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Weekly Reviews > Episodes 2762-2766 by Mark

Originally broadcast in 1996. UK Gold: Monday 9th June - Friday 13th June 2003
Writers: John Upton, Xenia Michael, Ray Kolle, Christopher Gist, Lyn Ogilvy. Directors: Tony Osicka, Robert Meillon.

As the festive season fast approaches, old rivalries flare up once more, misunderstandings and mix-ups abound and a new resident arrives in another busy week in Erinsborough...

Vince De Balfo moved into No. 30 and immediately caused a stir. Sarah was less than impressed with his sexist attitude, his fondness for walking around the house topless and the amount of space his home gym took up in the living room. And Billy found himself in hot water with Anne as a result of Vince's arrival in the street. Having helped Vince move some boxes into No. 30, Billy mixed up the movie he was heading over to watch with Anne with a blue movie belonging to Vince. When Anne turned on the video while Billy went to fetch some popcorn, she was disgusted by what she saw, and wrongly believed that Billy was trying to try his luck with her with a sleazy movie. Billy was shocked and confused by Anne's reaction, until he realised he must have mixed up tapes with Vince and scrambled to explain things to Anne. She refused to listen to any of Billy's explanations, and he was even more frustrated by the situation when Anne remarked that she had been thinking they were on the verge of getting together before this happened.

Jesse Spencer and Brooke Satchwell are already starting to look natural together on screen and the early days of Billy and Anne's romance is a pleasure to watch from scratch again. While Brooke struggles a little at times with some scenes, the confrontational scene over the videotape brought out some more solid performances and she's showing good signs of improvement. Alan King, meanwhile, has injected a bit of life into No. 30 as Vince and the banter between Vince and Sarah was particularly funny.

Lance's first major storyline came to an abrupt end when he exposed Ned's theft at the nursery. He managed to foil his plans with the help of Billy and Toadie. Speaking of which, Toadie's 17th birthday saw both comedic and bittersweet moments. While Toadie mistakenly thinking the Kennedys had bought him a new bike for his birthday and later foiling Karl's attempts at surprising Susan with the bike as a Christmas present brought some classic humorous Toadie moments, it was the sadness that followed that showed some real depth to the character. In a touching scene, Toadie sits on the curb out the front of the Kennedy house, admitting to Hannah that he misses his family and feels strange being away from them on his birthday. Ryan Moloney demonstrated some signs of developing into the fine actor he is today during this storyline, and he was ably supported by the ever impressive Rebecca Ritters as Hannah. There often seems to be a real bond between the two characters, particularly during this period of the show, and it works extremely well.

Preparations got underway for a Christmas Day lunch in Ramsay Street this week. Lou offered the use of No. 22 for the festivities, but after Darren pointed out how good No. 24 is for parties because of the swimming pool, Lou asked Madge and Harold if they could host the lunch. While Madge was all for the idea, Harold was slightly more reluctant and only agreed on condition that no alcohol was served at it. Harold's fussy ways had by this point grated on Madge's nerves to the point of her contemplating moving back to Brisbane, although she settled for next door instead. When Harold realised she had gone back to stay with Helen, he announced to Marlene that he had decided to move on himself. Marlene reported this back to Madge, who finally came to her senses and pleaded with Harold to stay. He agreed, and they decided to work on putting up with each other's quirks and foibles. Meanwhile, Karl volunteered to provide the turkey for the Christmas lunch, evoking a worried expression from Susan who clearly knows something we don't. And Helen pleaded with Lou to give her something to do in preparation for the party - to which Lou replied that there was no need, because simply having Helen Daniels at the Christmas Day lunch was more than enough.

The Christmas preparations have united the residents as they all get caught up in the hustle and bustle, and the event is mentioned in nearly every scene, lending an air of excited anticipation to the characters and the viewers. Looking at these episodes now, it makes you long for another festive batch of Neighbours episodes. Another highlight of the plot was the scene where Lou proclaimed Helen the guest of honour at the party, and Anne Haddy as Helen looked genuinely proud as punch to be singled out as such an important person amongst everyone. It was the kind of line/scene that is very rarely seen these days - a simple, nostalgic, feel good, "this is why I watch Neighbours" kind of moment.

The old feud between Lou and Harold took centre stage this week, the first time it really took off since Harold's return to the show. The tension between the two old school friends began when Lou gave Madge her old job back at the pub, and Harold found it uncomfortable seeing Lou and Madge spending so much time together. His paranoia increased when Helen hinted to Harold that he faced some competition from Lou and this prompted Harold to storm down to the pub and warn Lou to stay away from Madge. Harold also incensed Lou by forbidding him from playing Santa Claus at the Christmas Day lunch - insisting that he had the right to call who played Santa since it was being held in his house. Hilarious scenes followed in which Harold and Lou donned Santa Claus outfits and competed in front of a cringing Hannah, upon whom they had bestowed the honour of picking the best St. Nick out of the two. The scenes were excellently done, with immensely satisfying performances all round - particularly from Tom Oliver, Ian Smith, Anne Charleston and Rebecca Ritters.

Luke continued to search for a story - finally getting somewhere in Friday's episode when he received word that Danni had contracted Malaria in Malaysia. Try saying that over and over. Its been almost painful to watch Luke in recent weeks - the character has been plotless and basically out of place since (and even slightly before) Danni left. And Bernard Curry even seems bored and unenthused in his scenes. It's not before time that Luke has booked a ticket out of Erinsborough.