Moon Delusions

Once again, I'm amazed at the number of people who drool over Michael Moon, especially the women. More than amazed, I'm actually ashamed, especially for the women.

He's one of the most pejorative characters ever to appear on the show.

Quite simply, he's a psychopath. Like Archie Mitchell; and psychopaths aren't warm and cuddly. They're not even hard and brittle or curmudgeonly. They are people who are incapable of loving anyone, not even themselves, and they are experts in the art of deception and manipulation.

There's a misguided thread right now on Digital Spy, lamenting the lack of strong males on the programme. I agree, but some numptie thinks Michael is a strong male, and he simply isn't.

I know it pains the Michael-shippers and people who can't/won't think critically, but I would remind you that the Moons' family ethos is that they are con artists, but with a heart and a conscience.

The Mitchells are defined by generational alcohol dependency and violence. The Beales by hard work. The Brannings are scrubbed-up white trash with no morals, who hide their cowardice with braggadoccio. The Butchers have abandonment and trust issues.

Michael is the maverick Moon, but in a negative way. Spencer and Danny aside (one being thick and the other having mental problems), all of the Moons - Alfie, Maxwell, Jake, Eddie and the Goons - are harmless enough con artists whose deceptions never hurt anyone but themselves. 

If you notice, Michael is the only one of them who punches down in his deceptions and manipulations. Michael's victims are usually women, who are usually in a particularly vulnerable emotional state. 

For example:-

• Kat, the first time, had recently seen Alfie imprisoned. She was running from some criminals with money they thought they owned; she was in a foreign country and alone. The second time he took advantage of her, she'd just been told by Alfie that he wanted a divorce.
• Roxy was living alone, had just seen her best friend enter into a committed relationship with his boyfriend, and she was lonely.
• Ronnie was hiding a humongous secret (a kidnapped child) and was frightened witless that Michael might discover Tommy's identity.
• Jean has a bi-polar conditiion and is naive and not very bright. He preyed on her maternal instincts.
• Alice is naive, simple-minded and trusting.
• Janine's background issues and insecurities mirrored Michael;s - she has massive daddy issues (like Michael), trust and abandonment issues (again, like Michael),both lost their mothers to tragic circumstances at an early age, when they were toddlers; both felt peripheral to family dynamics. Add to that, Janine was stressed out by the wedding and surrounding circumstances, she'd suffered a premature birth and had sat 24./7 for weeks by the side of her sick child. She most definitely was hormonal and suffering from post-natal depression. All of which, Michael too advantage in order to undermine her confidence and self-esteem. What he did to Janine wasn't just tantamount to psychological and emotional abuse, it was.

How anyone could defend someone like that, much less refer to him as a "strong" male character, is astounding. Michael is one of the weakest, most cowardly characters to ever appear on the show. When he's asked to punch his weight - as in with Max, Jack or even Alfie - he either backs down, runs a mile or loses.

For the record, there are no strong male characters on the show anymore, even though the EastEnders' tradition is to have one strong central male with a major flaw (Den Watts, Frank Butcher, Grant Mitchell). That's gone by the wayside. In today's EastEnders, we are burdened with loud, gobby women who refuse to take responsibilties for their actions - EastEnders reckon "female and loud" equals "strong" - and ineffectual men.

Once again, there are  no strong males in EastEnders - certainly not Michael Moon.