It’s been a while since we’ve visited with our friends on Ramsey Street — two years in the series’ timeline and about a year in reality.
Although some new people are moving into the street, the fundamentals remain the same. Neighbours during the week of 9-18-23 offered the relationship drama, secrets, and questionable behavior that we love, starting with a shocking wedding twist: Terese marrying Toadie!
Although there had been some online rumors, almost no one believed the series would do such a thing, and the revival’s premiere carefully built up false clues to throw viewers off until the big reveal.
In retrospect, we were obviously leading up to a surprise twist. All Neighbours spoilers before the premiere promised a wedding but declined to tell us who was getting married.
My only two guesses were Terese and Paul or Paul and Jane, the latter of which I assumed was a surprise that would help explain Mike’s (Guy Pearce’s) absence.
And with Lucy helping Paul get ready and asking if he was sure about this, along with a flashback of Toadie and Melanie that appeared to be happening in real time, the possibility of Terese marrying Toadie never crossed my mind.
Toadie: What do you get for the couple that has everything?Melanie: What do you get for a groom who’s been married six times?
A+ for the shock value, but the jury’s still out on this couple.
The evolution of this seemingly bizarre relationship was all off-screen; hopefully, we’ll have some flashbacks in the coming weeks to explain this more. The in-dialogue explanations about Paul stupidly leaving Terese at the altar and Melanie deciding she couldn’t be a stepmum to Toadie’s kids weren’t nearly enough.
With Toadie and Tere’s rocky start during their honeymoon, who else is taking bets on how long these two will last?
No one invited their secret lover like Days of Our Lives recently did with a newly married couple, but Terese’s work proposal might as well have been a third party infringing on their time together.
Terese seemed far more interested in work than in Toadie. Her alcoholism might have turned into workaholism, but it’s still not a good sign when you’d rather bury your nose in work than spend time alone with your new husband on a gorgeous beach.
And chances are that those papers will get blown away, land in the ocean, or get buried in sand, leading to an epic crisis before the couple even makes it past their first full day of married life.
Melanie is reportedly still a part of the canvas, so will she pop up to make trouble? Or will Terese’s obsession with work be enough of a problem to severely test the newlyweds’ commitment to each other?
The wedding and its aftermath also introduced us to a newly aged Nell. I will forever miss Scarlett Anderson, but the casting of Ayisha Salem-Towner is perfect. She looks exactly how I pictured Nell as a teenager, and the acting is good.
I’m curious as to what Nell’s personality will be like. Little Nell was cute and sweet, though she occasionally acted out after Sonya’s death. Now that Nell’s father has been married to two women who aren’t Sonya, how is Nell adjusting?
Will she stay a sweetheart, or will she become a troubled teen? She could go either way after losing her mother so young and experiencing instability in her home life.
Her comments at the wedding suggested that she might have gone through a rebellious phase or even driven Melanie off. Teenagers who hate their new stepparents are a soap opera trope, but Nell’s known Terese her entire life — will that make a difference?
I’d also love to know why Paul left Terese at the altar. They had reconciled by the original series finale, and the split didn’t have a clear explanation.
Also, could everyone shut up about how hard it must have been for Paul to attend the wedding? There was no need to rub it in or to act like he was about to fall apart.
Paul has more significant problems now that Reece Sinclair is in town.
Paul: She [Reece] checked into the hotel three and a half weeks ago and she’s used every single facility, some on multiple occasions.Lucy: Why would she not make her presence known?Paul: Come on, Lucy, why do you think? Because she is a spy.
I wasn’t a fan of Reece and Byron sleeping together. Why do people on soap operas always have sex and THEN become curious about their partner’s secret life?
But Reece, as a wealthy business owner’s daughter turned corporate spy, is another story. I don’t think she can push Paul around too much without him getting fed up and pushing back. And when he does, that’ll make for good, soapy drama.
No one fights dirty like Paul, and Reece is equally determined to be a vocal partner rather than a silent one.
And thank goodness she fired Holly.
I don’t know when Paul started doing favors for friends (or when he became friends with Karl, for that matter!), but he needs to cut it out. Holly had more than enough second chances and was ruining Lassiter’s reputation for excellent service.
For some reason, Paul didn’t do anything about Holly’s constant lateness, lousy attitude, and inappropriate behavior except give her half-hearted lectures about paying attention to her work.
At the very least, he could have let Lucy do the dirty work if he was afraid of stepping on toes. Neither she nor Paul has ever been afraid to burn bridges before.
Holly was a troubled teenager and has grown into a young adult who takes no responsibility for her actions. I wish Susan and Karl’s conflict had been about that instead of this jewelry storyline.
The writers are gearing up for a mental health storyline involving Susan’s shopping addiction. Neighbours often does a great job with these types of stories, so this will probably be a strong story once it gets going.
But so far, this feels somewhat anticlimactic.
It’s not as bad as the silly durian fruit incident. Susan spending crazy amounts of jewelry and hiding her shopping habits from Karl is a serious issue that deserves proper treatment,
But after all the buildup, it felt like a letdown. There are deeper problems for this couple. Susan doesn’t know what to do with herself after her forced retirement from the high school and is resentful of Karl’s screw-up with the Montana investment.
But from Susan’s strange behavior when Jane mentioned her bracelet and the buildup of this secret, I expected something more significant than a box of jewelry Karl didn’t know about, even if $20,000 is a substantial amount to be spending.
Susan: I bought a few pieces of jewelry without telling you, and that’s that.Karl: I don’t understand why you would keep it a secret.Susan: It was just easier.Karl: Easier than what?Susan: Telling you that I bought myself these pieces of jewelry when things are tight.Karl: Susan, you got a payout. Things aren’t tight.Susan: We’re not back where we were.Karl: You mean since I lost all that money with Montana. Susan, that was two years ago! I made a bad investment and I’ve been apologizing for it ever since.Susan: I’ve spent over $20,000! see, you’re horrified.Karl: I just think that’s an awful lot of money to spend on something so…Susan: So what? So frivolous? I don’t feel that way. I’ve worked hard all my life. I think I deserve some nice things from time to time, don’t I?
On the other hand, the Harold Bishop story is bound to be emotional. So far, Harold’s had a few memory lapses that could easily be attributed to age-related decline, though forgetting he had a wedding to attend was a bit odd.
Harold is not only an iconic character but is endearing, wandering around with his history scrapbook and always happy to tell a story from the past. If this is the beginning of a dementia storyline, it will be as heartbreaking as when they did this to Rebecca on This Is Us!
Harold’s history scrapbook was also a convenient plot device for giving new viewers some of the backstory of Ramsey Street. It also paves the way for JJ’s secret since he keeps looking longingly at the photos in it.
The Varga-West family is full of secrets. Cara and Remi have been doing that annoying thing where they discuss a secret the audience isn’t privy to. There are reasons Remi decided to move to Erinsborough, and I want to know what they are!
I love the idea of an interracial, same-sex couple, too. Neighbours is forever adding to the diversity on Ramsey Street, which is a beautiful thing to behold.
But I want to know what Remi has to say to the kids and why JJ is so fascinated with that scrapbook.
Also, whether or not they manage to build that house, I have no doubt they’re staying in Erinsborough. It would be pointless for them to move out as quickly as they moved in!
We finally got an answer to how Neighbours will handle Guy Pearce’s temporary availability. Jane went to London to visit him, so one of two things will happen: she’ll decide to stay there, or they’ll break up, and she’ll come home alone and devastated.
It would suck if Jane and Mike were quickly torn apart after they finally got together at the original series’ end. But if Annie Jones is staying on Neighbours and Guy Pearce isn’t, there isn’t any other solution.
The only other thing they could do is have one-sided phone calls while Mike is away, and if that goes on for too long, it won’t feel realistic.
Finally, does Mackenzie have a new boyfriend? Or will she soon?
If she does, hopefully, it’s because she wants to and not because Sadie wore her down. That unauthorized matchmaking was irritating.
Your turn, Neighbours fanatics. What did you think of the first week of new episodes?
Hit the big, blue SHOW COMMENTS button and let us know. And check back for the latest Neighbour spoiler post soon!
Neighbours airs on Amazon Freevee in the US and UK and Amazon Prime in Canada after being broadcast on Australia’s Channel 10. New episodes drop on Mondays through Thursday mornings at 2/1c.
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Jack Ori is a senior staff writer for TV Fanatic. His debut young adult novel, Reinventing Hannah, is available on Amazon. Follow him on Twitter.
