Will her home truths be enough to stop him?
When Goldie throws an anti-valentines day party that everyone can enjoy, Mercedes, missing Bobby, sneaks booze into her mocktail before leaving it on the side. Unaware, recovering alcoholic John Paul picks up the wrong cup.
Trying to cover up his drinking relapse, John Paul doesn't remember telling Matthew-Jesus they’d spend the day together and his son lashes out feeling let down.
A clean-up leads Mercedes to discover that John Paul has continued to drink and when he returns home with more alcohol, John Paul points the blame at his sister. Concerned, she leaves him with some home truths. But is it enough to stop him?
After continuing to drink, John Paul takes his son out of school and to the park. With his dad drunk and unstable on his feet, Matthew-Jesus is knocked to the floor and the bruised youngster takes himself and his dad home where he is confronted by his concerned family.
Regretting how she handled situations with her own son, Mercedes books a one-way ticket for Matthew-Jesus to go and stay with Myra in Alicante while John Paul continues to spiral on his alcohol relapse.
When Nana McQueen returns home to a family in tatters, she's worried that Mercedes is out to self-destruct and Goldie turns to Felix for help. And as John Paul tries to fight to keep his son close by, during a family intervention, Sally makes siblings John Paul and Mercedes realise that in order to heal and move forward they need each other.
Later, Felix leaves Mercedes with a bitter pill to swallow.
Hollyoaks continues Mondays to Fridays at 6.30pm on Channel 4 with first look episodes available weekday mornings on All4 and weekday evenings at 7pm on E4