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Weekly Reviews >
Episodes 4298-4302
by Steve
UK
Broadcast: Monday 29th September - Friday 3rd October 2003
Written by: Chris Hollow, Michael O'Rourke, Jeff Truman, Judith Colquhoun, Drew Tingwell.
Directed by: Tony Osicka, Gary Conway
The repurcussions from various actions last week continued to be felt, causing more than one relationship to become very strained indeed...
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Libby's revelation that she had slept with Taj caused Susan to react in a surprising way. She quickly informed Libby that they had to go into 'damage control' and make sure that Taj didn't say anything to anyone. Libby found this difficult, as she had only just realised how much the whole thing might be affecting him. Susan also found it difficult to extend any sympathy to her daughter and admitted to Libby that she wasn't sure if she could forgive her for this. Karl proved more sympathetic, but Libby still found it impossible at school the next day, having lost the respect of her students. She therefore announced to Susan that she was going to resign from her job and go away to stay at Grandpa Tom's for a while. By the end of the week, Taj had tracked her down in her country hideaway, but when he arrived there, he saw her with Ben and realised he had no place in her life. He left a note, which Karl later found when he arrived, explaining his feelings for Libby. Upon reading this, Libby realised how much pain Taj had been going through lately, but a phonecall from Susan showed that it was going to be a long time before she could forgive and forget this time...
This storyline is really putting the Kennedy family in some new situations, exploring their relationships with each other and giving the actors new insight into their characters. It is certainly unusual for Karl and Susan to react the ways they did, but it also proved to be very realistic, as Susan has so much more to lose from all this. As always, the actors gave fantastic performances, obviously relishing the chance to take Karl, Susan and Libby to some new places after almost ten years in their roles.
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After a simple memorial service at the site of the accident, Toadie found it difficult to admit that Dee was gone, and he stormed off in the midst of Lou's speech. Apologising in the pub, he admitted that it didn't make sense that they wouldn't have kids and grow old together. Toadie's pain continued, but a shocking twist meant that he suddenly found someone new to blame for the situation. When Sergeant Douglas arrived to explain that faults had been found in the car Toadie was driving, everything immediately pointed at Stuart. Unwilling to listen to what his best mate had to say, Toadie at first went silent, then insisted that Stuart get out of the house. Stu spoke to Susan about the problem and she assured him that Toadie would quickly see sense, but sadly that didn't happen. Arriving home, Stuart found all his stuff out on the porch and Toadie told him that he never wanted to see him again. Susan tried to talk some sense into Toadie, but he refused to listen to reason. The following day, he returned to work, where it quickly became evident that he wasn't coping as well as he was making out.
The memorial service was touching, despite the obvious characters missing from the scenes. The attendees lined up along the cliff and throwing roses into the sea was very touching. Ryan Moloney is proving what a great actor he can be when given the chance and now the storyline is also offering the same opportunities to Blair McDonough as Stuart.
Nina and Jack's relationship also took centre-stage this week. It started to become clear to Jack that Nina was trying very hard to avoid being intimate with him. His suspicions were confirmed when she used the excuse that he parents would be home any minute, as he'd seen a note on the fridge saying that they were away in Canberra for the week. Nina was forced to reveal the truth to her boyfriend - that she's a virgin. Jack was very understanding, and relieved that he wasn't the one with the problem.This storyline continues to be handled well, with all aspects staying within character for Jack and Nina. It's refreshing to see that the BBC have decided that we're all now mature enough to watch these scenes, after the days of cutting out Billy and Melissa's sex scenes and replacing them with a repeat of Dad's Army. Or something.
Elsewhere, the bizarre storyline with Harold wearing an afro wig and preaching to the youth of Erinsborough finally came to an end, as he realised he was seen as a comedy figure and nobody would actually take his words seriously. What was amusing as a novelty 'Harold in a funny wig' story, quickly got dull as it dragged out longer than a couple of episodes. Hopefully, he'll finally have a story of substance when Sky returns next week. Meanwhile, Steph finally managed to talk Stuart into giving her the apprenticeship at the garage. Blair and Carla do have a very good chemistry on-screen, so it'll be nice for them to have a few scenes together, but you can't help getting the feeling that this is the last good news Steph will be getting for a while...
The drama is certainly coming thick and fast, with the show really handling things in a more mature way, but amidst all this, the humour seems to be falling by the wayside, with a rather odd Harold plot being the only attempt to make the viewers laugh. Hopefully some fresh faces over the next few weeks will lighten the mood a little.
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