Stepping Up To The Fate (Wed, Jul 4 '07)

G'day. No time to lose, cos Mickey's floating in the pool face down and electrified, and Frazer's just stuck staring at the water... WHA' HAPPENED? Ok ok ok ok ok ok, I'll tell you then. First of all, when Rosie flicked the power box, it turned the power off, meaning Mickey was only floating in zapwater for a second, and now is just in normal water. So Frazer's staring, then snaps into gear, yells for MICKEY! MICKEY! and that doesn';t work so he's all ROSIE!!! who's not in the house cos she's out in the driveway looking at a special wedding car that Pepper's got to show her although you'd have to look past Pepper's legs to see it, cos seriously she was wearing what looked like a t-shirt with a belt and boots. Fucking gross. Frazer realises nobody's coming, so, and this was really rad, he kinda took a runup at the side of the pool in his wheelchair, and toppled straight in headfirst, chair and all. I don't care if irl Frazer's legs work or not, that would be pretty scary doing that I think. He's all just WHEEL WHEEL WHEEL WHOOOOOAOAOA SPLASH!!! Then some nifty underwater camera work, and it's a pretty big struggle, and he's got Mickey's face above water, but he's struggling to do the same for himself, and when they come up they're under a Lilo lounge, but eventually he makes his way to the side fo teh pool and starts on the mouth to mouth. Rosie comes down the backstairs absent-mindedly talking about wedding cars, and Frazer yells at her to get an ambulance, and we cut to Ned & Janae at the garage.

These guys are so damn couply. He's training her as she puts her sports bra to the ultimate test, doing a boobs-close-to-camera skipping routine, and for someone pretty well-breasted, they don't move much more than she does. Good sports bra. It's just yada talk, mainly about the fact Ned's still hopeless & hasn't worked out how to tell Mickey he's his Dad, while Janae's got the decent advice: "4 words. I am your dad." They leave the garage for a jog home, leaving some random dude working on a car in the background, although I wasn't aware there were other workers other than Janae and the long-missing Chris Steiger, so hope to learn more there. Obviously they get home just in time for the ambo, and both here and at the hospital when they arrive, Ned reverts really quickly into the blaming parent role. "Frazer was supposed to be looking after him!" "Where's his mum?" I don't have kids (and if my Grade 10 formal root turns up with a surprise kid I sired that night, my Mickey will be 15 by now, and also have my right hand as his mum, so I doubt it strongly) but I hope if/when I do I don't lose my power of apportioning blame like so many parents do. "Why did the guy who warned him not to do the dangerous thing and then saved his life let this happen?" I hope to be able to maintain the concepts of accidents and self-blame, but the overwhelming desire to be an obnoxious parent takes over Ned, but everyone's too busy hero-worshipping Frazer to notice, and rightly so.

He's trying to work out how he did it, and he has a flashback to the pool, and thinks he can remember pushing up from the bottom of the pool with his leg. Or did he? He's not so sure, but at this stage he's in the loungeroom in his dried chair and looks down to his feet, and... he can wiggle a coupla toes. For someone who wears crips suits most of the time, it's a convenient time for him to be wearing thongs. Frazer gets a look on his face, kinda like HOLY SMOKES and kinda like DON'T GET TOO EXCITED YET, and doesn't mention anything to Rosie. He does, however, tell her that he was thinking of his Mum and Paul when he was looking at Mickey, and he can't be responsible for another drowned kid, and Rosie hugged him and said "Oh, your dead brother" to fill in the gaps for anyone who hasn't been reading this blog. Two things here to save time, cos they were spaced out a bit - 1) over the course of the episode, Frazer does the whole "I think my legs are kinda working again" look a few times, and it's a sweet little-kid-with-big-eyes type thing, but he doesn't disclose to anyone what he's thinking. In fact, in a scene later on when they're at (**BLOG SPOILER**) the grand reopening of the new no-longer-Scarlet Bar, Toadie spills a tray of hot snacks over his legs, and Frazer jokes that it's not like he could feel it anyway, although his "Mmmmmft" face said different. And 2) Mickey's fine.

Everyone in Erinsborough must have heard about Mickey, although Susan and Janae are the only ones who know why Ned's even got the kid. Toadie assumes it's his nephew or something (also Stu's nephew then, silly?) and Karl goes on a bit of a "Where's his parents, the poor kid's in hospital" til Susan shushes him with a couple of her "Not now Karl"s. But Mickey's fine, sitting up, calling for his Mum, and then being generally pretty happy with Ned instead. It's all computer games and hangin out having fun until closing time when the nurse says they gotta vamoose. "Immediate family only" "But he's got noone else..." *You fucking dimwit* "Immediate family only." "Just a little longer?" *You fucking dimwit* "Look I don't make the rules. No touching!" *you fucking fucking fucking dimwit* "...I'm his Dad." The nurse is easily convinced, Toad & Steph who are there do a coupla OMGs (and Toadie makes THE most stupid face, like a sneaky eyes, then a O rly? and it's fantastic) and it takes a bit longer for Mickey, but he's pretty happy with the outcome, so that's all cool. Can't remember if this went any further than the usual "How come you weren't there when I was a kid?" shit, so onto the next plot thanks.

That'd be the relaunch of the Scarlet Bar then. Steph and Toad spend the arvo getting it ready, and there's shit a shitload of work going on, but by the evening everything scrubbed up fine, although nobody except Steph know what it's gonna be called. It's got a brown look to it, maybe a bit like the inside of a log cabin, and it's pretty swish, with the only real cosmetic part left over from the old bar being the SEGA motorbike game. They mention this a few times tonight, including still wondering who the top scoring THORN is, so that marathon-length plot hasn't been forgotten, just stretched out to 10x its recommended stretching point. I must admit though, the intrigue is building. Who could it be? Why is it taking so long to find out? WHO IS IT?? Anyways, Steph's all nervous nelly about the reopening, and there's a bit of talk with Toadie about her image for politics, but not much, and a lot of the folks are there for the big do. It's pretty much people chatting, and I'm streaming past all this now cos it's almost time to go home, but it's just people milling around, eating eats, drinking drinks, and then Steph makes a speech thanking everyone. "I hope this place becomes the third place in your life, like home, and work, and here, where you can come for a drink or a chat or even just to read a book." Sounds like the Alibi Room kinda did before you had to fight Andrew G for a chair. And with that, she unveils teh new name for the place: CHARLIE'S. Righto. Not a lot of thought put in there, but that's it. k. Everyting went well and everyone had a lovely time.

Except Adam. He was gonna be there at the opening, but instead pulled the world's most obvious u-turn. Steph: "You gonna be here tonight Adam?" "Wouldn't miss it for the world." "Oh good, you can get to know my Dad better", says Pepp. "Ooh, I just remembered, right now, that I've got a physio appt tonight. My shoulder's been killing me. For a coupla days. Byes!" Hmmm, thinks Pepp, so durnig the unveiling she hightails it to Adam's place where she was right to suspect he didn't have a suddenly days-old shoulder injury. As she knocks on the door, he's sitting on the couch staring at a photo of a bit of a hottie, which he puts away. She gives him the "For someone who's so against lying you do a lot of it" offence, and he admits that he didn't want to go when he heard about her Dad being there (even though he wasn't) but it's not what she thinks. Something to do with the photo girl he's eyeing off probably, but who is she? What does he mean? Is he telling the truth? So many questions. I think it's time to go home, find out some answers. Bye.