Well, the big 40th anniversary week is over, but the after effects are sure to carry on into next week and beyond. It was quite the week! Here are a few of my thoughts.
Nell Makes An Exhibition of Herself
Paul somehow manages to put together an exhibition of Nell’s work in absolutely record speed, and while I understand that it is a narrative device the writers could use to pay homage to the show’s past as it reaches it’s 40th year, if you actually think about it in context it is all in incredibly poor taste.
Dotted around the complex are pictures of past and present residents of Erinsborough which depict the various dramas and scandals over the years – because everybody loves having their private business blown up to A1-size and put on an easel outside the coffee shop. My particular favourites are where Nell playfully immortalises that time when her dad was sexually assaulted by someone he thought was his ex-wife, and also the incredibly tasteless depiction of the plane crash which killed a couple of members of the Bishop family, complete with a big sign that says “BOOM!” and some sparkly blue tinsel.
Can you imagine if you went down the shops and saw all your lowest moments mounted on massive boards outside the newsagent as you were going to get your can of Coke Zero? It’s incredibly bizarre.
“Madge” Returns
Madge was of course one of the subjects of the exhibition, as the matriarch of the Ramsay/Bishop families, and while looking at her picture JJ sees a woman who bears a remarkable resemblance to Madge. Of course, it is the real Madge, as in it is the actress who played her for many years, Anne Charleston.
JJ can’t leave this poor woman alone, and engineers it so that she comes to Eirini Rising and comes face to face with Harold, which is an awkward and shocking situation for both of them. This lady, Agnes, claims not to know who Madge is, while Harold is completely thrown by seeing someone who looks so much like his late wife.
I just can’t get on board with this story at all. Of all the Neighbours legends to bring back, why not bring back one who is still alive in the show? And, unbelievably, we’ve done doppelgängers of dead wives before, so why are we doing it again? If anything, Nell’s exhibition shows that Neighbours storylines are repeated more often than old episodes of ‘Allo ‘Allo.
Fallon and Seb Go Full Evil
Fallon and Seb are really turning up the heat on their evil plan to split Leo and Krista up and divide the spoils between them. Fallon has sown the seed that Leo and her are attracted to each other, telling Krista that the two of them slept together. A devastated Krista sleeps with Seb after this revelation, waking up with him on the morning she’s supposed to be marrying Leo.
It’s Taye who persuades Fallon to come clean and try to undo the damage she’s done, but it’s a bit late by this point. She urges Krista to go ahead and marry Leo anyway, which she does, but it’s clear that her infidelity is playing on her mind during the wedding ceremony. And Seb very nearly derails it all by turning up to see if Krista has gone through with her vows.
Krista puts on a good act by still having Fallon as her bridesmaid, but she whispers menacingly that she’d better not still be around by the time her and Leo get back from their honeymoon.
The Make-Up Artist Has a Day Off
When I was putting this together, I really struggled to find any promo photos from the wedding, all I could find was one photo of Leo and the one I’ve used above. I suspect this is because the make-up for the wedding was absolutely unhinged, I seriously couldn’t take my eyes off Krista’s face, and not for a good reason.
Majella Davis is one of the most beautiful women on TV, but Krista turns up at her wedding looking like Chappell Roan – her blusher is fuchsia pink and way too heavy and her lipstick is completely the wrong colour for her, not to mention the fact that it had bled out into the skin around her mouth. I’ve never seen anything like it!
To add to the bizarre choices made for Krista’s make-up, there’s also the incredibly odd sight of Terese, Susan and Cara all wearing the identical shade of lipstick to Krista. Did they get a discount for buying a job lot of that dark pink colour? It’s so weird. Krista looks way more beautiful in the scenes where she’s barely wearing any make-up later in the week.
Chelsea is Back
Away from the wedding drama, Chelsea has turned up with baby Thomas, and she doesn’t know if Paul or Geoffrey the IT guy is the dad. Paul is immediately drawn to Thomas, as he sees him as an opportunity to get parenting right, but honestly, if he hasn’t got it right by this point, I don’t think there’s any hope for him.
They do the world’s quickest paternity test and confirm what we all suspected – Paul is the father. It wouldn’t have been that much of a dramatic storyline for the father to be Geoffrey from IT, would it?
Understandably, Terese is stressed about having Paul’s 76th child (I’ve lost count, but that seems about right) in their lives, just as they’re getting their relationship back on track, so there’s going to be plenty of tension between Paul, Terese and Chelsea as they all figure out what co-parenting is going to look like.
Is Chelsea not going to face any legal action over what she did to Krista though? She killed her baby, surely she can’t just be left to play happy families with Paul without there being repercussions?
The Garage Goes Boom
Max is given one instruction, which is to stay in the hotel, but he’s a dimwit and decides he simply must go to the garage to fetch his new passport. Roxy goes with him and while they’re there, Trevor leads Sadie, Byron and Nicolette to them. Roxy’s dodgy mate Lachie takes the opportunity to chuck a petrol bomb in through the window, leaving them in a blazing building.
I don’t know why none of them call the fire brigade straight away, but instead they spend ages trying to open the door, which is stuck shut, and for some reason none of them can get close enough to the windows to escape that way.
Byron gets out, and it comes down to him to save the day, by covering himself with a fire blanket and running in to rescue Sadie and Nicolette. He can only take one at a time, so he has to choose between his sister and his girlfriend, and he chooses his sister. Before Byron can go back for Sadie, she is badly burned by falling debris. She gets out, but she is not going to forget in a hurry that Byron took Nic instead of her.
Wendy comes back to sit by Sadie’s bedside (oh, joy of joys), but Sadie refuses to let Byron in to see her. I really feel for Byron – it was a pretty impossible decision to make, and it’s one he’s going to torture himself over with Sadie getting injured. I hope they can get over this, as I think they’re really cute together.
The Honeymoon is Over
Leo and Krista head to the beach, where it looks absolutely freezing, for their honeymoon, but Krista can’t get what she did out of her head. She ends up confessing to Leo that she slept with Seb, and he is absolutely devastated. He immediately leaves her and flies home to Erinsborough.
It did make me chuckle when Leo ran into Paul outside the hotel. Leo says there’s something he needs to tell him, and Paul says he has something to tell Leo too. For most normal people, this might be that they have a new job or that they booked a holiday – for these two it’s that Leo’s marriage is pretty much over in a matter of days and Paul has another bonus baby. Only on Neighbours.
Old Baddie Back For Redemption Alert
Darcy is back, renting Terese’s house without telling Susan and Karl first. I can’t really remember why he’s a baddie, but he’s back to wipe the slate clean and make some more positive memories, which sounds really boring, so I hope he’s actually back for crimes.
There’s Been a Murder!
When Leo returns, he sees Seb sitting by the lake and goes to confront him. Things get a little bit spicy between them, which is going to be a problem for Leo after Seb is found floating lifeless in the water the next day. A murder! It’s been a while since we had a good old murder on Neighbours – what fun. I haven’t read any spoilers, but I’m going to place my bet now: I don’t think Leo did it – I think everyone is going to suspect him, as he had the most obvious motive, but my money is on Fallon.
A Few Random Notes
As usual, here are a few random notes I took while watching Neighbours this week:
- “Are you ready?” Paul says to the bride still in her dressing gown and with rollers in her hair.
- Is the middle of the road the best place for Paul and Terese to have this discussion about the paternity of the baby?
- I hate Krista’s weird lace beach trousers.
- Sadie saying, “This is a lot of energy Paul”, is hilarious.
- TREVOR HAD BETTER NOT GET HURT.
