EastEnders: Discussion Thread

[Y&RWorldTurner]

The Walford Webcam is back up on the BBC EastEnders site.

The Vic, due to the fire is boarded up, but strangely, so is Ian's house. So, I wonder if Ian's house is also getting torched in this fire, or maybe it's just renovations being done to that particular set for the switch to HD.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/eastenders/webcams/

Edited July 26, 2010 by Y&RWorldTurner

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Today's episode:

I thought the Denise and Lucas scenes were very well acted and had a strange but intimate atmosphere to them. They almost felt like theatre, they were so real. I'm glad this storyline is concluding this week though, it's been going on long enough.

So happy Pat called Bianca out on what a selfish cow she really is and how horrible she treats everyone around her. Bianca had some nerve thinking Pat is selfish in that last scene.

Max and Darren and then Max at the Vic with Peggy and Pat was hilarious.

The Pat and Peggy stuff was really good too, I'm so glad they're out of that lame comedy routine Santer had them in during his final week's worth of material.

Has anyone read the detailed spoilers for next week on DS? It really feels like the show is transitioning out of Santer's storylines and into Kirkwood's next month. The new stories seem to be building and it looks like Carol will be having a lot more to do. It all looks very promising from what I've read, I think the show is going to enter an interesting and potentially very good era.

Edited July 27, 2010 by Y&RWorldTurner

[DRW50]

The scenes with Max were hilarious -- I've heard some say this is beneath Jake Wood, but I'd much rather see this than puppy dog eyes over "Tan." It's nice to see Max with comedy. I also think that they're doing a good job of showing Abi's crush on Darren, in a way which kind of makes sense, even if there wasn't a lot of buildup.

There also wasn't any real buildup to what happened with Pat and Bianca but I don't care, as I was very glad to see Pat finally have enough of being treated as an unpaid servant. The scenes of her being ordered around weeks after almost dying of a heart attack are still in my head. I wish they could have Bianca grow up a bit, she could still have stories if she grew up, she did in the old days, 98-99.

The Bible stuff can be overdone at times but I'm glad they had Mercy questioning Lucas, as I think it's important that they show not everyone who is a devout Christian is crazy.

Great stuff with Lucas and Denise, as she kept lashing out at him and yet desperately needed his company. The scenes were a bit repetitive but Diane and Don were both incredibly good, especially when she said she couldn't believe she had once loved him, and he paused for a moment, with such a haunted expression on his face. They are a wonderful acting partnership and have never had enough credit for this.

The red button/cellar scenes, or some of them at least, have been posted on Youtube.

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[Y&RWorldTurner]

Last night's episode topped over 9 million viewers in the ratings. Apparently, the last time the show accomplished this during a summer month was in 2007...

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/soaps/s2/eastenders/news/a251301/enders-tops-9m-for-denise-hostage-story.html

The article strangely neglects Emmerdale's ratings, which were 6.7 million last night...

Edited July 27, 2010 by Y&RWorldTurner

[DRW50]

Were you surprised by the ratings?

As I've heard some starting to say they are bored by the story or that it's "unrealistic," I thought there might be less interest, so I'm glad they still got 9 million. That's big for this time of year, and from what I've read, there has been very little promotion of this storyline.

I think it sends a very important message if stories with the Foxes or the Masoods can get as strong of ratings as a story with the Mitchells might get (outside of special episodes like the live episode). It also shows what an important character Denise is when she gets the chance.

I think what makes this story work is that it is about a woman's life being destroyed and you see her try to piece the fragments together. Kirkwood did something like this on Hollyoaks with Jake and Nancy but I think it has worked better here (I'm not comparing the shows in terms of ratings, I mean the story itself) because Nancy was just so unpleasant and Jake's insanity seemed to pop up out of the blue, whereas Lucas has been increasingly unstable for a long time now and Denise has usually only ever tried to support him.

Edited July 27, 2010 by CarlD2

[DRW50]

Not sure if it's true or not but someone on Digital Spy's soap board said one of the newspapers had a story that

[Y&RWorldTurner]

I didn't think they would be able to pull in over 9 million viewers, especially with the little promotion and this being summer. I think it shows that the show still has a lot of life in it with the viewing audience, and how a show like EastEnders can always renew its audience somehow. I don't think anyone would have thought in 2004-2006 the show would be on the ratings track it is now.

Corrie is still slightly ahead in the yearly averages, but not by much, and this is the closest the two soaps have been since 2002, but EastEnders has apparently gained more viewers than Corrie has this past year so far.

This story has been dragged out forever, and Santer neglected it for months, so I'm surprised so many are still invested in it, but I can see how some would be over it by now. I think this is the perfect week for it to climax.

I think Kikrwood was smart to shift the focus onto Lucas and Denise's marriage, which according to Diane Parish's interview, wasn't really the direction Santer wanted the story to head in.

Edited July 27, 2010 by Y&RWorldTurner

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Yeah, I don't think it's true, I remember Kirkwood being quoted as saying

Edited July 27, 2010 by Y&RWorldTurner

[DRW50]

I know that the soaps tend to get better ratings on a Monday but still for an episode where not a lot happened, 9 million is something. I know there's a lot of rivalry on the soap boards between Corrie fans and Eastenders fans but I think deep down a lot of people probably want both soaps to do well. I do, but I find Corrie to be almost unwatchable these days and so many of the characters are almost repulsive to have to sit through, and some of the day to day episodes are soap agony, whereas Eastenders, which certainly isn't flawless and I know might just be on a high because of some stories climaxing, has developed much better day to day episodes and you can find something to enjoy each time. Eastenders has their stunts but there is some good character driven stuff, potentially, whereas Corrie just seems to be in

mode. It's almost like the two shows have switched roles.

I finally watched all the basement scenes that were red button or whatever, some of them were great, I wish some of that had made it to air. I didn't like all of it (the laughing about the Bible saying not to wear mixed fibers was kind of obvious, although Diane did a great job with it) but I really loved the stuff where she talked about her grandmother and when she tried to escape, when she looked at the photos of her family, when Lucas told her she was dead to the world. Just fantastic dramatic moments.

Edited July 27, 2010 by CarlD2

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Tuesday's episode was really good, even the little moments.

Diane and Don continue to act their hearts out. The scenes where Denise came out of the boarded house and then broke the board off the front door were quite harrowing.

It was funny to see Peggy and Phil getting their asses sassed by that guy from Social Services. I didn't expect that at all.

Dot was hilarious in this episode, her scenes with Fatboy and Mercy and then Liz were just classic Dot. It really felt like the old-school Dot that I've seen. I guess Kirkwood wasn't kidding when he said Dot is his favourite character.

I thought the episode was very enjoyable overall, and really makes me look forward to Thursday's episode...

Edited July 28, 2010 by Y&RWorldTurner

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Alfie will be getting another cousin, Michael Moon played by Steve John Shepherd.

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/soaps/s2/eastenders/news/a251698/alfie-moons-cousin-to-arrive-in-enders.html

The character sounds intriguing and it's good that Kat and Alfie will have more ties and people to interact with. I've seen the actor in other things, he's quite good and cute.

I hope Kat doesn't sleep with him off the bat or something, as I don't think giving Kat and Alfie another adultery story would be the best way to bring them back, but I don't think they'll go in that direction, if they do, I would hope they'd just spend a year building to it or something.

I wonder if he'll be a new love interest for Roxy, she hasn't had anyone stable since Sean, and she's always attracted to the wrong types of guys, and Michael appears to be in her age range.

Edited July 28, 2010 by Y&RWorldTurner

[DRW50]

I've seen a bit more of the Dot of old since Bradley died and since that awful Dotty was banished -- they can't rely on Jim as winding Dot up so they go back to Dot being a gossip and saying some questionable but hilarious comments. Apparently Christopher Reason wrote this episode and used to write for the show back in the day so that helps. Supposedly June Brown much preferred that version of Dot and one of the reasons she left in 1993 was being watered down, so that might be why her performance today was even more fun than usual.

Max also had some fantastic one-liners to Darren. They have done a good job of having Max try to look out for Darren without actually being some big father figure to him.

Lucas is so broken down, I almost feel sorry for him. Every time Denise stood up to him I worried what danger she might be in but he was too beaten down by his own demons to respond at that moment. I liked when she finally realized how easily she could leave, and then kicking down that door in fear and anger, and her joy at being back in the world...a world right next door to her house.

The scenes with Pat and Libby humoring poor Liz and her dream world also worked well. The sad thing is that I liked Owen a lot on his last visit so I can almost sympathize with Liz. I liked Liz's gossip session with Dot. I will kind of miss Liz when she's gone.

Roxy sounds like a possibility. I also wonder about Bianca.

I can't see Kat sleeping with him, I think anything like that would be a long way off, if it ever happens. I hope that they learned from the damage done by Roxy/Ronnie and Jack, not to mention the Kat/Mo/Alfie stuff, that you shouldn't have family members with the same person unless it is a great story and not some awful rush job.

Edited July 28, 2010 by CarlD2

[Y&RWorldTurner]

I loved Max's line to Darren, "Whoever it is, you shouldn't have to put your cherry picker though the cheese grater!" And then Abi looking it up in the dictionary.

[DRW50]

This stuff is perfect for Max. Some say he's being wasted but it's just a breather until the heavy drama starts again. For so long that has been all Max has had anyway. I hope he will have some good stuff as with the proper writing he could become a huge core of the show.

The scene where the man from social services blasted Peggy surprised me, I think it showed just how much Peggy has lost her footing in her relationships and how she deals with people. I also wonder if it might help lead to Louise's exit. If Louise goes I can't say I will be sorry to see her leave, it was a mistake ever putting her in and all the stories she was a part of her very serious subjects which went totally undeveloped. If she goes I hope they keep her away for a long time, unless Lisa returns permanently and we can see something for her beyond being a Mitchell ornament.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

The spoilers make it sound like Lisa

Edited July 28, 2010 by Y&RWorldTurner