EastEnders: Discussion Thread

[NothinButAttitude]

 

She did kill it. I still don't get how EE (or any other soap for that matter) haven't locked her down for some time. 

 

Scott Maslen surprised me too as of late. For once, I am endeared to Branning/Mitchell family issues. 

[DRW50]

 

That was one of the only scenes on Tuesday that actually allowed us to see reactions and grief. The rest cut away. Odd. 

 

I was glad they didn't try to make her a monster and instead let us see her grief. 

 

My favorite of her scenes was her scene with Ronnie at the hotel, where they were finally in a decent place. It was a bittersweet scene, beautifully acted. 

[Skylover]

 

This sentence epitomises my problem with Lee's story too. I think raiding the pub was just too much, rather than focusing on the depression they had to add some sensationalism or shock to the story which has pretty much undermined the whole thing. I thought they were doing so well up until that point, showing how the smallest things said can affect someone with a mental illness, but they took it too far. I don't like Lee hanging round his dad in the aftermath of admitting the truth either, I think Lee should be giving him some space. They've portrayed Lee as justifying his actions due to his depression, yes he's shown guilt etc but it doesn't sit right.

[NothinButAttitude]

 

I'll just be glad when Lee leaves. I feel like EE flopped majorly when it comes to this story. So sad. I feel this is a story that could've helped so many young men (myself included), who have depression but don't know how to handle it. 

 

Instead, they've made the story solidify the absurd belief (as aforementioned) that depression is some form of weakness to men. This story gets a major thumbs down. 

[Skylover]

 

I agree, unfortunately depression is still an area in society which many don't understand. I presume none of the writing team have suffered from it based on how the story panned out.

Edited January 5, 2017 by Edward Skylover

[NothinButAttitude]

 

Well they should've done thorough research before doing this story. They should've simply written Lee off if they weren't gonna do it correctly. 

[Skylover]

 

Yeah definitely. I wonder why they didn't. They're usually quite good at researching issues.

[NothinButAttitude]

Good God! Abi is a royal twat! Why does Max still even try with her? 

 

Michelle is irking my nerves much like she is Stacey's. Stacey is nothing like Pauline nor should she be. Michelle needs to drop that sh-t as Stacey knows what Martin likes by now. 

 

Jack and Glenda broke my hearts tonight. Scott Maslen is finally emerging as an actor in my eyes. So glad to see that he is getting material outside of breeding some poor woman. 

 

I was NOT here for Mick making the Ronnie/Roxy situation about him and Linda. Seriously, enough! This is why I can't gravitate to Mick b/c the character is always, "Me! Me! Me! Me!" 

 

I do wish we would've gotten a better scene of Vincent learning about Ronnie seeing as they have a past. I hate how they've been cutting away as of late with people learning about R&R's deaths. 

[Vee]

The new Johnny Carter is pretty adorable.

 

I am finding the show enjoyable on YT. I know a lot of the people. But my nagging issues with EE in the 2000s are still around. My problem with EE in the 21st century is that as often as it goes 'real' on an issue - hammering home something by not having a happy ending to a social issue story like depression, or addiction, or coming out or whatever else, or avoiding an easy closure by leaving something open-ended - and as often as the executions of many of those stories are either well-acted, well-scripted, well-produced or some combination of the above - that the 'hard' approach has kind of become rote. And that in and itself almost becomes glib, because they do it so often.

 

Someone gets a drug addiction; they die horribly. Someone (Lucy) is a troubled teen; she dies horribly. Gay kids struggle in a difficult home environment (Ben); they continue to wrestle with their families for years with no active evolution. Ian has a cavalcade of illegitimate children and several have gone nuts, died or become pariahs; nobody really handles it except sweeping it under the rug or living with it. And now Danny Dyer's cute son is horribly depressed and a [!@#$%^&*]-up; he may very well kill himself.

 

In a vacuum or on a case by case basis, playing these stories out with tough, sad conclusions, or lack of conclusion, or letting them just percolate for years is very admirable. But with EE it just feels grinding to me these days - I mean, there are so many stories like this. Peggy committed suicide, Pat died, Pauline died in the street! No one is ever happy for long, their fates are always to be hard done by, nothing is ever really lasting. When everything is approached so coldly or coolly through such a searing eye, it's hard to invest. I mean, does whatshisface (Lee?) really need to kill himself to drive a point home on this latest dark social issue story? And can Ben or Johnny's storylines feel like more than window dressing when they don't have to do with the Mitchells or Danny Dyer? It feels like two things can be relied upon: That the stories will be as depressing as possible and then rarely resolved with a note of hope, and that the gay or minority characters will still sort of float about a bit, however prevalent they now are.

 

I hope that makes sense. The show goes harder at stuff than the Americans ever would which I have always admired, but in terms of turning a page I think they often find it very difficult on some things. If this was an American soap Ian's entire patchwork family would've publicly exploded years ago. Possibly literally.

Edited January 6, 2017 by Vee

[DRW50]

 

Yes it makes a lot of sense. It's one of the big issues I have with the show (that and stories having no particular purpose or narrative - Ben's coming out story [re-coming out] was WRETCHED). 

 

I think we may be the only two fans, aside from hardcore stans, who like the new Johnny.

[Vee]

What's wrong with him? He's cute!

 

It feels like Ben has been coming out for ten years. Every time I check in on the show he either has the same problem or he or one of the other occasional gay characters has either impregnated someone, killed them or tried to kill them. It's more agency than most American gay soap characters get, but you didn't see Kyle and Oliver on OLTL get hazed in the LPD locker room for two years straight.

[DRW50]

 

The show has no idea whether Ben is supposed to be a lost child, or an ungrateful son, or a headcase, or Phil Jr. They went from having him self-loathing and in denial to, within a few months, having an affair with one man while using a girl as a beard and in the meanntime going online to hook up with other men. He then passed an STD on to his girlfriend. When he finally came out after her fake pregnancy scam was exposed, they tried to give some "don't be afraid to be yourself" type pep talk from the new Johnny (who will be his love interest at some point I presume, unless Johnny is written out), but it fell flat, because Ben was written not as self-loathing, but as wanting it every way. 

[Vee]

Yeah, that's the vibe I've gotten for awhile, that they definitely want to pair them up but they seem to have no real initiative to focus in on the characters and telling a full story for them beyond the usual bearding/lying/suffering cycle that seems to dog Ben and many gay characters. Then someone will leave or get fired and round and round it goes. And I have no clue what is going on with Steven/Stephen. The arc of that character didn't make sense to me ten years ago, but I am particularly baffled that they often seemed to reuse portions of it for Ben.

 

Maybe the new producer will surprise, who knows. I'm just glad to see Kathy.

Edited January 6, 2017 by Vee

[Skylover]

I agree with your post. Especially in regards to Ben, we really needed to see his and Paul's relationship develop but it never properly got going. I still liked them together but it wasn't enough, because Ben was always so involved in Mitchell family storylines. Ben is still my favourite character though so something must be going right with his character.

 

The new Johnny is cute, however the problem lies in the fact that he isn't a very good actor. One of the only EE characters whose scenes I sometimes cringe watching. Having said that he has improved a lot lately, I wonder whether it was something to do with the writing. He did go through that phase where he kept talking about his degree all the time in everyday situations.

 

ETA: I don't think Ben is meant to be portrayed as an ungrateful child - I think it's very certain his issues are down to having a psycho father.

Edited January 6, 2017 by Edward Skylover

[Vee]

I haven't seen enough of him to judge but he seems darling. Honestly, just seeing someone relatively perky on this show is a nice change from the usual psychotic and crying gays I am used to. That's how I thought Ben might turn out in the old days but when they aged him up they just redid Stephen Beale, which was a confused enough storyline as it was.

I am sure there is some sort of loveless/dissatisfied marriage situation with Martin and Stacey as there always is - and I think she was with Max? - but she does slot in very well with him at the house IMO. Also there's the lovely and talented Denise, one of the many black characters who has been here years but whom I can recall very little about because the show never seems entirely able to really focus on them any more than the gays. It's depressing to think that her being pregnant by Phil is her ticket to a bigger showcase. I've lost track of how many children Phil has either sired and raised while also beating incessantly. But then I was never able to buy that Sharon forgave Phil for what happened with Dennis, so I am well behind the times. (I liked Sharon and Dennis together a lot)

Edited January 6, 2017 by Vee