Yet another week was gone, and there was still no sign of Toadie’s much-hailed exit. My sister-in-law keeps texting to ask me if he’s gone yet, and I have said, “It’s got to be tonight!” so many times that she’s never going to believe a word I say ever again. But there’s plenty of other drama to talk about – my sister-in-law isn’t interested in any of that though…
Toadie Clings On For Another Week
I feel like they’ve been teasing Toadie’s exit for so long now, that I’m convinced it’s going to happen every time I sit down to watch Neighbours. But no, he’s still in Erinsborough and still wandering around with the haunted expression of a man who’s read next week’s script.
I find this whole re-examination of Toadie’s life such a curious plot device. I’m very used to the old chestnut from movies, where someone is seen at their happiest and then suddenly everything comes crashing down in a dramatic exit (See also, David Tanaka), but this odd vibe of Toadie feeling like things in his life aren’t quite right is such a strange way to go about writing a character out. I’m almost expecting him to be woken in the night by three ghosts who are going to show him the error of his ways.
This week he’s been soul-searching about his marriage with Melanie and his working relationship with Mackenzie. Melanie and him sit down to have a heart-to-heart – the poor guy only went to get a juice but he finds himself hearing some hard truths from Melanie about how their marriage was always doomed to fail. Then he finds out that Mackenzie has had a job offer from a big-shot law firm, and rather than encourage her to take the job and be some sort of legal mega queen, he lays a guilt trip on her about how he’s neglected to mentor her but he’ll do better in the future. I thought the more selfless option here would have been to let her fly the nest, but maybe that’s just me.
Toad also gets very emotional at dinner with Terese, Karl, Susan, Haz, and Mackenzie – honestly having him beat himself up for two weeks about all the things in his life that haven’t quite gone right has been such a strange way to handle his exit. It’s so hard not to seek out spoilers because I’m absolutely desperate to know how it’s all going to pan out. Where is this going? I want to know, but also I really don’t! (No spoilers please).
It’s the End For Wild Wendy
Wendy thought she’d dodged a bullet after she got busted throwing a wild party at home, and had to admit that she’d been lying about her age, neglecting to also admit to Andrew that she’d been pretending he and Sadie didn’t exist.
But Cara knows Wendy’s secret, and due to some classic crossed wires, she casually throws into the conversation that she’d have been devastated to find out that Remi was pretending she and the kids didn’t exist. It becomes obvious immediately that Andrew had, in fact, not known this, and thus Cara has chucked a sizeable hand grenade into the middle of the Rodwells’ marriage.
Wendy tries to explain to Andrew why she lied, but she just makes it worse, implying that Andrew and Sadie have been cramping her style. There’s a couple of days of Andrew avoiding her, but then they sit and talk it all out, and everything’s fine again. That man is honestly a saint, I’d have catapulted Wendy into the sun by now.
Susan Traumatises an Old Woman
Terese is far too invested in the fact that Susan is feeling a bit neglected in the sex department, and is trying to counsel her about removing herself from the “work zone” and reigniting some passion between her and Karl. Susan has tried numerous times to interest Karl in some bedroom antics, but he hasn’t taken the hint.
One of the old ladies at the retirement complex is looking for her gigantic, hideous hat, and when Susan finds it in Karl’s office, she can’t resist utilising it. She tests the structural integrity of Karl’s medical couch, then she whips off all her clothes and pops the hat on.
Predictably, Moira knocks on the door and, thinking it’s Karl, Susan gets ready to knock his socks off, but all that happens is Moira gets an eyeful of Susan’s rude bits before she manages to cover herself up with said ugly hat.
“I see you have found my hat,” Moira says, which had me howling. All in all, it was a lovely bit of comedy business.
Tess is Back
Lassiter’s all goes a bit Benny Hill, as there’s a booking disaster with unhappy guests wandering about all over the place (including an influential travel writer). Krista sacks the acting manager and then Holly tips food all over her, right as Reece’s second-in-command, Tess, strolls into the lobby.
She’s clearly up to something because she has some sort of sneaky and nefarious phone call, but I am finding it so hard to care about this storyline, mostly because Tess is such a boring character and the actress playing her couldn’t act her way out of a wet paper bag. Tess is such a two-dimensional, uptight executive character and I just don’t care.
JJ and Dex Butt Heads. And Are Also Buttheads.
I want to put these two in a big bag and shake them. After JJ finally came clean and confessed to Dex that he also has a crush on Nell, the two of them have reached an unhappy standoff, where neither of them wants to make a move on Nell as it would be disloyal to the other, but they’re also both angry with each other. Here’s a wild idea, lads: ASK NELL. Maybe, just maybe, asking Nell which of you she would rather be with would solve the problem of which one of you absolute muppets gets to date her. Jeez.
These two exhaust me, honestly.
A Few Random Notes:
As usual, here are a few highlights from the notes I made during this week’s episodes:
- Andrew, nobody is calling it “E High.”
- CARA. CHRIST ON A BIKE. Why would you just casually drop that into conversation?!
- The Traveller’s Owl 😂😂😂
- “You don’t have to try so hard.” PREACH, ANDREW.
