Justin feels suffocated in Home and Away

This week in Summer Bay…

Justin has awoken with Leah by his bedside. Despite their traumatic run in with the cult, Leah is devoted to their new engagement. Cash visits them, still on suspension, and clocks that there is no police guard stationed at Justin’s door. He checks in with Rose at the station, noting the absence, but Rose shuts him out. It’s not his case, so stand down and let her do her job. Rose interviews Justin for everything he can recall, but the details are hazy, and Justin is groggy. Rose agrees to finish the interview later. But she does follow up on the absence of the guard. Justin’s orderly, Jordan, is also on the phone, covering a malicious intent. Should he make his move now? Luckily for Justin, a new officer arrives, but how long until Jordan finds a moment alone with Justin?

Bree has decided she does not want to move back in with Remi. He worries that he’s losing her, but in truth, she only moved to help the band. She wants the moment when she and Remi decide to move in together to be about them. Understanding, Remi returns to welcome news that the deal with Forrest is done. Lyrik is once again free to play their own songs, and the band rejoice. A little disheartened by a lack of immediate response from their fans, Remi has a perfect distraction – an excursion to visit their recovering band manager in hospital. And they could not have timed it better, arriving just before Justin’s phony orderly Jordan has a chance to make his move.

Plans for Alf’s long service presentation are thrown into turmoil when he announces he’s heading back to Merimbula. Marilyn’s now on a mission to convince Alf to stay in Summer Bay. At least until tomorrow night. She claims that her rocky friendship with Roo is still unstable, and she fears it won’t survive without Alf there to mediate. This does the trick, but only temporarily as the next morning he’s ready to depart out of Summer Bay and this time, Marilyn is fresh out of excuses.

Lyrik is jamming in their back yard, recording a video to announce a triumphant return to their fans. A sarcastic slow clap applause coming from John Palmer invites some friendly neighbourhood banter until John declines an encore. He has a ‘real job’ to get to. Everything feels right again, but Remi’s caught up on the lack of traction their video gets. They’re starting from scratch, while in Kirby’s inbox, there’s a bunch of Forrest’s industry contacts they could use for their own gains. But Kirby rejects the idea of abusing her access to those contacts. Against Kirby’s wishes, a band vote is called, with Remi eager to exploit Forrest’s connections. However, the votes are read out and to everyone’s surprise it’s all four votes to Kirby. Harmony has resumed, and although the members of Lyrik are going to have to work extra hard to win their fans back, they’re together, and wouldn’t want it any other way.

Roo and Marilyn continue their mission to keep Alf in Summer Bay until his impending award ceremony for distinguished service. Fumbling over the details of their pretend feud, Roo hatches an alternative cunning plan. They bid farewell to Alf, and once he has departed, Roo dangles his car keys. He won’t get far. Alf reaches John at the surf club in a search for his missing keys, but John has already been clued up on the car-key ruse.

Alf’s patience with John is short lived, and Mali’s attempt to diffuse causes Alf to piece the puzzle together. He returns to the Diner, retrieving his keys from Roo and heads back to his car. Suddenly the whole community is counting on Mali as the last line of defence to delay Alf. But Mali’s short on ideas, and Alf demands he come clean – what the hell is going on? Mali is at an impasse – will he be forced to reveal the truth and spoil Alf’s big surprise?

It’s the day of Alf’s Distinguished Service Award Ceremony, and John Palmer is firing on all cylinders. He delegates to Xander and fails at an attempt to palm off his official speech to Roo. Soon enough, the surf club is buzzing with eager guests for the ceremony, and it’s announced – the eagle has landed. Marching inside to a standing ovation, Alf is blown away. A ceremony full of memories follows, and Alf is honoured with a plaque in his name and a tailored jacket, sporting the club emblem. John steps up for his speech, and he delivers it with surprising charm.

Summer Bay is not just any ordinary beach. It’s like family. A dysfunctional one, with mad uncles and crazy cousins, and at the heart of that family is the Surf Club. Alf is the head of this family. He has welcomed everyone who’s walked through those doors with open arms. Unless of course, you’re a flamin’ galah. Cheers to the man of the hour, Alf Stewart.

Ready to head back to Justin in the hospital, Leah grabs a spare piece of cake for shady orderly ‘Jordan’. But Bree reveals there are no employees at the hospital by that name. Rose acts fast, but Jordan has already struck the moment Justin’s police guard stepped away. Rose and Leah arrive to find Justin wounded on the floor, but alive. Rose calls the hospital into lockdown. She and Leah spring Jordan and he is placed under arrest for attempted murder and assaulting a police officer. The next morning, Rose updates a petrified Justin and Leah that the police force worked tirelessly through the night to end all traces of the Vita Nova cult. The nightmare is finally over.

The presentation has been a welcome distraction for Irene. She compliments John on his fine work, and consults Leah on her cake decorating skills, disclosing her nerves over her upcoming sentencing hearing. On the way home, she finally checks her phone to a barrage of missed calls from her lawyer. Reality hits hard, and she is finally given a sentencing day: tomorrow.

Irene is really struggling after discovering her court hearing has been scheduled for tomorrow. Her lawyer tried to make clear the severity of the situation, but she has been burying her head in the sand. She’s truthful with Harper and Dana, explaining given her priors that there’s every chance she’s going to end up in prison. Despite Harper’s own lawyer advising against it, she is determined to stand by her friend and turn up to support Irene in court.

However, Dana is scared for the repercussions this could have on her sister. She feels they should be dutifully following their lawyer’s advice, and steering clear of Irene, but Harper refuses to abandon her friend. Instead, Dana appeals to Irene to enforce their distance. Irene agrees, knowing the best chance for Harper’s case is if she stays well away. So, Irene confronts the girls. She demands Harper not turn up to support her in court. In fact, Irene has decided Harper and Dana should find someplace else to live, she’s kicking them out.

Felicity and Tane are intercepted by Mackenzie on their way to work, which stops Felicity in her tracks. Tane realises that they are hiding something from him, and when Felicity denies anything, he goes to Mackenzie, assuming their problems are work and maternity related. Mackenzie refuses to give any information but indicates he couldn’t be further from the truth. She finds Felicity later, whose icy responses push Mackenzie, fed up being trapped in the middle, to deliver an ultimatum: “tell your husband that you are still on birth control or I will”.

Finding each pill harder to swallow, Felicity tries to connect with Tane, prompting questions around what will happen if she never falls pregnant? But he shrugs her questions off, feeling she just needs to be a little more optimistic. When she instructs Tane he is not to speak to Mackenzie, he knows he will not get the truth from her and therefore takes Mackenzie aside, demanding she tell him what is going on with his wife. Will Mackenzie falter on covering Felicity’s lie?

Mackenzie is battling to keep Felicity’s secret, and when Tane floods her with more questions, she gives, just a little. She is not the one who needs to be straight with him. He needs to talk to his wife. Tane returns home ready to interrogate Felicity, who suspiciously keeps her bag within reaching distance. When he asks about its contents, she delivers the items one at a time. Deodorant. Wallet. Keys… contraceptive pills. The pills she told him she hadn’t been taking. She is caught out in what has grown to be an all-consuming lie to Tane, and his heart sinks fast.

Unravelling the gravity of what this means, he packs a bag and heads out the door, much to Felicity’s dismay. Their relationship has been through incredible trials, but until now, all were caused by outside forces. This is a betrayal Felicity chose to commit, and in Tane’s eyes, is unforgivable. Cash arrives home just in time to get caught up in the fight. His attempt to stop Tane from leaving results in Tane firing a punch, and Cash is sent into the ground with a split lip.

Felicity appeals to Cash. She knows she screwed up, but she begs her brother to help make it right. However, after giving her full explanation to Cash, his opinion is less aligned with hers than she expected. Cash does not share the sympathy she was hoping for and, for once, her brother is not on her side. Meanwhile, Tane kicks everyone out of the gym and Mackenzie figures she knows exactly why. He is inconsolable and locked into the decision that he will not be returning home. Not ever.

Irene continues to push Harper and Dana away, knowing it will help their case if they cut ties with her. Dana feels bad she dragged Irene into this, but Harper might be forced to put herself first for once. Harper explains to her sister she knows that Irene is tough, but even tough people need someone in their corner when things go bad. And for Irene, things are dire. She is despondent, making her way into court alone. Until Harper and Dana catch up to her. They announce that they’ve talked it out and decided Irene’s not the boss of them. If they want to show up in support of her, then she can’t stop them. And Irene is overwhelmed with relief to have the girls in her corner.

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.