Tonight’s Australian episode of Home and Away saw the departure of Mercedes Da Silva, seven weeks after her first appearance.
Although the UK won’t witness the introduction of the new character Mercedes until next Friday, Australian viewers have already seen her leave Summer Bay after recording her final studio session with Lyrik and conceding defeat in her bid to win Remi (Adam Rowlands) over.
Actress Amali Golden made her debut in Episode 8045, which aired in Australia on May 25, 2023. This is her final appearance.
Mercedes, a classically trained musician, arrived in town as a result of Remi’s invitation. Remi wanted to find a method to assist Lyrik in winning the Battle of the Bands tournament and its $20,000 cash prize.
Remi knew Mercedes from the band’s era before to Summer Bay and believed that her accomplished violinist abilities would give Lyrik’s tunes a competitive edge.
He didn’t expect Mercedes to stand in the way of his relationship with girlfriend Bree (Juliet Godwin).
Mercedes’ visit didn’t impress Eden (Stephanie Panozzo), who told Bree that since the violinist had once attempted to whisk Remi away to a rival band, Eden had never been able to trust her.
Bree soon developed concerns of her own when she noticed a spark between Remi and Mercedes, and saw how happy Remi was to have her back in his life. While Remi assured her that they had only ever been friends, Bree’s jealousy over Mercedes and their shared love of music continued to grow.
As Mercedes’ flirting became more and more obvious, Bree eventually confronted her, telling her that she knew what she was doing. Mercedes didn’t deny it, and instead came back with a scathing response.
“And I have no idea what he’s doing with you,” Mercedes spat back, accusing the pair of having nothing in common.
Mercedes was impossible to get rid of, especially once she was able to obtain the contact information of a significant music producer. The producer gave Lyrik some free studio time after some convincing, and the band’s goal of creating an album was finally being realized.
Mercedes made the choice to stay behind after their initial recording session, claiming she needed to redo one of her tunes. Remi consented to stay with her, and soon after that, she pursued him.
Mercedes was immediately pushed away by Remi, and despite her refusal to acknowledge his disinterest, she soon vanished from view.
Remi chose to keep the kiss a secret from Bree despite Eden’s advise.
A week later, Remi was forced to go to Mercedes’ hotel room in an effort to persuade her to accompany them in the recording studio because Lyrik’s next studio session was about to begin.
“I don’t hear from you for a week, and now here you are, sitting on my bed, in my motel room,” Mercedes said, still holding out hope that he was interested in her. “A girl could get mixed messages!”
Mercedes was resistant to Remi’s attempts to persuade her that he only saw her as a friend and that he was in love with Bree. Despite wanting to carry on the talk there, she agreed to go to the recording studio.
Remi was unfortunate because Bree, who was growing more paranoid, came to the studio that evening to check on her boyfriend.
“Remi, I kissed you because I wanted to,” Mercedes insisted, oblivious to the fact that Bree was listening to their conversation through the glass.
Earlier this week, Bree ripped into Mercedes, who showed no remorse for her actions and still couldn’t believe that Remi was interested in someone who was so different to him.
“Remi will come back to what he knows,” Mercedes insisted. “Which is me, and everything that we share.”
“You share nothing compared to what we’ve been through,” Bree responded, but refused to elaborate on what she meant.
It was a conversation with Eden that finally changed Mercedes’ mind, when Eden hinted at the traumatic events that Bree and Remi went through at the beginning of this year, and how that formed an unbreakable bond between them.
“They went through hell to get to where they are right now,” Eden explained.
Mercedes finally gave up and made the decision to leave Summer Bay, even though Lyrik had one last recording session scheduled for the next night.
In the last moments of Wednesday’s episode, Bree followed Mercedes into Salt and pleaded with her to change her mind about leaving.
In Thursday’s episode, Bree continued trying to convince Mercedes to record with the band one final time, but her pleas fell on deaf ears.
Bree was sorry and wished she had postponed confronting Mercedes about the kiss until after the last recording session when she went back to the Lyrik home and saw Remi.
Remi reassured her that she needn’t worry because the other band members would be quite fine recording without their newest member.
“We were a fully-fledged band before Mercedes, we’ll be fine.”
The pair were stunned when Mercedes walked through the door the next day, where she announced that she would perform after all.
“We both know this album needs my magic touch,” she said with a smile. “So we doing this or what?”
As the pair headed off to the recording studio, Mercedes looked back at Bree, who responded with a genuine “thank you”.
Later in the night, as Bree lay in bed, Remi and Mercedes returned from their final session. Remi thanked Mercedes and told her he’d let her know about the album launch, but she told him that she wouldn’t be there.
As Bree headed into the living area, Mercedes told them that it’s time for her to move on, and that this is her goodbye.
Telling Bree to take care of Remi, Mercedes went to leave, but Remi stopped her, telling her: “that’s not how I say goodbye.”
The two embraced as Bree watched on with a smile, now safe in the knowledge that Remi feels nothing more than friendship for Mercedes.
Mercedes’ helmet was in the kitchen when Bree and Remi opened their eyes the following morning. Before Bree noticed a message attached to the helmet, Remi had initially believed that she must have returned during the night and was preparing to search for her.
The note explained that Mercedes had traveled for Europe and had entrusted Remi with caring for her beloved motorcycle while she was abroad. Remi appeared happy.
Bree informed Remi of her feelings on motorcycles, but she didn’t appear like she was going to stop him from using it when she advised him to avoid becoming a patient at the hospital.
A few weeks before her departure, Amali Golden took to Instagram to post a number of behind-the-scenes shots of her time in Summer Bay, along with the caption: “Mercedes + some cute H&A BTS 💕 has been a lot of fun stirring up a lil drama in the Bay. Behind the scenes though it’s all smiles 😌”
The photos included a Polaroid shot of her and Juliet Godwin smiling after one of Mercedes’ final scenes, with the caption “Couple of happy chappies.”
Laura Vazquez, Home and Away’s head of hair and makeup, commented: “Beautiful!! Your a star ⭐️ @amaligolden Miss you!! Miss giggling with you 🤣❤️ give cupcake a hug for me 😘😘”
Amali’s co-stars all added their own comments:
Julet Godwin wrote “The biggest smiles 😊❤️,” Adam Rowland commented “Onya Mercedes 🤘”, Angelina Thompson added “MY GIRRRRLLLLLL” and Stephanie Panozzo wrote “Yeeeoowwww ❤️🔥”.
Mercedes’ departure is the third exit for a guest character this week. Andrew Lawrence (Joshua Hewson) left the show on Tuesday, alongside his half-sister Tegan (Sophia Forrest).
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