Photo courtesy of Channel 5.
If there’s one thing that Neighbours does exceptionally well, it’s having a preposterously silly villain with a baffling vendetta against one or more residents of Ramsay Street. Recently we had Hamish, with his downright nonsensical boat fraud scheme, and Fake Dee, with her improbable doppelgänger plot.
There was also Finn, who had a really overly complicated plan which would see Susan discredited and see him installed as the principal of Erinsborough High. Poor Xanthe got sucked into the whole thing and found herself on a plane to Hong Kong with the scheming teacher, who had been grooming her as his unquestioningly loyal supporter for months. He eventually ended up lying next to a caravan with a burst brain aneurysm, which is not the way we’re used to seeing screen villains getting their just desserts, and felt like a little bit of an anti-climax.
But now Finn is back, with an equally bonkers plan that involves dating his ex-girfriend’s sister whilst pretending he’s in a wheelchair and is called Patrick. He’s also pretending to be a different Patrick, who has MS and who works for Dr Karl’s MS drug study at the hospital. So far, Patrick 1 has installed a spy camera in a posh box of tea which he sent to the Kennedys as a present, and Patrick 2 sabotaged Dr Karl’s study from the inside by forcing Karl to present doctored data at an important meeting. Being three people at once is obviously meaning a lot of lying, ducking and diving to keep up the pretence, and I particularly loved the perfect moment where Susan blundered into his office and Finn/Patrick 2 had to dive awkwardly under the desk like he was playing a game of workplace hide and seek. I also love how often Finn/Patrick 1 has to leap into his wheelchair in a blind panic as he hears Bea coming into the apartment.
Finn and Bea. Photo: Channel 5/Digital Spy
Bea has to be the biggest victim of this entire plot at the moment – she is in love with Patrick and thinks they are getting married. She believes he’s in a wheelchair as a result of getting assaulted when coming to her rescue, and he is constantly manipulating and emotionally abusing his unsuspecting fiancée. She even swallowed his excuses when he was spotted out and about without his wheelchair, believing his lie that he was starting to regain some of his movement. She’s so sucked in that she actually fell for the “Oh, I was just practising my walking,” line, which is heartbreaking. Poor Bea.
I absolutely love the camp villains that Neighbours has, and I am enjoying Finn’s second stint on the show, even if I can’t quite get my head around what his end game is. Whatever it is, it’s bound to be silly, based on Finn’s past form. His plans are so elaborate they rival some of the nuttier Bond villains’ ideas – I’m half expecting him to press a button in his apartment to reveal a ramp, so he can roll his evil wheelchair down into his evil secret underground lair.
He seems intent on getting revenge on the Kennedys for foiling his previous plot, and judging from the way he was sniffing creepily at Elly’s jacket, I think it’s fair to say he still has a bit of a thing for her. He’s currently trying to get Bea to agree to eloping with him, with Elly as a witness, so is this a lure to get the two of them alone? Is he planning on kidnapping Elly? Forcing her to marry him?
Who knows? I haven’t read any spoilers, so I have no idea.
Finn’s evil face. Photo: Channel 5/Digital Spy.
All I know is that I think the Finn plotline is good fun, and Rob Mills looks like he’s having an absolute blast playing him. He has a great evil frowny face, which he does every time Finn does something nasty or devious, which is basically all the time. I kind of hope Finn meets his end with Bea, Elly, Susan or Xanthe giving his wheelchair a good shove near a high clifftop. Maybe Bea and Finn’s wedding could take place at that one cliff in the bush where everyone on Ramsay Street goes to fall over? That would be a great way for him to go out, but obviously not until we’ve found out all the details about his bonkers revenge plot, which is bound to be even crazier and more pointless than when he committed numerous crimes in order to be the principal of a rather crap school in the suburbs.
Maybe Bea, Elly, Susan and Xanthe could get together to see him off. Now that’s a bunch of badass wronged ladies that I would love to see team up…
