EastEnders: Discussion Thread

[cody_1990]

Angie $#@&ing Watts!!!! What an amazing episode! Bravo to everyone at EastEnders. And what an amazing surprise with Sharon seeing Ang! Let's hope the show continues to live up to this high. 

[MichaelGL]

Seeing Angie was such a treat! It was like she had been frozen in time and came back just to have an heart to heart with Sharon.

This felt like the type of disaster we used to have on US soaps. A DAYSASTER so to say

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It was set up wonderfully with Kathy/Cindy, Stacey/Martin, Bianca/Reiss/Lauren/Sonia; there were laughs, some suspense, and of course a few heart to hearts. 

Phil’s suicide attempt leading to Nigel revealing his dementia diagnosis was incredible. Every actor really shined. Grants reaction was realistic.

Bring on the live episode!!!

Edited February 20 by MichaelGL

[Vee]

Oh, not Angie finally. I guess I'll have to find a way to watch.

An interview with Anita.

[detroitpiston]

The anniversary episode was great, I’m so glad I didn’t have Angie Watts return spoiled lol, what an amazing surprise this morning! Thinking about her appearance in Ross Kemp’s documentary on the show and doing Lacey Turner’s podcast I should have known something was up!

My favorite moments were obviously Angie’s ghost motivating Sharon to scream so Grant could save her (and how amazing to have that all take place at the destroyed staircase at The Vic), Phil’s breakdown with Grant, Linda and Nigel with Nigel revealing his dementia and Phil finally getting help, Kathy saving Cindy, Grant and Bianca teaming up to get in The Vic, and Reiss psychotic loser ass dying by fallen bathtub.

Martin and Stacey do nothing for me as a couple I actually like him better with Ruby so I’m mad Stacey’s petulance has him in dire straits. Also wish I was in the UK so I could make sure to vote Jack to win the national poll because I find Denise and Ravi so weak as a couple, I like him better with Chelsea and Priya.

Looking forward to the live episode today I slick want to find a BBC stream so I can watch in real time

[LondonScribe]

Just watched the live episode.

Has Chris Clenshaw just had his Sean O’Connor moment?

A watching nation is divided.

I’ll say no more until I’m more sure everyone here who wants to watch the episode has seen it.

[Liberty City]

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[AMCOLTLLover]

What a superb Episode with a letfown ot a dying Character. I expected more and someone Else lol 

[MichaelGL]

I haven’t watched it yet but it’s already been spoiled for me with social media. What a mistake this is though

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I’d rather them just be safe and just let the death be Reiss. 

[detroitpiston]

It was definitely a sad death but the anvils were pretty obvious the last 4 or so months so I already expected it. The montage at the end with Julia’s theme playing and then the waling to close the show definitely got me choked up, solid episode

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[Manny]

I am currently in hate mode for this show. The way they made me feel tonight, I shouldn't allow a TV show to make me feeling. And yet here I am several hours later, angry and heartbroken. 

[DRW50]

Martin's last years, and death, are if nothing else a reminder of the idea of "legacy children" vs the reality. There may be no greater "legacy child" than Martin, but he was never quite given that treatment - ill-used for parts of James Alexandrou's run and then underused for most of James Bye's. Everything finally seemed to be in place for him when he and Stacey married - one of the few strengths of SOC's run - and then it was all ripped away, only to be brought back, at the last minute, to serve as a funeral shroud.

 

I don't see this as a damning moment for Chris Clenshaw, partly because I never had him on a pedestal in the first place, but mostly because he's just continuing what has long been in place. 

 

The problem for me with this type of death in this type of moment is that it serves more of an anniversary moment, or the end of a producer's run, when the characters, who do not know of any producers or anniversaries, will not face that same awareness. Most of those close to Martin are going soon, and by the time they return, those who do return, Martin will be a distant memory. 

 

If it's a death meant to shock viewers, I think that approach made more sense in the soap world of 2010 than 2025, where they have much less cultural relevance. I can't see any of this moving most viewers beyond those who are already invested, and even many of them may not have a big reaction given Martin's irrelevance to the canvas for much of Bye's run. 

 

To be honest, although I think Lacey and James did their best, I didn't really feel the same response I felt when Bradley died. I think I've just seen this so much with Stacey, with EE, with soaps in general. There was something raw in that moment which has been, for me, lost. 

 

If it's a death meant to mark a certain emotional endpoint for EE, then I suppose it does, but I'm not sure the message is what the show intended. 

 

The Fowlers were intended as the normal family when EE began, our glimpse into the everyday. They have trickled away, some given poignant, powerful exits, some among the worst in the show's history. Martin's death is just another reminder of how that sense of reality is gone, maybe can never be allowed in today's soap climate. 

 

Then I think of what's left of the early Fowlers. Kathy, who only seems to get story in the last few years if she is involved in murder coverups or, if she actually did attack Cindy, is committing attempted murder (and leaving the mother of her great-grandson, currently pregnant with another great-grandchild, to suffer untold stress), and Ian, who is trapped with Cindy in repeating a loop of earlier, much better storylines, in material that is often a struggle to get through (In my opinion). 

 

The family, and the normality they brought to EE, may be at their lowest ebb, and I don't see that turning around anytime soon. And with Martin gone that is just even more of an uncertainty. 

 

Wonderful as it was to see Angie again, and it was, indeed, wonderful, one of the most effective returns the show has ever had, her presence was also a reminder of how much more comfortable modern EastEnders has been in referencing back to the past for "moments" than it has been in actually using that past to benefit the current canvas. 

 

Another anniversary. Another death. Another moment. Those pass. Unfortunately, the damage left by relying on those moments lasts forever. 

[Manny]

OMG, you are Sue Osman on Walford Web?

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How exciting!  I loved this post there as well.  

[DRW50]

Yes. Thanks for your kind words.

I have so little to say about EE these days, but I figure I may as well say it in both places when I do.

[detroitpiston]

I wish American tv could still inspire this kind of audience gathering outside of sports. Game of Thrones was probably the last of it

Edited February 21 by detroitpiston

[Vee]

Good grief. Martin?? A major blunder IMO, on par with killing most of the matriarchs, Dennis then little Dennis Jr., etc.

My critique of the grinding, repetitious despair of modern EE matches DRW's, but I do admire the continued commitment from the BBC and so on for these kind of major events, like live episodes and the polling on Denise. Gimmicks, yes, but the kind American soaps can only dream of at this point and could desperately use. And their direction, production value and frankly often performances is still lightyears ahead of where we are now. But it's a totally different ballgame from us, as it's also a primetime soap and operates at a much higher tier than our daytime.

I may have to subscribe to BritBox again just to see Angie and the live show.

However hokey Sonia's big speech was (and typical of recent EE for these grand and sometimes unearned gestures), it was pretty soapy. Obviously no coincidence the baby is named Julia. The show is still very good at these moments and setpieces. I just wish the quality of the day to day storytelling, outside of the gimmicks and big setpieces, was as fresh and new as the money put into it.

 

Edited February 21 by Vee