Episode 3811

Extended Summary

RECAP
Irene is somewhat bemused when Tasha tells her that Josie is probably going to be going into business with Jesse
Irene tells Sally that “cyclone Josie” has just hit town
Alf is surprised at Kim’s decision to leave school immediately, rather than staying on until the holidays as he had previously intended
Sally offers Dan Baker the job of school counsellor
At the school, Dan accepts the post – but he can’t commit full time, as it will be dependent on how Peter is doing. Sally is confident that Hyde will be happy to have him on board

***

SCHOOL
Hyde is back, and is doing a round of the classrooms to speak to all the students, commenting to Robbie/Tasha’s group that the world looks different without an eyepatch – and that it will put an end to the pirate jokes “just as I was starting to fancy myself as Johnny Depp”. Robbie in particular is amazed at Hyde’s new-found sense of humour. Hyde talks of the recent tragedy, and how it should bring them all closer together – they will never forget Noah, or what he did for the school, but life must move on. He introduces Dan Baker as the new school counsellor, who greets the class, wishing the introduction could have “been under better circumstances”. Hyde encourages the class to put extra effort into their studies so as to get the best possible results from their upcoming exams.

Out in the corridor, the students are still taken aback by Hyde’s apparent “humour transplant”

Hyde, Sally and Dan make their way to the office, all satisfied with the new arrangements. Hyde and Sally leave Dan outside at the mercy of the rather-too-attentive receptionist as they go for “a chat” in his office. “So horrible about Noah Lawson…” she croons as she and Dan are left alone. Dan can only nod awkwardly in response.

In Hyde’s office, Hyde enquires about Kim, and why he has not returned to school as they had arranged – it seems Kim hasn’t broken the news to him, even though they spoke over the phone the previous night, on father’s day. Sally is left to break the news to an irritated Hyde – Kim has gone back on his promise to stay until he gets his assessment marks – but Sally insisits that she doesn’t want to get involved, encouraging Hyde to sort it out with Kim himself.

Outside the office, the receptionist is still oggling at Dan, coming a little too close for comfort in order to tell him how the Bay used to be a quiet little town where people could leave their doors unlocked – no more is this the case, as she claims there was someone creeping around her garden the previous night. Dan smiles politely, glad of the interruption as Hyde calls him into his office as Sally leaves. The receptionist rushes back to her job innocently, and Sally asks for an appointment with Hyde later that day so as to go over timetables. It seems there’s nothing until the afternoon – a lady called first thing that morning to get an appointment, getting the one that Sally was after.

Back in Hyde’s office, Hyde probes Dan as to what attitude he takes towards the “student body” – as Noah was always liberal-minded. Would he be more interested in freedom for the young or the more disciplined elements. Dan is diplomatic in his response, and tells Hyde that he wants the kids’ respect – they need to feel free to open up to him. He wants to start by setting up some counselling for the kids to get the ball rolling and the healing process started. Hyde thinks that he ought to sit in – at least in the first few sessions – as Dan is new to the role, but Dan disagrees. He tells Hyde he’s free to intervene once the ball is rolling, but he wants to do things his way at first. Hyde grits his teeth after his second failure to manipulate a school counsellor, and sends Dan away to his first human relations lesson. As Dan departs, Hyde helpfully suggests that he buy a razor with his first pay packet, receiving a rather defiant “Why would I do that? Kids respect a bit of stubble!” in response. Dan gets ‘the eye’ once more from the demon receptionist as he leaves, before she mutters to herself “he is *so* cute”, and leaves us wondering what on earth possessed Hyde to employ her.

In his first lesson, Dan talks of the recent tragedy, and how it has affected everyone. He wants to try and turn the negative into a positive, and challenges them to try and come up with something that would be positive for the community. He invites them to pair up in order to discuss ideas for the last few minutes of the lesson (which begs the question, how long *are* lessons at SBH?!)

Tasha is shooting every single idea that Robbie has out of the sky – fundraiser for the hospital, street parade etc. She wants to ask Josie for ideas, as she’s “had a lot of experience in solving other people’s problems” and Robbie comments that Josie seems to have become the centre of Tasha’s universe. His point is proven as Tasha starts talking non-stop about St. Josie – how she’s going to introduce herself to Hyde as her guardian and how she’s almost sorted herself out a job.

GYM
Nearly halfway through the episode and we finally escape the school… Josie has arrived to see Jesse. He has obviously been sucked in by her, and she is happy that he has been honest with her about his past – he admits that he just didn’t want her finding out second-hand. She pulls him aside, away from Kim’s prying eyes/ears, to make a confession of her own – her current job is as a “manager of a private club for gentlemen”, and she has, in the past, provided entertainment. She wants to use her money in a more legitimate direction now, and Jesse thanks her for her honesty, before assuring her that the information will go no further – especially not to Tasha. Josie then rejects the name “Gym and Tonic”, announcing that she has a much better idea for a name for their bar.

Later, Jesse and Kim discuss Josie – apparently she’s cute and she has a brain to go with it. Jesse announces that they’ve got an amazing new name for the bar, but he has to run it by someone before he tells anyone else. Despite it being Kim’s first day, Jesse leaves him alone in the gym, where he swaggers up and down, preying on an unsuspecting female customer with a “how’s it going?”.

SCHOOL
Robbie asks Sally for permission to use one of the classrooms at lunch time in order to kick around some ideas for Dan.

Sally hands Kirsty some information for Kane – stuff about TAFE courses.

Sally then talks to Dan about the success he has had with the children – how enthusiastic they are about doing something positive for the community. Their jaws drop as Josie appears in the hallway, asking kids for the direction to the principles office. Dan wonders what she teaches, to which Sally can only reply “all the wrong lessons…”. She departs, leaving Dan staring after Josie.

BREAK

SCHOOL
Josie hands Hyde a cheque for $2,000 – she wants to donate it to the school, more specifically the library fund as she thinks it’s important for children to be encouraged to read. He is stunned, and wonders why she is being so generous, and she explains that she is a relative of Tasha’s and that she’s planning on moving to the Bay, set up a business and become a valuable member of the community.

Josie and Hyde make their way out, with Hyde wishing that everyone could be as generous as she. We get a brief glimpse of Kirsty,who is wandering around the school in a white lab-coat carrying a bunsen burner and a beaker of some dubious substance before we move to Sally, who watches Hyde and Josie with curiousity as they bid “Ciao”. After Josie has left, Sally and Hyde discuss her, Hyde evidently impressed at her concern – more concern than he usually sees from parents. He remarks that it’s *obvious* that Josie will take over the role of Tasha’s guardian sooner or later.

THE PALACE
Hayley stands in the kitchen, looking depressed, as Jesse bashes on the door, begging her to let him in – he has some really good news, and it’s really important that they speak. He has some plans that she’ll like. Eventually she relents and allows him in, where he unrolls the plans for the bar to show her the new name – “Noah’s Bar”. They changed the name as a memorial to Noah,and Hayley bursts into tears, telling Jesse that it’s “beautiful”, thanking him. He admits that it wasn’t his idea – it was Josie’s -and Hayley is stunned, wondering why she would think of something like that. Jesse brands her “thoughtful”

SCHOOL
A variety of students – including Robbie, Tasha, Kirsty, Matilda and Henry – discuss plans for a positive community event. They throw around a range of idea, deciding that it has to be something that Noah would have liked. Robbie muses that he liked his guitar – perhaps they should do a concert – singing dancing, etc so that everyone could get involved. They could use the money raised for a drug awareness scheme or something – because it was the crystal meth that ultimately led to Noah’s death. He gets Tasha and Kirsty’s approval, but Matilda points out that they’ll never get the idea past Hyde. Kirsty suggests that Tasha get Josie to talk him round – they looked very friendly. Tasha insists that Josie would NEVER be interested in Hyde as Sally enters, commending the idea of a concert. She doesn’t think they have anything to worry about with regard to Hyde. Sally runs into Dan on her way out – he’s impressed with how the kids are handling his idea.

CARAVAN PARK
Robbie and Tasha arrive home, and despite all doors being wide open there appears to be no one home. Tasha decides to ‘hang’ for a while, before commenting that things are ‘funny’ with Irene at the moment – everytime she mentions Josie things go weird. Robbie suggests that she’s jealous of Josie – it may be stupid,but it was like he being jealous of Kim. He suggests that Tasha remind Irene how much she loves her, and Tasha calls him a “genius”. He already knew that – and tells her that she’s “slow”, which leads to a play-fight, consisting of the pair of them running round and round the kitchen table.

GYM
Hyde confronts Kim over the fact that he will not be returning to school, unable to understand why Kim didn’t mention it over the phone – Kim wanted to tell him face-to-face. Hyde is still unimpressed by the idea, but Kim insists that things have changed since Noah died – he wants to make the most out of life, as Noah’s was over in a matter of seconds. Hyde accepts his son’s decision, knowing that everyone has been affected in a different way – they choose to deal with things differently. Kim is surprised – he was expecting an arguement – and Hyde remarks that Noah’s death has probably taught him a few things as well. He leaves Kim to get back to his “client”, asking that they have dinner later in the week to catch up.

CARAVAN PARK
Tasha attacks Robbie with a cushion as he come downstairs and walks into the lounge area.The ensuing ‘struggle’ winds up in them falling back onto the couch in what would probably be seen as a ‘compromising position’ by anyone who was to walk in on them. However, Robbie leaps away from her nervously as she tries to change the subject, suggesting that they do some homework. He wants to get out of there though, and they do the whole “what do you want to do” “I dunno, what do YOU want to do” routine until they decide to head down to the gymto see Kim. As they depart, they concede that “this waiting thing is not easy”.

MISC. ROAD
Josie pulls over in her car as she sees Sally, telling her that she’s meeting Flynn at the diner and suggesting that she join them. Sally agrees, climbing into the car. She asserts that they won’t be supporting any change to Tasha’s guardianship, but Josie politely tells her that if there’s going to be a war, she and Flynn have already lost it…

Claire