Episode 554

Extended Summary

Marilyn complains about having to go through everything with Ernie for nothing while Adam wonders what went wrong and suggests the film is dodgy. He accepts that they’re going to have to move out and annoys Matt by dragging Marilyn off to rehearse for his act instead of looking for somewhere. Meanwhile, Bobby is searching through her clothes looking for a blouse and notices there’s a stain on the shirt she was wearing when she went out with Chris: It’s make-up but not a colour she uses. Don suggests she should get to know a bit more about Chris before spending so much time with him, especially when Bobby says they’re going to dinner and a nightclub that night. Bobby says they’re just friends.

Sophie is chopping vegetables in a pensive mood and Pippa asks her what’s up. Sophie says she’s fed up of the amateur night and Grant hassling her about taking part. She says Grant has recorded the music from her song and left it lying around the surf club. She also admits she feels gutless now Mullet is taking part as well. Pippa says it’s okay to be scared of making a fool of herself but Sophie insists that’s not it and storms out. At the surf club, Adam shows Emma and Marilyn the box he’s using for the sawing a lady in half trick. Marilyn will get in one half of the box before the act starts, then he’ll show the audience another section which makes it look like it’s empty. Emma will get in the other half and poke her head out while Marilyn pokes her legs out. Emma warns him to make sure he saws right down the middle and Adam reveals an innovation: He’s going to use a chainsaw! Marilyn and Emma immediately veto the idea and Adam agrees to use the normal saw.

Chris goes to pick up Bobby from home and she tells him that Don wants to ask him a few questions. Don says he’s simply a bit curious and Chris says he’d be the same if he was a father. He tells Don that he lives just outside of Yabbie Creek and owns a landscape gardening business, but since it involves working fourteen hour days he doesn’t have much of a social life, hence the dating agency. Don lets them both leave. At the surf club, Matt, Adam and Marilyn are sharing a pizza while Emma sits apart from them looking glum. Matt quietly asks Adam what’s going on between them and Adam says Paul isn’t a problem anymore. He calls over to Emma and suggests she asks Paul to play music in between the acts to keep the crowd entertained. Emma says that she already asked Paul to take part and he got angry and doesn’t want anything more to do with her. Adam quietly reminds Matt that he said he’d sort it.

Next morning, Bobby has only just got up and admits to Don that she didn’t get in until four o’clock. Don wonders how Chris manages to work fourteen hour days if he stays up until that time. He admits that he doesn’t like Chris, even though he’s not sure why, and suggests Bobby goes back to the dating agency and tries to find someone her own age. Bobby protests that she was only interested in having a social life, not a husband, and that’s what she’s got before storming out. Meanwhile, Paul meets up with Emma by the surf club. He apologises for having a go at her and says Grant explained what really happened. He tells her that someone told him that Grant got her to chat him up so he’d enter the amateur night but won’t say who it was. They arrange to meet up later before Paul walks off, saying there’s someone he wants to talk to.

Pippa arrives at the Diner, where Bobby is just opening up. She tells Pippa that she’s been spending a lot of time with Chris lately and is enjoying herself. Pippa notices a make-up stain on Bobby’s jacket shoulder and Bobby can’t understand where they’re coming from. Grant arrives and Pippa talks to him about putting pressure on Sophie to enter the amateur night. Grant says she took his comments about Mullet the wrong way but Pippa thinks they should keep quiet about it from now on. Meanwhile, Sophie is alone at the surf club. She puts the music cassette Grant made into a tape deck and begins singing her song to the accompaniment. Steven is outside the building and hears her singing. Sophie hears him coming and quickly stops singing and turns the tape off. Steven asks who was singing and Sophie says it was just a cassette. Steven tells her that whoever it was sounded really good.

Emma meets up with Grant near the Diner and tells him that she and Paul are talking again and Paul told her he was the one who explained, thanking him for his help. She tells him what Paul said about someone telling him they were scamming him but she doesn’t know who. Adam is alone at the beach house, reading a magazine, when Paul comes in and yells at him for lying to him about Emma. Paul shoves Adam in the chest and lunges at him and the pair start fighting. Matt hears the commotion from out in the garden and runs in, dragging them apart. Both Adam and Paul are furious; Paul snarls that Adam couldn’t handle being dumped and it’s no wonder he lucked out with Emma. Matt, who is holding Adam back, yells at him to get out and Paul storms off.

At the surf club, Steven is sorting out the electrics for his act but still refuses to tell Grant what it is. He tells Grant that he heard Sophie sing earlier and thinks she’s good. Sophie comes over and asks Steven if he meant what he said about her singing. She tells Grant that she’ll do the song if he comes on stage and accompanies her on the guitar. Grant agrees and the two of them perform the song with Steven listening. Sophie runs home with Steven and Grant trailing her and tells Pippa that she sang and she’s going to perform in the amateur night. She suddenly realises she’s got nothing to wear and asks Pippa to help her make something. Pippa agrees so long as she looks in her wardrobe first to make sure there’s nothing suitable there. After Sophie’s gone upstairs, Pippa wonders what Grant did but he says Sophie did it all herself. Steven continues to drop enigmatic remarks about his own act.

Matt remarks that Paul seems to have got at least one good punch in on Adam but Adam says he wasn’t expecting it. He admits that he lied to Paul about why Emma was interested in him. Matt tells him he needs to accept that Emma is Paul’s girlfriend now, otherwise he’s just going to make a fool of himself. Adam is angry and wants to beat Paul up to show Emma what a wimp he is. Matt tells him he just needs to accept that Emma’s dropped him. Later, Adam meets up with Emma near the beach and asks what’s going on with Paul. Emma admits she likes him and thinks she and Adam should break up, she has more in common with Paul. Adam is annoyed and Emma realises he was the one who told Paul she and Grant were conning him. Adam says he just did it because he didn’t want to lose her. Emma retorts that she should have dropped him weeks ago and storms off.