Hits
OMDee
Well, well, well. It has been the biggest talking point in years, probably ever. The holy grail of Neighbours plot. The biggest unsolved mystery. The stuff fan dreams are made of and it’s finally happened – Dee has returned. Or has she? After 13 years, we fell off our seats as ‘Dee’ appeared Toadie’s doorstep and spun him a long, convoluted and still, not unbelievable story about her miraculous survival and like Toadie, we bought every word. And while many theorised that things weren’t as they seemed, we were honestly shocked to the core when it was revealed that Dee wasn’t Dee at all – but rather, being a manipulative con-woman named Andrea. Words honestly can’t do justice to this story and its impact and to do so would be to undersell it. We experienced Toadie’s joy with him, shared the scepticism of Sonya and Susan as the clues added up and felt the stomach punch when we finally realised the truth. The story is rife with incredible continuity and tender heartfelt moments that served only to become harrowing punches in the stomach when Andrea revealed her cruel plot. It brought us the return of the wonderful Sindi as Andrea’s partner in crime and took a hammer of the Rebecchi marriage and by extension, Steph and Mark. What we’ve loved most of all is the intricate plotting at play here – the type of plot that’s rarely seen in soap. Everything, every twist dovetails into the next and it’s effect on the characters and how it’s gradually drawn more in has been a masterstroke. Last but not least, Madeleine West effortlessly proves her worth as an actress convincing us not only as the troubled, fragile Dee but the ruthless Andrea. What a delight it is to see her back onscreen and we have to admit, deep deep down we’re still hoping that Andrea can serve us one more massive twist and reveal that she really is Dee after all…
Messy Ties
Speaking of characters that have been drawn into ‘The Web of Dee’, we’ve been delighted to see the return of fan favourite recurring cop, Ellen Crabb and by extension, her ex Victoria and daughter Josie. When Victoria first popped up again the other month as part of the IVF story, we failed to realised it was actually rather brilliant foreshadowing of the bigger role she was soon to play in Steph’s life. As Steph feared she was losing Mark to the other woman in his life, and mother of his child, Sonya, Victoria was there to support Steph and ultimately make a move on her. We can’t lie, we live for Victoria’s tragic desperation for Steph as the show toes the line between two women with a connection and at the same time, two women who are escaping from messy relationships together. The fact that Mark works along with Ellen has made things even better – and of course, more complicated. It was great to see Josie return after such a long time and we’re hoping to see so much more of this brilliant little unit and dare we say, they’d make excellent additions to the core cast.
Classic Neighbours
What can we say about the Cannings that we haven’t said before? They continue to be a highlight in every episode of Neighbours they appear in, bringing classic comedy, warmth and quirkiness to our screens. Their rivalry with the Kennedys was a fun watch with the Romeo and Juliet style romance of Ben and Xanthe at the heart of it. Ben and Xanthe have been such a funny and cute couple, the kind of made-to-be teen romance Neighbours has been lacking for a few years – but really, we just love every aspect of Xanthe from her feminism to her Japanese phrasing. Just like his mother, Gary fits into the community so well and we love his scenes with Paul and Terese and the recent sausage plot has had us howling at the innuendos. The Cannings just keep on giving and we don’t think we’ll ever get sick of them.
Pregnant Paige
When Paige was revealed to be pregnant just before Christmas we were dreading it. Hormones and extreme mood swings – we just couldn’t imagine that was going to make Paige, who had become rather insufferable at times, anything but hateful. But surprisingly becoming pregnant has made Paige far more watchable. We’ve started to see glimpses of the Paige we liked and remembered from her introduction – the independence and the empowerment. Even though we’re not looking forward to the inevitable Jack merry-go-round, it’s been good to see Paige making decisions and being confident rather than just chasing a guy. Through this storyline we’ve also seen Paige form an unusual friendship with David which has been warm and interesting and given someone else for Paige to confide in and also support and done wonders for both characters. Here’s hoping that Paige becoming a mother will lead to new directions for the character and continue to take her down a less selfish path.
Misses
Bratty Behaviour
We’ve really enjoyed the Tyler and Piper chemistry for ages – from their friendship to their romance – so much so we’ve been able to look past the slightly iffy age gap. However, we’ve not seen them in their best light since they got together and we haven’t enjoyed their scenes so much lately. The main problem is that we actually agree with Brad and Terese’s reservations and Typer aren’t exactly proving themselves to be mature by acting out this way. We know they’re in love and want to be together but Piper just comes across as a brat when she tries to fight for their respect instead of trying to approach the problem rationally. Moving out of home and having to cope alone is not going to end well and it’s a fairly well-trodden plot that we’re a bit tired of. We’re sure somehow the Willis family will come around to the idea, maybe with Tyler doing something to prove he’s worthy of their daughter’s heart, but for now they’re less star-crossed and more unlikeable.
Whilst the build-up has divided viewers with some questionable behaviour from some of the characters, obsessed with dresses/Tyler respectively, the big much-hyped formal finally arrived. Now as any long-term viewer will know, even characters mentioning formals fills us all with a deep dread, so damaged are we from Kate Ramsay’s formal era from hell. This, however, was much more bearable and the event itself actually resulted in quite a great turn of events. Whilst all the cloying references to Instagram, likes, vlogs and general youth culture has been prevalent (and we’re not fans), the episode set all this aside for what Neighbours does best – old fashioned, character led storytelling. Xanthe and Ben finally got it together after months of build-up and provided some very sweet moments. Xanthe’s destroyed dress prevented things from being too saccharine, thankfully! The real fun came from the arrival of Elly Conway and the effect she had on Piper and Tyler’s already-faltering relationship. Piper drenching her love rival (and accidentally Xanthe too) in sangria before realising it was her new teacher was a brilliant episode end and capped off a very goo episode indeed.
Last week also saw the return of famed, iconic character and Neighbours icon, Elly Conway. Oh wait, who? Yes, Elly made her unremarkable first appearance back in 2001 and lasted less than a year before he packed off to live with her mum again as the show reinvented itself and soon populated the teen cast with much stronger characters such as Sky. We all thought we’d never hear from Elly again until the casting announcement earlier this year and it’s safe to say she’ll be working much better in her current incarnation than she ever did back then. Jodi Anasta brings all her previous soapy experience to the table and really hit the ground running in the role. It’s so nice to see the show hiring experienced actors in comparison to some questionable signings lately. Elly is fun, flirty, mischievous, and just a little bit bitchy. She immediately gave the show a fun and much-needed kick of life and we’re really excited to see what trouble she can cause.
This month saw the surprise return of the slightly unhinged Belinda, Steph’s ex, with the incredible hair. We loved her in her first stint, even when she donned a surgeon’s mask and got a bit too involved in Toadie’s operation, so we were thrilled to see her return to screens. This being Neighbours, her return was all down to Paul Robinson’s meddling with a cunning plan to split up Steph and Mark. Luckily for Paul this has already worked out pretty well, what with Steph and Belinda’s chemistry and Mark’s paranoia over their history. Belinda’s presence seems to have already driven a wedge between them and this only increased when the fabulous-haired-one planted a smacker on Steph! Even though we know Belinda is a bit of a loose cannon, her scenes with Steph are consistently watchable and despite her dark side we wouldn’t be opposed to the two of them making a real go of it and ditching dull Mark!
We’ve already mentioned that the big formal night set piece was a great climax to the teen plots but the lead up to it seemed never-ending! Anyone would think Xanthe was planning her wedding not just the end of the year dance for school. It was disappointing to have Xanthe’s fun and complex character reduced to a sole focus on a designer dress and pouting over whether Ben would ask her out. It seemed crazy too that Ben, who is usually so morally upstanding would take the money Gary offered him to ask Xanthe out (let’s be honest, he’s smitten with her anyway). Piper’s character regression and giant fall in maturity was the worst offender of the lot. Since Josh and Doug’s death, we’ve seen Piper really grow up and the romance with Tyler seemed not only inevitable but actually pretty believable. And then things rapidly went downhill. Pipes began lying and stropping and screaming at her parents Kevin The Teenager style. Yes, Piper life is unfair. We know she’s a teenager whose always thought of herself as an adult, but what happened to the smart and mature young woman who has now regressed into a baby at the thought of not getting her own way? Just as we had begun liking ‘Typer’, alll that we enjoyed about the pairing seemed to be reversed. Can we have the teens we’re fond of back? Heads screwed on?
Where to even start with Paige? She’s the one character in Neighbours that gets steadily more unlikeable as the weeks go on. Since she fell in love with John/Jack in his coma, we’ve been questioning whether she hit her head SO hard during the hotel explosion and her personality damage was caused by that, OR she really is just THE WORST. The latter probably. Paige’s main problem is that at every turn she’s enabled, told what a great girl she is, yet behaving in a completely selfish and loathsome way. Now that she knows Jack is a priest, you’d think it was about time she gave up on her defrocking fantasies and either got a hobby or sorted herself out with a trip to the Erinsborough equivalent of Ann Summers. But she hasn’t. She’s continued to whine and sulk and try and make Jack feel guilty for sticking to his vocation, even going as far as stripping in the pool to try and lure him away. We’ve even seen her move away from nipple-flashing and try other tactics – jealousy (didn’t work), being a charitable, Godly citizen maybe in an attempt to force a threeway between her Jack and God (also didn’t work). The sad thing about this whole mess is that now her entire personality is a selfish obsession with herself. Not only can she not cope without a man’s affection and attention, but she never thinks of anyone but herself. Hold onto your hats readers – Paige might have just crossed the “worse than Amber Turner” line.
THANK GOD (literally) we discovered the true identity of John Doe this week in a scene which we won’t be forgetting in a hurry. He’s only a bloody priest! It’s not something we would have seen coming had it not been for the clever suggestions of it that we saw on Twitter but him turning up to tell Paige in full frock and dog collar was priceless. Even more so was the drama that he’d seriously been a suspect for the explosion and had shared a snog with Paige right before his oh-so convinent flashback memories! Watching Paige hang around John (it’s ridiculously hard to think of him as Jack!) like a bad smell certainly hasn’t been our favourite plot but we like Jack. Although we’re dreading Paige’s jealousy of Jack’s relationship with God and she’ll probably whine at him to choose between her and the church, the reveal scene alone is worth our top spot.
Even though we’re never happy to see grief for Toadie and Sonya, we can’t deny we do love watching them handle the struggles in their marriage. We’ve often said how much we love the realism between the couple and the natural chemistry between Eve and Ryan, developed from years of working together always shines through – and of course, makes the moments of tension and anger between them that much harder to watch. Recent weeks have seen Walter continue to be a source of trouble between them and the reveal that he wanted bone marrow to save the life of Zoe, Sonya’s half sister, was a great twist. It’s really added another dimension to Walter and casts light on his motives for contacting Sonya. The ambiguity has been interesting to watch and despite some other recent poor signings (*cough*Madison*cough*) Zoe was a joy to watch onscreen and quickly developed chemistry with her onscreen sister. With Walter and Zoe both off so soon, we hope we haven’t seen the last of them.
Gary Canning got freed from prison this fortnight after we had a brief spell of seeing him be top dog in Erinsborough’s version of Oz. He didn’t stick around long to help Paul, in fact he landed him in it, but we were pretty glad to see Gary’s return. There’s something interesting about the dodgy guy that we like and we’re interested to see how he fits in with the rest of the family, especially his daughter Xanthe. Only time will tell what kind of influence he’ll be on her and if he’ll manage to stay out of any bad behaviour while he’s on Ramsay Street. We only wish Kyle was still around so that they could repair their very damaged relationship.
Over the past few weeks, we’ve waved goodbye to a few residents, some temporarily and some for good – but neither especially welcomed. We were sad to see the lovely Nate go, breaking our hearts as well as Aaron’s. For weeks prior to his exit, it was clear that Nate was unsettled with the current direction of his life but that didn’t make it any easier to watch him go. Though he returned for such a short time, we were glad to see him back to give his character a proper exit and have him leave under less of a cloud. Speaking of leaving under clouds, Ned also bid Ramsay Street farewell after failing to seduce Lauren and making things difficult with his family. We’re gutted to see Ned leave and by the looks of it, so is everyone else. Ben Hall has been a brilliant find and with news that he’s already on his way back, we hope the show begs, borrows or steals the money to make him a permanent cast member. The Led romance can’t die before its even begun!
In a fortnight when we lost a newbie favourite, Ned, we had the unwelcome return of Madison Robinson. Sure, she’s the daughter of famous Ramsay Street legends Scott and Charlene (aka Jason and Kylie) but she’s also as wooden and unexciting as they come. She’s a blonde, budding reporter – she’s almost Elle Robinson but with none of the edge or charm. Her dialogue is stilted and her purpose, apart from being there to cheer up Paul, seems to be a walking mannequin. We ask, what really is the point of her? We’re really hoping this isn’t a longterm return because frankly the show can do better and Paul deserves more than Madison as a cling on!
He’s spent weeks fishing the leaves out of Lauren’s pool but it seems like Ned wants to do a lot more than that – and we bloody love it. Ben Hall has made such an instant impression on us and we find each and every scene he’s present in to be utterly riveting. What’s more is his continued lack of faith in his deadbeat dad, who, as much as he insists this is all Natalie Imbruglia’s fault, fails to get any sympathy from us. Therefore it’s no surprise that as Ned began to look longlingly at Lauren, and even better, she began to reciprocate, we were willing the pair to share an illicit kiss! What we’ve loved most is that it isn’t as simple as Ned wanting to ruin his dad’s life, he seems to have found a genuine connection with Lauren and while he may be pressing all the buttons to make her doubt her relationship with Brad, it’s clear she too is enjoying Ned’s growing fixation on her. Is it wrong for us to be willing the pair to get together and really teach Brad a lesson? After all, his treatment of women is far from admirable and perhaps this is just what he needs…
Have we said lately that we love Sonya? Because if we haven’t, we do! It goes without saying that time and again, the fab Eve Morey delivers scene after scene, week after week. She’s a natural with comedy and is surely one of the finest dramatic performers the show has ever had. What’s even better is that Sonya is such a nuanced, wonderfully written character and every action, everything she does always feels real and makes sense – it’s all a reflection on who she is and where she’s come from. What we’ve love lately is how her mayoral career has given the character a much stronger standing in the community and providing some great new interactions. Her continued marriage troubles with Toadie always feel so raw, real and natural. The current plot with the real Uncle Walter is giving Eve a chance to flex her acting muscles once again and as we’ve said many times before, we love her past getting explored in depth. We can only hope Walter doesn’t break her heart but we aren’t exactly hopeful…
Sheila and Amy shared some great scenes in the last few weeks and a lovely hug. After Xanthe’s attempts to take things to the next level with Angus (ugh) both Amy and Sheila had words of wisdom to impart and their own unique ways of going about it. Amy wanted the honest, safe approach – matey advice and lessons on how to use that big box of condoms Xanthe had – it is 2016 after all. Sheila, true to form, went in all guns blazing and embarrassed the poor girl. But both matriarchs realised that they both wanted the same thing for Xanthe and bonded over their mutual respect and reluctance to let Xan get up the duff when she wasn’t ready! They’re their own little family now and it’s pretty nice!
Despite being fairly intrigued as to who John Doe is and what connection he has to the explosion, we’re a bit sick of Paige’s creepy stalker routine. We get that she feels a “vibe” because he saved her from injury in the Lassiter’s explosion but her behaviour is pretty intolerable. This story is showing us the worst of all her traits. Bratty, immature, selfish – you name it. It almost seems like she doesn’t even want John to learn about who he is because she’s scared of losing him. Paige has form for blinding trusting dodgy strangers and yet she’s fallen into the very same trap. Argh! To make matters worse she even ran to her ex, Mark (who she was going to marry five minutes ago) to see if he’d suss out if John fancied her. So playground! We miss the fun, independent Paige who arrived on Ramsay Street, not this girl who drops everything to follow round a cute guy with amnesia. It’s growing old.
If there’s one thing we don’t like about soap is the tendency for guest cast to get away with far too much merely because they’re ‘troubled’ or had a tough background. It’s particularly more annoying when said guest character is spoiled, and genuinely quite unlikeable. Step forward Angus, who ticks all the boxes for us in the annoying character stakes. He’s ungrateful, sarcastic and generally not very appealing to watch. It doesn’t help that Karl and Susan are tripping over themselves trying to placate him over their own grandson. We know they’ve agreed to help Sarah but it’s all a bit much. Even worse is the way Angus has toyed with Xanthe’s feelings, stringing her along and knocking her confidence. Not to mention it hasn’t brought out the best in Xanthe who has thrown her friend/potential boyfriend Ben under the bus for a bit of attention. Hopefully a recovered Sarah quickly returns and takes him away soon!
Paul has had many wives and girlfriends over the 30 years of Neighbours’ existence, some much better than others, but let us nail our colours to the mast and say that a relationship with Terese has the potential to be one of the greatest. Their scenes this past fortnight have been electric and full of chemistry. It’s been made all the better than there hasn’t been the cliché affair we all suspected back in 2013 but rather a slow, organic story and gradual growth of feeling on both sides to this point. Terese seeking comfort in Paul provided some emotional moments and we loved Paul providing comfort by recalling his own losses. Their night together, sleeping on the sofa, was wonderful and maturely handled and of course, was made all the more devastating when Mark arrived to take Paul in for questioning the next morning. Terese’s rage in the middle of the Lassiter’s complex as well as at the funeral was fantastically acted by Rebekah Elmaloglou and was made all the more powerful knowing that it wasn’t just from a place of grief over Josh and Doug – but a place of the deepest betrayal. We think Neighbours may have found a new iconic couple…
After #HotelDeathTrap week or what was probably more like #WillisWeekofHell, the Willis family struggled to cope losing both Doug and Josh in one day. We have to commend Neighbours for their great aftermath in showing the family’s grief and the solid performances – especially by the Willis ladies who kept managing to break our hearts with their impressive emoting skills. We were also given an appearance by Dream!Vision!Josh and Corpse!Josh (nice work Harley) when the funeral featured a creepy open casket. In the funeral service, Ariel Kaplan once again delivered heartbreaking performances as she cried over her twin’s death, saying she just wanted to be whole again. We were also glad to see a softer, more vulnerable side to Piper as her first few months she was quite hard to take to. All the family grieved in their own way, including Pam who arrived with a grudge against Ned and making the family reunion even more tense. It was another powerful week for the Willis family, cementing their place as a very central part of Ramsay Street.
After the angst and tears of the Hotel Death Trap Week it’s been a joy to have the light relief of Xanthe Canning on her screens. We’ve already expressed our love for her before but now she’s paired up with Ben and become BFFs with Piper, it’s a trio made in heaven. It’s the sort of friendship that works because they’re all so different. Ben, with his 90s hair and earnestness like his uncle Billy, is brooding and serious, Xanthe is zany and ditzy and Piper is level headed and a little pretentious – but together they all just work. We loved Xanthe and Ben’s dilemma over their money discovery and their awkwardness over how to deal with Piper’s grief. It didn’t take much to cheer Piper up – seeing Xanthe’s desperate attempts to stalk her way into Ben’s affections was a good start. We love all three actors too and hope there’s lots more to come, they could be the great young cast of the future.
Now, we love the return of a legendary character as all you regular readers will know, so we were overjoyed to see the return of one of Ramsay Street’s most iconic ‘other woman’ – Sarah Beaumont. With all the sadness and drama of the hotel explosion, her return brought some much needed intrigue and was a great callback to one of our favourite Kennedy plots. Two weeks on and we’re still loving having her around but we have to say, we 100% agree with Susan on Sarah’s behaviour! While we now know Sarah is sick and has a very big favour to ask the Kennedys – one that isn’t an easy ask – Sarah did little to help herself with her suspicious actions. Her nervousness and awkwardness around Karl and Susan understandably wound Susan up and her constant delay in telling the truth led to all sorts of suspicions. As for working out the stability of the Kennedy marriage by propositioning Karl as a test? Perhaps not the best idea. But as ever, Sarah never means to cause harm and we can’t wait to see where the story goes from here.
Honestly, we’re surprised Paige managed to drag herself away from coma guy’s bedside to attend her own brother’s funeral this week. Just what is she playing at?! We love the new ‘do but did she have a few brain cells snipped in the process. Okay John Doe (as we currently know him) is fairly cute and saved her life, but Paige’s behaviour is weird to say the least. Grief affects people in different ways but at the time her family need her most she’s hanging around the hospital as if John Doe is Sleeping Beauty! We all know when Paige has an obsession she just can’t let it go but this is ridiculous. First she spent all her hours trying to find out who he was – FYI not Alex Jones – and now he’s awake she can’t stop staring at him with her big doe eyes. She even missed the memorial of her precious Pop! She hasn’t a clue who he is and at the moment, neither does he. Is she that desperate for a date? Get a life Paige!
Steph and Mark hooked up again this week and what can we say, we’re fans. We liked Mark and Paige at the start and we have a love/hate relationship with Mark because let’s face it – he can be quite a boring stickler. But him and Steph seem to have real chemistry, something they were unable to deny last week when their pact to just keep things simple as friends lasted all of five minutes. We weren’t totally sure on Mark as the family man going on picnics with Charlie (even though his babysitting for Nell is really cute) but it’s when Mark and Steph got their flirt on that we really enjoyed their scenes. Even Steph was up for a bit of saucy “handcuff me” role play (which is surprising considering her past, but we’ll let it go) but their bonding scenes were nicely played and we’re interested to see where things go from here – that’s if Paige doesn’t cause more trouble (see below!).
that Neighbours has lacked one of its most iconic character ‘types’ in recent years – the warm, funny, somewhat ‘dizzy’ blonde. The show has a long tradition of these strong, comedic young females and their presence often livens up many scenes, particularly the teen relationship dramas which do sometimes veer into the less than interesting territory. The last two teen gangs (both awful in our opinions) were made up of the fantastic but not necessarily funny Imogen, the dreadful Amber and the less said about the likes of Summer and Tash, the better. So Xanthe has been a real breath of fresh air and as she settles into the show, she’s become a real stand-out. We loved her absolute ineptitude at Harold’s, her inexplicable ability to hold onto the job and the complete disregard for the customers and indeed, food hygiene. We hope the character continues on this high note and doesn’t succumb to, or bogged down in, forced drama.
Very randomly there was a cameo from Andreas this week who appeared to give Imogen something to look at and for Paige to suggest she move on with. Ah Andreas, remember him? He used to work at The Waterhole and Harold’s and had a strange comedy subplot with Sheila where it was revealed he couldn’t speak English and was utterly hopeless at the job. Breaking things, wrong orders and so on. But Sheila liked him. It’s the sort of bonkers plot only Neighbours can do but we loved it at the time. Well he reappeared at the end of last week, complete now with ropey English and an endearing smile. We always love when guest characters and extras make regular appearances, especially someone as sweet and silly as him. Even if Imogen wasn’t ready we could do with seeing Andreas every now and then if there are more deliveries in the street.
Our long-term readers will we that we’re big fans of Imogen Willis. We even stuck with her through that odd period in where she became obsessed with Mark Brennan and generally made herself a bit of a nuisance but the character soon got back on track and Ariel remains a great screen presence. That said, we can’t be the only ones bored of Imogen and Daniel? The show has done that most annoying of soapy traits but refusing to allow characters to be happy and make any and every hurdle a break-up situation. It’s got to the point where we’re rooting for the characters to be apart because the constant to-ing and fro-ing just isn’t entertaining. What’s worse is that Imogen’s typical neurotic aspects (which we love) have went into overdrive with the character snapping at everyone and generally being all over the place. Why Tyler gives her the time of day between her hot and cold all the time, we have no idea. We can only hope future rumoured events bring back the Imogen we know and love and put her trivial love problems into perspective.
Is there anyone more infuriating in soap right now that Paige Smith? What happened to the fun and independent girl we loved when she first joined? We enjoyed Paige and Mark but since it went sour (and Paige wasn’t entirely blameless here thanks to her sulky immaturity) she’s not behaved to her best. We get it, break ups are hard – even harder when the man you were meant to marry hooks up with a neighbour in record time under your nose. But we’d have more sympathy if she hadn’t been making doe eyes at Tyler last year, talking about having feelings for him and being a petty brat most of the time. She’s showing her worst colours lately in her reaction to Steph and Mark. Using Tyler was another cruel move and the cat fight with Steph made her look even nastier. She’s been a nasty piece of work lately, from her treatment of Sonya and now with this show – claiming Steph only wanted Mark so it would look better for her custody appeal. The irritating thing is, with parents like Brad and Lauren enabling her behaviour she’s not going to grow up anytime soon.
Charlie returned this week and Steph’s issues with motherhood returned with him. She’s suffered so much with her mental health that you could see her so desperately wanting to be a part of Charlie’s life even though she knew she shouldn’t. Watching them bond over bikes and making badges for each other was pretty lovely and above everything we just want Steph to find happiness again. We all held our breath when we thought Charlie might call her mum again and now that Steph’s made it her mission that she wants to be a part of his life again, we want nothing else more. Steph’s character development and battle with her mental health is a really strong positive for Neighbours at the moment and their heartfelt goodbye was pretty gutwrenching. It’s a real asset to have Carla Bonner back on the show.
Willis family history was being explored onscreen and it really helped tie the modern day Willises back to the original family’s stint in the early 90s. And of course, Doug’s continued returns have been much welcome. However every visit is always tinged with a certain sadness as, every time Doug returns, his illness seems to be worsening. This recent stint being the most tragic yet as it’s clear that Doug is beginning to lose his battle with dementia and finds himself more forgetful and confused than ever. It’s incredibly sad to see Doug’s confusion manifested in various different ways and even sadder to see him, in his lucid state, mourn his condition. His chat with Lou, reinforcing a decades long friendship, was very hard to watch and Terence Donovan played a blinder. As the weeks go by, it becomes more and more obvious to us where the story is headed and we think we’ll need a lot of tissues before this year is out.
We don’t mean to keep banging on about Xanthe Canning in every blog post but we really like her. This fortnight she saw her dad in prison, nicked Brad’s iPad, got in major trouble at school, got offered a job with Paul, threw a big party and caused Sheila to have heart problems. One of the reasons we really like her is that she comes across as a bit of a ditz with her princess routine, but underneath all that high maintence stuff she has a real solid heart, like the rest of the Cannings. She already has a pretty sweet relationship with Kyle, bonding over bed designing and him trying to get her to be sensible at school and as we already mentioned in our Scene of the Week, she sparks off really well with fiery Sheila. We’ve got a feeling their relationship is going to have many ups and downs as Sheila struggles to parent her, but it should be fun in the meantime. Xanthe also seems to bring out the best in Piper – even if they have rushed to BFF status already. We didn’t like her stealing from Sheila when she has welcomed her so lovingly but she’s a far cry from the squeaky clean teens we once had in the show and we’re loving her for it. Comedy, drama – it looks like she can do both.
This Quill story is all a bit weird isn’t it? It almost reminds us of the infamous Simpson’s monorail plot with a devious and dodgy company trying to take over the community. Thankfully Julie Quill is a bit of a character with her hybrid accent and it’s been quite fun to see Terese in the thick of the action with her being a little put out about Julie and Paul’s history. It makes a change to see another character acting more underhand than Paul in order to get what they want. What with the Lassiters plot and Paul opening a motel, there’s been a lot of business talk and to-ing and fro-ing and frankly it’s all been a bit rushed and baffling, we can’t keep up. Who’s going into business with who? Who’s keeping secrets? Where’s all the money coming from?Why would they even want to build a mega sized hotel when Lassiters is always so empty (and they only seem to have one hotel room!).
Now, any long term readers will know that despite being very keen on Paige when she first arrived, our opinion on her character has dropped dramatically as the months and years have passed. Bratty, immature, manipulative, selfish bitchy and generally, very unpleasant and unrepentant about her behaviour and treatment of those she decides to have a go at. However, last week Paige truly hit a new low and has probably marked herself as one of the nastiest regulars the show has ever seen. Buoyed by her new uni pals (who cares), Paige fancied herself an environmental right activist (of course she did) and keen to make her voice heard (when doesn’t she) proceeded to berate, attack and humiliate her neighbour, and generally one of Neighbours’ kindest characters, Sonya. The scene where Paige led a demonstration at Sonya’s event in The Waterhole was actually quite hard to watch and our hearts bled for poor Sonya. Paige was smug, rude and in our opinion, utterly vile. Sadly once again, everyone tiptoes around Paige and never calls her out on the nasty so and so she is. Please, Ellen Crabb, arrest her and let her rot.
We had our tissues handy this week when everyone’s favourite canine, Bossy, suffered a bout of strange behaviour and what seems like a life threatening illness. We have all barely recovered from the time Georgia’s stupidity led to Bossy falling sick but this is even worse! It was alarming to see the ordinarily friendly Bossy lash out, not only at Kyle and Amy, but also sadly, Jimmy – an action that could have dire consequences for our beloved kelpie. It’s speaks to the talents of Chris Milligan and Bossy’s excellent training that the scenes were realistic and indeed, involved some better acting than a few past cast members we could mention! Alas, knowing Bossy is clearly ill broke our hearts and Paul sending her to the kennels made us feel even worse! We hope Bossy is soon vindicated and what’s more, nursed back to health immediately. Number 26 just isn’t the same without her!
The scales fell from Amy’s eyes this week as she (once again) found out what her father is really like. It’s common knowledge that Paul Robinson is a dodgy guy but Amy had just come round to loving and trusting him (and going into business – really now?!) when Sonya dropped the bombshell that he’d tried pushing Steph into a breakdown. After that Amy was fuming and we got to see some great performances from Zoe Cramond again. One of our favourite things about Amy is her friendship with Steph and it was great to see the two of them in scenes together again, listening and being supportive.
There’s something very original and admirable of Neighbours to tackle post-natal depression from a father’s point of view. Since Matilda’s birth, Josh desperately struggled to bond with her and then went through the hell that every new parent seems to suffer – no sleep, low moods and lack of faith. Josh has got it bad, and now it’s made even worse now that Amber has left town with the baby and it takes a flight to reach her. While we hated the whole Jamber and baby plot, it’s an unusual route to take for the plot. It’s not the loudest or the most dramatic plot but Harley Bonner brings a lot of heart to the story even when we’ve spent 80% of the year hating what’s become of Josh’s character. It’s a difficult story to tell with mother and baby absent but Neighbours are giving it a good crack.
First things first – Tyler is great and we also really like Mavournee Hazel who plays Piper…we just Piper pretty irritating. Honestly an on-screen version of a opinionated teenage vlogger is a hard sell to make entertaining to watch and now this new story with Tyler isn’t really helping. The teenage crush on an older guy story has been done plenty of times and we have no problem with it, and we can easily see why Piper would fancy Tyler – but there’s just something missing. Whether it’s because it’s been a bit rushed or the lack of chemistry we’re not sure. There’s also the slight issue that on Piper’s front it’s just a bit cringey and it’s bound to end in her heartbreak when Tyler inevitably goes sniffing back round Paige again.
The longest running story continued this week without a conclusion in sight. Yes, everyone, we’re talking about the reign of terror from everyone’s favourite villain Dimato. We’re not adverse to Neighbours villains, indeed they can really liven things up every now and again – but not like this. Dimato himself isn’t the charming, compelling love-to-hate villain he needs to be and what’s worse, the plot itself is left without a compelling protagonist. Mark and Paige’s involvement is dull, dull, dull, and the plot is convoluted lacking structure, coherence or momentum. The only saving grace was the surprisingly effective scene of Michelle being slapped by Dimato which brought some proper drama and action to proceedings.
Erinsborough 