So after a lot of time and money, I managed to get my hands on every episode from 2007 onwards, including the 2011 episodes that are missing from Youtube. I've just watched 2009-2010, and after i finish those missing 2011 eps i'll move on to 07-08.
My main takeaway is... 2009 was largely pretty bad with a few good spots, but 2010 is such a massive improvement and so engaging. I always like the show best when there is a large narrative hook that drives a lot of the subplots and ends up involving most of the street rather than random disconnected storylines. This season being driven by Steph pregnancy works SO well. The Toadie/Steph sham wedding, Toadie/Sonya slow burn, Kennedy-Scully families falling out all leading to Steph killing Ringo and going to jail felt like great storytelling for this show, rather than the typical "short term arc then wrap it with a bow and move on" storytelling we typically get from Neighbours. And the disintegration of Rebecca and Pauls marriage over the year leading into Who Pushed PR was pretty great too.
Some random tidbits:
-Probably universally agreed on, but Dan Fitzgerald SUCKS!
-Declan 2.0 is such a downgrade. FakeDec has the personality of a cardboard cutout. The way the chemistry of the teen group changes and diminishes when the swap happens is so wild. It's like the life gets sucked out of teen group scenes when he takes over.
-The Toadie-Sonya will-they-won't-they chemistry is so strong, and I love that their chemistry gets stronger once they reunite (as opposed to so many other couples who are only interesting pre-getting together.) Take Ep 6005, for example. They have more chemistry together in those scenes (without an actual kiss!) than anyone else I've ever seen Toadie with.
-Crazy that more people (other than Lucas) didn't pick up on Toadie and Stephs relationship being a sham. They don't look like they're in love at all, and all Toadie does is look at Sonya with heart eyes whenever she's on the scene. Can't believe they fooled anyone for that long.
-The Parkers were the worst. Was so glad to see the back of them.
-Lou was such a great wildcard in these seasons.
-There were a lot of kids on the scene in 2010. Feels like half of the shows characters were under 21 for a while there.
-Paul trying to keep his family together by controlling them, resulting in him losing Rebecca's love for good and her having an affair with Michael is so well played out. The man really can't stop making the same mistakes over and over again, and I love that Rebecca doesn't change her mind and forgive him like Terese does in future seasons (over and over again.)
-My favourite kid-friend duos are Callum-Sophie and, weirdly enough, Zeke-Donna (particularly after Dec swaps over and Donna and Zeke are forced to suffer through hanging out with FakeDec and Kate all the time, ugh...)
-Scott McGregor (Brennan) really couldn't deliver dialogue to save his life in his first few months on the show. The thing that saves him is his chemistry with Kate which is SUCH an improvement over FakeDec/Kate.
-Really struggled with Lyn Scully in some of these episodes. God she could be insufferable sometimes.
-Love how cluttered and real the houses felt in this era compared to the modern "this is definitely a set" houses of the last 10 years...