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Weekly Reviews > Episodes 4338-4342 by Steve

UK Broadcast: Monday, November 24th - Friday, November 28th, 2003
Written by: Noel Maloney, John Davies, Sarah Mayberry, John Upton, John Hanlon
Directed by: Tony Osicka, Jovita O’Shaughnessy

Wars were waged and reconciliation’s made in an interesting week in Erinsborough…

For Susan and Karl, it was a week of changes. Karl began the week at odds with Joe after Steph revealed to her family that she had cancer. After that particular stress, a proposition by Izzy to skip a seminar and spend the day with her, making chocolate, was too good to resist. However, things got out of hand when Karl went home and lied to Susan, pretending he’d been at the seminar, knowing how his wife felt towards ‘Madame Hoyland’. He also took some of the chocolates home, claiming to have bought them in Eden Hills. But Susan loved them so much, she was thrilled to find Harold selling them in the Coffee Shop the following day, and the truth came out. After an evening of mostly icy silences, Karl caved in and took a sneaky drink behind his wife’s back. Meanwhile, the couple also said farewell to Libby and Ben, who moved to Adelaide. Libby found herself spending her last day with Taj, who called in to say goodbye, and they both made some uneasy closure on their situation.

The tension in this story, between Karl, Susan and Izzy, has been incredible to watch. Susan’s paranoia when Karl is around younger women has been an excellent basis for this story, but what is most interesting is the way Izzy manages to turn the whole situation around with everything she says and does. Her motives for backing up Karl when he lied to his wife were not clear. Small touches like her sending some jam to Susan to apologise for the mix-up with the purse are very clever, almost making the viewers, and other characters, wonder what Susan’s problem is, trusting the word of a total newcomer over that of the matriarch of the show.

Stuart found himself getting deeper into the world of Jonathan Verne and Life Mechanics this week. To make things worse, he managed to convince Taj to join him, though Connor and Toadie were both still convinced that it was a dodgy scam. When Stuart and Taj went along to one of the meetings, they both found themselves relating a great deal to what Jonathan was saying. Stuart seemed to be growing more and more comfortable in the company of Jonathan and the rest of the group, while Taj, who had only just said goodbye to Libby, was still dubious, but his vulnerability seemed clear to Jonathan. The three of them headed off to the pub together and, back at home, despite ribbing from the other lads, Stuart announced that he’d be attending a two-day workshop run by Jonathan.

This storyline is proving very interesting for the character of Stuart. Many viewers have complained in the past that he has very little to do, drifting from doomed relationship to someone else’s storyline, so this has been ideal. It is not unrealistic for Stuart to be taking stock of his life after the disasters with Flick and Libby and the recent events surrounding Dee’s death. Similarly, Taj would also be in a vulnerable state following his relationship with Libby, so it seems believable that he would fall for the Life Mechanics way of life aswell. Whatever happens, this seems like only the beginning of what could be Stuart’s biggest story to date.

Steph and Max were finally reconciled this week, but it took yet another outburst from Boyd to do it. After realising that she had to be open with people, Steph revealed the truth about her condition to Stuart and asked for her old job back. He comforted her, witnessed by an angry Boyd. His revenge on her was to smash up her bike headlamps, causing a scene in the street when Joe caught him. However, Boyd had got some glass in his eye and the next day, Max took him along to the hospital, where he spotted Steph with her parents, getting into a lift. When he got to the oncology department, he found Steph in the midst of her first course of chemotherapy. She was forced to reveal the truth to him and he promised that he would stand by her, no matter what happened. Steph was still uncomfortable and continued to push him away, but he had new hope. Although Izzy tried to manipulate the situation further, Max told Summer and Boyd the news, before visiting Steph once again. She was touched by his supportive reaction, not to mention the kids wanting to do anything they could to help, and the couple agreed to give things another go.

It’s wonderful to see Max and Steph finally back together, and it’s also great that the cancer story is being portrayed so realistically, with no detail of Steph’s chemotherapy left unturned. This could so easily have been turned into just another hurdle for Max and Steph, but Carla Bonner’s performances and some fantastic scripts have given the whole storyline an edge that hasn’t been seen on Neighbours for some time.

Harold got word this week that his son, David, along with his wife and daughter, would be moving to Erinsborough. While Sky seemed happy that she’d be seeing her aunt Lil and cousin Serena again, Harold was more apprehensive. He revealed to Izzy that since his ‘accident’ his relationship with his son had become very strained and they’d barely kept in touch. Sky was quick to pick up on her grandfather’s odd behaviour, but he brushed it off and began making plans, as the family would be staying with him and Sky for a while. However, by the end of the week, Harold was embarrassed to have a BMW delivered to his home, ordered by David, but Lou convinced him that they should take it for a spin.

It’s nice, and unusual, to have such a build-up for new characters arriving in Neighbours. So many people have just appeared out of the blue, so to have Sky and Harold talking about David, Liljana and Serena is already painting an interesting picture. The arrival of a BMW, and the fact that Serena is to attend Eden Hills Grammar both pointed out the fact that the Bishop family is clearly well off. It makes you wonder how long they’ll manage to cope living with Harold, who is very much used to the simple life.

Also this week, Nina returned from her tour of Asia, and immediately admitted to Jack that she had shared a kiss with her touring partner, Robbie D. Jack was disgusted, but quickly realised his hypocrisy in the situation and apologised the next morning. Nina then surprised Jack by taking him to a suite at Lassiter’s – a gift from her manager, Melody – and finally agreeing to sleep with him. Meanwhile, Toadie and Connor were convinced that they’d found themselves mixed up with the Mob after getting closer to Rocco. After receiving a cheque for $3000 for his lawyer services, Toadie attempted to return it, but the boys found themselves working for Rocco – digging a huge hole in his backyard…