Leah becomes distressed in Home and Away

This week in Summer Bay…

Roo is thrown in the deep end at the Surf Club and struggles to fill John Palmer’s big shoes. Mali throws his hat into the ring to help out but is soon given his marching orders by Alf, who has to ask his daughter outright: is she really up to this job? Palmer’s digging his heels in about leaving, so who knows how long she’ll have to fill the role. Later, Roo suggests to Alf that they reacquaint John with his decade-long work – ‘The Summer Bay Surf Club Bible’. That way they can remind him how much he’s invested in the Club, and maybe even tempt him to come back.

Justin is still searching for Leah, and when he finally catches up with her at home, she’s midway through packing a suitcase. Paranoid over her partner’s intentions, Leah covers – would he like a sandwich? But once Justin leaves her and Theo alone, Leah lets her true feelings known. “We need to go now, we’re in danger” she stresses. “Justin is working for Vita Nova!” When Theo tries to intervene to temper Leah’s panic, she tries another tack – they should go to the police…

At the station, Rose levels with Theo – Leah needs to see a doctor. They decide to loop in Justin, but when he rushes to be with Leah, her paranoia kicks into overdrive. Now she believes that Rose has been turned by the cult as well! When Justin intervenes, it only makes things worse, and Leah bolts. While Rose tries to convince Justin not to go after her, Leah returns to the Diner, where she barricades herself in. Desperate to talk his partner down, Justin manages to force his way in, but soon finds himself in over his head when Leah confronts him with a knife!

Held at knifepoint by the love of his life, Justin desperately tries to talk Leah down – he’s on her side, remember? When Theo walks in on the tense stand-off, he begs his aunt to put the knife down, but Leah only becomes even more distressed. And when he suggests calling Rose, she reels. In her mind, Rose is with Vita Nova as well! Finally, Theo calls Bree, and the young doctor manages to talk Leah into dropping the knife.

When she takes her home later though, Leah doesn’t remember anything from that night. She becomes confused and frightened by fleeting memories of her brandishing a weapon. Terrified she might have hurt someone, she pleads with Bree.

Roo puts her plan into action to woo John back to the Surf Club and approaches him with the Club Bible that he authored over his many years of service. John recalls the achievements of his students, whose names are recorded in the binder, and Roo puts it to him that most would not have passed their Bronze Medallion without him. But counting on John’s nostalgia leading to a change of heart may have been a misstep, and John is soon spruiking a new business plan – his own Surf Safety school to help aspiring lifeguards to qualify. Will John ever find his way back to the Club?

When Alf finds John pinning up a flyer for his new Surf Safety School, he doesn’t mince his words – it’s a waste of time to run a course identical to the one being offered at the Club. In fact, why doesn’t John just admit that he loves the Club, and he wants his job back? If he does, Alf will go into bat for him, and try to get his teaching privileges back. Touched, John is quick to confirm – he would like his position back after all.

Remi is working on a new song with Kirby when he notices a missed call from Bree, and in her voicemail she doesn’t sound great. Remi rushes to be with his girlfriend and soon she’s unloading as they walk along the beach. A year ago, her husband died, and she didn’t even remember the date. They were married for seven years – what sort of person does that make Bree?

Kirby and Xander visit Mackenzie – and Kirby is delighted to see her childhood crush Levi! Mac has just told Levi she’s still not feeling like herself, so when they have a moment alone, she convinces Xander to sneak a peek at her chart. Xander is encouraging – nothing but good news here! – and he tries to comfort Mac by relating to his own experience in the hospital. The next morning, it seems Mac has taken his encouragement to heart when she announces to Levi that she’s discharging herself from the Hospital. When Xander returns the next day, he doesn’t realise it’s to pick her up, and he’s horrified to hear she’s discharging herself against her doctor’s orders. Has Xander unwittingly jeopardised Mackenzie’s recovery?

After Felicity shoots daggers at her during her training session with Tane, Harper admits she’s been avoiding Salt. She doesn’t want tension between her and Felicity. At the Coffee Cart later though, Cash wants to know what the deal is between Harper and his sister. And when he hears about Felicity’s prior spray at Harper, he demands that she apologise to his friend.

Levi pleads to Remi over a morning coffee – will he help him smooth things over with his sister? But when Remi does put the case to Eden, she’s furious – absolutely not. She doesn’t want Levi in her life, and she feels betrayed by her friend for intervening. It’s left to Cash to give her a wake-up call – the people in her life want what’s best for her, including Remi. Maybe she should try following their advice?! Eden has softened when she makes peace with Remi later, but she’s unprepared for Levi to appear at the very moment she might be having a change of heart! When she does talk to Levi, peace talks are quickly derailed, and Levi lets her know where he stands – the ball’s in her court.

Over backyard beers, Felicity and Eden lament being told what to do by Cash. Felicity even raises a toast to her brother being wrong! But when Remi overhears, he lays down the law – Cash cares more about them than he does himself, do they care about him at all? And both of the women in Cash’s life are given food for thought.

Mackenzie remains determined to leave the hospital; a decision that has horrified Levi. He couldn’t be clearer – it is unsafe for her to go home this soon into her recovery. Protective of his patient, Levi takes Xander to task for putting the idea in her head in the first place. But Xander knows Mac – if she’s this determined to go home, she will.

With Remi’s words ringing in her ears, Felicity resolves to do the right thing – she’s going to make things right with Harper. Mac too, if she’ll listen. She approaches Harper first and offers a sincere apology. Harper’s quick to point out – she’s not romantically invested in Tane – and Felicity offers that it’s not her business if she is. They’re OK, the first apology on the tour a success. Next stop is Mackenzie’s, and Felicity tells her friend how badly she feels about their fight, and how glad she is that Mac’s okay following her heart attack. Mac accepts the apology too, and Felicity even works up the courage to ask for her wedding photo back from Tane.

Eden is also trying to smooth things over with Cash – she shouldn’t have taken her issues with her brother out on her boyfriend. But Eden is disheartened when Cash suggests he go away for a few days, without her. He reasons that they’ve been spending a lot of time together since his suspension, maybe they need some time apart. Later, Eden suggests that rather than spending less time together, they just need to do things differently. And Cash admits he’d prefer not to go away – he doesn’t want to spend a day without her.

Justin is feeling Leah’s absence and can’t help but blame himself for not noticing her decline in mental health. Alf reassures him – if Leah didn’t know this was happening to her, then how could he? Later, Kirby visits Justin to take his mind off things, but as they’re looking at song lyrics, Justin finds the piece that she and Theo were going to surprise him with at the wedding. Clearly emotional, Justin asks to hold onto the song. That night, as he lies sleepless in bed, he reaches for the lyrics, and the next morning, he has a proposition for Kirby – they work on finishing the song together.

Justin isn’t the only one suffering insomnia either, as Mackenzie is up late doom scrolling. She’s paranoid about the likelihood of her suffering another SCAD episode. And it seems she may be right to be worried when she suffers chest pain the next morning. Knocking on Tane’s door she orders him to call an ambulance – she’s having another heart attack.

Home and Away airs 1:45pm on Channel 5 and 6pm on 5STAR. First-look screenings air at 6:30pm on 5STAR and the series also streams on My5.