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Weekly Reviews > Episodes 4153-4157 by Rhys

UK Broadcast: Monday 17th February - Friday 21st February 2003
Writers: Megan Herbert, John Hanlon, Jeff Truman, Judith Colquhoun, John Davies. Directors: Tony Osicka, Gary Conway

The five episode broadcast this week appear to have changed up a gear, and everything seems to flow more smoothly and all the plots now feel as if they're working in harmony with each other...

Much of Monday's episode is devoted to the happenings down at the beach, where Taj confesses to having recently "unofficially" broken up with his girlfriend, Allie, when she moved up north. However, Taj manages to convince Nina of his sincerity, and they continue to be a couple. Michelle, though, feels guilty about having told Nina the truth. Lori, like Lyn, has noticed the air of quiet around Jack recently, and asks him if he's still happy being with her. He assures her that everything is fine.

Toadie and Dione's fears are dispelled when Darcy comes up trumps and helps Dee seek justice over the sexual harassment case. Darcy pretends to support Martin Cook and understand his reasoning for trying to get close to Dione, at which point Cookie confessed to having tried to force himself upon her. However, Darcy is concealing a tape recorder and blackmails the surgeon into confessing all to the hospital's E.O. Officer. He does so, and is transferred from Erinsborough General to another location to be closely monitored from here on in. He also apologises to Dione, who makes a scene in the hospital corridor, telling him that she hopes no other woman has to endure his sexist tendencies. Darcy wins Dione's affections again thanks to his seemingly selfless gesture, but his heart is broken when he splits up with Chloe - the latter having decided the age gap is too much for Darcy to realistically endure in the future. Darcy later hints to Susan that he lost his only true love, and he eyes up Dione.

The day of Susan and Karl's wedding is drawing closer, and a Hen's night is organized to follow on from Ben's first birthday party at No. 28. The men have their own evening round at the Scullys'. The scene for Ben's party is absolutely fantastic. It's one of those rare occasions on Neighbours where so many of the cast congregates for one particular event. Everyone who should have been there was there - and even Stephanie's absence was explained by a phone call from Moco. The Hen party, which follows on after the birthday bash, is another excellent scene - with Lyn, Susan, Libby and especially Dione's reactions to the stripping policeman making hilarious viewing! Back at the men's party, Joe is unleashing his home brew on the unsuspecting revelers. It's only the following morning we realize the effect it's had on them as they all wake up with pounding headaches and slurred speech! Karl makes a hilarious entrance as he pops his head up through the swing doors in the living room, robed in streamers!

However, the happy atmosphere is short-lived when Joe comes across what Karl confirms to be a positive pregnancy test in the rubbish bin. In typical Joe fashion, he flies off the handle and immediately presumes it's Michelle's. An unsuspecting Michelle later leaves an answerphone message at the Scullys' complaining of a stomach upset "thanks to Connor". Joe, of course, assumes this is his daughter's way of breaking the news and sets out to discover the truth. He attempts at several points during the day to have a quiet talk with Lyn, but she is too busy dressing the wedding crowd. When the teenagers arrive back from the beach and arrive at Lassiter's for the ceremony, Joe is offhand and distant with Michelle and Connor. Later in the day he drags his youngest and her boyfriend out of the function room to confront them directly. Michelle swears that she's not pregnant, but Joe isn't convinced, until Lyn comes out to try and calm the situation. When she learns what Joe is angry about, she embarrassingly has to break the news that she is the one who's pregnant, to the shock of Michelle, Connor and especially, Joe! As the week draws to a close, Lyn is becoming increasingly worried about her husband's reaction to the news. Joe appears to offer little emotional support to her; despite assuring he still wants the baby.

Karl and Susan finally marry in a ceremony at the hotel, conducted by Rosie. When the couple recite their new vows, Susan stops suddenly, leaving the congregation and Karl unsure of what's happening. However, she surprises everyone by beginning to recite her original wedding vows from the 1970s! This sign of some memory returning is largely accepted as a symbol that Susan's memory is all but complete, again. It's almost as if the writing team at Neighbours realized the mistake they'd made in following through with the amnesia storyline, and so they decided that it should be wrapped up as quickly as possible. The wedding episode itself is fairly enjoyable - not least because all the cast, bar Stuart and Lou are present at the ceremony (both absences were explained - Lou being in hospital, and Stuart later appeared at the reception), however the air of the dreaded amnesia plot taints everything. It is also interesting that a specially constructed studio set was used as the hotel's function room. While the interior aspect was cozy and snazzy enough, the production design department made the mistake of trying to recreate the gardens at Lassiter's indoors! The result was a poorly lit, poorly dressed patio area surrounded by mock trellis plants and a backdrop, which was bizarrely constructed in an angular fashion (as opposed to the more effective semi-circle) which amusingly showed a very obvious joint-seam running down the center of the painted sky!

Susan and Karl return home after the wedding to take advantage of the empty house. However, their passion is cur short when Karl answers the phone to Sarah Beaumont. He panics at first and makes out to Susan that it's a wrong number. Later in the day, Susan answers the phone to Sarah - and it transpires that all she wants is a reference for a new job. She has split up from Peter Hannay and is now a single mother.

Elsewhere, Boyd's friend Daniel admits that the bruise on his face was not as a result of a fight with the boys of West Warrahtah - but by his own father. Boyd confides in Max who seeks the advice of Susan and Karl. They suggest the best thing to do is contact the police, but Max feels he ought to confront Daniel's father himself. He does so, and convinces him that Daniel would be better off staying with the Hoylands for a few days. This mini-storyline was written on the instructions of the BBC as part of their Hitting Home season on domestic violence. It is likely that it could have been handled more effectively, instead of giving the impression that it was done purely last minute to meet the BBC's wishes.

Finally, Max and Stephanie agree to go on a date to the hotel restaurant. Max is running late, however, and Steph spend some time with Libby and Stuart who are on their way to the University ball. Max eventually shows up, stating his only priority is his evening with Steph.

Notes: The 2002 season finale episode (4155) was screened on the BBC on the Wednesday; with the season return broadcast the following day. In Australia, there was a gap of five weeks between the finale and season return over Christmas. This episode's closing credits sequence was a montage of various couples taken from the wedding reception, backed with Nina singing 4 Your Love, rather than the usual closing theme.

The season return episode (4156) sported brand new opening titles, a new closing sequence and a new library of incidental music.