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Weekly Reviews
> Episodes 4413-4417 by Steve
UK Broadcast: Monday, March 22nd –
Friday, March 26th, 2004
Written by: Drew Tingwell, Jeff Truman, Anthony Morris, Noel Maloney,
Martin McKenna
Directed by: Jovita O’Shaughnessy, Tony Osicka
An internet pervert,
the mother-in-law from hell and a mysterious stalker made for a dramatic week
in Erinsborough…
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The Bishop family took centre stage this week, as all
their problems seemed to come at once. Harold’s personality change
took on several new twists this week, as he first started perving at
co-worker Izzy in the Coffee Shop, then got drunk, endured a hangover
and ate meat, all in the space of 48 hours! While this was concerning for
Liljana and David, they had bigger things to worry about with the imminent
arrival of Lil’s mother, Svetlanka, from Perth. Having delayed her trip by
a day, she suddenly descended upon the house when only Harold was home.
Svetlanka had taken it upon herself to come by taxi from the airport,
where her daughter and son-in-law had arranged to meet her. Harold was
convinced that this strange woman was in fact his physio, who he’d been
reluctant to see and had told David to cancel. After a confusing conversation,
during which Harold tried to force the woman out of his home, Liljana and David
arrived back and everything was sorted out.
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As they got down to preparing a birthday meal for Serena, the birthday girl
herself was out getting herself in trouble. Having snuck out of the house, she
went to see Chris, who, knowing it was her 16th birthday, planned to take things
to the next level. He presented her with a ring and told her how her parents couldn’t
tell her what to do any more. Fortunately, a phone call meant that he had to leave the
room, and Serena stumbled on his webcam, which was set up to record everything. She fled
back to Ramsay Street, where she eventually revealed all to her horrified father. After
contacting the police, they realised that there was little they could do about Chris, so
David broke into his studio and stole his hard-drive, determined to show the police what
they were dealing with. Liljana and David then burnt the photos, while Serena threw the
ring in the lake. All of this led to Svetlanka finding out about the family’s money problems
and insisting to Liljana that they all return home with her and help to run the vineyard.
Although Liljana wondered if it would be for the best, the family eventually stood up to the
domineering Svetlanka and told her that they were happy now in Erinsborough and would be staying.
The arrival of Svetlanka certainly turned things on their head in the Bishop household. Apart
from anything else, the scenes really brought out the best in Marcella Russo as the bullied Liljana.
Hopefully, there will now be some repercussions from the Chris Cousens situation, as it seemed like
a far too simple conclusion to what has a been an interesting storyline, and certainly a brave
departure for Neighbours.
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The Scullys decided to enter the Making Mansions TV show and, for their
application, made a video. With Lyn and Joe on the case, the video ended up
quite a wooden, embarrassing affair. Jack and Steph tried to come up with ideas
to jazz it up a bit and ended up playing on Joe’s “Aussieisms”, turning him and
Lyn into the traditional Aussie bloke and his wife. Unfortunately, this video
turned out to be no better than the earlier attempts and Joe ended up storming off
after an argument – an argument that was caught on camera… Jack had his own problems
when he took on a day’s labouring work with his father. Although Joe acted callously
towards his son, trying to offer him as little support as possible, he ended up offering
him a full-time job.
With all the drama in the Bishop and Kennedy households lately, the antics of the Scully
family have proved to be very refreshing. With some fantastic performances from Janet Andrewartha
and Shane Connor, the video scenes were genuinely funny and hopefully offered a taste of what’s
to come in the Making Mansions storyline.
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Meanwhile, the Hoylands found themselves under attack from more than one direction.
With the house up for auction, they reluctantly prepared themselves for an inspection.
However, on the day of the auction, a mysterious man appeared in Ramsay Street, first at
the end of the street, where Boyd caught a fleeting glimpse, then at the pub. Then,
with the house full of people viewing it, the man walked in unnoticed and stole a photo
of the Hoyland family. When they realised it was gone, they were confused, unaware that
this man was standing across the street, watching their home. Meanwhile, at the school, Boyd,
Summer and Sky were getting their own back on Erin. However, their plan to laugh and her
and make her paranoid with talk of their revenge plot backfired in a big way when Erin
suddenly suffered a serious asthma attack. Luckily, Sky and Boyd managed to help her and she
admitted that she got what she deserved after humiliating Sky at the school formal.
As the feud between Sky and Erin was tied up nicely, it was great to see the beginnings of a
new storyline for the whole Hoyland family. With all five of them living in the house and
featuring in the photo, it’s unclear which member of the family he’s looking for, but it seems
that whoever it is, it’s not going to be a happy reunion.
Elsewhere, Lou and Trixie departed the street for their three-month tour of Asia,
but it seemed that Harold wasn’t happy about being abandoned and he made his feelings
entirely clear. Connor realised that, in order to qualify for sponsorship from Max, he
would need to find a special skill that would get him the job over all the Australian applicants.
Meanwhile, Susan and Karl’s marriage continued to suffer, as he moved into the spare room and she
became more and more paranoid that he would divorce her and start seeing Izzy instead…
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