PHOTO: © Channel 5. SOURCE: Digital Spy
I quite enjoy a character evolution, especially on Neighbours, where people can turn from a borderline juvenile delinquent into an all-round good guy in a matter of months. Paul’s character evolution has been dizzying – he’s vacillated between being a normal bloke and a moustache-twirling villain more times than he’s had a latte from Harold’s.
It seems as though Finn is currently being rehabilitated from being a one-man crime spree to some sort of well-meaning simpleton, and Elly is going from being slightly flakey to being a huge dumpster fire. But my current favourite character development is Leo. When he arrived in Erinsborough he was a shonky business type who had a bit of a shady past involving nightclubs in Sydney. He gradually got rid of most of his criminal connections and under the guidance of Paul and Terese he turned himself into a respectable business owner. Well, as respectable a business owner as you can be when said business is a “hostel” which is basically a tin shed with no interior walls.
Since Leo’s relationship with Terese imploded after his ill-advised public proposal, Leo has gone from bad to worse. He turned up drunk to rattle the fence and yell at Paul and Terese in front of all the neighbours. Then he hurled a huge floral heart across the complex and skittled a crochety old woman, which led to one of the funniest scenes I’ve seen on Neighbours for ages, when he read his apology statement out in the style of a primary school assembly reading, then announced that he was sleeping with Terese’s daughter, Piper.
David tries to deal with one of Leo’s tantrums. PHOTO: © Channel 5. SOURCE: Digital Spy
Since Piper left, Leo’s main activities have been getting drunk and being petulant, and it seems he’s going through his emo phase quite late in life. Honestly, I’m here for it. Leo’s cute, but I’ve always found him a little bit dull, and I’m finding it really fun to watch him turn into some sort of moody teenager who does nothing but drink beer and go into long “It’s not fair!” rants at his friends and family. He almost revealed Elly’s baby secret to Mark and then he snitched on Paul and Chloe when they were doing a bit of mild fraud. He’s a perpetually drunk loose cannon and I can’t wait to see what he gets up to next.
