Neighbours: The Perfect Blend | Weekly Review: Episodes 4220-4223

UK Broadcast: Tuesday 27th May - Friday 30th May 2003
Written by: Kim Leeanda Wilson, Megan Herbert, John Davies, Philippa Burne. Directed by: Julie Bates, Jeffery Walker, Tony Osicka

A shorter week in the UK due to the Bank Holiday, but this batch of episodes still squeezed in Souvlaki, sudden excuses for absence and a bird that pooed mayonnaise...

Lyn and Joe featured very prominently this week one way or another. At the beginning of the week we saw that Joe had already gone behind Lyn's back to find out the sex of their unborn child, and then watched as Lyn did exactly the same to him! Once it was revealed to each of them, though, there were no reprimands - only joy and jubilation that there would be another Scully girl in the clan. Later in the week they heard from Flick in New York. She had won a free ticket for Joe to visit her - excuse for absence #1 - this whipped Joe's phobia of flying up into a frenzy. Lyn also very nicely acted as a second mother to Lori when she was down about her paralysis.

Joe and Lyn are a brilliant creation as characters. Their snappy dialogue this week was hilarious and spot-on, and the chemistry shared between Shane Connor and Janet Andrewartha is equally as good as that between Alan Fletcher and Jackie Woodburne as the Kennedys.

Speaking of the Kennedys, they also had a busy week. While Libby was preparing for her stint in the country on teaching practice - excuse for absence #2 - Karl was becoming the AFL hero he'd always dreamed of being. He also alluded to some kind of footie team initiation ceremony to Connor, but that was not continued. After a hugely successful match in which he'd scored the winning goal he met Candace Barkham and deciding to make his wife bury the hatchet, invited her to dinner. Susan, of course, wasn't impressed and after a frosty silence over coffee Candace demanded that the women "have it out". They both aired their grievances and it seemed the next morning that things were on the up for the ex-principal and the new principal. Karl received bad news that his aunt Enid had been taken ill in New Jersey and he decided to go out there to visit her and make sure she'd be okay - excuse for absence #3.

The football storyline was a brilliant one, and one that should be continued across future games. It was a fantastic event that incorporated Harold, Max, Joe and Boyd and Summer as spectators, as well as Susan and Libby. The wisecracks from behind the barriers were hilarious, and the sense of jubilation when Karl scored was very well portrayed.

Seeing Connor and Nina share a friendly moment together, Michelle instantly got the wrong idea and became convinced that, not content with seducing her brother, she was trying to take her ex as well. Taj got a job at Lassiter's thanks to Nina's interview tips and for a second it looked like he was softening in his snubbing of her.

Not much progress was made with the teens this week, they seemed almost like a token appearance. What has been well done is Nina's exclusion from the group, and Lori being too blind to see why for all the different reasons - Nina's lonely walk as they watched her with the heavy box was very sad to watch. Michelle and Jack's shared night of cards was very enjoyable to watch, as they have good chemistry as brother and sister. Also pivotal to the plot's progression was the shot of Jay Bunyan in the swimming pool.

Toadie's relationship with Sindi reached a new level this week - but not in the conventional sense of the word. He confronted her and asked to slow it down a little since he felt they rushed into things at the beginning, she responded by telling him how romantic he was. Toadie had good reason to feel a little threatened as he found a list of "things Toadie likes" prepared by Darcy in Sindi's handbag and was understandably a little taken aback. He later confided to Susan that he felt like she was trying far too hard - that he'd done something similar when he was desperate to impress someone who he considered above him. She told him that pity was no reason to continue a relationship, leaving Toadie with plenty to think about.

Sindi's characterisation is uneven sometimes, we are unsure as to exactly how scheming she is and whether she's truly in love with Toadie or if she wants something more from him. That said, she is a very fun character to have around. Ryan Maloney was less enjoyable to watch this week as he had picked up an annoying Australian Inflection Ending: finishing each sentence as if asking a question?

Finally we come to Darcy and Dione - although it was mainly his storyline. Having invited some "friends" from the Aurora club, Darcy held a poker night in which he disastrously lost almost ten thousand dollars. As a result he has had to sell his share portfolio but refused money from Dione. Viewers with "spoiler knowledge" will know how this story progresses, despite Darcy having claimed to have learnt his lesson.

Mark Rafferty's portrayal of Darcy continues to be uneven and patchy in places, something not aided by the fact that many of his scenes are played out in a real house and not a set, which lends a foreign air to the shots. That said, he played disappointment at the hands of the card sharp very well and competed well with some upstagingly vocal extras.

Minor storylines included the continuation of Boyd's dance lessons at the hands of Summer, Harold advertising for a roommate and Stephanie visiting Libby at her new home in the country. The theme of Lou's Place also changed from Japanese to Greek.

Harold's storyline was good but a little disappointing in the way in which a Goth was portrayed as his prospective lodger. Surely it would have been better if the Goth hadn't subscribed to the moody stereotype and therefore proved Harold wrong? Steph going to see Libby was lovely, congratulations to the production team for having a good location and genuinely having them meet up. Their scenes together were a joy to watch and you got a real sense of their friendship. They also touched upon Steph's unrequited love for Max, which provided the cliff-hanger.

The lovely chemistry and neighbourly feel of the week's episodes was overshadowed by all of the above imminent departures. Canny UK viewers will realise that all of these temporary absences come in a filming period when panto season was beginning in the UK. Such a rushed inclusion of so many excuses for departure seems far too obvious and botched. It would have been nicer, for example, for Karl's aunt to have a birthday (maybe her last?) and Flick's prize to have been made available sooner, so that there was a sense of planning - a "warning" for viewers. That way there would not be a big bunch of sudden departures.