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Weekly Reviews > Episodes 4343-4347 by Rhys

UK Broadcast: Monday, December 1st - Friday, December 5th, 2003
Written by: Ben Marshall, Linda Stainton, Graham Hartley, Noel Maloney, Michael O’Rourke
Directed by: Jovita O’Shaughnessy, Jeffrey Walker

New arrivals, revelations and discoveries caused tension in Ramsay Street this week…

The week opened with Jack and Nina at Lassiter’s Hotel, having spent the night together as a thank you present from Nina’s agent, Melody. Strangely, their hotel room’s balcony overlooked lush fields and land – not the view of urban Melbourne one would expect to see from the hotel’s windows! As the hotel’s sole employee, it would seem, Taj was given the job of providing room service to the couple’s room. Knowing of Jack’s secret fling with Edwina, he wasn’t best pleased that Nina was being duped by the young Scully. Later on, when Nina admitted to Taj that she and Jack had suffered some teething troubles upon her return from Asia (on account of Nina’s kiss with ‘pop star’ Robbie D) Taj assumed Jack had taken his advice and admitted his infidelity, and praised Nina’s partner for having confessed to her. It didn’t take long for Nina to put two and two together, and later that day, during a radio interview, she made reference to a song she had supposedly written on her way to the station about betrayal. Jack, listening to the broadcast, suspected Taj had not been able to keep his secret and tore strips off him. Nina went to see Jack later in the day and ended their relationship, admitting she’d be stupid risk being hurt again.

Far from being hurt by Jack’s outburst towards him, Taj was too busy being enthralled by Jonothan Verne and his ‘Life Mechanics’ self-help sessions. Along with Stuart and Toadie, Taj attended a meeting where the attendants were encouraged to talk openly about being betrayed, hurt and taken for granted by other people. Toadie thought it all a joke and didn’t hang around for long, but Taj and Stuart were very impressed. However, Susan, having heard of Life Mechanics, asked Taj to explain more to her, and she took the viewpoint that Jonothan was conning people into paying for nothing. Taj told Stuart of Susan’s words, but Stu laughed them off and warned Taj that Jonothan had told him people would dismiss it because they feared admitting to their inadequacies and problems. Although, on the face of it, the Life Mechanics story seems a little contrived, it’s managing to give some very much needed story material to the character of Stuart who hasn’t yet had a chance to play anything not involving chasing some random extra character in the hope of a quick romance. Fortunately, Blair is a capable enough actor to do ‘the heavy stuff’, and the idea of a cult group is something Neighbours hasn’t explored for ten years now.

When she wasn’t giving out advice to Taj, Susan was being taught some home truths by Lou and Harold over her dissing of Izzy Hoyland. Despite their firm words, and pleas in trying to get her to be a little nicer and more accommodating of the new neighbour, Susan remains adamant that Isabelle is a troublemaker, able to wrap the male population around her little finger. However, despite these concerns, a smell of damp caused by an overflowing kitchen sink caused the Kennedys to peel back two layers of linoleum flooring in their kitchen on Tuesday, to try and find the rotting patch. Hiding under the second layer was a yellowing envelope and letter, showing signs of age. Susan managed to decipher the letter which was written by Daphne Clarke to baby Jamie in 1988. The letter made reference to the large envelope found with it, joking that it would only be found when Jamie peeled back the old lino to replace it when he was old enough to inherit the house. Susan and Karl had no recollection of anyone by the name of Clarke having lived in the house, and concluded it must have been before Pam and Doug lived there. The following day, Joe suggested the Kennedys put an advert in the paper asking if anyone knew anything of Jamie Clarke’s whereabouts. The finding of the letter was made more poignant by Susan’s naïve comment that Daphne sounded as though she planned to live in No. 28 for years and years, knowing as we do that she wouldn’t have lived for many months after writing the letter.

Although it’s slightly unrealistic that the Kennedys didn’t ask Harold whether he knew of the Clarkes, they did make reference to him having been in the street a long time, and that because of Susan’s turbulent relationship with Izzy, it made visiting the Coffee Shop difficult. (Why they couldn’t pop next door but one to ask him remains a mystery…)

Indeed, Harold would probably have been too busy entertaining his newly arrived family at the time. Tuesday saw the arrival of David, Liljana and Serena to disturb the relative peace at No. 24. Immediately, it became clear that David hadn’t changed much since his last visit to the street in 1988, except that he was now with wife and child. David’s life appeared to Harold to revolve around money and personal wealth, and he was slightly intimated by his daughter in law’s gregarious nature (her constant referring to him as “tata” – likely a traditional Serbian term of endearment – for example), though admitted to David he loved them all dearly. Sadly, the same affection was not evident between father and son, and although the tension between the two began to lessen somewhat after a day or two, there are evidently unresolved issues. The solving of them looks likely to be the most interesting part of the Bishops’ return.

Also, this week, Steph’s chemotherapy took its toll, and the tragic Scully discovered her hair was beginning to fall out. Feeling increasingly low and self conscious, Steph pushed Max away, not wanting him or the kids to be put through the stress of cancer again. Steph’s mother, however, was overjoyed when Charlie Cassidy arrived on her doorstep wanting to see his newborn grandson, but joy turned to dismay when Henry set foot in Erinsborough, and engaged in a war of words with Charlie. Lyn warned them both not to dare bring any unhappiness into her life now. It’s been refreshing to see Lyn’s parental storyline revisited and not forgotten about, especially with Charlie having a short time left to live. And finally, Izzy’s birthday fell on Thursday, but her happiness was short lived when it emerged Rosie had not sent her a card or present, nor made any effort to get in touch. Harold, worried for his colleague made an effort to ring Rosie in Fiji in a bid to jog her memory.

Notes: Stan Tsitas returned to his role as EdenFM radio station manager, Tony Simpson in Monday’s episode. Daphne’s name was misspelt “Daphine” on her supposed handwritten letter to Jamie.

Brand new opening titles were launched on Thursday's episode. Although all new shots (bar the water sprinkler and street sign segments) the same style was retained and a new sidebar sequence of the characters' faces filmed. This sequence was produced in-house, unlike the previous set produced by design company, Animal Logic Play.