Neighbours Review for the Week of 10-30-23: Has a New Love Triangle Just Begun?

Billie’s days were numbered from the beginning. Haz only ever dated her because he thought Mackenzie wasn’t interested.

Still, I expected jealousy to come between them, not her irresponsible response to the dog’s misbehavior.

Billie and Haz broke up over the dog on Neighbours during the week of 10-30-23, but that doesn’t mean the path is clear for him and Mackenzie to become more than friends. Holly’s sudden crush on Haz means trouble is waiting to happen!

Neighbours is much more low-key about these things than American soaps, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be serious drama ahead. Mackenzie’s refusing to tell Holly — or Haz — how she feels, but if Holly and Haz get serious, what’ll happen?

It’s rare for a soap to have a compelling love triangle. I’m used to the kind where it’s obvious where things are going, and one person is evil or otherwise unsuitable.

Holly’s a mixed bag; she was extremely lazy and irresponsible at work, so she deserved it when Reece fired her, but she’s not a bad person. And she’s unaware of Mackenzie’s interest in Haz, so she’s not betraying her by going after him herself.

Still, Mackenzie’ll reach a boiling point sooner or later. She keeps pretending she doesn’t want more than friendship with Haz, but if he gets close to Holly, all bets are off.

But will it even get that far? Trevor kept barking and interrupting Holly’s attempts at getting Haz’s attention, but Haz didn’t seem interested anyway.

Then again, Haz is oblivious to Mackenzie’s feelings for him despite the look on her face whenever she hears about his dating experiences with others. He might be unaware that Holly was trying her best to arouse him.

Holly’s behavior is over-the-top, but that’s Holly. I’m glad that Susan tried to talk some sense into her.

Neighbours’ most significant strength is that on this soap, people talk with each other. The drama comes from people wanting things they shouldn’t have, and some people insist on subterfuge, but all the honest conversations balance it out.

It’s a refreshing difference from Days of Our Lives, where half the drama comes from people refusing to tell anyone what’s going on with them, instead handling it themselves in some messed up way.

If this love triangle has a weakness, it’s not that two friends are interested in the same guy; it’s that Sadie has her nose in it.

Sadie insisted she was using Mackenzie’s relationship (or lack thereof) with Haz to distract herself from her concern about her parents’ situation.

But she was just as nosey and overbearing before the JJ reveal. What was her excuse then?

From the beginning, Sadie’s taken a weird, unhealthy interest in Mackenzie’s love life. She feels guilty about the role she played in Hendriix’s death, but still.

Her behavior is way over the top. She’s constantly pressuring Mackenzie to date Haz, and she’s always over at theirs, scoping out the situation and offering unsolicited advice.

She needs to get someone of her own and stop putting all her energy into Mackenzie’s love life!

Holly’s crush is a reaction to Haz breaking down the shed door after Eden locked her in.

Sadie reported Eden’s location to Andrew, who was too busy with the fake anthrax scare to deal with it, but has anyone told the cops that Eden threw Holly in a shed and beat up Haz?

Eden’s probably skipped town and hopes never to run into Holly or any of her friends again, but he’s on the run and unpredictable, so who knows what could happen.

Meanwhile, are Cara and Remi headed for a split for the sake of drama?

Understandably, everyone’s shaken by the news that Andrew may be JJ’s biological father. And Remi and Wendy both feel betrayed by the fact that their partners didn’t tell them that Andrew donated sperm.

But it’s not the same as a full-blown affair that resulted in a child. Cara and Remi wanted a child and needed to use a sperm donor, so in the end, how much does it matter that the donor had a different identity than Remi thought?

And is the issue the lack of communication at the time? Or is it the continued rivalry between Wendy and Cara?

Most of Erinsborough gave the people involved with this mess good advice. Susan’s words to Remi were especially helpful, but they don’t appear to have sunk in since the preview at the end of Thursday’s show has Remi saying she’s not sure she can be okay with this.

Across town, Nell’s story took an interesting turn. Long-time viewers might have been thrilled for Sharon’s visit — she last appeared in the early 1990s.

It also turned the tired trope on its head of a teenager hating their new stepparent and trying to interfere.

Nell: Did she [Melanie] mention anything about why she left my dad?
Sharon: No. She was pretty vague about the breakup.
Nell: She told him it’s cause she didn’t want to be a mum to me and Hugo.
Sharon: I have absolutely no idea why she would say that. When I say she’s got photos, she’s got albums. One time I walked in and she was looking at you and your brother on the socials.

Nell slipped effortlessly into the role of the amateur detective searching for answers to a mystery, and to her credit, she also said that it had nothing to do with wanting Toadie to break up with Terese.

Even though Melanie is impulsive, it does seem strange that she cut ties with everyone in her life. And why was she obsessing over photos of Nell and Hugo if she left because she didn’t want to be their stepmother?

There’s more to the story here. Hopefully, the solution to this mystery will be more compelling than Reece’s search for her sister. In the meantime, Nell seeking answers will be fun, as long as she doesn’t backslide into her obnoxious anti-Terese behavior.

The Reece story, on the other hand, is as bizarre as it is annoying.

The search for Krista reminds me of the Jenna cult story on Good Trouble — hopefully with a better resolution. But buying the car Krista once used off a high school student made no sense.

Reece is one of those ultra-rich people who can pay $5,000 in cash for a car, but still, I found it hard to swallow that some kid would sell his car to strangers who wanted to know about the previous owner.

How did he end up with it? Did he buy it himself, or did his parents buy it for him? If it’s the latter, they’ll have something to say about him selling it to some woman who showed up at the high school parking lot.

The car yielded absolutely nothing after all that, too, unless you count that rehab postcard that Reece once sent Krista.

Tess’s decision to pull Reece off the case made little sense either, nor did her insistence that Reece wasn’t doing enough to find Krista.

First, Reece is working with a PI trying to track Krista down at rehabs, so why didn’t the Sinclairs use one in the first place? Reece is not a detective!

In addition, if Reece is supposed to keep her search on the down low, why is Tess surprised she kept her identity secret for three weeks?

I’d like to know what Tess thinks she can do better and why this has to be top secret. Why does Byron need to sign an NDA to ensure no one knows they are looking for Reece’s missing sibling, something which would make her more sympathetic in the eyes of many residents?

And finally, can we stop shaming Byron over his past as an escort? Paul keeps playing that card to cause trouble, and it needs to stop.

Byron’s past shouldn’t matter, and Tess’ judginess over it doesn’t help her cause.

Reece is an adult and doesn’t have to listen to Tess or her father. Of course, her father could cut her out of the business, but does she want him controlling her life?

Your turn, Neighbours fanatics. Hit the big, blue SHOW COMMENTS button, and let us know your thoughts about this week’s stories.

Don’t forget to check back over the weekend for the latest Neighbours spoilers.

Neighbours streams on Mondays through Thursdays on Amazon Freevee in the US and UK and Amazon Prime in Canada after broadcast on Australia’s Peach 10.

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