Lockie Leonard (2007–2010): Season 1, Episode 25 - The Domino Effect - full transcript

- It's
weird how one tiny thing

in your life can trigger
a whole chain of events.

Mum calls it the domino effect.

And once the dominoes start to fall,

there's no way of knowing
how things will end up.

At least that's what I used to think.

It all started when I was having a surf,

minding my own business,

when, out of nowhere, a wave
the size of Mount Everest

picked me up, a whole pile of seaweed

and several hundred terrified fish,



twisted us and spat us out.

That's when the domino effect started.

The force of the wave
caused my leg rope to snap,

which meant I'd lost my surfboard.

And Boof found it washed up on the beach.

While I was looking for my board,

I had an argument with the world's

nastiest clump of seaweed.

Then Boof decided to make a few
dollars by selling my board.

But on the way, he had a
run-in with Mr Streeton.

- Hey, watch out, you big loser.

- Now, Mr Streeton

wouldn't usually get upset so easily,

but he was still fragile over
losing the mayoral election.



Being called a loser was the final straw.

He went home, and locked
himself in the bathroom

and refused to come out.

Meanwhile, back at the second hand store,

Boof was stoked to get
some money for my board,

which he lost two seconds later.

And not too long after
that, Phillip came along.

Which was lucky for me

because he was immediately on the case.

Phillip called Sarge to
come and get my board.

- Got it!

- Good work, Sarge.

- And with the cash he found,

he bought himself a brand new hobby,

and the dominoes just kept on falling.

- Fascinating.

Blisters, maybe even pustules.

Definitely an allergic
reaction to something.

Best specimen I've seen

since Amy Connor ate walnuts in grade two.

Been near any nuts lately?

Have you been around anything unusual?

- I did have a fight with
50 tonnes of seaweed.

- That's probably it.

An allergic reaction to seaweed.

Never mind the microscopic
things living in the seaweed,

there's a whole ecosystem in there.

It's not looking good.

- There must be something
to make it go away.

Pure aloe vera nappy rash gel.

If it works on Blob's bum, it's
bound to work on your face.

- Are you kidding?

No way I'm putting that stuff on.

- Your choice.

Bum cream or pustules.

- That'll do the trick, Lockie.

Good thinking, Phillip, nice work.

- I look like salad dressing.

- Well this might take
your mind off things.

Guess who has been asked to play a Santa

at Blob's daycare centre?

Me.

And if you boys play your cards right,

you might be in line for
Santa's special helpers.

- I'd love to, Sarge, but I'm afraid

I have to devote all my
energies to my new book.

There's a lot to learn
with the art of Feng Shoe.

It's Chinese.

I think it's pronounced fung shway.

It's a very old practise.

Older even than me.

Mostly about generating positivity

and balance in one's life.

- You can get anything you want

if you place the furniture
in the right spots.

How can I have never known of this before?

- It looks like it's just you and Blob

in line for number one elf, Lock.

- Sorry.

Not with a face full of bum cream.

Actually, I think I need more on.

- The philosophy is simple.

If I position the
furniture in the right way

and create enough positive energy,

I can get the one thing
that I really want.

- Phillip, there's no way
you can change anything

just by moving stuff round.

Things just happen the way they happen.

- Once
the dominoes begin to fall,

it's out of your control.

End of story.

- You just wait.

I know I can do it.

- Good on you, Phillip.

A person who stops believing in things

stops believing in themselves.

Well?

What do you think?

- Excellent colour for you, Sarge.

I believe you'll be the best Santa ever.

- Okay, Phillip.

If you can make my rash go away,

I'll believe in your Feng Phooey.

- Don't worry, Lock.

You'll be as good as gold tomorrow.

Things have a way of looking
different in the morning.

- And Sarge was right.

Things did look different in the morning.

- I'm green.

Phillip.

What's happening?

I'm turning into seaweed.

- It must have been the, um--

- Come on, Einstein, you're the one

who suggested Blob's bum cream.

- The bum cream.

It had aloe vera in it.

How much did you put on?

- About 26 lots.

In an hour.

- "Do not exceed one
application every two hours."

I wonder why.

- Phillip, this is why.

Aah.

- This is Blob's happy corner.

I'm starting to Feng Shui.

- Yeah, well it's really working.

Look at my face.

- At least your rash is gone.

- I decided there were

only two ways to handle this situation.

One, wear a disguise.

Or two, take Egg's advice.

- No one out there cares
what colour your face is.

It's the inside that counts.

And yours looks like it's
filled with peppermint cream.

- Bad jokes
aside, Egg did have a point.

And in the end, I faced the world head-on

and went to visit the one person

I knew would give me a bit of sympathy.

- It brings out the blue in your eyes.

It does.

- But I got something

much better than sympathy.

Mum started really laughing,
for the first time in ages,

and that had to be worth 100 green faces.

- Archie, my old buddy.

- Hey.

Monster, my man.

- You're looking an extra
shade of healthy today.

What, you been out for a joy ride?

- Nah, must be all the
broccoli I've been eating.

Working on your hog?

- Just cleaning her up.

Can't take her with me,

but I'll make sure she's in
good nick for the next guy.

They're letting me go on Saturday.

- That's great.

You must be excited,
going home and everything.

- Home?

Not allowed home, Dad won't let me.

It's all right, it doesn't matter.

Just as long as I get to see Vicki.

But as soon as I find a place,
you and Joy can come over.

I cook a mean pig on a spit.

- Yeah, that sounds great.

Really looking forward
to that pig on a spit.

- Turned out Monster

wasn't the only one having a bad morning.

After Boof called Mr Streeton a loser,

the dominoes kept on falling.

- Please, Dad, will you come out?

We can go fishing after
school if you'd like.

Or we can play Scrabble.

I'll let you win this time.

- I'm not coming
out and you can't make me.

- Barry, darling?

I've laid out all your clothes for work,

including your tie with the kittens on it.

That's it, Barry.

If you don't open this door this minute--

- I opened the door.

See?

And now I'm closing it again.

So there.

- Dad, we've got to talk about Colin.

He has to come home.

- Where he'll get the
love and care he needs.

- That boy is not setting
foot inside this house.

I will not permit it.

- Over at Egg's place,

bad news kept getting worse.

- Live separately?

As in, live in two different houses?

- We'll both be here.

- Living in Angelus.

- What does that mean for me?

- It means you'll live with both of us.

Some weeks with me, some with your dad.

- You'll have two bedrooms.

- But won't that get confusing?

- It'll work fine.

We'll work out a whole schedule
that's best for everyone.

- That way neither of us
has to miss you too much.

- What if I don't want two bedrooms?

What if I'm here and I
want a CD that's at Mum's?

Or I'm at Mum's and I
left my homework at Dad's?

What if I like
things just the way they are?

- The
thing about dominoes is,

once they start to fall,

no amount of moving
furniture can change a thing.

- I'm not even gonna ask.

- That's probably wise.

How's your dad?

- Well, let's see.

He's locked himself in the bathroom

and refuses to come out actually.

- At least he's home, like you wanted.

- Not like this.

He won't even talk about Monster.

I'm such an idiot for thinking
that we could just be happy

and live like a real family again.

It's just gonna happen all over again.

Monster gets out of hospital,

Dad won't let him back in the house.

So there's no one to take care of him.

He forgets to take his medication,

gets sick and ends up back in hospital.

It's the never-ending story.

- There must be some way
to convince your dad.

- It would take an earthquake
to convince him of anything.

Why is your face green?

- Maybe that's what you could do.

Fake an emergency.

- Very funny, Leonard.

You take yourself to Mr East's room.

And stay out of sight.

No need to make everyone vomit.

The strange thing was,

if my leg rope hadn't snapped that day,

and I hadn't lost my board

and if I didn't get attacked
by seaweed or get the rash

then ended up with a green face,

I might never have been
sent to John East's office.

And if he wasn't away
being sworn in as Mayor,

I wouldn't have checked out

his vintage surf magazine collection

and I might never have
found the old yearbook.

Or the chance to help Vicki.

It was Monster, same age as
me, looking normal and happy

with an essay he wrote
about his favourite day.

And then, Vicki thought of a
way to create an emergency.

- Mum.

- It's what?

Where?

- We don't know.

- A couple took it for a test
drive and never came back.

They seemed perfectly nice.

- How could you?

I should never have left you
in charge of the car yard.

My beautiful car.

- But technically the car's not yours.

It's Colin's, remember?

You gave it to him right
after he finished high school.

- And right before he screwed up his life.

- Dad, he's got nowhere else to go.

His room's all ready.

- We want him home, Barry.

- He's my brother.

- He stole it again.

- Dad, he couldn't have.

- He's trying to torment me.

- He's still in hospital.

There's no way it could have been him,

even if you wanted it to be.

- I'm calling Sergeant Leonard.

- While
Vicki was sorting out her dad,

Egg was even more miserable.

His parent's separation had
sent him into a tail spin.

- What if I'm at Mum's house

and I wake up in a heavy metal mood,

but all I have with me is thrash metal?

It's a total nightmare.

- Maybe you could just
ride back to grab a CD.

It's not like it's far.

- It may as well be Africa.

That's how it feels.

It's gonna be different.

Two beds, two rooms, two houses.

I just want one house,
like it's always been.

With me, Mum and Dad.

- I'd
never seen Egg so upset before

and I really wished I
knew how to help him.

- What have you done to my
plant of renewal, brother?

- Your what?

Why is this there?

- It's restoring harmony.

I've shui-ed.

There should be flying water

but all I could find was the jug.

- Phillip, you seriously need help

in an extremely large way.

- No, see it's genius.

I've opened up the good
energy to face north,

where Mum's hospital is.

According to my book, Mum
should feel the positive energy,

and get better.

Then she can come home.

- This is all about helping Mum?

That's the big thing you wanted?

- You won't think it's so
dumb when she comes home.

- No, I don't think it's dumb.

Insane and ridiculous, but not dumb.

Maybe just warn me next time.

- I can't tell when the
greatness will strike again,

but I'll do my best.

Just one more thing.

I rearranged the bedroom so I can score

a deluxe archaeology set.

- While
Phillip was discovering ways

to get Mum home and
win an archaeology set,

Sarge was making some
discoveries of his own.

- Hi Blob, hi Santa, how'd it go?

- Magnificently.

Fridays are nothing if not.

Eventful.

- Phillip's been shui-ing.

- I won, I won, I won.

I won, I won, I won, I won.

- What's that?

What did you win?

- A Christmas raffle at school.

I won heaps of cool stuff.

- You won a games hamper.

- Yep.

Not exactly an archaeology set, but still.

Definitely the shui.

- The power of positive thinking, son.

Good for you.

- I've got to make some calls,
spread the word, pronto.

Do I know anyone in China?

- And
that was how the dominoes

had affected my life.

So far.

- Interesting day all round today, Lock.

Found Mr Streeton's convertible

abandoned by the side of the road.

Not a scratch on it, thankfully.

- Who did it?

- No clue.

Mr Streeton was one happy chap

when I told him he could
pick it up in the morning.

- And
just then I realised,

maybe Phillip was onto something
with the positive energy.

And maybe I could use the domino effect

to help change things for the better.

- Hey, Sarge?

What time did you tell
him he could pick it up?

- 11.

Why do you ask?

- No reason.

Just wondering.

And one more thing, I need a big favour.

Can I please borrow your Santa suit?

- The next morning,

my face was finally back to normal,

just in time for me to put
my domino plan into action.

- Hey, Arch.

- Hey, Monster.

All packed and ready?

- Yep, yep, sure am.

Just thought I'd watch
a bit of telly first.

Don't have to leave here til 10.

- So, hey, good news about your car.

- My car?

- Yeah, the one at the car yard.

Heard it got stolen.

No, it's okay.

The car's fine.

It's in perfect condition.

Sarge has it at the police station.

You can go round and pick it up at 11.

No problem.

- You're a good friend
for telling me, Arch.

- Any time.

So, you'll be there?

- You bet I'll be there.

Just try to stop me.

- And
since I was on a roll,

I kept on going.

I decided to pay a visit to Egg's parents

and let them know how
tough things were on Egg

and how hard he was taking
the two homes thing.

I didn't know how they'd take
it or what they'd do about it,

but it seemed to go okay.

I only had one more domino to play,

then stand back and hope
they fell the right way.

- Baby's come back.

Beautiful baby's come back.

- Dad.

- Thankfully,

things went according to plan.

Look what's turned up.

- You remember this?

- Starting
with a broken leg rope

and ending with me
finding an old yearbook.

My favourite day, by Colin Streeton.

- My favourite day

is the same day every year,

right before the Christmas holidays.

- Me and my Dad get dressed up

as Santa and his helper

and drive around town giving
lollies to all the kids.

Dad said one day he'll give me the car.

I can't wait.

My dad is the best and I
think on that special day

everyone wishes my dad was their dad, too.

- Happy Christmas!

- After reading it,

I realised Mr. Streeton and Monster

used to be just like Sarge and me.

And just maybe, if I could get them

in the same place at the same time,

they could be that way again.

I'd never seen Vicki so happy.

Back at Egg's house, things
were going much better.

Egg's parents decided they
would share Egg's house.

One week at a time, so he
wouldn't have to move at all.

Egg thought it was a great idea.

He celebrated by head-banging
for seven straight hours.

Personal record.

Things worked out for Phillip, too.

He Feng Shui-ed himself right to hospital

with a sprained wrist and got
to have a sleepover with Mum.

It wasn't quite as good
as having her home,

but Phillip was pretty stoked.

So was Mum.

So, everything worked out okay.

- Hi.

- Hi.

My brother's home.

- That's good.

- It is, it's great.

Your dad called, asked if
we'd seen his Santa suit.

Why do I get the feeling you had a hand

in the way all this has worked out?

I don't know how you did it, but thanks.

I think you're pretty
great, Lockie Leonard.

Have a good surf.

- And
that's exactly what I did.

While steering clear
of seaweed, of course.

("Worlds Away" by Jebediah)