Once the program had ended, the viewer was only left with more unanswered questions that are likely to be as gripping as the question mark over Lionel Skeggins' disappearance in 1999. The generation of questions means that as the writers, cast and crew expected, it was in fact the most successful Shortland Street episode of all time.
The event
Prior to tonight's episode of the program, there had been some hints that the show would feature a "cataclysmic event that would leave the lives of the residents of Ferndale up in the air", and let me tell you that's exactly what happened.
If you've been watching the program for the last few weeks then you would know that there have been a few earthquakes and that might have been predictable, so the Shortland Street writers decided to create a script where Mount Ferndale (played by Mount Eden) would erupt. Any long term fan of the show would have seen that coming, but despite the predictability, it was massive, like nothing ever done by the writers of Shortland Street ever before.
While the hospital staff were racing to save the lives of patients, there were conflicts, reunions and of course Chris Warner's 50th birthday party.
The characters
Writing Chris Warner's 50th birthday into Shortland Street paved the way for old characters to return to the show. The characters amongst that list included: Marjorie Brasch, Nick Harrison, Waverley Harrison, Stuart Neilson and Lionel Skeggins (but more about his return later). As you'd expect though, there's no way that the residents of Ferndale can ever have a party without something going wrong. When you look back on previous years you'd realise that something bad often happens to the characters who are trying to celebrate.
In 1994, when Gina and Leonard held their going away party, there was a fatal car accident where nurse Steve Mills and Sam's wife TP tragically died. Initially Steve survived the crash but he went back to save TP and then the car blew up. Nurse Carmen Roberts died on Christmas Day after a truck smashed into the clinic and another momentus occasion was in 1999 when Lionel Skeggins married Mackenzie Choat before disappearing without a trace.
Tonight's 25th birthday episode was no different, with Mount Ferndale (which appears to be based on Mount Eden) erupting during Dr Chris Warner's birthday, and Marjorie Brasch (the original clinic receptionist) dying of a cardiac arrest.
It's not yet known, but Lucy Rickman-Karim might have died in the program after bleeding to death following the bith of her and Ali's baby girl.
The villian
Shortland Street has had its fair share of villians since the show began in 1992, with Ferndale Mayor Mason Coutts playing that part now. Although we've known he was a murderer for a while, tonight was only the second time we'd seen him kill. Earlier in the week he killed one of his foreman, George, and tonight he killed one of his accomplices, Lizzie. It was suspected during the program that he had killed triplet Frank Connelly, but fortunately he managed to survive. Mason suffered a stab wound and he is still alive as well. It is not yet known what will happen to him given that his wife, Sass stabbed him when she thought he'd killed her triplet brother Frank. It's possible that he will end up in prison, or that he will die from the toxic fumes caused by the volcanic eruption and the stab wound.
The humour
Whenever you have a serious episode, you need to have some humour thrown into the mix as well. Nick and Waverley provided that, with them arguing with eachother every five seconds, and then Waverley uttering a phrase she'd used in 1994, "I'm pregnant as anything", when she thought she had been pregnant to Nick or Stuart (she wasn't though. She is this time).
Until the end of the episode when Marj quietly died in recpetion, she had been very humerous with her interactions with Chris, receptionist Leanne, and other cast members Harper and her on screen son, Stuart Neilson.
The relationship between Boyd and Eve has been somewhat up and down the last few months, with it progressing somewhat tonight. Eve had gone up to the mountain and managed to get a rock (which if you recall, she and Boyd had discussed when they first met before she had a job at the clinic), but now they seem to be making progress though we'll know more about that next week.
Leanne and Damo are such opposites that their relationship works. Leanne is very dry whereas Damo is a joker. Tonight saw the pair get back together.
The tragedy
No soap opera fan likes when a character dies unless it's a villian. It's different for someone like Mason Coutts to get injured and attacked because he's evil and you want him to get what's coming to him. When it's someone like Lucy however (though it's up in the air if she lives or dies), even though she's annoying and boring, people do care about the character. It's the same when someone like Lizzie gets killed. Even though she's working for the bad guy it's not all her fault. Sass had thought that her triplet brother Frank had been killed, and that's what prompted her to stab Mason, however he wasn't dead. He is still alive.
It's even worse when an original cast member dies without warning. That's exactly what happened tonight with Marj. She had been in hospital becaus she had a fall, but she ended up stuck in a lift and then suffering a cardiac arrest in reception. She had a DNR order so she couldn't be revived without her son Stuart's approval, which he did not give.
The romance
The New Zealand Herald hinted that returning character Stuart Neilson would find romance in the corridors of Shortland Street and that's exactly what he did. He found it with Harper, although that was swiftly ended and she returned to her fiance Drew who she had a falling out with last week over her neice, Ashley. Hawks and Sass finally reuinted after they'd had a fling last year and Mason had tried to stand in his way, knowing that there was true chemistry between the characters.
The unanswered questions
It's unknown if Lucy has survived her blood loss, however, given she and Ali were moving up north, it's likely that she has been killed off the show. We won't know until it returns on Monday.
The next question left unanswered following the episode is, will Marj's funeral be on screen or off screen, and if it's on screen, why isn't Jenny Harrison returning for it given they are best friends?
These are just minor questions compared to the true cliffhanger question, that after 18 years, we still don't have an answer to, is, in the words of Dr Chris Warner, "Lionel, is that you?"
Copyright is owned by South Pacific Pictures. I do not own the copyright to this screenshot from Shortland Street, May 25th 2017.
It looks like Lionel to me, however after 18 years of not being on the program and fans (like me) suspecting he was still alive, we now have our answer. Lionel is alive. He's been alive this whole time, but we don't know the following:
1 - What happened after he was swept off the rock?
2 - Was he even swept off or did he swim out to get away from Mackenzie?
3 - Did he end up going to Makara to live? If you recall, he went to Karori Normal School (here's a fun fact, so did I).
4 - Does he have amnesia like Harold Bishop from Neighbours did when he disappeared for a few years?
5 - What's he been doing the last 18 years?
6 - Does he still bake muffins and run a coffee shop?
7 - Is it possible he knows that he's Lionel but after 21 years he doesn't recognise Chris Warner due to time lapse?
8 - Did he ever meet up with Kirsty in Wellington if that's where he was?
9 - Who rescued him if he was swept out to sea?
10 - If he knows who he is, and he's pretending he's not Lionel then why?
11 - Did he end up finding Caroline Buxton and ending up happy with her?
12 - If he was living outside of Ferndale for the last 18 years then what brought him back to Ferndale?
13 - Or, did he fake his own death? And if so, why?
14 - Why didn't Waverley recognise him?
15 - Does Lionel have any other kids we don't know about other than Luke?
16 - If Lionel answers to the name Lionel why is he pretending he doesn't know Chris Warner?
This is the only thing that was wrong with the episode, the moment when Lionel returned for a split second. It's opened up so many more questions. Please campaign the writers to bring him back to tell this story. This story needs a conclusion as there are just too many questions, and in soap opera land, if there's no body, as there wasn't for 18 years, the character is still alive (I always knew he was still alive).
We now have evidence that Lionel is alive, and that story needs to be told. We need answers and closure.
All in all though, I give the program a 4.9 for tonight's episode. It loses minor points for killing off Marj, and opening a raft of new questions about Lionel's disappearance.
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