EastEnders: Discussion Thread

[DRW50]

I'm hoping that they might have her stay around and explore some of the aftermath of what she's gone through. The only problem is I don't know how her kids would leave her after this.

[DRW50]

Sarah Phelps interview.

http://www.walfordweb.co.uk/item.php?id=2357

[All My Shadows]

I really like her, so I hope she sticks around. Would seem rather useless, though, if her kids are leaving and him is a criminal who will hopefully get his comeuppance.

Monday's episode--

~ The entire Masood family is full of great performers, even Tamwar, who I love. As much as I thought Zainab was being bitchlicious in her lying to Mas and thanking Syed for not ratting her out, I thought it was beyond dirty the way Mas threw her out. And, really, they set it up for us to believe that it was all because of the argument at dinner about Tamwar not wanting to go to university, but jeez. To throw her out in the "pouring rain," throw her suitcase out there so hard that it pops open and puts her clothes out on the street, even as she's screaming and apologizing and generally going hysterical because he basically snuck it up on her and tosses her out? Low, real low. So low that I don't even buy it, and having Sy show up like the angel of mercy was much too convenient. Would Masood really be that much of a dick? And what in the heck were Fatboy and his people doing, just sitting in the rain? Random. Wadia had it going ON, though. While watching, I almost said "Well, that's her Daytime Emmy reel," but then I caught myself.

~ Pat and Peggy. Tsk tsk tsk. Ridiculous, which is a word I already used to describe this story, but it's the perfect one. I mean, seriously? Are we supposed to be able to basically predict how every single scene is going to play out? And should the scriptwriters be paid half their usual money since they're duplicating dialogue between Pat & Harvey and Peggy & Harvey? And is Dot always slurring her words like she spends half of each day knee deep in liquor?

~ What was going on with the guy at the laundromat with Dot?

~ How much harder do they plan to hit us over the head with all the "They just wanted to be in love!!" stuff from Ian and Peter? Really, now.

[DRW50]

That's how June Brown tends to speak as Dot.

The guy in the laundromat with Dot was Billy Mitchell. He has been having money problems, again. He's been moved from one apartment and house to another over a few months, and he has to take care of himself and his ward Jay, who is apparently too busy coming out with smart aleck comments to earn money.

Billy is the lackey of the Mitchell family, or he used to be. Thankfully they have split up all of the Mitchells and are no longer pretending they are a loving family.

[Sylph]

Thank you!

[DRW50]

Another average (?) set of episodes. Zsa Zsa doing the slowest and clumsiest baseball bat wielding ever. Leon being such a poor actor that he can't even feign getting hit in the balls. Pointless ambiguity over whether Billy actually meant to burn the club down. Rushed buildup of Billy having to raise his kids, and Jay looking stupid for not having any idea that Billy is below the poverty line. I skipped everything with Roxy and Danny and most of the E20 "comedy". Syed and Christian doing their usual mopey stares and Syed once again trying to have it all ways and trying to play the martyr. The Masoods becoming a miserable, depressing family in no time at all.

The best part was Shirley repeatedly threatening and abusing Leon. I love Linda Henry.

I was confused by the point of even referencing the election result. I thought they did that to seem current, but when they had Minty say something that didn't go along with the reality (same old same old -- how is hung parliament same old same old?), it just made them look strange. Why not just show it on the front of a paper and not have anyone actually comment.

Edited May 8, 2010 by CarlD2

[All My Shadows]

Yeah, I was honestly thinking that I somehow missed an episode. Or maybe I didn't make it to the end of Tuesday's episode (it's the beginning of finals week...I'm forgetting this very easily). All of the Billy stuff at the beginning of Thursday's ep might as well have been acted out in Welsh because I didn't understand anything going on. I filled in the bits and pieces as the episode went on and with Friday's, but still, that was random and out of nowhere at all.

I thought that was stupid and pointless. Here, we'll show you a newspaper headline about something going on in our country right now, aren't we so realistic and realistic and, by the way, very realistic? Boggled my mind.

Anyway, I have to agree about Shirley. I could watch her bopping fools over the head all day. This arson/insurance thing (that's been done a [!@#$%^&*]-ton number of times before) seems like it'll be a little interesting, but I'm still not very invested in the characters involved all that much yet. That Jack feller is making it hard for me to care about him, and Ronnie and Roxy might as well be the same person because I can't differentiate between them.

I think I get what's going on with Fatboy, friendofFatboy, girlfriendoffriendofFatboy, and Ian's kids. I like the girl who plays Lucy, but Zsa Zsa isn't even worthy of that name. What disgusting pants she wore in yesterday's episode! Nasty. I really don't care about Leon either, but I still think Fatboy's funny. I like the blond kid who plays Peter, too, especially in the scene with Lucy and Ian dealing with Lucy's abortion. I think I like that little family unit a lot.

Syed promises to stay away from Christian no matter what, yet he goes directly to the man's home, knowing full well that he's a character in a British soap and that everybody else on the show is probably standing outside in the middle of the street doing nothing and can see him going there. And he's surprised that Mas and Z saw him! Syed and Christian are laughable, and on principle, I can't cheer Mas and Z because of their beliefs, but at least they're putting forth an effort to help their family heal. They should have made Tamwar the gay son, that would have been much more interesting.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Ben and Lauren are being written OUT.

I really liked Maddy and Lauren, but I guess it's better off Ben leaves before they humiliate him even more....

http://www.digitalspy.com/soaps/s2/eastenders/news/a218856/two-more-to-leave-eastenders.html

Edited May 9, 2010 by Y&RWorldTurner

[DRW50]

I'm sorry for you, I know you were a fan of Charlie's. I think he's been given some very tough material and I don't envy him, especially with the hate he's been put through. This part makes me

Do you think they're going to do what they did with Steven Beale around ten years ago, when he's shipped off after his bad behavior? I hope they'll handle Ben's eventual return better than Steven's.

I think it's a good decision to write Lauren out. I don't think the girl who plays her is capable of handing strong material -- she was OK at first, but then when it started with her running over Max, the actress just was not able to make that work.

There are some other cuts that can be made, like Jordan, but I still want to see Denise stay, so Jordan is probably the only reason she would stay.

I wish they could write Louise out too.

Edited May 9, 2010 by CarlD2

[Y&RWorldTurner]

I wonder how they'll write Lauren off with all of her family still on the show. Surely, they won't kill off another one of Max's kids so soon...

[DRW50]

So did you like the scenes where Peter found out about the abortion?

I thought Melissa Suffield was very good; sometimes she just has a stone face but she actually seemed upset in these scenes, I was impressed with her work. Thomas Law was not as good, he's still very green, but he was OK.

[All My Shadows]

I guess I give Law a pass because he's still young (he is still young, right? I haven't looked up anything, but he can't be anything more than 16 or 17, right?). He shows potential, but I'm no acting expert Anything that sounds and looks natural is good enough for me.

[DRW50]

The Darren fans might enjoy this:

[Y&RWorldTurner]

I'm happy there at least seems to be some investment in Darren again. They could easily get rid of him and it wouldn't make a difference, but for a while now they haven't even been trying with the character.

I think Charlie Hawkins is a great comedic actor and underrated in general.

[DRW50]

I think they may have planned more with the Heather story and either they didn't follow through or the negative audience reaction stopped it. He doesn't even mention his son now.

I like him best in scenes with Tamwar. If the show needs to have comic double acts I'm not sure why they don't do more with that one. They're probably the best comic double act the show has had since Jim and Patrick.