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Couldn't help but notice something weird had happened with the picture in the version of this episode I saw (UK Channel 5). It was slightly stretched horizontally (giving Joycie a Judy Jetson hairdo and making her calves a foot wide). And it was as if they had cropped the image - the tops of peoples' heads were missing in some scenes. Very strange.
Kelly's Pee Soup was obviously very powerful stuff indeed. One mostly-spat-out spoonful and she was almost incapacitated right through to the next day. Rolling around on the floor and vomiting in the sink. Or maybe that was from thinking too much about Marlene's bridesmaids in their "lolly-pink nylon".
Little comic relief scene with Ettie making her first trip to the cinema since being put inside, and facing all the modern high-tech wonders of a "twin complex" cinema! Not sure about the manager admitting that in the film (Indiana Jones?) "there was a bit of sex and nudity". Obviously a completely different Indiana Jones film to the one I'd seen. But a version I’d like to know more about..
Poor Meg, one tragedy or catastrophe after another. After bombs, rapes, abductions, and frilly nightdresses, here comes the ‘Meg & Den’ storyline. As if the two characters weren't sickly enough, they'd even taken to standing together like a little blond Hansel and Gretel. As for the decorating scene, forget the kiss, I was more concerned that Dennis was up the ladder with Meg was holding it, with her grinning face inches away from his crotch.
A while later, we saw Dennis driving along the road when he spotted an underage girl with far too much make-up, looking for a pick-up. In Prisoner this makes him a kindly citizen, whereas anywhere else he’d more likely be a kerb crawler. In another scene, Meg told Ettie, "You can't keep picking up strangers on the street and bringing them home!" Sounds like she should be having words with her potential boyfriend too. And it seemed as though the only reason he picked her up was to tell her off about the dangers of hitch-hiking alone at her age, presumably because someone might sexually assault and murder her. And the next thing we know, she'd been sexually assaulted and murdered. Blimey. Of course the person in charge of the case had to be Inspector Grace, and Dennis was of course number one prime suspect because he came back to the country a week before the first murder, and had bumped into one of the victims at some stage. Who needs forensic evidence when you have such solid and conclusive proof as that..?
What a surprise to see that cheeky little urchin Shane popping up again. "I ran away, Anny Joan!" he yelled at her.
Joycie did what she does best again.. letting the cat right out of the bag to Joan. "And don't be too hard on Meg and Dennis.. er.." She later walked into the kitchen, for her first on-screen encounter with Mervin. And what did she catch him doing..? Pilfering from the kitchen stores? Smuggling contraband for the women? Dealing in drugs? Heavying one of the prisoners? Er, no. He was making a souffle. But otherwise not at all camp. And much to Joycie's oohs and gasps, he stated, "cooking is a work of art", which would presumably make Mrs O'Regan the culinary equivalent of Damien Hurst.
And from out of the blue, Joycie made a couple of fleeting references to her unhappiness with hubbie Norm. Hmm..
At last, we got a better chance to hear that epic anthem Pixie's Song, thankfully giving Sheila Brady at least a minor reason for existing in the series. Now that I've heard it, it did sound to me as though someone had written a shopping list of song cliches ("I'm missing you", "Showing us the way", "With no regrets", etc) with the idea of reading them out over a tune. Actually the tune sounded quite nice, until I realised you could sing entire chunks of "The Sun'll Come Out Tomorrow" over it without noticing. What's funny is that Judy had the nerve to criticise Sheila's fairly original material, while coming up with nonsense. Loved Joan's line about Sheila getting out: "She was first case up. Maybe she got to the judge before he was fully awake."
I've felt for a few episodes that things had gone very stale, and desperately needed some new life injected into the programme. The newest characters had been mostly unmemorable (Janice falling over a lot and being drunk, Sheila being nice to everyone) and only had minor contributions to the scheme of things. I thought the men had started to overstay their welcome too, with Frank reduced to making the occasional nasty comment every episode or two, Geoff doing nothing of interest, and Matt just walking around looking nervous. With Ettie the joke was starting to wear very thin, the Meg/Dennis friendship was almost enough to make me comatose. The only characters with any life in them seemed to be Lexie and Lou, with even Myra seeming a bit tired and bored. And no other new characters for ages. At long last, a new inmate. Please let this one be interesting..!
Poor old Jackie Nolan. Obviously being porked by Jim Fletcher had such a terrible effect on her that she cut her hair short, changed her name, and ran off to a nunnery. Thankfully, despite the short hair and crucifix, she was still able to maintain her beautifully moisturised skin and skilfully plucked eyebrows. Ok, so the basic character and background are original, and potentially interesting. Unfortunately she got off to a bad start with me, by the governor offering her "special treatment", as seems to happen with a huge percentage of the inmates in the Wentworth hotel.
An interesting touch, having Frank try to rape her, and finding her crucifix. "It's not jewellery. I'm a nun," she declared. Which told him exactly how much he'd be getting. None. Although it's more disturbing to see he's still wandering around trying to rape the women, and nobody on the staff seems to have even considered the possibility. After all, it’s not as if he's a convicted violent rapist. Er..
Finally, loved Mervin's face after Ann came across her frothy coffee. Ok tea. Oh well, maybe it was just a storm in a tea cup.
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