Aussie Soap Round-Up (w/e 30th May 2008)

° The wheels were put in motion for Harold's departure from Neighbours and quite frankly it doesn't bear thinking about. Instead, we can focus on what the hell Toadie was reading when Harold came to see him about selling his house. Maybe Steph's hesitance to marry Toadie stemmed from a subconscious awareness that she may not be what he wants, and not the other way around...

Toadie in gay porn shocker?

° Having fled town after breaking Toadie's heart, Steph got thrown under the bus by the council and publicly blamed for the roof collapse disaster. Hah. She said herself that "ignorance is not an excuse" and she is right. It serves her right for being the worst councillor ever. The whole fact that she's a councillor is ridiculous anyway, so seeing her involved in a storyline like this feels likes eating a second helping of a meal you didn't like in the first place. Oh well. At least her trip to Shelley Bay has provided some small respite in the meantime.

° Rebecca leaked the roof collapse details to the press, Elle hung Steph out to dry in the Erinsborough News and Paul cheated on Rebecca with Kirsten: all in all, a bad week in the House of Robinson. And it's a weird situation there generally. The intent of the story is obvious enough (the devil finding work for Paul's idle hands), but the motivation behind Rebecca and Elle's shutting him out of everything is less clear.

Elsewhere in Erinsborough: Didge has been working at the veterinary clinic so long she has caught foot-in-mouth disease, calling Rachel a slag for merely tutoring Declan in math. Oh dear. Lou's having unsettling health problems. Marco and Carmella want to buy Harold's house even though they're both completely unworthy of living on such hallowed ground. Not that I'm bitter or anything.

° In Home and Away, Jack and Martha pulled the classy move of reuniting on the day of Sam's funeral. Nice. What I especially liked though was the way Alf and Tony reacted; Alf surprised but understanding, Tony shocked and appalled. I have a feeling it's a divide that exists in the show's audience too, and I'm interested in what that says about the viewer. Jack and Martha definitely have a Romeo and Juliet thing going on, so what makes more sense for the interested fan: rooting for them to get together and face inevitable tragedy or preferring they stay apart and avoid it? In such a long-term, potentially repetitive narrative, what do we want for our heroes?

° Roman's bratty daughter Nicole finally showed up in the Bay and instantly ruffled the feathers of almost everyone she met. Personally, I haven't decided how I feel about her yet. On one hand she annoys the bejesus out of me with her impossibly high self-confidence and scary forwardness, but on the other hand I do like the idea of her and Aden forming a heel tag-team to rule over Summer Bay High. Now that Aden has moved in to Roman's place I expect there'll be a fair bit of sparring between the two.


Frenemies?

° Jazz seemed to be everywhere this week, and that's a great thing. If she's around for too long she'll be homogenised into a typical Summer Bay resident, but for now it's great to have a character who has unique personal values and isn't ashamed of them. It looks like Miles is her next mission.

Elsewhere in Summer Bay: Ric convinced Mattie to come to his next fight. The Den opened and looks really rubbish. Melody finally forgave Geoff for not being madly in love with her. Morag stayed at Roman's when Martha moved out even though it makes absolutely no sense.