Mackenzie Boyd (Lawrence Robb) is making a good recovery from his ordeal on Emmerdale and was well enough to pay Aaron Dingle (Danny Miller) a visit as he laid in his hospital room in Monday (September 22)’s episode..
Both men were the victims of John Sugden (Oliver Farnworth), as his warped attempts to be the village’s hero had seen him driven to ever more desperate extremes to cover the fact that he had actually killed Nate Robinson (Jurell Carter) and disposed of his body in the lake.
When Mackenzie spotted some clues in John’s van that he’d been behind Nate’s death, John responded by hunting him down with a bow and arrow. His saviour complex meant that he couldn’t bring himself to kill Mack in cold blood so he kept him shackled in an underground bunker for many days, teetering on the edge of life and death.
Meanwhile, back at what was supposed to be John and Aaron’s forever dream home, John was keeping Aaron drugged after finding out that he’d slept with Robert Sugden (Ryan Hawley). When Robert turned up to find them, John responded by jumping from a cliff and taking Aaron with him – but not before calling the police to tell them Robert was trying to kill them.
Both of them survived the fall, though in Aaron’s case only just. And, because he really doesn’t like killing people, John went back and retrieved Mack from the bunker and dropped him off at Hotten General.
Currently John is at large – and trying to blackmail Caleb (William Ash) into helping him escape abroad – leaving a lot of the villagers trying to process the fact that the man they thought was a hero turns out to be an unhinged killer.
Charity (Emma Atkins) pushed Mack in his wheelchair to Aaron’s room. Knowing that Aaron must be mentally torturing himself for not knowing what his husband was really like, Mack tried to showcase John’s good side.
‘He wanted me dead, but then he brought me here and saved my life,’ he said. ‘What does that make him?’
‘A murderer,’ Aaron said, because there’s no getting away from the fact that Nate is dead because of John. He apologised to Mack for getting him dragged into the situation.
‘You’re here, I’m here, we’re good,’ Mack reassured him.
‘So I guess it’s my round forever, then?’ Aaron said.
It was clear from the conversation that Aaron, in particular, is going to take a long time to get over this ordeal and the guilt he feels for being so close to John and not knowing what he’s capable of – something that Cain (Jeff Hordley) is also blaming Aaron for.
It was also clear that the affection between best mates Aaron and Mack is still as strong as ever, and they’re the only ones who really understand what each other has been through. When Chas (Lucy Pargeter) tried to reassure them that the police would soon find John and the whole thing would be over, Mack and Aaron exchanged a look. They know that John’s capture won’t be anywhere near the end of their ordeal.
