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Weekly Reviews > Episodes 4259-4263 by Rhys

UK Broadcast: Monday August 4th - Friday August 8th 2003
Written by: Ray Kolle, Kim Leeanda Wilson, Judith Colquhoun, Philippa Burne, Piet Collins. Directed by: Gary Conway, Jovita O'Shaughnessy

Although many intriguing plots bubbled away this week, Lyn's memory returning meant the focus was firmly on one neighbour...

The neighbours' reactions to Ruby's recent arrest was causing much upset for the Bishop household at the beginning of the week. Ruby became increasingly angry that the residents were keeping away from the Coffee Shop to avoid her and and Harold that she went to the pub to see Lou, in an attempt to clear things up. Lou, however, didn't feel in the least bit guilty for having shopped Ruby to the police, and made no secret of telling her his feelings about her. Later that day, Ruby was tempted by a promotional flyer outside the Money Cave Casino. Luckily for her, Lyn happened to be walking Harvey at the time and called out to her. Lyn provided some much needed sympathy for Ruby, and gave her a ray of hope by telling her she knew the Kennedys' burglar was a man - thus Ruby was in the clear, at the least in the eyes of the Scullys. Ruby's brief temptation was a welcome occurance. It would have been all too easy for the 'reformed' Ms Dwyer to have been just that. But, the near-miss with gambling manages to convey the difficulty faced by real people and the way in which it's so easy to fall back into bad habits.

Rushing through the door of the surgery proved to be the undoing of Dr Darcy. He crashed into Lyn for the second time in as many weeks. But, this occasion brought back memories of the incident at No. 28 for the heavily pregnant hair stylist, and she suffered flashbacks of Darcy tending to her as she lay barely conscious. Almost startled beyond comprehension by what she'd remembered, Lyn rushed home to tell Joe the news. Joe appeared skeptical at first, yet after Lyn had failed to convince Karl and Susan of the same, and became very upset, Joe agreed to take her straight to the police station. Darcy, however, had been warned by his aunt and uncle of their neighbour's state of mind, and he managed to rush back to Ramsay Street in time to try and stop the Scullys from heading off. He, however, was left in no uncertainty as to what Lyn believed. Darcy was questioned at his home by Erinsborough police, as was Dione, at the surgery. He, amazingly, managed to avoid arrest. That evening, however, Dione, shoveling compost from the upturned palm, came across Susan's wedding ring lying under the sofa. A wonderful moment followed as a look of realization came across Dee's face as she read the inscription aloud - "Karl and Susan, forever". She looked up, gob smacked, at the frightened Darcy.

Darcy confessed all and quite naively expected Dee to keep his secret. She kept quiet, no doubt undecided herself as to what action to take. She went to the closed surgery, alone, and tried to telephone the police, but gave in at the last moment. She decided, in the end, to call in on Toadie. Telling him the entire story, she felt relieved. But was distraught that she would have to report her supposed friend to the police, knowing he may well be jailed. Darcy, having dinner with Karl and Susan, had already decided to try and smuggle the wedding ring back into the house - knowing how much its theft had upset his Aunt Susan. It was this 'act of kindness' however that ultimately sealed his fate. As he reached into his pocket for a handkerchief, out popped the ring and landed on the dining table, with a spinning action which seemed to last for several seconds. The spine-tingling sound of the metal-against-wood as the ring span for what seemed an age, and the looks of disbelief on the gathered crowd's faces will surely go down as one of the most memorable scenes in Neighbours' history. Most viewers presumed the police would arrive at the Kennedys' house mid-meal, and Darcy's arrest would be a comparatively simple affair. However, it wasn't until Susan screamed at Darcy to leave the house that he realized Dione had 'betrayed' him by calling Sgt. Douglas and co. to Ramsay Street. A brief attempt by him to run past the police proved to be in vain, and several patrol cars hemmed Darcy into the street. Dee and Toadie emerged from No. 30 to watch the scene unfold, and looked on as Dr. Tyler was driven out of the street, handcuffed. It was fantastic, as a viewer, to note the dramatic irony in these scenes as Dee felt so incredibly guilty for having reported Darcy - believing him to have done the right thing by her all along. Incidentally, the reappearance of Susan's ring was the third such item that Mrs Kennedy had been involved with during the week! Earlier, Karl had attempted to replace the stolen one with an expensive, extravagant piece. However, Susan hated it because it was so brash. Karl, therefore had to replace it for a simpler design, reminiscent of the original, which had turned up by the end of the week!

The relationship between Dione and Toadfish continued to improve towards the end of the week, despite her admission that she had been planning to embark on a relationship with Darcy. Similarly, Jack and Nina's relationship was going great guns. Ms Tucker was made to dress up in Western style clothing and sing along to country music in a bid to theme the pub, a little. Despite her serious misgivings, her natural talent shone through and attracted the attentions of a music agent - Melody Jones. Nina, along with Jack for support, met up with Melody at the Coffee Shop to discuss a possible professional relationship. Melody's gregarious nature and slightly off-putting enthusiasm managed to convince them that she could manage Nina and launch her career in the industry. The talented schoolgirl was especially grateful that Melody managed to make Lou realize Nina was more of an asset to the pub than he realized, and that he should be more accommodating towards her if he wanted to keep her. Melody is hardly the subtlest character Neighbours has seen, but it's a shame that elements of her couldn't have been toned down slightly, so that she still retained her novelty value, but that she was believable at the same time. That's a difficult type of character to script (think 2002 Valda) but one that can be valuable to a serial drama.

Another cause of thought for Nina during the week was her paranoia that Lyn and Joe weren't keen on her as a suitable partner for Jack. To try and dispel this, they invited her to dinner with them in the evening. Nina, however, had a disastrous time. She trod on her flowers, dropped the gateaux and became ill due to her allergy of Lyn's nut stuffing. Despite the drama, Lyn admitted to Joe that she really liked Nina, and that the only misgivings she had were of the way the two of them got together and broke up Jack and Lori. Lyn and Joe need not have worried too much about Ms Lee, however. She and Connor continued to work on a promotional campaign for the Coffee Shop and became firm friends. And, their earlier, spontaneous, pool kiss became a much more passionate kiss by the end of the week as they washed the dishes and played about with soapsuds... Connor and Lori aren't necessarily two characters one would expect to fall for each other. It'd probably for this reason that their dalliance was such a shock to the unsuspecting viewer. And the fact that their working relationship had been blossoming for a few weeks, couple with the earlier kiss, made the latest development all the more believable.

Elsewhere in Erinsborough, Gino desperately attempted to get Joe to look on him as a dear friend of the family, in his bid to be appointed Godfather. Typically, Joe didn't read the obvious, and it took an admission by Gino that he desperately wanted to be involved in the baby's upbringing to make Joe understand why he was being offered free hair colourings! This was a rather thoughtful scene, and very unusual for the character of Gino. It's fair to say that viewers got the first definite signal that he's gay, by revealing that he will never have children himself, hence his wish to be involved with the Scullys'. And, it proved to be Harold and Gino's inability to get on well that sparked another revelation in Erinsborough. Ruby had to break up a disagreement between the two in the Coffee Shop, and this reminded Harold of Madge. Later that day, he admitted to Ruby that although his time with Madge was cut tragically short, he looked forward to his future with her.

And, finally, there was a nice appearance from Candace Barkham during the week to interview Libby for an unexpected vacancy at Erinsborough High. Despite dashing from the swimming baths to the interview, it went well. Ms Kennedy, however, is obviously too busy to do anything else, because she seems to be blind to the increasingly obvious attraction towards her by Taj Coppin. Only time will tell if she'll become wise to it, and if so, what course the two will take... The positive effects of Ric Pellizzeri's high production standards continue to be evident, especially in this story. It's been simmering away for a good few weeks now, but not to the stage where it's been admitted by either party. Thus, there will be huge emotional release when they finally face up to reality.

Notes: Thursday's episode ended with Darcy being thrown out of the house by Karl and Susan. However, the scripted ending was Darcy's arrest by the police and the final shot him being driven out of the street. This scene was broadcast as an opener to Friday's episode, instead. Thus, Darcy was not seen again after Friday's first scene, and similarly, Sgt Douglas was credited in Thursday's episode, in which she didn't appear, and no credit existed for her on Friday.