The main story to be played out this week was the continuing disappearance of Toadfish. However, actor Ryan Moloney’s return to the set following his real life marriage allowed Toadie to be finally shown on screen for the first time in two weeks. The plot bubbled along for the first part of the week very much as before, with Jarrod supposedly SMSing and emailing Ramsay Street claiming he was alive and well. However, Stuart and Sindi’s suspicions of Rocco finally led them to prick the pseudo-gangster’s conscience, and he made a vow to right all his past wrongs. We later saw him visit Lou to express his apologies for leading him into the horse-race scam and to the hospital in Horsham, where he was keeping a vigil at an unconscious Toadie’s bedside. Luckily, Sindi happened to flash a photo of her and Rocco in front of Libby, who immediately recognised him from her brief encounter with him at the hospital during her trip back from Adelaide. Stuart and Sindi dropped everything and raced to the hospital, just in time to catch Rocco as maintained his bedside vigil. A terrified Rocco fled, but was caught by Stuart and held until the police arrived. The residents of Ramsay Street were informed of Toadie’s situation, as Sindi and Scott prayed for his safe emergence from coma.

Despite the joy at having found Toadie and apprehended Rocco, things weren’t looking too rosy for Lou, as he had admirably volunteered himself to the police on charges of horse race fixing, purely so the police could have some evidence to investigate Rocco further in a bid to find Toadie. It remains to be seen how much legal trouble Lou is in as the police go about their investigations. Libby, meanwhile, returned to a household very different to the one she left six months ago. Having been assured by her father the previous day that he was not going to enter into a relationship with anyone, let along Izzy Hoyland, one can only imagine her surprise and disappointment at returning to Karl’s apartment the following morning to discover Izzy and her father flirting at the breakfast table. A hugely emotional confrontation ensued, with Libby declaring that she was ashamed of Karl. Susan felt similar upset when Libby revealed that Karl and Izzy were indeed sleeping together, and Monday’s episode ended with Susan finally accepting there was little hope left for her marriage, and she removed her wedding ring. Izzy, however, must have been overjoyed that her devious plan to trap Karl into being the father of her and Gus’ unborn baby is bearing fruit. Towards the end of the week, Susan and Isabelle had yet another set-to in the Coffee Shop, but Father Tom made Susan realise that she didn’t need to rise to Izzy’s bait and she later apologised to the Hoyland temptress and they agreed to be civil to each other. Max, Stephanie and Boyd were appalled at Izzy for having “stolen another woman’s husband”, however, and Stephanie withdrew her reluctant offer of having Izzy as bridesmaid with Libby. Apart from the fantastic performances given by all actors in this storyline, one of the other joys has been the way in which all sectors of the community have been drawn together by this storyline, and is reminiscent of older Neighbours stories where the whole of Ramsay Street would be joined or divided by the antics of others.

Gus’ constant stalking of the Hoyland finally came to a head at the end of the week, when a series of sinister events, including Max discovering the set of new house keys he’d had cut for the newly returned Stephanie had been tampered with, led him to ring Gus’ mobile phone to try and sort everything out. He didn’t bank on the phone ringing right outside the front door of No.32 though, and when he discovered him hiding under the car port, he set out on a chase after his former friend. He eventually caught him at a building site, and Max tried to reason with the irrational Gus. The latter soon began to talk, and admitted to wanting to get as close to Max’s family as possible, and only tried to injure him so that he could prove how indispensable he would be should something major happen to Max. Knowing as he did of Gus’ mental illness, Max tried to lure him away from the edge of the first floor of the partially-built house, but Gus read this as Max suggesting he was insane and would jump. Worried he was going to fall, Max grabbed out towards Gus, but both fell to the ground below. When paramedics arrived, an delirious Max awoke to find Gus had vanished yet again. Although Neighbours has been criticised by certain groups for its lack of a definite diagnosis of Gus’ mental condition, it could be argued that this is irrelevant. The crux of the story lies in Gus’ abandonment as a child by his parents and his desire to have a family to love and care for and for that to be returned to him too. His attachment to the Hoylands was gradual and for the most part genuine, and the fine performance displayed by Ben Barrack at the building site scene, where Gus admitted to wanting a family of his own was filled with pathos, and perhaps makes acceptable the fact that no particular mental illness has been named – I.e. that the motive behind Gus’ actions are the important elements of this story. The character however is still left in the dark about his child that Izzy is carrying.

David was a little concerned this week, too, after Liljana’s confession of the advances made by Allan Steiger. Harold playfully suggested to David that there was more to Liljana’s story, and her constant sexual flirtations with him were more than just trying to make up for not telling him about Steiger sooner. David was later heard on the telephone booking the services of a mysterious agency… Serena, meanwhile, was still having trouble keeping Scott under control, and the two fell out again after he failed to turn up for their second date because of the search for Toadie. Scott made her see how unreasonable she was being for flying off the handle again and they reunited. And finally, Sky was left unemployed after another confrontation with Izzy at the Coffee Shop. Determined to get one up on Izzy’s evil doings, Sky searched through her purse to find her driving licence, correctly stating her age as thirty – and not the mid twenties that Izzy claimed. However, Sky was caught searching in her purse and accused of stealing in front of a watching Coffee Shop. She was sacked on the spot. The week ended with Lyn being confronted over her jealous behaviour regarding Tom’s growing friendship with Susan and the advice he gave her about Izzy. Tom could see through Lyn’s constant nerves and over-enthusiasm in his presence, and he admitted to knowing how she felt about him before he became a priest. Lyn was left shocked and speechless.

Monday’s episode saw Susan introduce Libby to Father Tom as “Father Dennis Scully” with the explanation being given that he prefers the name Tom. This was in light of a past reference made to Joe’s brother Dennis, and the later decision made by the producers to rename him Tom when it came to casting the character.