Dedicated to the stupid women of Walford ... you know who you are ...
Before I get into the bitchfest, which made this episode decidedly mediocre, here are the best bits:=
Ian, Masood, Shirley and Jean.
Let me get this off my chest ... I also hate these cutesy, coy openings linking together something that ultimately isn't central to the episode. Tonight, it harped on the first day of school - for Dennis, for Oscar and Masood's first day as a teaching assistant.
Just a word about the kids in question. Widdle Denny and Oscar were two opposite ends of the scale tonight. Oscar belongs to the Mute Amy Brigade. For anyone going on and on about how Amy is mute and she's three years old, well, Oscar is four and he's never said a word. In fact, Oscar's specialty is gurning (like his older sister Lauren). I suspect Lauren gurned before she could talk, because it seems that way with Oscar.
Amy, at least nods or shakes her head when Roxy or Jack speak to her. Oscar is the most disinterested child going. I've seen the kid with Jake Wood, and he's totally at ease. He doesn't speak, mind you, but he's a helluva lot more relaxed and natural than he is around Jo Joyner. Wow, the body language on that kid was way uncomfortable, literally making faces of distaste and looking away from her, making that awful Popeye face. Then, we had that embarrassing scene where Tanya had to pretend Oscar had been protesting that Max wasn't there. And there was Tanya wittering on, when it was patently obvious that the kid didn't understand a single bit of what she was going on about.
As for Baby Justin Bieber ...
Now imagine him and Maisie Smith (Tiffany Butcher) sharing a scene. First of all, Dennis needs a haircut. Secondly, regarding Sharon's overt over-protectiveness is going to either result in a brutal little thug or a neurotic - headaches, drinking water, cutting up his food, lactose allegies. The writing for Sharon tonight was bad, and I've decided that I'm not too keen on her as a mother. Sharon as a neurotic mother is totally incongruous to her character, Saint Dennis or no Saint Dennis. Sharon's from a tradition of raising your children strong. The last thing the show needs at this point is another potential Ben. And whether it was the writing tonight or Letitia Dean's total unfamiliarity with the concept of the over-protective mother, she wasn't very good.
It's also a shame that they are pushing the Brannings in Sharon's direction. TPTB should be concentrating on Sharon's association with Ian and Phil, particularly Ian, who's in dire need of a reliable friend right now. Instead, they've used her, much as they used Pat's last scenes, to validate the Brannings.
Sharon is a woman in her mid-forties. People tend to be selective in their friendships as they grow older. They cling to the ones who've lasted the longest, and even though they might bond with someone via having children at the same school, usually that's more a firm acquaintance than a friendship begun relatively late in life on the friendship scale. Besides, Tanya - and you know the two of them are going to end up friends - is never the sort of person Sharon would befriend and vice versa. And that's for obvious reasons.
However, onto the good bits:-
Shirley and Jean: For once, I actually liked Jean in this. She and Alfie made Kat look small. Of course, Kat's going to look all the smaller when it's found that she brought the bedbugs into the Vic via Shaggerman's infested flat.
Jean showed great compassion and understanding. This is twice she's related her own experiences to people suffering some sort of mental or emotional breakdown - Ian, and now Shirley. Shirley always resorts to booze whenever tragedy strikes her life - Kevin's death, Heather's death, Phil's betrayal. Linda Henry played a blinder tonight in her reluctant acceptance of Jean's compassion and advice. That was a nice, tidy little scene between them in the kitchen. Especially poignant was when Shirley gently observed that Jean was a nutter, and Jean agreed, admitting that it had its advantages at times.
Ian and Masood: Ian, clearly, isn't all right. He's trying, but his bitch of a daughter's undermining and outright snideyness isn't helping either his self-esteem or his emotional state. She's effectively drilled it into Ian that he's "let her down" again and again - Joey's influence, perhaps? Maybe, but she's just bitchy enough and greedy enough to do that, and that's preyed on Ian to the point that although he took Bobby to school, he forgot to give him the apple he'd brought for him, which triggered a panic attack.
It's also clear as well that he's still got an "on-the-street" mentality, the way he was ferreting away sugar packets in the cafe. Masood speaking to him was a revelation, even to the extent that he channeled Jane in helping him through a similar crisis the past Christmas regarding Yusef and his undermining of Masood's family. The old Ian came back briefly, with his caustic remarks about Jane's and Masood's relationship, Masood's patient acceptance of Ian's accusations and his evaluation that maybe Ian could do with some counselling or medication or both, or even someone to go with him to the doctor. Wow, the first time someone, other than Sharon, has suggested this.
The irony of Ian accepting Masood's advice and asking Masood to help him flies in the face of the fact that Masood and Jane had actually attempted an affair despite Zainab and Ian, only to back off at the last minute. Good scenes. Very understated performance by Nitin Ganatra, and brilliant performance by Adam Woodyatt, as per usual.
Intriguing Bit: Max, of course. M25, my arse! Lurking and skulking about on a council estate with an envelope full of money. This is the beginning of the Christmas storyline. Dare I say it? I predict that Max is married. I think he and Derek got mixed up with the Eastern European sex trade and married a girl to help her avoid being deported. Now, he's committed to marrying Tanya, and he needs a divorce. Watch this space. This will all come out at Christmas.
The Bitches
Lucy: I don't usually condone slapping or hitting woman or a young girl, but Lucy not only needs a smack, she needs her bony arse spanked roundly and some steak and chips shoved down her neck. Her attitude toward Ian is disgusting - sending him on the ultimate guilt trip whilst whining about everything she has to do to keep things together. Poor Lucy, all about her. Oh, and did she say she was going back to school a well. What a martyr, all designed to make Ian feel like a prize piece of shit. She is vicious, vindictive and cruel, and clearly - as Patrick said, out of her depth. She's not only out of her depth, she's just - as I've said before - stupid.
Stupidity as well as arrogance made her concentrate on the food critic, ignoring her public whom she really had to serve. What I don't understand and object to is the fact that, after blatant rudeness, Patrick and Cora come to her aid and help her out - all because Patrick inadvertantly reminded Cora that she had "made a mistake" at eighteen. Cora's "mistake" didn't centre around her willful and pernicious cruelty and baiting of a family member suffering from a mental breakdown.
The actress who plays Lucy also sucks mightily. I hope the character gets a massive charge of karma directed at her skinny arse, and I hope she slopes off the show sooner, rather than later. Just another pointless, spoiled, entitled and unlikeable teen who serves no purpose, Beale or no Beale.
Tanya: A hypocrite and a bitch. But, quite honestly, the scene in the school cafe was embarrassing. Sharon sat obsessing about her son, while Ian was quietly decompensating in a crisis of his own, and Tanya sat at another table, with people whom she normally would cross the street to avoid, making pointed comments, obviously, about Sharon and her child, then later, she was gossiping with Zainab about Sharon and how her behaviour would affect her child.
Well, Tanya, look at your behaviour. Your oldest child has alcohol issues, just like you and your mother before you. You covered and condoned her attempted murder of her father, your husband, not even a year after you tried the same trick. You consistently put your needs and desires before those of your children, and defend their misbehaviour. Your youngest child can't even look at you. One wonders how Abi turned out so normal. And as for Zainab casting judgement, this is the woman who disowned her son because of his sexuality and who continues to treat Tamwar like a child.
Pffffffffffffffffffffttttttttttttttttttttttt!
Kat: Queen Bitch. Arguably, the most unlikeable female character in recent history on the programme. She is an abysmal mother, so caught up in her own sordid shagfest with Derek, smiling contentedly at the silly love message on the bandage and oblivious to the fact that her son is covered in bedbug bites. Big Mo showed more tenderness and feeling toward Tommy tonight than she did. And she's quick to blame Shirley as a distraction. Shirley spent one night in the Vic. Kat had been whoring about in that fleapit shaggerflat.
And she made a beeline for the place as soon as Alfie turfed her, Mo and Tommy out of the flat. Oh, but her epiphany and redemption starts now, after fuckind Derek, she remembers the picture of Alfie and Tommy in her bag. And MO thinking that she loves Alfie, referencing her continuous put-down of the man.
She doesn't deserve him, and I hope against hope that Alfie kicks her skank ass to the curb; but I know this: TPTB broke Kat, when she wasn't broken in the first place. They took an iconic character and turned her into a hateful piece of shit, someone so totally unlikeable that really few viewers will care if she's rehabilitated or not. If she's going to be, that rehabilitation shouldn't be at the expense of Alfie's integrity, because he's done nothing wrong, especially morally. The majority of viewers have invested in an Alfie-Roxy coupling, but since Jessie Wallace has been a gong-getter for the show in the past, it's obvious they are reluctant to admit that they fucked this one up big time and are making repair efforts. I hope they know what they're doing, but I seriously doubt it.
Before I get into the bitchfest, which made this episode decidedly mediocre, here are the best bits:=
Ian, Masood, Shirley and Jean.
Let me get this off my chest ... I also hate these cutesy, coy openings linking together something that ultimately isn't central to the episode. Tonight, it harped on the first day of school - for Dennis, for Oscar and Masood's first day as a teaching assistant.
Just a word about the kids in question. Widdle Denny and Oscar were two opposite ends of the scale tonight. Oscar belongs to the Mute Amy Brigade. For anyone going on and on about how Amy is mute and she's three years old, well, Oscar is four and he's never said a word. In fact, Oscar's specialty is gurning (like his older sister Lauren). I suspect Lauren gurned before she could talk, because it seems that way with Oscar.
Amy, at least nods or shakes her head when Roxy or Jack speak to her. Oscar is the most disinterested child going. I've seen the kid with Jake Wood, and he's totally at ease. He doesn't speak, mind you, but he's a helluva lot more relaxed and natural than he is around Jo Joyner. Wow, the body language on that kid was way uncomfortable, literally making faces of distaste and looking away from her, making that awful Popeye face. Then, we had that embarrassing scene where Tanya had to pretend Oscar had been protesting that Max wasn't there. And there was Tanya wittering on, when it was patently obvious that the kid didn't understand a single bit of what she was going on about.
As for Baby Justin Bieber ...
Now imagine him and Maisie Smith (Tiffany Butcher) sharing a scene. First of all, Dennis needs a haircut. Secondly, regarding Sharon's overt over-protectiveness is going to either result in a brutal little thug or a neurotic - headaches, drinking water, cutting up his food, lactose allegies. The writing for Sharon tonight was bad, and I've decided that I'm not too keen on her as a mother. Sharon as a neurotic mother is totally incongruous to her character, Saint Dennis or no Saint Dennis. Sharon's from a tradition of raising your children strong. The last thing the show needs at this point is another potential Ben. And whether it was the writing tonight or Letitia Dean's total unfamiliarity with the concept of the over-protective mother, she wasn't very good.
It's also a shame that they are pushing the Brannings in Sharon's direction. TPTB should be concentrating on Sharon's association with Ian and Phil, particularly Ian, who's in dire need of a reliable friend right now. Instead, they've used her, much as they used Pat's last scenes, to validate the Brannings.
Sharon is a woman in her mid-forties. People tend to be selective in their friendships as they grow older. They cling to the ones who've lasted the longest, and even though they might bond with someone via having children at the same school, usually that's more a firm acquaintance than a friendship begun relatively late in life on the friendship scale. Besides, Tanya - and you know the two of them are going to end up friends - is never the sort of person Sharon would befriend and vice versa. And that's for obvious reasons.
However, onto the good bits:-
Shirley and Jean: For once, I actually liked Jean in this. She and Alfie made Kat look small. Of course, Kat's going to look all the smaller when it's found that she brought the bedbugs into the Vic via Shaggerman's infested flat.
Jean showed great compassion and understanding. This is twice she's related her own experiences to people suffering some sort of mental or emotional breakdown - Ian, and now Shirley. Shirley always resorts to booze whenever tragedy strikes her life - Kevin's death, Heather's death, Phil's betrayal. Linda Henry played a blinder tonight in her reluctant acceptance of Jean's compassion and advice. That was a nice, tidy little scene between them in the kitchen. Especially poignant was when Shirley gently observed that Jean was a nutter, and Jean agreed, admitting that it had its advantages at times.
Ian and Masood: Ian, clearly, isn't all right. He's trying, but his bitch of a daughter's undermining and outright snideyness isn't helping either his self-esteem or his emotional state. She's effectively drilled it into Ian that he's "let her down" again and again - Joey's influence, perhaps? Maybe, but she's just bitchy enough and greedy enough to do that, and that's preyed on Ian to the point that although he took Bobby to school, he forgot to give him the apple he'd brought for him, which triggered a panic attack.
It's also clear as well that he's still got an "on-the-street" mentality, the way he was ferreting away sugar packets in the cafe. Masood speaking to him was a revelation, even to the extent that he channeled Jane in helping him through a similar crisis the past Christmas regarding Yusef and his undermining of Masood's family. The old Ian came back briefly, with his caustic remarks about Jane's and Masood's relationship, Masood's patient acceptance of Ian's accusations and his evaluation that maybe Ian could do with some counselling or medication or both, or even someone to go with him to the doctor. Wow, the first time someone, other than Sharon, has suggested this.
The irony of Ian accepting Masood's advice and asking Masood to help him flies in the face of the fact that Masood and Jane had actually attempted an affair despite Zainab and Ian, only to back off at the last minute. Good scenes. Very understated performance by Nitin Ganatra, and brilliant performance by Adam Woodyatt, as per usual.
Intriguing Bit: Max, of course. M25, my arse! Lurking and skulking about on a council estate with an envelope full of money. This is the beginning of the Christmas storyline. Dare I say it? I predict that Max is married. I think he and Derek got mixed up with the Eastern European sex trade and married a girl to help her avoid being deported. Now, he's committed to marrying Tanya, and he needs a divorce. Watch this space. This will all come out at Christmas.
The Bitches
Lucy: I don't usually condone slapping or hitting woman or a young girl, but Lucy not only needs a smack, she needs her bony arse spanked roundly and some steak and chips shoved down her neck. Her attitude toward Ian is disgusting - sending him on the ultimate guilt trip whilst whining about everything she has to do to keep things together. Poor Lucy, all about her. Oh, and did she say she was going back to school a well. What a martyr, all designed to make Ian feel like a prize piece of shit. She is vicious, vindictive and cruel, and clearly - as Patrick said, out of her depth. She's not only out of her depth, she's just - as I've said before - stupid.
Stupidity as well as arrogance made her concentrate on the food critic, ignoring her public whom she really had to serve. What I don't understand and object to is the fact that, after blatant rudeness, Patrick and Cora come to her aid and help her out - all because Patrick inadvertantly reminded Cora that she had "made a mistake" at eighteen. Cora's "mistake" didn't centre around her willful and pernicious cruelty and baiting of a family member suffering from a mental breakdown.
The actress who plays Lucy also sucks mightily. I hope the character gets a massive charge of karma directed at her skinny arse, and I hope she slopes off the show sooner, rather than later. Just another pointless, spoiled, entitled and unlikeable teen who serves no purpose, Beale or no Beale.
Tanya: A hypocrite and a bitch. But, quite honestly, the scene in the school cafe was embarrassing. Sharon sat obsessing about her son, while Ian was quietly decompensating in a crisis of his own, and Tanya sat at another table, with people whom she normally would cross the street to avoid, making pointed comments, obviously, about Sharon and her child, then later, she was gossiping with Zainab about Sharon and how her behaviour would affect her child.
Well, Tanya, look at your behaviour. Your oldest child has alcohol issues, just like you and your mother before you. You covered and condoned her attempted murder of her father, your husband, not even a year after you tried the same trick. You consistently put your needs and desires before those of your children, and defend their misbehaviour. Your youngest child can't even look at you. One wonders how Abi turned out so normal. And as for Zainab casting judgement, this is the woman who disowned her son because of his sexuality and who continues to treat Tamwar like a child.
Pffffffffffffffffffffttttttttttttttttttttttt!
Kat: Queen Bitch. Arguably, the most unlikeable female character in recent history on the programme. She is an abysmal mother, so caught up in her own sordid shagfest with Derek, smiling contentedly at the silly love message on the bandage and oblivious to the fact that her son is covered in bedbug bites. Big Mo showed more tenderness and feeling toward Tommy tonight than she did. And she's quick to blame Shirley as a distraction. Shirley spent one night in the Vic. Kat had been whoring about in that fleapit shaggerflat.
And she made a beeline for the place as soon as Alfie turfed her, Mo and Tommy out of the flat. Oh, but her epiphany and redemption starts now, after fuckind Derek, she remembers the picture of Alfie and Tommy in her bag. And MO thinking that she loves Alfie, referencing her continuous put-down of the man.
She doesn't deserve him, and I hope against hope that Alfie kicks her skank ass to the curb; but I know this: TPTB broke Kat, when she wasn't broken in the first place. They took an iconic character and turned her into a hateful piece of shit, someone so totally unlikeable that really few viewers will care if she's rehabilitated or not. If she's going to be, that rehabilitation shouldn't be at the expense of Alfie's integrity, because he's done nothing wrong, especially morally. The majority of viewers have invested in an Alfie-Roxy coupling, but since Jessie Wallace has been a gong-getter for the show in the past, it's obvious they are reluctant to admit that they fucked this one up big time and are making repair efforts. I hope they know what they're doing, but I seriously doubt it.
I could just imagine Tanya at school sports days, all puffer jacket, skinny jeans and boots. Bet she gets on the school board or PTA or whatever you have there as well!
ReplyDeleteWould have thought Sharon would have made a great mother, she was good with Vicky when she was little, but maybe that is caught up with what she has been doing these last few years.
I wish she would take Jay under her wing and give him the home he desperately needs. She ws always good with waifs and strays before.
Professor Plum
hear hear..i agree with your review..those fleas are gonna come back to bite Kat on the ass...pardon the pun...I was never really a huge fan of Kat or numpty Alfie..Although he was more likeable than Kat...But i hope Alfie's 'darkside' comes out this time or i will lose what tiny bit of respect i have left for him. I hope he does a Den Watts "Merry xmas Ange" with her..She deserves all the shit and flea bites coming her way.
ReplyDeleteI wanna get this off my chest I FUUUUCKINGGGG HAAAATE THE BRANNNNINGS!!!!
they're the worst family in my eyes...There is not one likeable member among them..Not even Abi..cause give it time..she'll be just like them...they're massive Slaaaaaaaggggs with Jack being the president.
I'm not taking to Sharon's character at the moment..For the first time i find her annoying and I'm worried what the show is doing to her character..I understand the 'clinginess' and over protective 'fretting' mother routine...She did lose her husband horribly, and was left to raise a child she never thought possible alone..Plus we have her 'secret' and her less than stellar life since she last left the square...I know Denny is her 'lifeline' and she's clinging to that for life but it's hard to 'See' this Sharon.
Also WTF are the writers doing pairing her with the 'inseminator' ..I love how the show denied that Ronnie was a stand in for the Sharon 'archetype'. This clearly proves that was exactly what Ronnie was right down to her similar relationship with Archie.
As for Lucy the 'Twiglet'..I hope she gets blown off a bridge by a slight breeze where she succumbs to a painful death on the rocks below. Deplorable character IMO, and I'm also trying to work out where exactly the writers are going with Ian's 'Nervous Breakdown'.
I understand it and applaud Adam for his role in portraying 'mental health issues' but the way others are treating that character is disgusting, and I'm trying to work out, are the writers going for that 'stigma' of MH and how society as a whole can be apathetic/Ignorant and avoidant of those that suffer from those types of illnesses??