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Weekly Reviews > Episodes 4188-4192 by Stuart

UK Broadcast: Monday 31st March - Friday 4th April 2003
Writers: Louise Le Nay, Anthony Morris, Helen MacWhirter, Martin McKenna, Judith Colquhoun. Directors: Ali Ali, Julie Bates

It was another low-key week for the residents of Ramsay Street, as love seemed to elude all and sundry, while Darcy regained some of his old fire...

It was love's labours lost for Harold as Ruby hastily said her goodbyes and returned to live with her son, vowing to conquer her gambling addiction once and for all...

As a conclusion to such a long-running storyline, this was very disappointing wrap-up, not least since it seemed to completely contradict all of the threads that led up to it. Harold's sudden decision to leave the responsibility of Ruby to her family simply didn't ring true, not least following his pledge to see her through her problems the week before. That said, one scene where Ruby says she didn't want to hear Harold say he loved her until she had solved her problems was particularly moving, with nicely observed performances, in spite of its slightly twee tone on paper. This highlight notwithstanding, the paucity of pay-off for Ruby's departure rather left one wondering why Harold had bothered enduring all the fuss to begin with.

In a somewhat contrived fit of pique, one of Connor's co-workers - unhappy with the boy's promotion to site manager - reported him to the immigration services. In an act of similiar contrivance, Michelle took the then unposed threat of deportation as an excuse to run away with her boyfriend, as she and Connor disappeared into hiding...

While it was nice to see some sustained storytelling (spread over three consecutive episodes), this story suffered badly from a lack of urgency and a marked similarity to portions of Felicity's jaunt to Sydney last year - scenes of an estranged daughter phoning an irate Joe from afar, only to have the phone snatched by Lyn and a neatly prompted hanging up of the phone before any meaningful resolution must be becoming par for the course in the Scully house nowadays... I suppose this story, like the Ruby one depends on you believing enough in the love of the runaways to overlook these shortcomings, and the problem is that I don't. The pair resolved to marry to protect Connor's citizenship, though mentally I'd switched off long before...

Meanwhile, Jack's past seemed to catch up with him, when Summer and Boyd played a prank call threatening to expose his "dirty little secret", unaware that he actually was harbouring a dirty little secret in his tryst with Nina! A nice double twist, which was disappointingly wrapped up almost immediately, which is a pity, as the paranoia and tension it briefly brought was quite palpable, and really invigorated what has otherwise become a rather tired and repetative yarn.

Max and Stephanie continued to be at loggerheads with barman Alex completing a minor triangle. It was good to see characters actually get angry for a change, and Carla Bonner did the seemingly unthinkable for Neighbours, and actually showed genuine rage to Max, which was surprisingly shocking. Summer, meanwhile, compensated for her father's nonchalance at his "break up" over Steph and chose to hold one of her own, snootily returning gifts to Stephanie, with some curt dressing-downs along the way. Stephanie explained the situation in a surprisingly tender scene that really employed Summer's character well and brought some nice performances with it. Eccentric and slightly tongue in cheek because of the lack of an actual break-up, it was a real highlight and quite charming.

Darcy's plan to reclaim Dee took a new turn as he succeeded in locating her mysterious husband, and gleefully lured him to Erinsborough for an upcoming social event that she was planning to attend...

Dr. Evil is back! Sure, this is small potatoes for Darcy compared to some of his past exploits, but the outrageous nature of the story, Mark Rafferty's almost reptilian performance, and the genuine edge-of-seat tension it promises had me completely won over, in spite of my earlier reservations. Sure, it's hammy, over-the-top and probably stands up to zero scrutiny, but it delivered a top-notch cliffhanger and was just great fun.

Ironically, it was many of the smaller storylines this week that provided the more enjoyable material. While Susan was away, Karl and Libby spent some quality time together, which brought some wonderful scenes with Alan Fletcher and Kym Valentine. Most welcome was some discussion on how Susan's amnesia had changed her relationship with her daughter, and Karl's slight feeling of exclusion from this newfound bond was both plausible and nicely observed. It's also good to finally see some positive long-term pay-off from the middling amnesia material of last year, however scant that might be.

Meanwhile, Toadie's plan to switch Bob for a (not very) identical Bob went badly awry when the wrong pooch was sent off to Sarah. Ryan Moloney played the farce to its extremes and was very funny along the way, though the less said about his and Stuart's cringeworthy Ali G impressions the better... In a similar vein, Lyn experienced the first stirrings of her unborn child, which was deftly performed, with a genuine tenderness and warmth, along with some gently observed humour as Joe missed the moment and did his best to rouse Lyn's stomach into action. It really is the little things, sometimes...