(Monday 15^th June – Wednesday 16^th September 2020)

Well, a LOT has been happening in Summer Bay these past few months!  I hardly even know where to start!

Firstly, Ben and Maggie had split up when Ben found out that twenty odd years ago, when they were on a break (hello, Ross and Rachel), she slept with his brother, Marco.  Bad form.  But the good news is, that they eventually found their way back to each other.  The bad news is that they decided to start afresh in Italy.  Great for the characters, sad for the show as the Astonis’ were a great asset, as were the actors.  Ben gifted his Board Shop to Dean and they offered him and Ziggy the house for cheap rent, although they stupidly decided they would prefer their cramped house share with Colby and Bella.  I mean… why?  And who will move into the house…?  I have one idea but we’ll see how that pans out.

The Parata Family have been at the centre of a lot of storylines recently.  They’re kind of like a palatable version of the Braxtons’ from ten years ago.  Speaking of, I hear they’re bringing Heath Braxton back next year.  I really hope they’re not just pulling Home and Away back into that hideous period of criminal gangs.  It was awful back then.  I had to stop watching.  It’s much more interesting watching families and friendships.  If I wanted to watch The Sopranos, I would.

Anyway, Tane Parata arrived in the Bay, wanting to look after nephew, Nikau and suddenly produced a house without any legal income for them, Ari and Gemma to move into.  He immediately struck up a flirtation with Mac, who was already seeing Ari and while nothing has happened between them, Mac has struggled to control her attraction to her boyfriend’s brother.  More recently, he has started sleeping with new girl, Amber so Mac, who has given Tane a job at Salt, hasn’t been able to control her jealousy.  She admitted her feelings to Ari but they decided to make things work and Mac has since put every effort into her relationship.

There was a break in at the Diner, setting Colby on the case of the Parata Family.  He was utterly convinced that Ari was responsible because the intruder, who terrified poor Leah was wearing a generic black hoodie and hey presto, Ari along with almost everyone on the planet, also owned a generic black hoodie.  Mac tried and failed to provide him with an alibi.  Borne out of jealousy, Colby seriously targeted Ari but was unable to prove he was responsible.  When the anniversary of her husband’s death came around, Gemma and her family were required to return to New Zealand to scatter his ashes in their family’s tradition.  However, Colby put a stop on all the boys’ passports so on Gemma managed to get through security, trapping the boys in Australia.  I believe the actress who plays Gemma has now left the series completely (which doesn’t really make sense for the character) and the rest of the characters are staying put.

Meanwhile, Bella returned from therapy a changed person.  She is actually likeable!  She is mature, calm and thoughtful and currently makes Colby look like a complete and utter mess.  She immediately set boundaries between her and her brother.  Well, someone had to!  And she was able to reconcile with Nikau and so far, they have developed a lovely, caring relationship, which both of them are happy to take slowly.  Aww.

Poor John collapsed with a stroke, leading Marilyn to end up as his carer.  For a moment, it looked like they might get back together but it soon became clear that she still wasn’t in love with him.  They just couldn’t get along as she struggled to look after him and he struggled to cope with his condition.  So now, Marilyn has moved in with Alf, Martha, Roo and Ryder and John has remained at home, which has all the adaptations they made for Jett with Amber as his carer.  She seriously pushes him hard to improve his health.  It’s sad.  I really wanted John and Marilyn to work out.  But the siege really destroyed their relationship.

Ryder got a real shock when his Dad, Evan showed up wanting to develop a relationship with him.  More shocks were in store when he found out that Evan was dying.  The pair were able to make some lasting memories before Evan left town, not wanting Ryder to see him die.  Roo left with Evan, not wanting him to die alone and clearly having developed feelings for him, even if that was unsaid.  Ryder was devastated when Roo returned alone and broke the news to him.  She brought Evan’s guitar with her, with a plaque on it: For My Son.  Poor Ryder.  What a sad story.

Jasmine has become seriously unwell over the past few months.  She became obsessed with Grace, posing as her mother online at times and implying that Tori is a bad mother at other times.  She drunkenly kissed Colby as well as attacked him, was aggressive towards Tori and awful to Willow who remained her faithful friend.  When Tori was car jacked with Grace in the car, Jasmine went as far as reporting her to the police and contacting a lawyer, blaming innocent Tori for the whole thing.  What had happened was that she had jumped out of the car to help John who had fallen out of his wheelchair.  Nikau, scared of being fitted up for the break in at the Diner, as Colby was gunning for him and his family, stole the car in a bid to run away, not realising the baby was in the car.  As soon as he realised, he called Tane for help.  Tane returned Grace anonymously and so far, nobody knows who robbed the Diner and nobody has discovered who stole the car.

After the truth came out about Jasmine’s online life, stealing items belonging the Grace and generally weird, obsessive behaviour, Tori was left with no choice but to take out an AVO against her as well as to try and get her some mental health support.  Jasmine ran off to stay with Robbo’s parents but as soon as they discovered the truth, they sent her back to Summer Bay to try and get the help she needed.  Tori and Jasmine finally made a breakthrough and hopefully, she is now starting to get back on track.

Dean got a shock when an ex-fling, Amber showed up (John’s carer) and immediately hit on him.  He didn’t get time to warn Colby, who didn’t quite the same reception.  She punched him in the face!  So, the story goes that Colby, Dean and Amber’s brother, Jai were all attempting to rescue Bella from Ross when there was a car accident.  Colby left Dean and Jai for dead on the side of the road without even checking if they were okay.  Dean survived by Jai died.  Amber has hated him ever since and it took a long time for Dean to forgive him. 

Willow was thrilled to see Amber, who was a little unsure as she was worried about having slept with Dean after they split up.  Willow didn’t care.  A lot has changed since they last saw each other!  The pair have since been going on a lot of wild nights out, with Amber pulling Tane and trying to get Willow to hook up with someone/anyone too, although Willow isn’t interested.  All the Willex fans, including myself are still hoping that she is still too hung up on Alex to think about dating anyone new!  Oh, and Ziggy’s divorce came through.  Hooray!

But just as things began to look up, disaster struck – Ross Nixon’s body was discovered.  And who best to investigate his murder but Angelo Rosetta, the police officer who was sacked from the force twice, once when he was jailed for murder and once because he deliberately let a human trafficker escape.  I mean, why wouldn’t he allowed onto the police force a third time and be made Detective?  That’s completely realistic!  Honestly, I don’t think there has ever been a character I have disliked more than him so please excuse my tone in all future blogs.  I won’t be able to help myself.  Ugh!  Vile!

Anyway, Angelo arrived in the Bay and like me, Alf could hardly believe he had been let back onto the police force.  He interviewed Colby and Dean about Ross, trying to ascertain what happened the last time they saw him.  The boys held it together and stuck to the stories they gave at the time, although Dean was clearly rattled.  At the time, he returned to the scene of the crime repeatedly, strung out on sleeping pills.  Colby pretended he was holding things together but really he was haunted by memories of shooting Bella’s Dad on that awful night he found and rescued her.  I didn’t watch the show then but I gather that Ross abused Colby and he suffered a great deal.  It was in a moment of great distress that trauma that he chose to kill him.

When Angelo wanted to interview Bella and Willow, everyone panicked, Colby drilling the story into Bella, determined that she get it right.  When Bella overheard Colby and Dean discussing a backup plan, which was basically Colby rightfully taking the blame (he committed the crime) and Dean, Ziggy (who is oblivious to the actual truth) and Willow taking care of Bella, she panicked and decided to run away.  Shocked by the truth of what really happened and desperately in love with Bella, Nik stole Tane’s stash of cash and ran away with her.

Home and Away currently airs on weekdays @ 1:15pm & 6pm on Channel 5

Sneak peek on 5Star, weekdays @ 6:30pm

These reviews are based on the lunch time episodes