Episode 553

Extended Summary

At the beach house, Marilyn is disgusted by Adam’s idea of trying to blackmail Ernie Jacobs by taking photos of him getting close to Marilyn. Adam assures her nobody else will see the photos but Marilyn refuses.

At the Jensen house, Murray doesn’t think Sally likes him any more because he said no to singing in the amateur night but Paul is in a bad mood over Emma. Lorraine arrives home to find the boys having a row. The amateur night is also being discussed over dinner at Summer Bay House. Ben is going to do Sally’s act with her and then some kind of disturbing act as a baby in a nappy with Carly. Steven’s act is a mystery and Sophie thinks the whole thing is stupid and she’s sick of hearing everyone talking about it.

Marilyn turns the TV off as it’s talking about homelessness! Adam continues trying to pressure Marilyn to set up Ernie. She eventually gives in, but only for one hug.

Lorraine asks Paul why he’s so miserable and Paul tells her Emma pretended to like him as she promised Mr. Mitchell she’d get him to go in the amateur night. Lorraine asks when that man is going to stop interfering. She goes to the surf club where Emma is helping Grant set up the stage and has a go at them for conspiring to get Paul to be in the show. Emma denies it and Grant says they’d been friends for weeks before he asked Emma to persuade Paul. She doesn’t want either of them near her son. Later on, Ben and Sally practise “There’s a hole in my bucket”. Murray is watching. He hasn’t changed his mind about performing but he and Sally go to get some lunch together.

Ernie is at the store and tells Marilyn she misinterpreted him yesterday. Marilyn claims she was frightened and if she’d known he felt that way things might have been different. She’d like to make it up to him and they arrange to meet at the house this afternoon.

Sally and Murray sit on a bench with their lunch and Murray checks Sally isn’t angry with him about the act any more. Sally has realised it wasn’t fair to sign him up without asking and she thinks Ben is great. Murray looks jealous.

Adam is loading a Polaroid camera. He and Matt want Marilyn to wear something a bit more sexy and Marilyn tells them they’re worse than Ernie!

Grant goes to see Lorraine and Paul at home. He admits he asked Emma to talk to Paul about the amateur night but there was no conspiracy; Emma already liked him. He still thinks Lorraine is in the wrong about not letting Paul develop his talent. Lorraine asks him to leave.

Ernie arrives at the beach house with flowers and champagne and tells Marilyn she looks great in her short black dress. Adam can’t get a clear view of Ernie’s face from the front porch. Matt gets Marilyn’s attention and tells her through the bathroom window to get Ernie to face the door.

Back at the surf club, Grant asks to see Ben and Sally’s act again so he can time it but Murray asks if he can give it a try.

Ernie puts his arm around Marilyn and asks for a kiss. Marilyn rigidly endures the kiss while Adam takes a couple of photos. Matt looks at the photos and tries to tell Adam something but Adam bursts into the house to tell Ernie he’s busted. He shows him the photos but the flash has reflected on the glass so nothing shows up! Adam says they can still tell people what they saw but Ernie asks who he thinks they will believe. He tells the three of them he wants them out of the house in a week.

Grant arrives at the Diner and talks to Sophie about how great Murray was. Sophie accuses Grant of trying to make her feel bad for not changing her mind and storms out.