Next week on Home and Away in the UK, Perri’s birthday celebrations are a disaster, John prepares to confront Irene, and there’s a surprise proposal!
Tane (Ethan Browne) is expecting big things of Perri (Cantona Stewart) as he begins work at Summer Bay Fit this week, but the day doesn’t pan out as he planned.
Tane took the teen under his wing following the formation of his juvenile offenders program at the gym, seemingly taking an immediate shine to him over the other participants.
But having invited Perri to come and live with him, after learning that he was being bullied and abused by his father, Tane begins to worry that Perri is becoming too comfortable with their arrangement.
The night before he’s due to start work, Tane is concerned when he cannot get hold of Perri. When Perri eventually rocks up late that evening, he explains that just lost track of time after his phone died. Tane warns him to make sure it’s charged ready for his early start in the morning.
The next morning, Perri heads to the surf club, but instead of going into the gym he heads up to Salt. Mackenzie (Emily Weir) is somewhat surprised when Perri tries to order a beer—firstly because it’s before work, but secondly because he’s underage.
It’s only then that Perri flashes his ID, revealing that today is actually his 18th birthday.
Meanwhile, downstairs Tane tells Harper (Jessica Redmayne) that he feels like he’s starting to get attitude from Perri.
At that moment, Perri comes down the stairs from Salt, with Tane angry that he isn’t already on shift at the gym as agreed.
After Tane points out that he should have been at work 10 minutes ago, Perri doesn’t help the situation by telling him he was just getting a beer.
As an incredulous Tane repeats what he just heard in disbelief, Mac walks downstairs. With all eyes on Perri, he suddenly feels uncomfortable and walks out.
Tane wonders what on earth is going on as Mac explains that Perri ended up having a coffee instead, but then feels terrible when Mac explains that it’s Perri’s birthday.
When Tane finds Perri back at home, Perri explains that he’d been out to a skate park the previous night hoping to hang out with some people his own age.
He’d always envisaged having his first legal beer with his mates, and had only gone to Salt in an attempt to have some sort of celebration.
Tane later talks with Harper and thinks back to his own 18th birthday, which his family celebrated in their traditional fashion with a hangi.
Tane was quick to spot that Perri has Māori heritage, though he later explained that it was only on his mother’s side, and that he had never actually learnt anything about the culture.
As a result, Tane decides to organise a hangi for Perri, asking the Parata whanau to come along in the hope that Perri will want to embrace his heritage.
Yet as cousin Kiri (David Wikaira-Paul) and others get to work on setting everything up however, it’s clear that Tane is more excited for the celebrations than Perri is.
Tane gifts Perri a Manaia pendant to bring him luck, and goes on to explain how important the hangi is in their culture.
Housemates Mac and Levi (Tristan Gorey) treat Perri to an expensive watch for his birthday, and whilst Perri is grateful for the thoughtful gift, he awkwardly explains to a curious Mac later on that they’re essentially still strangers to him. Everyone is. Mac understands completely.
The same can’t be said for Tane however, who isn’t able to see that Perri is feeling uncomfortable about being the centre of attention amongst the hangi celebrations.
As the whanau bring out the guitars and sing traditional songs, it becomes overwhelming for Perri.
When Tane later proposes the idea of getting Perri a NZ passport so they can travel to their homeland together, Perri finally snaps, telling him that NZ is Tane’s home, not his!
Perri tells Tane he can keep his Manaia, refusing to be his little ‘cultural project’, and storms off.
Elsewhere in Summer Bay, John (Shane Withington) is upset to learn that Irene’s (Lynne McGranger) recovery after falling off the wagon has not gone as well as he hoped.
John had been the first to discover Irene’s drinking, and persuaded her to attend an AA meeting after she assured him that it was just a blip.
However, rather than return to sobriety, Irene instead decided to stop ‘punishing herself’ and drink openly with her friends, something that shocked Leah (Ada Nicodemou) and Marilyn (Emily Symons).
Whilst Marilyn has attempted to see things from Irene’s perspective, Leah’s concern has been seen by Irene as nothing more than meddling.
When Leah sends Justin (James Stewart) over to the Beach House to check on Irene next week, under the pretence of trying to organise a surprise for Leah, Irene quickly sees through it and has it out with Leah.
Having returned from a trip to the city to visit son Jett (Will McDonald) and daughter-in-law Lindsey, John (Shane Withington) witnesses the ongoing tension between Irene and Leah at the diner, and is disappointed when he catches up with Irene in Salt and finds her drinking wine.
Irene claims that she is different to all the others she saw at the AA meeting, in that she knows her limits and can now be responsible, and claims that she is not drinking on her own in secret.
In fact, she decides then and there to throw a dinner party for all her friends, to prove she can drink socially without it being an issue.
With a little reluctance, Marilyn, Leah, Justin and John all show up at the Beach House that evening where Irene gets the wine flowing, commenting that they should do this more often.
John refuses to drink alcohol whilst there, and when Irene later catches him snooping in the kitchen, she knows he is looking for hidden away bottles and orders him back to the table.
Everyone is uneasy as Irene continues to top up the glasses and makes a toast, to honesty and living your truth.
John cannot stand it any longer, telling Irene that she is lying both to herself and her friends. He refuses to be an enabler, and walks out.
John’s suspicions are proven correct the next day when he spots Irene dumping some bags in a bin near the surf club before driving off.
Heading over to investigate, John is concerned to find empty whiskey bottles inside.
As he heads back to the Beach House to confront Irene with the evidence, will he be able to convince Irene that she needs help?
Also next week, after the dramatic events of the previous days, Cash (Nicholas Cartwright) is worried for Felicity (Jacqui Purvis) as she nurses her broken heart.
Cash knows he couldn’t have changed anything, but wishes Flick hadn’t have had to suffer in the process.
With Flick avoiding Cash as she attempts to deal with things, Eden (Stephanie Panozzo) invites Cash to come and stay at the share house. Remi (Adam Rowland) messages Theo (Matt Evans) to ask him and Kirby (Angelina Thomson) to come home and bring pizza.
With Bree (Juliet Godwin) also joining the proceedings, the beer gets cracked open as operation Cheer Up Cash commences.
When Remi later has a chat with Cash, he tells him that he cannot waste time regretting his decisions and has to make the most of what he’s got. That includes having Eden looking out for him, which as Remi points out is as good as it gets.
Cash agrees as he looks over at Eden, deep in thought.
When Eden later finds Cash outside, she worries that they’ve failed in cheering him up, and asks him what she can do to make things better.
“Marry me,” Cash responds!
