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Weekly Reviews > Episodes 4568-4572 by Rhys

UK Broadcast: Monday, November 29th – Friday, December 3rd 2004
Written by: Katrina Foster, Martin McKenna, Helen MacWhirter, Piet Collins, Chris Hollow
Directed by: Gary Conway, Jeffrey Walker
Episode Titles: A Family Affair, Pure Filth, Tainted Love, As You Like It, Fully Functional

Several couples’ relationships were in jeopardy this week as deceit, lack of cooperation and interference surfaced…

One of the most prominent stories of the week involved Max and Stephanie’s desire to have a child of their own. Believing that Max was dead against the idea of children full stop because of his inability to consider aided conception, Steph packed her bags and headed for her usual runaway retreat of Stanno’s house in the country. Max, however was still blinded to how his beliefs were affecting his new wife, unable to understand her strong maternal desire not quite fulfilled by having Summer and Boyd as step-children. Continuing to do what she does best, Lyn wasted no time in making her feelings known about the matter to Max, who promptly demanded that she and Jack leave No.32 immediately, despite the Scully house still being quarantined by pest controllers. Lyn fled to Susan’s in tears, leaving Max with time to think of how to sort things out with Steph. He decided to visit Stanno’s and have a heart to heart with her, with even the subject of separation arising. However, they came to a tearful, mutual agreement to give IVF a chance for one year, after which with no success they would give up.

Life in the Bishop household proved to be the most eventful this week, however, with all members seemingly involved in one drama or another. Svetlanka’s extended visit to Melbourne was still causing grief for Liljana, who refused to accept Harold’s pleas to forgive her mother. However, after an emotional discussion, they both decided to make amends. Which was just as well, as it freed up Svetlanka to focus on the new interest in her life - Harold! Far from being content with flirting with each other and enjoying intimate meals, the Serbian nymphomaniac made it quite clear she wanted more than just coffee and muffins with Harold. Having had little in the way of bedroom action since Madge’s death, he was understandably concerned that he would not be able to fulfil Svetlanka’s carnal desires to the full, so he enlisted the help of Karl to prescribe him Erinsborough’s equivalent to Viagra – ‘Function Rite’!

Sky and Lana formed a friendship this week as they both discovered they had active imaginations and worked on their ideas for a magazine strip as they served out their detention sessions after school. Leaving Erinsborough High one evening, Lana nearly walked into an oncoming car, and was pulled back in the nick of time by Sky who held her hand to stop her. It was clear by the look on Lana’s face that she took Sky’s touching to suggest that she was keener on her than she thought.

Remaining with the Bishops. Serena was still infatuated with Luka, which infuriated Stingray to the extent that he made a scene in the Coffee Shop and tried to fight his rival in love. Serena was horrified, especially when she and Luka split as a result. However, believing that she shouldn’t let him slip away, Serena made attempts to win Luka back and they kissed, sealing their love. Interestingly, although many fans know that Luka is in fact Liljana’s long lost son, thus Serena’s brother, this has not been made clear in the programme yet by anyone, other than Svetlanka’s insistence that her granddaughter stop seeing Luka. However, in true Neighbours fashion, it appears that the true identity of Luka has been clear enough from the start with many viewers commenting on Neighbours’ boldness to portray incest.

Elsewhere in Erinsborough, Toadie and Connor continued their online dating pseudonyms in a bid to dupe gullible guys. Sindi, however, was not pleased with Toadie’s total lack of devotion to her, and they split. Izzy’s scheming ways surfaced again as her paranoia that Karl and Susan were going to reconcile following their amicable private divorce settlement, that she feigned a miscarriage to try and keep Karl’s attention. Fortunately for her, the tests that followed didn’t reveal to Karl the true age of Izzy’s baby, and thus its true parentage, but it did show just to what lengths Ms Hoyland will go to get her own way. And finally, Summer tried her best to flirt with Jack and impress him, not realising the hurdles of family ties and the age gap to overcome!

Notes: The opening titles sequence was altered slightly on Thursday’s episode (‘As You Like It’) so as not to show Karl and Susan kissing anymore, following the divorce settlement. The new shot shows them a few seconds after the original kissing scene, looking longingly from the garden of No.28. The same episode featured some of the characters' names grouped in a new order in the closing credits list: Izzy now sits between Karl and Susan's names whilst Stephanie moved from the Scully family group to being with Max and the kids.