Episode 8016

Extended Summary

Mali is throwing his launch party outside the surf club, with lots of balloons and music and handing out flyers and special offers. Mackenzie calls down encouragement from the balcony and also alerts him to an approaching John. John is aware that Mali got permission from the committee for the event but still isn’t keen on the loud music. Mali takes him inside and shows him the redesigned shop, which has a larger area with stands. Mackenzie has her staff bring some burgers out, which John helps himself to one of. He gets a phone call from Alf about the sun screen, which is on a display table nearby.

At the caravan park house, Alf finishes his phone call to John, telling him to collect up all the tubes. Marilyn points out that Roo had a reaction to the face mask, not the sunscreen, and there haven’t been any other reports of such reactions. Roo isn’t convinced and says she has to take steroids and antihistamines until the rash clears up. Marilyn calls it a mild reaction but Roo says she’d hate for anyone else to go through it. Alf decides to go and give John a hand.

Down by the beach, Leah tries to get Justin to think more positively about the counselling. Justin says he knows he has to keep going and wishes he could have had a normal life and raised Ava himself, but he doesn’t think Amanda can undo what happened to him. Leah suggests she’ll teach him coping strategies. She gets a call about Roo being home. Justin convinces her to go and visit while he goes for a walk.

Alf and John have met up outside the surf club. They discuss how Marilyn and Roo are feeling before John says he recovered twenty-three tubes of the sun screen. Alf says that means seven were taken. John points out that, since they weren’t selling them, there’s no paper trail to follow. They go inside where Alf puts up a sign telling everyone to hand the sun screen back in. John says he’ll e-mail all the members. Alf tells him to put a sign up at the juice bar and gives Mali one for the board shop. He also compliments him on the redesign, which leaves John looking a bit put out.

Marilyn brings Roo her antihistamine and again tries to suggest that no-one else has had a reaction to the face mask, saying maybe it could have been something else, like a pillowcase, shampoo, cat, dog or horse. Roo sarcastically notes she hasn’t seen any horses around recently and it started when she put the face mask on. Marilyn suggests it was a delayed reaction but Roo isn’t impressed. Meanwhile, Justin is on the beach, staring out to sea. He sits down, looking miserable.

Leah turns up at the caravan park house with coffee and greets Marilyn. Roo comes downstais and Leah tries to say she’s looking better. Leah asks Marilyn what her other customers think. It’s clear that Marilyn hasn’t told anyone. Roo and Leah both think she should warn people and get them to look out for similar reactions.

Alf runs into Justin near the surf club and they discuss the board shop relaunch. Justin mentions he was thinking about his counselling but takes the arrival of Marilyn as an excuse to head upstairs for a drink. Alf worries that Marilyn left Roo on her own and Marilyn says Leah’s there. Marilyn is relieved there’s been no reports of anything happening with the sun screen but then John announces over the microphone that people shouldn’t use it, taking a tube off one young man and telling him to wash it off. Marilyn protests there’s been no reaction to the sun screen and thinks they’re overreacting. Alf thinks they need to take it seriously.

Alf returns home and finds Leah there. Roo has gone for a lie-down in her room. Alf talks about running into Justin, saying he seemed flat and was on his way to Salt. Leah explains that Justin is convinced he can’t change who he is. She is worried about him losing it again. She finds Justin drinking on the balcony at Salt and tells him she’s not ready to give up on him. Justin loses his temper about being forced to rake over the past and Leah tells him he needs to deal with moments like that because they can’t live like this.

That evening, Marilyn arrives home with dinner from the Diner. Alf greets her as Roo comes back down, saying the antihistamine seems to be working. Marilyn says she’s had no negative comments about her products. Roo is annoyed and tells her to stop pretending nothing’s happened. Alf tries to call time out as Marilyn says it’s important to her to make money for Jett’s wedding and Roo says Marilyn needs to shut her business down.

At Salt, Leah tells Justin that what happened to him doesn’t have to define him. She says she loves the life they’ve built together but he needs to manage his behaviour for their sake, because she can’t live like this and doesn’t know what it’ll mean for them if he doesn’t sort himself out. Downstairs, Mali serves his last few customers before putting up the “Gone Surfing” sign. John notices at least they didn’t get rid of that. Mackenzie appears to escort Mali home. John says he’ll lock up. Left alone, he looks over the redesigned board shop and the rather shabby juice bar.

Next morning, Marilyn complains to Alf about the amount of time she’s spent setting up the business. Alf asks if it’s worth the stress before going to fix a leaky shower head. Marilyn answers the phone and starts to say she’s not doing that, until she learns it’s a large order. She says to place it on her socials. Roo comes in and is annoyed to realise Marilyn’s made another sale.

John pulls up in his buggy outside the surf club and greets Mali. He says he’s been inspired to revamp the rest of the surf club and asks Mali to help him with a new logo and colour scheme for the surf club. Mali says he’ll give him a quote for the design. John admits he thought he’d do it for free. Mali says they both like to get paid for their work and to let him know if he wants the quote.

Roo berates Marilyn for still selling product. Marilyn says Roo has never supported her and challenges her to come up with another way to make money, saying one person has had a reaction to one product. Roo says Jett never asked her for the money in the first place. Marilyn calls Roo privileged and says she doesn’t have any money. Alf comes in and asks what’s going on.