McLeods Daughters - Season 5, Episode 24: Betwixt and Between

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The painful promise of keeping the truth from Rose about her parentage drives Stevie to throw herself into working on the new embryo transplant programme for cows. Having Rose to stay is now almost too painful to bear. Rose, however, is keen to have a family Christmas on Drovers now Stevie is settled down and wants Stevie to mend the rift with her parents, certain that whatever the falling out may have been over, it cannot be irreparable. However Rose senses her enquiries re the estrangement are being brushed off, increasing her curiosity. She tries plumbing Kate for information, who accidentally lets slip a hint that Rose takes after Stevie. Kate warns Stevie about the slip, but Rose has taken another course of action; going into Stevie's room and discovering the baby mementos she has kept, concluding the reason Stevie left home was because she was pregnant. Rose contrives to get Stevie alone and drops the bombshell - you had a baby, didn't you? Caught off guard, Stevie tells a half-truth, admitting she did have a baby and that she adopted her out. And further lies begin, with Kate and Michelle aiding and abetting the half-truth. Although Rose is not judgemental about Stevie having adopted a baby out, she believes she must be extremely hard hearted if she has never wanted to trace or make contact with her child, and for this, she cannot forgive her. Stevie's desperation to explain herself to Rose and to prove her undying love for the child prompts her to reveal that Rose was the baby Stevie adopted out. Devastated, Rose takes off in Stevie's Ute, after accidentally reversing into the gate to the yards holding the surrogate cattle. Michelle and Stevie follow, but with Rose only a novice driver incapable of handling high speeds, they stop the chase, not wanting to risk an accident. Stevie calls Alex, warning him that Rose is heading unwittingly towards Killarney, hoping he can come to the rescue. Back at Drovers the cows have got out and the embryo programme is in danger. It is up to Kate and Meg to round up the cows and perform the vital checks with Dave, Kate feeling partly responsible for causing such upheaval in Stevie's life. Alex takes a hurt, angry and confused Rose under his wing where he shares his own experience of finding out that Harry was not his real father. Alex returns Rose to Drovers, and Michelle pleads their case. Rose finally hears Stevie's side of the story and she reveals the real reason she took so long to tell Rose the truth: deep down she felt unworthy, having given up her daughter, of ever claiming her again. Rose wants to go home and it is a bittersweet parting. Stevie recites the letter she wrote to her daughter years ago, envisaging the dream of returning to claim her and living happily ever after. Rose appears unmoved but at the last minute, turns to look at Stevie as they drive off. There is hope, no matter how small. Jodi and Rob are thrust together on a long trip, getting their respective cattle to new sale yards. Jodi is on the defensive with Rob. Is his politeness just another form of chauvinism. Is his reticence towards her because he sees her as a lesser human being? Having backed herself into a corner with her own arguments about chivalry versus sexism, Jodi finds she is unable to put down a cow with a broken leg and is grateful when Rob steps into the breech. She realizes that Rob's form of chivalry has nothing to do with sexism.

Genre: Drama