I was over Zoe after the third week of every doof doof cycling between “I need to find my son/Mini mo/stalker/Jasmine’s phone”. Killing her off is stupid but I get not wanting to leave that carrot dangling anymore if Michelle Ryan is done for good.

At least we got some great scenes with her Kat, Tommy, and Jasmine, who I really enjoy and hope they keep integrating into the Slater clan and keep away from Oscar (Josh I have no use for). The scenes earlier this week with Sharon throwing a drink on Zoe and the twins defending her were pretty good as well.

Wadey’s tenure has ended up exactly how I expected. Show feels like it reverted back to the bleak late 2010s era, useless, plot driven and contrived depressing storylines with very little nuance and way too much Max Branning and his clan. Still watching but definitely not as invested as I was for Clenshaw.

1 hour ago, detroitpiston said:

Wadey’s tenure has ended up exactly how I expected. Show feels like it reverted back to the bleak late 2010s era, useless, plot driven and contrived depressing storylines with very little nuance and way too much Max Branning and his clan. Still watching but definitely not as invested as I was for Clenshaw.

I didn't think the show had any nuance under Clenshaw, aside from the Phil and Nigel story, so that probably affects my view, but I don't think it's near the late '10s era. There are guns and gangsters, which are tedious and poorly done, but is unfortunately littered throughout EE's history. I think the Brannings are more compelling now than they were at the time, when it was mostly just Max in stories that seemed designed to fill time (remember when he was in love with Rainie for five minutes?) with most of his family gone.

What I remember of that era is having Keanu tell Sharon he fantasized of choking her to death, Phil throwing her to the ground when she was nine months pregnant, Ben's human trafficking being presented as fun, and so on. I think the show has more balance now, humor, attempts at giving stories to a wider variety of characters, etc. There was a real sense of ugliness which I don't see at present.

What lets the show down is Wadey seemingly has no real idea how to tell stories, pace stories, finish stories, for the most part. This was never better shown than with Zoe's return, which was very poorly done from almost the beginning and is ending with much more interest on backstage drama (Jessie unfollowed Wadey! Petitions! Michelle is being mistreated!) than on the character or her exit.

Edited July 15Jul 15 by DRW50

8 hours ago, Chris B said:

Such a shame but I will say it has been nice seeing more of the Slater's this year, despite the lack of quality. On another note, I cannot stand that Bea storyline and it's a shame they finally gave Billy and Honey a storyline and it's so poor.

I thought it was an interesting departure, which I can't say for most Billy and Honey stories. The problem I had was with the rushed and flat ending.

Inevitable and unsurprising.

Just a revolving door at this point.

On 7/12/2026 at 4:12 AM, LondonScribe said:

Given the fact some viewers had been calling for Zoe’s return (particularly with Michelle Ryan in role) for 20 years, I think this will go down very badly with some of the fan base, irrespective of how she appears to have been written.

People wanted the Pretty Michelle back.. I saw nasty comments about her weight and appearence in general. It’s such a shame.

But some saw that the actress herself seemed like she lost interest pretty fast again.

On 8/17/2026 at 10:48 PM, Liberty City said:

Yaaaay! If I ever would accept an back from the Dead in the Style of Days of our lives it’s now: bring back Roxy ! lol