Episode 386

Extended Summary

Stacey is watching the video of Martin, Lance and Marilyn pretending to fly when someone pushes a note under the door. She reads it and pulls the door open, calling out for Lance, but it’s Martin and Marilyn outside; they were delivering the note from Lance saying he’s skipped town. Stacey is angry since they won’t find anyone else in time for the gig and Marilyn is distraught at the thought of not seeing Lance again. Martin says it’s because Nina kept bossing him about. Stacey recalls Lance has a friend in Yabbie Creek and Martin decides to ring Rhonda. Marilyn is slightly disturbed to hear she is Lance’s ex and he only stopped hanging out with her when she turned up. Martin tells Rhonda to let them know if she sees Lance then Marilyn grabs the receiver and shouts at her to keep her hands off him. Stacey decides they should search for Lance and then meet up at the Diner. Marilyn is quick to hurry off to do her bit, Martin seems less eager.

Morag is working late in her office when she hears someone moving about in the outer room. It turns out to be Lance, wearing a balaclava-like ski mask so no-one will recognise him. He wants her to get him out of his contract with Nina, since he’s out of money and can’t claim any dole while he’s working for her. Morag retorts that if his only income is unemployment benefit he won’t be able to afford her. Lance offers her his watch but Morag suggests he tries Legal Aid instead. Lance asks her not to tell anyone he was there and Morag assures him she won’t tell anyone they spent time together.

Marilyn is complaining to Ailsa and Don at the Diner that she can’t find Lance anywhere. Morag enters and doesn’t share her worries. Ailsa suggests Marilyn knocks on some doors to ask people to look out for him and lends her a torch. Morag tells her Lance will be all right and she should wait until morning but Marilyn protests that she loves him and storms out. Morag quips that it’s because they share the same mental age. Don tells her that there’s no harm in Lance. Morag apologises for storming into his house and accusing Bobby but refuses to apologise to Bobby. Don tells her Bobby isn’t a liar but Morag says she and Bobby will be sworn enemies until one of them’s dead.

Bobby and Danny are still on their way to the restaurant in his car. Bobby says she’s been looking forward to her night off and Danny comments he can’t believe she used to be a drop-out. He swerves slightly to avoid a dog, saying his father always told him never to kill anything unless you have to. His father was in building but they used to go hunting together, but only for food and they always killed the animals quickly and painlessly. Bobby realises he’s missed the turning but Danny says he’s taking the coastal road. Bobby warns him to be careful, there’s been three fatalities there already this year. She realises the car has a flat and persuades Danny to pull over to fix it.

Viv is setting the table when Lance arrives at the back door, still wearing his ski mask, and tells her he’s hiding and wants somewhere to stay, pointing out he helped her. Viv says she would but she wouldn’t be able to hide him from Don and he’ll be home soon. Lance asks for some food and Viv gets him something from the fridge, hastily pushing him out of the back door and promising not to tell anyone as Don arrives home.

Pippa and Sally are sat up watching a horror movie but Sally is nearly asleep. Pippa tells her to go to bed, despite her protesting Tom would let her stay up. Sally kisses Pippa good night but then becomes engrossed in the movie again. Pippa turns it off and tells Sally she’ll tell her what happened in the morning. Sally goes upstairs and Pippa turns the movie back on but soon starts yawning herself.

Danny is changing the wheel and Bobby asks him how he knew she was a drop-out. He says he’s heard things around town. Bobby says he might as well know the rest and tells him about finding out Morag was her mother. Danny says he heard about that. As she talks about what a disappointment it was and how much she hates Morag, he walks up behind her brandishing a wheel spanner but stops when she says Morag hates her just as much. Danny is pleased, saying he hates his mother as well, and gives her a hand back into the car.

Lance is feeling the cold and goes to a clothes donation bin to get something warmer. He pulls out one of the bags but then sees a stray dog approaching and runs off, with the dog chasing after him. Marilyn is making her way through the woods with the torch, constantly tripping on her high heels, when she sees Lance running towards her, still wearing the ski mask. She throws the torch at him and screams before running off.

Pippa is now half asleep herself when Marilyn starts hammering on the door desperately, saying she was attacked by a monster near the bus stop. Sally comes down on hearing the commotion but Pippa sends her back to bed. Marilyn claims it was ten feet tall and hairy with a horn in the middle of its head. Morag comes to collect her and she and Pippa try to convince Marilyn she is mistaken, with Pippa suggesting it was just a cow. Marilyn refuses to change her story however and, while Pippa and Morag are disbelieving, Sally, who has come down again, looks decidedly worried.

Don and Viv are also watching the horror movie but when Don comments on what a load of nonsense it is Viv turns it off. Don says she didn’t have to do that. Viv notes her father would never have let her watch it but Don says he believes in freedom of choice, even if he hasn’t always practised what he preaches. Viv says it would probably give her nightmares anyway. Bobby arrives home and they note she’s back early. She tells them the restaurant hadn’t made a note of Danny’s reservation so they had to go to an infamous Chinese place instead and afterwards Danny couldn’t get rid of her fast enough. She turns the movie back on in time to see the heroes celebrating the monster’s defeat. She wryly tells them it comes back to life in the sequel.

Danny is talking to the photograph of his father again, saying that if he’d killed Bobby he’d have been doing Morag a favour but he’ll find another way to get back at her. However intelligent Morag is, she won’t be able to fight back if she doesn’t know who her enemy is. Next day, he goes to see Morag, introducing himself as Danny Price and offering his services as a receptionist. He tells her he’s a good frontman, has excellent typing and coffee making skills and passed two years of law school with honours but then the money ran out and he’s taking a year out to earn enough to finish his degree. Morag suggests a waiter at the Sands would pay better but Danny says he wants to work with her and has studied all her cases, quoting some examples. Slightly flattered, Morag agrees to let him start on making the coffee.

At the Diner, Ailsa is trying to talk to Bobby about her failed date but Bobby doesn’t want to talk about it and says Danny was like Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. After they got to Stewart’s Point, he suddenly stopped talking to her and then the rest of the night he didn’t seem to want to be with her. Ailsa suggests she was too much of a challenge for him. Meanwhile, Sally is going up to the bus stop, munching on a chocolate bar, when she sees something asleep in the trees. She backs away and puts the mostly uneaten chocolate bar on top of the bus stop sign before running off. Martin drives past a few moments later but doesn’t see anything.

Marilyn is repeating her monster story to Ailsa and Stacey, getting ever more exaggerated about how afraid she was. Martin turns up, fed up of searching, and despite Stacey telling him they can’t stay for long he asks Bobby for a hamburger with the works. Ailsa tells them that Alf and Bob Barnett found a sheep that had been killed by a wild dog but Marilyn thinks the monster got it and worries it might have eaten Lance. Bobby quips that aliens have abducted him. Stacey leaves, reiterating that they need to find Lance, and Ailsa tells Marilyn there’s no such thing as prehistoric monsters before heading into the kitchen. Then Sally comes running in, saying she saw the monster and gave it her chocolate bar so it would leave her alone. Bobby and Martin aren’t convinced but Bobby can see Sally’s genuinely scared and reassures her the monster won’t get her. Marilyn asks if they believe her now.