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Weekly
Reviews > Episodes 5176-5180 by Gareth
UK Broadcast: Monday, 4th June – Friday, 8th June, 2007
“Let Her Eat Cake”, written by Elizabeth Packett, directed by Gary Conway
“Last Minute Scratching”, written by Hannes Berger and Megan Herbert, directed by Gary Conway and Riccardo Pellizzeri
“From Zero to Hero”, written by Helen MacWhirter and Megan Herbert, directed by Gary Conway and Riccardo Pellizzeri
“Births Deaths and Marriages”, written by Judith Colquhoun and Megan Herbert, directed by Gary Conway and Riccardo Pellizzeri
“In The Wake Of A Giant”, written by Sarah Dollard, directed by Gary Conway
In an action-packed week, one of our favourite couples seal their union – again, we bid farewell to a much-loved character, while an old face is forced to rely on two former enemies for help.
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This week was dominated by two storylines – in Ramsay Street, the aftermath of Stingray’s death and his family’s struggle to deal with life without him - and in London the holiday of Susan and Karl. Monday saw us pick up Friday’s cliffhanger after Dylan had kidnapped Paul, and we saw him play a dangerous game of cat and mouse in secluded woodland, eventually luring him to the spot of his previous accident, in which he had lost his leg. Grief-stricken Dylan, determined to take his rage out on someone, and blaming Paul for Stingray’s death (Kerry might not have fallen ill if Dylan hadn’t got toxic poisoning from the wetlands, and therefore Stingray wouldn’t have had the operation and might not have died), pushed him off a cliff, only to relent in his determination to see his enemy die, and rescue him when he called out for help. He then told Paul that he faced a sad and lonely future, and that he ought to change his ways. This was, I felt, a waste of time, as we had seen the ‘angry young man’ in Dylan before, and had also seen Paul being told he was going to end up sad and lonely on numerous occasions since his return – Izzy, Gail, Lyn, Ned and Elle had all given him a similar speech, and each time it looked like he was going to change, then he reverted to type and began another scheme.
Dylan’s hurt and anger resurfaced later in the week as the Timmins family prepared for Stingray’s funeral and Steiger attempted to snap him out of his self-destructive state. Meanwhile, the rest of the family struggled to cope with their grief – Janelle and Sky clashed over the funeral arrangements, Janae had to contend with Boyd and Glenn’s presence in Ramsay Street, and Toadie bottled up his grief to appear strong for Rachel and Zeke, all making for moving scenes and typical of a family struggling to cope with their loss.
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Over in London, Karl was making plans for him and Susan to remarry – making it third time lucky – but their holiday was put on hold when they bumped into Izzy – heavily pregnant and all over the tabloids because of her relationship with married Premiership footballer Pete Gartside. While all Karl wanted to do, understandably, was run for the hills, Susan was drawn to help Izzy, who had no-one and nothing, and she lured Pete to a park and, on the hilarious pretext that she was Reverend Rosie Hoyland, encouraged him to leave his wife and start anew with Izzy. Her plan worked, Izzy and Pete were reunited, and Karl hoped he could begin an Isabelle-free future. The next day, he left Susan a wedding dress she had seen and wanted, giving her instructions where to find him, and waited nervously as she turned up for their third wedding. While the ceremony, on board a boat, went without a hitch, the aftermath saw Izzy turn up to tell the truth about her child’s paternity, only to go into labour and be forced to give birth there and then – with Karl as midwife! Later, Susan went to give Izzy her handbag before the ambulance took Izzy and her baby daughter Holly to the hospital, only to hear the awful truth – Karl was baby Holly’s father!
A fantastic new spin on this long-running storyline, and a twist on what we had seen before – Susan discovering Karl wasn’t the father of Izzy’s baby – we were left wondering what Susan would do with this news. The episode, Births, Marriages & Deaths, in which Karl and Susan remarried, Izzy gave birth and the Timmins’s prepared for Stingray’s funeral, was surely the stand-out moment of the week, combining three classic soap events and putting them all together.
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Stingray’s funeral was a moving event, with family and friends gathering to pay their respects and remember him, with many a tear shed. Even Kim managed to return to support his family, and proved to be invaluable to Dylan when he decided to help him out of the state he was in and take him aboard the ship he was working on so that he could calm down, something arranged by Steiger. It was an abrupt departure for Dylan, but after the drama we had seen surrounding Stingray’s exit, a low-key departure so soon after was surely what we needed.
Elsewhere this week, Frazer and Rosie made amends after their falling-out over his relationship with Milly, but a trip to the racetrack ended in tragedy when heroic Frazer rescued a young girl from the path of oncoming horses – only to be trampled himself. In hospital, distraught Rosie and Ringo waited for news of Frazer, and while he survived the accident, the prognosis for him walking again didn’t look good.
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As Paul continued to plot to get Oliver and Elle together, his daughter grew tired of making endless devious schemes and made plans with Ned to flee Erinsborough with him and make a new life elsewhere. A nice twist to this storyline, while I had always liked Paul before, this week he became excruciatingly annoying, and I was glad Elle saw the light and decided to break away. Daniel O’Connor was also surprisingly good as Ned this week, putting in a strong performance in trying to convince Elle that a life of plotting and wicked scheming would leave her unsatisfied. Paul also managed to rear his ugly head again when he pointlessly told poor Pepper that he was her secret admirer, playing pointless games once again.
All in all, a classic week in Erinsborough, and one that I am sure will go down in Neighbours history.
Notes: Full, illustrated summaries of four of this week’s episodes, (Karl and Susan In London: Parts Four, Five and Six, and Stingray's Funeral/Dylan's Departure can be read here.
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