Taking The Mickey

With a little over a month to THE CHANGE left, last night was a pretty big indicator of where the "family based" drama might go, with the introduction of a couple of new characters, AND THE RETURN OF ANOTHER!! The Senior Sarge is back! Yep, Steiger arrived back from the Solomons peace-keeping duty (aka time off to give the Pepper-kidnap and Sky-framed-for-murder storylines time to unravel), and he's still such a loveable oaf! Yay! Janelle, Bree and Janae were setting up a welcome home dinner for him, complete with a little model train display and inappropriate comments from Janelle about gettin some action off "The Tiger", when he walked in, and oh my goodness, the relief that this was one minor character off on a little trip who actually did return was palpable. I don't know what it is about Steiger that's turned him from such an ugly prick of a Liliana-stealing martial arts trainer back when he was introduced a few years ago, to an uptight by-the-book hardarse cop during Stu's time in the force, to the disarmingly sweet and daggy father figure we know now, but he's really become one of my favourite people on the whole street. After such a run of excellent quality minor characters in '05 and '06, namely Mishka and Loris, as well as the return of Joe Mangel, I was dreading the non-return of Steiger, maybe to pop back in ocasionally like the much-missed Ange Rebecchi, but he's back, and unless I'm very much mistaken, will be an opening credits fixture in the next makeover, when Boyd's sickening couch hug with Janae will be replaced with Ned's queasy equivalent. Much love for Steiger.



I have this very second received a g-chat from my hott gf who has revealed to me she dreamed about Steiger and Janelle last night. My relationship could not be better right now. I wish I wasn't smiling this much, it's a little bit alarming.



Anyways, Steiger's back but feeling a bit crook, and after spewing before he could eat their welcome home meal, they took him to the hospital where he was diagnosed with MALARIA. Don't get too upset though, it's only a mild case and non-contagious, so it's just a chance for Snr Sgt Allan Steiger's acting ability to shine, maybe get used in his Most Outstanding Actor Logie clip next year. Steiger's great, and anyone who doesn't think so is probably a dirty crim or perp.



But onto the new characters - the one we were expecting was Frazer's mum, Prue Brown. He's gone on about how cold his parents are, and last night we met her - his Dad couldn't come for lunch, just to prove how ultra-cold he must be. His mum's played by Penny Cook, which is a bit of a joy for people like me who loved A Country Practice in the '80s, cos she was Dr Vicky Dean, Wandin Valley vet, wife to Dr Simon Bowen, and daughter of Shirley Gilroy. It sounds like I'm a massive Oz Soap freak or soemthing, but honestly, the only 2 I've ever really watched properly have been ACP when I was in primary school, and Neighbours over the past few years. I mean, I've gone through phases of knowing the characters' names from H&A, Blue Heelers, Rafferty's Rules (that's a paricuarly good one) and Breakers, but nothing like these two. So Penny Cook's followed Matron Sloan/Valda's lead and done the double up, although this time around she looks less like the pretty strong-willed fun vet, and more like a gargoyle with a Beatles bowl cut. Crikeys, she's on the rough end of things, moreso her prim manner and curt tongue than her actual head, of course. She's wearing this lacey top and looked much more like a grandmotehr than a motherly type. And not the cuddly "Here's a dollar" chocolate-bringing grandma, more the scared-to-touch-the-bedspreads-at-her-place one. Lunch didn't go that well, she lived up to Frazer's predictions that she would act as if nothign was wrong, whether it was not acknowledging the fact he's in a wheelchair, asknig why Johnny wasn't in his bridal party, and eventually when Rosie had to bring up the dead brother, essentially said it was none of his business. Frazer was a bit rough on his mum, but you could totz see why, and even Rosie who was trying really hard admitted his mum was a bit of a hardcase. No breakthroughs as to what happened with Paul's death, but Frazer has had a flashback to that Xmas day, (he was 3) - he and Johnny were playing, his mum and dad were happy and cuddlign the baby, but then he feels that he shouldn;t think about it anymore, like this dread that he should avoid. I think we've found the issue! It was all done pretty well, and I'm glad with the "family-based" changes that the Brown/Yeates family is one that's getting some attention.

The other new characters were a bit more of a surprise, both for us and for poor ole Ned, who found out that his girlfriend he took to the Grade 10 formal and hasn't seen for years and years has a kid who's exactly years + years - 9 months old, and guess who the dad is. If you didn't guess Ned, something is wrong with you. Mickey's the kid's name, he's a cute little blondie with a smart mouth, and Bree discovered him out on the street looking inside Steiger's ute. Long story short, Ned was a bit gobsmacked to see whatsherface, although he often looks gobsmacked when he's just talking someone out of doing something stupid, or ordering a sports drink. She spun him the usual, I didn't want you to feel obliged to help me, we've done alright, but now my parents and my grandparents have all died, so I need to grieve, can you look after him, just for a coupla days? Pretty big shock, I would imagine, and now Mickey's staying in Paul & Elle's house for "a few days" with his mum's "special friend" Ned. Janae's busy denying that she likes Ned from all angles, but she was a bit shocked by it all too, as well anybody in the world would be. Ned's ex-gf is certainly a bit flimsy and flighty, and although Ned's "seen the birth certificate and the dates match up", if Kerry, Holly and Bree have taught us anything, it's that paternity of soapie babies can never be assumed, and no idea when mum'll actually be back. I was hoping this whole family focus in regards to Ned would either a)bring Stu back, which was never gonna happen, or b) force him to finally leave for the final time. This is a pretty silly introduction to the Mickey character, but at least it might give Ned a reason to be on the show other than fulfilling their post-Australian-Idol-support-program quota, and teh only other time Ned wasn't pointless was when he was doing Paul's dirty work, so it could work.

Steiger's so awesome.