(Monday 25^th – Friday 29^th May 2020)

Willow and Dean returned early from their trip away after Willow’s stand in got her shifts mixed up, leaving the gym shut for a morning.  Although Jasmine wasn’t bothered in the slightest, Willow was furious and ended up firing Stella for her mistake.  Ouch!  She then threw the little Manager sign that Alex had made for her, away.  Sad times.

The truth about Maggie and Marco came tumbling out, as Maggie confessed in order to end Marco’s bid to blackmail her.  Ben was understandably devastated.  She has been lying to him for over twenty years and for their entire marriage.  While Marco played the victim, insisting that Maggie was the one to blame, sleeping with him when she knew he had feelings for her, personally, I’d call into question the ethics of sleeping with a girl who was drunk and utterly heartbroken.

Of course, there were more revelations to come after a deliberate ‘off-hand’ remark to Ziggy about the timing of her birth, prompting the question over whether Ben is really her father.  Already distraught over her mother’s lies to her father, Ziggy was distraught over the idea that Ben might not really be her Dad.  Dean was a tower of strength to his girlfriend and certain that Ben would always be her Dad, no matter what, pointing out that blood wasn’t essential to family.  Together, Ziggy and Ben decided that a paternity test would settle things once and for all so next week, we should have the results.  I so want Ben to be her father!  I would be so sad if they destroyed that bond.  I love Ben and Ziggy as a father/daughter duo and I am so annoyed by this whole storyline.  Can no couple be left untouched by the Summer Bay curse?

With Douglas pleading guilty, Leah was asked to make a victim impact statement for sentencing, which at first, she refused to do, not wanting to relive it all or face him in court.  But when, on her first day back at the Diner, she freaked out over a customer complaining about an order and calling her ‘sweetheart’, she decided she needed to make the statement in order to get closure and attempt to put Douglas behind her for good.  With Justin by her side, Leah made her statement and was heartbreakingly honest about the impact the experience with Douglas has had on her life, including that she can’t even have her boyfriend touch her anymore and she doesn’t know if that will ever change.

Colby was upset to discover that Mac has moved on with Ari and took his grief out on Dean, feeling that he told him to move on for Mac’s sake, not his.  Dean has quite a profound argument – he ended up in jail because of Colby whereas he came out of jail the person he is now because of Ari.

Nikau and Bella had a rather amusing first date, fleecing a couple of cocky lads at a game of pool!  These two do genuinely seem to make a lovely couple so what happens next is very sad.  And it’s done pretty well.  I was genuinely emotional.  I have made no secret that I’m not a huge Bella fan but she broke my heart during Friday’s episode, as did Nik.

Having got closer to Nik recently, Bella asked Willow for sex advice.  Concerned, Willow decided to be honest, telling her that she would know when the time was right and not to rush into anything.  She pointed out that to sleep with someone, you have to completely trust them.  What she didn’t realise was that she was giving such immediate advice and that that very afternoon, Bella decided to get all dressed up and invite Nik round for some alone time.

It’s worth noting that Nik was extremely hesitant and he asked her multiple times if she was sure.  He was so worried about doing the wrong thing, aware of what she had been through with Tommy.  But she insisted that it was what she wanted.  Unfortunately, when they got into bedroom, Bella panicked and threw him out.  The bewildered lad panicked, more for Bella than himself and ran off to find Ryder to get Bella some support.  When Ryder found Bella locked in her room, he found Colby and Willow who eventually burst in and found that she had self-harmed, cutting up her arm.

While Ryder automatically blamed Nik, Bella was quick to exonerate him.  Terrified, Nik heartbreakingly begged his Mum to help him run away.  Gemma was brilliant though, pointing out that if he liked Bella enough to sleep with her then he liked her enough to visit her at the hospital.  She took him to see Bella where the poor lad was so frightened that Colby would blame him.  Thankfully, he didn’t, although he didn’t think it was appropriate for Bella to have visitors, having just been told by Tori that with it having been her second incident of self-harm, she would advise admission to a mental health facility.  Australian health care must have a lot more funding than here in the UK!

That aside, this was a really significant episode and the pain and the anguish surrounding a really difficult subject was covered really well.  Everyone involved goes through all different emotions, from Bella, to Colby, to Willow, to Nikau, to Ryder and the episode dealt with them all.  It’s not an easy subject.  I do hope though that it’s not a case of patching Bella up and she’s fine.  Self-harm is so much more complex than that and I hope Home and Away are ready to represent that now that this is the storyline they have started.

Meanwhile… John and Marilyn began to get things back on track again, both apologising to each other and Marilyn beginning to explain how she felt about everything she went through during the siege.  It looks like early days but it’s definitely a start.  Hooray!  Jasmine was extremely peppy, overwhelmed with joy at her pregnancy as she settled back into work at the hospital.  She plans to call the baby Ryan if it’s a boy.  Aww.  Sadly, I don’t think this is going to go as well as she thinks…

Home and Away has returned to filming & airs five days a week, Channel 5, 1:15pm & 6pm

There is a sneak peek episode on 5Star at 6:30pm on the same days

These reviews are based on the Channel 5 episodes