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> Why David Had To Die
by Callum
Back in September an unfortunate segment on a Channel 10 News programme to promote Neighbours returning to screens showed the filming of a wake at The Waterhole with a photo of David Tanaka on display. Aside from those who managed to avoid the spoiler as it spread online, the majority of fans were left questioning why the show would bring back David and Aaron just to kill one of them off...
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In what has probably proved to be one of Neighbours' worst kept secrets, whilst many hoped for the best many in the know have been quick to all but confirm it was true. Sadly with no context all we could see was the show needlessly bringing back a beloved couple to ruin a happy ending and as the they were historically the first gay couple to legally marry in Australian drama, needlessly playing into the 'bury your gays' trope.
Since then we've seen David return to Erinsborough now trying to find a new career having been struck off as a Doctor for the medical manslaughter of Gareth Bateman back in 2022 when he withheld potentially lifesaving treatment from the man who had beaten his husband and left him for dead. The problem was that whilst at the time David had showed remorse for his actions and had seemingly accepted the end of his career, he now seemed to be wallowing in self-pity with little regard to him having chosen to let a man die.
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At the time of the Riverbend trip being planned, the story team knew that Takaya Honda (David) wanted to leave, but needed a way to keep Aaron and Nicolette in the show, so they had little choice but to either send David to prison or to kill him. What they didn't know for sure though was that the show would be coming to an end a month or two later (or so we thought) leading to a u-turn on David's prison sentence, hence Ramsay Street becoming home to three failed medics.
Characters in soap whose career is central to who they are - pub landladies, landlords etc... rarely work when you take them away from that role, and whilst with hindsight the better choice may have been for David to prioritise treating Aaron over Gareth only for Aaron to die anyway and having David head off with Isla for a new life away from Erinsborough, having him choose to withhold treatment didn't paint him in the best light, especially when he then started grieving his lost career.
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Having David die a hero's death, saving his twin brother, then getting to play Doctor one last time, triaging himself and Eden, then prioritising the patient he knew could survive was the better end for David than him exiting Erinsborough as a disgraced Doctor for a happy new life in the country or for a prison sentence as originally planned, exits which are more suited to a morally questionable character like Darcy Tyler than a character who had once been a moral compass and as proven with Steph Scully's original exit would have felt an unsatisfying end for a beloved character. Also, rather than this decision playing into any trope it acknowledges David and Aaron as equal peers to cis couples Des and Daphne, Harold and Madge, and Toadie and Sonya.
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Whilst I once felt David could survive without Aaron but not the other way around largely due to David's career and his place in the Robinson family, the addition of Nicolette and Jane to the mix means we now have Aaron in the position of David's grandfather, living with his child's grandmother and, as David was Isla's biological father, the power in that relationship now shifts to Nicolette, if she were to decide to move away with Isla, Aaron may find he has no legal right to stop her. Meanwhile, Terese, having lost a son herself and having previously expressed that she would always care about David and Leo is bound to find herself drawn back into Paul's orbit as he grieves for the son he seemed to have a deeper love for than most of his other children, perhaps due to David's early need to know his father.
Whilst killing off a legacy character like David, the great-grandson of Helen Daniels, grandson of Jim Robinson and Paul's son should never be taken lightly, there's no question that it's a sounder decision than the needless death of Cameron back in 2006 and thanks to Isla, if the show is renewed beyond its 400 episode order we may even have David's grandchildren play a part in years to come...
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