Episode 8147

Extended Summary

Rose and Mali are relaxing on the beach, noting they haven’t had much time together lately. Mali comments on Rose bailing in the middle of Alf’s presentation. Rose’s alarm goes off and she notes she has to go and get ready. Mali holds her back for a moment and kisses her, calling it something to look forward to.

At the Diner, John is trying to convince Irene that the magistrate is just trying to come to the right decision. He suggests she go home and relax but she says she’d rather keep busy than sit waiting for the phone to ring. Harper and Dana arrive; Dana quietly asks if Harper’s going to tell Irene what the lawyer said and Harper insists neither of them will. They thank John for letting them know Irene’s there.

Mali arrives at the surf club to find Alf looking at his plaque. He asks him about his trip and Martha. Alf says she’s getting better and was also in on everything. He says there are a dozen people whose names could be up there with his. Mali calls him the OG legend and Alf wonders if that’s good or bad. Mali thanks him for acting surprised. At the coffee cart, Roo tells Marilyn that the Coastal News have got in touch and asked to do an interview with Alf. Rose turns up in uniform to collect coffees for her shift. They discuss what happened with Vita Nova and how the group’s now shut down.

Irene serves John, Harper and Dana. John tries to get her to sit with them but is interrupted by a call from Greta, which she goes outside to take. Harper asks John if he’s okay and John admits he doesn’t know what he’d do if Irene went to prison since she’s his best mate. Irene comes back and says that the magistrate’s giving his decision first thing in the morning. She advises Harper and Dana to finish off and go home.

Mali catches Alf looking at the plaque again and says it’ll still be there tomorrow. Roo and Marilyn turn up and tell him about the Coastal News. Alf says it’s not going to happen since he’s not news. As the two women walk away, Marilyn comments that she thought he’d say yes and Roo says he always says no to start with.

Leah is asleep on the sofa, having nightmares about trying to climb to safety while Justin lay injured and the gantry collapsing on Justin. She goes to get herself a glass of water, then hears a noise outside and calls for the police. Some time later, she is desperately ringing the hospital to check Justin’s okay. She eventually hears he is, as Rose and a male police officer finish checking outside and say there’s no-one there. Leah insists she heard someone and the other officer checks the rest of the house, finding nothing. Rose says Vita Nova’s done: The police made a lot of arrests and none of them got bail. She learns Theo is at band practice all night and asks if anyone can come and sit with Leah. Leah says she’ll be all right and Justin’s coming home tomorrow.

At the Diner, Irene finishes a phone call and tells John she’s spoken to all her family: She didn’t tell them about the charges because she didn’t want them worrying or turning up at court to see her get dragged away in handcuffs. She tries to get John to go. He refuses and she breaks down in his arms. Next morning, at the Diner flat, Mali complains to Rose about getting more surf lessons (meaning he can’t surf himself) and says she’s overdue one. Rose says she only took them to seduce the instructor. She admits there were a lot of calls last night and says you get a sense of satisfaction when you close a case but sometimes it’s different for the victims.

At the Diner, Leah is having flashbacks to Justin telling her not to give up. Marilyn points out she’s nearly forgotten the coffee cups. Roo beckons Marilyn over to her and Alf’s table where Roo tells Alf he was glad to have the award and this profile is an extension of that. Marilyn suggests he see it like part of his service. Alf still refuses. Roo tells Marilyn they’ll have to resort to Plan B.

John, Harper and Dana all take their places at the court. Greta checks on Irene, with Filmore sat at his own desk. The bailiff introduces Magistrate O’Connell, who notes it’s a complicated situation. He says Irene should have called the police, but it’s understandable she couldn’t trust them with police corruption at play and she came to the situation late when a crime was already being committed. He exonerates her: There will be no sentence and charges are dropped. Greta, John, Harper and Dana all congratulate Irene. Dana tells Harper it will be the same for her. Harper looks less certain.

Irene, John, Harper and Dana arrive at the surf club with John saying he knew it was going to be good but was still nervous. He tells Mali the good news. Dana wants Harper to call her lawyer. Harper reminds her what the magistrate said about a crime already being committed. Irene asks if the pair are joining them and they say they have something to do.

Harper finishes a call. Dana rambles, asking if it was good or bad or good but potentially bad, before Harper finally tells her that, because of Irene’s outcome, the DPP have dropped her charges. She asks Dana to promise that she’ll let her choose her boyfriends from now on. Dana agrees that Harper can choose her next boyfriend and she’ll choose Harper’s.

Leah is continuing to have flashbacks at the coffee cart. Harper and Dana arrive and tell her about the charges against Harper and Irene being dropped. They ask for some coffees before they go to join Irene. Dana gets a text saying she’s now on the local nursing agency’s books. She checks they’re staying in Summer Bay and Harper agrees, somewhat uncertainly. Rose turns up to check on Leah and asks if the hospital gave her details of people to talk to. Leah says she was just jumpy because of the nightmares. Rose says she didn’t mention nightmares and Leah snaps that she’s working.

Roo tells Marilyn she’s got the paper to e-mail her the questions they were going to ask Alf: She’s going to pretend to be Alf and answer them. Marilyn says she didn’t know Plan B involved fraud and suggests just giving the questions to Alf. Roo insists he’ll love it. She reads the first question, about the most important aspects of being surf club president, and answers compassion, leadership and community spirit.

Rose approaches Leah again, saying she’s worried about her. Leah tells her to leave it and insists when Justin comes home everything will go back to normal, snapping at Rose when she pushes the point.