but the most loveable motormouth. We adore the way she winds up Lou and would clip him round the ear if only she had the chance and this week saw her on one of her outlandish ideas – Dining in the Dark. It might have been a bit of a disaster but didn’t she look amazing in those night vision goggles? We also have to mention how much we love her family scenes. We’ve totally taken the Cannings to our hearts and we’re excited by the prospect of Kyle working with her at The Waterhole now too. It’s great to see her back on her feet and stronger than ever.
Sisters Doing It For Themselves
It was a great week for Paige and Imogen who finally spent some much needed time together. The only issue with Paige having such a wide family circle is that occasionally it has left her ignoring one side of the family for the other. However, after a couple of ‘Paige Turner’ heavy months, it was fantastic to see her bond with Imogen. The topless protest plot with certainly unexpected and led to some great comedy, wonderfully played by Ariel and Olympia, as well as a nice reference to Imogen’s ongoing body issues. Not only that but it was great to see Imogen come out of her shell and try her best to have fun this week. As the only member of the teen quadrangle acting with grace and maturity, we hope things really begin to look up for her.
What We Did in the 90s
Long terms fans were pleasantly surprised when Sue Parker, last seen in 1987, returned to Neighbours last year, every bit the thorn in the side of our Ramsay Street regulars as she was back then. And even better, by making her a councillor, it has ensured Sue has a reason to pop in and out in recent months but it has been her most recent stint that we’ve enjoyed the most. The reveal that she and Paul shared a stolen kiss and their desperation to hide it brought the two rivals together and allowed us to see a whole new side of Sue: a little softer with a difficult domestic life. The photograph story may not have led to the exciting murder reveal some were expecting but it led to some nice scenes between Paul and Sue – and dare we say it, a potential romantic partner?
Misses
Early Departure
Not so much of a miss, more of disappointment. This week saw Cat trying to get the Rebecchi’s to take her in, having told them that her foster parents were neglecting her. This was all lies of course but Cat made such a fun and welcome addition to the Rebecchi house that we couldn’t help but be really disappointed to see her leave, possibly for good. Toadie was a lot of fun around her and it’s a shame that she couldn’t stick around. With the Rebecchis shaping up to be the new Kennedys we wouldn’t be surprised to see them take on a new tearaway though.
Fools Rush In
No you haven’t got deja vu – we’ve put Danber at the bottom of list again. We wish we didn’t have to, but things haven’t got any better. Having sworn off men a mere few weeks ago, this week saw Amber reunite with hopeless hippie drip Daniel – complete with talk about fate, destiny, rainbows, magic crystals, unicorns and peace (we might have zoned out and guessed). Then after a few sepia flashbacks of Rain, Amber and Daniel decided to get engaged again. Yay! Or not. Amber needed time on her own, independence and to find a life of her own and instead it’s back to square one based on coincidence. Had Karl been wandering by when the car was stolen would she have declared him her soulmate? You’ve got to wonder.
This week saw a surprising and very, very welcome return of the Book of Secrets plot. It’s no surprise that we absolutely adored it, not only because Neighbours doing their cheeky and saucy comedy is TV gold, but because it included so many much-loved characters and nods to the past. We had Lou’s cover design and planning which actors would play the roles in the movie, Kyle getting involved in the accidental airing of Karl’s first draft and of course Paul’s surprise role! We loved the reference to the Paul and Sheila cling-film in the cool room incident and once again the Blue Box mention. Karl and Susan getting kinky inspiration from the novel is exactly the sort of thing we expect and it gives us a great big warm laugh. This seems like it might be a conclusion to the plot and while it was fitting end, we hope it’s not the final chapter of EM Williams.
Now, if there was one unexpected star of this week’s episodes, we were certainly shocked that it was The Waterhole’s latest barman and apparent sex god, Andres. Yes, the smiling klutz amused us by being utterly terrible at his job and reiterating what seemed like his one line of English. And it was hilarious! It was classic Neighbours comedy and better yet, led to some fantastic scenes between Lou, Sheila, Paige and Bailey. The war of Lassiter’s businesses was gold and the sight of Sheila throwing herself off the wheelchair won’t soon be forgotten. More please! “Okay?”
Lucy and Chris continue to be a real highlight of the show at present and this week was no exception. Chris is one of our faves and we’re really hoping the show ties down Melissa Bell on a regular contract because this plot has so much potential. This week it was great to see the drama ramped up as Chris and Lucy confronted their different ideas on parenting and their potential child’s future. We loved seeing Paul sticking his oar in and Nate continued to be brilliant as the mediator between Chris and Lucy, despite his own lack of interest in fatherhood. What’s more it was intriguing to see the issue of SMA raised between the prospective parents. It proved to be a real unexpected curveball in their plans and have to give kudos to the show for tackling a condition that his rarely, if ever, been explored in TV drama.
Oh Matt Turner, what are we going to do with you? Let’s get one thing straight, Neighbours’ dads tend to be a bit hit and miss – and indeed have a shocking miss rate in comparison to the multitude of strong matriarchs over the last 30 years. Matt Turner is the latest in the line of bland, overprotective dad like many, many more before him. And this latest plot regarding the Turner house does little in revealing anything new and interesting about the character. Matt is consumed with his own pride, and money struggles are never the most watchable stories in any soap. It just feels a little same old, same old. Hopefully Matt’s desperation for money could take the character down new paths and provide somewhat edgier stories but until then, the jury is out.
In what was a great week for Neighbours, there was only one real low point to the week and unsurprisingly it was yet another plot centred on Amber Turner’s love life. We don’t need to tell you the age-old story, we’ve seen enough of it on screen, needless to say it made Josh look even more desperate and Daniel didn’t come out of it well either. We’re beyond fed up of this plot and having it all set at a pool party of extras didn’t make it any better. Naomi slightly improved things but we’re not sensing much chemistry between her and Brennan so we found the whole party flatter than a deflated palm tree. Please Neighbours, we’re begging you, stop with this Jamber or Danber stuff – it’s awful.
I think it’s fair to say that when Nate rocked up in Ramsay Street last year with severe PTSD and found himself in a serious relationship with Chris in weeks, we all feared that the show’s first long-term gay relationship could be too rushed and disappointing. However what has surprised us most has been how Chris and Nate have really grown on us as a pairing. Sweet and loving, Chris and Nate have faced every challenge with maturity and the kind of realism one expects of real people. In the world of soap it’s an unfortunate truth that characters have melodramatic love lives – Amber Turner, we’re looking at you! – but Chris and Nate stand out as a genuine, heartfelt and at times, moving depiction of a young couple. Neighbours have done themselves proud with Nate and ‘Teddy’.
It’s just occurred to us lately that as we enter the show’s 30th year, it appears Neighbours appears to having done a bit of growing up in a completely different way! The show has gone through several reinventions during its time, sometimes edgier and sometimes saccharine to the point where the show lacks its bite. What has been great to see recently is that the show isn’t afraid to tackle bigger issues and darker scenes, even if we do have the odd “substances” reference to put up with! Chris and Nate are being treated like any other couple in the show, and their onscreen kisses and moments of affection are not shied away from – a far cry from Chris and Hudson’s sexless pecks on the lips. The Lucy baby plot, with discussions of IVF and gay parenting are fresh ground for soap. Sonya’s surprisingly effective mugging, finally labelling Sonya and Erin as “junkies” and Erin offering sex for drugs were frank and great moments. In our opinion, the perfect blend of Neighbours is comedy mixed with real, grounded drama – and if that involves the show pushing the boundaries of its G rating, then so be it.
Erin’s daughter Cat arrived this week and with it she brought an injection of fun into the Rebecchi household which has been missing since Callum moved to America. On her bike with bushy hair, Cat reminded us of a female Toadie in his youth – a lot less rebellious of course – but it was great to see his fun dad role return. The Erin plot continues to be a really interesting a well written story and Cat easily added to this, showing us a different side to Erin too. Seeing Cat play cricket on the street with a hapless Bailey made us think that she could quite happily slot into Erinsborough if the show decided to make her a surrogate Rebecchi and we’d be happy with that.
If there’s one thing we hate on Neighbours, it’s overly contrived plots. If there’s two things we hate, it’s stories where characters bear grudges over an accident (and no, we will never forgive you, Miranda and Steve Parker) so you can imagine our happiness this week when we got both plots in one! We are of course talking about Karl drinking Brad’s chemicals when he accidentally mixed up identical water bottles. Leaving aside the fact that they both had the same water bottle (Harold’s must have a sale on), it was the clunky writing that signposted the twist scenes ahead that made the twist so jarringly predictable – even if seeing Karl in hospital, on the other side of the stethoscope, is not a sight we enjoy! It seems like the story may just have been a way to kickstart Susan’s disappointment with Brad as a teacher and if that’s the case, they could’ve found a much better story to begin hostilities. Or, if criticising Brad’s teaching is really hiding Susan’s anger at the accident, we hope she gets over it fast.
Does anyone else get the same deja vu that we do when watching Brennan? It seems a month doesn’t go by when he’s not calling an old police mate and investigating someone who has a set of dodgy eyebrows. And we had that again this week, where once again Brennan investigated and no one believed him. We’ve been here so many times before and it never gets any more interesting to watch. Not even our favourite Naomi could save it and we hated to see her dragged into another boring Brennan plot. It looks like the two are being set up as a new romance which we’re hoping isn’t as stale as it has been so far – vivacious Nomes deserves someone with more life than Mark!
Erinsborough 