EastEnders: Discussion Thread

[LondonScribe]

Boy, the show would have been VERY different had he accepted (provided it’s true he was offered).

As for the episode, I found the pieces there. But rushed. Also, the way tonight’s episode is being pointed towards suggests there is more of Mick’s exit to come, and not just other people’s.

[OzFrog]

Been watching Ben/Callum clips on Youtube, including Ben’s rape and the long path back to them being reunited. Question I had though - I know Peter found out that Ben had attacked him, but did Peter ultimately find out that Ben had been raped as well? Sometimes hard to keep up with who knows and who doesn’t.

[Skylover]

I enjoyed the Christmas Day episode but the Mick/Janine story was weak as hell overall. He would never have gone near her in the first place. I wish that story had never happened. And Mick and Linda would never have broken up. I wish they'd get rid of Linda, terrible actress. The Carters were never a good family.

[BetterForgotten]

They really fucked up Janine this time around. She’s never felt more generic - something I never thought she could be. Janine is sometimes a difficult character to get right, but you typically understand her motivations and she’s not usually vile purely for the sake of being so, which seemed to be the case in this stint. It’s like they only read the Wikipedia description of the character and decided that was enough. Putting her in the Mick/Linda vortex of piled on drama didn’t help either.

I’ll always love her and she’s an important legacy character to have, but I hope the next time Charlie Brooks comes back she’s truly dedicated and whoever’s in charge can see below the surface of this complex character. She badly needs a new direction the next time we see her again.

This exit also felt a bit like a retread of Janine’s EXCELLENT 2004 exit - but much more hollow. Instead of begging Pat to change her story with the police, she was begging Scarlet.

[DRW50]

Sad to say, I have hit my endpoint with Janine, I think. Charlie just doesn't seem to know the character anymore. You could feel it in that Christmas episode. She has moved on, and likely never would have returned if not for the pandemic.

The last episode was fine, very strong even, up to the point she went back to the house. Janine would have just left Walford when Linda gave her the out. They wanted to overload the whole Janine/Scarlett dynamic one last time, which didn't even work, because the girl who plays Scarlett can't act. Ricky lashing out at her also felt unearned because we have barely seen their relationship in his return.

The whole Mick/Janine story really hollowed her out, and they also made her relationship with Frank into a bad joke, which is something it's going to take me a long time to forgive as a fan. 

Edited December 28, 2022 by DRW50

[MichaelGL]

I was a bit disappointed how they basically ignored Janine/Stacey and Janine/Whitney this go around. Especially the Janine/Whitney angle considering Whitney and Mick always had a "thing".  And with Janine's final scenes with Scarlet, Ricky, and Sonia I'm shocked no one brought up how Janine callously killed Scarlet's father. 

Overall I did like the episode. The show is strong compared to other UK soaps at the moment, but there are still a few glaring holes in the storytelling and canvas. Hopefully they will work on those over time 

The episode was their highest viewed episode for Xmas since 2019. And the show is seemingly up compared to last year. 

Edited December 28, 2022 by MichaelGL

[Skylover]

I uploaded some other old clips recently from the Drama repeat. They've recently been airing 2002.

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[BetterForgotten]

Thanks for these - I hadn’t seen those Alan and Carol scenes in years - fantastic work from Lindsey Coulson.

Edited December 28, 2022 by BetterForgotten

[Skylover]

No worries. Seeing as the show is being repeated on Drama, I'm trying to upload all the great classic clips in decent quality. I know for example that Kim's first scene as Sam is on YouTube but it's not in great quality. I'm grateful we're getting this repeat so that more of the big moments from the back catalogue can be kept for posterity.

Edited December 28, 2022 by Skylover

[BetterForgotten]

Back on Janine - The Scarlett actress sucked,  but I never believed Janine would have intentionally been such an awful and vile mother given her own parental trauma. I think this is something they got very wrong in this return - I could see her still screwing up as a mother, but it would have been because of her own overprotective instincts, not because she was totally intentionally incompetent as a parent. Most of the time it felt like she couldn’t be bothered with Scarlett and that she felt being a mother was a curse. 
 

Edited December 29, 2022 by BetterForgotten

[DRW50]

It was saddening to see so many try to interpret this as glorious camp, or just say they didn't care because the actress was so bad anyway. The idea that Janine would be so neglectful and abusive toward her child goes against so much of what the character should have been. But she was a meme to the current EE, not a character, as shown in the incredibly poor scenes today where Martin was talking like a stan account about how she would be back and they would film a documentary on her.

[OzFrog]

Not being really acquainted with earlier EastEnders, it was nice seeing what Kat was like back then. 

[OzFrog]

This is one of the most adorable playlists… Ben/Callum cute moments, right from the very beginning…

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[Skylover]

I miss Ben and Paul.

[Vee]

I still can't tell NuBen and Callum apart.