Nicole had been going through a year of hell, starting with not liking or trusting the girl, Cassie, who had Maeve's grandchild and was living with them. Cassie had used drugs during her pregnancy and woke up in the park believing her baby was dead. As it turns out, a nurse at the hospital (the actor actually had been an extra on the show for several years as a nurse) had taken the baby and given it to his wife, Louisa, who had not been able to cope with their baby dying. Louisa tried any trick she could to stay close to the baby, including secretly breast feeding the baby. She was finally sent away to get help.
The story then began to focus on Nicole's financial worries, as well as her depression over Leanne dying of cancer. The best part of the story, mostly due to the work from Sally and Jennifer Ludlum. The aftermath of the story included one of the worst scenes of any soap I watched last year, where we suddenly learned that Leanne had a priceless vase handed down generations so that Nicole could smash it...moments before learning the vase was hugely valuable. I HATE this type of writing.
Nicole began to confide in a grief group chat, telling them everything...including that in a weak moment she kissed Drew. They also convinced Nicole to put spy cams in the house because Nicole was convinced Cassie had stolen jewelry from her. One of the people in the chat then spilled all the beans to Maeve, including about the kiss, wanting to show Maeve how much she had hurt Nicole. That person was kicked out of the group, and Nicole continued on with her good friends.
Now we come to the part that should have been brilliant - the reveal that the group chat members were all Louisa, to gaslight Nicole and cause more instability that would lead her back into the baby's life. Unfortunately, they chose to have Louisa return to town about a week before the reveal, and as soon as she returned, I knew it was her.
Using the group, Louisa lured Nicole to an abandoned factory. She held her hostage unless Maeve agreed to get her the baby. Maeve conned her with a fake baby and while she and Nicole were left at the factory together, Nicole managed to escape (not bothering to help Maeve). Louisa had realized the con and gone to the house, where she was harassing Cassie to give her the baby.
When Maeve finally got there, she found Nicole trying to keep an injured Louisa alive. Louisa was taken to the hospital and soon died. Nicole and Cassie both told the police that Nicole had tried to keep her away from the baby and pushed her, leading her to hit her head on the counter. The autopsy said the injuries were more severe than that, and after a lot of angst, Nicole was arrested. There was then a lot of doubt about whether or not Cassie had killed her, and Nicole was covering for her. Maeve was torn between them.
Nicole went on trial (a trial we actually saw - I guess that's where the budget went) and was acquitted. Cassie by this point had run away after Maeve had caught her with an urn with Leanne's ashes, which she'd insisted Nicole had killed Louisa with. Nicole insisted this wasn't true. But after she saw Cassie was back, she was so angry, she almost picked up the ashes and hit her too. This is when her mental block faded, and she remembered hitting Louise with the urn.
Nicole spent one last Christmas with her son, Pele, and with Maeve, and said goodbye to Harper (not telling anyone of her plans), before telling Maeve that she had called the police as she was too unstable and needed to be locked up. Maeve was, of course, devastated, and the two had a teary goodbye. Now Maeve will be raising Pele, I guess, unless he's shipped to Nicole's mentally ill brother who hasn't been seen in a decade, or cute Eddie, who did make a cameo via Skype but otherwise is barely seen or mentioned and probably wouldn't be able to raise a child (Esther is happy enough to ignore that he is her son's father).
The story, along with the story about Harper cheating on Drew and him having a breakdown, attempting suicide, blaming himself for the death of one of Boyd's children (a story badly truncated because the show would only keep Boyd on for a few weeks at a time, presumably due to financial reasons), took up so much time in the year, and was a huge slog. They wrote Nicole into a complete corner to where she and Maeve had no personality between them beyond tears and misery.
If the show stays on I could see her returning, but it would have to be a hell of a lot better than what she's had on the show in recent times.
If you want to see any of the clips, there is someone on Youtube who exclusively clipped Nicole and Nicole/Maeve stuff.
If you ever want to know what else you missed this year, I'll just say try to look for the stories involving Emmett and Nazar and avoid most of the rest.
Nicole had been going through a year of hell, starting with not liking or trusting the girl, Cassie, who had Maeve's grandchild and was living with them. Cassie had used drugs during her pregnancy and woke up in the park believing her baby was dead. As it turns out, a nurse at the hospital (the actor actually had been an extra on the show for several years as a nurse) had taken the baby and given it to his wife, Louisa, who had not been able to cope with their baby dying. Louisa tried any trick she could to stay close to the baby, including secretly breast feeding the baby. She was finally sent away to get help. The story then began to focus on Nicole's financial worries, as well as her depression over Leanne dying of cancer. The best part of the story, mostly due to the work from Sally and Jennifer Ludlum. The aftermath of the story included one of the worst scenes of any soap I watched last year, where we suddenly learned that Leanne had a priceless vase handed down generations so that Nicole could smash it...moments before learning the vase was hugely valuable. I HATE this type of writing. Nicole began to confide in a grief group chat, telling them everything...including that in a weak moment she kissed Drew. They also convinced Nicole to put spy cams in the house because Nicole was convinced Cassie had stolen jewelry from her. One of the people in the chat then spilled all the beans to Maeve, including about the kiss, wanting to show Maeve how much she had hurt Nicole. That person was kicked out of the group, and Nicole continued on with her good friends. Now we come to the part that should have been brilliant - the reveal that the group chat members were all Louisa, to gaslight Nicole and cause more instability that would lead her back into the baby's life. Unfortunately, they chose to have Louisa return to town about a week before the reveal, and as soon as she returned, I knew it was her. Using the group, Louisa lured Nicole to an abandoned factory. She held her hostage unless Maeve agreed to get her the baby. Maeve conned her with a fake baby and while she and Nicole were left at the factory together, Nicole managed to escape (not bothering to help Maeve). Louisa had realized the con and gone to the house, where she was harassing Cassie to give her the baby. When Maeve finally got there, she found Nicole trying to keep an injured Louisa alive. Louisa was taken to the hospital and soon died. Nicole and Cassie both told the police that Nicole had tried to keep her away from the baby and pushed her, leading her to hit her head on the counter. The autopsy said the injuries were more severe than that, and after a lot of angst, Nicole was arrested. There was then a lot of doubt about whether or not Cassie had killed her, and Nicole was covering for her. Maeve was torn between them. Nicole went on trial (a trial we actually saw - I guess that's where the budget went) and was acquitted. Cassie by this point had run away after Maeve had caught her with an urn with Leanne's ashes, which she'd insisted Nicole had killed Louisa with. Nicole insisted this wasn't true. But after she saw Cassie was back, she was so angry, she almost picked up the ashes and hit her too. This is when her mental block faded, and she remembered hitting Louise with the urn. Nicole spent one last Christmas with her son, Pele, and with Maeve, and said goodbye to Harper (not telling anyone of her plans), before telling Maeve that she had called the police as she was too unstable and needed to be locked up. Maeve was, of course, devastated, and the two had a teary goodbye. Now Maeve will be raising Pele, I guess, unless he's shipped to Nicole's mentally ill brother who hasn't been seen in a decade, or cute Eddie, who did make a cameo via Skype but otherwise is barely seen or mentioned and probably wouldn't be able to raise a child (Esther is happy enough to ignore that he is her son's father). The story, along with the story about Harper cheating on Drew and him having a breakdown, attempting suicide, blaming himself for the death of one of Boyd's children (a story badly truncated because the show would only keep Boyd on for a few weeks at a time, presumably due to financial reasons), took up so much time in the year, and was a huge slog. They wrote Nicole into a complete corner to where she and Maeve had no personality between them beyond tears and misery. If the show stays on I could see her returning, but it would have to be a hell of a lot better than what she's had on the show in recent times. If you want to see any of the clips, there is someone on Youtube who exclusively clipped Nicole and Nicole/Maeve stuff. If you ever want to know what else you missed this year, I'll just say try to look for the stories involving Emmett and Nazar and avoid most of the rest.