DRW50

What do you think of Jenny? Did the poll results surprise you?

He probably thought most people didn't care at this point. While I don't see it being a big ratings booster, I do think it's one of the few returns that would really get major attention.

Taylor causing trouble all the way to the end. Marley's been pregnant forever.

There's too much focus now on the idea of a Mitchell history or family or legacy, which is mostly just Phil and Peggy being insecure and needy. The show takes it all too seriously to the point where it pretty much just drained any life out of the characters or family, and drags down everyone they come in contact with. I love the use of audio flashbacks in this scene with Sharon. It's a true end of an era moment.

Oh I love the twist with Carl and Devin at the end.

Still the same hair (just older now). I wonder where they will be taking her. At first I thought that said #IShitDreamy.

It's certainly not wrong to want to protect your kids, but a narrative of repeatedly ducking out of or being uninterested or miserable at group events (basically the main source of drama for the show) isn't a good editing choice, IMO, because it just creates the question - why is she here? And, again just my opinion, that's how Bravo has ended up feeling about her. There really wasn't much need to put that in the episode otherwise.

I think Kim Fields ended up making herself look bad by going along with the idea that criticizing someone for being a danger to a pregnant woman = being against BLM. That and her obviously not wanting to be on the show. I tend to wonder how much Bravo regrets casting her. They made her look bad again in this episode. Hating Kenya is a good way to get fans, but it's not enough to make Bravo stop making her look foolish.

Is this Daniel McDonald in the first ad?

Judging by Friday's episode, when they had Kathy (who slept with Grant before she left Walford and said she felt like she may have married the wrong brother) dismiss him as a "psycho," I'm not expecting much good at all with how they handle his return. Speaking of Grant, this scene with Nigel is a great example of the nuance and vulnerability that EE has never managed with Phil, in spite of many pity party scenes with that old hobag Shirley. There are also a lot of great Sharon clips put up here too yesterday. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucrsICNs0z0 Peggy truly was the "poison dwarf" Suzy called her in this era...

I figured it was mostly actor availability, as those shows shoot in the North. As for Amy, I hate the Blanche comparisons. It saddens me how the show and many fans forget what a rich character Blanche was before she became nothing more than a quip machine. It's not natural for a child to fill that type of role. It just means that viewers and writers struggle with them as they get older (like Belle on Emmerdale).

Superb work from Steve McFadden and Barbara Windsor in the episode. I appreciate her choice to end Peggy on her own terms. Barbara's always been capable of strong dramatic performances when given the material, so I hope she gets it here. I don't give a sh!t about dull Gavin and his being yet another man to manipulate Sharon so we'll remember Phil isn't so bad. And while it was nice to hear Kathy talk about the old Phil, it's a shame this is the extent of her relationship with Ben. Shirley, and that pretentious montage, stuck out like a sore thumb. She sucks. Louise is going to be the latest excuse to recycle the same old Phil psychodramas. I'm already bored.

You probably also have Tom Tammi.

To be honest with you I've never thought Laurie Brett was all that brilliant, and she has been mediocre to poor this past year. Zainab was also pushed around by men under the surface. Shabs reminds me a lot of her. It's just at least I felt like Mas, pig that he could be, loved her. I don't see that with Kush at all. He's just needy as hell.

This amused me, although Nina can't really do the Zainab voice now. http://www.digitalspy.com/soaps/eastenders/news/a780094/awkward-former-eastenders-star-nina-wadia-is-not-happy-with-maddy-hill/

I saw many praising this episode. The thing for me is I've seen it over and over again and I just don't care. They love to give Sharon these speeches like something from an old Barbara Stanwyck film, but it's meaningless, because she'll always take Phil back. And the latest attempt to remind us that Ian and Jane can do whatever they want because they have a sad was just pathetic. I stopped caring about Kush once he started guilting Shabnam about wanting marriage even as he never directly broke it off with her, and I've grown to hate him since. He's a weak, self-righteous, passive-aggressive coward who is constantly backed up by his mother, a mother who makes sure he stays weak. The way he turned on Shabnam when he thought she was actually leaving made me sick. She's too good for him. He will drag her down.

As the public continues to not understand that he's supercool and awesome in spite of being told so for 6 years running, media darling Marco is lapsing into fear-mongering 101 and not even doing a good job of it. http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/rubio-claims-terrorists-doctors-and-engineers I still don't think Trump will get the nomination, but he did well at shutting Ted Cruz up about "New York values." I do wish someone had asked Ted about "Canadian values." Then there's Carly Fiorina saying unlike Hilary she actually likes her husband. Which husband is that exactly? http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3156767/White-House-hopeful-Carly-Fiorina-s-claims-motherhood-secretary-CEO-rise-fire-ex-husband-ridicules-calculating-tragic-stepdaughter-s-mom-says.html Speaking of Hillary, I think she has handled Bernie Sanders recent surge poorly, especially having her daughter go out and attack him, which is just terrible optics IMO. I still think she will be the nominee, as Bernie is just too weak to be able to duke it out, but she's doing herself no favors for the general.

Gabrielle is riveting to watch. Fiona is a big reason why (far more than I was expecting as I'd heard all the character did was cry), but the writing for her - self-loathing, desperate, tough but pathetic, needy but defiant, obsessive but rational - was a big part of it. And Gabrielle/Max/Megan is one of the best soap triangles I can think of where no one in particular was trashed. You could feel for everyone involved. Usually triangles like this have restrained personalities, like Kathleen/Cass/Frankie or Sierra/Craig/Ellie, but even in the midst of this OTT hysteria with baby kidnappings and shootings and all the rest, it somehow worked. One thing about him is he managed to make cliches feel very watchable, and sometimes fresh. For instance, Viki realizing her long-lost daughter was someone she thought of as snobbish and spoilt and petty, rather than the pure-hearted, salt-of-the-earth daughter figures she'd been convinced had to be the candidate. On paper it's trite, but onscreen it really does connect. As trashy and weak as the material often is, you really do FEEL connected to most of it. The air only leaves the room, IMO, sometime in 1990.

The CW seems to be that the Rauch era was only truly good when Peggy O'Shea was headwriter, but it seemed like Schnessel kept it going, even if the show was increasingly OTT, and the bottom fell out after he left. He seemed to excel at complex female characters - Megan, Gabrielle, Tina.

Belushi did a fair amount of dramatic acting, but it seems like a long time ago... I'm not sure how he'll fit into Twin Peaks, but we'll see I guess.

This was Jessie Wallace's best sustained work in a very long time. The scenes of hers that have been chopped up or her roles in stories that were actually about her being given little airtime, especially last year - all of this ran through my head here as she got to have lengthy scenes, all about Kat, her fears, her regrets, and her pain. I always felt Kat's pain in her first stint, and that's sometimes been a struggle the second time around. I really did feel all of it here, both during the shouty arguments and the quiet moments. I can't praise her enough, and the dialogue was just as good. And she and Shane Richie were pitch-perfect together, as he usually is in high drama.In contrast, I continue to just not be able to invest in Stacey's story, because I just don't see an actual character at this point, and I find the way other characters address her history (Tamwar never telling Nancy when she mentioned it tonight that Stacey was bipolar and instead just letting her think Stacey randomly lost her [!@#$%^&*]) to be jarring and odd. At this point the story is more about Martin or Kush or Kyle, or about "Lacey Turner deserves an Oscar," rather than what actually suits the character, whoever she even is now. I had to laugh when they had the shot of her journal with EVIL EVIL in large font. How subtle.Carli Norris was excellent as Belinda - Belinda was always more of a comedy character the first time around, but I didn't see any of that here, which is good. She and Jessie worked great together. Kush just drags everything down for me. He's deluded, he's weak, and he's a leech. If he had any dignity or any GENUINE love for Shabnam, he would let her leave, not beg her to stay, sniveling as always. He kept on about how he knew they were wonderful together because she saw his true self on the market stall, but she's never seen his true self. He has lied to her over and over throughout their entire relationship. He was going to keep on lying. He was lying all over again claiming he feels nothing for Arthur, taking her for a fool, even though she heard him telling Carmel how much he loves Arthur. He never stops. I can't pretend that I care about Phil and Sharon and their future, but Steve and Letitia were certainly good.