Recap
- Toadie arriving late for his first day at work
- Karl asking Susan to take five minutes away from Jim
- Rhys being the last one to see Jim alive
- Susan finding out that Jim died without her there
Erinsborough Hospital
Jim has been taken to the morgue and a nurse has tidied up his room, but Susan is still sitting by the bedside staring at the space her friend once occupied. Karl watches his wife through the window and can feel the pain and regret rip through him when Susan breaks down and cries.
Rhys brings a box of Jim's belongings into Susan. She wants to know what Jim's final moments were like, and Rhys looks like he doesn't want to talk about it. But when Susan pleads with him, Rhys quietly says that he thinks Jim knew he was there, that he held his hand and that he wasn't in a lot of pain. This pacifies Susan and Rhys hurries away to attend a meeting.
Malcolm arrives and finds Karl, incredulous to learn that Susan's still holed away in Jim's room and that Karl's not with her. Karl says his presence would do more harm than good at the moment. This doesn't appease Mal, though, and he tells his dad that as soon as he knocks off work, he's coming to find him.
Lassiter's Complex
Rhys sits by himself out the front of Charlie's nursing a beer and flashing back to Jim's last moments, looking very shaken up by the turn of events. Kate and Lucas walk by in the background on the way to the bar. Lucas points out Rhys and says he's seen "that guy" around a lot, so Kate fills in the blanks (doctor etc) but leaves out the whole 'we had a one night stand' thing. She tells Lucas that Rhys is an egomaniac, but when the two of them stop to say hello, Rhys is too lost in his own thoughts to be obnoxious. Lucas wonders where the ego is and Kate does too.
Number 30
Toadie's trying to catch up on a mountain of paperwork but keeps getting distracted by Callum and Sonya watching TV. Sonya massages Toadie's shoulders to soothe him, but he's still tense thinking how far behind he is. Callum reminds him they have a date at the footy tomorrow, which Toadie promises will still happen. Toadie then asks Sonya if they could schmooze the boss with dinner one night because he feels he still needs to make up a lot of ground for his less than stellar first day. Sonya's wary but knows it's important to Toadie to make it happen.
Erinsborough Hospital
Mal has finally managed to coax Susan out of Jim's room and sits her down in the corridor while he sets off to buy coffee. Karl finds her sitting there clutching Jim's box of stuff and says he'll drive her and Mal home soon, but Susan stubbornly says she's not going anywhere. Karl's perplexed, reminding Susan there's nothing more she can do, but Susan scathingly says Karl definitely made sure of that.
KARL: I didn't know he was dying.
SUSAN: You knew damn well he was dying.
KARL: And you know what I mean.
SUSAN: I made two promises. A promise that he would see his childhood home...
KARL: We both know that wasn't feasible.
SUSAN: ... And I promised that I would be with him at the end. And you made me break both those promises.
KARL: I couldn't... We had to talk.
SUSAN: (scoffing) We had the rest of our lives to talk.
KARL: Susan.
SUSAN: I will never forgive you.
First Commercial Break
Number 28
Susan's sitting in her PJs on the couch, holding onto Jim's watch, when Karl walks out from the bedroom to get some water. The atmosphere between them is tense and when Karl asks if she wants a glass, Susan just shakes her head and waits for him to go back to bed. When she's alone, Susan glances at the map of Peru on the wall before turning her attention back to the watch.
Number 30 - Next Morning
Toadie's on the phone to his boss trying to arrange a night to have dinner but he winds up getting talked into serving lunch today. Sonya's annoyed and reminds Toadie about the footy with Callum, telling him to reschedule with his boss. But Toadie meekly says he's still on probation and can't afford to stuff anything up. Sonya can't believe they took out a half a million dollar loan when Toadie might not even have a job soon, but Toadie promises her that won't happen. He just needs to keep his boss happy in the meantime, which means the impromptu lunch is a go.
Erinsborough Gym
Rhys tries to exercise on the treadmill to clear his mind but he's still being haunted by thoughts of Jim's last moments. Later, Rhys sees Kyle finish a circuit workout with a trainer (with Kyle bragging about hitting a personal best) and gets it into his head that he needs to beat Kyle. A workout session montage ensues with Rhys 'in the zone' and Kyle trying to put him off, which eventually leads to Rhys just missing out on Kyle's PB time. Rhys falls into a sweaty mess on the floor and Kyle offers his hand to help him up, but the gesture is too eerily similar to his moment with Jim. Rhys quickly gets up and goes into the change room - Kyle can tell something's amiss.
Second Commercial Break
Erinsborough Gym
Kyle tells Rhys that he owes him a beer for losing, "club rules" and all that. At first Rhys is in no mood to hang out and tries to give Kyle a $20 note to get rid of him. But this is Kyle's blokey way of reaching out to Rhys because he can tell something's troubling him, and Rhys ends up acknowledging that fact, taking Kyle up on his offer.
Number 30
Toadie's panicking about the shopping list for lunch, with Sonya not too impressed that they're supposed to make a roast. But Sonya can see Toadie's stressed and sends him on his way to the supermarket, telling him to chill. When he's gone, Callum mopes into the lounge room and is clearly disappointed at missing the footy (even though he says he's not). Sonya says she understands, and hates that they hardly see Toadie anymore as well, but that they're just going to have to try and support Toadie for the time being until he gets his footing at work.
Lassiter's Complex
Kyle finishes up his beer and tells Rhys he can't imagine having his job, being a hero and saving lives. Rhys mutters that it doesn't happen all the time, but Kyle reminds him that he probably saves more people than he loses. "Can't win them all". It's a simple statement, but it seems to have done the trick with Rhys as he suddenly looks like a weight has been lifted off his shoulders. Rhys bumps into Kate and Lucas as he's leaving and makes a remark to Kate that shows her that the ego is firmly back in place. Kate nudges Lucas like, 'See! I wasn't making it up!'
Park/Number 28
Karl limbers himself up for a jog around the park while Susan is at home trying to compose Jim's death notice for the paper. Mal sits down with his mum and makes her have a proper chat with him. He's sick of being kept in the dark about what's going on between his parents. Susan tells Mal that Karl is the reason she wasn't there when Jim passed away, but Mal warns her not to push Karl away. He says they have to sort things out but Susan says she can't forgive Karl.
MAL: This can't just be about dad.
SUSAN: I don't think it's just about Jim either. Why did I feel the way I did about him? Why was I so attached? I hardly knew him.
MAL: You did what you did because you're a decent human being.
SUSAN: No, Mal, no. I think part of this is about Alex.
MAL: Really?
SUSAN: I told your dad he was stupid when he suggested it, but who knows, maybe he's right. Maybe I thought that by helping Jim I could somehow make up for letting Alex down.
MAL: You didn't let him down.
SUSAN: He told me he was dying and I ran away.
MAL: You came back. You married him.
SUSAN: I took too long. I should have spent more time with him when I had the chance. I should have done more.
MAL: So this is all about Alex?
SUSAN: I don't know, Mal. Maybe it's about all the people I couldn't look after. Maybe it's about Ringo or the baby I lost, I don't know. Suddenly there are all these things that I'm just starting to realise.
Mal says Susan can't keep beating herself up about everything, and Susan agrees that she needs to sort a lot of stuff out, but she just doesn't know how.
Third Commercial Break
Number 28
Karl arrives home from his jog and Susan acknowledges him, letting him know they need to talk, but it's probably not the talk Karl had in mind. Susan apologises for what went down at the hospital yesterday but doesn't make eye contact with him while she says it. Karl says they need to keep talking about their marriage, but Susan says she can't deal with that right now - if she starts, she's scared of what she might say. She tells Karl she wants to go away for a while to help arrange Jim's funeral, and gets annoyed with Karl when he says he'll come with her.
KARL: You're shutting me out again.
SUSAN: Because this isn't about you! I know that I was too focused on Jim and I know that was wrong. But you had no right to try and make me choose between a dying man and you. I'm sorry, Karl, I need to do this by myself. Please understand.
Preview
(Tomorrow on Neighbours)
MAL: If you go after her now when she's not ready...
KARL: I have to do something.
MAL: Then let me help.
(Sophie continues to enjoy her lessons with Noah)
KATE: You really inspired something in her. We're very lucky we found you.
(Noah continues to enjoy spending time around Kate)
(Meanwhile, everything goes wrong in the lead up to Toadie's lunch with the boss)
SONYA: The fuse box is fine, it must be a blackout.
TOADIE: The oven!
(There's knocking at the door - Toadie freaks out)