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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mel O&#039;Drama" data-source="post: 249897" data-attributes="member: 23">It seems the timings of watching this series have worked out perfectly. Or, more accurately, I've been extremely lucky.When I first began watching, the first three seasons were available to watch on Prime, while the fourth wasn't. For most of the time I've accepted that my viewing would end at the close of Season Three (which, as it happened, actually had an ending that was quite neatly tied up). As I ran out of episodes, I'd started to consider watching Season Four on YouTube (remarkably the entire series seems to be on there), but then, miraculously, Prime made Season Four available (while removing Season Two).This year has seen yet more major cast changes. Gone is Wendy Hughes, bumping Brett Climo to second billing (a change even more noticeable by the fact that long-gone Josh Lucas remained as third billed in the opening credits behind Hughes to the end of Season Three). Gone, too, is Ben Geurens. He actually departed before the end of Season Three when Michael went to meet his grandfather in Ireland. We learn at the beginning of S4 that Kathleen has now joined them. But there's been very little detail about her reasons for doing so, considering her husband and business are carrying on as usual in Paterson's Ridge (with Kathleen gone and James Gleeson dead, who on earth is running the paper?).Also conspicuous by his absence is Guy Pearce. Curiously, he's featured in the revamped credits in third billing, with Rob said to be off running cattle for a few weeks. I'd imagine he was getting rather busy at this time, and perhaps some scheduling problems kept him from doing the opening episodes.Stepping into Rob's shoes is his childhood friend, <s>Wolverine</s> Duncan, who's been off with the Navy for some years. Duncan comes with a significantly traumatic backstory and great efforts have been made for introductions to be made around town. He's even been given his own credit in the opening titles, despite this appearing to be one of his first roles. All the same, I can't help feeling that the character is an addition to cover for Rob until Guy returns, perhaps with some hasty tweaks to scripts. Many of his feats are those that one can easily envisage Rob doing (apart from the kiss with Rob's sister Danni, of course). He's even got a similar connection with Rob's beau Montana.Whatever the case, it all works. Hugh Jackman filling in for Guy Pearce says "pedigree" in any world, doesn't it? Nevertheless, there's something about Jackman - for all his nice guy reputation - I've never been able to take to. His first scene saw him step from the train and clear his throat, which is something guaranteed to put me on guard. Turns out Jackman does a lot of glottal stuff - grunts and "aaah"s. Unfortunately, I feel the same way about throat clearing acting that Susie Blake's announcer felt about dressing gown dramas.Still, there's no denying Hugh has a great deal of screen presence. And it's only five or six episodes, four of which I've already watched.Meanwhile, Miss Kirov - the only remaining member of the fascinating Jewish Russian family to remain beyond their initial appearances in Season Two - has opened a tearoom behind her store, and is employing Danni in both. This gave a traveller to town the opportunity to get stuck into a (possibly unintentional) double entendre as he walked up to Danni outside the store as she wrote the specials on an A-board. Keeping his eyes fixed on Danni, he flatly declared "I would like to taste your wares".As if that's not enough, there was another possible appearance from a genuine historical figure (albeit with an incredible amount of dramatic licence) when Mrs Tan walked out of her role as housekeeper following a disagreement with Danni, and was replaced by a chopsy Irish woman with no recommendations (her falling out with her last employer, we learn in dialogue vague enough to get the imagination firing, concerned a man to whom she wasn't married and the family's heirloom table). She did things her way, barked orders rather than followed them, and wasted no time in physically punishing young Josh for putting a frog in her kitchen.And the woman's name?   ...Mary Kelly. Which casts a new light on the Aussie-ism "you little ripper".Emily has become a whole lot more enjoyable now that some genuine bile has come to the fore. It began with a newcomer to town -Jessie McClusky:  a "scarlet woman" with a low-cut dress who looks a bit like Wynonna Judd. She's taken over the hotel, shocking the town. She seemed to recognise Emily from a distance and Emily later recognised Jessie's name with horror. All of which led me to believe that Emily was perhaps one of her "girls" in a former life.When a group of local women gathered outside the hotel to boo and (literally) cast stones, Emily joined them, marching in to order Jessie to leave. Horrified, Colin later spoke to her of his shock at her actions, and the conversation ended with her screeching at him and slapping his face when she thought Colin had leapt to the same conclusion I had ("My true colours, I'm afraid", she later said of her verbal and physical violence, filling me with hope that she won't spend this entire season simpering with radiant pregnant happiness).Turns out Emily is one of her girls, but not in the way I'd thought: Jessie is in fact Emily's mother. And so Emily's background is not as twee as I'd come to believe. She tearfully talked of visiting friends' homes and not being able to reciprocate in case they saw the way she lived or asked awkward questions, in a scene I found rather profound.And so, romantically entwined with a woman he thought he knew whose secrecy around her past is threatening their present and threatening the rules by which he lives,  Colin has become George Bligh. Which seems appropriate, both being Brett Climo and all.It's as though the scriptwriters heard my complaints and fixed it.</blockquote>

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