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Quite an amusing episode actually, with a lot of nice subtle humour in it. I particularly liked the little ironic comment by Len to Joan in the staff room, about discipline and "a good thump in the gut'll do it" - exactly what he gave her later in the programme. And I loved the dialogue as Joan looked at her crossword: "A seven-letter word for a highly scented fruit". "Proctor" quipped Len.
Poor old Joycie still manages to make me laugh, even when it's unintentional. Was I the only one who laughed aloud when she was shuffling newspapers around in her sitting room? I loved the way the man from the Department (with the Welsh accent, I noticed) pointed out that the acting governor must be someone with "considerable experience and ability". Which makes you wonder how on earth Joycie became the prime candidate last time round.
Anyway, Len got the position of course, even though he'd barely had time to find his way around Wentworth. I adored the scene where he was blowing cigarette smoke and walking all over Joan. Lots of wonderful snappy dialogue. And in response to all his disciplinarian changes he was proposing, she snapped: "You'd better hurry, you've only got a week". Wonderful stuff!
I was puzzled by Len's comment about stopping the "unnatural practices" going on between the women, as if a pointed reference to Joan's lesbianism. I know that in a real prison, lesbianism goes on all over the place. But in Wentworth of course, I don't think there's really been any of 'that' since Sharon Gilmour showed Chrissie her ankles about 4 years ago (or some other equally inoffensive subplot to that effect). Judy of course was the only lesbian inmate at this time (I'm sure the word "token" wasn't even in the writers' vocabulary) but it's been so long for her, I doubt she'd even recognise a country and western album these days.
The mysterious more-greek-looking-than-a-greek-person Yemil still seemed to be practicing her impressions of Manuel from Fawlty Towers. And all to the backing of the snake charmer music again, which had started to sound like someone sitting off-set playing with one of those Rolf Harris Stylophone things from the 1970s. "Take me away from where I have friends..?!" she gasped, at the suggestion of getting out of Wentworth, where she had been a whole 5 minutes.
Ozzie/Aussie the cockroach (who was single-handedly making Meg's hopes for a Logie award less likely by the episode) had unfortunately not died yet. So while the women in the rec room were waiting for Marlene and Bobbie to appear with him, Jude asked "What's keeping them so long?". "Search me," said Myra. Wouldn't they be better to search Marlene, I thought, as the last time he was seen looking healthy, he was just disappearing down her blouse. As if the poor thing hadn't suffered enough, seeing so much of Marlene at such sweaty close quarters, he then had to sleep with her! If anyone deserved to get their name in the credits..
And when he went missing, what was that weird scary music as they were going through the sheets in the skip? It sounded like the sound effects that accompany films about diving. And I still struggle to understand how he got from the skip to Joycie's shoulder.
"I have taken life, and only life can pay for life" said Yemil, surprisingly without laughing. The cutting edge of snappy script writing.
Len said "That'll be the day, when Len Murphy needs a woman to do a job for him!", just before going off to Lou Kelly's cell, for her to do a 'job' for him of some sort. Very strange choice of background music, accompanying the otherwise excellent and very tense scene between him and Lou, in her cell. Sounded suspiciously like the theme from Jaws. Strange music for a rape scene. Otherwise, I thought the scene was well handled, and I particularly loved the shots of other inmates in their cells at the same time, including Pixie and Yemil huddling together in fear. The fight sequence between Len and Joan (like something from one of those old Godzilla movies) was exciting, but less effective, as I realised when I found I was more intrigued by the use of real bricks in the background, rather than scenery ones.
When Lou was searching for the mystery "gift" left by Reb, I was impressed to see that government-issue prison mattresses were floral printed. How sweet. Possibly Laura Ashley. The mystery item was, it appears, a "master key" to the whole prison. Marvellous. I bet the officers would be jealous, as it would save them carrying around all those other keys. Anyway, don't know why Myra was so excited about a key that could open any of the prison doors or gates, when all you need is a lampshade, and you can just walk out of the front gate..
Annoyingly boring Sam Greenway popped up again, from about half way through the episode, lying on her bed, doing what..? Pen in hand, bloody drawing again. I'd never have imagined that someone drawing could be so irritating to me. I loved the way Jude was dressed up in her big brown compost-heap nightie, posed as if trying to look like the Mona Lisa, though actually looking more like something by Beryl Cook.
Bobbie seemed to have come on leaps and bounds since Len taught her how to wire a plug. Get her a screwdriver, and she’d be ready to rewire the dryers in the laundry. What a lot of information he must have packed into that quick training session.
Loved the dancing scene in the rec room, with Pixie, Bobbie, Yemil and co, trying to dance to the insipid plinky-plonky royalty-free music on the "radio". I actually felt sorry for the actresses, boogying down to something that would normally be played in a lift.
And nice to see the mysterious pink thing normally hung up between the driers was again being sewn, this time by Pixie. What a strange weak fabric it must be made of, if it is only ever hung up on the rack, or being repaired.
Nice to see dangerous Michael-Myers-From-Halloween type kitchen knives were left lying around in the garden shed, ready for dangerous inmates to find. In this case, Frank - the convicted rapist who's allowed to wander around trying to rape girls (such as Bobbie) without any supervision whatsoever. Geoff told him if they were caught slacking, they'd be "back in isolation counting the stains on the wall".. Bearing in mind Frank's abnormally high sex drive, I'd hate to imagine what those stains could be.
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