#790
Glen is essentially young David, isn’t he? I can’t believe it didn’t jump out at me until their first shared screen time. They make a nice team.
When I watched these episodes back in the Eighties, I remember being surprised at David’s pronunciation of “gist” (#784) with a hard “g”, as in “give”. At the time I thought it was an error on the part of Tom Richards, but I’ve heard it pronounced this way in a couple of Australian series since.
I hadn’t realised that both Dennis Harpers appeared on S&D. While Luke Carlyle was busy playing Dennis in the
Return To Eden series, the earlier mini-series mini-Dennis arrived for a job in David’s market garden, kidnapped Debbie, ran riot in David’s nitroglycerine-loaded tanker and was duly carted away. All in the space of two half episodes. Jayson Duncan has certainly grown a lot in the three years since the
RTE mini-series. In fact he makes the Peter Cousens Dennis seem less SORASed.
The Dennis Harper kidnap looks thrilling on paper, but it just wasn't. It was, though, at least an
attempt to be in the vein of classic S&D melodrama. A stalky man attempting to rape Debbie is another one which has "dramatic potential" written all over it, but even before the first episode had ended, I found myself pondering the pointlessness of it. And, perhaps harshly, the pointlessness of Debbie. Craig was a reasonably interesting character on his first arrival. There were shades of Paul Shepherd to him in the intensity and obliqueness and the way he freaked characters out. It was promising. But since Debbie's arrival he's been handed almost exclusively disposable
Neighbours type B-stories. Most of which seem to be a moveable feast because there are no consequences or real developments to character or plot once they end.
In one such example, Debbie put her friendship ring onto the counter while baking biscuits with Doug, Caroline and Craig (this scenario alone makes The Terrace seem like Season Three of
Melrose Place). The ring was baked into a biscuit and thought lost forever. Craig got a metal detector and saved the day. All of this happened in a single episode, resetting everything and highlighting just how inconsequential it was. More fool the person who tries to operate heavy machinery after watching Debbie and Craig.
And then there’s any scene featuring Owen Brooke. The male version of Janice thing might be good for a cheap one-off gag, but there is just no more mileage beyond that.
There’s also silliness that would have been unthinkable a couple of years earlier, perhaps encapsulated by the dressup sessions. There’s no way the Patricia of Season One would have dressed up as a bimbo and done a Charlie imitation while sitting on Wayne’s knee and looking at it with direct comparison does evoke images of shark-jumping. But I can suspend my disbelief if it entertains, and on this level it works. Likewise, I didn’t think I
needed to see Beryl and Charlie teaming up to covertly enter Dural in a quest for evidence against Wayne. But one look at Charlie dressed as the Milk Tray man convinced me I did.
Most of Caroline and Doug’s scenes have been leaving me cold, but there was a sweet scene between them where they moved into the mansion’s reception room accompanied by twinkly music. Perhaps it’s something about the space. It’s incredibly atmospheric - like something from a 1970s British kids TV series - and was previously used in another beautiful scene in which May lost herself in memories of past dances until reality hit and she realised she was old, poor and lonely. May is turning out to be a gem: part Mummy from
Number 96, part Edith from
‘Allo ‘Allo and part tragic older woman from
Play For Today.
Musical homes continue. A first time viewer could make a game of it by trying to guess which character belongs where. Which is easier than it sounds, because many of the current combinations are quite incongruous. Pre-mansion, Doug moved into Beryl’s where he spent half his time wearing a pinny and baking biscuits while Caroline was living at David’s country house. Now they've both moved again - Doug to the States and Caroline to Her Majesty's. Beryl and David are both in Sydney, but not together. I’ve lost track of where David is, but Beryl is sharing Charlie’s house with Alison(!!) while Charlie flitted down to briefly stay with Caroline at David’s. Glen, too, was at Beryl’s for a while, as well as starting to buy Charlie’s Hawkesbury retreat (which seemed very familiar - right down to the two gorgeous mid-century orange armchairs. I'm sure it was used as a different interior just a few episodes before). But now he’s back in Sydney. Previous hardcore Melburnian Susan is happily settled in with Wayne. And so, it seems, has Andy. This was after leaving Sunbury in a huff and then being thrown out of the mansion by Fiona. Twice.
Strangest of all, Gordon has got himself a pied-à-terre, moving into a rented room at Seabreeze Towers. And the retirement home vibe ties in nicely with my current rewatch of
Waiting For God. Gordon leaving Dural is akin to Miss Ellie leaving Southfork for a downtown apartment because she likes the idea of watering a window box. This setup has entered a life force draining stretch now that Gordon is mixing with the proletariat in the form of a cleaner who moans about money all day long and her daughter, played by one of those child actors whose acting range is limited to school nativity levels. All the same, it’s refreshing to see Gordon in a more relaxed environment. He somehow seems freer and happier with the simplicity of it, dressing down and enjoying the company of Rags the dog. In a nice touch, Gordon placed the framed picture of Woombai - a present from Barbara - on a shelf when unpacking.
Barbara herself was permanently dispensed with in the course of a scene. She sent a letter from overseas telling Gordon she’d bumped into Roland and they’d become a couple again. It’s a solution that rings true up to a point. After all, we’ve seen Barbara agonise over choosing between Gordon and Roland. But then she did choose Gordon in the end. And with good reason. To wrap things up this way in absentia seems somehow unfair to actors and audience.
Another character from the series’ earliest days - the first episode, in fact - has been permanently removed from the landscape, despite not appearing onscreen for over four years. Bill Todd was killed in a prison brawl with a makeshift weapon. A sad ending for a character who was a compelling part of the series at the beginning. Before there was Terry or Leigh, Bill made a terrible mistake with consequences for numerous characters. And there was a fragility and even a kind of nobility to him in his final episodes. The best part of this latest development was the opportunity for a little nostalgic reflection on the series’ seminal storylines. Beryl to Alison:
Strange how people you don’t know can affect your lives, isn’t it? You and Bill, you never met but he had a huge effect on your life. If he hadn’t killed Sam Selmer, John would never have gone on the run and you’d have never met. In fact Bill turned all our lives upside down. Not that I have any regrets about it though. Does that surprise you? I feel it all helped me to grow. I’m a different person to what I was four years ago. Stronger, I think.
There’s something a little indulgent and almost fourth wall breaking about Beryl discussing the importance of the opening episode. But I’m very grateful that the series took a moment to get back to its roots. It’s a risky move, because it also highlights how different the series is today. Beryl’s words were spoken to Patricia. Susan grieved on the beach shortly after remembering happy childhood times with John and Kevin. But Patricia is now Alison. John and Kevin are both long gone. And Susan (thank heavens) is no longer the sensible-but-boring big sister (this might explain why, despite saving herself for Bill for four years, Susan was engaged to Wayne on what seemed to be the day of Bill's death). But Beryl’s reflection was beautiful, because I was in the moment with these characters.
This is one of several examples of what seems to be a conscious effort to remember characters’ history and pre-history recently. Beryl and David’s first meeting over a spilt pav in the roadside café came up again.While travelling to Sydney to try to prevent Wayne getting a hold on Susan, her bag was stolen at Les’s Café and in order to get the cash for a bus she worked there for a few hours, only for David to show up, causing Beryl to drop a plate. This deepens the parallel with Beryl and David’s
Knots counterparts, Val and Gary, who also reenacted their diner meet-cute several years into
their series while separated.
Alison was driving the car which caused his and Barbara's accident. Gordon plans to tell the police. ("C'est la vie", she said to a disappointed Wayne in an enjoyably glib response to the news). So she may face charges, but with recent writing I'm not counting on it being followed up. She might have got off already for all I know.
Heartening news on the continuity front. Alison and Caroline have both now been sentenced, with Caroline getting three months inside. Alison's sentence, meanwhile, is tantamount to legal torture: community service with Ginny Doyle who looks like the Eighties exploded all over her.
Ginny, of course, is the new Leanne. Far more than even Leigh was. She's enjoyably shrill so far (it may get wearing). Even though she's what Alison appropriately described as "a mod-punk thing" who mooches round trying to ooze attitude, we know she's nice deep down. Not least because she keeps a diary into which she vomits all of her gentle inner thoughts.
She's a character I had my struggles with the first time round, but I'm watching with the benefit of hindsight, and that's helped. I'm enjoying her.
Oh, and I haven't been able to look at her in her initial scenes without seeing The Vixen from
The Chase.
You're the S&D watch-and-review juggernaut!
