Do The Fight Thing

I got behind in my Neighbours blogging over the weekend, a disgrace of a situation, so this here's a quick catchup on what happened on the first night back this week.

Previously on Neighbours... we'd just left Paul telling Gail how he doesn't think much of Elle in the middle of his welcome home party, and his daughter was listening from behind a counter. Oh noes! What will happen to this fragile father-daughter relationship?

Well, it went to shit, that's what. Elle was found listening when Sky walked in from the backyard party to ask for napkins to wipe up Kerry's puke (would have been funnier if it was Toadie's), which ironically caused a bigger mess as the shit hit the fan. Paul was fairly unapologetic, going on about how Elle had done nothing but lie to him since he came forward in time, Gail tried to do teh Mum in the middle thing, and Elle cracked it bad, ordering him to get out of her house. It was during this tirade that the rest of the party came back inside cos they were out of snags and witnessed the rest of it. Elle ended up storming out, Paul tried to get everyone to stay (everyone being Toad, Steph, Sky, Boyd & the babies - S&K, L&H, Janelle & Steiger all seem to have jumped the back fence), Toadie made some funny smirk faces, and they all left. No, first Paul called Boyd teh Dad of Kerry, they told him it was Dylan, and he responded "Elle's ex? Nice to know we're not the only messed up family in the street", then they left. It was all a bit awkward, because I'm not sure if Boyd and Paul have ever shared a non-family-revenge scene before. I wish teh skegly Fox was there to break teh tension. :( Anyways, everyone left, Gail then laid into Paul, "You're living proof of nature over nurture, putting your little girl last again" etc etc etc. God Gail's hair's bad. She looked pretty great when she came back for the fake trap-for-evil-son wedding, but now... A bit on the mutton-lamb side of things maybe.

Move to out on the street, and Rachel's trying to get Ringo to hold his tongue and say "I was born on a pirate ship". I did it and made a very naughty face when I realised what I'd just said. Rachel & Ringo are still having problems, stemming from the facts that Rachel really is a control freak who's gotten more sharp as time goes on, and Ringo is a bit of a chump, thinking far too much of his role in Carmella's life. They had a Carmella-based fight as Rachel told him to back off a bit, and she has other friends, but Ringo's gonna do whatever it takes to help his pal. Oliver also toppled things a bit when he flaired up at Ringo post-breakup and accused him of having a crush on "a grownup and you're just a little boy." Ooooh! Later on, Rachel caught up with Carmella at the hospital (I think she was there getting help for her pissweak pill addiction - she's taken 2 since stopping.) and had a really nice and mature talk about Ringo - she knows Carmella doesn't mean anything by it, but can she back off Ringo for a bit, not a threat, just a woman-to-woman request. Rachel has always been at leat a decade more mature than Carmella anyway, but this was a really nice moment of mutual understanding between them, and gave me back some further hope that Rachel is being groomed as Jnr Suse in years to come - rational, reasoned, compassionate and allround fkn tops.

Back at the Scarlet Bar there's a bit of action, as Steph continues shouting from about a week ago when they started the almost-forgotten Steph's Gonna Run For Council story. THE FKN COUNCIL SAYS ME FKN SIGN'S TOO FKN BRIGHT - PITY THEY AREN'T HEY! she roars, and Sky backs her in her council-running plans. "Yeah, a biker chick and a working mum, who wouldn't vote for you" Sky weighs in, showing her indepth understanding of the political constituency. Toad and Boyd are against it, Toadie for real reasons, and Boyd cos he's just a stupid fuckwit and hates anything his Dad didn't think of first. Then there's the discovery that despite council ruling against it, someone *everyone looks at Sky* has started a graffiti-style mural for STING-RAY on the wall outside. It's got a movie reel, and a skateboard, and like, looks like graffiti but isn't! But really is. Ooh, time for defiance! Let's leave it up there! In fact, tell your BFF Caleb, the Stinger-heart-drink-driver dude he can finish it! Steph's a bit of an idiot, but she's enthusiastic about it. No more plans on her campaign though, which is disappointing. Can't wait.

Oh, I almost forgot, Oliver had part of the show, which could have been interesting, but wasn't. He had that crack at Ringo, drove to Lassiters and chucked a wobbly in one of the rooms - Elle was called by staff, she called security, and opened the door to find poor ole distraught Ollie standing there, so they had a lovely arvo being sympathetic shoulders to each other. Just like the mud fight they had up at the cabin a few months ago when they first had feelnig for each other, last night there was a tiny mousse fight, a coupla cushions throws, and then a pash. Sweet. I'm pretty indifferent to Oliver, and Carmella not awful, just dull, but Elle's clearly a much better catch on pretty much every level, so good on him. I can't remember how that ended - them just pashing, or talking about it after, or deciding something wasn't a good idea so they better keep something quiet or wait or go ahead with it, I just dunno. The whole Carmella-Oliver-Elle storyline has been really drawn out and pretty boring, so I hope this new pairing up gives us something worth remembering.

Final bit of the show was a throwback to the Carmella-Ringo-Rachel thing, with Carmella taking Rach's advice and out on the street telling Ringo that they should keep their distance for a bit. Admittedly, she did go a little overboard, as she not only said she'd be talking to other friends from now on, and stopped teaching him how to drive, but also fired him from the organic fruit delivery business. Honestly, that does seem like unfair dismissal to me, but I guess she's a small business with less than 100 employees, so she can do whatever the frick she wants. Good subtle anti-Howard messages there, Neighbours writers. I'm with you, let's bring the system down. Ringo, poor fella, actually felt a bit let down with this, so grabbed Carmella's keys, stole the fruit-ute and went screaming off outta the cul de sac, an emotionally torn and heartbroken 17year old on his Ls. Didn't have to wait for the Tomorrow On Neighbours ad to guess that drive wasn't going to end well.

If Bree doesn't get a plot soon I'm going to frown.