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Weekly Reviews > Episodes 4183-4187 by Steve

UK Broadcast: Monday 31st March - Friday 4th April 2003
Written by: Marieke Josephine Hardy, Michael O'Rourke, Ray Harding, Drew Tingwell, Katrina Foster. Directed by: Tony Osicka, Ali Ali

It seemed that nobody was with the correct partner as another week of love, life and shark tanks took place on Ramsay Street...

This week's main storyline was the ongoing teen love trials and tribulations. Emotions really began to kick in for the main players in this story, though sadly for Lori, it was mostly stupidity. At the beginning of the week, she failed to pick up on any of the signs, despite Jack almost stapling them to her forehead. As the week went on, she managed to bring her boyfriend even closer to Nina by arranging a double date, believing it was just what they needed. Taj, equally oblivious, went along with the idea, although his simple personality makes it all slightly more believable. Despite their attempts to stay away from each other, fate was conspiring to bring Nina and Jack closer. Harold gave them an exercise during rehearsals that involved staring at each and holding hands, leaving both parties feeling awkward. Gladys O'Grady made another of her intermittent appearances to sell roses to the locals and to inform Jack and Nina that they were meant for each other. At the end of the week, Lori's double date plan brought them to a point where they were barely talking, with Nina telling Jack she hated him and wished they'd never met. However, another rehearsal at the school gave Nina and Jack some time alone to talk and they were soon on the verge of another embrace... until Lori walked in. Luckily for them, she's very stupid indeed, and thought it was just part of the script that they'd re-worked. Despite some good acting and tense moments, the complete ignorance of Lori paired with the sudden arrogance of Nina still make the whole scenario unconvincing.

Ruby's gambling continued this week, despite her promises to Harold that she would give it all up. Having explained to Harold her fears about attending Gamblers Anonymous, he watched as she scarpered from the meeting as soon as his back was turned. Unimpressed, Harold began to doubt whether Ruby was capable of giving up the gambling and whether he was capable of supporting her. When Ruby gave him a large sum of money to pay off her debts to him, his fears were confounded. She assured him it was her final bet, just to get the money that she needed to be back in the black. However, her urges got the better of her and she vanished in the middle of cooking dinner, supposedly to visit her kids. Harold quickly saw through this excuse and was worried for her, but quickly forgot about her when the time came for play rehearsals. Ian Smith continues to give a sensitive performance, though this storyline would have been better suited to two long-term characters, as it is very difficult to care about Ruby. Giving the storyline to Rosie may have worked better, although the current stance of putting her in one scene a week would probably have been a hindrance there.

Libby's grief over Drew reared its ugly head again this week, as she found her friendship with Stuart becoming more than a little uncomfortable. Having entered him in the 'Best Boyfriend' competition, Libby was forced to give an interview for the magazine, explaining what she sees in Stuart. Libby's discomfort grew as the was asked to kiss him during the photo shoot and she ran off, later explaining to Susan that she didn't want to allow herself to have feelings for another man after losing Drew. While Susan explained that finding someone else wouldn't make her love for Drew any weaker, Libby started avoiding Stu in an attempt to ignore her feelings. The situation culminated in Ben calling Stuart 'Dada' again, this time infront of Susan, Karl and Libby in the pub. While it cleared the air for Stu with Susan and Karl, it forced Libby to explain things to Stuart in no uncertain terms, telling him that their friendship was too difficult for her. She claimed that she was only looking out for Ben's stability, realising that Stuart could simply take off as soon as Flick came back, leaving the situation more confused than ever. Kym Valentine and Blair McDonough have really great chemistry on-screen and this pairing could really work, but the writers are clearly aiming to make Libby suffer as much guilt as possible over the situation. And with other pairing rumoured to be coming up for both Stuart and Libby, it looks like we might have another Steph and Max on our hands...

Speaking of which, Steph and Max continued to completely avoid discussing their feelings once more, as she embarked on a relationship with Alex the barman. Alex's attempts to follow on from the diving date resulted in him booking them an evening of skydiving. However, Max quickly put the mockers on it by explaining that Alex had to work. Steph was devastated and charmed Max into working the shift himself, until a domestic crisis led to him having to leave early. Steph and Alex ended up spending their date at the pub and getting a little amorous in the office after-hours. Unfortunately, Max walked in on their scene, providing one of the most amusing cliffhangers I've seen in a while. However, after getting rid of the annoying Joanne last week, Steph and Max's new-found 'third wheel', Alex, is a more-than-adequate replacement. His perky nature makes any scene with both him and Steph (i.e. all of them) seem like an episode of Playschool while his husky tones are quite reminiscent of Madge.

In other storylines, we finally got to meet the frightening Ms Candace Barkham this week, after only hearing about her through other characters for a while now. Viewers may have thought that Susan and Lori were exaggerating when they compared her to Attila the Hun, but the woman herself more than lived up to this build-up. Managing to quickly put Lori, Taj and Susan in their places, she showed that she was not a woman to be messed with. Neighbours once again showed that they're not ones to waste a good location shoot when Toadie and Darcy made a trip to the shark tank where Steph and Alex spent their date last week. Some appropriate Jaws-style music, plus a nervous Darcy and Toadie in a wetsuit all made for some hilarious, if fairly pointless, scenes. Karl went on a health drive, providing more amusing scenes as he joined the soccer team and spent his time in the coffee shop drinking fruit juice, but eating a burger and chips. It's nice to see Alan Fletcher getting some relaxed comedy scenes after last year's amnesia storyline, as he does them so faultlessly, especially when paired with other long-term actors like Ryan Moloney and Ian Smith. Finally, Lyn Scully floated from scene to scene this week, stealing all her scenes with some perfect comic timing. Lyn's pregnancy cravings for Shirley Temple cocktails and sudden need to wolf down huge plates of food gave Janet Andrewartha some quirky material to work with and she performed it all perfectly.

Another slow week in Ramsay Street, with the arrival of a potentially brilliant character, Ms Barkham, one of the few highlights. However, as all of these storylines appear to be treading water, it can only be a matter of time before the various situations come to a head and the drama really begins...