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Rodney's tape was still causing amusement, with the women re-enacting his performance. "I have dared to love you wildly.. passionately.. hopelessly.." etc. Yes, EXACTLY the same two lines from the whole script that have been used throughout in Prisoner. Rodney had thrown the women's cassette player on the floor in a rage, which Ann informed him he'd have to replace. She told him "there's no law against" them having a tape recorder. Except inside a prison, I believe. Ann was annoyed at the women, because the incident was a matter of security - prison officers being followed or intimidated by former inmates, and she was so angry she threatened to take away their new telephone and other treats - if "any more" incidents happened, of course. Clearly officers' security is a minor thing - like administering poison in chocolates - rather than something genuinely requiring punishment.
Alice was allowed into the reward flat, along with the weird and embarrassingly unfunny "comedy" character, Martha Dimmock. At least it was nice to see the painting of the shed had been brought out of the scenery storeroom for good use again. It was also nice to see Nancy McCormack's rainbow-coloured diary notebook again, on the table in the rec room when Joan reappeared.
Rodney was looking at Lisa's curiously unlikely prison file. The mugshots were certainly not taken when she was inducted - when she had a totally different hair colour (and face and body). In Lisa's file, the photos seem to have been clumsily glued on top of half the form boxes, with a printed heading roughly scribbled out, and other headings ('eyes:', 'hair:', 'build:', etc) hand-written onto the form. On an official government form..? Yes, the hair was described as 'brown' - a curious way to describe platinum-bleached blonde - and I'd be interested to see if 'eyes: brown' was also correct on Lisa's first arrival. At least it didn't say 'eyes:2'.
Rita was not feeling right, and kept falling down unconscious. This was mostly noticeable for the absence of blunt instruments or fists. Eventually the doctor was called in, and I spent the next few minutes trying to fathom out which character he'd played before, rather than watching what happened - always a problem when actors with a distinctive appearance are recycled in Prisoner. The ambulance arrived to take Rita for tests, which gave us a full view of the huge television broadcasting antenna in its rear window reflection. After her return to Wentworth, the nurse phoned Potato Slattery in reception, to take Rita back to her cell. Interestingly the reception phone tinkle-tinkled this time, instead of its usual farting noise. Rita's return was clearly of interest to Joan, because of the fabulously 'Acorn Antiques' type theatrical z-o-o-o-m that wobbled into Joan's smiling face.
Back in a shack in the middle of nowhere, Kath was listening to the radio about her escape and Merle's transfer to Ingleside, which was followed by dreadful royalty-free muzak, evidently very popular with radio listeners. The blind man said he was going to chop some wood. "Do you want a hand?" asked Kath. "No thanks, I might chop it off by mistake," he replied, which did seem a tad offensive to blind people I thought. I was interested to see Kath smoking during one of these scenes. Maybe I've just not noticed before, but I can't remember her doing that in Wentworth.
Spike was convinced Merle knew something important, and wanted Officer Jackson to go and visit her in hospital. How would she manage this? Simple - "Ring him up." So she did - just like that - because obviously prison officers' home telephone numbers would be easily available to inmates, and she would have memorized it. "C'mon Marty, answer the phone!" Spike muttered as it rang. But Mummy Meg was at his flat, admiring his new tidying or decor. (For which he gave credit to "Delia", as viewers wondered.. Who..?) Meg intercepted the call, and later had cross words with Marty for his involvement with such a tedious and drawn-out plot line. "As a prison officer I told you not to get involved," she grumbled, which seemed a strange thing to tell her feet. And then she barked at Marty, in dalek-like expressiveness, "You-are-on-your-own!", and stormed out as wonderfully theatrical 'dum-dum-daaaaaah' incidental music burst in, presumably to destroy any dramatic tension that might have been created. Not put off by Meg's interference, Spike had a different idea to get past Marty's unofficial filtering service. "Lurch - you could ring him!" I presume Meg would not be at all alarmed at the number of prison inmates who had Marty's home number and were calling him at home. By the way, loved the way Alice and Spike were leaning against the wall as they used the phone, and it kept visibly moving back and forth.
Spider was to be transferred to Barnhurst in the morning. An enormous pity I thought, with the risk of the series coming to a close with some of the more interesting characters missing, and dull characters like Brumby still clinging on by her 'Nolan Sisters' hairdo. Spider said to Vicki, "With your bloody conscience getting in the way, it's a wonder I didn't end up in Barnhurst months ago." And Vicki said, "Jeez - Barnhurst - how you gonna make out there..?!" I always thought Barnhurst was a low security prison, so I was a bit puzzled at the tone of this scene, where Vicki and Spider were talking as if she were going to Blackmoor. Perhaps they forgot.
There was a sort-of emotional scene between the two 'baddies', and Vicki's performance was ok, but I didn't feel the material was particularly interesting and I couldn't really feel any sympathy, so her efforts felt like a bit of a waste. Spider's acting was more effective, because it didn't rely on dialogue, just facial expressions. She can do this very well, it's just a pity it was spoiled by another of those wobbly z-o-o-o-o-m shots closing into her pensive face. Presumably this late in the series, this marks the end of Spider. Quite a pity, there was some good potential for her, with the introduction of her mother's terminal illness, and subtle changes in Spider's behaviour immediately after. Unfortunately it seems this storyline was dropped rather than explored. Presumably there wasn't enough time to develop the story (and character) properly, so instead she was abruptly packed off to Barnhurst.
Joan might not have looked happy to be back last episode, but she certainly seemed to be enjoying herself, winding everyone up. The climax of this was a big SLAP from Ann, after suggesting Ann was showing favouritism to Rita because of her "bikie boyfriend". The slap and its build-up didn't seem to have the usual sparkle around it, and seemed a little tired and flat to me. But Joan's acidic response more than made up for it. "Sorry - EX bikie boyfriend..!"
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