Karl’s tracking down of Izzy paid dividends as she, despite a brief spell of martyr-like behaviour, decided to return to Erinsborough with him. Their homecoming was witnessed by Susan and Lyn at the pub, who found the joy at Izzy’s return hard to swallow. This was the spark which finally gave Susan the confidence to present Karl with finalised divorce papers later in the week, in front of his new partner. Being surprisingly civil with each other, Karl was keen that Susan should retain most of their shared assets, including No. 28. Despite Susan’s unease at being given everything, Karl insisted – much to Izzy’s quiet disapproval. Meanwhile, Susan’s private life was becoming less and less that! On Sindi’s suggestion, she took a few days’ retreat at a country lodge to unwind and consider her future without Karl, and possibly with Father Tom. Little did she expect the good intentions of Sindi to let slip to Tom where Susan had gone to, and he appeared at the lodge later in the day. They gave into passion and spent their first night together. Returning to Erinsborough, Libby was disgusted when she found out where Susan had gone to and with whom. An ‘Absolutely Fabulous’ style row ensued with Libby taking on the role of disapproving daughter to her mother’s frivolous antics. They later made up, but Susan continued to be plagued by her feelings for Tom, and despite him brushing her aside briefly after a trip to Bendigo to see his ailing father, he arrived at No. 28 at the end of the week, and once again their feelings got the better of them.

The changing character of Susan has been a bitter-sweet pill to swallow. Despite the eagerness of viewers to see Susan make a new life for herself, and perhaps to get one up on Karl for having broken the marriage, we are still haunted by the enduring “happy families” image the Kennedys portrayed for almost ten years on screen, despite their ups and downs. However, not to overly condemn Susan or Karl’s new lives, it seems that level headed daughter, Libby, is now the one behaving in the most adult manner. Despite this, the return of Darren has done little to ease her already complex family life. Little does she know that the mysterious emailer going by the name of Adam, whom both Libby and Sindi described as appearing to be “too good to be true” is really Darren, sneakily trying to woo back his ex. However, in ‘real life’, Libby and Darren’s relationship became awkward when he attempted to comfort her by putting his arm around her. She took this the wrong way and fled. However, Libby gave her real feeling for her former lover away when she displayed jealousy when Darren pretended he had a dinner date that night.

Stingray’s hyperactivity was accelerated this week when he sadly missed out on a deserved arts grant. Sky, however, with her fancy art vocabulary and pretend interest in art, managed to secure the funding. On receiving the letter, Scott was fuelled into a rage of upset and began destroying anything in sight. Mercifully, Toadie arrived in time to halt him, and he and Sindi later took on the role of trying to educate Scott to curb his instant reactions to bad news and tried a variety of tactics to keep his mind focussed on a given task. They later found he had an aptitude and patience to play pool. Sky meanwhile was having a ‘fun’ time in her new job as waitress at Grease Monkeys, where she was required to dance to songs in between waiting on. Embarrassing for Sky, but Serena was also made to cringe by her father’s antics as David took Harold’s advice about spending more time with his daugher. So, in true Neighbours ‘daggy parents’ fashion, David took Serena to Grease Monkeys to have a ‘cool’ dinner, whilst embarrassing her by relating aloud childhood stories about her, in earshot of her friends. Meanwhile, an afternoon at Luna Park was the final straw as Serena revealed to her mother how embarrassed she had felt by David’s over-enthusiasm. Liljana sympathised, but suggested Serena would look back on those moments with fondness in years to come.

Meanwhile, elsewhere in suburban Melbourne, Stuart and Olivia’s partnership continued, but not before the eager Stuart mistook his fellow-cop for a criminal and tackled her to the ground. Despite her obligation to do so, she didn’t mention the mistake in her duty log, so that Stuart owed her one. One wonders if this favour was as a result of Stuart witnessing a “private” exchange between Olivia and a stranger whilst on duty… Lou and Valda’s comic war still raged, and when Lou was desperate for an emergency chef at the pub, it took both Connor and Max’s efforts to make Lou grudgingly ask Valda to step in. And finally, Steph’s dreams of becoming a mum seemed to be coming true as she revealed to Max and Libby that her period was a week overdue and that she had suffered morning sickness.