EastEnders: Discussion Thread

[Bright Eyes]

Why is this Sarah Phelps so great?

[Y&RWorldTurner]

She was one of the best writers to ever write for the show, and even when the show was going through a creatively bankrupt period in the mid 00's, her scripts were often considered to be the saving grace of that era.

[BadBoy93]

Monday`s episode was really entertaining.

Felt like an hour than 30 minutes.

Phil/Ian stuff was quite good. Wonder what will happen with Ben.

First impressions of Jodie. Accent bothers me a little bit but SHE IS SEXY! Skirt was just breathtaking and her and Vanessa share a delightful chemistry.

Darren & Heather work well off each other.

Kim Fox is still great as always.

Love Grace,Mercy & Now growing on fatboy. Hope The Olumnbi Family arrive in Walford soon.

[Sylph]

Thank you, A, for that piece of information!!

What Alvin said.

Ben disagreed with me, but I have to repeat it: even when this show was dismal and stories terrible, the daily scripts were often great. Above average. You can always rely on EE people to write a decent, good script.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Today's episode...

Jodie kind of reminds me of Dawn, not in a bad way, she had some charisma in the little scenes she had, and it looks like Vanessa and Jodie have an interesting bond. The actress is really beautiful though, and they needed someone with some sex appeal ever since they fired Kara Tointon. I'm intrigued by her little "chance meeting" with Darren.

I laughed when the guy from Social Services knocked on the door and Shirley said, "We're atheist!" and slammed the door shut.

It was nice to see Zainab away from Syed and Masood, and she was somewhat of another catalyst for other problems between Denise and Lucas. The book club meeting with Kim taking over with her lingerie was kind of fun.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

So, I'm guessing Jodie's job is working at Roxy's salon? I remember hearing something about that before.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

2:23 in for EastEnders category and win at the BAFTA Television Awards:

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[DRW50]

How ironic that John Partridge talks about the Chryed story was beloved because viewers wanted to wait for the secrets to come out, when actually that part of the story was a huge afterthought compared to months of the same two or three scenes being repeated and further weeks of gay men being beaten and attempting suicide.

Is it me or did the audience look kind of pissed off and nervous in every single clip? Is it because of that unpleasant Graham Norton?

Santer continues to try to look cool and hip by not washing his hair and by wearing a tuxedo that belongs in an episode of Welcome Back Kotter.

Thick of It <3

Armstrong and Miller <3

[DRW50]

I like Jodie so far (Vanessa is a bit too rushed to invest in right now). I don't dislike Mercy's grandmother, but she is just such a caricature. She reminds me of Miss Cleo or the Pine-Sol lady. Kim is a delight and her scenes were the best in Monday's show.

Tired of the attempts to make us pity Phil, oh he can't lose his kids, he's really trying! After being on a bender for days. Can't stand him.

Denise is really coming into her own as a character lately.

Today was one of the rare days I liked the way they handled the story with Darren and Heather having a son. I did hate when Heather was going on about Phil being a good father and when she had the tantrum with Ian. Grow up.

Edited June 8, 2010 by CarlD2

[BadBoy93]

Reckon Jodie may be in the next series of E:20

[Kylie]

I am going to be SO PISSED if I leave on July 1st and Owen is still buried under that tree with NO one having a clue. He's been there since before Christmas (I think). It's time to get this moving. Ah. I'm hoping that since Lucas' story is picking up it'll happen, but damn...get a move on already.

Edited June 8, 2010 by Kylie

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Vanessa was originally brought in for 7 episodes, which might explain why she and Max had sex so fast. It looks like she'll be gone for a few months and then return.

Apparently, Zoe Lucker just signed a new, longer-term contract with the show, which Zoe is to begin filming for soon.

Read her new interview about it here: http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/soaps/s2/eastenders/scoop/a222610/zoe-lucker-talks-eastenders-return.html

[BadBoy93]

good news as always. Interested in this Harry Gold figure. Hope Jodie will be popular and she most likely will be in E:20 II

[DRW50]

I thought E20 was usually used to bring in new characters.

[DRW50]

When I began watching Eastenders the only black characters were Alan (Carol's husband), a comic relief character named Lenny, and a man-eater named Frankie who was on the way out. Then there was Sanjay and Gita for Asian characters. They mostly had limited roles. I was shocked a few years later when I got to see the early episodes, 1985, 1986, 1987. The canvas was so racially diverse, but more than that, everyone mingled. There was no quota system, as the woman who played Yolande so succintly slammed after she was fired. They tackled serious racial issues back then without being heavy-handed about it, and they also had a lot of color-blind stories. In more recent years the token status has been glaring. Things improved starting in 2009 but the sometimes insulting stories for the Fox women were not a good moment. Something feels different now -- Denise is becoming a much more complicated character and we're seeing her point of view. Then there's Fatboy and Mercy, and Kim. Hopefully with the Masoods also being popular, or at least they were before the Syed story damaged them, the show will become more and more committed to presenting minorities in a way which isn't tokenism.