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I think babies cry often enough and about minor enough things that it probably wouldn't necessarily mean that they were actually distressed. But yeah, I agree, good to see that that baby is calm.

That screaming baby noise was ridiculous! At first it was ridiculous because they kept quite obviously not showing the baby's face, but from behind you could tell that he was calm and not upset, and then it became more ridiculous because they played the noise then showed the baby immediately afterwards and his face was peaceful and he didn't look like he'd been crying at all, and then it got even more ridiculous because at one point they showed the baby putting on a happy face while they were in the middle of playing the crazy screaming noise.

I really don't know! I have been wondering this the entire time. At first I thought he was just telling Xanthe that he wanted to be the principal when actually he just wanted Elly, but now I'm not so sure. And I'm also not sure whether he has known for ages that he is sick, or whether the brain injury really was a result of Elly pushing him, or whether it wasn't a result of that but that's when he found out he had the condition. But I really don't see how the writers expect us to believe that his life goal is to be the principal of a random local high school, especially going about it the way he is, without even earning the position. Maybe his brain injury has had a severe negative impact on his thinking. Tim Collins was so great to watch yesterday! I loved how he just randomly rocked up at Leo and David's apartment and pretty much burnt everyone in the room in one sentence. Also, Tim's face was hilarious after Paul put his finger in his wine. (Although I didn't really get why Paul did that – is that just supposed to be the more dignified version of tipping the wine all over his head?) Anyway, Leo is seriously soooo stupid. I mean, he's sensible for not trusting Paul, although he probably can trust him a little bit, because Paul does seem to really try to help David, and Amy and Jimmy, and even Steph, rather than scamming them all. But even if Leo doesn't trust Paul, how is not trusting Paul a reason to go and do some dangerous illegal gambling? He could at least try borrowing the money from Paul first, and then if Paul starts trying to use him to do dodgy stuff or whatever, he could then move on to the gambling and pay Paul back. No need to gamble before you've used all the options available to you. And borrowing money from Paul would also buy Leo some time to earn money in an honest way.

I think it's pretty standard to not keep records of what the students actually submitted, unless they submitted the work electronically. They did have records of all the students' marks, but the whole point of the investigation is to check whether the marks Elly recorded do accurately reflect how well the students performed, which is why they need the assignments/tests back.

There is some information about Shane's past here: http://perfectblend.net/neighbourhood/bio/rebecchi-shane.htm I don't think he can be, because didn't he skip a grade because he was apparently a genius?

I am having trouble following who is supposed to be Japanese, and which side of the family David and Leo's great grandma was supposed to be on. Initially, David and Leo thought that their dad was Japanese, and now all of a sudden David is thinking it's Scott Robinson, who isn't Japanese. Is all of this confusion intentional because David and Leo don't have a clue where they come from, or is it just due to bad writing? I noticed also that Kim and Paul never explicitly admitted that Scott was David and Leo's dad, but David and Aaron were definitely acting like they knew for sure that he was, so I assumed we were supposed to realise that Kim must have admitted it. But then the preview for tomorrow said that we will finally find out who their dad is, which seems to suggest that we don't currently know whether or not it's Scott. I actually think the actress playing Kim isn't doing too bad of a job. I legitimately can't tell whether the actress really talks in that annoyed tone or whether she's putting it on for the role. IMO, Kim has definitely been coming across as someone who is stressed from keeping such a big secret all these years, because she seems a little unhinged or something, and she always sounds so irritated when David and Leo try to talk about their dad with her. I can definitely imagine someone in her position acting and speaking the way she does, even though I find her a bit annoying to listen to.

I suppose if it really had been Dee, then the writers would have had to work really hard to convince us now that there's no chance of Toadie being torn. And it's perfectly acceptable for us to never see Madeleine West on the show again, because why would Toadie or anyone ever want anything to do with Andrea? So it's a pretty convenient plot point to make Andrea pretend to be Dee, because it gave Toadie a believable reason to cheat, and then a believable reason to immediately be turned off doing it again.

Yeah, I thought so too, although I did laugh when Sheila hit Ben (rather than Xanthe) while simultaneously going on about how it was all Xanthe's fault.

I thought she didn't know the vows? Didn't she tell Toadie that she couldn't remember anything about the day, and then she asked him to remind her, and he said he'd never forgotten the vows, and then he said them for her? Does anyone else think that maybe Andrea really is Dee, but for some reason she thinks she's Andrea, and so does Willow? Or maybe Andrea does know that she is Dee, but she hasn't told Willow for some reason. Maybe Willow isn't really Dee's daughter. Or maybe she isn't really 15. Or maybe she is Dee's 15-year-old daughter, and her dad is Darcy, and Dee faked her miscarriage of Darcy's baby for some reason (although I forget how far along Dee was when she had her miscarriage, so maybe that doesn't fit). It does sort of seem like they're trying to hint that it really is Dee, because they keep giving Willow these lines like, "Remember that you're not really Dee!", when Andrea is talking as though she is. Also, it would be pretty ridiculous to wait all these years to bring back the actual Dee actress, only to make her play a character who isn't really Dee.

So exciting when Dee appeared at Toadie's door! :D (Even though I obviously knew it was going to happen.) I've been wanting that to happen for years! What was with how Steph offered to look after Nell so that Sonya and Toadie could be alone for some adult time, and then Steph and Mark just sat in Harold's basically almost having sex in the chair in front of Nell and also discussing their sex life in front of her while she giggled at them kissing? Who does that?!

Yes! I thought the same about Leo and David. David's hair looks way better that Leo's and it is also less of a mullet than Leo's. And yeah, I didn't understand why Mark couldn't have told Sonya that they already had plans. What was with Paige forgetting her bra? She went to Leo's place not intending to sleep over, so surely any clothes that she removed while she was there she would have put back on before leaving, especially her bra. So that made no sense. I am wondering whether Dee will even end up being alive, or whether the actress has just returned to film all these dreams that Toadie will have. I read that she's not staying for long as a character, because she actually just wants to be a director (or producer or something) of the show.

Haha, yeah, I felt the same while writing it. So much ridiculous drama packed into one paragraph! I think that's what made me get so carried away and write so much. :P

Backstory for Kim (hopefully, I'm remembering this correctly, but some of the details are probably wrong since it's gotten a bit jumbled up in my head over the years): So, you know how they occasionally mention lately that Susan was a surrogate mother for her daughter Libby (who is Ben's mum), but then Susan lost the baby? The father of that baby was Dan (who is Lucas's brother), and after Susan lost the baby, Dan had a one-night stand with Steph (and I think Libby kissed Lucas or something on the same night, and Lucas and Steph had been together for a while, but somehow that was overlooked by everyone). And from that night, Steph became pregnant with Dan's baby, and it turned into this big street scandal that went on for months. Dan left the street immediately and I don't think he found out about the baby for ages. Toadie had just gotten together with Sonya at the time, but because he was such good friends with both Steph and Libby, and he didn't want their friendship to be ruined (especially since Libby was grieving the loss of her child, and she and Dan had broken up), Toadie broke up with Sonya to help Steph cover up the fact that she had slept with Dan. So, by the time the pregnancy got to the stage where it was obvious, Steph just lied about the dates and told everyone that Toadie was the father. They even went as far as to nearly get married, but they couldn't go through with it, and then I think Paul somehow found out that the baby was Dan's and revealed it to everyone. Libby and Steph had this huge fight, and Steph gave birth to her son Adam (who was on the show for the first time a few weeks ago), but she had postnatal depression and she rode her motorbike when she was really upset (and possibly had been drinking), and she hit this character called Ringo and killed him. So then she got locked up and lost access to her kids, and later on when she was released, she still had issues, and she stole Vanessa and Lucas's baby, somehow thinking it was hers, which was why she went to that psychiatric hospital where she met Belinda. And somewhere along the way, Toadie and Sonya got back together, and Sonya revealed that the boy (Callum) that Toadie had been looking after ever since his great-grandma got sick and died was actually her son. And Toadie and Sonya then had Nell together and got married. Anyway, sorry, that ended up being much longer than I expected... :P

Oh, yeah, I should clarify: I definitely think Sonya's offer and the way she went about it was inappropriate and that she treated Toadie totally unfairly. My point was just that considering Steph was expecting that Mark should be fine with using someone else's egg and fine with being a dad to Charlie, it doesn't really make sense that she should have that much of a problem with him preferring it to be Sonya's baby.

I don't see how Steph can tell Mark that she would find it impossible to have to raise his child that isn't biologically hers, when that is literally what she expected him to do with Charlie. Except the difference with Charlie is that Max and Philippa actually want to be his parents, whereas Sonya is claiming that from the moment the baby is born, Steph will be its mum, so if anything, that's better for Steph than the Charlie situation is for Mark. Yeah, I think David got a haircut a couple of weeks ago.

Why did Susan and Elly meet up with that teacher in Harold's rather than in Susan's office when they were telling him off for giving Elly the note? Totally ridiculous! Also, I assume their issue was the fact that they don't want teachers to have relationships with other teachers, right? Like, other than that, it's nowhere near as bad as what Leo has done to Amy or what Angus has done to Elly. It seems like the lowest level of harassment (i.e. not really harassment at all) to just give someone a one-off love letter (although I guess it was anonymous, so that's a bit weird). It was pretty funny how the writing/spelling/grammar in the note was so bad that they thought it couldn't possibly be from Angus (even though he seems to have hardly spent any time in school so it wouldn't surprise me if his writing was bad), and then it turned out to be from a teacher. Well, I mean, I laughed at Elly paying the teacher out about it, but actually, that is quite worrying. :P

This article explains the Union Jacks: http://www.tvtonight.com.au/2016/10/uk-marks-30-years-of-neighbours-broadcasts.html I read about it right after watching the episode and could only recall seeing them on Aaron's shorts, but apparently they were everywhere!? Clearly I'm not very observant. :P I guess I possibly noticed more but immediately forgot because it didn't occur to me that there were lots or that something must be going on with them.

Am I imagining things, or did they recently replace the Brennan brothers bit of the opening credits with an almost identical clip, except that Mark now has a shirt on when he didn't before? What's up with that? Did Lauren have all those scratches on her face at the balloon crash site? I don't remember seeing them. I'm getting really sick of them showing that bottle of tattoo ink every five seconds. So unnecessary considering they already showed Jacka putting stuff in it. Also, I don't understand why Brad brought it to the hospital for Lauren. Can you really use tattoo ink for artworks on paper?

Oh my goodness. That balloon crash episode. COMPLETELY RIDICULOUS. Like, where do I start? Jacka turning up to the balloon site with one tool that happens to fit the task and knowing exactly what to do to wreck the balloon and no one even spotting him because he's wearing his Special Hoodie of Invisibility. The people in charge not even doing some sort of safety check before taking off. Jimmy becoming a super genius and doing complex calculations so that he could film the balloon with his drone, and then somehow flying it perfectly just by looking at a phone and a computer screen. Elly being invited onto the balloon when the ride was supposed to only be for Lauren's close friends, and Regan finding the balloon site and making it there in time and just casually hopping onto the balloon to see Elly without anyone realising or even wondering who she was, using the Jacka-style hoodie disguise. Paige randomly reciting her apology to Jack for Lauren to hear and Piper conveniently recording it, as well as the balloon crash, and sending it to Jack. Paige just suddenly standing up and jumping out of the balloon into the water. (WHO WOULD DO THAT?!) Piper being totally fine when they crashed and just running around all normal. The balloon operators just disappearing after the crash and no one wondering where they were. The balloon conveniently having an accurate tracking app. Jack and everybody else just conveniently realising that the balloon was crashing and then being first on the scene when it landed. Karl immediately deciding on a diagnosis for Regan after looking at her for two seconds, and then telling Ben to go get a power drill from the ute so that he could perform brain surgery, because of course that's what a doctor who isn't a brain surgeon and doesn't have the correct equipment and is out in the middle of nowhere and not in a hospital would do, rather than at least first calling the paramedics who are on their way and asking for advice. And then, I didn't really understand what happened at the end of the episode, but it looked like the drone just gained a mind of its own after Jimmy stopped controlling it, and it flew all the way to Grease Monkeys and randomly knocked Steph off her bike. Ridiculous! But oh well, I suppose the ridiculousness of everything was good in a way, because it was hilarious, and I think it would have been too scary and dramatic and stressful for a Neighbours episode if it had been more realistic. Hot air balloons really do seem quite dangerous and not able to be controlled easily if something goes wrong. I wonder what percentage of balloon rides end badly. Personally, I would never go on one. I wonder whether Jack calling out for Paige on the beach was an intentional throwback to that well-known scene where Madge called out to Harold when it was believed that he had drowned? Made me laugh, anyway.

I guess the Leo/Paul thing was explained when Paul mentioned that Leo made some negative comment about Paul's restaurant the first time they met. I'd forgotten about that. But it didn't seem like a big deal anyway. I think both David and Leo need new haircuts. I'm starting to like Xanthe more and more. Wasn't a fan when she first came on the show, but she's gotten much better.

I have never understood why, on this show, the gay characters just immediately correctly assume that someone else is gay. I mean, statistically, they're likely to be incorrect, right? So when Aaron assumed Leo was gay, I thought it was just one of those things where we're supposed to believe it's somehow obvious. And now it turns out he was wrong! And yeah, I don't recall any interaction between Leo and Paul before yesterday's episode (or the day before or whenever it was) when he said he didn't like him.

That's true about Paige, but I think that if Jack is serious about his commitment then it would be much smarter to not go anywhere near Paige. Like, okay, the other priest died and he feels like he needs to stay in Erinsborough to work at that church, and that's fine. But there are still ways to stay away from Paige. Also, who (particularly a girl) takes all of their top layers off in a public place when they have no other clothes around? And as if her natural instinct wouldn't have been to cover up before turning around, especially because it could have been Brad or anyone else walking in? I understand what Piper said about it not being Paige's fault that Jack looked at her the way he did, but really, if you take your clothes off in public, you can't be too surprised when people look at you. :P And yeah, I don't understand Ned's lies either. He's a bit weird. I don't like him or Elly.

Ugh, yes, I KNOW. That seemed so weird and out of character. Although I guess people probably do behave differently with someone they're interested in compared to everyone else, but still, it seemed a bit creepy and I was laughing the whole way through. :P Unfortunately for Gary, I feel like Terese is just enjoying the attention, and if Paul were to start being nice to her and then kissed her or something, they'd be back together almost immediately. Sheila's 60th birthday party seemed to come out of nowhere and wasn't really talked about. I guess they just invented that storyline when they heard that the actor who plays Kyle was going to be in Melbourne. I liked Jimmy hugging Kyle and then telling him it was actually for Bossy. :P I've never heard that law before about having to have finished making your family before becoming a surrogate mum. I guess it's probably not enforceable. Like, if you got pregnant afterwards, they couldn't force you to abort it or anything, and I don't think they could even fine you, because it could've just been an accident. Maybe it's just to ensure that if anything goes wrong during the pregnancy or birth that leaves the surrogate unable to have more babies later, they can't sue anyone. And I guess it's also an extra layer of protection against the surrogate trying to steal the baby for their own family after it's born (but I would imagine there'd be other parts of the contract that explicitly prohibit that).

That whole boxing storyline was silly and I hope there's no more of it after this. I don't understand how Aaron gets himself and others into such ridiculous situations. And it seems strange that a boxer could have a brain tumour without anyone realising. Wouldn't boxers get regular brain scans? I can't believe Kyle is back for Sheila's 60th birthday party. Not just because I wasn't expecting it, but also because as if Sheila is only supposed to be 59! I had no idea. Kyle is supposed to be around 24 or 25, I think, and she's his grandma. They've probably mentioned before that Kyle's mum and Sheila both had teen pregnancies, but I just didn't really think about it. I guess that's a good explanation for why Naomi seems closer to Kyle's age than Gary's.

I'm liking Ben at the moment. So refreshing to see a Neighbours character who actually seems to recognise that going to school (or uni) involves doing some work! :P The other day Paige mentioned something about having a uni class and before that I'd completely forgotten that she was even supposed to be a student, because she never seems to be doing any work. Is she supposed to be studying part-time or full-time? I assume part-time. Xanthe also doesn't seem to do any work, and Gary is too busy giving her silly advice (like "ask Madison for tips on how to make Ben like you", as though she should expect to need tips from an expert) rather than getting her to do her work (after paying for her to be tutored). I assume Ben and Maddie are writing/recording a song together or something? What was with Paul and Terese tonight? Their storyline sounded like it was written by someone who had missed the last few weeks of episodes or something. It didn't seem to fit in with everything else that's happened. They're always so secretive about their hotel plans, but then all of a sudden Paul just randomly starts bragging about his plans to Terese and then is shocked when she tries to ruin them?? At first I assumed that he was just making stuff up in front of Gary and Terese to trick them and to cover up his actual real plans, but no. Why would he tell Terese that he was booking Maddie for a particular date before he'd even booked her? Makes no sense.