Jade and Kirsty’s lives are changed forever. Who is the stranger causing so much hurt in Summer Bay? Will Jade leave Summer Bay? Hayley’s uni plans are in ruins.
SHELLEY SUTHERLAND (PAULA FORREST)
Return episode, last seen in Episode #3703. Rushed to the Bay following the revelation of Jade’s parentage.
LAURA DE GROOT (CHRISTIE HAYES)
Kirsty’s identical twin sister and Shelley and Rhys’ birth daughter. Had been raised by the De Groots.
FELIX WALTERS (JOSH LAWSON)
Second appearance, last seen in Episode #3713. Warned Dani against any further investigation into his activities.
PHILLIP (JOHN O’HARE)
Uni student who congratulated Hayley’s success.
MR. DE GROOT (DAMIAN RICE)
Final episode.
HELEN DE GROOT (ANNA LEE)
Final episode.
Extended Summary
DANI
Her article has bee published and she spots Felix reading it with a disgusted look on his face. You just know something involving revenge will be popping up soon.
HAYLEY
Hayley is back at uni and hoping she’ll be able to pick things up. She also gets a surprise when she discovers the paper has ran an article about the art competition. Dani didn’t tell her because she didn’t want to make her nervous, but now it seems like everything’s okay…
Dani and Noah see Hayley, she looks like she’s studying. They discuss the surprise party and Dani tries to trick Noah into revealing if he’s going to propose. However he’s keeping schtum for the moment. They go up to Hayley and find that she’s not studying – she’s crying! She was too late to re-register for uni, her place has been given to someone else, so she can’t come back!
SUTHERLAND-DEGROOT TWIN SWAP DRAMA
Rhys phones Shelley to tell her the shocking news and she immediately comes to Summer Bay. Rhys and Beth explain to the Degroots that Beth is Rhys’ second wife, Shelley is the twins’ mum.
Kane is on a wee boat when he sees ‘Kirsty’ and shouts and waves. He’s freaked out when she ignores him and walks off. He catches up with the real Kirsty in the diner and she insists she wasn’t near the wharf and she certainly never saw him. She insists that he’s imagining it because there can’t possibly be two of her! (Little does she know…) but Kane insists that they even had the same eyes, all he could see different was the way they walked.
The Degroots turn up and introduce Laura to Beth, Rhys and Shelly. Rhys and Shelley are stunned and don’t really know what to make of the fact that their long-lost daughter is standing in their living room.
Rhys and Shelley have a chat with Kirsty and Jade, who wonder what is going on. They tentatively explain that at the hospital, there was a Baby Degroot born at the same time as Shelley has the twins. After they were taken away from their respective mothers, Baby Degroot and one Baby Sutherland were accidentally put in the wrong cribs. They went to the wrong parents after this, but the babies all looked so similar so noone noticed. They realise the shocking truth – one of them is not a Sutherland. Kirsty realises Kane DID see another her on the beach – her long-lost twin! Jade, gobsmacked and probably about to die of shock, runs out of the house despite Shelley’s best efforts to stop her.
Rhys, Beth, Shelley, Kirsty, Kane and Scott (the latter two having been informed of the situation by Kirsty and Beth) are all desperately trying to find Jade. It’s Kane who finds her, on the beach, where she says her family won’t love her anymore because they’ll have Laura. Kane tries to convince her otherwise, but fails, so points out to her that if they don’t want her any more, she’d have the Degroots as a family, but she thinks that’s ridiculous because they don’t know each other. She doesn’t quite get his point that the Sutherlands don’t know Laura either, so certainly aren’t going to replace Jade with her. Meanwhile, back at the house, Kirsty and Laura meet and are both finding it very weird to see someone identical to them. Laura has only known for a few days about the secret, and their parents will leave it up to them to get to know each other if they want to.
At this point, Jade returns home and meets Mr and Mrs Degroot, but she is very shaken and receives a big hug from Kirsty, but has a minor freak-out when she sees Laura.
Soon, it’s time for Laura and the Degroots to go. Laura says she’s sorry she didn’t get to spend much time with Jade.
Jade is trumatised and Shelley tries to convince her that she’s still part of the family, although Jade says they have to face facts – things have changed, and she’s not part of the family. Shelley talks about when the girls were born, and how when Jade had her first asthma attack she was willing to die if it meant Jade could survive, but Jade seems to think she is going to be cut off.
Later, Jade finds Kirsty at the fireplace holding a picture of herself and a picture of Laura. Jade REALLY flips out this time, and says Laura’s photo should go on the mantlepiece with all the other phots because Laura’s part of the family – but she’s not…..
By far the best episode I have summarised so far. The Twin Swap has been done fantastically, or rather, the acting has, the story itself was a little rushed, but anyway, this is the kind of stuff that keeps the show up there in the land of wonderful television. I do think it would have been better, though if:
1. That was the only storyline in the episode
2. Dani, who was in the epside for the other storylines anyway, had been involved in the twin swap story. It’s her sisters for crying out loud, but instead her only involvement in the episode is talking about newspaper articles and Hayley’s birthday!
Quite a lot of guest today and as a result, not many regulars.
I think the scene between Shelley and Jade was superb, well done to Paula Forrest and Kate Garven on some really convincing performances!