I was away without internet for a few days, and I was sure I’d watched two of that week’s episodes of Neighbours before I left, but then when I got back I had three to watch. So heaven only knows if I’m rounding up the right episodes for this week or not, but I can’t be bothered to puzzle it all out, so I’m just going to go with the notes I’ve got since I wrote the last round-up. Apologies if I’m confusing anyone!
Apparently Andrew’s Family is About Everyone Else
This storyline makes me really grumpy. After Wendy tracks down Andrew’s biological family without his permission, Holly then does some detective work of her own and then puts pressure on him to go and meet them. Andrew agrees, and the two of them go on a weird road trip together which culminates in Andrew meeting his biological dad and sister, and Holly meeting Sadie’s grandad and auntie before she does.
Sadie is understandably angry at Holly for interfering and for getting to meet her family before she had chance to. Wendy is also annoyed, because Andrew was mad at her for tracking down his family and then he went ahead and met them without her.
Can everyone just stop making Andrew’s biological family into a vehicle for their own drama and personal gain? Wendy only tracked them down with a view to trying to heal the rift between her and Andrew. Why Holly felt the need to get involved is beyond me, other than for her to feel gratification at having found out that Andrew’s sister lied to Wendy when they first met. Wendy and Holly have both acted so selfishly in all of this, and they’ve both taken away a lot of Andrew’s ability to make decisions about it for himself.
Not that Andrew is entirely without blame though. I can totally understand getting swept up and wanting to go and investigate his family immediately, but taking his daughter’s best friend rather than his wife and daughter was always going to cause some tension. And now he’s making it even worse by not telling anyone that Holly took him to a cocktail bar afterwards, with the pair of them rolling in really late. I feel like the whole Wendy/Andrew/Sadie/Holly situation is like a Jenga tower of tension, and one false move will send the entire lot tumbling down.
That one brick with the power to tumble the whole tower would appear to come in the form of Holly and Andrew’s increasingly obvious attraction to each other. I am not on board. Dating your mum’s ex-boyfriend’s son is one thing, but swapping him for your best friend’s dad is just endlessly grim. Don’t turn into your mum, Holly.
Everyone Goes to See Darcy For Some Reason
Darcy is now banged up, but everyone decides to visit him this week, for some reason. I know people talk of “closure” and other such nonsense, but I personally wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of ever getting the chance to tell me another lie or to try to manipulate me.
But, Jane, Susan and Karl all decide to go and see him. The only one of them who seems to get anything out of it is Jane, because he tells her that when Amanda died she was no longer angry with Jane, but he tells a few blatant lies about how she actually died, so Jane leaves none the wiser about that.
Susan gets nothing out of the meeting, other than giving him a mild telling off, whereas Karl comes out of it feeling very battered and bruised. Darcy tells him he’s weak, and Karl believes him. It’s understandable, as Karl has had a rough time recently, but the effect it has on his confidence is devastating. He no longer wants to be social or to work, and he feels like a burden to Susan. Forget the fraud, Darcy deserves to be locked up in a dungeon for 100 years for making poor Karl feel like that. But this could so easily have been avoided by not visiting him in prison. What were they expecting, an apology?
Max’s Sister is Quite Saucy
Max’s mum and younger sister come to stay, and they drop the bombshell that Saskia might want to stay for a while and even enrol in the school. Apparently she’s had a miserable time with bullies at her school and a fresh start in Erinsborough might be what she needs. I don’t ever want to seem like I don’t believe the victim of bullying, but I straight away think there must be more to this story than meets the eye.
And indeed, Saskia displays some alarming behaviour immediately by coming on very hot and heavy with Byron, despite him acting like a sensible adult and being very clear that he is not interested in having any kind of fling with an actual child. Meanwhile, Dex can’t stop tripping over himself every time Saskia comes within 20 metres of him, he’s like a lovesick puppy around her.
This one is going to cause trouble, you mark my words.
Taye’s Situation Implodes
After Cara does some digging in Taye’s car and finds Lydia’s ID in there, the whole story comes out about how she’s blackmailing Taye into sleeping with her. I love the way Remi and Cara are supportive of Taye after the initial shock of what he tells them, and I love that Cara has the guts to escalate the situation despite the risk to her own burgeoning police career. I also enjoy how open Taye is with Dex and JJ, and their wide-eyed wonder as they’re questioning him about the literal ins and outs of his escorting career is adorably hilarious.
Taye enlists Byron to help him, because of course he has prior experience with being one of Lydia’s escort clients. He seems to have got through to her, but time will tell if she follows through with her agreement not to allow Cara to suffer because of what Lydia’s been doing on her own time.
Aaron Co*kblocks Himself
Aaron dating two guys at the same time was always going to end badly, and the situation reaches peak awkwardness as both of them turn up as Saskia’s welcome barbecue. Rhett looks adorable, but Colton looks absolutely unhinged in some sort of crochet monstrosity tucked into a pair of tiny Hawaiian shorts. I cannot even describe how much Colton gave me the ick even before I saw this outfit, but the crochet top absolutely sent me. And the way it was tucked in, like a child’s PE kit. Good grief.
Aaron spends the entire time, as Nicolette says, clutching his pearls at the fact that he has his two squeezes at the same party at the same time, and he eventually scuttles off home because he can’t deal with the duplicity of it all. I actually love that Aaron gave this a go but in the end turned out to be too nice to date both of them until he decided which one he likes the best.
With Aaron out of the picture though, Colton and Rhett seem to hit it off and they spend all afternoon hanging out, disappear into the bathroom together and then trundle off to Colton’s house for an impromptu wine tasting session.
I love how furious Nicolette is when she goes home to tell Aaron that he’s somehow managed to co*kblock himself – she’s so disappointed in him for not being able to handle dating two guys. Poor Aaron is devastated, because he thinks he’s gone from having two boyfriends to having none.
We all know the answer is to date Rhett and send Colton back to Queensland to buy some slightly bigger shorts.
A Few Random Notes
As usual, here are a few random notes I took while watching Neighbours this week:
- This V Bar looks just like the Back Lane Bar but with better lighting.
- Wendy’s interview jacket is too big and it doesn’t go with her dress.
- I refuse to accept that Wendy was the best candidate for that job.
- Dex asking Saskia if she has any dietary requirements is hilarious.
- Daggy Cara is hilarious, she’s like a female Joe Mangel.
- What the effing heck is Colton wearing? He looks RIDICULOUS.
- Nicolette, 2001 is calling. It wants its blue sunglasses back.
