EastEnders: Discussion Thread

[MichaelGL]

Wow. looking at some of the past stuff on the show, did not know Janine had once slept with Ian. That kind of makes me sick to my stomach. Who's Laura, and why don't we hear much about her these days? Laura seems to be similar to Jane these days.

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Edited December 31, 2010 by MichaelGL

[Bright Eyes]

Today was a bit ... boring.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Janine was a prostitute and Ian was her client.

Laura was a weak and pathetic character. She was Ian's nanny that he slept with, but never really loved, and only really married her for her father's money. She's Bobby Beale's mother, Ian's youngest son.

Laura died after she tripped on one of Bobby's toys and fell down a flight of stairs after an argument with Janine. Janine was arrested and charged with her murder, even though she didn't do it, and Pat knew she didn't do it (Janine was with Pat at the time Laura died), but let Janine rot in prison for a while until Frank came back and got Pat to change her mind. That story happened when Charlie Brooks left the show in 2004.

Edited December 31, 2010 by Y&RWorldTurner

[MichaelGL]

Thanks for the info.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Carol spoiler:

I wonder if she's protecting Bianca or something...

Edited December 31, 2010 by Y&RWorldTurner

[Bright Eyes]

Look what Tiffany's gone and done ...

[MichaelGL]

Could be, interesting if it was to turn out that Bianca didn't do it, and Carol had done it all in vain. Like oh...say the real culprit is Ben. (Shocker...not.)

[Bright Eyes]

Don't we already know Bianca will be going on the run or something?

[DRW50]

The other main story with Laura was that she had sex with Garry, and since Ian had, without her knowledge, had a vasectomy, he assumed the baby was Garry's. Ian threw her out around Christmas 2002 and she had the baby that summer. Bobby was raised for about a year as Garry's son, only for the truth to be revealed around summer 2004 -- the truth that Ian was the father because he'd had sex with Laura before the vasectomy "took". Around this time Garry's wife Lynne also lost her baby, very late in her pregnancy, at the infamous fairground disaster.

Sadly these stories did not stop Eastenders from turning Garry into a HAHAHAHA type of character - Ricky Groves could have been better with dramatic material.

Edited December 31, 2010 by CarlD2

[Bright Eyes]

Why did Ian believe his vasectomy happened prior to conceiving?

Edited December 31, 2010 by Amello

[DRW50]

He didn't know that the vasectomy did not immediately take.

[Dion]

On the surface of it, Ian turning out to be Bobby's father always seemed to be a bit odd to me as Ian had just received the results of his first sperm test (and they were clear) when he resumed having sex with Laura (I think he faked a bad back for several weeks to avoid sex before that as like Jane, Laura also had baby rabies). So when Laura turned up pregnant it seemed that it couldn't possibly be Ian's (and only a few weeks before discovering she was pregnant Laura had had a convenient ONS with a mystery man that later turned out to be Garry).

Of course when Bobby was born and Laura found out that both she and Garry did not match the baby's blood type, she was told there was a chance that it could be Ian's and a year later when Ian finally found out about being listed as Bobby's father on the birth certificate, he went to a clinic and they told him he should've waited a bit longer and then had a second test just to make absolutely sure. While this is certainly plausible its also somewhat contrived and everything always seemed to fit better with Garry as the father so it makes me wonder if the writers decided to change direction with that story mid-stream or whether Ian was always planned to turn out to be the father and the execution was just clumsy. The show was transitioning at the time so both scenarios were likely.

[DRW50]

That's very interesting, Dion. I wish they'd left the baby as Garry's. I think Garry would have been better coping as a father, a single father once Lynne left, than those awful comedy stories with the horrific Minty. And Bobby has been a spare part in the Beale family all along.

So I finally watched last night's episode and the only stuff I didn't care for was Tiffany and Whitney. Too contrived. I know a lot of people are put off by the story but I do think Carol and Connor have a very interesting relationship. I also liked most of the scenes at the Vic, the sense of the community with the organ collection and everyone reacting to Kat giving birth (Kim's responses were very funny). The screeching from Kat got a little much sometimes but still some very good moments too, and I'm glad Mo is playing such a central role in the family again. The scenes with Ronnie were very good, how she was basically alone; Roxy was fine once the yelling stopped. Their last scene was moving, for many reasons. I also liked the scene with Heather and Ronnie, even with the hilarious CGI.

One of the posters at Walford Web who would know said that

[Skylover]

I'm loving this forum. The last week or so I've been reading the first 40 pages of this thead because the comments you guys have made are so insightful and intelligent, it's hard to not carry on reading.

As someone who is not an avid viewer of this show, I've found it interesting that you think Santer focused on the big reveals and controversial storylines rather than focusing on the truth of the characters, and telling the stories with integrity.

Without having time t look through the rest of the pages in this thread, what do you think of Kirkwood's reign so far? I've read that many people have been unhappy with the direction he's taking the show, and also many are unhappy with Kat and Alfie's return, although I personally like them both.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Edward, what soaps do you watch? I think I've seen you on DigitalSpy before, but not sure. In any case, welcome to SON.