RAN: Remote Area Nurse
Here Comes the Rain Again (1x6)
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It’s the Wet Season: a crazy “troppo” time. Bernadette has returned to the island – and to Paul. Their Blue Hawaii wedding goes ahead in the Gaibui beach pavilion, the afternoon rains joyously drenching everyone. But with the rains comes mosquito borne dengue fever. Soon the entire island population seems to be ravaged by it. Helen, Nancy and the health workers are frantic.
In the midst of this chaos, the election is held. Russ is shocked at the emergence of another serious contender for the position of Chairman - his son Eddie. Russ cannot compete with the energy and charisma of the younger man and is shattered when he loses.
Through all of this, the dengue outbreak grows more severe - there are deaths. And talk abounds of puri-puri: bad magic. When Helen believes things can’t possibly get any worse, Robbo comes down with severe, life threatening, dengue fever.
Russ and Helen now find themselves at curiously similar points in their lives: Russ, without the position of chairman, feels lost and at sea; Helen now knows that her future cannot be on this island – but what future is there for her elsewhere? Despite their continuing attraction to each other, both know they should walk away from whatever existed between them - Russ to return to Ina, Helen to face the emotional wrench of leaving this place she has come to love.
Christmas night, and Helen conducts an all night vigil at the clinic. Robbo, though severely debilitated, pulls through. He is airlifted out to recuperate down south, both he and Helen now committed to having a stab at a future together …
The first week of January brings a bizarre ritual. The men chase the women around the island, taunting them with flour bombs, prawn shells, and coconuts. Tradition has it that, on the last day, any woman who has not emerged, must come out. Helen leaves the clinic, bags packed to leave, laughing as she’s pelted with flour and crayfish shells in a joyous demonstration of how much these