Episode 8052
"Episode 8052" of the Australian soap opera Neighbours premiered on 10 Peach in Australia and Channel 5 in the United Kingdom on 5 March 2019.
She and her husband Toadfish Rebecchi (Ryan Moloney) take a road trip to the beach to spend the day with their children.
The episode was conceived after Morey was informed in March 2018 that her contract would not be renewed, in an effort to reduce the show's production costs.
Maddison Hockey of TV Week called the episode "touching and beautiful", while Daniel Kilkelly of Digital Spy found it to be "gut-wrenching, tragic and incredibly difficult to watch".
[1] The following month it was confirmed that Sonya Rebecchi, played by Eve Morey, would be diagnosed with stage IV ovarian cancer, which would eventually lead to her death.
[7] Moloney came up with a final storyline for the character, which saw Sonya struck by a car as she hurried to meet Toadie, who had been given the all-clear after his own battle with cancer.
[8] Episode 8052 was written by series producer Jason Herbison and directed by former Neighbours actress Kate Kendall.
[10] David Knox of TV Tonight called it "a rare move", as typical episodes feature the ensemble cast and multiple storylines.
Upon reaching the beach, Sonya decides that the children should not see her and she lays in Toadie's arms, where she realises that being with her family is heaven.
[4] She also said that Kendall helped her and Moloney to "find the light and shade" in the scenes, so the characters are seen laughing and joking, just being together, before Sonya's last moments.
[16] The cast, crew, and Fremantle Australia personnel held a private screening of the episode at Como Cinemas in South Yarra.
[20] The episode received positive reviews from critics and viewers,[17] many of whom began campaigning on social media for Morey to win the Logie Award for Most Popular Actress.
[21] TV Week's Maddison Hockey wrote, "Sonya's sudden illness has been an emotional whirlwind that culminates in a touching and beautiful episode of Neighbours.
[22] Laura-Jayne Tyler of Inside Soap wrote Morey and Moloney's performances were "sublime, and deserve to win every award going".
[23] Lisa Woolford of The Advertiser dubbed the episode "powerful" and wrote "It's pretty much just Toadie and Sonya for the entire 30 minutes.
[25] A reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald felt Sonya's death was not as impactful as Molly Jones's (Anne Tenney) in fellow soap A Country Practice, but said it was "certainly a milestone" and found the cast and crew did it justice.
[26] The reporter added that Morey and Maloney "traversed the last hours of Sonia's [sic] life with dignity, humour, and as much honesty as you can expect from a family-friendly prime-time soap.
"[26] Daniel Kilkelly of Digital Spy opened his review writing, "Gut-wrenching, tragic and incredibly difficult to watch – not descriptions you'd see for most episodes of sunshine soap Neighbours.
[9] He thought the episode was "a fitting send-off" for the character, and the two-hander format allowed the audience to see the couple at their best.
Kilkelly concluded by writing, "Take a bow, Eve – your final episode, featuring performances on a par with any high-end drama, has shown exactly why everyone thinks they were mad to let you go".
[27] The following year, Kendall won Best Direction of a TV or SVOD Drama Serial at the Australian Directors Guild Awards for her work on the episode.
