The UK’s Home and Away will feature Marilyn disclosing a sinister childhood secret the following week. As we travel back 27 years to the events of 1995, we consider how well Marilyn’s prior history fits with the most recent developments in the story.
Marilyn (Emily Symons) starts to suspect that Heather Frazer (Sofia Nolan), the mysterious newcomer, is actually her daughter after this week’s shocking revelation that she is ostensibly the daughter of Marilyn (Emily Symons). As a result, Marilyn tells Leah (Ada Nicodemou) a secret that she has kept hidden for over 27 years.
When Heather first arrived at the bay, she told Roo that she had once been a housekeeper and had become pregnant while working for another person.
Heather claimed that she wanted to study law so that she could assist mothers who have lost custody of their children after being forced to give the baby up to her boss and his wife.
But when Roo told Marilyn about Heather’s tale, it was obvious that it struck a nerve because the tale sounded all too familiar.
The very next day, Marilyn discovered an envelope with a baby photo inside and the words “Guess Who?” written on the back on her doorstep. The envelope was addressed to her.
Marilyn questioned Heather about the tale she’d told Roo and the baby picture right away. Heather gave her few explanations and told her bluntly that she would have to figure it out on her own.
We later learned that Heather’s birth mother was listed as Marilyn Chambers when we saw her open a box of mementos containing her birth certificate.
Roo and Leah (Ada Nicodemou), in the meantime, had made the decision to stage an intervention regarding Marilyn’s targeting of Heather. In an effort to prove that it is actually the other way around, Marilyn tried to show them the photo, but she discovered that it had vanished from her handbag.
As everyone starts to worry that Marilyn’s mental health is deteriorating once more in the episodes airing next week, Heather takes great pleasure in tormenting Marilyn. Marilyn has been taking medication ever since the chemical attack at the surf club caused her to experience neurological problems.
Heather had pretended to apologize to Marilyn in front of Roo after learning about her medical condition from Nikau (Kawakawa Fox-Reo), and this week she tells her patronizingly that she is welcome to talk to her about her mental health at any time.
When Marilyn inquires as to how Heather even learned of it, Heather gestures in the direction of Roo, leading a paranoid Marilyn to think that Roo has been speaking disparagingly of her behind her back.
When Heather decides to let herself into Summer Bay House that evening, Marilyn is dozing off on the sofa. As soon as she sees an opening, she empties a bottle of wine and carefully places it on the coffee table before returning the photo to Marilyn’s hand.
The following morning, Roo notices that Marilyn clearly had a big night!
Marilyn is harassed by Heather at the diner later on as she inquires about her sleep quality. Leah checks on Marilyn, who confides in her about the picture but is obviously shaken. Marilyn asserts that she is unaware of the baby’s identity, but she informs Leah that Heather is teasing her.
Leah wonders why Heather would do that and realizes there must be more to the story than meets the eye, but she is unable to continue because Roo interrupts them and Marilyn remains silent.
Marilyn finally opens up to Leah after a subsequent run-in where Heather casually remarks in front of Marilyn that anyone can have a baby and simply give it away for adoption.
She explains that when her boyfriend and she broke up in the 1990s, she was in the middle of touring Australia with him.
Marilyn eventually found herself employed as a housekeeper on a remote cattle station, where she became close friends with Tim.
Marilyn confided in Tim when she felt lonely, and the two started dating. Tim informed his wife of Marilyn’s pregnancy when she became pregnant, and they both agreed that she could stay with them until the baby was born.
Marilyn continues by saying that the two later persuaded her to abandon her daughter by promising to give her a better life.
Marilyn thought she was doing the right thing by leaving the baby, who she now believes to be Heather, in their care because she had nothing and no one.
Because she fears that Roo and Alf (Ray Meagher), two of her closest friends, will never see her in the same way again, Marilyn tells Leah that she isn’t ready to discuss it with Heather. She also begs Leah not to tell them.
As devoted followers, we can’t help but reflect on how stories like these fit into the canon, but regrettably, as in this instance, we can’t always say that it works.
Viewers will recall that in 1992, Marilyn moved away from Summer Bay to live with her new fiancé Phil Bryant (Vince Martin) and his daughter Toni (Kathryn Dufty) on his cattle station. September 1992 saw their off-screen nuptials.
On June 5, 1995, Marilyn arrived back in Summer Bay and broke down in tears as she confessed to Phil that she had been having an affair.
It was unmistakably established that Marilyn returned immediately to the bay after learning about the relationship, and she kept getting phone calls from Phil pleading with her to come back.
She added how challenging it had been for them both to keep the animals alive on the farm over the past few months due to a severe drought.
The issue is that Heather’s birth certificate lists her date of birth as April 27, 1995, which was just five weeks before Marilyn’s departure for Summer Bay.
For Marilyn to have had time to find a new boyfriend, decide to travel around Australia with him, split up, and fall pregnant to Tim by July 1994, the new continuity from the current episodes would have to have been established back in 1993/1994.
Given that Heather was also the name of Marilyn’s mother, the choice of name is also puzzling.
Even though that wouldn’t be strange in and of itself, Marilyn’s choice would be extremely strange given that she only met Heather and George Davidson (Lynn Rainbow & Doug Scroope) briefly in 1991 and was quick to recognize that they were horrible people.
Since they had abandoned Marilyn in a children’s home when she was a baby so they could travel with the carnival, she soon realized they were only after her money and sent them on their way.
their final exchange?
You are terrible, Marilyn! You are only using me… I owe you nothing at all! Just leave before I throw you out, please.
She isn’t worth it, so let’s push off, says Heather.
George: You ungrateful little tart, after all the trouble we went to see you!
Although it’s never stated that Marilyn named her child four years later—the Frazers could have changed the name to Heather after she left—Marilyn did mention Heather as one of her favorite names when they last spoke.
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