Episode 8475

Extended Summary

At the surf club, Roo chats to John about keeping an eye on things now she’s not so focused on Eliza and wants a meeting. John says he still needs Alf’s signature on purchase forms. He says Roo’s his daughter but Roo points out it’s John’s job to liaise with the president. John says he’ll do it after he’s put the flags out. Levi comes in and is surprised to see Abigail working at the board shop. He prepares to go upstairs but Abigail tells him Mackenzie’s not there: She texted the staff to tell them she was taking time off but Abigail doesn’t know why. At the farm house, the pregnancy test is laid out on a table while Mackenzie is pacing and looking at a countdown on her phone. She gets a text from Tane with the photo of her and Archie, and looks at a photo of Levi with him. She then looks at the test.

Alf tells Eliza to call Roo, saying he doesn’t know where his phone is but hers is in the cabinet inside. Eliza asks if he’s having a heart attack and he says not yet. Eliza goes inside and gets her phone. A customer, Marty, returns some rods. He sees Alf outside but Eliza says she’s getting her grandad’s medicine and her mum’s on the way. Alf’s phone rings with a call from John but she turns it off. She then tells Alf that she found her phone but the battery’s dead. Alf tells her to get someone from a caravan to call. At the surf club, John tells Roo that Alf isn’t answering his phone so he’ll take the form to him. Roo shows him the flyers for the nippers carnival and he jokingly tells her she’s spelt carnival wrong. Roo says for that he can pin up the flyers along the way.

Mali and Kirby look over the advert they’ve written. Mali taks a photo of it and says he’ll put it online. He asks about Kirby offering to come back and she confirms she was just doing it to help him and doesn’t really want to come back. She assures him she’s fine about him firing her. Mali heads out and finds an envelope on the doorstep which he hands to her. It’s the copy of Tempo Overload, with a post-it note from Seb on it saying “Enjoy! Stay strong.” Kirby’s delight disappears when she sees the article: “Struggling between artistry and autocracy.” Meanwhile, Levi turns up at the farm house, calling out to Mackenzie. She tries to hide the remains of the pregnancy test but he sees it. She admits she’s not pregnant and he comforts her.

Eliza returns to Alf and says there’s no-one in the vans and they must have gone to the beach. Alf asks her to help him to the house and she starts to do so. John arrives and takes over helping Alf, who says his pills are at the house. At the surf club, Abigail takes a photo of Mali holding one of his boards, saying they need to keep his social media profile up. He agrees to her posting it. Kirby comes in, repeatedly saying that she’s really really sorry, and hands over the magazine, saying it’s on page 112. Mali thinks everything’s okay but Abigail, who’s actually looked at the article, recoils in horror. Mali looks at it and wonders why it portrays him as a bad boss.

John helps Alf to sit outside the house. Eliza follows them and offers to get his pills but then Marilyn arrives and rushes to get them. Alf takes some and John says he’ll call Roo. Eliza wanders off. Meanwhile, Levi asks Mackenzie if there was a reason she thought she was pregnant. Mackenzie admits she just hoped she was and has five tests to hand: She wasn’t nauseous or late, but when Tane came over with Archie, she thought there was no harm in trying…and notes the disappointment she feels now is the harm.

Marilyn brings Alf a drink of water and he snaps at John for getting him to put his feet up, which John takes as a sign that he’s back to his old self. Roo arrives and asks Alf why he didn’t keep some medication at the bait shop. Alf says he did but Eliza couldn’t find it. Roo wonders where Eliza is. At the beach house, Irene comes downstairs to find Eliza walking out of Harper’s room. Eliza says she wants to see Harper and asks if she and Archie are all right. Irene says they’re just out. She offers to tell Harper that Eliza came but Eliza insists on waiting, saying she’s got something to show Harper.

Mali continues to read the article saying that it calls him harsh and oppressive with zero appreciation of his staff and the arts. Kirby insists it’s not true and anyone who knows him knows that. Mali wonders about everyone else. He says it calls him sacking Kirby “extreme and reactionary” (which Abigail doesn’t seem to entirely disagree with). Kirby asks what she can do and Mali says nothing: He understand it’s not her fault but it’s his reputation being slammed.

Eliza tries to get Harper’s phone number off Irene, who offers her some juice or food. Roo turns up, saying Eliza can’t waltz into someone’s house uninvited. Eliza thinks Harper would want her there. Roo asks why Eliza left when Alf needed help. Eliza says his friends turned up and saved the day. Roo tells a worried Irene he had some chest pains but he’s okay, as Eliza storms out.

At the farm house, Mackenzie says they can do this again tomorrow, before saying she doesn’t want to go through this on a daily basis. Levi says he’s disappointed too but it just shows how excited they’ll be when she is pregnant. They hear Mali and Abigail approaching, arguing. Mackenzie says she needs a moment and leaves Levi to sort out whatever it is. Abigail tries to convince Mali his customers won’t read the article but he thinks some of them will and so will his family. Abigail hands the magazine to Levi.

Down by the beach, Roo asks Eliza why she left Alf to go and find Harper. Eliza says she wanted to prove Alf wrong when he said Harper didn’t want to see her. Roo thinks Eliza did nothing to help Alf. Eliza says she didn’t make him have a heart attack and if she wanted to hurt him, she’d have done a better job of it.

Abigail tries to convince Mali the next issue will be out soon and it will be forgotten. Mackenzie comes in as Levi is suggesting Mali could get a lawyer and take action against the magazine. Abigail says it’s not all wrong though and Mali was harsh to Kirby. She says she’s entitled to an opinion. Mali says she does but he doesn’t want to hear it and walks out.

Alf, Marilyn, Roo and Eliza have finished off dinner. Eliza says she’s pleased Alf is going to be all right because she was worried and thanks Marilyn for the food, before clearing the plates away and asking if she can go to her room. Roo, who hasn’t spoken, doesn’t answer and Alf tells her she can. After Eliza’s gone, Roo says she’s tried to help her but she thinks Marilyn is right and that Eliza would have let Alf die.