TL;DR – This was a fascinating jolt of nostalgia, but I am not sure it has the sticking power to be more than that.  

Disclosure – I watched this on 10 Play.

Neighbours Review –

If there is an Australian that has made it big overseas, there is a more than reasonable chance that they spent some time on Neighbours [or Home and Away, but we are not talking about that today]. Guy Pearce, Luke Hemsworth, Cleopatra Coleman, Russell Crowe, Ben Mendelsohn, Liam Hemsworth, Margot Robbie, Natalie Imbruglia, Jesse Spencer, Dichen Lachman, Alan Dale, Daniel MacPherson, and Kylie Minogue, just to name few. So, it was a bit sad when the show came to a somewhat sudden stop last year. In the way that seeing an old cornerstone come to an end, you’ll understand when they finally put Simpsons to rest. But a year later, life has sprung back to Ramsey Street, and it is time to see if this is a rebirth or a lumbering zombie.

So to set the scene, it has been two years since we last checked in to the gang on Ramsey Street, a small cul-de-sac in the suburb of Erinsborough, Melbourne. When we last left the street, everyone was putting on a wedding. Well, time is nothing but a circle because as we meet everyone again, we discover them all getting ready for the next nuptials. Karl (Alan Fletcher) and Susan Kennedy (Jackie Woodburne) are letting their old friend Harold Bishop (Ian Smith) crash at their house. But if there is one thing that sums up Ramsey Street, the more it stays the same, the more it changes as a new family moves in and a mysterious woman, Reece Sinclair (Mischa Barton), arrives at the local hotel. Now from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.  

There was a deep sense of nostalgia watching this episode, as I was taken back to my youth. Neighbours was one of those shows that could cut through the zeitgeist in Australia. I remember discovering a character could not read because someone stored the poison bottle in the fridge for some reason, characters coming back to town with amnesia, the odd plane crash, and Karl becoming the most hated man in Australia after cheating on Susan. I think the last time I watched it properly was around the time that Toadie Rebecchi (Ryan Moloney) got married and then instantly drove him and his new wife off a cliff, and only one person got out of that sea alive [for 13 years, look it was a whole thing].   

I don’t envy the job that Jason Herbison had to do to get this episode up and running. Trying to pick up the pieces again would have been a difficult challenge when you have such a definitive ending. They accomplish this with the mirror effect of there being another wedding to link the past with the present. As well as this, they fall back on the tried-and-true method of having a new family move into the street to mix things up because one of them might have a secret. Throw in the curve ball casting of Mischa Barton now it has an intentionally larger international footprint. With this, you have all the ingredients you need to fall back into this world.

The question is: was there enough here to keep me coming back day after day? Well? I was not expecting the curve ball at the end of the episode with Toadie on his next marriage, which asks several questions, as it should. They introduced everyone well and provided hints of past and future tension, which will be helpful for anyone jumping in from here. But other than the nostalgia hit, I am not sure there was anything to grab me here. However, there was enough to keep me interested enough to make me want to jump back in and see how wild they will go.  

By Brian MacNamara: You can follow Brian on Twitter Here, when he’s not chatting about Movies and TV, he’ll be talking about International Relations, or the Solar System.

Have you seen Neighbours yet ?, let us know what you thought in the comments below, feel free to share this review on any of the social medias and you can follow us Here. Check out all our past reviews and articles Here, and have a happy day.    
Credits – All images were created by the cast, crew, and production companies of Neighbours

Directed by – Kate Kendall
Written by – Jason Herbison
Created by – Reg Watson
Production/Distribution Companies – Network 10, Amazon Freevee & Amazon Prime
Starring – Lucinda Armstrong Hall, Emerald Chan, Stefan Dennis, Rebekah Elmaloglou, Alan Fletcher, Annie Jones, Tim Kano, Candice Leask, Ryan Molone, Xavier Molyneux, Shiv Palekar, Naomi Rukavina, Georgie Stone, Sara West, Lloyd Will & Jackie Woodburne with Riley Bryant, Tanner Ellis-Anderson, Henrietta Graham, Nikita Kato, Ayisha Salem-Towner, Marley Williams, Guy Pearce, Mischa Barton, Ian Smith, Melissa Bell, Lesley Baker, Ariel Kaplan, Tim Phillips & Morgan Baker