BetterForgotten

In typical modern EastEnders fashion, this Zoe return story has been overstuffed with a gunshot, secret twins, murder, and an involvement from a returning Max Branning. As soon as this show does something decent, they have to over egg it somehow. The best thing remains Jessie and Michelle’s commitment to the material and their chemistry. That was honestly enough to hold up this return story without so many other things tacked onto it.

CJL was on the flagship CBS affiliate local newscast in NYC yesterday:

He’s fine for the role and not a bad choice, but yes, Griffith cannot write and will likely do the character a disservice once again.

Overall, I wouldn’t say the show is great, but it’s not as bad as other eras either. I’m here for the Zoe return story to see how it unfolds.

Kat and Zoe’s scenes were always going to be electric, but I think I was genuinely moved by the scenes Zoe shared with Mo. This was the best use of Mo that I’ve probably seen in 20 years. The Slater era will always have a special place in my heart, and I’ll always love Kat no matter how offbeat the writing can get for her at times. Her first stint was that impactful for me and my consciousness. To this day, I think Kat’s first stint was the last time I saw a fully developed character development arc on a soap. There was a reference to the Kat/Zoe two-hander from 2001 in today’s episode. Back then, Kat told Zoe something about how a chip dinner from Mo was warm and comforting to her, and that was a breakthrough moment for her and Zoe after the mother/daughter revelation. Kat said the same thing in today’s episode when she was having the chip dinner with her family, and then the camera panned to a reaction on Zoe’s face. I’m always shocked when EE (or soaps in general these days) remembers little details like that. I’m also glad they acknowledged that Kat and Zoe ended things on a good note the last time they were onscreen together. It was an interesting choice to examine Kat’s life today with Zoe’s perspective. Just Zoe observing how Kat has changed, and how she is with her other kids and knowing deep down that she and Kat were never really allowed to have that, and that there will always be an awkward element of them going between being sisters and mother/daughter. I know EE doesn’t really do them anymore, but I really wished this could have been another Kat/Zoe two-handed. They would have honestly been enough to fill an entire episode (and more). But because this is modern EE, they had to tack that stupid and unnecessary shooting in at the end to heighten things that didn’t really need it.

Yes, that’s true and these scrips are written so far in advance as well. I saw it retweeted a few times but now see it’s mainly because it’s being disputed, lol

Interesting as I know Jessie asked them to not recast Zoe and to only do a return story of Michelle Ryan came back (she didn’t feel there would be any impact otherwise).

I give it 6 months tops before Griffith loses interest and he’s out. Same with Tamara.

It’s so bad - this show has a problem with story execution. So much falls flat unfortunately.

And another Beyonce mention/shout out - she’s by far the most mentioned real world celebrity on this show.

This Allison actress is horrible and it feels like she’s reading her lines off the back of her hand.

The Y&R scenes that aired today had to have been filmed a few weeks before his passing. Kudos to him for even wanting to do them and fighting through until the very end.

Bless her, but she’s becoming the Queen of the short-term soap stint. My assumption is this will be no different.

It seemed like Jess and Tristan became great friends over the years - when Jess agreed to come back to Y&R in 2012, she had 2 requests - (1). That it would be recurring (which it’s been ever since to varying degrees) and (2). That they keep Tristan as her love interest because the two had hit it off and loved working together (regardless if the Jill/Colin relationship ever made any sense)

The show is a streaming pile of rubbish creatively, but I think @Errol mentioned this on X weeks ago, there have been some production changes that do make the show look a little more cinematic when they try. The lighting design is very different than what it was just a year ago. JFP’s influence in the booth? The production did improve (with all the show’s limits) when Ed Scott came back, and it looks like some of that stuck. It’s also obvious when better directors like Owen Renfroe and Sally McDonald direct and the angles/movements they use. The sets issue is still a major problem amongst many other things though.

Nothing against Mariah, but I think it’s totally laughable she’s getting the MTV Video Vanguard Award at the VMA’s this year when she’s never won a VMA in her entire 35 year career up until this point. She’s never been a video/visual artist either. Some cute videos here and there, but certainly not in the class that people like Michael Jackson, Madonna, and Janet were. Just goes to show that so many of these lifetime achievement awards are a marketing gimmick that’s paid for by an artist’s management team when they have something new to promote.

Exactly - to this day, I’ve never seen a network show peak that quickly in its first season and then lose all hype in season 2 and never be able to recover from it. It lasted 8 seasons, but stopped scoring major Emmy or award recognition after season 1 and the hype train in the media abruptly stopped. I can also clearly see why as they were never able to match what they captured in that first season from a creative standpoint.

God, I hate Ashley and Jen Jacob’s “acting.”

I couldn’t watch the show for a few weeks, but I tune back in and this b!tch is on and I want to want to go to sleep. Michele, girl - Stop trying to make Ashley happen. It’s not gonna happen.

Same

Another thing about that promo - Kat is wearing a red and black print, the same colour pallet to what she wore in the “You Ain’t My Muvah” scene. Jessie’s hair right now is also quite similar to what was it like in late 2001. Kat also had a leather jacket on back then, and Zoe is wearing one in this promo. Jessie’s look at the end of the promo is chilling - when they give her the material, she can do so much with just her eyes alone. I wonder if they consulted with Tony Jordan at all about this return. Jessie being his muse and he’s talked about how much Kat is based on his wife.

I feel like she often got the short end of the stick writing-wise - they seemed to really know what they wanted to with Kat and Little Mo in the beginning (and Zoe being tied to Kat heavily) whereas, Lynne was just left with a stupid relationship with Gary and whatever she had with Beppe of all people. Things never really seemed to get better after that for her, and she was very dour.

Wow, they did a real cinematic promo for Zoe’s return/reunion with Kat. Regardless of how many times the show has tried to rip off of it, that Kat/Zoe storyline is still so iconic. (I guess Sharon is also back as Letitia has a brief appearance in this promo) Also, September marks 25 years since the Slater’s arrived. I can’t believe it’s been that long - here is their arrival promo from 2000:

I’d love for her to try some newer/up and coming producers actually. She has the platform to break in new talent and would be great for her to use it more.