recent episodes have plunged viewers back into the emotional wreckage left behind—this time through Lacey’s unwanted return to the spotlight and Leah’s unraveling fight

to protect her son’s memory. What unfolds is not just another clash between two grieving women, but a painful examination of guilt, blame, and the fragile line between coping and collapsing.

Lacey has spent months trying to live quietly with the weight of what happened. But that fragile peace is shattered when coastal news reporter Peter Rolf turns up in the Bay, determined to tell a story she never asked for. His angle is clear: paint Lacey as a hero for helping bring counselor Wendell to justice. To Peter, it’s a compelling narrative of courage and accountability. To Lacey, it’s a nightmare she has no interest in reliving.

Viewers will remember Peter’s previous visit to Summer Bay, when his relentless questioning caused turmoil after Tane discovered a baby on the beach. True to form, Peter arrives this time with the same intrusive persistence. Despite Lacey repeatedly refusing interviews and making it clear she wants no part in the media circus, Peter refuses to back off. Instead, he canvasses the Bay, approaching locals and stoking tension, forcing Lacey back into a story she’s desperately trying to escape.

At the heart of Lacey’s distress is not fear of publicity, but fear of rewriting the truth. In her mind, nothing about Theo’s death makes her a hero. It makes her someone who survived—and survival, she believes, comes with a debt she will never fully repay.

Hoping to reclaim some humanity from the chaos, Lacey reaches out to Leah ahead of Theo’s birthday. Her intention is simple, if painfully optimistic: to bury the hatchet, even briefly, and remember Theo together. It’s a gesture born of shared loss, but it lands like salt in an open wound.

Leah’s response is devastating. “As if I would want to spend Theo’s birthday with the reason that he’s dead,” she snaps—words that cut straight through Lacey’s carefully held composure. The rejection is absolute, and it leaves no room for reconciliation. In that moment, the gulf between them feels unbridgeable.

The immediate aftermath sees Lacey walking the beach with Cash, visibly shaken and struggling to process Leah’s words. In a quiet, heartbreaking confession, she admits she had hoped Leah might be open to sharing their grief. Instead, she accepts Leah’s anger without resistance. She tells Cash she understands why Leah blames her—and more painfully, that she agrees. In Lacey’s mind, Theo’s death is a burden she will carry forever, no matter how many times she’s told it wasn’t her fault.

While Lacey retreats inward, Leah goes in the opposite direction, throwing herself into work at the coffee cart. Determined to stay busy and outrun her grief, she keeps moving until distraction fails her. The moment that undoes her comes unexpectedly, when she spots a newspaper left on a nearby table.

There, splashed across the page, is Peter Rolf’s article.

The story credits Lacey with bringing Wendell to justice, framing her as brave and instrumental—while Theo is reduced to little more than a passing mention. For Leah, the omission is unbearable. It feels like erasure, as though her son’s life has been sidelined in favor of a narrative that glorifies survival over loss.

Convinced Lacey must have been behind the article, Leah’s grief curdles into fury. Justin tries to intervene, urging her to step back and leave Lacey alone, but reason has little power over a mother still drowning in heartbreak. Leah is determined to confront what she sees as a betrayal.

At the board shop, Lacey comes face to face with the article herself—and is horrified. Despite her repeated refusals, Peter has gone ahead without her consent. She barely has time to process the shock before Leah storms in, unleashing her rage. Lacey insists she told the reporter to back off, but on Theo’s birthday, emotions are too raw for explanations to land. Leah lashes out again, blaming Lacey outright for Theo’s death.

The confrontation escalates until David and Alf step in, pulling Leah away before the situation spirals further. Their intervention leaves Lacey shaken, crumbling under the weight of yet another public accusation. David stays behind to comfort her, appalled by what she’s been subjected to, and later suggests she consider taking out an AVO against Leah—a suggestion that underscores just how volatile things have become.

Meanwhile, Leah channels her anger into action. She phones Coastal News directly, demanding the paper set the record straight. Lacey, she insists, is no hero, and she wants the truth printed for all to see. It’s a desperate attempt to reclaim control over a narrative that feels like it’s slipping away.

As the day wears on, Leah’s grief finally slows her down. When Sunny spots the article, he heads straight to her place, concerned by what she’s enduring. He makes her a cup of tea and sits with her as she talks through the pain she’s been carrying. In a gentle effort to break the heaviness of the day, Sunny suggests they play some video games together—in Theo’s memory.

For a brief, fragile moment, it works. Leah allows herself to laugh as she beats Sunny, grateful to feel something other than relentless sadness. It’s the first glimpse of light she’s had all day—and perhaps the most dangerous.

Justin is stunned when he returns home to find the scene before him. While he’s unsure how to feel about Leah leaning on someone else as she navigates her grief, he can’t deny the relief of seeing her smile again. That relief, however, shatters in an instant when Leah accidentally refers to Sunny as Theo.

The slip is chilling. It raises an unsettling question that lingers long after the episode ends: is Leah unconsciously replacing her son in an attempt to survive the pain? And if so, how far is too far?

As Home and Away continues to explore the aftermath of Theo’s death, it refuses to offer easy answers. Lacey’s return to the spotlight exposes how quickly tragedy can be reshaped by outsiders, while Leah’s unraveling shows the dangerous ways grief seeks comfort. With blame still burning and healing nowhere in sight, Summer Bay finds itself asking a heartbreaking question—when does moving on become another kind of loss?