Episode 3647

Australian Air Date: 25th November 2003

Alex is found guilty – will he go to jail? Robbie Hunter arrives in Summer Bay – and immediately clashes with Jade.

ROBBIE HUNTER (JASON SMITH)
First episode. Beth’s son and Kit and Scott’s quirky younger brother. Matilda and Henry’s older brother. Visited the Bay after completion of Year 10, irritating the Sutherland household. Fell for Tasha.

Extended Summary

RECAP
Seb tells Kane that he DOESN’T want to get back with Kirsty – she’s pathetic, she’s a liar and she cheats on people
Alex tells Jesse, Leah and Hayley that even if he doesn’t go to jail, he’s leaving the Bay – for good.
Sally suggests that Max makes a memorial for Tasha – an idea which Max likes.

***

CARAVAN PARK
The (extended) family discuss formals, but the conversation veers onto “Tarangela” (sp?) and the trouble caused the previous year. Colleen arrives with a trunk of old 50’s clothes for the girls. Colleen tells them of her “hourglass figure” back in those days, when she won the “Miss Groper” pagant. When kirsty suggests that Colleen would make “a mint” selling the clothes, Seb makes a snide comment about selling off things that Colleen has saved for years.

PATTERSON PLACE
Leah is very upset at Alex’s decision – he sold his car, a birthday present, to buy his share in the gym. Jesse assures her that he and Hayley won’t accept Alex’s offer, but Leah is furious at the prospect of Alex running away, giving up his life and abandoning his family. Jesse tries to convince her that Alex will come around.

BUSH
Tasha encounters Max, who is carying a small blue box through the bush, and doesn’t tell her what’s in it. She explains why she’s there – she is free in the bush, and no one watches her and picks at her mistakes. However, she denies being “the girl” who runs around after dark. Max attempts to explain to Tasha how he can talk to Eloise, despite she not being there. She enquires where he is going, and initially he doesn’t want to be followed, before asking if she knows how to make a ladder. She does.

BEACH HOUSE
Beth, Kit and Jade go through Colleen’s trunk of clothes. When they come across a wedding dress, Jade suggests that Beth and Rhys have a theme for the wedding, but she declines, wanting something simple.
Max enters, in a mess and looking for rope, teling Beth that he has been out collecting things for a project (despite school breaking up in a couple of days!). He goes to see if Scott has rope in the shed.

THE PALACE
Scott wishes Alex luck as he appears, dressed for court. Jesse arrives shortly after, telling Alex that Leah will be meeting them down there. Alex has realised how stupid he was in not being prepared to wait for his knee to heal itself. Jesse again tries to talk Alex out of giving up the gym, but Alex stays firm on his decision, and Jesse wishes him luck in the future before they leave.

DINER
Seb and Alf talk about the 50’s hairstyles, and Seb is less than impressed as Colleen starts recalling tales from the 50’s. Alf escapes, finding a distant Leah in the kitchen, and tries to get her to leave for court – Alex needs her, and anything could happen.

CARAVAN PARK
Dani irons some of Colleen’s old clothes, as Kit asks Beth’s advice on packing, enthusiastic about leaving. She promises Beth that she will be “back soon”, but Beth is upset that, just as the rest of the family are coming home, she is leaving. Beth delivers the news to Dani that no one has made an offer on the caravan park.. yet. Kit storms out furiously after recieving a phone call…

THE PALACE
Scott breaks the news to kit that he won’t be able to accompany her to the dance – someone better looking has asked him… Kit is confused, until Robbie makes himself heard. He and Kit hug, happy to see one another.

Later, Scott, Kit and Robbie joke about school, before he changes the suject – he saw the “fear” in Kit’s eyes when she has no date for the dance. Scott picks up on his subject change away from school, and he tries again – “so tell me more about the Sutherlands?!”, before breaking the news – he has to repeat Yr 10, and stating that exams are redundant. Kit recites a passage from his school report – he spends most of his time “on another planet”, and Robbie once again asks after the Sutherlands, not wanting to “say the wrong things”, and is delighted when he hears that Beth doesn;t know of his arrival yet.

SCHOOL
Jade, Seb and Kirsty (amongst others) are preparing decorations for the dance, and Max pops in to ‘borrow’ some bits and pieces. Seb is still being weird with Kirsty, and she picks up on it, asking what is up. When he reveals he had an arguement with Kane and said some “things”, Kirsty pushes him for more – after all, Kane will tell her if he won’t. He admits that he called her “pathetic”, “a liar” and “a cheat”, trying to defend himself by asking what else he could have said – that she’s not his type?! He says he didn;t mean it, but she storms out.

BREAK

OUTSIDE THE MINE
Tasha and Max uncoil her rope, and drop it down into the shaft, tying an end to something outside. Max explains that as the nugget he recieved from Eloise’s parents came from the mine, the mine is the ideal place for the shrine – a “direct link” to her. Tasha is put out when Max refuses to let her come down – it’s only for he and Eloise, and it’s not because he doesn’t like her (Tasha). He makes her promise not to tell anyone.

CARAVAN PARK
Beth welcomes Robbie, commenting on the ‘normal’ nature of his arrival – as opposed to previous visits, and Robbie claims that Scott tried to make him pull a stunt again. Robbie then jokingly threatens to get rid of the “Rhys Sutherland” that has been harassing her, telling Dani that she can stay as for once Scott has “good taste”. They wonder where Robbie will stay, Max’s room looking the most likely option. They joke about Robbie;’s previous inventions – including his motorised hammock, powered my a motorbike engine. Dani comments that he will get on with max

MINE
Down the mineshaft, Max lights a candle and talks to Eloise at her shrine, about how the mine will be their place.

SCHOOL
Jade can;t believe what Seb said about Kirsty, and Seb tries to defend himself, leading to her suggest that he still has feelings for Kirsty – which he denies. Jade can;t understand it – he was meant to love Kirsty once, and yet he was so cruel about her. Seb states that he never got the chance to say what he felt about Kirsty’s betrayal, and says that it doesn’t change anything about their relationship. Jade disagrees, asking him to apologise to Kirsty – otherwise they’re finished.

BEACH
Scott, Dani, Robbie and Kit laugh about a previous Hunter family holiday, with Robbie and Kit jokingly threatening to tell Dani secrets in Scott’s past. Dani departs, and Robbie comments that she’s great – he hopes the others are like that. He comments that coming ‘home’ for the holidays isn;t the same as at the farm – like at school, he is still sharing a room. Tasha walks past, ignoring Robbie’s outstetched hand as he introduces himself. Scott and Kit wind him up about Tasha’s ‘sixth sense for dorks’.

KIOSK
Kirsty tries to talk to Dani about Seb’s treatment of her, but Dani is sympathetic towards Seb – after all, Kirsty dumped him for Kane. Seb arrives to apologise, his attempts initially rebuffed. He tries to explain his hurt when she dumped him – it wasn’t easy. She knows that he is sorry, but as he asks her to tell Jade that they have things sorted, it clicks that the apology was only down to Jade. He insists that that was the case at first but he is genuinely sorry now. She believes him, and wants to go back to their previous friendship.

CARAVAN PARK
Robbie, Beth and Kit sit at the dinner table as Jade enters, downhearted. Robbie leaps forward to introduce himself, pondering which of the twins it is – “the one who’s going out with the other’s ex-boyfriend or the bad girl who dumped him?”. He guesses Kirsty, and Jade isn’t pleased, and Robbie jokingly calls her stuck up. As Jade starts bad-mouthing him, Beth introduces her son, and Jade walks out, still angry.

NEAR THE BEACH
Kirsty waits for Kane and Tasha approaches her. Kirsty is cold, knowing what happened with Kane, and unsure whether she wants to be her friend after that – she tells Tasha that she MUST learn to trust people. Tasha decides to tell Kirsty Max’s secret, to prove that she trusts her.

DINER
Alex arrives back from court with Leah and Jesse, announcing to Alf and Colleen that he was found guilty, and convinced that he’s going to jail…

Thanks to Claire