A week spent running behind, this was Wednesday night's show, and a fair few plots crammed in, from the lighthearted look at Steph's council plans, to the devastatingly dramatic baby show.
It was a big one for Ned tonight, as he came to terms with looking after a kiddly. Mickey's awful cute, and from having a dodgy mum who often leaves him in the car when she eats out or goes on dates, he's turned out pretty well behaved, but Ned was still losing his hair in gelled clumps as the kid refused to eat fuit and muesli for brekky, claiming his Mum lets him eat chocolate cereal. "Ya mum's not here" the frustrated Ned reasoned with him, so Mickey walked into the bathroom, closed the door and said "I'm never coming out". Outwitted, Ned called his brain, aka Janae, who hasn't lost her touch in lightening every scene she's in. Much <3. As she arrived at the hotel room, we briefly caught Ned sitting on the bed outside the bathroom trying to entice the fruit-hating Mickey out by singing "...they go pop pop pop/ Once you eat you can't stop stop stop/ If I had every bubble in the world...", possibly the best Oodles & Noodles throwback yet. "Would you come out if someone was singing to you through a toilet door?" she reasoned, and shot Ned the first of tonight's approx 30 "You fucking dimwit" looks. Janae instead got Ned playing cards and betting minibar items in a very loud voice, until Mickey came out to join in. Of course, N&J (I hate it that they've become an officially abbreviated couple, but they really have, even if it hasn't been confirmed by even a kiss or anything yet) still don't know how to tell Mickey that his dropkick Mum's probably not coming back for him, or rather, Janae wants to, but Ned keeps peddling the "Of course she'll be here mate, she promised, didn't she!" *you fucking dimwit* "What was I supposed to say?" *you fucking dimwit* (repeat, ad lib to fade).
Pepper and Adam are another big one tonight, as doubts are raised as to Adam's top bloke ranking. Personally (and I do consider myself an expert in this field) I would top bloke rank him below Oliver at this stage, which doesn't bode well. Oliver's pretty much the cutoff for any hope, as in he's fine, but not particularly top in any fashion, kinda the best of the worst or the worst of the best. Below him you've got, in descending order, Adam, Will, Caleb the drunk driver, Kevin Casey, Father Tom, Dr Darcy Tyler, Davo, Guy Sykes, Terrance the dead shonk, JP, Max and finally the least top bloke ever Boyd. Ned's not eligible in this ranking, more appropriately listed in the Most Annoying Pets column, between Audrey and Springsteen's nits.
Anyway, Steiger (Top 5 bloke) has a bad feeling about Adam, and after not being able to protect her against Mad Mary, is more vigilant than ever in looking after his little girl. He gives Adam the once-over, warns her that Pepp's ("Heidi actually, but she probably doesn't trust you enough to tell you things like that") had a rough trot lately, and if he has any plans to make things hard for her, he should vamoose now. Adam stands up to him politely and asks how the spewing's going. Actually, everyone's asking the malaria-carrying Steiger that at the moment, as he does his wincy glare. So Steiger's not impressed with Pepper's choice of men, and lets her know as much, including his feeling that he might have a violent past. (Not being an Aus citizen, he can't do a police check.) As a result, knowing that Pepper's inviting him over for dinner, since she popped over to the Timminses get wine glasses ("Wine glasses? Moving a bit fast aren't you?"), Steiger and Janelle undertook a stakeout at No. 30, waiting in the loungeroom in the dark, looking out the front window for Pepp & Adam, while Janae kept walking in with stakeout coffee and popcorn. Short story long, the happy daters arrived home, the idiots bundled out the back door, and Pepper, nervously, and Adam, bravado-fueled, shared their first kiss, despite Pepper's insistence that the lights be on cos she chipped a tooth on a first kiss once. (Obviously she didn't stay over Adam's place that time like I thought, unless they implemented a Pretty Woman-themed 'No Kissing' rule.) It was sweet, meaning of course that something was about to go wrong, and it did. Adam's had his hand in a bandage for the episode, and any enquiries about what happened were met with awkward "Oh, just work things, nothing interesting" dismissals. After the first snog, she asked again, he still wouldn't be any more forthcoming with details, so her father's words about a possible violent past ringing in her ears (he was possibly still outside whispering), she demanded he leave. Adam, for his part, took it pretty well, surprised but non-confrontational, and there we left poor ditzy-minded Pepper.
Drama took a backseat for a self-consciously stupid set up, the Erinsborough Beautiful Baby Show, which Janelle and Sky have been priming Kerry for , for weeks, much to Harold's could-do-it-in-his-sleep indignation. It was a light but unremarkable scene, where neither Kerry, nor the late entered by Toadie (without Steph's knowledge) Ugly Charlie, won, and in a twist, it was Harold most upset by this decision, having a go at the judges etc. Righto, a bit of a giggle at a cringey setup that would have perhaps made eyes roll on Home & Away or something else, but there were a few little details that made the scene 50 times better than it had a right to be:
*Toadie being, with Steph, dead against baby contests, until Janelle raised the age-old Timmins-Rebecchi rivalry.
*Janelle & Toadie unconsciously holding hands in support as the winner was about to be announced.
*Harold's outrage that the winner was unworthy. "She was sucking on her foot!"
*The compere for the competition was the long-missed GINO! Owner of Gino's Hair Salon, previous employer of Janelle and Lyn, director of many amateur theatre productions and singing contests, Gino is the campest man in Erinsborough, and apparently also the one with the most extra-curricular endeavours. He was wearing a full tuxedo, typically shit, and I was so happy to see him again. Recurring characters are excellent.
The reason Toad had Charlie with him in the first place was because Steph had an appt of some sort. We found out later it was a photo shoot, her first proactive step in running for council. She's such a nong. She had a professional photo blockmounted of her leaning against a big chopper hog motorbike thing, red lipstick, leather jacket and hair billowing. She looked like a bogan tart, and a really unattractive one at that. After revealing her campaign plan (having a sexy bike photo --> stickin' it to the chumps in council) to Toadie, he's slapped his forehead and told her that people don't want sexy biker mums in council, they want people who can do budgets and plan things... "They want NERDS Steph!" Steph's such a drip, seriously. Anyways, Toad has now become his lady's campaign manager (there goes the possible Lou salvation :( ), and she has to do what he tells her, on the condition that she doesn't pretend to be anything she's not. VOTE 1 STEPH, SHE'S HOPELESS seems to be his only option under those conditions, but looking forward to some zany underhanded scheming in the future.
After all that, there was still plenty of room to devote to the Robinson family, the ongoing feeling-out-the-relationships between Paul, Elle and Gail. Tues night's ep finished with a Paul-Gail pash, but tonight she's pushed him away, cos it's just not on. Gail's torn, cos she still loves the Paul she fell in love with 20 years ago, but not eh Paul he became, but now he's kinda back to that Paul, but for how long, and can she waste her life with him again, and... she's a bit confused. Paul, still manipulative even when he's nice, plans a family picnic for the 3 of them, and as they sit on rugs and throw bread to ducks, it's perfect. Like, really perfect. Elle uses the word 'fantasy', and that's what trigger's Gail to leave. Later on, she tells Paul it was perfect, but it's not real, and she can't stay around again, so Elle drives her to the airport, and Paul cries. The plot wraps up pretty simply here, but there was a lot of sweet and heartfelt talking between Paul and Gail about their history, how their relationship went wrong ("You let me and Izzy walk in on you with another woman!") and how they relate now. Good plot, and I hope Gail comes back. Maybe Gino could even give her another do.
Finally, I'm backtracking a bit to Mickey's plight, because against what everyone thought, his Mum did come back after all, carrying a box of chocolate cereal and everything! You were wrong to misjudge her, weren't you, poor Kirsten. She came back to the hotel earlier than she promised, grabbed Mickey and Jake, and took them down the park for a play. All sorted, Ned doesn't have any family here at all, looks like he can leave the show again. Now let's go down to the General Store for milkshakes... wait, Kirsten... Whaaaat are you doing here? "Oh Ned, what are you doing here?" *awkward* "Ok, look, I've left Mickey sleeping in your hotel room, and there's a letter at reception explaining everything. I've had him for 8 years, now it's your turn. SWOOOOOSH, I'm outta here kthxbye." *you fucking dimwit*
Friday, 29 June 2007
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