Episode 5017

Australian Air Date: 23rd February 2010
UK Air Date: 2nd March 2010

Miles narrowly avoids a catastrophe. In front of Ruby, Mink drops the bombshell that she kissed Xavier. Liam is unsure why Martha is acting so strange towards him.

JOHN PALMER (SHANE WITHINGTON)
MINK CARPENTER (MATYLDA BUCZKO)
RABBIT (MITZI RUHLMANN)

Written by Chelsea Cassio
Directed by Geoffrey Nottage

Extended Summary

Liam is doing his best to impress Martha by picking up her favourite take away for dinner but Martha isn’t overly impressed, and fobs him off by saying she’s going to dinner with Alf. Martha sends him a mix of signals – one minute she’s reprimanding him for not having a job and the next she’s offering to buy him a juice at the Diner. It seems Liam is getting on her nerves one minute and is her best friend the next. Liam takes the hint and goes to see Gina about conducting music lessons at the school – despite his recent drug related arrest, she agrees. When Martha feels like she’s gone too far with her cutting comments, she calls Liam to apologise. When Liam returns home later, Martha is thrilled with the news about his job, and apologises again. Liam accepts although it’s clear he’s been hurt by her recent remarks.

Meanwhile another food order is being delivered from John to Gina while she works late at school. It’s clear he is trying to rekindle their bond. With a seemingly romantic walk along the beach that night, Gina questions John’s motives. John explains that he thought would want space to spend time with her family after Hugo’s death, and admits that he hasn’t always acted the way that he should, given how deeply he cares for her. Gina tells John that he’s also done things that have really impressed her, particularly visiting Hazem and offering to pay his medical bills. John tells Gina he is impressed with the way she can steer people onto the right course, and it look like their bond is being rekindled.

Alf and Irene working together at the juice bar is still causing tension between them – with them having several arguments about the blender. When Irene gets a call from Leah to say that the builders have finished early and the diner is ready to re-open, they are both relieved. Irene quits and Alf happily accepts.

Xavier and Ruby reflect on the past year and vow to stay friends this year. Romeo drops round to drop off his enrolment papers and tells them how much he is looking forward to getting back to school. Before school the next day, Ruby confides in Nicole that she is reassessing her feelings towards Xavier, but doesn’t know what the future holds. At the same time, Xavier is telling Romeo that his feelings for Ruby are returning, but he doesn’t want to push things too quickly. However, Romeo has problems of his own as he struggles with being shut out by Mink for deciding to go back to school. Mink watches as the pair head off to school, visibly upset by her brothers decision.

With Mink keeping a low profile for most of the day she finally shows up to meet Romeo after school at the Surf Club. The mood is still awkward between them, with Mink telling Romeo it’s only a matter of time before he realises what he’s doing and decides to be her surf manager. With Romeo off to tell Alf about Miles, he hands Mink two juices to take to Xavier and Ruby, where she delibrately drops the bombhsell that she and Xavier kissed. This leaves Ruby with overwhelming disappointment and the need to quickly bury her feelings for Xavier.

Miles’ method of working himself to the ground hasn’t worked. He’s wide awake and out of his mind. He confides in Rabbit, who suggests he should set his alarm for every hour to keep himself alert. Back at school, the pressure gets to him, and he slowly falls asleep at his desk, not realising that above him is a whirling ceiling fan which is becoming looser by the second. Miles soon wakes up when his alarm goes off and makes his way to the door when the fan comes crashing down. Miles realises Rabbit was right, if he hadn’t woken up he could have been killed.