Spoiler

Tonight's surprise was that Phoenix Raynor, the long lost (invented in the writers room in 2010) son of original characters Chris Warner and Alison Raynor finally turned up after a six year absence, still played by the same actor. I don't think it's a permanent return but considering I didn't think we'd ever see him again it's nice, even though I didn't really rate the character back in the day.

 

Supposedly there will be another surprise return, speculation includes Brooke, Bella, Sass or even Rachel.

 

 

And the second return is...

Spoiler

Bella! Hopefully this will give Boys something better to do besides pining for Zara.

 

Well Phoenix is definitely showing he hasn't grown up at all in the past six years.

 

I'm liking the new business minded Bella, but am suspicious this is going to turn into another Boyd against big-pharma type storyline like Fentich three years ago.

I've been remiss in not mentioning this sooner but Nancy Brunning who was an original cast member passed away last month aged 48.

 

Nancy played nurse Jaki Manu for just under two years (1992 - 1994).

 

Jaki's storylines included an HIV scare after pricking herself with a needle, a relationship with the husband of a terminally ill patient (permitted by the wife as she wanted her husband to have someone after she died, but ultimately it didn't work out), and finally finding happiness with her cricketer ex-boyfriend. The character of Jaki (along with Temuera Morrison's Hone) was also a trailblazer in terms of Maori representation on NZ TV.

 

After leaving the show, Nancy went on to have a distinguished career in NZ film and theatre.

 

https://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/celebrities/117556101/the-mana-of-nancy-brunning

Well the 90 minute season finale has screened and there were a few surprises to end this decade of Shortland Street on so here are a few of my thoughts:

 

Chris should have better security at his house.

 

Having two separate hostage crises going on at the same time didn't really work IMO.

 

The whole incel/coercive control storyline felt rushed and undeveloped.

 

They keep flip-flopping Zara around between love interests.

 

Chris is a grandfather for the second time.

 

It was nice seeing Sass again, even if it was a Skype/Video call.

 

It went from day to night pretty quickly at the end of the episode.

 

Of course Damo was going to find the second bomb and mistake it for a christmas present.

 

Frank's return will hopefully add a nice new wrinkle to Kylie's life, the one story that has decent pacing.

 

Pyro Sophia setting the gun toting farmer who'd leered at her on fire was an interesting - although predictable - twist.

 

Only a 3 week break this year - the show will be back on January 13.

 

 

Shortland Street came back last Monday.

 

Only Tim died from the bombing of the ambulance, but Boyd is now deaf. The bomb at the hospital failed to detonate.

 

Frank has accepted that Kylie has moved on and is currently involving himself in Phoenix's life.  Phoenix has embezzled money from the hospital.

 

Cece realises that Sophia killed the pervy farmer on purpose, (it wasn't self-defence because Dawn already had the guy at gunpoint).

 

After mourning Tim for a few episodes she now wants Frank.

 

 

And so with the return of Desi and Leanne in the same episode, Damo now finds himself in a love triangle.

 

Tbh he's better off alone as both pairings have been ruined:

 

Leanne, when she ran off with her baby daddy and didn't bother to come back when Damo was shot and needed a liver

 

Desi, when she slept with half of L.A while visiting her daughter.

 

 

And as Kylie prepares for wedding #4, her memory decides to come back and ruin everything!

 

She, TK and Sophia should form a club, maybe bring Maia back too. And Sass (though that was a clear cut case of self defence)

Kylie decided to hand herself in after remembering she killed Dylan and her old primary school teacher (but sadly not Ian Reid, so it seems Claire was guilty of that one). It seems Friday may have been her last show. This puts an end to the two year saga of Kylie and Dylan --> Killer Kylie.

 

A bit anti-climatic in the end, the least they could have done is get TK and Kylie to the altar (although a bit hard considering Kylie was still married to Daniel and basically the only grounds for divorce in NZ are a two year separation - it has only been six months or so for Kylie and Daniel, but that hasn't stopped the writers from bending the rules before) and have Kylie remember everything in front of a much larger audience (a soap cliche yes, but I do feel five years of TK and Kylie should have at least resulted in a wedding or a jilting lol). They did do a good job of tying up Frank and Kylie's relationship by having them return to the beach where they went skinny dipping back in 2017.

 

Meanwhile Phoenix has run off after embezzling more than $1million from the hospital, leaving behind his partner Tess and their daughter Amelie. I'm predicting he won't be back and Frank will be paired up Tess soon enough.

 

I'm sure TK and Cece will be having an affair in the near future also. They've already kissed.

And Cece told TK about Sophia being a murderer. Which probably means their affair is imminent.

Initially it was going to be Monday to Thursday, but now Monday to Wednesday due to the impending New Zealand lockdown:

 

 

Forgot to mention that Ben died in a fire two weeks ago. Thus clearing the way for Cece to eventually get with TK lol.

Jack got married to Matiu! But no, they didn't come back. The wedding was entirely offscreen and only mentioned by Esther and Eddie to create unnecessary drama (since Curtis would be there and Eddie had caught Esther lying about still texting him just before Esther gave birth to Kiwa).

And now Shortland Street is set to resume filming: