Ann_SS

I think that Glenda maybe done. They did not give her a good excuse for ignoring the abuse and everyone is back at the Vic in preparation for the fire. Glenda could be one of the victims of the Vic fire, thereby giving Ronnie and Roxie more tragedy. Just my speculation here.

The last scenes cutting from one set of characters to the other reminded me so much of Knots Landing, their opening credits, and some of the episodes, like the one where Abby had to give Diana kidney.

That is why it looked for familiar. Classic old school. I liked it a lot.

I don't get that, Hollyoaks is a youth oriented show, while EastEnders has a very limited youth portion of its cast and has never really primarily focused on them.

If anything, Kirkwood's Hollyoaks used a lot more people who were adults than past regimes or recent regimes have at that show. His Hollyoaks wasn't really the stereotypical teen soap the show was known for up until then.

Well, it is clearly my perception of the Hollyoaks cast. I'm just pleased to see how Kirkwood is showcasing some of the overlooked EE cast.

There's always going to be the rotating feature where one group of characters is heavily featured for a few weeks and then a next group. Though, I think this has been handled a little better recently. Kirkwood's Hollyoaks was well-paced in 2006 and 2007, 2008 was hit and miss and the Niall story might have dragged on way too long. Though, overall, I wouldn't say most of his big stories were horrifically paced at that show, some had a tendency to drag though.

The last time EastEnders had superb pacing I would say goes back to the John Yorke era, that was really the last golden era for the show where it seemed like everything just clicked.

As long as Kirkwood improves the pacing, I'll be happy. I know that EE does a lot of block taping to save money, but how those scenes are aired impacts how invested the audience becomes in stories. I just hope that Kirkwood pays attention to this aspect of his storytelling better.

Preview scene between Aunt Sal and Peggy from Thursday's episode:

LOL! Good job telling Peggy off, Aunt Sal. Peggy's family is a dysfunctional nightmare. I love how Jack, Roxy, and Billy are cracking up at the table. They know that Aunt Sal is right.

First, Rudolph Walker and now Lindsey Coulson and Linda Henry. I like Kirkwood's approach to using the EE cast so far. I really thought that he would focus on the younger actors like he did on Hollyoaks, but it really feels like he is determined to use a variety of talented actors on EE.

The one thing I hope that he improves is the pacing of stories. It was horrific under him at Hollyoaks and not much better with Santer at EE. I know that there are budgetary restrictions at work, but still. He can do better to interweave stories and reduce if not eliminate the black holes that they disappear into for months at a time.

Another good episode. I like the transition in the final scenes. Kirkwood is putting his touch on EE.

Linda Henry is so talented. She is a fine too often overlooked actress. I hope this is a sign that Kirkwood plans to use her better than Santer did. Shirley has got to stop being Phil's doormat. He better beg Shirley to come back to him when he gets his life back together.

Phil is scary as hell. I can't believe Minty and Ricky let Shirley go in there with Phil alone. I can't stand Phil, but I almost felt sorry for him when he was lying broken on the ground today. Kudos to Steve McFadden.

I am not crying for Heather. Her stupidity got her in this situation.

Poor Ronnie. Her mother is a piece of work. No wonder she is such a mess. I couldn't figure out what expression Scott Maslen was going for as Jack sat there listening to this horrible story. It did not work.

It was good to see Syed and Christian flirting and happy. This is the stuff that they never got to do at the beginning of their relationship. Their scene was a nice set up for next week's drama.

Stephan is a nice looking guy. KIrkwood should consider keeping him around. There are other single women in the Square who need love interests.

I really liked the scene where Ronnie said she appreciated Roxy doing all this for Jack, and Roxy said, softly, "I'm doing this for you." THAT is the type of relationship I have rarely seen between Ronnie and Roxy until now.

It was a nice moment for Ronnie and Roxy.

I think she likes to look what she believes is young. She looked like an Easter basket. And Ronnie looked like she was wearing luggage.

LOL! You totally cracked me up with the Easter basket comment, it describes her outfit perfectly. She is a wealthy woman living in London, that dress was the best that she do? Ronnie at least looked halfway decent.

I want to hear Glenda's explanation for why she didn't stop Archie or take the girls away first. Maybe Archie threatened to kill her or them or something horrible. There needs to be a believable reason for Glenda staying silence.

It isn't like Peggy is much better. She didn't do anything to stop her husband from beating the hell out Phil as a child.

I enjoyed this episode a lot.

I knew that Glenda knew about Ronnie's abuse. I can't believe that she left her daughter to suffer Archie's abuse.

Roxy's yellow dress was horrible. Who on earth would wear something like to a club?

I can't believe that Darren went through with the circumcision.. What was he thinking? Then he gets kneed in the groin. Poor dude. LOL!

Wow, Carol's make over made her look very pretty, but her dress was not suited for a club.

Bianca is a good mum. Who knew?! Whitney crying over Billie is so realistic. Teens her age think that every heartbreak is the end of the world. A fried peanut butter/ banana sandwich sounds disgusting.

I can't bring myself to care about Heather and Shirley's eviction. It isn't like they will be on the street. They will land somewhere.

Phil looks so cruddy. He looks like he smells rank. Ugh.

I thought the episode was alright. It had some nice moments. The Brannings have grown on me as a family. I also liked Jack telling Carol that this was not the time or place. Jack and Max teasing Rick about JR and Cliff Barnes was a nice family touch.I just hope this is the beginning of Carol going in another direction.

Phil looks so bad. The scenes were Minty were well done.

I'm so sick of Peggy and the Vic. Too bad Roxy gave in and gave it to her. I won't miss Peggy.

Roxy and Ronnie were fun painting, but as sisters, I'm just not fond of them. They don't make me that they have the deep sibling bond that I see with Max and Jack or Jane and Christian.

The Jane/Ian spoilers are interesting:

Jane finds out from Zsa Zsa that Lucy had an abortion. Jane confronts Peter who tells her that they all knew. Jane feels betrayed about the lies including Ian knowing that Lucy cheated on her exams so she decides to leave him, but plots to take all his money before she leaves. Denise refuses to help her because Ian doesn't seem all that bad when compared to Lucas. Clueless Ian asks Jane to adopt Bobby. so she decides to punish him by taking Bobby when she leaves. Very calculating by Jane. I wonder how far she will go with this plot. This could reach a climax by Christmas. This could be a good story for the Beales.

I don't understand Carol's behavior towards Bianca today. Even if Bianca is cheating on Ricky, why does Carol feel the need to embarrass her publicly? I also don't know why she would tell her grandchildren something like that and scare them half to death. Bianca's children are so adorable.

Carol may get on my last nerve, but I glad that she told Zainab some hard truths about how she is treating Syed. It was good that they were able to make a kind of peace in the minute mart, but they both walked away making the same mistake with their children. Poor Tamwar having to put up with both of them.

Whitney looked very pretty when Tiffany was brushing her hair. Billie didn't get his hair cut in the army. This is probably the end of Billie. Kirkwood did fire the actor from Hollyoaks.

Damn, Phil does look horrible. Steve McFadden said he lost weight to show how Phil was lost and you can see it in his face.

Peggy and her damn slaps. That is the last thing that Phil needs right now.

About Jane,

I think she does find out about the abortion lie. Hard to tell how serious her revenge plot will be. Is she really willing to give her family or does she just want to stick it to Ian where it hurts?

Emmerdale should have never made Jackson, Aaron's love interest. They should have been friends and nothing more. TPTB also should insist that the actors behave like they are a couple.

I'm really disappointed in the way they have written this storyline so far. Aaron and Jackson show absolutely NO affection towards each other - not physical, not in how they speak to each other or how they look at each other. We know nothing about their relationship. We know nothing about their characters. The most we get is forced banter, or a scene where Aaron acts like a jackass and then Jackson gets over it.

Aaron and Jackson are absolute rubbish and a waste of time to watch. I am far more interested in the upcoming

Paddy/Rhona/Marlon triangle

.

They work so well together, they are just riveting, I wish the show had written them this way from the start, had let us see that love between them.

ITA. If Santer had established the love and bond between Max and Jack that we are seeing now, the betrayal of Jack getting involved with Tanya would have had a stronger emotional impact.

Okay episode.

Max and Jack were definitely the best part. Lots of love there. I can almost forget everything that happened between them in the past.

I can't believe that Shirley is letting Phil of all people send her into a downward spiral. I think she was dead right about Janine ending up in the gutter, drunk like her. Janine needs a new path or she will come to a bad end.

Janine and Ryan don't do it for me, but I'm interested in seeing if the wedding actually happens.

I think he does know what Janine is like. He learnt that the hard way with her treatment of Stacey, and still he's stuck by her, b/c he loves her. I like how Janine proposing is b/c she fears he will leave her, which is based in her insecurity of loosing the people she loves, like Frank. I really do love these two as a couple, and I think they can go far together. Janine is the more extreme version of Ryan, which I think will make finding out about Lily, all the more interesting.

If nothing else, I look forward to the truth about Lily coming out. Stacey is leaving soon so I don't see how that is much of an impact on Janine and Ryan, but we'll see.

Janine: Tiffany, what did I tell you about lying!?

Tiffany: That sometimes it's necessary.

I think Tiffany works best in scenes with her aunt Janine.

That was very funny. Tiffany will be a piece of work when she grows up with Bianca as a mother and Janine as an aunt.

There were a lot of little slice-of-life scenes I enjoyed, such as the priceless moment where Carol and Bianca would basically force the kids to talk to them ("I'll turn the TV off," "I'll give you a quid,"), or Tracey and Shirley working on a crossword puzzle, or Ronnie and Glenda sunbathing. Glynis Barber looks fantastic!

Carol and Bianca forcing the kids to talk was very funny. I like these little touches. It makes life in Walford feel more real.

I think Ryan and Janine are going to implode soon, especially with the Lily reveal on the horizon. Janine can't be happy for long and can't stop being herself and compromise to make a marriage work. If they do make it down the aisle, that marriage will be doomed from the get go.

Ryan will be lucky to make it out of Janine's clutches alive. He doesn't have a clue what she is really like. He is a bit of a sneak and con artist, but he is a saint compared to Janine.

I wish that there was another woman in his age range available for Ryan. Chelsea could have been a possibility. If EE does bring back Shabnam, she would be good as well.

Phil and Rainie's drug scenes were very disturbing. They were so over the top which made them realistic. I hope that Shirley wakes up and gets on with her life after seeing Phil with Rainie.

I can't believe how much I love Jack and Max now. I have even grown quite fond of Ronnie. I have totally done an 180 on these characters in the space of two or three weeks.

Kim promises to be a star. She is ballsy as hell. She will deserve an award if she can convince Carol to smile and start enjoying her life. Bianca is unbelievable. Like mother... I suppose.

The Peggy/Pat/Janine scenes were quite good. I did love Peggy mentioning poor Barry as well. Ryan better watch his back. It is strange seeing Janine so happy when she isn't scheming or blackmailing someone so it can't last long.

I had forgotten about that Christmas episode. Great seeing Sharon, Dennis, Den and even Pauline and Martin again.

Though to be fair to Kirkwood, I did love it when "Fight for this Love" was played when Christian and Syed were looking at each other through the window of his flat a couple months ago. I did think that we were to assume that the music was coming from someone's radio though.

I haven't watched regularly enough to see the previous montages. I don't mind the music really. I just always think that on EE it has to come somewhere real like when Dennis turns on the radio and Barber's Adagio for Strings started playing and then the camera pans outside to Den's casket. I found that to be a really moving scene.

The mini-montage didn't work for me, I think just showing them lock eyes would have been more effective, but I do think that putting them together is a great writing choice and already Steve and Tanya Franks seem to have a connection. There's something very dramatic about people dragging each other down.

The montage didn't work for me either. I get what Kirkwood was going for there, but imo, unlike Hollyoaks, EE is such a gritty reality based show that it is strange to have music suddenly come blasting out of nowhere.

Phillip is unappealing drunk as he is sober. However, it makes sense that he is the kind of drunk full of rage unlike Ian who is full of self pity when he is drunk.

I don't blame Max for chucking Carol out. Sister or not, her dour personality can wear anyone down. I loved the scene of Max, Abi, and Darren sitting on the couch enjoying their drink. Once Abi gets over her crush, they will be nice family.

Denise and Patrick are so sweet together. I loved it when he told her that she is living for Gemma. Hopefully, it helps Denise get on with her life.

Kim and her boobs showing up was a nice way to end the episode. I can see Kim and Kat as best friends or worse enemies.

I'd love to see Shabnam back but I don't know if it will ever happen. I think the family would be improved if she returns, and we would see more of their dynamics.

Ben and I posted about the importance of Shabnam returning a couple days ago. The Masoods would definitely be stronger with her. She would be an ally for Tamwar and Syed and would help bring Masood and Zainab around about Syed faster.

I think Patrick is very attractive too...

You and I think alike here The only reason I didn't add Patrick was because of his age. He may not be "hot," but I find Rudolph Walker to be a very handsome older man. When last has EE had one of those? I would love for Kirkwood to give him a a story. It would be great if he came entranced by a much young woman who tried to fleece him for all his money, only for her to fall in love with him.

This is shallow of me, but I wish Kirkwood would have kept Leon around. Other than Ryan, he's the only hot guy on this show. Le sigh.

I actually think that this is the first time that I think EE has had more than one or two hot guys in forever. Jack, Ryan, Christian, and Syed all totally do it for me. I don't find Max handsome, but his body is really nice to look at. Fatboy isn't bad looking at all.

I hope that with Liz's departure, the plan is to move Arthur into Dot's. She can use the company and the attention that he would lavish on her.