Another week has zoomed by in a flash, so here I am again, writing my round-up of this week’s Neighbours episodes. I was fully expecting to be writing a lot about Toadie leaving, but they’re keeping us hanging on, so I’m guessing it must all be kicking off next week instead. There’s still plenty to talk about though.
An Odd Week For Toadie
We’re clearly gearing up for Toadie’s exit, and as such he’s spending most of his time revisiting his past. He receives a letter from Dee, and hears a song that reminds him of Sonya. These two events don’t seem all that earth-shattering to me, but Toadie is extremely bothered by the “spooky” coincidence of receiving communication from an ex-wife he’s on good terms with and also happening to hear a song on a retro playlist that was an incredibly big hit.
But it’s really bothered Toadie, and he starts thinking about Dee, and Sonya, and all the time he spent at the old house, and he’s kind of overwhelmed by it all. What exactly is going on here? Is he sick? Or is this some sort of weird premonition vibe happening? I’m quite intrigued to see how it all plays out next week.
He also gets a call from the estate agent who is handling the nursery lease to let him know that the tenants have left and he’s struggling to find new ones. He tells Toadie that the land would sell very easily, so Toadie is faced with the decision of trying to keep a nursery going at the same site, or selling the land to a developer of some sort. It’s another wrench in what’s been quite a full-on week for him.
He also helps Nicolette out with a furniture sale, and the scene where he was clowning around with the settee was a lovely bit of business.
The Vineyard Gang is Back On
After Kiri and Nicolette’s bust-up, Kiri is starting to have cold feet about going into business with her. Leo then has an offer from another investor who wants to be a silent partner, so he asks Kiri who she’d rather be in partnership with. It’s an incredibly awkward position for Kiri to be placed in, getting to decide whether or not to give Nicolette and Byron the boot. Leo can tell which way she’s leaning, and makes an appointment to meet with the new investor.
Byron’s got other ideas though, and in a radical departure from being a lovable teddy bear, he sneakily cancels the meeting between Leo and the investor. The only problem is, Krista overhears him doing it, and she’s livid. I know she’s Leo’s girlfriend, but she doesn’t work at the vineyard, so I don’t know why she’s always there, and why she’s always getting involved in business decisions. Surely she’s got enough on her plate with the lazy Lassiters manager and, you know, her actual job.
But it seems like Byron’s plan is working, as it looks like they’re going to go back to the original arrangement – Byron just needs Krista to keep her mouth shut about his scheming, which I doubt she will.
Wild Wendy
Where do I even start with this one? Wendy has decided that in order to look cool in front of her new uni friends, she needs to get rid of all traces of her husband and daughter so she can throw a rager in their back garden. Full disclosure here – I am not a party person. However, even as someone who would rather roll around in a bed of nettles than go to a party, I can still tell that Wendy’s party was rubbish, and it’s mostly because she was there.
Predictably, Andrew and Sadie come home early, and Sadie springs Wendy talking to Quinn, who is very obviously hitting on her. Wendy partly tells Andrew the truth about lying about her age, but she omits the fact that she’s been pretending not to be married or that she has a daughter. Sadie is suspicious though, and she doesn’t buy Wendy’s excuse as to why all the family photos have been taken down.
Later on, Sadie is talking to Cara and Remi about the party, and Sadie gives Cara the impression that Wendy has fessed up about her whole deception, so it’s quite obvious that at some point Cara is going to put her foot in it and reveal to Andrew and Sadie that Wendy was pretending they didn’t exist.
Andrew was far too reasonable about the whole thing, if you ask me. If my partner had lied to get me out of the house and then thrown a huge party in my absence, I wouldn’t be bringing them flowers – I’d be bringing them a bill for the posh hotel I was going to stay in while they got everything cleared away and sobered up.
JJ Finally Tells Dex the Truth
On to the street’s resident dimwit, JJ, who has been accepted back into Erinsborough High despite only having about a quarter of a normal human brain. He’s still hiding his feelings for Nell from Dex, and actively encouraging Dex to pursue Nell romantically. There are so many things wrong with this that I could probably write an essay about it, but my main problems are that it puts Dex at an extremely high chance of having his heart broken, plus it completely ignores Nell’s agency in the whole thing. She told JJ that she liked him, so why he’s trying to make her and Dex happen defies all logic.
Dex is taking Nell to a theme park, and Nell invites JJ. It’s the most awkward of third wheel situations, because Dex believes JJ to be the third wheel when in actual fact it’s him. Dex is constantly asking JJ for tips on how to win Nell over, and eventually JJ snaps and tells him that he likes her too. At least he’s told the truth about that now, but he’s waited until a point where it’s going to cause maximum tension between the brothers. Well played, JJ, you absolute muppet.
Aaron Has Lost His Mind
After discovering Logan’s whole creepy back story, Aaron still wants to see him, and the two even kiss. Nicolette and Melanie get involved, telling him how weird it is to be romantically involved with someone when the main thing you’ve got in common with them is that you’re both in love with the same dead person. Aaron is furious, but Logan thinks about what they’ve said and decides they’re right. I can’t believe that out of Aaron and Logan, Logan is the one being the most rational, but this is where we find ourselves.
Honestly, at this point I feel like most of the people in Erinsborough need some sort of intervention to save them from their own stupidity. Or maybe I’m just really hot, tired and irritable. I can’t really tell…
A Few Random Notes
As usual, here are a couple of my random notes from this week:
- Why is Toadie so freaked out by the Backstreet Boys?
- AARON NO.
- Toadie mate, the real estate man doesn’t give a sh*t about why you’re so attached to the nursery.
- WENDY IS GOING TO GET FOUND OUT. DELICIOUS.
Can’t stop playing Dinosaur Game, it’s so attractive!
Okay, I totally get the Erinsborough frustration! The characters’ choices are sometimes baffling. Maybe they all need a game of Uno Online to unwind and strategize better life decisions, lol. Seriously though, the storyline’s intensity is both captivating and exhausting! Hope it improves soon!