Home and Away’s return sees a character die and a life on the line
Home and Away returned to Australia tonight after a week’s break for the Commonwealth Games, in an action-packed episode which saw one character killed and another’s life on the line.
The show returned to Australian screens in dramatic fashion, with an episode which focussed solely on the Paratas’ battle with Tex’s (Lucas Lineham) bikie bang, and which culminated with gunshots leaving one dead and another battling to survive.
Before the break, Aussie viewers saw Tane blackmailed by Tex and Marty (Ben Wood), members of the gang of bikies who Ari robbed a decade earlier.
Last year, Ari (Rob Kipa-Williams) used the stolen money to buy Summer Bay Fit, and the gang have now tracked the family down to Summer Bay. While they initially told Tane (Ethan Browne) that they wanted the money back, with interest, their plan soon evolved.
They now want Tane to use the gym to launder money for their dodgy dealings, and recently presented Tane with a new employee – bookkeeper Geneveve – who would be in charge of putting the money through the gym’s accounts.
When Rose (Kirsty Marillier) began to suspect that her new boyfriend Tex wasn’t who he said he was, she went to Tane for answers. He eventually confessed that he was being blackmailed, and the two teamed up to bring Tex and Marty down.
In the final moments of the show’s Mid-Season Final, we saw Tane arrive at the gang’s warehouse hideout. What we didn’t see was the wire he was wearing, with Rose in a van nearby, ready to listen in to his conversations with his tormentors.
Tonight’s return episode began with the bikies welcoming Tane, impressed that he’d been smart enough to find their base. However, they were suspicious of why he was there, and it took a lot for Tane to convince them that he just wanted to chat business.
Tane insinuated that people had been asking questions about Genevive, the gym’s new bookkeeper, who’d been provided by the bikies as a way to launder money through the business.
“The woman you sent in is attracting attention we don’t need.”
However, the bikies seemed suspicious, what with Geneveve simply being a new employee – hardly out of the ordinary for a growing business.
Back at Summer Bay, Nikau (Kawakawa Fox-Reo) and Flick (Jacqui Purvis) remained concerned about the fact Tane had gone missing – it had happened right after Tane spoke to Rose, and they both know that Tane has a habit of getting himself into trouble.
Dean (Patrick O’Connor) stumbled across them chatting near the beach and suspected something was up, but they brushed off his questioning and headed towards the surf club to see if anyone from the gym had seen him.
However, shortly after, Cash (Nicholas Cartwright) and an officer entered the surf club, taking Felicity by surprise as they demanded she come down to the station. When Flick struggled, pushing her brother, Cash told her she was under arrest for assaulting a police officer.
“This is for your own good,” Cash explained as they got back to the station, and he bundled her into a police cell. As he instructed another officer to look after his confused sister, he ran out the door, heading towards the base where Rose was waiting.
Back at the Parata house, Nikau looked shocked as he received a knock on the door, but it was just Dean, looking to know why Cash had just arrested Flick in the middle of the surf club.
He wanted answers over what was going on – Tane missing, Flick arrested – and explained that he could help; in fact, Ari would have wanted him to help.
“My family doesn’t need your help,” Nik told him, but Dean assured him that he knew where to find him if he changed his mind.
The words “you know where to find me” ringing in his ears, Nik had an idea – grabbing his phone, he remembered that the Find My Phone app would show him exactly where his brother was.
As Cash got to the van, he was reunited with Rose and another officer. He put on a pair of headphones, joining the others in listening to the conversation going on inside the bikies’ hideout.
At that point, Tane was asking the pair as much as he could about their money laundering activities, hoping that Tex and Marty would say something incriminating.
“Have you done something stupid, Tane?” Marty asked, worried that the gym owner was asking questions as he’d tipped off the tax office, but Tane managed to convince them that he just wanted more info on their plans so that he wouldn’t slip up.
As he asked the boys for an idea of how much money they would be putting through the business, Rose seemed hopeful they were about to get the evidence they needed.
Unfortunately, at that point Nikau turned up, being manhandled by the gang’s heavies as he explained he was just trying to find his brother.
“This wasn’t part of the plan!” exclaimed Rose, horrified that Nik was about to throw all their hard work out of the window.
Back at the police station, Flick tried to get answers from the officer about what was going on, and why she hadn’t been interviewed.
When she couldn’t get answers, it gave her the confirmation she needed that there was more to the situation than met the eye.
Moments later, Dean turned up at the station and was stunned to recognise the officer as “Jo,” the two seemingly acquaintences from their Mangrove River days.
“It’s Constable Devlin to you,” Jo said with a wry smile, as she agreed to give Dean a couple of minutes chatting with Felicity if it meant he’d then go away.
Flick explained to Dean that Ari had bought the gym with money he’d stolen from bikies, and Dean asked for everything she knew, so he could figure something out.
Back at the warehouse and the conversations continued, with the gang now concerned as to how many people knew about their location.
Tane reassured them that nobody other than Nik knew anything, and emphasised that he just wanted to get their stories straight to keep the cops off their back.
Tex and Marty then joked about how there was no need to worry about cops – Tex had them eating out of the palm of his hand. As Rose listened in to the pair making sordid jokes about her and Tex’s relationship, it gave her even more determination to put her fling behind bars – “I want to wipe that smug look right off Tex’s face.”
In a momentary break from the matter at hand, we also had answers as to why Jasmine decided not to return, as Cash explained to Rose that his now ex-girlfriend “was more in love with her husband’s memory than she was with me.”
As Marty finally gave the cops the answers they needed, revealing to Tane the amount of dirty money they planned to push through the business, the cops pounced.
Riot vans and cop cars descended on the complex from every direction as heavily armed police cut the locks and stormed through the gates.
With the cops preoccupied with apprehending the countless gang members who were trying to escape on their motorbikes, Tex and Marty made a run for it.
Rose’s threats to shoot stopped them in their tracks, but Rose hesitated for a second as she saw Tex, giving Marty a chance to make a break.
Rose stayed behind to handcuff Tex, as Cash, who was the only one not wearing a bullet-proof vest, gave chase on foot.
In the dying seconds of the episode, two gunshots rang out.
As Rose and other officers raced towards the sound, they found Cash and Marty lying on the ground.
Cash struggled to breathe, bleeding profusely from a gunshot wound as Rose raced to his side, while Marty had already passed away, having taken a bullet himself.
The preview for tomorrow’s episode sees Cash in critical condition. Xander (Luke Van Os) desperately performs chest compressions in the back of the ambulance as they rush him to hospital, before new doctor Bree Cameron (Juliet Godwin) takes over, doing everything she can to save his life.
They have a battle on their hands, as Bree explains to Flick that “it’s touch and go” whether her brother will make it.
Will Cash survive? And, how will Rose cope with the fact that it was her plan which has threatened the man she loves?
Here’s the full spoilers for the rest of this week’s Home and Away episodes in Australia:
Tuesday 9th August (Episode 7852)
Tane and Nikau play a dangerous game. A Summer Bay resident fights for their life.
Wednesday 10th August (Episode 7853)
Felicity takes aim at Rose. Theo and Kirby bond over music.
Thursday 11th August (Episodes 7854-7856)
Lyrik bans inter-band romance. Roo’s tutoring plans hit a wall. Remi recruits Ziggy for a favour.
Ziggy and Remi go on a secret mission. Eden steps into Felicity’s shoes at Salt. Alf catches Marilyn in the act. John’s new neighbours aren’t so new.
Ziggy’s van search goes off-road. Dean fears Ziggy is in unsafe hands. Marilyn comes clean.
Baby surprises for Ziggy and Marilyn!
A further promo has also teased further storylines to air in the coming weeks, with Ziggy learning that she’s pregnant, and a secret from Marilyn’s past apparently coming back to haunt her—does she have a secret child?