With Stuart staying at number 28, the first cracks began to show in his relationship with Sindi. He became frustrated with his blindness and struggled to cope with being unable to do day-to-day tasks, as he became disorientated when collecting the mail and had to be helped back inside by Toadie. When Stuart found out at the hospital that he only had a 50-50 chance of recovering his sight, he put Sindi’s commitment to the test and asked her if she’d stay with him if he were permanently blind. She assured him that she would, but then she went to number 26 in tears, and confided in Lyn and Valda that she wasn’t sure she could cope with being a carer. She decided to lighten the mood by getting Stu to blindfold her, so that she could understand what it felt like and before long, the couple were making use of their other senses under the dining table. Although Neighbours has featured blind characters, and temporarily blinded a few regulars, in the past, this story still has a fresh quality to it, as it also looks at the way Sindi is coping. Her usually-positive personality is certainly being pushed to its limit as she struggled to cope with having to look after someone else.

A crack of light finally appeared in Steph’s situation this week as her bail hearing dawned. She was talked through the process by Toadie, and Lyn began to realise that she’d been wrong about her daughter. She asked Steph straight out if she’d killed Charlie and when her daughter said no, the two shared a hug. Steph’s trial date was set for the following week and Lyn decided to invite Michael over for dinner, in order to get to know him better. As the conversation turned to Steph and her plight, Michael was furious, feeling that he’d only been invited over in order to change his mind in time for the case. He told Lyn and Valda that he felt like he’d been abandoned by Charlie as soon as Lyn came into the picture and ended the night by storming out, announcing that he’d see his half sister in court. Lyn had finally seen sense and decided that she would change her statement, regardless of what it took to do so. She told Michael that she’d plead temporary insanity and, if that didn’t work, she’d claim that Michael talked her into lying. With Steph’s trial just around the corner, it looks like this is one story that’s about to reach a dramatic conclusion…

The rivalry between Serena and Shazza continued to build this week. Shazza was determined to prove that she and Stingray were soul mates, and a series of pranks and dares followed. Serena was concerned that Stingray would find him in juvenile detention, as he was already on a good behaviour bond. Nevertheless, the dares continued to the point where Stingray pretended to have a serious accident on his skateboard, just to wind Shazza up. The girl herself then told her boyfriend that her parents would be away for a couple of nights and Stingray began to wonder whether he should go ahead and sleep with her. Elsewhere, Boyd was worried that he was about to become a suspect in Gus’ murder. His alibi – that he’d spent the night at his friend, Daniel’s, place, had a hole in it – Daniel had seen him sneak out. Boyd then claimed that he’d gone to see Sky, and asked her to back him up. He told her that, although he’d gone out that night looking for Gus, he didn’t find him, but the police would never believe him. Sky agreed to help her boyfriend, and together they started planning the story they would tell the police. The dynamics of the teen gang are proving to be very strong, as the different characters are showing that they can work well together, in different pairings, or even individually in separate storylines. Their stories this week have balanced comedy and drama perfectly and hopefully they’ll continue to be this interesting for the rest of their time on the street.

Paul Robinson was back to his underhand, wheeler-dealer ways this week. As Harold continued to become embroiled in the “mystery” of the bones in Lou’s backyard, Paul paid a visit and was about to go searching for something when he was interrupted. Meanwhile, a dinner party at the Bishop house with Lee Thomas led to Paul making a declaration that he was all for supporting local businesses over the big companies, like Affirmacon, the one Lee worked for. The next day, Lee publicly announced her plans to return home, having failed to win over Paul. It seemed, though, that this was all for show and he had actually signed a contract for work for Affirmacon. The locals mostly found Paul to be a charming man, as he had set up the makeshift coffee shop and paid Steph’s bail – but the question suddenly seemed to be, what does he have in store for them now? Within two short weeks, Paul has certainly made an impact on the local people, with fingers in several pies. His return, along with the introduction of Lee Thomas, have brought a new twist to the old big business storylines of the late 80s, but it remains to be seen what kind of effect the mysteries surrounding Paul will have on the community.

Connor and Carmella continued with their attempts to balance their social lives with looking after Maddy, but she’d finally had enough when he wanted to spend one too many nights in front of the TV. The next day, Connor was shocked when she suggested a way around their problem – she could move in. Meanwhile, Karl and Izzy began the week with a game of truth or date, during which he asked her if there was any chance that the baby might have been Gus’. She quickly managed to put him off by pretending to be extremely hurt by the suggestion and by the end of the week, the two of them were planning a charity song to help the community get over the recent fires. Finally, Harold was busy trying to get to the bottom of the mysterious bones in the backyards of Ramsay Street, and it seemed that he was the only local who didn’t know that it had all been a prank by some medical students in the 70s. When he did finally find out, he was unimpressed that nobody had thought to tell him.

Notes: This week saw the debut of the new number 28 set, which Susan had mentioned was being renovated. The modern new style of the set is comparable to the new-look Scully house, with square bookcases and a much more contemporary feel.