EastEnders: Discussion Thread

[YRBB]

I miss this show but can't go back to the crap it gives us. For now.

Sorry if I missed it but is there any official word as of yet concerning exactly when BK's episodes will be debuting?

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Most likely late May/first week of June.

[BadBoy93]

Kate Harwood`s Facebook

My link

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Tuesday's episode:

UGH! It's like they put everything WRONG with this show into one episode.

Honestly, who the hell cares about Billie and him joining the army?

Zainab as a nosy bitch is getting old.

Should I care who sent that mysterious chocolate rabbit to Zsa Zsa? I bet it was Ben.

And how DARE Carol sass Dot!

Amira and Syed look like brother and sister. Their resemblance is uncanny. LOL!

[DRW50]

I thought Zainab as a nosy bitch was some of the best stuff on the show in months. I love the Masood comedy. And Zainab was burnt for her nosiness so that shows she isn't written as being above everyone, as some characters are. I really enjoyed the comic moments with Tamwar, and Amira interacting with Zainab and Tam. Unfortunately this overshadowed what should have been the main story, which was the Amira/Syed marriage. He's too dull to care about. And the only time he seems to have a bit of personality is around Amira...does the show remember that he's NOT supposed to love or want Amira, that he's supposed to want and love Christian? Supposedly the actors who play Amira and Syed are dating in real life.

Dot was butting into a private conversation.

The problem with this war story is that as always the pacing was awful. I know you're not a big fan of Corrie's stories and I can see why but they at least made a slightly better attempt at building up Gary's decision to join the army, as he badmouthed service, was upbraided by several vets, then checked out the information himself and decided to go to war.

This went so damn fast, Billie is obviously just doing this to have a tantrum and to get attention, so why was all this about oil and be all you can be pushed in? It just makes the story look half-hearted and it does not bother to present a valid reason for why you would want to join up. They had that beautiful scene with Carol showing the family photo and explain the cost of war, and what did we get on the other side...Dot talking about how Nick should have joined up? Billie is so incredibly unsympathetic, why should I care about anything he does? And will Whitney ever have a purpose beyond whimpering over him?

Is it just me or is Leon UGLY? His face looks like a bad road. I wouldn't mind as much but isn't he supposed to be a hunk?

Didn't you love that the place Billie held up a week ago is now throwing a party for him? When they let Janine come back so soon after she ran over Danielle and when Roxy invited her to Amy's christening, I wasn't as surprised, because most of the Mitchells never cared about Danielle, but no way would Peggy or Roxy let him back in the pub after he tried to rob them. Unless they were just hoping he left and never came back??

[Y&RWorldTurner]

The actors look related. Their facial features are so similar.

I hate seeing the elderly scolded, and Carol was screaming like a man woman, she sort of made it everyone's business by that point.

Billie needs to go play in traffic, he basically admitted he wanted to do all this at the end to get away from Carol, which probably ment he wanted more attention.

His face does look messed up and is that a stain on his face or is it a mole?

They tried to mask it by Peggy being a supporter of the troops thanks to Grant serving in the Falklands war. I loved when Carol threw it in her face how disturbed Grant was and how that could be an effect of his war experience.

Edited April 6, 2010 by Y&RWorldTurner

[Y&RWorldTurner]

And Carl, aren't you just riveted as to who sent that Chocolate Bunny to Zsa Zsa? :lol:

[DRW50]

Only if it's from the person who is going to reveal her secret -- that she is actually 40 years old. She can be Donna, Kathy's long dead daughter, who actually faked her death and got plastic surgery, back to make life hell for the Mitchells.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

I hope Alfie gets to run The Vic again when he returns, and Roxy loses control of it or something.

With Peggy leaving at the end of the year, I just cannot imagine people wanting to go there to be greeted by Roxy.

[DRW50]

I think Glenda and Danny will con Roxy out of the Vic, cue sad scenes of Peggy wandering around aimlessly in an empty pub for the last time. Then Phil will get control of the pub and as he doesn't trust Roxy and Peggy is leaving, he will make Alfie the manager, since Phil's a convicted felon, I believe.

I really hope we get a scene like this:

Roxy: I hope you can keep up with all the changes I made!

Alfie: We barely recognized the place, did we darlin?

(Kat turns up her nose as she sees the same old decaying wallpaper and Queen Vic bust)

Roxy: It's not easy to get people 'round here to see when we're in a new century. Had to clean out the musty old bar staff all on my own!

(Tracey, propping up the bar, shares an eye-roll with Kat)

Roxy: It's all so fresh and clean!

Kat: Yeah. Indoor plumbing, electricity, and all. We'd waited a few more years you'd probably invent the gramophone.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

LOL! I can't wait to see how Kat gets on with the Mitchell sisters! I don't think she'll like them at all. I hope we get some classic Kat zingers in there.

[DRW50]

I imagine she and Roxy will loathe each other. Ronnie will be too busy wandering around in a stupor to actually have dialogue with Kat. I'd like to see Ronnie and Kat talk about Danielle/Zoe, especially if, as many believe, Danielle was Archie's child.

Edited April 7, 2010 by CarlD2

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Some on the Digital Spy board are saying next week is the last week Santer's name will be in the credits, though his final set of storylines will be playing out until September.

I guess we'll find out in the credits two weeks from now. It will take like two months anyway after Kirkwood is credited before his stamp is really felt on this show.

Edited April 8, 2010 by Y&RWorldTurner

[DRW50]

If what some of you've said is true then the show probably won't change that much anyway.

I see a lot of defenses of the show at places like Digital Spy which say, "Of course the show was going to be in a quiet place after the live episode." Why? Why was it going to be in a quiet place? Isn't that the time you most want some excitement, as that may keep some of the viewers you're getting? The ratings for the last few episodes have seen sharp drops, and while I know that's because of the weather, it still doesn't express a lot of confidence in the show.

Wasn't the whole point of building up "Chryed" and Lucas to have stories that would carry momentum while Stacey had a break? Instead Lucas, never a great story to begin with, becomes nothing more than cameos from pointless Liz and obsession over a tree, and the Chryed story vanishes for nearly 4 months, with Christian completely phased out of Walford life. And the stories we get in their stead aren't even that great as filler, they often make no real sense (like Louise's arrival) and the payoff for them isn't worth the suspension of disbelief.

It's amazing some of the ways this show will be defended and praised. Oh, in the space of an episode, Billie wants to join the army and gets a big party -- this is kitchen sink drama, this is exploring a real issue! No it isn't, it's a gimmick designed to promote more disconnected yelling and screaming in place of actual storytelling.

I really wish Treadwell-Collins would hit the road.

Edited April 8, 2010 by CarlD2

[Y&RWorldTurner]

I guess it depends on where Kirkwood leans and what type of story directions he goes for. He knows EastEnders is a different annal than Hollyoaks or Corrie, so I'm going into his EastEnders tenure with some optimism.

He's a really hands-on story producer that's present at all the story conferences, and his background is as a storyliner, a postilion he worked at Corrie for close to a decade. Santer doesn't have the storylining background that Kirkwood has, so in this case, Kirkwood could be very beneficial for the show.

We'll only really know Kirkwood's mark on this show when Kat and Alfie return and Zoe Lucker's character, Vanessa, is introduced. Those are his first big plans for EastEnders, so I think if we notice any differences, it will most likely be obvious to us around August and September, when Santer's material will be running dry. Until then, all he can do is tweak Santer's material and gradually lay the ground work for his own material.

I think Santer wasted weeks prepping for the live episode that he forgot there was an entire show that needed to be planned out. And sadly, now, we're seeing the effects of it on this show. He basically admitted this in one of his exit interviews.

We'll have to wait and see how Collins meshes with Kirkwood's vision for the show. Maybe it will be a stark difference from the Santer/Collins relationship. It depends on what ideas Kirkwood goes for from Collins and if he's good at balancing out the worst tendencies from Collins.

Then again, they might not even get along and Kirkwood could in fact replace Collins, as Sylph pointed out. When there's a regime change, Story Producers are often the first to go.

But Collins has gotten so much praise, so he may have it "made" at this show for quite a while more.