This week on Home and Away in Australia, as Jo undergoes hypnotherapy to remember the accident that killed her mum, she unlocks a vital memory which may prove her innocence!
Two years on from the car accident that killed matriarch Kristina, the Langham family still don’t have answers as to what really happened on that fateful day.
Eldest daughter Jo (Maddison Brown) had been driving at the time that the car came off the road and hit a tree.
Coming to after being knocked out, Jo was horrified to find her mother slumped in the passenger seat with no signs of life.
Since then, Jo has been unable to recall what led to the accident. Her memory is clouded by the effects of PTSD, and she suffers frequent panic attacks as she flashes back to the accident.
The uncertainty has left the family fractured, with no definitive account of how the tragedy unfolded.
Jo’s sister Lacey (Sophea Pennington) has long suspected that their father, David (Jeremy Lindsay Taylor), used his position in the police to conceal the true cause of the accident, in order to protect Jo.
The rift caused Lacey to disown her family, moving out of their home at the beginning of the year and changing her surname to her mother’s maiden name.
When David and Jo later turned up in Summer Bay after David was transferred to Yabbie Creek police station, Lacey was not keen for a family reunion, still accusing her sister of killing their mother.
After discovering that Lacey had used money given to her from the sale of the family home to try and hire a private investigator, David decided it was finally time to delve into the investigation himself.
Hoping to bring some closure to the family, he requested the case file which, up until now, he hadn’t been able to face looking through.
Although everything seemed to check out, and he confirmed Jo’s drink and drug test results were clean as expected, David was puzzled that the identity of the person who had called the emergency services following the accident had not been declared.
Jo had always presumed it was a passer-by, but when David requested an audio copy of the call, he was stunned to hear that it was in fact Jo herself who had made the call.
Jo was equally as shocked when David told her the truth, and refused to believe it until she heard the call herself. She played the call repeatedly, hoping something would trigger a memory, unable to understand how she could have blocked it out.
It wasn’t long before Lacey came by the Beach House and discovered the new information, which only raised her suspicions of her sister further.
David stressed that Jo had only just regained consciousness at the time of the call, but Lacey remained dubious.
Determined to find out the truth once and for all, Jo began researching ways to retrieve repressed memories of traumatic events.
Next week, as TV Week reports, Jo turns up at the police station with some lunch for her dad, but David quickly realises the visit isn’t as straightforward as it seems.
Jo comes clean, admitting that she’s thinking about undergoing hypnotherapy to try and recall the accident.
“Jo is desperate to understand what happened that day,” Jeremy Lindsay Taylor told TV Week. “David is wary of hypnotherapy, as it may bring up the trauma of that day for Jo. She already suffers from PTSD and has panic attacks. Will this trigger that even more?”
Despite his concerns, David remains determined to stand by his daughter.
“David supports and loves Jo and will do everything he can to help her move on from this tragedy,” Jeremy continues.
But while David wants Jo to heal, and for the family rift to come to an end, Lacey sees things very differently.
“Lacey sees this [memory loss] as the opportunity to justify her actions and her distrust of Jo and her opinion of what happened that day,” Jeremy adds.
Wanting answers, Jo arranges a session with hypnotherapist Amelia (Megan O’Connell), who has been recommended by Dr Bree (Juliet Godwin).
Still nervous, Jo insists on having the session at the police station so that David can be present. Amelia reassures her that she will remain in control throughout, and David watches anxiously as Jo goes under.
Jo’s mind drifts first to a childhood memory of being pushed on a swing, before the moment of the crash forces its way back into her head.
As the images sharpen, Jo begins to squirm uncomfortably, reliving the terrifying sight of another car racing towards them, and being forced to swerve off the road to avoid it.
Amongst the confusion, Jo sees a flash of a grey Mercedes with a very distinctive number plate.
When Jo wakes, there’s no mistaking what she has seen–the accident wasn’t her fault, and for the first time, she and David have a concrete lead to follow.
But while the breakthrough finally clears Jo of any blame in her mother’s death, it also raises new questions.
Who was driving the Mercedes, and could this discovery be the start of uncovering
