Another cracking night for the “family show” that includes themes of violence, alcohol abuse, sex and not one but two new characters arriving in the bay to stir up trouble.
We’re starting the first of many prison events tonight.
Bella can not deal with not knowing what happened to Colby, who is in solitary confinement, but as it turns out, the guards are not as heartless as Dean says, and they pass on a note to Bella from Colby.
When Nikau arrives, oh yes, he’s back from New Zealand, Dean is just about to send Bella the letter, and she pats his face a bit like a puppy to familiarise herself with him.
“Nikau excuses himself to deal with some “family material,” which is very convenient because Gemma, his mother, just gave Nikau the Pounamu necklace of his father, a treasured family heirloom, which suggests that Nik is prepared to step up and “be a kid.
Dean sends Bella the letter anyway.
Cue the waterworks.
The monotonous sound of Colby conveys a heartfelt note to his sister as a montage emerges of him shunning a very tall man in the prison yard.
As expected, Colby took advice from Dean’s bedside to do “whatever it takes” to insure that he remains safe, even though that implies being alone.
He loses ties with his sister as well, which tears her up.
It wasn’t the triumphant death I expected, even though there was a shanking at last, and it seems like the manufacturers have opted for a peaceful escape in the expectation that we’ll forget that Colby’s rotting away is a trap.
Ryder is now back, and has a blue badge to show it, from his cocktail making resort.
In her role as Chloe Anderson, “the tough client,” we get our first glimpse of our very own Sam Barrett (if you’re in WA).
It’s Sam’s first major acting job, and her massive target was to be at home and away.
Anyway, Chloe quickly wants to order a Negroni without an ID on the wrong side of Ryder, and then she shows him up in the cocktail store, which is his speciality.
Return to Nikau, and his urgent business with the family is not as it looks. He meets Chloe, the new kid, and they have a strong history.
Nikau is about to tell Ari and Mac about Chloe, but with tears running down her cheeks, Bella breaks into their home.
Ari, who was also in custody, knows that Colby needs Bella to forget him. Dean agrees as well.
Return to a recent arrival.
“Chloe’s in town,” blurts Nikau out.
Mac asks, of course, who Chloe is and Ari answers with a bit of a bombshell.
He claims, “She’s my stepdaughter,” which is news for the Mac.
Chloe returns to her house and it’s a very emotional re-encounter with Ari.
She moves in and the old days are nostalgic of them.
But let’s not forget that this is Summer Bay, so it’s not long before Mac, with Ryder in earshot, tells Zig and starts to theorise about worst-case scenarios.
Ari is very shaken by the abrupt arrival of Chloe, but it’s evident that they had a strong friendship and he tells her that she wants to tell her mum where she is.
Chloe fights back, though.
They’re hashing it out, and the backstory is here.
Before Ari was sent to prison, Ari and Chloe’s mum, Anna, were married, but Anna kept the secret from Chloe, who thought Ari had deserted her.
Ari is a reasonably good man and tells Mac all about his history.
He tells Mac, “Losing the two of them broke me.” “I never felt that I would love anyone again and then I met you and it all changed.”
He’s smooth and returns their peace, but because Anna shows up at the entrance, it lasts only minutes.
My immediate thoughts are, how did she get there so fast? Yet time and space are not limited to our rules of physics in Summer Bay.
It’s a bit of an understatement to say Anna’s not pleased, and she’s here to take Chloe home, but neither Chloe nor Nikau answer their phone.
It goes on a little bit, but the children stay out all night and Anna gets more concerned about it.
In order to keep a close watch on Ari, Mac agrees to move in for a few days, but he insists it’s not a smart idea, just as Anna seems very frenzied.
Martha loves to see the entire family back together again, but little does she know that Kieran, her son, is scrounging for alcohol.
When Ryder sees, Keiran orders a vodka soda at Salt and Keiran pretends to have said club soda. However, Ryder is on to him.
Kieran puts in a call to a nearby bottle store, still desperate for a beer, and it is delivered. At this point, it’s dim, but that place really went above and beyond.
In the morning, he stumbles out of his van.
He’s already late for work and by the time he arrives, there’s a queue outside the gym. Jas wouldn’t be pleased for Robbo’s dead gym to slip into disrepute.
And should Kieran at least get a pair of shorts or a gym top from the wardrobe department because the guy is rocking up in his washed out jeans and a sweater.
Ryder tells Roo, “I don’t want to make problems for the man… he was trying to buy alcohol.”
Roo specifically questions Keiran (which he refuses because he is an alcoholic) and then takes her mum aside to fill her in on a moment of “girl time.”
They agree to keep Alf from the issue.
Roo and Martha riffle through Kieran’s van after further enquiry.
Are you going to smell that? “Says Roo. “It’s like whisky stale.”
And you knew it, Kieran’s figure was ominously looming over them at that moment.
Ziggy and Tane at last.
It’s been a while since they’ve had a bit of air time, but it’s made up for by the producers.
Each time she lays her eyes on Tane and his massive arms, Ziggy basically gawks.
On this particular occasion, she’s in Salt.
“Lately, you’ve been on my mind a lot. Just give me a chance,’ Tane tells Zig.
They’re suddenly tearing each other’s clothes off after an ad break. And then, from her steamy nap, Zig wakes up.
For some time, their awkward dynamic continues, at the gym, at the beach, and then Zig can no longer deny it.
He’s at the house of her.
‘I don’t want to talk,’ she tells Tane. Well, it’s a good sign he’s in.
Then Mac comes home to discover the pair on the couch have just done the deed.
She doesn’t make a noise and instead expresses herself by letting her jaw drop to the ground because, at a very poignant moment when the old flame of her own boyfriend is in town, it has no doubt reignited her feelings for Tane.
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