EastEnders: Discussion Thread

[MichaelGL]

I’m willing bet that it does have to do with the Six storyline.

[DRW50]

The show is so cold and plot-driven now, it would be difficult for me to react to any return, but I just didn't need to see Chrissie again. At least this is only for a guest part, so this won't end up like the failures of Janine and Cindy, but I don't have any interest in more of EE's forced nostalgia. And without Sam there a huge part of the story is gone. 

TAO also seems more known for her tweets (IIRC a beef with Balvinder Sopal drove the latter off Twitter) than her acting these days.

[All My Shadows]

Any time the Brit soaps bring characters back after 10, 20, or 30 (or even 40, hey Corrie) years, it reeks of desperation. They get that buzz for a month or two, then it's back to struggling to accept that they're way past their prime. Sad.

[NothinButAttitude]

I just caught a whim of what she's been tweeting and yikes. A lot of these actors need to pull away from social media and revert to the days when there was anonymity between us and them.  

[Vee]

I'd forgotten about Tracy-Ann Oberman's unfortunate social media hijinks. Great actress but I can't see how she's needed on the show today. 

Was Cindy's return actually a flop? I wasn't aware one way or the other. I definitely think it was a stunt and part of the same tiresome Americanized trend others have mentioned in this thread above me, sure, but I didn't know that it (or bringing on her ex, family, etc) hasn't had some success. It seemed as though people had taken to Colin Salmon's character at least.

Edited July 4, 2024 by Vee

[DRW50]

Cindy is mostly just there to serve George's storylines. She has no real past, story or identity of her own. If you enjoy George it isn't a flop. That's about all.

Chrissie isn't needed, but then, on Clenshaw's EE, everything is so plot-driven and empty, no one is actually needed.

[Liberty City]

I wouldn't necessarily dub it a "flop" per the definition. I would say the return was when the foot was the gas acceleration, and then other stories came into play that resonated more, so Cindy kind of... slowed. But I wouldn't say it is a flop... I just wish certain beats were played more effectively.

[detroitpiston]

I don’t consider Cindy’s return a flop either but she’s always been a favorite of mine and I love the Knight’s, the show is definitely better with her presence. This fling with George Junior has been

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and I can’t wait for her to drag sister killer Bobby some more and figure out who Ian’s been running around talking to.

Now I don’t hate the new Mitchell’s but I definitely could have done without weeks upon weeks of Billy and his clan on the front burner lol, definitely has made the show more of a chore for me. I have very much enjoyed seeing Phil get his verbal lashings these last few episodes though, I actually felt bad when he broke down crying at the end of this week. I wonder how far they go with this.

I’m glad Yolande is finally getting justice against Pastor Clayton. The show has continued to do great work with this storyline I thought the scene where she finally told Denzel what happened was excellent.

I’m glad the steroids storyline has finally came to a head. I think Denzel’s actor has done decent work and its nice to see a black actor leading the younger set. Now Nugget on the other hand…I was hoping he would croak and Nish would get his heart lol, can not stand that boy. Glad he told Denzel the truth about trying to kiss Amy though.

Priya and Ravi are the only two on the Panesar side of the canvas I actually care for so I enjoyed them getting a bit of story again. Nish is such a bastard lol throwing her under the bus like that.

I miss Bianca her running off after revealing her bipolar diagnosis was heartbreaking and its such a pain having to suffer through Sonia and Reese now that she’s gone again. Her butting into their relationship finally made them interesting. I look forward to Sharon realizing Reese stole money from her accounts and hopefully someone offs him.

There was an episode a while back where Sharon expressed her guilt to Kathy for not helping Angie more with her alcoholism which then lead to her forcing Linda to go to an AA meeting and I have to shout it out because it really stuck with me. Strong writing and great acting from Tish Dean and Kellie B.

[DRW50]

My issue isn't with Cindy herself as much as the writing. Michelle Collins is doing fine. But all of her relationship with George and her daughters was offcamera. All of George's relationship with his sleazy Max knockoff son was offcamera. And George is the only one in the family they even write for. I just don't care. The show as a whole is so plot-driven and this story is the biggest example for me.

[detroitpiston]

I don’t agree at all that they haven’t bothered to develop the relationships on screen. We’ve gotten plenty of scenes with Cindy trying to reconnect with George and the girls and them all struggling because of her abandonment. I think they’ve done well showing how it impacted them all differently, with Anna being the most open. They even touched on it recently when Cindy was hiding George’s fight clubbing, health issues and the kiss they shared which caused the girls to go cold on her again and show more support for Elaine leading into Cindy spiraling and hunching on Junior.

Same with George and George JR. One of the earliest scenes was addressing how George’s issues with his own father and his age at the time Junior was born lead to him not being present and how him going off and starting a new family messed with Junior’s head. Then we saw the ramifications with Junior being a serial cheater and George forcing him to come clean to his wife to break the cycle he felt he started.

Yeah things are plot heavy, its a soap it should be but I really think the show has more heart and layers than its given credit for currently.

[DRW50]

The scenes with reconnecting tend to be on a loop and often revolve around George's feelings. That's another reason I don't care. We never saw any of them together, so why am I meant to invest in whether they reunite? I would have been more interested if they said that George was an old love of Cindy's and he had since married and had kids. We would see Cindy drift toward him and start to bond with his daughters, even as she isn't connected to her own children. (she has no real relationship with Peter and anything with Cindy Jr happened - yet again - offcamera)

It doesn't help that the woman who plays Anna seems more suited to Blue Peter than drama. The show's habit of throwing drama at new characters and then losing interest fast also comes into play, as Gina came in, was on drugs, carrying on defending various outcast men (Jay, Dean), and ended up being backburnered afterward.

The ramifications with Junior amount to a quick exit for his guest character wife and child, again mostly based on issues that had built up between them offcamera. 

I am glad you are enjoying the show, as I know others are, but I just feel alienated from it and I don't see that changing. I don't like seeing strings and I am not invested in most of the shells currently on the canvas.

[Manny]

The Mitchells have really made this past week a snoozefest for me. I do not care about the new people. I initially thought the three stooges were kind of villains, but now they seem to be all one happy family. I really don't care. The only thing I enjoyed was Billy trashing Phil. Other than that, I barely paid attention to their scenes.

I enjoyed the steroids storyline. It was interesting thing to play out among young characters. I thought Denzel actor was also fine in it. I wonder where they go from here.

Ah, I cannot get into Priya at all. I like her better than her annoying daughter, but I feel like they have no clue what to do with Priya. They seem to be bouncing her around the canvas between Ravi, Nish, Martin etc and nothing ever happens. I do like Ravi being featured more.

And yes, indeed. Sonia/Reece storyline has also been a dud. It picked up with Bianca, but now it is another reason why this week has been so boring. And it has been going on for ages, I feel. I am ready for it to finish.

The great and positive thing still remains the Yolande storyline. It was a really nice storyline, good pacing, great performances. But this is over now, I suppose. 

[MichaelGL]

I wish we could see where we are going with this Sonia/Reiss storyline. At first it was a odd ball romance, then it was about Reiss still holding onto his comatose wife but then also wanting to move on with his life, then it was about Sonia and him wanting kids (a big wtf for Sonia who already had one), and now it's about Reiss extorting funds from people on the square.  Like what is the endgame here? Is Reiss a ticking time bomb ready to snap and go psycho? Are we supposed to sympathize with him? It seems like this story has gone on for a considerable amount of time with no clear direction. Like get to the point already. 
 

[Manny]

You have summarized it very well. Since I never really cared for this storyline much, I never really thought about it. But now seeing it written by you, it is really bad

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I hope they finish the storyline soon, send Reiss away (I realize that I never remember who to spell his name correctly lol) and give Sonia something better to do. And I really hope she doesn't end up pregnant with his child. 

[MichaelGL]

Oh this return is going to be good; if just for the Cindy angle 

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Edited July 16, 2024 by MichaelGL