Here we are again, it’s approximately thirty seconds since I sat down to write last week’s round-up, and somehow it’s time to do this week’s. Let’s crack on, before I blink and find myself in mid-December.
Nicolette is Off Everyone’s Christmas Card List
Isla accidentally spills some sort of nuclear green juice all over Nicolette’s phone, and despite it only being in contact with it for a second, apparently the entire phone is in danger of dying forever. What the heck snowflake kind of phone does she have? My poor iPhone needs to go to therapy after the abuse it’s had from me, and it’s still going.
Haz swoops in and says he can have a look at it for her, but in the process of backing everything up, he recovers her deleted list of Aaron’s parenting transgressions which, of course, Aaron sees. The proverbial hits the fan in a big way, as Aaron confronts her about why the list was there in the first place, and figures out pretty quickly that she was storing evidence for a potential future custody battle.
Of course, Aaron is devastated, as is Jane, when she returns home to find World War Three occurring in her living room. Now, I am not saying Nicolette is blameless here, but I am kind of surprised who I ended up landing on as the villain in this piece, because it isn’t Nicolette, it’s Jane.
Jane is horrified by what Nicolette has done, and sides with Aaron immediately, ultimately deciding that Nicolette has to move out, which means she’ll be separated from her daughter. There were only ever going to be two outcomes here – either Nicolette and Aaron have to learn to keep cohabiting despite the collapse of their relationship, or one of them has to move out and be separated from their child. But for Jane to be the one to decide who’s moving out and who’s going to live away from Isla seems outrageous to me, even though it’s her house. Jane is not Isla’s legal guardian, the decision on who lives where should be made by Nicolette and Aaron.
In my book, keeping a list of a co-parent’s quite destructive behaviour, which could easily have put Isla at risk, is way less of an awful thing to do than making your own daughter homeless and forcing her to live apart from her child. Is this just me, or is that an absolutely horrible decision? It was Aaron’s behaviour that could have negatively impacted Isla, not Nicolette’s. I’m honestly agog at Jane over this, and Melanie can get straight into the waste disposal for telling her she’s not being unreasonable.
Holly Gets Found Out
Holly is still spending Heath’s money willy-flipping-nilly, buying gifts for herself and other people. She’s helping Mackenzie find a wedding dress, and after making her try on a number of very bland offerings (the one with the huge bow is particularly hideous), Mackenzie shows Holly her dream dress, which is out of her price range. Holly immediately goes out and buys it for her.
Karl and Susan have also noticed Holly’s spending and they confront her about it. She tells them the partial truth – that the money is from Heath – although she says she’s spending the proceeds of selling the jewellery he bought for her, rather than the big stash of dodgy cash she found.
She’s in the greenhouse, filling her bag with cash, when Wendy barrels into the garden and catches her in the act. Wendy absolutely refuses to mind her own business, and tells Holly that she needs to come clean about the money, or Wendy will do it for her.
Holly decides to compromise, telling Andrew about the money and giving some of it back, thus getting Wendy off her case. This is going to come back to bite her again, obviously, and all this could have been avoided if she’d have found a better hiding place. I still can’t fathom why she hid it outside in a place where Karl is always rummaging around in compost bags, rather than somewhere more secure and under her control. She’s not the brightest.
Byron is Problem-Solving
Byron has gone into full problem-solving mode ahead of Haz and Mackenzie’s wedding. He’s promised to look after Trevor until they can get him sent over to Paris, and Byron is the obvious choice, being a golden retriever in human form. He also takes it upon himself to try to convince Haz’s parents to come to the wedding when Haz’s miserable sister reveals that they might not come. All good so far.
He’s damaging his golden retriever status by the way he’s dealing with Vera though. She’s very excited about the wedding and has assumed she’ll be invited, so Byron has told her the wrong day for the ceremony to make sure she doesn’t come. I know Vera can be a lot to deal with, but this is so unspeakably cruel that I am going to revoke Byron’s good guy status unless he relents and tells her the correct day.
Toadie Makes More Poor Decisions
I’m honestly so sick of Toadie at this point. I know he’s having mental health issues, and I know he needs to look after himself as best he can, but that doesn’t mean that he has permission to steamroller over everyone else’s needs.
Firstly he sees Terese getting support from Paul, who’s always been her go-to in times of need, and reacts like a caveman. We all know that Paul has an agenda, but it is absolutely none of Toadie’s business who Terese goes to for support, and she’s perfectly capable of holding her own with Paul.
In an outstanding display of overstepping boundaries, Toadie says to Paul that he hopes he’s not trying to get back together with her and, in my favourite moment of the week, Paul puts him right back in his box with the immortal line, “I can assure you, I have absolutely no interest in what you hope, Jarrod.”
On top of this, he makes the decision that he wants to move back to Colac, and tells Karl and Susan of his plans before he’s even spoken to the kids. Terese also overhears this revelation, and is devastated that he’s going to take the kids away from her as well.
Susan and Terese warn him that Nell won’t want to go, but he’s still blindsided when she reacts very badly to the idea. A fresh start might be what Toadie needs, but is it really best for the kids to take them away from so many friends and family? I know they’d have family in Colac too, but they’ve been through so much upheaval, I really don’t think they need any more, and Toadie just isn’t thinking about their needs at all.
Begone, Toad.
Felix is For It
In the soap world, if things are looking up for you, then you’re about to suffer some sort of terrible calamity. Felix is recovering from his wounds and he’s about to be released. He’s turned a corner, and is determined to keep on the straight and narrow this time. The Rodwells and the Varga-Murphys are understandably twitchy about his impending release, but I have a feeling they won’t have to worry about it for too much longer…
A Few Random Notes
- As usual, here are a few random notes I took while watching Neighbours this week:
- I wouldn’t let Holly have any input in choosing my wedding dress.
- Vera telling Mackenzie to wear a black wedding dress because it’s more slimming 😂
- “No one’s getting Punted, not today.”
- Oh Holly, if Wendy knows then everyone knows.
- Toadie, a new chapter in Colac isn’t what anyone needs.
