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> Toadie and Terese: Wedded Bliss?
by Michael
Everyone loves a good Ramsay Street wedding, although there are two Neighbours residents who know this more than most. Paul Robinson, of
course, is a stark
lesson against matrimony, from his fateful shooting by first wife Terry to his latest ex-wives Lyn and Rebecca scrapping in the street in the ultimate
'scrag fight'. It's not only Paul, however, who is having to console himself in one wedding disaster after another - as
Neighbours made its glorious
return in 2023 we have an up-and-coming contender for marriage disasters 101, our very own Toadfish Rebecchi.
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When it was announced that
Neighbours was returning in 2023, Ryan Moloney gave an interview to an Australian chat show about what Toadie would be getting
up to next. One of the interviewers, clearly up-to-date on his Neighbours history, asked Ryan the ultimate question: "So Ryan, when Neighbours
returns to our screens how many more times will Toadie get married, and how will those wives die?!" I took the question in jest, thinking to myself that
after his marriage to Melanie, Toadie's days of walking up the aisle were a thing of the past. How wrong I was.
In what has become Neighbours' most divisive talking point since it returned to Amazon Freevee in September 2023, it was revealed in a jaw-dropping
first episode twist that Toadie was no longer blissfully married to Melanie - in some inexplicable change of pace he was now tying the knot to Terese?
As left field plot twists go, this was somewhere close to the 2005-2007 era of the show, where sensational and sometimes nonsensical storyline arcs
(Bree not being a Timmins anyone) were the norm. From my own viewing history I can't recall anything as slight as a raised eyebrow or saucy comment
between Toadie and Terese (granted they haven't been involved in a great deal of stories together), so for them to be hitched... well.
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But married
they were, whether we liked it or not, although Nell (now four years older thanks to Neighbours' loose grasp of time) wasn't buying it,
repeatedly trying to sabotage and undermine the union in the hope that Melanie would return. She seemed to be the one voice of reason - even Paul was
subdued, inexplicably accepting the union of his ex-partner with another man rather than doing his usual thing, dialing up rent-a-gangster and wreaking
merry hell on those who had wronged him. So until the beginning of November we were merrily on our way with a loved-up Terese and Toadie, still grasping
at straws as to what the devil was going on.
Helpfully Flashback Week came along to try and answer some of our burning questions as to what had befallen our beloved characters. Why had Paul and
Terese broken it off? Where was Melanie? Why did Toadie think it was a good idea to marry some other innocent? Despite some answers to these questions
(Paul deciding to jilt Terese due to guilt about covering up a crime, when has that stopped him?), I'm still in the dark about a Rebecchi/Willis union:
without any build up or understanding of what brought Toadie and Terese together this union is still jarring even to my
Neighbours tinted eyes. But of
course if past history is anything to go by, maybe it's not that fantastical.
It all started with Dee. This was Toadie's first great love, and it came about in unusual circumstances. Dee was agonizing over Joel while Toadie was
still trying to get over his infatuation with Maggie Hancock. But after a revealing evening in the Coffee Shop, somehow the most unlikely of relationships
came together as Dee and Toadie fell in love. And after a while this relationship started to make sense - Toadie's jokey immature manner playing against
Dee's strict and fastidious nature. After a while even Stu and Steph stopped teasing him about batting above his average, but alas it wasn't to last. After
being married for approximately half an hour we as a viewer were robbed prematurely as Dee disappeared into the ocean (best to forget her 2017 return and
fake Dee monstrosity) after Toadie's car driving skills were found wanting.
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And Toadie grieved and grieved for his first wife Dee, until he found a fellow bestie waiting in the wings to nearly become wife number two, Steph Scully.
Now this one was a definite no-no in my mind, Steph and Toadie, just like Steph and Stu in the glory days of the House of Trouser, were better as best
friends and not as partners. Thank god Toadie realized that just in time otherwise four marriages would have become five, and Paul Robinson (Terry, Gail,
Christina, Lyn, Rebecca, Terese) would have been getting twitchy at someone trying to steal his ex-wife thunder. Even though they broke it off the first
time, somehow it nearly happened again - Steph's desperation to hide her secret baby with Daniel from Libby leading Toadie to agree to a fake marriage to cover
her tracks. But thankfully Paul caught them all out with the ultimate gotcha as he revealed the secret to all and sundry, and Toadie and Steph were finally
no longer a thing.
So after Dee and Steph I thought maybe it was time for Toadie to go back to singledom and re-establish his House of Trouser schtick. But of course then
there was Sonya. Despite numerous false starts, including the baby drama mentioned above and psychopath Troy Miller, they eventually got together and
married, thanks to Lucas and Callum. I mean, the marriage did result in a massive post wedding explosion and the deaths of Priya and Rhys, plus countless
mental traumas and scarring for the residents, but on the plus side Toadie didn't drive his wife off a cliff so hey ho.
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Despite this false start the marriage worked, and I was happy - Toadie and Sonya looked like the real deal. They had some bumps such as Fake Dee,
surrogacy drama and the like, but compared to what had happened previously Toadie looked like he'd found the one. And then those damn budget cuts ruined
everything, Eve Morey was axed and Sonya died from ovarian cancer in a tear-jerking two-hander. And Toadie was on his own once again.
So we head to the 2022 finale as Neighbours seemingly bowed out of our lives for good and Toadie was once again front and centre. Despite his
travails with Dee, Steph and Sonya, Toadie was doing it again, with returning Neighbours fave Melanie Pearson becoming wife number... three? In my opinion Toadie and
Mel are not suited as a couple, it just doesn't feel natural like his relationships with Dee and Sonya were, but as the show was ending I thought why not?
Better to see Toadie off into married life rather than continue to mourn his dearly departed. So that was that - Scott and Charlene turned up, Mike and
Jane re-united and countless ex-residents congratulated themselves on a job well done as a Ramsay Street wedding didn't end in disaster (and it was Toadie
doing the marrying!)
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But you can't keep a good Toadster down. So now we have Terese and Toadie, and I'm still not buying it. They're doing their best to make it look authentic
but every time I see them I wistfully take my mind back to 2003 at Dee in her wedding dress, watching as her beloved Toadie joins her down the aisle. I
fast forward to 2012 as Sonya announces she's pregnant with Nell. I even shed another tear seven years later as I see Toadie cradling Sonya on the beach
as she slips away. Maybe in time I'll get it, but for me it's just too much of a reach despite all that's happened with Toadie in the past. And with Paul
waiting in the wings, how long will this union of exes last before some other disaster rips them apart?
During Flashback Week, Melanie made her glorious return after getting herself mixed up in a drug drama gone wrong - could she be planning to steal Toadie
back from under Terese's nose? Or maybe Paul has a few tricks up his sleeve to win his beloved Terese back that doesn't involve blowing something or
someone up. Who knows? But in my view one thing is certain, Toadie's marrying days are far from over, although his availability of possible wives
isn't promising. Jane? Krista? Haz? Now that would be the ultimate plot twist to put post-wedding car crashes and exploding barbecues to shame.
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