Just when it seemed like Ziggy and Dean were back together forever, he stubbornly asks her to move out in Home And Away this week. Are they finally over?
It comes as we find out that Dean (Patrick O’Connor) is suffering PTSD from a previous accident and refuses to take his pain medication.
There’s no doubt Dean is struggling to recover from the devastating car accident that almost killed him. But this week, in a decision that breaks partner Ziggy’s (Sophie Dillman) heart, Dean asks her to leave the farmhouse while he mends. Why would he do that?
“Last time [he was injured], it was Willow [Sarah Roberts] looking after him as a friend, so he was OK with showing her how weak he was,” Patrick, 28, explains to TV WEEK. “But Ziggy is a different story. He wants to be the man she needs – and currently, in the state he finds himself, he’s not.”
When his younger sister Mackenzie (Emily Weir) arrives, Dean has fallen over and is in excruciating pain. He begs Mac to get him back onto the couch as she tries in vain to get her brother to take his pain medication.
Eventually, Dean reveals the truth: the last time he took prescription drugs, he became addicted and doesn’t want to go down that path again.
Doctor Logan (Harley Bonner) pieces together that Dean is suffering PTSD from the previous accident, which killed his friend. While Ziggy reluctantly agrees to leave Dean, as he’s asked her to do, Mac vows to stay to help her sibling get well and back on his feet.
“At this stage, Mackenzie is like the messenger between Ziggy and Dean,” Patrick says. “He doesn’t have the confidence to tell Ziggy where he is emotionally and physically, so he relies on Mackenzie to help him out.”
Home and Away airs Monday to Thursday, 7pm, Channel Seven.