EastEnders: Discussion Thread

[Bright Eyes]

Maybe the Phelps episode will be the one to reveal what the hell Stacey's mysterious key is hiding.

[DRW50]

Unless the key is for a box that has a new storyliner, it's going to be tough to care.

[KMan101]

I haven't watch EastEnders in forever ... lol

So, how original. Have the gay boy beaten up. What's with Jay and Ben? Are they ... "going there" with them? I feel I missed some context here.

I see Barbara Windsor and John Partridge [Christian] are returning for the anniversary week. Ross Kemp turned it down. LOL

[TimWil]

The moment with Jay and Ben was blessedly brief-just a very quick, fumbled attempt by Ben to get some ginger comfort from his "bro."

[NothinButAttitude]

I get this strange feeling that Ross Kemp return is a red herring. I could be wrong but I feel like he is going to come back and surprise the fans.

[TimWil]

You could be right, Nothin'ButAttitude.

[DRW50]

Ben's latest generic coming out/self-loathing story was supposed to pair him with Johnny Carter, a vastly underwritten character mostly there for a weak attempt at an "iconic moment" when he came out to his Muppet-face father last year. The guy who played Johnny sat around for a year doing nothing and wisely decided to try his luck elsewhere. As a result, Ben is stranded in the storyline, so they took what was likely supposed to be with Johnny and instead had him try to kiss Jay. The actors sold it well enough (Jay is very protective of Ben, and someone like Ben, who is pretty much a walking nerve of need, projected his own homosexuality onto the situation), but it was written on the fly.

This ended with Ben nearly forcing himself on Abi to "prove" he's straight (which won't be addressed, because DTC likely only cares about sexual assault if it involves his favorite chronically depressed Carter) and Jay stuck in the middle.

The sad thing is as much as my brain rejects those types of plots, the actors really do have the chemistry to make that type of Ben/Jay story work (and it would finally give Jay something to do). But I don't think the show is going there.

Edited January 20, 2015 by DRW50

[DRW50]

He could, but he seems to be done with the show and is still doing those documentaries.

I'm not sure what Grant would even do (unless he's supposed to get Phil out of the prison). If I was writing the show, he'd come back and accidentally kill Phil, but I'm not writing the show (which is probably for the best...).

[All My Shadows]

This actually sounds very fascinating, and if I believed EE was doing it on purpose, I'd totally tune in for it.

[DRW50]

For all the talk of being the new Phil and Grant, Jay and Ben aren't related, didn't grow up together, and Jay is a very handsome guy. The last clip is kind of sad, as Jay spends most of it trying to stop Ben from blowing up and/or getting another pasting. He does it at least 3 times. He's the only person in Ben's life who can even tolerate him. I guess you can see why Ben projected.

The show isn't going there, but as badly as it would end, a part of me kind of wishes they would.

Please register in order to view this content

Edited January 20, 2015 by DRW50

[All My Shadows]

Thank you so much for posting those! I haven't watched a whole episode in years, so I'm interested to see how Jay's changed. He was a dirty little sh!t just a few years ago, but JB has always been a good actor.

They've been pretty consistent with the general look of the Ben character over the years. Charlie Jones should be proud of himself wherever he is. He basically set the standard.

[DRW50]

It's hard to believe he was the same boy who stole Sam Mitchell's underwear. Now he's wearing the Arthur & Pauline Fowler Memorial Sweater Collection. EE has some hot guys but many of them seem to look like they came out of a catalog, so it's always nice to have someone who is attractive but looks like someone in real life.

I think if the show didn't have problems with younger male characters he might have gone by now, but I think you can do a lot with Jay if you try.

[All My Shadows]

The show had such a solid set of young male actors circa 2010. Jay, Tamwar, Darren, and Peter were all entertaining characters, and I guess Tam is still on the show? They took a huge blow when Charlie Hawkins left and to a lesser extent when Thomas Law left, but they've done very little to rebuild since then, and that's annoying. That creepy Ben recast was horrible. What were the general feelings on the newer Peter?

I'm glad Fatboybus still around but I agree with whoever said that his best storyline was with Mercy years ago.

[DRW50]

The new Peter had no real storyline, although DTC tried to make him unlikeable and unpleasant and elitist, I guess to try to contrast him with Jay (at this time they were doing a Jay/Lola/Peter/Abi quad), and probably because I don't believe DTC has ever liked the Beales anyway. Some fans liked him and some seemed to think he was wooden. The actor, again wisely, quit, so he'll be leaving sometime in 2015.

Tamwar is still around, mostly just to be verbally abused by Stacey and Kat in sidesplitting "comedy" scenes at the market.

I'm still not sure why DTC sidelined most of the younger set just to bring in the Carter kids, whom he also sidelined.

Then again I'm still not sure why DTC implied that bisexuals are evil and mentally ill, and had Steven Beale try to murder his grandmother, and that was almost a decade ago. I guess when you're the best soap producer ever, you can do what you want.

Edited January 20, 2015 by DRW50

[KMan101]

Thanks for the info on Jay/Ben. I wish they would go there with them. But I don't think DTC would tell that story well at all if they did. And of course Ben tried to force himself on Abi. Sigh.

I'm considering watching again but between that and hearing Denise is being wasted ... I don't know.

Why does everyone have to either be miserable or a violent SOB?