Episode 5160

Australian Air Date: 10th September 2010
UK Air Date: 22nd October 2010
Writer: Sarah Walker
Director: Geoffrey Nottage

Penn is angry with Alf. April makes a startling confession. Leah has a big decision to make.

Extended Summary

Penn visits the grave site of Tulip O’Hare, then seeks out Alf for a chat. He finds Alf alone in Angelo’s and they enter a cryptic conversation, with Penn clearly angry at Alf for something. Penn flashes back to his childhood, and we see that he faced a trauma at home during his early years. One day in 1987 Penn was feeling sick and his mother Tulip kept him home from school, asking him to stay in bed as she had an important meeting. When he later heard his mother giggling, Penn went to investigate, where he found Tulip in a passionate embrace with Alf – a mortified Tulip spotting Penn at the door.

When Alf later ended the affair, Tulip couldn’t cope with the rejection and took an overdose of Diazepam. Penn found her lifeless body in bed with the pill bottle at her side. Back in the present, Penn presents the pill bottle to Alf as something to remember her by, before storming off. The next day, Alf lays a bunch of flowers at Tulip’s grave.

April continues to explain her bus project to John. He’s impressed – the plan could really work! Later John confesses his enthusiasm over the plan was a little forced – he knew how much effort April had put into it and didn’t want to rain on her parade. He’ll look at the plan, but there will have to be a lot of research into whether it is in fact viable. Meanwhile, April is subdued and Xavier is confused. He thought she’d be ecstatic after John’s positive reaction to her idea. April confesses that the bus plan wasn’t actually passed by the Swedish government and to her knowledge hasn’t actually been implemented – anywhere…she lied. Xavier can’t believe it – why would she do such a thing? April explains that it doesn’t matter it hasn’t been passed – she’s sure the project will work – it’s a great idea and if John runs with it, she’s sure it will all work out and benefit the environment.

Leah invites Irene over for dinner. She has a big decision to make and needs her friends help. Leah is thinking of quitting working at the Diner and wants to know if Irene would be able to handle the place on her own. Irene is confused and Leah explains that although she’s just thinking through her options at this stage, she wants to have a plan ready in case she and Elijah get back together and she needs to travel to Africa on a regular basis, or even stay there. Irene talks through Leah’s options with her, telling her to make sure she’s not the only one making all the sacrifices if she were to rekindle her relationship. Leah is left with food for thought…

Guest Cast

John Palmer (Shane Withington)
Penn Graham (Christian Clark)
Tulip O’Hare (Kimberley Hews)
Little Penn (Cameron Ealey)
Younger Alf (Robert Jago)
Juice Bar Server (Justine Kacir)