As the Hoylands were beginning to give up hope of Boyd ever recovering from his coma, Max got another nasty surprise when a letter arrived from his father, Bobby. Although Izzy was thrilled to have contact with their dad, Max wanted nothing to do with him. His wish was no to be granted, however, when Bobby turned up in Erinsborough shortly after his letter, stopping first to see Izzy at Scarlet Bar. A trip to the hospital led to Boyd awakening from his coma, with the first face he saw being that of his grandfather. As the rest of the family rushed to the hospital to see Boyd, Max was furious to realise who’d been there when his son had woken up. He made it clear that Bobby was welcome to stay with them at the hospital to celebrate, but after that, he would have to leave them alone.

Harold decided to visit Gabby, after her rather abrupt resignation from her job at the General Store. He found her alone in her bedsit, seemingly desperate for company, so he offered to take her out for dinner, so that they could discuss him giving her a loan to visit her dad in Darwin. By the time they got back to her place, they were discussing Harold’s own problems with David and Gabby was trying to convince him that none of it was his fault and he hadn’t failed his son. As she comforted Harold, she kissed him and he pulled away and quickly left, with both parties in a state of shock about what had just happened. A little while later, he returned to apologise for walking out and to show Gabby a photo of Kerry. This made Gabby realise how Harold must have felt to be kissing his daughter’s doppelganger and they patched up their differences. By the end of the week, Gabby was providing a shoulder for Harold to cry on, as David and Lil split up, and it seemed that she was just the person Harold needed to talk some sense into him. Well, it’s certainly been an unusual storyline with some unexpected, and for some, unpleasant, twists. Bringing back Linda Hartley was certainly a gamble, as the whole thing could have come across as desperate, but it’s been understated and well-acted enough to be believable. As it draws to a close, I’d like to think that I’ll remember the story as an interesting use of the history of the show, but I’m still undecided.

Sindi’s behaviour was growing stranger this week, at least in the eyes of Stuart. Having already grown confused about his girlfriend and her past thanks to allegations made by Sindi’s old school friend, Sheena, Stuart was thrown once again this week. It all began when Janae started flirting with Stu and wanting to wrestle him in number 30’s temporary wrestling ring. When Sindi came home and found the young girl all over her boyfriend, she became extremely territorial, even threatening to wrestle Janae herself. Later on, Stuart came out of the house just in time to see Sindi open her car door just as Janae cycled by, knocking her onto the road. Whether it was an accident was unclear, but it once again made Stuart doubt whether he really knew Sindi all that well. As she came home and overheard him voicing his fears to Toadie, she then spent the next day trying to convince him to stay home from work, eventually breaking down and admitting that she was unable to live without him. Despite Marisa Warrington’s best efforts to keep Sindi as dippy as ever, the character is certainly beginning to suffer from constantly being shown in such a negative light.

And finally, the Timmins sisters were finding it difficult to manage their love lives this week, as Janae found herself accused of being a doormat and Bree was the victim of a cruel prank. Janae’s boyfriend, Mike, appeared to have no qualms about sharing his girlfriend around with his mates. When Susan caught Janae in the middle of Mike and his mate, Jimmy, she immediately called in Janelle for a serious word. Janelle failed to see the problem with her daughter being “popular” and Janae continued to allow Mike to treat her like an object. Even Stingray tried to get through to his younger sister, but she simply took offence at the notion that she was using her body to make friends. Meanwhile, Bree was handed a note in class asking her to meet in the school courtyard that afternoon. As she waited anxiously, a couple of her male classmates walked by, laughing at her, and she quickly realised that she’d been set up. The incident made her think about changing her image and wearing make-up, but she decided that any friends worth having would see past her looks and only care about what she was like on the inside.