Hello, Neighbours fans! I can’t believe it’s already time to write another Ramsay Street- Round-Up, but here we are. The weeks are flying by, and I feel like with this week, the show has hit its stride and has felt the most like pre-reboot Neighbours.
Paul is Garbage
Paul is still determined to deflect all the blame for David’s death onto Krista, so much so that he bans her from the funeral. She’s understandably distraught not to be able to come to the funeral of her sobriety coach, whom she clearly became very close with. I know Leo is in a tricky position here, between his dad and his girlfriend, but I felt he could have had a bit more backbone rather than dumbly doing his dad’s dirty work and delivering the message that she couldn’t come.
So Paul trots along to the funeral, playing the dutiful, grieving father as if he didn’t just get his son killed. He supports Aaron and tells him to scream and cry in front of Isla if needed. I’m not a parent, but would this not be quite traumatic for a child of Isla’s age? I’m not saying emotions should be hidden from children, but full-on Greek tragedy hair-pulling and teeth-gnashing in front of such a little one might just be storing a few things that have to be unpacked in therapy in later life. But I suppose Paul is not good at long-term parenting. He usually just goes in for very short stints with each kid.
I thought the acting at the funeral was incredible for everyone, especially Aaron and Paul. Paul looked so utterly broken. I did, however, spend most of that scene being way too excited that the song they used for it was High and Low by The Big Moon, one of my favourite bands. If you’d like to hear one of their more summery tunes, treat yourself and have a watch of the video for their song, Your Light – it’s a belter. And yes, perhaps I only love this video because I, too, have a bike with a basket and handlebar streamers…
ANYWAY.
Lucy is Back!
Lucy is back to boss Paul about, and she immediately gets a dodgy vibe from Chelsea, who is still hanging around Paul like a bad smell. I had faith in Lucy to see right through Chelsea, and at first, she does, telling her to back off, but then Chelsea buys her a few wines, which seems to be enough to bring Lucy around. In the end, the two of them agree that Lucy will go back to America to keep on top of the business, provided Chelsea sticks around to look after Paul. Obviously, we all know that when Chelsea says she’ll “look after” Paul, she means rinsing him for every penny he’s worth.
It all works out very well for Chelsea because Remi’s had enough of her and made it very clear that she’s about as welcome in their house as a carrier bag full of cat poo, which leaves Chelsea without anywhere to go. So off she goes to move into the penthouse with Paul.
My favourite bit of this whole interaction was the referencing to the Jim Robinson Memorial Bauble. I just love to be reminded of such an iconic Neighbours moment.
Krista’s Funeral For David is Nicer Than the Official One
Because Krista can’t go to the actual funeral, she has her own little send-off for David, and I think I liked it more than the official funeral service. She makes paper cranes with messages on them and floats them in the lake, which is quite beautiful.
While she’s sitting and remembering David by herself, Leo finally grows a bit of a spine. He invites her to come to the wake with everyone else, suddenly realising that in this situation, a pregnant recovering drug addict perhaps needs a little bit of support.
However, when she gets to the funeral, Paul goes absolutely stratospheric at her, yelling in front of everyone about how she’s not welcome because she’s the one who got David killed.
ENTER SADIE EFFING RODWELL
It’s not often that Sadie gets much of a storyline, but she got one this week, and, boy howdy, was it a good one. When Andrew collects Eden’s things from the aftermath of the hostage situation at the Kennedys’, something about his jumper seems familiar to Sadie. She has a flashback of seeing the same jumper with the distinctive back print somewhere before, and so she persuades a member of staff to send her the CCTV footage from the hotel immediately before David’s death. Sure enough, she sees Paul and Eden in the lift together, so she knows how Eden managed to find out where Krista and everyone else were staying.
Sadie wrestles with whether to tell anyone or not, initially opting not to because dropping that sort of bomb into the middle of an already grieving family is going to cause devastation. But when she sees Paul on the highest of high horses when Krista comes to the wake, Sadie can’t take it anymore.
She yells at Paul to leave Krista alone and then spills the hottest and strongest tea in front of everyone – that Paul colluded with Eden. Everyone turns on Paul straight away, suddenly realising that if anyone is to blame for David’s death, it’s the person who told the dangerous criminal where to find him.
I LOVED this scene, and I was cheering Sadie on. Paul deserves this, and I have no sympathy for him whatsoever. He was pretty happy for everyone to pin the blame on Krista, so I’m quite happy for him to discover what that feels like. GO SADIE. What an icon.
Toadie and Terese Are Just Not That Into Each Other
It’s becoming increasingly obvious to everyone that Toadie and Terese just aren’t that into each other. In the wake of David’s death and Sadie’s revelations, Terese’s reflex has been to support Paul, she even defends him to Toadie, saying that out of everyone Paul is the person suffering the most. Toadie is absolutely right to remind her that Leo, Aaron, and Isla might have some input on that particular notion.
So all week, Terese is hovering around Paul, and Toadie keeps being drawn to Melanie as a shoulder to cry on – she’s even started wearing her engagement and wedding rings again. We can all see where this is going, and honestly, as this goes on, it’s becoming increasingly obvious that Toadie and Terese are an odd match. And whereas Terese always brought the best out in Paul (however microscopic that element of his personality is), all she’s doing right now is bringing the worst out in Toadie. I’m not hating on Terese here because Toadie is not free of blame either, but so much mistrust, jealousy, and lying is going on. It feels more like the dynamic Terese always had with Paul rather than the dynamic Toadie had with any of his many wives, excluding the rather unique circumstances he found himself in when he cheated on Sonya with the person he thought was his dead wife.
(Please note my computer just tried to autocorrect ‘Sonya’ to ‘Santa.’)
Chelsea is Garbage
I’ve already covered some of Chelsea’s antics earlier, but she is being so repulsive at the moment that she warrants a little paragraph of her own. From trying to insert herself into the funeral arrangements to moving herself into the penthouse, Chelsea’s actions are all to benefit one person – her. She’s trying to make it look like she’s there to support Paul, but what she’s doing is preying on a broken and vulnerable person in the depths of grief, and it’s abhorrent. Please don’t mistake my condemnation of her as sympathy for Paul because I think he deserves it, but anyone who preys on grieving people is utter garbage.
She’s also trying to mess with Terese, and I’m unsure what she’s trying to achieve here. By telling Toadie that she saw Terese leaving Paul’s penthouse, is she hoping to discourage Terese from coming over again because she sees her as a threat to her position as the potential next Mrs Robinson? Because I don’t think it’s going to play out that way. If Toadie and Terese break up, Terese will be in that lift as fast as her stilettos will carry her, and if Terese is available, Paul will drop Chelsea like a hot and very repellant potato. Chelsea’s downfall is sure to come, and personally, I cannot wait.
