Luka’s two-faced personality became more obvious to Serena this week, and she was concerned that things would get out of hand. When David’s suitcase was finally tracked down, badly burnt, and returned by the police, Serena realised immediately what had happened. She confronted a defiant Luka about his actions, but he was convinced that Liljana would never believe that her precious son was capable of something like this. Desperate for someone to believe her, Serena turned to Stuart, who had found the case, but he warned her that without any proof, it would just look like she was jealous of her new brother. In the end, she was forced to turn to the one person she least wanted to speak to – her grandmother, Svetlanka. Serena finally heard the truth about Luka’s previous fire-starting efforts. It emerged that he’d been obsessed with a teacher at school and had set fire to her bag, causing the whole school to burn down and Svetlanka to provide him with a false alibi. Luka was completely thrown when Serena confronted him with the truth and he admitted everything to her. He admitted that he’d been angry with David for lying about Ivan, but Serena was forced to tell Luka that Ivan wasn’t a good man at all. She convinced him to return to his family in Perth and get some psychiatric help before he did any more damage. Luka finally realised that he had a problem and announced that he would be returning home, much to Liljana’s surprise. She assured Luka that he would always be welcome and, despite the unusual circumstances, she truly loved him as her son. The following morning, Luka left to go back to Perth. His sudden departure left Liljana devastated and David seemed unable to say the right thing to comfort her, leaving her wondering whether David was actually glad to see the back of Luka. This has been a great storyline for the Bishop family, showing the impact of Luka’s arrival from every point-of-view. However, it was only a matter of time before a character like Luka, with so many problems, would crack and it’ll be nice to see the Bishops in some other storylines. Of course, with such strong ties to the street, there’s always the possibility that we’ll see Luka Dokich again in the future…

Serena had other problems to deal with, in addition to Luka, this week. As Boyd continued to try and prove that he could cope without Sky, she was determined to win him back. When she found a book in the Coffee Shop and traced it back to bookcrossing.com, a website which encouraged people to ‘release’ books after reading them, then trace their progress online, she had an idea to win back Boyd. With Lana, she created a special issue of Freak Girl and The Enigma and ‘released’ it into the Hoylands’ mailbox. Although Boyd found it, it ended up causing more harm than good, as it left him distracted during an important exam and he threw it in the bin. Someone else picked it up and reported their finding online, leaving Sky devastated that Boyd had ignored her gesture like that. Things took an interesting twist, however, when Serena went to speak to Boyd and, by the end of the conversation, he was telling her that he hoped his next girlfriend would be more like her and less like Sky. Rather than being disturbed by her cousin’s ex-boyfriend flirting with her, Serena was left feeling quite flattered by his attention…

The week got off to a terrible start for Sindi, who was under the impression that Toadie was whisking her off on a romantic weekend away in order to propose. As it became more and more obvious to her that she wasn’t about to receive a romantic proposal, she asked Toadie what was going on. His reply left her stunned; he announced that they should break up. A devastated Sindi went to number 30 the next day to take back a box of Toadie’s belongings. She found a shoulder to cry on in the form of Stuart, and it soon became obvious that there were strong feelings between the pair. At the end of the week, all three members of the love triangle found themselves in the bank when an armed robber stormed in. Stuart was desperate to keep his identity as a police officer to himself, while the robber panicked when he saw police cars pull up outside, and he grabbed Sindi. Toadie ended up with a bloody nose as he attempted to help Sindi and it became clear that the situation wouldn’t be resolved quickly. Apart from anything else, it was great to see the show remember the Pacific Bank, which has been the local branch since the very first episode of the show.

Connor found himself fighting for the right to see his daughter this week. As he and Carmella went to pick her up for a visit, they were greeted by Lori’s rude new boyfriend, Nick, who insisted that Maddy stay with him and Lori, as they were having a party with family. Connor reluctantly agreed, until Carmella convinced him to fight for his rights. They returned to the house, where things got out of hand and the police were called. Nick then paid Connor at visit at number 30 and provoked him to the point where a fight broke out. It was left to Lori to come and try to sort things out, but she only brought more bad news; she and Nick were moving to Adelaide the following week, so the visits would be a lot less frequent. A distraught Connor visited Toadie for some legal advice, and discovered that, as he and Lori had no formal visitation agreement, if he had Maddy, Lori wouldn’t be able to just take her away. When Lori returned later that day to drop Maddy off for a few days, it seemed that Connor wasn’t going to give her back in a hurry.

Gino Esposito was once again making his presence felt, as he opened a tango school in Erinsborough. Unfortunately, he was left with no bookings on his opening night and managed to convince Lil and Lyn to attend, by giving them free tickets. Lyn ended up taking a reluctant Max as her partner, whilst Lil conned Harold into going, fully aware that David’s dance skills left a lot to be desired. By the end of their first evening together, it was looking like Max wasn’t exactly cut out for the dance floor, while Lil and Harold were having all the praise heaped upon them. Max’s competitive side began to show when, after some ribbing from Lou, he announced that he wasn’t about to be beaten and challenged Lil and Harold to a dancing contest. Amidst all of the love triangles and bank hold-ups, this was a nice gentle comedy storyline, which Neighbours always manages to pull off.

Karl was back in Ramsay Street after his brief trip to Queensland to see Billy and Anne and Izzy surprised everyone, not least herself, when she was honest with him about what had happened during his absence. She explained that she’d broken down, gone out clubbing and ended up kissing Jack. She assured Karl that it wouldn’t happen again and admitted that she was shocked to have felt so guilty, having never really felt the emotion in the past. With everything out in the open, Izzy felt quite liberated and, when she heard that a group of local women were planning a clothes swapping party, she offered to hold it at her and Karl’s flat. Although they were uncertain about it, they all decided to give Izzy a chance, especially in light of recent events, and started to make an effort. By the end of the party, Izzy had managed to bond with Liljana over their shared horror towards Janelle Timmins. Although Izzy felt that she’d finally found some good female friends, back at number 28, Lil told Steph that there was no way she and Izzy would ever be mates. Meanwhile, with no baby between them, Karl and Izzy were struggling to get back to normal. She suggested a night of dancing and Karl reluctantly went along. But afterwards, he started to wonder whether he was too old to be dating such a young woman, and whether people were laughing about him behind his back.

Having been asked by his mother, Janelle, to return to Colac and help her to look after the younger kids, Stingray came to a decision this week. Unfortunately, it seemed to rip apart the relationships he’d spent months forming with Susan and Sindi. He announced that he would be going back to Colac at the end of the year, once the school year had finished. Sindi was horrified, accusing Janelle of being a bad mother, but it seemed that Mrs Timmins wasn’t exactly bothered what “Chicken Lips” thought about her. And, as if to cement his new role as the Ramsay Street clown, Max found himself being bitten on the bum by a wasp at the end of the week. As word spread around to various residents, he suddenly found himself becoming the butt of everyone’s jokes. Arf.