Monday 6th November 2006

Rachel hits more than the booze:
Now, we're no experts in psychology. But when a steaming Rachel roughed up Leah and sped off into the sunset, we think she was asking to be left alone. However, Leah steadfastly refuses to take the hint and leaves her a billion frantic messages. Has Rachel driven herself into an early grave? Or a hedge? Amazingly not. She drove herself to the pub, got tanked, slept in her car then got reeled in by the coppers when she was driving home the next day. Unsurprisingly, when Leah arrives at the police station, Rachel is refusing to cooperate and has rebuffed their attempts to breathalyse her. When she finally relents, the test reads that she was under the limit - just - but Leah thinks her friend has gone way beyond the line. "Don't you realise that you could have hurt somebody this morning?" she shrieks, before drawing parallels between Rachel's behaviour and the fact that her dad was drunk when he caused the crash that left her mum with severe memory problems. Rachel pours herself a large one then gives Leah a good slap for sticking her oar in. Ouch.

Growing pains:
Jack and Tasha. Sitting in a tree. C-O-M-M-I-S-E-R-A-T-I-N-G. Tash has been spending an awful lot of time at Jack's bedside recently, and Irene - the queen of the raised eyebrow - is wondering whether this "emotional support" is going to end up with the pair of them dishevelling some hospital corners. Of course, she dresses up her suspicions as concern for Tasha's health and her need for rest. However, Tasha knows best - or so she thinks - and trundles off to visit Jack once again. She's looking a bit tired and frazzled, so decides that a nice sit down and a cup of tea is in order. And just as she gets herself settled, she's stung by a pain in the stomach. Initially she describes it as a cramp, but it soon turns into agony. Jack shouts for the nurse as tears come to Tasha's eyes. Oh no, not again...

One down, five to go?
"If I had a lollipop you'd get one for bravery", says Kim, as he re-mummifies Kit's broken ankle by the light of a camp fire. However, tooth-rotting treats won't get them any closer to civilisation, and the lost people segments of this episode are a bit like the Blair Witch Project with more bickering and better camera angles (it's all just as unnerving, though). Martha is dehydrated; Robbie's cut is getting grimmer by the second; and the pain is too much for Kit to cope with. After another day without water, Colin and Kim come to blows about what's best for the gang. And, as she looks from drawn face to drawn face, Kit eventually comes to a decision. "If you are all going to get out of here alive," she sighs, "you need to leave me behind." Eek. Will they really leave her to the dingoes?

Tuesday 7th November 2006

Two's company
There's more grief in the back of beyond when Kit decides to sacrifice herself for the greater good. "I have made up my mind", she wheezes, after Kim and Colin have finished trying to endow the tribe with some more broken bones. "I am staying here. So you need to get going while you still have enough energy." However, Kim refuses to leave his ex-girlfriend's side. Before they leave, Belle eschews an apology in favour of giving Kit a second busted ankle to match (well, practically). And - whaddayaknow - as soon as Colin, Belle, Martha and Robbie make some progress along the creek, they discover a pond of scummy water. As everybody but Robbie takes a slurp, Kit and Kim snuggle up and have a heart-to-heart about their history. Why did he insist on staying with her? Is it because he didn't want her to die alone? Well, Kim is thrown by this ghoulish comment. "We're not going to die", he stresses. "No one's going to die." If only we believed him...

Closer than close
Planet Soap's Way of Highlighting Underlying Simmering Tension #294: get a doctor to mistake the wrong guy for the expectant father. This is what happens to Jack when Tasha's ultrasound begins. And thankfully, there's nothing wrong with the baby. However, the placenta is covering the cervix opening and it could be that Tash will need a caesarean when her sprog decides to put in an appearance. Later, Irene asks Jack to stop being so dependent on Tash all the time. "She's got a whole other person to think about now", she croaks, before pursing her lips and giving Jack a look that could turn him to stone. Naturally, Tasha soon catches wind of this little chat and takes Irene to task. As far as she's concerned, spending time with Jack is the one thing that's getting her through this horrible time - and she has no intention of changing the way things are.

Brotherly love
"She's got no right to slap you", Sally hoots, when Leah passes on the news that Rachel is a bit tasty with her fists. "You can't allow this behaviour to continue", she tuts, before suggesting that Leah tell her to either change her ways or pack her bags. Unsurprisingly, Rachel takes the second option and drags her booze-ravaged shell of a self over to Kim's place for the time being. It's time for Leah to pull in the big guns, which come in the form of Rachel's brother Brad. Yes, he's hot - and Sally definitely agrees after she opens the door to be greeted with his builder's bumcrack. However, Rachel is decidedly less pleased to see him, and turfs him out of her new lodgings before she's got round to dishing out another load of Summer Bay justice. Brad returns, uninjured, to Leah's place - where he informs all and sundry that this little problem is going to be a tough nut to crack. Meanwhile, Rachel drinks herself into a fit. How right Brad is.