Home and Away resolves its Parata kidnap drama in latest episodes
Home and Away has resolved its latest kidnapping drama in tense scenes as part of a three-part episode on Thursday evening in Australia.
At the start of this week, Paul (Jack Finsterer), Leon and their masked men kidnapped Nikau (Kawakawa Fox-Reo) and Bella (Courtney Miller) as they waited for a bus to Yabbie Creek. A number of masked thugs drove up in a black van, opened the door and dragged the young lovers inside. Chloe (Sam Barrett) and Ryder (Lukas Radovich) were walking towards the bus stop when the action went down, and ran towards their friends in a vain attempt to protect them, only to find themselves bundled into the back of the kidnappers’ van as well.
The foursome spent the night in shipping container in the middle of nowhere, with no idea why they’d been targets of the attack. Realising that nobody was expecting them home that night, and fearing they’d be left for dead, the only thing they could hope for was that they weren’t kidnapped for nothing and that their kidnappers would come and find them again in the morning.
As the dawn rose, the doors open up, revealing the kidnappers as the two gang members who’ve been torturing the Paratas for months – Paul and Leon.
Tane (Ethan Browne) was the initial cause of the brothers’ problems. He felt trapped in his new life in Summer Bay, and decided to get back some independence by going back to his old criminal ways. Yet it all backfired when he couldn’t get rid of a shipment of stolen goods, with things spiralling rapidly.
Willow offered up her River Boy mates, who agreed to get rid of the van of stolen goods
Willow and Ziggy’s involvement made matters worse, when they took the van full of stolen goods and gave it to the River Boys, who’d promised they’d never see or worry about it again. Unfortunately, it transpired that the doors of the vehicle were stuffed with tens of thousands of dollars of drugs, and with those drugs now gone, Tane owed the drug bosses a serious sum of money.
Ever since then, Paul and Leon been in total control of the Paratas, giving them harder and harder jobs to carry out in exchange for their supposed freedom. Ari (Rob Kipa-Williams) has helped his brother out, with their illegal activity somehow repairing the torturous relationship.
Heath Braxton’s return was meant to spell an end to the Paratas’ issues with thug Paul, but it seems it’s far from over
The last time we saw the criminal gang was when Ari and Tane were forced to carry out an armed robbery at Reefton Lakes Leagues Club. Thankfully, Dean had arranged for a little help from his River Boy mates, and when Ari, Tane, Leon and Paul arrived at the venue, they were ambushed by Heath Braxton and a number of other River Boys. Heath and his boys roughed Paul and Leon up by giving them a ride around in their utes and showing them what dangers they faced if they carried on pursuing the Paratas… and that was meant to be it. The end.
Seemingly not. As we rejoined the action on Thursday, Paul makes a call to the Paratas, explaining that they’ve kidnapped their relative and his friends. The teens are completely safe, but their freedom will only come in exchange for Ari and Tane’s own.
After a tense wait for the address to come through, the brothers eventually turn up at the hidden location. The kids’ freedom comes at the expense of their own, but that’s a price they’re willing to pay.
Yet when the brothers turn up, Paul suddenly refuses to let the kids go – it seems this won’t be as easy as they’d anticipated. As one of the heavies punches Ari in the stomach, doubling him over, Paul goes over and puts his hands around Chloe’s shoulders, taunting him by threatening he’ll do something to the stepdaughter that Ari has only just been reunited with. In a fit of rage, Ari explodes, and runs towards Paul in an attempt to free his beloved stepdaughter from his creepy grip.
A fight ensues, and by some miracle the Paratas, including Niaku, briefly manage to overpower the heavies. When Nikau clamours free, it gives the kids the chance to escape in Ari’s car, speeding off while Ari and Tane battle with the heavies. The kids drive away, leaving the Parata brothers to face their fate once they’re inevitably overpowered by the gang members.
Yet once Nikau drops his friends off in Summer Bay, he speeds back to the site – Bella does her best to keep her boyfriend from doing something stupid, but his mind’s made up, he needs to go back to help his brothers.
As he arrives back at the site, he drives past Paul in Mackenzie’s old car, who gives him a smug thumbs up as he drives away himself. When Nikau steps out, he finds Tane and Ari bruised and battered, but oddly alive and well. When he asks his brothers what the plan is, Ari has just one response: “Hand this over to the cops.” It seems they finally want to do things right.
Back in Summer Bay, Mia (Anna Samson), Alf (Ray Meagher) and Roo (Georgie Parker) are delighted when Ryder, Bella and Chloe arrive back. Bella is obviously still terrified about what’s happening to her boyfriend and his brothers, but within minutes Ari texts Mia to let him know he and Tane okay, and suddenly the Kiwi trio are back in Summer Bay as if nothing has happened.
Ari and Mia almost ended up reconciling, but after the latest drama, Mia doesn’t want a bar of her ex
The biggest rift ends up being between Ari and Mia. She thought she could trust her ex, and that he’d changed since he spent a decade in prison. She’d even been considering getting back together with him… but now she’s realising that he’s still the same criminal that he always was. She packs her things, and, taking Chloe with her, the pair leave a devastated Ari behind!
Why were things so easy between the Paratas, Paul and Leon? They barely seemed to suffer much of a battering, and unless there’s some agreement we don’t yet know of, things seemed to get resolved just a little bit too easily.
What next for their rivalry?
A promo at the end of Thursday’s triple-bill gave us a glimpse of what’s in store, and the rivalry is far from over. On next week’s Home and Away, Ari finds himself in hospital after being run down by one of the gang, as a car smashes into him while he’s on the phone to Mackenzie.
Chloe and Tane rush to his aid and get him to hospital, but after being hit at high speed, he’s likely to be in a bad way.
Next week’s spoilers also mention that “Tane dishes out some justice—Parata style.” It certainly looks like the drama is far from over.
While the drama was taking place, back in Summer Bay Martha suspected her own actions might be to blame for the kids’ disappearance.
After she learns that Ryder and his friends haven’t come home, she calls Kieran and asks him not to do anything if he’s to blame for her nephew’s vanishing act. She may have forgiven her son for his actions, but she clearly still knows what he’s capable of.
She’s terrified when she asks Ryder if he caught a sight of the kidnappers, and is stunned when he reveals that he knew exactly who they were… the same guys who rocked up at the Parata house a few months ago.
The relief for Martha is obvious… but where does this leave her relationship with Kieran? Or rather, her hallucinations of her son?
Here’s the full spoilers for next week’s Home and Away episodes in Australia:
Monday 14th March 2021 (Episode 7510)
Marilyn is heartbroken.
Leah and Justin hear some bad news.
Jasmine helps to heal Lewis’ wounds.
Tuesday 15th March 2021 (Episode 7511)
Mac makes a decision about her pregnancy.
The hits keep on coming for Ari.
Jasmine and Lewis are in a very good place.
Marilyn is an unwitting victim in Christian’s crisis of confidence.
Wednesday 16th March 2021 (Episode 7512)
A nervous wait for Ari as he is rushed to hospital.
Tane dishes out some justice—Parata style.
Mia can’t make up her mind about Ari.
Thursday 17th March 2021 (Episodes 7513)
Dean makes a decision about Amber.
Ziggy and Tane own their mistakes.
Chloe and Ryder’s relationship changes.
Alf gets a call from the hospital.