EastEnders: Discussion Thread

[Vee]

I'll take opinions if anyone wants to give them - I am considering getting back into viewing the show full-time, which I did religiously during HS and college both online and on various cable stations. I've kept track of events and watched off and on and off again (poor Pauline!), but I am seriously considering picking it up again regularly.

I was last hooked on it around 2003 or so when they had Den and Lisa's return unseating Phil, and Dennis and Sharon and so on (ironically, this is roughly where NY public television's EE rotation is now, and I am sorely tempted to stick with that). That story petered out and I dropped out of regular viewing, but even in their worst times I tend to think the British soaps have it all over ours in a multitude of ways. I've been saying this for a decade about other Britsoap plotlines, but the very fact that UK soap viewers can look upon something like Syed/Christian/Amira - a bisexual Muslim love triangle - with cynicism and disinterest indicates just how far behind the American soaps have always been in many areas, even with shoddy stories. Then again, it's also a radically different approach - the writing has almost always been king on the British soaps, which means anyone can die roasting alive in the back of a car in broad daylight (handsome Steve) or alone and unloved in the snow (Pauline). We'd never stand for that here. It's both good and bad, I think.

Anyway, I understand the show is being overhauled (again) and I'd like to know - should I pick it back up for good?

[Y&RWorldTurner]

If you're going to pick it back up, May/June would be a good time, since it will mark the start of Bryan Kirkwood's tenure as EP.

The show right now feels like an endless retread, nothing really major happening, but very flat in some cases. There's a lot of potential, and the Masood's as a family unit are a riot, but they can also play heavy drama, as evident by the past two weeks or so.

There's some problems with pacing of stories, and a lot of the teens on this show are played by some laughable actors and they've been a little overexposed lately.

I guess we'll have to wait and see how the new regime works out for the show, so far Zoe Lucker has been cast as a new love interest for Max, and Kat and Alfie are on their way back towards the end of the year. A ton of characters are being written out, Charlie, Peggy, and Stacey included.

Edited April 29, 2010 by Y&RWorldTurner

[Vee]

I always preferred Little Mo to Kat. Then again I missed the tail end of that.

[DRW50]

I was very fond of Little Mo for several years. Unfortunately they ran out of ideas for her and seemed to think that they needed to just keep victimizing her. To have her raped a second time was very questionable, and even the producer at the time now regrets this. She was eventually in a love triangle with Kat which, for whatever reason, was extremely unpopular with viewers.

The whole Christian/Syed plot is very popular in some quarters, and considered groundbreaking. I think I'd be more drawn in if they actually delved into these issues about Syed's faith (they took a large backseat) and if they hadn't just paired up two men who don't work very well together but happen to be gay, but hopefully they won't keep Christian and Syed together, instead using this story to explore Syed as a character in his own right, his struggles, his religion.

Two things I will say about the EE of the past few years -- it is very in love with the idea of its own legend (which is why they have had so many characters return), and it is a show where the stories are fairly meaningless. It's become about archetypes. Someone will always be a fool. Someone will always be depressed. The stories just circle in that pattern. The show has several very strong characters and they're the main asset; the community and the tone of the show itself are less important.

Edited April 29, 2010 by CarlD2

[BadBoy93]

Sad that Lacey is going.

Is it me or should they bring back Lucy Speed (Natalie Evans) back into the show to have a love triangle with Bianca/Ricky/Natalie ?

Seeing as The Bill is going it could make sense to bring her on

[DRW50]

What the hell was that with those Christian beating scenes?

- Why was John Partridge so campy in those flailing about scenes after the attack?

- I know there are probably internal injuries, but why is it that Amira's very dangerous and evil father and his goons gave Christian FAR LESS of a beating than some random psycho he picked up last year?

- What does it say about Christian that we have to count how many times in less than a year he has been roughed up?

- What was the big horror in Masood's actions? When I read some of the anger I had assumed he'd walked in on Christian being beaten and didn't help. Actually, Christian was on a public street, right outside his family's chip shop. They should be able to easily hear him.

- Is Christian such an unlikeable character that he has to be battered to generate pity, and Masood has to be trashed to prop him up?

The only interesting thing in any of that was seeing Jane get to have fun instead of weeping over babies.

I skipped all the teens and most of the Ben stuff. It makes me uncomfortable, not helped when I go to some of the boards like DS and see so many comments laughing at Ben's behavior. This story is supposed to be about a self-loathing, damaged young man, but the show so often treats Ben as a punch line that a lot of people still seem to see this as comedy.

My grandmother once had a couch just like Peggy's jacket.

Roxy likes Hello Kitty. +1 to her. Now, why is it that she is written as a victim because she has disowned her sister, and might I add, disowned her because she was raped for years by their father?

[Y&RWorldTurner]

If I were Masood, I'd walk away too. I can completely understand why he did it, even if I'm not a homophobe.

[BadBoy93]

I loved Lucy standing up to The Masoods. Lucy is going to be the next vixen in EE without a shadow of a doubt.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Yeah, I did like when she went off on Zainab and Masood, even though I hate Christian.

I also liked the Ronnie and Shirley scenes on Friday.

Jane ratting out Zainab was pretty good, too.

The teens and Becca? The less said, the better.

[DRW50]

The problem I had with this rant was that it wasn't long ago Lucy was happily smirking and blackmailing over this relationship. Lucy doesn't care about anyone but herself, so having her as some moral voice seems a bit questionable. Then there's Jane, who makes herself look like a hypocrite for saying that all Christian did was fall in love. This is the woman who refused to speak for Christian for many years after he fell in love with her husband.

I am increasingly wary of where this story is going. It's as if someone belatedly realized just how horribly Christian and Syed have come across, so they are trashing Zainab and Masood in order to try to even the scales. It's a good way to make fans turn against characters for good. They aren't like Phil, who can do whatever he wants and will always have a lot of fans.

I think that Zainab is probably behaving in character, but they're really stretching with Masood. Christian is supposedly beaten badly, yet he can walk outside and then walk back up the stairs to his apartment? And why didn't he just walk over to the chip shop or stagger to a neighbor's house?

I don't know a lot about Shirley's history so I didn't know about this son of hers but those scenes were good, this must be the first time in forever Shirley didn't have to focus on Heather or Phil.

I don't know why Ronnie puts up with Roxy. "I'm doing this for my daughter." The same daughter who apparently raises herself.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

I can understand why Masood walked away, in his mind, Christian was partly responsible for the destruction of his family, and the hate had to be building up inside of him to the point where he'd have no sympathy for Christian, no matter the circumstances. If I thought someone brought "shame" to my family and indirectly or directly led to to serious family troubles, I'd probably do what Masood did when he walked away.

Edited May 1, 2010 by Y&RWorldTurner

[DRW50]

I can understand it too but I'm afraid it will come across as, "They're so mean to the poor gay men who just wanted to fall in love!" That's where the story seems to be headed at the moment. This is the first Asian family who have ever been popular on the show, and given how difficult it is for any show to build up characters who are not white, this is something which should not be taken for granted.

On another topic, I know this happens with all shows, but a few of the scenes that were cut, if anyone wanted to know about them. These scenes were cut, right?

[Y&RWorldTurner]

The Jane/Ian conversation happened, but everything else in that scenario didn't happen.

The Ben/Louise/Abi/Jordan/Zsa Zsa stuff didn't happen at all.

[DRW50]

Thanks.

I did enjoy those scenes where Dot was, bizarrely, referring to herself as "Dot Cotton" and getting worked up over that two-timer Peggy and Pat are dating. June Brown is great at comedy and it's nice to see Dot doing something besides crying or reading Scripture.

I was watching some of the older scenes, with the Ferrieras, and I wish they'd kept Kareena (?) around, I think they could have done something with her. Young women have been the show's weak spot for years now. They struck gold with Stacey but other than that it's generally been one disappointment after another. I guess the same is also true for young men, generally. That's why they're going to have a struggle as the older cast members leave.

[DRW50]

This isn't a big spoiler, but several papers have apparently said that