Episode 7222

Extended Summary

Dean parks his car near the beach and is greeted by Ziggy, who asks how Karen is. Dean says she’s whinging about the food and flirting with doctors, so obviously doing well. The staff think she put too much pressure on herself with the job at Salt and are working to ease her back into work. He asks about Ben’s visit to hospital. Mackenzie comes past but doesn’t slow down and only briefly acknowledges Dean’s greeting. Willow joins Dean and Ziggy; Ziggy mentions her problems with Colby, as well as Robbo being back. Since Ziggy is on her way to see Ben and Willow is going to work, Dean is chosen to go see Mackenzie. He finds her in Salt and she tells him she followed his advice and broke up with Colby. Dean asks if he needs to thump him and Mackenzie says Robbo beat him to it. She starts crying and Dean comforts her.

Colby is making a phone call to Lance, telling him Robbo’s lost it. Bella comes home and notices his bruised face. Colby doesn’t give an explanation and hurries out. At the gym, Mason has told Willow about his internship and she congratulates him. Mason says he doesn’t want to let Alex down and mischievously notes she’s full of surprises. Willow asks when he starts. Mason thinks it’s a couple of weeks, enough time for them to hire a replacement for him. Willow mentions Robbo being back but neither of them are expecting him to spend much time at the gym.

Ziggy arrives home with pizza. Ben and Maggie are looking into counselling and medication. Ben has accepted counselling, even if he’s not keen on the idea, but is worried about how complicated medication sounds, saying they have to get the right drug and dosage for it to make a difference and then there’s side effects. Maggie says they are ways of combatting that and encourages him to keep an open mind. Back at Salt, Dean pours Mackenzie a drink. Mackenzie says Colby will always be a cop and in danger. Dean doesn’t alleviate her fears by saying this isn’t the first time he’s been punched. Colby arrives and insists they talk. Mackenzie takes him out onto the balcony. Colby didn’t know anything was wrong and thinks she should have spoken to him. Mackenzie says she knows she’s being irrational but she can’t live her life always afraid of something happening to him. His phone rings and she tells him to take it. After she’s gone, he answers it: It’s Lance.

At the Diner, Irene asks Bella how Colby is. Bella says he’s not talking to her. Irene notes he didn’t see it coming and Bella says he needs to learn to duck. Irene realises she’s talking about Colby being punched by Robbo…except Bella didn’t know it was Robbo until Irene just said. Irene then adds she was talking about Mackenzie dumping him, which is also news to Bella. Near the beach, Willow tells Dean they need to talk to Colby. Dean reminds her he said at the start that he wouldn’t get involved if things went wrong but Willow argues that it’s not a case of Colby stuffing up. Bella appears and asks if it’s true. She says what Colby looks like is nothing compared to what she’ll do to Mackenzie. Dean and Willow stop her in her tracks and Willow says they should be supporting Colby. Up in Salt, Colby comes back into the restaurant and calls out for Mackenzie, but she’s in the store room crying.

Ziggy clears the plates away after the meal. Ben says he’s finished his research and will call Alex in the morning about counselling…but is going to give the medication a miss. Ziggy and Maggie aren’t certain that’s wise, since the doctor recommended both, but Ben thinks once the case is sorted everything will be back to normal, despite Maggie pointing out it could be a while before charges are dropped. At the gym, Willow rejoins Mason and they discuss that they’ll miss working together; Mason has sorted an advertisement for his replacement. Willow asks Mason to stay on while she deals with a family crisis, even though his shift ended half an hour ago, and promises she’ll be back for locking up. Mason agrees.

Dean and Bella are setting up a fish and chip supper at the Diner flat, with Dean helping himself to chips. Willow arrives and learns Colby isn’t there yet. Bella is about to go look for him when he turns up. He realises not only do the others know Mackenzie broke up with him but they knew the relationship had problems before he did. He declines the fish and chips, instead settling himself on the sofa with a box of beer bottles. At Salt, Ziggy arrives looking for Dean and Mackenzie explains he swapped his shift. Ziggy wonders why she’s working and Mackenzie accepts she should go home. She declines an offer to come round, saying she hopes Dean’s supporting Colby.

Colby continues drinking, saying Dean was right and this is another relationship he’s stuffed up. The others tell him it’s not his fault and try and get him to go to bed. He lies down on the couch and quickly dozes off. Willow has to get to work and Dean has to meet Ziggy. Bella says she’ll be fine on her own. After the others have gone, she drapes a blanket over Colby. Downstairs in the Diner, Dean and Willow ponder whether Colby and Mackenzie will sort things out. Dean joins Ziggy on the veranda. She says that Ben’s still up and down, explaining about the diagnosis and him not wanting to take medication. Dean guesses that he keeps making excuses.

Willow joins Mason at the gym. Mason gets a text with his hospital roster and is shocked to realise that he’s starting tomorrow. He suspects Alex fast-tracked him, thinking she was doing him a favour, and another doctor’s sick. He offers to delay it but Willow says she’ll be fine, although her expression after he’s gone suggests otherwise. Meanwhile, Ziggy and Dean arrive at the farm house. Maggie says Ben’s outside and Dean goes to join him. He mentions visiting Karen, saying she’s doing better thanks to the doctors. Ben realises Ziggy filled him in and says he’ll just sign up for counselling. Dean says that did help Karen but so did medication. Ben says it’s not for him. Dean says Karen used to make excuses and he let her: It was like she didn’t care about him, but now she’s got better he has her back.

Dean and Willow chat outside the surf club about Ben. They see someone up in Salt and Dean thinks they should check it out. Willow thinks they should call the police but Dean replies that the police is passed out drunk on the couch. He climbs over the gate at the entrance of Salt, with Willow waiting on the other side. Dean sees a hooded figure dousing the place with petrol and turns the lights on. He’s furious: It’s Bella.