Some more 2004
Neighbours episodes, that veer from the genuinely uncomfortable to watch to - at last! - a happier one. Lana is so desperate to quell the rumours of her being gay she's actually planning to sleep with some creep at a party, which Sky is completely freaked by. Freaked to such an extent that she shows up at a party she otherwise had no intention of even going to and pretty much openly begs her not to go through with it, which has the effect of making her look like a jealous girlfriend. Fortunately her display of - it's hard to say public humiliation, since Sky seems to be so focused on protecting Lana that she could genuinely give zero f***s about her own reputation - whatever it is works. Lana finally stands up for herself, outs herself and marches off arm-in-arm with Sky. Yay!
This happiness lasts for half the next episode, when she gets attacked in the girl's locker room in a scene that's actually excruciating to watch. Jesus Wept. Can this chick catch a f*****g break?! Lana is terrified again, and Sky is just absolutely f*****g livid.
We then finally - finally - get a lighter episode. Sky and Lana's comic strip is being published by an underground gay magazine, whose editor wants to interview them. The pair of them trying not to laugh as she starts waffling on about post-modern metatextuality and patriarchal theory - when they're just having fun with these things - is very funny. She also makes the - entirely understandable - assumption that they're "partners" in another sense. Cue moment of cute embarrassed, shy, awkwardness (though it's interesting that neither actually denies it). And they're soon happily posing cheek to cheek for photos with big cheesy grins on their faces. Aww. They really do have a fantastic chemistry together, and it's so nice to finally have an episode where they can just be giggly and happy and have fun with each other.
On another note, Stu and Sindi have pashed! I do remember this, so in hindsight it's been obvious that Stu's antagonism toward her has been partly based on attraction, though interesting that there's also genuine irritation at the way she lets everyone, including Toadie, treat her like a doormat. And it's cute that after one kiss and one awkward conversation, he's suddenly telling Toadie to man up and start treating her right.
