Welcome to this week’s Ramsay Street Round-Up! This week has been all about setting us up for Flashback Week on Neighbours, which I am very excited about. Seriously, it might be the first time in all of history that I’m looking forward to Monday.
Paul’s Got the Wrong end of the Stick.
Paul is absolutely obsessed with figuring out what Reece is up to. In fact, he’s so engrossed in her mystery that Leo suggests he gets himself a hobby.
“What about golf? Or archery?” Leo suggests. But no, Paul decides that the hobby he’d like to try is setting the fire alarm off and then sneaking into Reece’s room to snoop through her things – obviously forgetting that Holly got the sack for doing something very similar not that long ago, and she didn’t even tamper with the fire alarm.
While in Reece’s room, Paul finds the drug rehab card that Reece had given to her sister and so jumps to the conclusion that Reece must be dealing with an addiction of some sort. He claims it explains why she’s so volatile. Volatile? Reece? She’s one of the dullest characters on Neighbours at the moment, and she’s so far away from what anyone could describe as volatile.
Even Jane gets in on it when Paul tells her about Reece’s supposed addiction, and she tries to fish for information from Byron in the least subtle way imaginable.
Speaking of Jane, I made a loud scoffing noise when Sharon told her she “wasn’t her usually bubbly self.” Bubbly? Jane isn’t bubbly. She practically vibrates with nervous energy at all times.
I understand that this glacial storyline about Reece’s sister needs someone to be invested in it to move it along, but Paul’s sudden interest in it rings hollow. Reece has been around for ages, and it’s only now that he’s getting suspicious of her real motives. It’s just a bit odd. I think it would have worked better if it had been Byron trying to figure it out, or even Holly, back when she was at loggerheads with Reece.
Anyway, it does look like this one might get wrapped up soon because Reece and Byron have found a bit of intel on where Reece’s sister went after leaving Erinsborough. They even had a B-movie-style projected car-driving scene to get there. I need them to stop with these because they’re terrible. We don’t need to see people driving cars to know they’ve gone somewhere.
The JJ Drama Is a Series of Damp Squibs
After the damp squib of the anthrax being baking soda, we get another damp squib in the form of JJ racing off on Mike’s motorbike and then pulling over on the side of the road, absolutely fine, and returning home without a scratch on him. Following that, we’re treated to the final in the hat-trick of damp squibs, as JJ is revealed not to be Andrew’s biological son after all.
This cannot be the end of this plot line, surely? The DNA results must be wrong? Or someone else had a go with Andrew’s sample as well as Cara’s, and he’s still got a surprise kid somewhere? I refuse to accept that this is the whole reason they ended up in the street, and it has all come to nothing. There has to be more to it, aside from Cara and Remy’s ongoing trust issues and Andrew being firmly in the doghouse with Wendy.
Mini-Izzy is Driving Me Mad
Since Holly fell madly in love with Haz after merely hearing him fight with Eden through the wall of a tin shed, she has properly turned into a mini-Izzy, and it’s coming across as really desperate. She’s constantly tottering around in short skirts and massive heels in an attempt to turn his head when he appears to be simply the most oblivious man on the planet when it comes to romance.
Obviously, things are going to get spicy between Holly and Mackenzie as they both fight for Haz’s attention. Holly is kind of fun, but Haz is a human Golden Retriever who I feel will do better with Mackenzie. So, I’m definitely on Team Mack for this one.
Nell Goes Missing (Again)
Nell seems to go missing at least once a year, so she is due for another adventure. Once again, she sends everyone into an absolute panic by disappearing while trying to figure out what’s happening with Melanie. Via some information from Sharon, Nell has figured out where Mel has moved to, so she skips school, only telling JJ where she’s actually going. She catches Eden in the act of seemingly breaking into Melanie’s house. Eden pushes her over, and she hits her head, and her phone gets smashed so that nobody can get in touch with her.
I don’t like to keep ragging on the actress who plays Nell because she’s just a kid, but she has such a strange cadence when she talks. She sounds like she’s running out of batteries all the time. Someone needs to coach her because she’s not all that natural, especially when she’s in scenes with JJ, who seems to be a cracking young actor.
When JJ eventually realises how serious the situation is, he tells Toadie where Nell’s gone, and half of Ramsay Street forms a search party to go and find her. After finding her bag and smashed-up phone in Mel’s house, Holly and Haz eventually see Nell sitting on a bench, and then along comes Melanie. Holly and Melanie realise they both know Eden – we know Holly is his ex, but what’s Mel’s deal?
What in the Unmissable Drama™ is Going on With Mel?!
Nell returns to the street with Melanie in tow, and Toadie is not exactly pleased to see her. She says she has something to tell him and said news requires everyone to be sitting down, so it must be good.
I am so ready for Flashback Week! We’ll finally figure out exactly why Mel left Toadie and what her connection to Eden is. Is he her evil son? Who’s his dad? It has to be another past character, surely? I haven’t read any spoilers, but that seems to be the most probable explanation, and I can’t wait to have it all properly explained. It’ll also be fun to see more of the old faces returning for the flashbacks.
Bring it on Monday!
