Izzy's Office
Connor can't believe he reacted like a gutless wonder when he was held up before but Izzy thinks he did the right thing. She says for him to take some paid leave and go see Maddy. He's hesitant at first because she's short staffed but soon takes her up on her offer. (He exits out what I presume is another door, but it kind of looks like he walked into the broom cupboard).

Max appears through the other (real) door and asks about the robbery but Izzy says that everything is under control. "In case you have forgotten little sis," Max starts to reprimand, "I am an equal partner in this business." Izzy slinks out, "Okay, I'll do better next time..." Max fights the urge to eye roll. "Might as well still be in business with Lou."

Detention Dungeon - Erinsborough High Classroom
Janae is noisily chewing gum until Susan sticks a bin under her nose, so Janae charmingly hocks it out.

SUSAN: Thin ice young lady.

(Janae pokes her tongue out at her)

SUSAN: And your skates are very sharp.

Ooh, the blackboard says 'Friday 22nd April', how delightfully accurate. Janae wonders why she has to be here when Shazza is noticeably absent but Susan says she'll fix her later, just as Karl pops by for a quick word.

Susan ducks out into the hallway so Karl can share his exciting news with her. He's had a call from 'Medicine Son From Bear' (okay, it totally isn't that but I can't spell the fancy French-sounding name of the medical committee to save myself - EDIT It's Médecins Sans Frontiéres, thank you neighboursfans!). "They've offered me a short-term posting in Chad." He would be working with Sudanese refugees. Suse puts a dampener on proceedings though because she's concerned about the state of his heart. "You're not going to be any use to anyone over there if you have another heart attack." Thank you bad news fairy, much appreciated. Karl's enthusiasm is no longer free as a river, it's sewerage backed up in drains sidelining the ocean. Janelle breezes past to pick up Janae.

Karl leaves and Susan dashes into the classroom to stop Janelle from leaving with her ice-skating damsel in detention. Janae and Janelle can't believe how uptight Susan is being, so Janelle sits with her daughter to wait out the last ten minutes.

JANELLE: (muttering) Give her an inch, thinks she's a ruler.
SUSAN: What was that?

(Janelle and Janae smirk at one another then face her)

JANAE AND JANELLE: Nothing Miss Smith.

Scarlet Bar - The Artist Formally Known As 'Max's'
Max is complaining that he thought the bar was to be named after him, but it's too little too late my dear boy, the place is too well known now to rename as Izzy deftly points out. Max relents, as he tends to do, but he still wants to be kept in that loop he's always talking about. Izzy says again that she's got everything under control.

SINDI: (happily walks to the bar) Ta-da! New girl ready to start her shift, bright-eyed and bushy tailed.

Except that. Izzy's all, "Wibba-da, wibba-da... What do you mean, Sin?" Sindi explains that Connor was going to have a word with her, "and I'm keen as several jars of mustard." Izzy reminds her of the last time she worked in the hospitality industry and how that went down like a ton of bricks. Thank you bad news fairy number two (shock horror, Susan and Izzy have something in common). Sindi is disheartened because she was pinning her hopes on this after being sacked from her last job... so Izzy takes pity on her and says she can have a trial run that evening. "That's if it's okay with my partner," she adds, grinning at Max. He of course says yes. Sindi tackles Izzy into a bear hug.

Number 30
Connor gets off the phone from Lori after arranging to spend some time with Maddy for a couple of weeks. And what does every person need after having a tough day at work and being in a robbery? Water and flour thrown in their face of course! Toadie and Stu laugh heartily after pranking Connor a good one (ew, Stu spat when he laughed); that is until they hear about his work trauma. They say they're sorry and add that they'll call a truce on the prank war, as Toadie hands Stu a tea towel for him to gently dab the flour off Connor's face. Aww. The sweet moment doesn't last too long though as Connor opens up a beer can that Toadie just shook. The beer doth sprayeth everywhereth. (As an aside, say 'beer can' out loud - doesn't it sound like 'bacon' in a Jamaican accent? Heh).

Scarlet Bar
A jazzy Latino-esque beat plays in the background as Sindi starts her first shift. Izzy informs her that they're hosting a school reunion that night and asks her to hang up the banner and decorations around the place that were left in her office.

Karl saunters in to have a chat with his 'most important woman in his life' #2. He also tells her the good news that 'Medicine Sank Flambé' (aka Médecins Sans Frontiéres) called him, but he's less enthused about it this time. Izzy thinks it's stupendous news though and for every bad point he brings up about going, she counteracts with a good one. "Listen Dr Kennedy, I know you can do this and do this very well. You're not in the graveyard yet!"

They're interrupted by Sindi squealing and storming out of the office holding the school reunion banner ('Bates High School Reunion'). "It's them! It's my class; they're coming here tonight! And I wasn't even invited."

Izzy and Karl look suitably bewildered, as one tends to do around our Sindi.

Izzy's Office
Sindi miserably tells Izzy and Karl that the girls that are coming tonight bullied her at school. The worst thing was that no one believed her that she was being targeted; they all thought she was making it up. Sindi says she can't stay there but Izzy tries to calm her down and reminds her that she made a promise to work because they're short staffed. She adds that she'll be there for her and that she knows what it's like to be attacked by bullies as well. The look on Karl's face says, "You do?"

Number 30
The boys are sitting around the kitchen table with their beers playing 'let's reminisce'.

STUART: If these walls could talk, eh?
CONNOR: Yeah, they'd probably say, 'Open up a window and for God's sake put some trousers on.'

They can't believe that their house is going to end up going underwater, so they stand up (trouser-less) to toast the HoT. "Trouser! Trouser! Trou..." ah, you know the drill. Connor wants to get confirmation from Toadie that the council is taking their land from them at the current market value... and that Toadie last had it valued when he thought Stu was selling his share... because they come to realise that they can wreck the place and the council will still pay them cold hard cash. Toadie and Connor ecstatically make plans to alter the house, like making a trap door in the floor for Bob to climb in or bashing a hole in the wall to throw their trash out, but Stu moseys on in with a sledgehammer slung over his shoulder, looking like a construction worker slash underwear model with his Mens Fit boxers on... and... proposes they smash the joint up.

Holy. Heck.

Scummins'
Susan has bought a bottle of wine over to share with Lyn, and most regrettably, Janelle, but Ms Timmins just can't be civil and insults Susan's wine choice. Janae wanders out wearing a dressy little number (some may recognize it as the communal brown dress that Carla, Stephanie and Natalie Blair have all shared), ignoring Suse. Susan asks Janelle if she's comfortable with Janae dressing like that (she says it in fancy terms, but basically means Janae is dressing like a tart and won't get respect from anyone that way), but Janelle can't see a problem.

JANELLE: Save your fashion tips for that Sky girl, she dresses like a nutter. They should lock her in the mad house.
SUSAN: Oh that's not fair.
JANELLE: Admit it, Suse. You're just jealous. My girl could be a top model whereas you, well you're a bit like your wine I'm afraid - seen better days.

She walks off and Susan gapes like a goldfish. Lynnie tries to keep the peace and says that Janelle is just trying to stick up for her kids but Susan thinks Janae needs more guidance than that.

Scarlet Bar
Sindi gathers Karl's empty glass wearing her disguise of dark sunglasses. He tries to make Get Smart jokes with her but she just don't get it. Izzy bounces over and asks if he's hungry but Karl says he's just waiting on Lou then they're heading over to Max's (he'd be there already if Max had his way with the bar) for a visit. In walks Lou, salivating over all the fine young fillies that have gathered. He wants to stay there for dinner but Karl manages to hustle him away, pointing out that he's going goo-goo over one of his nurses if you don't mind. Hey, it's Nurse Sheena! She's such a lovely person. Remember when she did all that nice and kind stuff at the hospital? Remember that? And how she dated Toadie that time? Yeah, what a lovely girl.

Izzy is just telling Sindi that they seem like a nice bunch of girls when Sheena makes her way over to the bar, causing Sindi to hide.

SHEENA: What is she doing here? Come on Sindi, show yourself.

(hides with Sindi) Sheena's MEAN. Sindi pops up and Sheena says she has some nerve showing up there tonight. Izzy can't believe her ears. She says that Sindi is a wonderful person and a fantastic friend, "and if you have a problem with that I'm going to have to ask you to leave." MeanerSheena raises a haughty eyebrow at this.

Number 30
The camera pans across the hallway, stopping at the closed doors leading to the kitchen...

SMASH! CRUNCH! (the boys yell and laugh) THUMP! BANG! (boys whoop joyously) KER-THUMP! SQUINCH! BREAK! TINKLE!

Stu finally hears the phone ringing from the hallway and goes to answer it. We don't actually see the kitchen of destruction being smashed to pieces, and I kind of don't want to. I fear for the kitchen, I really do.

Anyway, Izzy's on the other line and asks him to come and be with Sindi because she's feeling a little uneasy being in close proximity with her old high school compadres. He says he'll be down there asap (he needs to trouser himself up first).

Scummins'
Lyn wants Susan to stay for dessert but she's had just about enough of Janelle for the evening (and vice versa). Janae walks out to get more food from the fridge and Lyn whispers that Susan shouldn't be too hard on Janae, "she's just going through a rebellious stage."

JANAE: What are you looking at, stare bears?

Lyn just laughs and says she was wondering where Janae puts all that food and looks like she does. Janae says she's hardly touched any of it, it's Mike that's been scoffing everything. Red alert! Red alert! There's a boy in the bedroom! Lyn's astounded that Janae has blatantly disregarded one of her house rules but Janae just tells her not to have kittens. Janelle doesn't help things at all by giving Janae more food to take in. "Rebellious phase, ay?" Susan queries, patting Lyn on the shoulder. "Yeah, good luck."

Scarlet Bar
MeanerSheena and all her cronies, Britney, Whitney, Chanterelle, Chandelier, Barbie... sing their school song as Stu walks in behind them. Izzy directs him to her office where Sindi is hiding out. Sindi tells them that they can come in with her but there's no way she's going out there to join the sing along.

Stu plays his dutiful boyfriend role and says he'll go out and have a word with them but Sindi shrieks that doing that will make things worse. Her better idea is to just stay in the office, wait till they leave and pretend that tonight never happened. Good one, Sin. That'll make everything better. And then maybe a rainbow-coloured unicorn will come galloping over a rainbow and whisk you away to Hogwarts.

Scummins'
Lynnie tries to lay down the law again with Janelle by asking to set some ground rules that they both agree upon in regards to her kids. Her main concern is Janae having strange boys in her room. There's plural Mike? Oh man, that's way worse than singular Mike! Janelle agrees and then shouts out like a banshee for Janae to see her.

Janae storms out in a mood because her mum's screaming made Mike bolt (out the window I guess - or perhaps out of a craftily positioned broom closet). Janelle puts on a scene for Lynnie's sake and says that Janae should never have had a boy in her room, especially one they don't know.

JANAE: Well it was never a problem with Bevan... or Dazza, or Mungo, or Kane...
JANELLE: That's enough cheek out of you.
JANAE: Give it a rest, mum. First Scott goes all soft serve now you've turned into a sook as well. And I know this is all your doing. Well you can mind your own beeswax.
JANELLE: Janae!
JANAE: No, if people have got a problem with me, tough bickies. They're just jealous.

Lyn says she has issues with the way Janae dresses but she just says it's her body, so there, and walks off back to the bedroom. "Lynnie..." Janelle ponders, "why are we dark on Janae again?" Lyn looks astounded. Here girls, I'll give you my tape, just press rewind.

Scarlet Bar
Stu gently walks Sindi out of the office. She says he must think she's crazy but he understands that a lot of old memories were stirred up tonight for her.

SINDI: I'm just sorry you were dragged all the way down here for nothing.
STU: Well what are boyfriends for?

Sindi reassures him she'll be fine and he heads off home. Not before passing by Karl and being stopped by MeanerSheena on the way out. "Watch your back," she warns him. Stu can't believe his ears and says that Sindi is the kindest, loveliest person he knows and he doesn't see why they tormented her at school.

MEANERSHEENA: Stuart, I don't know what Sindi told you but you've got it all backwards.
STU: What? How do you know my name?
MEANERSHEENA: I'm a nurse at the Erinsborough hospital. You had an operation recently to restore your sight, right?
STU: Yeah. So?
MEANERSHEENA: Well don't you think it's time you finally opened your eyes?
STU: Very cute.
MEANERSHEENA: Fine, laugh if you want. But think about it - just how much about Little Miss Perfect do you really know? You really do need to watch your back because next time you might lose more than just your eyesight.

Hmm... intriguing.

Izzy goes over to a more chipper looking Karl. It turns out he's decided to go to Africa after all. "Here I am skulking around feeling sorry for myself when people are genuinely suffering." He says he's going for one month and adds that he couldn't have got through the past few weeks without her.