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Weekly Reviews > Episodes 4234-4238 by Steve

UK Broadcast: Monday 16th June - Friday 20th June 2003
Written by: Written by: Katrina Foster, John Upton, Bert Deling, John Davies, Michael O'Rourke. Directed by: Helen Gaynor, Jovita O'Shaugnessy

The lives of the Neighbours teenagers got ever more complicated and one of them said goodbye to Ramsay Street and left for New York...

The major storyline of the week involved the departure of Michelle Scully. Michelle spent most of the week preparing for her departure and mainly spending time with Connor. The two of them seemed to come to a new understanding, despite Michelle's attempts to organise his life for him before she went away. As Connor moved into number 30, after Michelle found him living in his car, she realised that he'd easily be able to cope without her. She held a farewell party, at which all her friends made appearances despite the problems they all had with each other, and Michelle made a speech, mostly aimed at them, about forgiving and moving on. Michelle's final night was spent, with the permission of Lyn, at number 30 with Connor where they discussed the past year as a couple and how they didn't know what the future would hold, but would always be there for each other. After deciding to get a lift with Connor to the airport and avoid a big family farewell, a last minute change of heart meant that Lyn accompanied them to say goodbye.

After three and a half years, it was certainly sad to see Kate Keltie leave the programme. Her final few episodes tied up all of her loose ends very nicely, but there is still plenty of scope for the character to return. With Michelle gone, and Connor having moved into number 30, hopefully he will be given some more interesting storylines. His recent antics with Lou have shown that there is a lot more to the character than relationship angst.

After finding the missing letter from Maggie Hancock this week, Toadie realised that his one true love was actually Dee. In an attempt to win her back, he headed to her grandmother's home in Tasmania. However, once there, he was in for a nasty shock. After explaining to Nan Bliss who he was, she left him out on the doorstep. Eventually, she brought him some food and later a blanket, but also the news that Dee was no longer interested in him, as she was out with her new boyfriend.

As with last week, the location shoot for these scenes was particularly scenic. The character of Nan Bliss is also an excellent addition to the cast, very nicely portrayed by Joy Westmore. With all that's going to be happening later in the year, let's hope we see a return for this character, albeit possibly brief.

Tahnee's sudden return from New York was explained this week as she explained to Michelle that she'd decided to leave the programme as she had become a social outcast. This was later revealed to Susan when she received a report from the programme directors, which she accidentally left in a classroom. Tahnee's true colours were soon revealed when somebody posted the report up on the wall, but Nina decided to take a stand and rip it down. Nina later explained that she knew what it felt like to be the victim of bullying - as Tahnee had been the bully.

It's great to have a bitch back on the show, and Tahnee certainly knows how to stir everything up. Relations between all of the teen characters seem to have been altering on a daily basis since her return, which is certainly refreshing after months of the Jack, Lori, Nina and Taj love triangle. Hopefully, the character will continue to make guest appearances, whenever the action starts to become a bit monotonous.

The friendship between Lou and Valda seemed to come out of nowhere, but it has provided some genuinely moving moments - when she broke down infront of him and when he revealed his pain over Lolly. This return trip for Valda has certainly shown that there's a lot more to her than the ridiculous pantomime scenes we witnessed on her last visit, and the friendship between the two characters is certainly headed somewhere, as Valda has obviously had something important to get off her chest for some weeks now...

Other happenings this week included the ongoing saga of Gino as Harold's housemate. This is deeply embarrassing and fairly insulting and I wish it would end. The relationship between Taj and Lori was explored a little more, as they became closer. However, when she broached the subject of him kissing her, she realised she'd been misinterpreting his friendship for something else. This certainly made a nice change after everyone going round kissing each other's partners, as it showed that there is such a thing as a platonic friendship. The messages there were light years from the rubbish being spewed out at number 24. Lyn's pregnancy was also given some small coverage with a rather bizzare encounter with an Earth Mother at Lassiter's Lake.

All in all, this week suffered only slightly for the absences of a third of the cast. However, as people begin to come back from panto breaks over the next few weeks (give or take a fortnight for Wimbledon) hopefully we'll get some fresh material and the resolution of one or two major storylines.

Notes: During the final few scenes of episode 4238, featuring Michelle leaving Ramsay Street, Nina was heard singing In My Own Time, a song featured on Delta Goodrem's album Innocent Eyes

To read a full summary of Friday's episode (Michelle's Departure) click here