EastEnders: Discussion Thread

[dannigold]

I wonder if the cut scenes are to do with Bryan changing scripts. I still cannot believe he has been in charge ten weeks now.

Edited May 3, 2010 by dannigold

[All My Shadows]

Catching up on last week...

Is there anyway I can see the last ten minutes of Monday's episode somewhere? I got through the first twenty, but the video conked out after that, and it won't let me get to the end unless I watch the beginning all over again, and I don't really have the time for that.

I can't sympathize with Zainab much at all, but damn it if that woman isn't doing a good job with this material. And this is a woman who has also won Best Comedy Performance at the BSAs, too, so jeez. There really is nothing that she can't do. Christian getting his beat-down from Amira's father and his thugs. It was a horrid thing to see, really, and all of the talk of family honor and such between Amira's father and Masood makes me a little uncomfortable, but for the love of God, that thing with Christian at the end was just over-the-top and melodramatic. He was able to walk outside the building, stand and scream for a while, but then he just falls to the ground and begs for someone to help him. If I'd gotten my ass gay-bashed like that, I wouldn't have followed the bashers outside. But maybe that's just me.

Peggy and Pat's thing is a little ridiculous, no? All of the cliche hairdresser scenes were a bit much ("Oh, I'M going on a hot date tonight, too! And I am going to say everything you said about YOUR date, and neither one of us is going to think that we're dating the same guy!") I saw it on Three's Company years ago when Jack and Larry did the same thing.

Fatboy may be annoying, but the guy who plays him, unless he's just playing himself, really has some talent, IMO. And Mo! Love her.

[DRW50]

The Pat/Peggy story IS ridiculous. It's almost insulting, especially to Pat, who used to have some sort of brain. This story has filler all over it.

Speaking of filler, poor Perry Fenwick. I guess he's still lucky to have a job, but Billy can do so much better than this. And is Jay stuck in the Phantom Zone so he can't actually contribute to the money situation? I did like seeing Dot try to help him.

I couldn't believe how tight Zsa Zsa's trousers were. I was shocked those got past the censors. Her accent seems to be all over the place, again. Tonight she sounded like Katharine Hepburn. "Peter..."

The constant reminders that Christian and Syed are allowed to hurt anyone they want because "all they did was fall in love" still do nothing for me, and they make everyone who say them look stupid. Jane also seemed to have a very muted reaction to cleaning her brother's bloodied apartment. Was she as confused as I was about the only photo he had in the place being of himself when he was a child?

The Masood stuff was very rushed but entertaining, beautifully acted. They feel like such real people, you almost feel like you're intruding. Those scenes where they sang to Kamil were beautiful. Then when he threw her out, I felt so awful for her. Beautiful performances. I did laugh when I saw the garden hose put over Zainab. Then of course Syed came back, bleh. I was hoping for more of a break from that cowardly character.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

I have to admit, I had a good laugh when Masood kicked Zainab's ass out of the house onto the pouring rain.

Though, Nitin and Nina were fantastic as usual.

Oh Peter, you can do much better than Zsa Zsa...

Syed's back....

Edited May 4, 2010 by Y&RWorldTurner

[DRW50]

It was laughable. A beautiful night and then as soon as it's time for Zainab to be thrown out, suddenly you see what looks like a weak garden hose spraying on her. Why not just throw her out, why have the rain? Syed's constant teary eyes are enough waterworks aren't they?

I swear he has the same look on his face in every scene.

[Ben]

I think they had Mas throw Zainab out into the rain, b/c it gave them the opportunity to recreate the classic scene of Pat being thrown out of the same house, in the pouring rain, scrabbling to pick up her clothes.

And did anyone else notice the soap cliché of suitcases always spilling out when thrown to the ground? Why are they never closed properly?

I look at Lucy's blackmail attempts as being a way for her to help her Uncle Christian. She knew he was miserable, and that Syed was breaking his heart, so she did what she thought was right by making Syed suffer. She also thought it would all lead to Syed falling out of the closet, and him and Christian being together. You have to remember that Lucy couldn't understand Syed's plight; she sees being gay, as no big deal, and something he shouldn't be ashamed about. Lucy runs by her own morals, so blackmailing Syed was her way of doing good; but she's like her mother, Cindy, so of course she'd enjoy turning the knife in Syed. Lucy fronting up to Masood and Zainab fit perfectly with her character - it's what she does.

I see Jane as someone who has changed her opinion of Christian, and what he did to her marriage. I think she understands the situation differently, and sees it as being in the past. I do like that someone is pointing out the romance of it all, as there's always one person who sees the love story, but really, they need Christian and Syed to have an epiphany, and realize how horrible they've behaved. Balance is needed.

Were those scenes cut? I know that next week, some Ben/Abi/Jordan stuff happens, and the Jane/Ian holiday stuff also climaxes. Or they could happen at the end of this week. Adam blurting out Chelsea's pregnancy seems odd, as I don't see where that would've gone. Chelsea's not in any of this week, and that story was wrapped up last week, so I don't see where it would've gone.

[DRW50]

Ben, you are putting such logic into my complaining. I guess it's needed though. I had forgotten about the Pat scene. If that was what they had in mind then I'm glad. I just thought it was their usual overdramatics.

Syed is back and playing out the same scripts again! I give up. At least his pecs looked nice in his tight top.

Never cared about Jay, still don't, but he does have a good rapport with Billy. I do wish he would get a character trait beyond the whole Artful Dodger thing. I'm surprised that he has no idea just how much financial trouble Billy is in. Is he too busy with Sam Mitchell's underwear?

Zainab's pain was so palpable. Nina makes what could be an unsympathetic character so easy to relate to. I still don't know why she doesn't get more credit for her dramatic work.

Roxy...zzzz...Danny...zzzzzz...nice chest hair peeking out though. Are we supposed to feel sorry for Roxy?

I wonder if Scott Maslen wishes he'd had a pedicure.

Marc Elliott interview.

http://www.digitalspy.com/soaps/s2/eastenders/interviews/a217924/marc-elliott-syed-masood-eastenders.html

[All My Shadows]

Watched a little bit of the special on Syed and Christian, and I have to say, jeez. This show did to those characters EXACTLY what OLTL did to Kyle and Oliver. They took interesting, fun characters who had the potential to be layered and deep and turned them all into weepy, teary-eyed messes wrapped up in their own drama and to hell with anyone else (though Kyle and Oliver were never as careless as Syed and Christian). Bitchy early Christian looked like a damn good time, and they kept harping on how Syed was supposed to be a "bad boy," yet if you're someone who just started watching the show (example: ME!!) you'd think it quite odd that Syed could ever be a "bad boy" character. But whatever, show. Glad to see that lame writing destroying fun characters can swim across the entire Atlantic Ocean.

[DRW50]

Syed as a bad boy was something which collapsed as soon as they hired Marc Elliott. His acting as Syed has always reinforced Syed as weak and pathetic; he often looks like he's going to burst into tears. He had behaved badly with the family's accounts years before he came on the show, but that was all gotten over quickly when he arrived.

Christian was a confusing mess early on. He was openly leering at teenage boys, like Darren Miller, and he was in a very confusing and half-written story where he was sure that Steven Beale was gay and Steven tried to seduce him. It was an awful story -- the acting was terrible and Steven was just one of the many wonderful bisexual/gay = lunatic creations. After that ended, Christian ran through every single stereotype you can imagine -- he cheated, he could never be happy because men saw him as too old, he was Will and Grace with Roxy and desperate to raise her baby, he wept over his mother, who never loved him.

Then this Chryed stuff started, and they clumsily put Christian into the story because he was the only other gay character on the show. Christian just became the damp-eyed, breathy stalker/soulmate to ever-cowering Syed. It's been the same scenes done over and over again and is called "groundbreaking", even though we barely see them kiss and most of the daring aspects of the story were barely covered.

I am less and less convinced that they are actually going to put Christian and Syed together. I don't think they've ever worked well together, so that's not a big loss, but I do wonder what will happen after that. I can see them both being gone within a year.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Probably for the best...

I wish they'd bring Shabnam back and write for her. The show is going to need more females in their 20's soon...

[DRW50]

Zsa Zsa is going to be a star, don't you forget it.

Eastenders has shied away from complex or strong characters for so long now, and yet they also don't want to show everyday life, so that means they lean more towards caricatures, and it's not easy to make a popular caricature of a young woman (unless you have an actress like Lacey Turner who can play anything), or of a homosexual. Eastenders said "We aren't going to be like Antony Cotton" and yet in their own way they have had even more ugly stereotypes than Sean ever had on Corrie.

The last gay character I thought worked well was Pauline's friend Derek. It worked for Pauline because she got to share fun and dramatic and tender scenes with a male co-star, yet nothing romantic, which seemed to be what Wendy Richard preferred. And I thought Derek was a good solid character -- generally a supporting player but someone you knew hadn't had an easy life.

Was he fired or did he quit?

Edited May 5, 2010 by CarlD2

[Y&RWorldTurner]

But Zsa Zsa in considered in their teen set, there's hardly any early or mid 20's actresses/characters with Stacey leaving, Chelsea leaving, Amira gone, and Dawn gone.

[DRW50]

She looks so old, I'm guessing they will bump her up in age before too long.

They will probably bring other women in too in that age group. Hopefully Kirkwood is better than Santer at introducing new characters.

[DRW50]

Lucas strikes again...

[Y&RWorldTurner]

They might as well, with Chelsea and Libby gone soon. If she stayed, she probably wouldn't be written for anyway.