Dean, Mia and Nikau revealed as Home and Away’s car crash victims

The Home and Away mid-season finale has left Dean, Mia and Nikau’s lives on the line after they were involved in a huge car crash in rural roads near Wee Jasper.

In a dramatic three-part final episode before Home and Away in Australia takes a 2-week break for the Olympics, the fallout from Nikau (Kawakawa Fox-Reo) and Bella’s (Courtney Miller) breakup continued. The events led to a dramatic showdown between the Paratas, and a car crash that could have devastating effects on the Bay’s residents.

Bella hasn’t wanted a bar of Nikau since she found out he cheated on her with Sienna (Rose Riley). He spent the night in his agent’s bed after suspecting that Bella had herself been cheating with Emmett (JR Reyne), and has spent the past weeks trying unsuccessfully to win Bella back.

While a heartbroken Bella initially told Nikau that he was dead to her, she finally gave in and engaged with him in Thursday’s huge three-parter.

She let him into the apartment and the pair took the first steps to repairing their fractured relationship. They began to get on again, even managing to laugh together, and even though Bella is far from being able to forgive Nikau, it seemed she could at least stand to be in the same room as him.

Sadly, Nikau misinterpreted her friendliness for forgiveness and went in for a kiss, instantly shattering any hope of rebuilding a friendship. Bella freaked out, and Nikau’s attempts to apologise were met with major resistance. He followed her, refused to leave her alone until she listened to him, and it took new cop Cash Newman (Nicholas Cartwright) to step in and quite literally chase Nikau away.

When the police later turned up at the Paratas’ door and Ari (Rob Kipa-Williams) and Mia (Anna Samson) discovered that Nikau had been harassing his ex-girlfriend once again, Ari had no sympathy whatsoever. He lashed out at his nephew, getting angry with him for his actions and even accusing him of letting his father down.

After his attempts to ground Nikau went nowhere, Nik packed a bag and left, with his uncle warning him that if he walked out, he shouldn’t even think about coming back.

Now feeling disowned by both Bella and his family, Nikau skipped town and hitch-hiked to a motel in Wee Jasper, a small town in the bush. However, he found the town’s motel closed and instantly regretted his decision to leave the bay. Unfortunately by that point his lift was already driving away, and, as the camera panned out, it revealed him to be in the middle of nowhere with nobody else around.

Ari spent the evening drinking himself into a stupor at Salt after the argument. It was on Dean (Patrick O’Connor) to carry him back to the Parata house, presenting Mia with her boyfriend and soon-to-be-father of her child in a drunken, almost passed out state.

Back in Wee Jasper and Nikau was forced to spend the night sleeping on a bench outside the motel. The next morning, he soon gave in and called Mia, asking her to pick him up and bring him back home.

With Ari not in a great place from the day before, Mia decided to keep the news quiet from him. Instead, Dean offered to drive Mia there. While she initially rejected his offer, he insisted and told her that he still owed Ari, and the pair drove out to the rural Wee Jasper location to rescue Nikau.

On the drive, when Mia questioned Dean on what he meant when he said he “owed Ari,” Dean opened up about how much the older Parata brother had helped him when he was on the inside.

It’s thanks to Ari that he’s still around, after he broke up an intense fight between Dean and another inmate. However, helping Dean out mucked up Ari’s parole, and he ended up doing an extra two years thanks to his selfless actions.

Soon after, they picked up Nikau and started the return journey back to Summer Bay. Just minutes into the journey, a kangaroo jumped out in front of them on the rural road.

As Dean swerved to avoid it, he ran the car off the road and down the side of a hill.

The back passenger door quickly separated from the rest of the car, with Nikau flung out through it and left in a heap on the ground.

Mia and Dean remained in the car, which continued to flip as it flew down the side of the hill.

It eventually landed on its side, and as the camera panned out, it revealed that the two unconscious passengers were in a car perched on the edge of a sheer and very high drop!

It was already widely expected that Dean would be caught up in the drama when promos for the episode showed that it clearly his car being driven.

What’s more, a leaked photo from the air ambulance crew who were involved in the recovery scenes showed an actor in a stretcher who bore more than a passing resemblance to Patrick O’Connor, including wearing the same Nike trainers that Dean was wearing in recent episodes.

However, Nikau and Mia’s part in the crash was less expected. While some fans suspected that the body in the stretcher was Nikau’s due to Dean’s distinctive tattoos not being visible, his trainers are a slightly different style to the ones Dean was wearing.

In hindsight Mia’s involvement makes sense. In our previous article we wrote that some freeze frames from the promo seemed to show a blonde wearing a pink top. While the blonde hair and the connection to Dean made us suspect Ziggy, the pink top seemed slightly uncharacteristic of her dress sense… but Mia being the second victim now fits perfectly.

So what does the future hold for the three car crash victims?

Thankfully, all three actors have been seen filming at Sydney’s Palm Beach over the last few months, suggesting they walk away injured but with nothing life threatening. Patrick O’Connor has been seen filming with crutches, suggesting that he may come off with a broken leg.

However, there’s a fourth person in the car with them – Mia and Ari’s unborn baby.

With Mia and Ari having already had multiple heartbreaking miscarriages over their turbulent romantic history, surely losing another baby would be too much for them to deal with? Will the show really put us and the characters through that?

There was no promo after the episode, and even the 7Plus airing didn’t contain the usual “Next time on Summer Bay” preview, meaning the bosses are keeping the aftermath of the crash firmly under wraps.

We’ll have to wait and see if a promo for the Season Return airs over the two week break, and we’ll keep you fully up to date here at Back to the Bay as soon as any spoilers are released.

Home and Away returns to Australian screens on Monday 9th August, after the two-week Olympic break.

UK viewers should see the three part episode air across three days from Wednesday 8th September, with the final episode set to air Friday 10th September.