EastEnders: Discussion Thread

[NothinButAttitude]

*sighs*

 

Why make Denise scold Kathy when she already has Jane and Sharon on her ass? I agree that DTC hates Denise. I won't be surprised when we hear that Diane Parrish has been let go....

[DRW50]

Not to mention that Denise also sort of faked her death (albeit for different reasons). The DTC sycophants still love to talk about how just wait, he'll give Denise her time, but it's been two years and the most she's done is beat Patrick's ass.

[NothinButAttitude]

 

Sad but true. And I don't see him investing in Denise at all in the near future. If he had his choice, I think that DTC would wipe the entire Truman/Fox clan off the entire Square. 

[Dion]

Yeah whenever somebody returns on a US soap at least most of the characters portray at least some kind of shock and surprise despite it having happened at least 30 - 40 times before! On Eastenders its been "oh so you're alive...meh". Tracy had more of an interesting reaction to it then either Denise, Martin or Dot.

[DRW50]

DTC going back to one of his and Santer's old chestnuts yet again. And as always I imagine viewers will guffaw and ask when he'll beat up Ben. Stuff like this is one of many reasons why I will never, ever take Phil seriously as a character.

 

http://www.digitalspy.com/soaps/s2/eastenders/news/a675459/eastenders-spoilers-broken-man-phil-mitchell-to-start-drinking-again.html#~pseMlJc70btQnK

[DRW50]

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[NothinButAttitude]

Hold on. Wait a sec. Michelle and Sharon actually went to uni? Michelle would make sense seeing as she did become a teacher, but Sharon?! 

 

And why don't they show the younger kids (i.e. Jay/Ben/Nancy/Tamwar) going to university now? Yeah, they show Abi as being the studious one but it'd actually be nice to see the other young adults aspire to get off the Square. 

[DRW50]

If Sharon did she didn't for long. Michelle did, yes - she had stories about it for a number of years (in her last few years on the show she dated one of her professors).

 

The reason they don't have young characters going to uni now is because there's an anti-intellectualism in the writing. Wanting to go to uni means you're above yourself, and must be ridiculed. It means you're uptight. You will either lost interest (Abi) or be revealed to not be good enough (Tamwar). Even Libby, who left the show to go to uni, didn't get to stay there. It's another example of what a bad self-parody EE has become.

[Dion]

Sharon didn't go to Uni, she just joined Michelle on a night out to a campus gig IIRC.

Due to having had Vicki, Michelle was a little older than usual for a Uni student (started going in 1991 when she was 21-22 and graduated in 1994 aged 25). She'd been persuaded to go back to her studies by her flatmate Rachel who was a University lecturer.

[NothinButAttitude]

I don't expect all of the characters to aspire for an academic career but dammit, at least give variety. Give us some characters that do go to college. Give us some that choose to go in the workplace. It'd actually be interesting to see some college stories on the Square and not the tired stories they give the younger lads. I'd rather watch Libby, Abi, or Tamwar struggle with college over a young love triangle OR who's the daddy story. I like to watch young, ambitious characters on soaps because I can personally identify with them. 

[DRW50]

lol at wanting viewers to be shocked that boring old Gavin is Sharon's father. 

 

Was the episode any good? Not sure I'm going to bother, especially if that godawful Martin recast is stinking it up.

[Bright Eyes]

You didn't miss much Carl. The scene where Gavin was holding them hostage in the kitchen was so stupid. Fireworks don't light up in an instant. All they had to do was blow out the lighter, then beat up the old man. 

 

I don't dislike James Bye. He was good in the episode and the scene between him and Bex was sweet. I knew about the proposal, but not how it would end up and enjoyed the little twist.

[DRW50]

If they admitted his Martin is a creep and a stalker and a loser, I wouldn't mind him, but I'm tired of hearing about how he is the "ordinary" or "average" guy. If he is, then no wonder young women keep fleeing Walford.

[NothinButAttitude]

Did anyone find Gavin saying, "hello, Princess" to Sharon awkward? 

[DRW50]

It was too precious, too self-referential, too "inside." One of the main reasons Eastenders has struggled in the last decade has been producers who are too obsessed with making the past their own. No other soap does this. Look at how Emmerdale all but stamps out the past at times to try to create a future. I don't really approve of that approach, but at least it means less time spent coughing up greatest hits. Even the Carters, who were supposed to be some fresh new family, got the "He's your bruvva!!!" nonsense, a failed knockoff of Zoe/Kat. 

 

There's no reason for him to have said that. It does nothing to further story or create a moment. It does nothing but cheapen the past and limit the future.