Barely a MONTH after Home and Away fans got the shock of their lives watching Felicity Newman die an untimely death, Summer Bay has been rocked by another death, this time in the form of a drowning. I know what you’re thinking — soap opera, set on a beach, a drowning should be fairly routine, right? Well, WRONG, actually. This time the death would be best described as (accidental) manslaughter or a killing by self-defence. Look, I don’t know, I’m not a lawyer. I’m employed to write about Home and Away.
Anyway.
TL;DR on Perri’s Home and Away story arc
Here’s a refresher to follow the story: Perri arrived in Summer Bay a couple of months ago as part of Tane’s youth program to help troubled teens. It’s hard to say what happened to the rest of the wayward teens, but Perri stuck around for some time with Tane taking him under his wing. Perri told Tane that his aim was to stay out of trouble as he was soon to be 18, and if he f**cked up again, he’d be sent to prison, not juvie.
Enter Perri’s troublemaker criminal dad Carl, who is not only emotionally and physically abusive, but coerces his son into carrying out illegal activities for him.
Things take a deadly turn for Perri and Carl
Fast forward to present day, and Perri has a restraining order out on his dad, except Criminal Carl was hardly going to adhere to that. So in last night’s episode of Home and Away, Perri arrives home to find his AVO stuck to a chopping board with a knife, and his dad waiting for him.
When Perri refuses to help his dad get money for a “fresh” start, chaos ensues.
Carl drags Perri out to the pool and attempts to drown him in some graphic scenes that I wasn’t quite ready for. This used to be a FAMILY FRIENDLY show. People used to wash up on to the beach speaking Pig Latin, go on to have teen pregnancies to cult leaders, and then move to America for a new life. Now it’s all murder and crime, like it’s Mount Thomas! (IYKYK.)
Sometime later that night, Tane, who hasn’t heard from Perri arrives home to find a body floating in his pool. FYI, Tane kidnapped a baby earlier this year so he can’t really afford to be in any more trouble right now.
Tane then found Perri slumped against the wall muttering, “I didn’t mean to kill him.” End scene. End episode.
Well, on the plus side, if anyone is going to teach Perri how to avoid a prison sentence, surely it’s Tane.
Home and Away fans react to shock death
Fans had previously speculated that they thought Perri would be the one to perish at the hands of his dad, so they’re not exactly sad to see Carl go.
“What father does that to their child?” one person queried in a Facebook fan group. “He’s a monster!” someone else agreed.
“That was a chilling ending. Good on Perri, honestly. He did what he had to do to stay alive, poor kid,” someone else said.