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Weekly Reviews > Episodes 4283-4287 by Steve

UK Broadcast: Monday 8th September - Friday 12th September 2003
Written by: Jeff Truman, Graham Hartley, Ray Kolle, Piet Collins, Louise Le Nay. Directed by: Gary Conway, Jovita O'Shaughnessy

The drama didn't let up this week as Lyn delved deeper into her past, Libby found herself in a very awkward position and Karl learned he was being sued...

The saga of Lyn's parentage continued this week as Henry made it clear that he was not happy with the truth being out in the open. After making it entirely clear that Lyn's real father, Charlie Cassidy, was a no-hoper, he headed off to confront Valda. However, she was certainly not prepared to accept all the blame for the situation, leaving Henry hurt. He decided to move into Lassiters. Lyn, meanwhile, wanted more information and so she swallowed her pride and went to Valda for Charlie's details. It took a while to talk her round, but Valda eventually revealed that the last she knew, Charlie had opened a fishing business in Shelly Bay. After doing some research on the internet, Lyn found him and his number. She was very surprised after talking to him, as he quickly agreed to meet her at the pub. However, when she and Joe went to the pub for the meeting, Lyn was appalled, but not completely surprised when he failed to show. As soon as she got home, she told Steph that she should never have trusted the word of the man who gave up on her before she was even born. However, Joe then took a call from Shelly Bay that revealed the truth - Charlie had been rushed to hospital...

The twists and turns in this storyline are easily making it one of the best and most complex stories the show has ever produced. All of the performances have been great, with a particularly strong scene featuring Joan Sydney and Bud Tingwell as Valda and Henry. The confrontation between these two showed how lucky Neighbours is to have two actors of this calibre in the cast, and what can be produced when they put some thought into it.

Libby found that Taj's crush was getting out of hand this week, when, after spending time together in the school editing suite, he leaned over and kissed her. Upon hearing about the incident, Susan took Taj aside and advised him that his crush was completely ridiculous and inappropriate. However, Taj was not to be told and soon enough he was celebrating his 18th birthday and following Libby and Steph to Radiation, the club where they were heading for a night out. Libby was horrified when Taj turned up, while Jack quickly picked up on the way Taj was acting around Miss Kennedy.

As time goes on, Taj seems to be becoming more and more unhinged. Despite various people telling him that it's wrong to have feelings for his teacher and some very obvious knockbacks from Libby, he won't listen. The whole thing is being nicely performed by everyone, but Libby's flippancy, particularly about the kiss, seems extremely unprofessional. Susan's confrontation of Taj also seemed strange, as it never really seemed to be followed up. Much of this seemed like padding the story out for a few episodes until the real fireworks.

Dee turned into the 'bride from hell' as her wedding plans continued. After hearing about the surcharges at her reception venue of choice, she quickly got on the phone and told them she might have to take her business elsewhere. Toadie was horrified by the transformation, but was comforted by the fact that she'd go back to normal after the wedding, until Stuart made him wonder if perhaps 'evil Dee' was here to stay. By the end of the week, Dee was taking things too far - organising Toadie's day for him, then telling Angie that her outfit was completely unsuitable for the wedding. Toadie suddenly found himself stuck between the two most important women in his life, as a huge argument erupted...

Although 'evil Dee' seemed to appear out of nowhere, her appearance really gave Madeleine West a chance to show off her considerable comedic talents in her final few episodes. Similarly, Lesley Baker was fantastic in her guest spot as Angie. Everyone knows what's coming up in this storyline, so to be able to get a few laughs out of it in the lead-up is great.