EastEnders: Discussion Thread

[DRW50]

It was just awful. The worst part was the cheap Dallas ripoff with Kathy and Gavin's sister with similar hair and outfits so we'd think Kathy might die...which absolutely no one did. 

 

Kathy is written as an 18-year old. They seem to have no idea who she is or what her history is.

[NothinButAttitude]

I hope this new regime rectifies what DTC has done to Kathy. Hell, the entire Beale clan ... minus Jane. I still want that bitch to die!

[Skylover]

Ugh, Billy's reaction to Les/Christine was just ridiculous. 'Pervert' indeed.

[TimWil]

I don't think Sharon's found out about Mark's parentage through the letter. I think she's already known for years. How could Mark, Martin and Pauline know and she didn't? She and Michelle have been very close, like sisters. I think what was in the letter was Michelle telling Peggy about Mark and that she's about to tell him who his biological father is and what the circumstances were.

Edited July 12, 2016 by TimWil

[cassadine1991]

[TimWil]

The last two episodes have been a gurnfest of epic proportions. Absolutely atrocious.

 

Trawled through Netflix last night and happened upon a Channel 4 comedy series called Scrotal Recall. In the very first scene the leading character is diagnosed with chlamydia and is told that, untreated, it could cause infertility.

Hmmm. Lee is still unaware that Abby transmitted chlamydia, right? Therefore he could be rendered infertile. Therefore Whitney could have been impregnated by another man? Andy? Kush? Or...to make it really hilarious...Jack?

Edited July 17, 2016 by TimWil

[DRW50]

Very disappointed with last night's episode. They were so focused on the "twist" about Paul being dead and not Ben, but they clumsily telegraphed this with the scenes of Pam and Les thinking he was asleep. As they didn't bother to hide that Paul was the one who was dead, it just made the Ben "death" scenes more pointless and more exploitive. And other than Steve McFadden I can't say the acting did much for me either. 

 

The only moment that connected was seeing poor Paul on that slab

[NothinButAttitude]

So does anyone know how he died? People are speculating that Ben killed him.

[cassadine1991]

[TimWil]

This week's episodes really do seem to me to be a good indication of Sean O'Connor's regime and it's good news. That scene between Donna and Kim alone convinced me that when SOC got his first look at the show he thought no f**king way would he let that horrible baby storyline continue. I really do hope this is the first example of his de-fusing one of DTC's "bombs." 

I was enormously moved by Tuesday and Thursday's episodes, largely because of Lin Blakley's perfornance. She broke my heart time and time again. And God knows I've loathed Roger Sloman's work but he did a lovely job, too. It's always more touching for me to see a grown man fighting back tears than to suffer through blubbering faucets like Charlie Slater. Harry Reid has been impressive, too. And Martina Laird as DS Angie Price was hugely touching. The sensitivity DS Price showed toward the Cokers as well as her watchful, sad eyes quietly imploring Ben to tell the whole story as justice for Paul's death was quite special. Incidentally Laird was married to Ann Mitchell's son Che Walker. And in 2001 Che played Ross, the Brit who Sharon brought back to Walford from Florida as her fiance. I posted here a few times previously that Laird would be great casting as Paul's mother Jenny but I'm glad she ended up in this role, instead.

My only very slight criticisms of this week's episodes is that Babe was strangely nowhere in sight-I'm assuming her blackmail scheme will be exposed very soon-and that it didn't seem terribly realistic that Paul's door would have been closed shut from the time he left with Ben. They could have somehow explained that away with Les or Pam saying they'd shut it in the middle of the night to give Paul a lie-in. It just seemed a bit contrived to me that it was shut in order to facilitate the "big reveal" that he actually hadn't come home and would never be coming home.

Edited by TimWil, One minute ago.

 

[DRW50]

I hope that the Donna backtrack was SOC. It certainly did not feel like DTC, especially her honest, sad detailing of just why she can't raise a child - because she is sometimes in so much pain she can barely move. 

 

I agree with you about Martina Laird, who was wonderful, and about Thursday, but most of the rest of the week didn't work for me. Either it was too much about Ian and Phil and their "greatest hits," which made Paul's death an afterthought, or on Friday, it was oddly clinical and felt like people reading off of pamphlets, like Chris Schemering once said about Y&R's social issue stories. Thursday was very good, helped massively by the Mitchell family having minimal involvement and focusing more of the Cokers and the reactions of the community. 

 

Sometimes Ted Reilly is fine and then he's wooden. I would like the show to have another main gay character beyond Ben, so I hope he can keep improving. (and please don't pair him with Ben)

 

I also thought the Lee and Whitney pregnancy stuff was pretty good, minus annoying pointless Lauren.

[NothinButAttitude]

So stupid....

 

Not surprised & glad Leslie Grantham is finally speaking out: 

http://www.digitalspy.com/soaps/eastenders/news/a802615/eastenders-leslie-grantham-slams-show-for-hello-princess-retconning/

 

[Bright Eyes]

I never cared about Buster because he was chained to a family I've never wholly liked. If only the rest of them could follow. Except for Lee, for Carl's sake alone. If this leads to Phil/Shirley, it gives Sean O'Connor an open route to fixing Kathy and Sharon. I'd surrender Shirley in a heartbeat for the latter two any day, especially since she's mostly been a pathetic sad sack since I started watching back in 2010. Let's just hope O'Connor is aware of the problems with both and wants to rectify them just as much.

 

August is going to be a long month in Walford.

Edited July 26, 2016 by Bright Eyes

[NothinButAttitude]

I didn't care for Buster either but I've grown to love him and Kathy. I feel like with him exiting, this will tempt the writers to stupidly tossing Kathy back in Phil's orbit, which is what I don't want. I like Kathy being out of Phil's orbit. I wish they'd pull Sharon from his orbit too. Phil is a vortex of suck and great female character suffer at the hands of him. 

 

I agree that all the other Carters can go minus Lee. He's the only other Carter minus Buster that I like. The rest need to go join Nancy on a world tour and never darken EE's doorstep again.

[TimWil]

Harry Reid's acting went back to crap level tonight. Oh, well.

Loved DC Rice's getting testy with Ben. I love Martina Laird. In one particular shot she looked strikingly like a young version of Blossom Jackson (Mona Hammond), Carol's ex mother in law.