Yes, it was a good episode. Yes, Simon Ashdown wrote it. Yes, he is a good writer.
And, yes, it's time for him to fly.
Why?
Because he only invests himself in the Branning family, and they are not EastEnders. They're not even classic EastEnders. They're newcomers, upstarts, poor white trash scrubbed up to pretend they're middle class aspirants.
Yes, Ashdown's a good writer, and he writes well for the Brannings, as he did tonight; but I blame him for trying to make Sharon, an original and possibly the most iconic character, apart from Den Watts, to appear in the programme, and made her a B-list Branning satellite ... just to validate these losers.
Because that's what the episode showed the lot of them to be tonight: losers.
Yes, we want flawed characters at the centre of the action. This is what makes them human; but we don't want abject losers, which is what the Brannings are.
Jack is leaving shortly. Tanya leaves tomorrow. But Ashdown remains.
And so does the worst of the lot ... Joey.
Karma, Meet Fat Arse.
Do EastEnders use trick photography or air-brushing or something? Because I can't understand why Tanya, in an episode earlier this week, had fat - and I mean plump - knees, and she's always had thick ankles, when in this episode she had legs that would rival Bag O'Bones Beale's sticks.
Ne'mind ... This episode exemplified, for all who ever had any doubts, Tanya's tragic flaw - the inability to recognise karma for her past actions.
Lest anyone forget, Tanya was 18 when she met Max, who was married and had a child. They began an affair. Fair enough, Tanya didn't know Max was married at first; but when she did realise this, did she back off? Did she, bollocks! As Max, himself said, back in 2007, when she found out he was married, she doubled-down her efforts to bag him. Something about his white-collar job and getting her off her sink estate, I believe.
Ever since then, she's been having her past puke in her face, but she's been too arrogant to realise it. Max's first wife, Rachel, warned her that Tanya would one day "be" Rachel, that another sweet and pretty young thing would be having it off with Max behind Tanya's back. That "thing" (who wasn't sweet and wasn't pretty, if you can call a piglet pretty) was Stacey Slater. Stacey was the eighteen year-old who was banging Max.
But, you see, that was Max's fault. Even though Stacey seduced him initially to get back at Bradley for dumping her.
Tanya had a bried epiphany back in 2011, when she had her cancer cold, and she started wittering on about this illness was the price she had to pay for taking a father away from his child, but that didn't last long either. (In that lame excuse of a storyline, engineered to get the viewing public to like Tanya again, they failed to mention that cervical cancer can come about as a result of promiscuity, and Tanya's certainly a candidate for that.).
Since she's been on the Square, she's slept with Max, Sean Slater, Jack, Greg Jessop and Max again. Max and Jack, alone, would have been classified as walking STI's.
Now, she can't see something that's staring her right in the face, and this is something that TPTB have failed to exploit: Lauren's problems with drink do come from Tanya, all right; but they also come from Cora and Rainie. I'm surprised the hepatologist at the hospital didn't ask about drink consumption or a family history of alcoholism. Of course, Tanya would lie.
This episode saw Tanya, in my opinion, at her worst. Whatever the problem, no matter what bad happens, it always turns out to be Max's fault. Max is the one who's shut out of things, Max is the one who's exiled, Max is the one who's told just "to go." When Max is actually the better parent.
That doesn't mean the Brannings are brilliant parents. They're not. In fact, I'd go as far to say that Tanya is probably one of the worst mothers on the Square. She's selfish (as is Max) and she often puts her needs and desires before those of her children (as does Max). She also is incapable of showing equanimity amongst her kids, so that someone always feels that someone else is being favoured.
When the Brannings originally came to Walford, it was established that Abi had the bond with Max, and Lauren had the bond with Tanya. Now it seems to have gone the opposite way. But all in all, Tanya has sought to be the good cop, the "friend" for her daughters, rallying up with them against their father, even when the kids or she is in the wrong. Remember Tanya's last affair with Max, the one which split her and Greg up? That was Max's fault too, and Tanya stood by mutely while Lauren and Abi bullied Max into leaving Walford.
Tanya's doing the same now - laying down the law to Max, forbidding him to see or do anything for Lauren. Max is right. Lauren is his daughter too, and he wants to particpate in helping her get better, but nooooooooooo.
Tanya has to be the Little Red Hen. The Little Red Hen couldn't trust anyone to do anything, so she did everything herself. And make no mistake, Tanya blames all the tension in their relationship, which is affecting Lauren, on Max; when Max is the one who's actually being reasonable and wanting to help. Instead, Tanya keeps pushing him back to concentrate only on Kirsty.
Let's look at the situation once more. Tanya's sister is a full-on alcoholic and drug addict. She's admitted her problem and sought help through AA. She's recognised that her mother and Tanya encourage her behaviour and removed herself from the situation. Cora is a functional alcoholic. She's got a constant buzz on and can't go a day without a drink. Her remark that Lauren didn't look TOO bad was half convincing herself that excess drink doesn't lead to this situation. In fact, I'm surprised Cora the Bora is still alive or even has a liver that functions.
Don't forget that late last year, whilst wallowing in self-pity about The Magic Negro's rejection of her, Cora was necking whiskey with Lauren, knowing that Lauren had a propensity to drink. And Cora actually plied an underaged Abi with booze one afternoon when she was left in charge of her. Her attitude? That's not so bad, Tanya had done worse at her age.
And then there's Tanya. Tanya, who's never seen without a wineglass or looking for an excuse to have a drink. She drinks to celebrate, she drinks when she's sad. She drinks when she's lonely or bored. Jane provided a good front for her drinking to excess, and she even cracked open the wine just to do The Magic Negro's nails.
Lauren's problem is an acquired behavioral problem, and leaving her with Tanya or Cora is the worst thing that she could do. Max drinks, but rarely do we see Max drunk.
The way she was pushing Max away in this episode was totally in her selfish nature. She's not even told him that she's been in touch with this clinic, nor has she told Abi. As the hepatologist explained the expense involved, I'm guessing Max is going to be expected to fork up for Lauren's stay in this place.
Scene of the night with Tanya, when she was running through the market and tripped on her marital aid shoes, which she happened to leave on the bar of the Vic. Either Roxy will appropriate those or someone will call 'Elf'n Safety.
Max was totally right in his assessment of the situation with Lauren: Five minutes he leaves her with Tanya and she turns up in the Vic, demanding a drink. Tanya couldn't even be bothered to cancel an appointment with her so-called financial advisor regarding the Salon which never seems to have any clientele, and, instead, left a seventeen year-old in charge of a sister determined to get a drink.
Oh, and another thing ... that so-called bunch of prescriptions she had for Lauren looked curiously as though they were written on a scrap of paper torn from a notepad. Surely there would have been more than one page and a script for each medication, and why didn't she give Lola money to pay for the stuff?
Naughty naughty, Simon.
Who Feels Sorry for Lauren?
No, that's not Lauren; that's Linda Ronstadt, who has more talent in her little finger than Jacqueline Jossa has in her entire body.
THE. SECOND. WORST. ACTRESS. EVER. IN. EASTENDERS.
Let's get one thing straight about Lauren. She's been drinking since she was fourteen years old. Remember Jane's hen night when she and Lucy Beale raided the alcoholic punch? Then remember wise old Uncle Jack serving a fourteen year-old Lauren and Peter Beale alcopops before the R and R was opened for the evening?
You can dish out all the excuses you want, but Lauren drinks because she wants to drink. Because she likes it. She doesn't drink to escape from Max's and Tanya's charades. Goodness knows, she's seen enough of that shit before. But she'll use this as a convenient excuse.
In fact, she's got the making of a real EastEnders victim, usually a female, and her behaviour in this episode exemplified this. Lauren's been drinking on the sly for years. She was drinking seriously when Billie died - in fact, it was Lauren who presented him with a bottle of vodka for his birthday. She only started drinking seriously when Tanya confided in her about her cancer cold, then took her to the pub to tie one on. In the presence of Carol, who tried to stop this.
In vino veritas, or rather, one's true nature comes out under the influence of drink, or when one is desperate for a drink. Lauren is, by nature, a selfish, self-centred and not a very nice girl. She is the epitome of two selfish parents. And, like her mother before her, nothing is ever her fault.
First of all, why is she out of hospital after only a couple of days? Hepatitis is a serious illness, and it takes weeks from which to recover. Also, according to the NHS website, excessive drinking doesn't factor in the causes. You can look at the link here. Hepatitis A is caused by poor hygiene, basically by needle-sharing as drug addicts (the sort of hepatitis Nick Cotton had) or by eating food prepared by someone who's hygiene isn't all that great. (Cora, anyone?)
There is such a thing as alcoholic hepatitis, which, I would imagine, Lauren has. But that's not hepatitis A as such. Still, it takes weeks to recuperate from this and someone will surely have to spend more than just two days in hospital.
Secondly, Lauren is blaming everyone but herself for her drinking problem. First, she picks up on Tanya's admonitions to Max about the tension between the two of them. She's right about what she says - one is just as bad as the other, but Tanya takes that as a clue to shut the door, metaphorically and literally, on Max. But Max was well out of the picture when Lauren started drinking seriously, and Max and Tanya were on exceptionally good terms when she went on that binge with Bag O'Bones Beale last year.
I think the real reason she's the way she is is down to Joey. He dumped her. She can't fuck her cousin - her cousin - and so she's acting out. Every time she's on the right track, she catches sight of Joey. Goes for a meal with Peter Beale, sees Joey with Lucy. Bingo. Starts to drink. Catches sight of Joey leaving her house ... Bingo again. Has to find him.
Now, it's Lucy's fault she's like she is, blaming Lucy for not stopping her getting into a car with a "disgusting bloke", when Lucy knew she couldn't stop her. She couldn't stop her a year ago, why would she stop her now? Then Carol takes the rap - not her fault about Billie, and she was thoughtless in her rant to Carol.
It didn't take long for Jossa to revert to her party piece - shouting her lines, talking in a funny voice, waving her arms about, gurning. A real alcoholic would be begging for a drink. Lauren is weak, but she's still strong enough to fend off Joey and Carol, who isn't exactly petite.
As for Joey, how thick is he supposed to be? Max explained, chapter and verse, the necessity of him staying away from Lauren, but as long as he's in Walford and hanging around, she'll see him, and want to drink again.
Face it. The only reasons Lauren drinks are because she likes it, and because Joey's dumping her gave her all the more reason to drown herself in self-pity.
The Non-Baby.
Sometimes, EastEnders does best when it understates a situation. Yes, Kirsty's predicament took back seat to the drama that was Lauren, but it did get the duff-duff.
Max has had four children, and he's been with two women, of whom he's observed pregnancy symptoms. Kirsty first admitted she was pregnant - when? - in March? She would be well into her fourth or fifth month by now. No bump, and regular periods, necessitating tampon purchases. Max must have been blind to all that, not to mention her adversity to going for a scan.
Saint Kat to the rescue ... Kat's the go-to woman now on the Square, and as much as I hate Newman's insistance that Kat naturally step into the shoes vacated by Pat, I do like her friendship with Kirsty - moreso than that with Bianca.
Once again, however, the negative pregnancy test was well into the rubbish bag before Max littered it all over the flat in a fit of pique. Why didn't she just shove it back into the bag, instead of holding in her hand, especially in a way that Max could see? Once again, Kat was right. Weeks ago, she should have admitted to having a miscarriage, and all this would have been history. Still, the shit's gotta hit the fan sometime.
The Village Idiot.
Bianca. She certainly fancies herself. And what a judge of character, thinking Carl White, criminal, ex-con and ex-drug addict, would make a good date for her. Loved the way he knocked her back. She should have fallen on her mangy arse, but she didn't. More's the pity.
And, yes, it's time for him to fly.
Why?
Because he only invests himself in the Branning family, and they are not EastEnders. They're not even classic EastEnders. They're newcomers, upstarts, poor white trash scrubbed up to pretend they're middle class aspirants.
Yes, Ashdown's a good writer, and he writes well for the Brannings, as he did tonight; but I blame him for trying to make Sharon, an original and possibly the most iconic character, apart from Den Watts, to appear in the programme, and made her a B-list Branning satellite ... just to validate these losers.
Because that's what the episode showed the lot of them to be tonight: losers.
Yes, we want flawed characters at the centre of the action. This is what makes them human; but we don't want abject losers, which is what the Brannings are.
Jack is leaving shortly. Tanya leaves tomorrow. But Ashdown remains.
And so does the worst of the lot ... Joey.
Karma, Meet Fat Arse.
Do EastEnders use trick photography or air-brushing or something? Because I can't understand why Tanya, in an episode earlier this week, had fat - and I mean plump - knees, and she's always had thick ankles, when in this episode she had legs that would rival Bag O'Bones Beale's sticks.
Ne'mind ... This episode exemplified, for all who ever had any doubts, Tanya's tragic flaw - the inability to recognise karma for her past actions.
Lest anyone forget, Tanya was 18 when she met Max, who was married and had a child. They began an affair. Fair enough, Tanya didn't know Max was married at first; but when she did realise this, did she back off? Did she, bollocks! As Max, himself said, back in 2007, when she found out he was married, she doubled-down her efforts to bag him. Something about his white-collar job and getting her off her sink estate, I believe.
Ever since then, she's been having her past puke in her face, but she's been too arrogant to realise it. Max's first wife, Rachel, warned her that Tanya would one day "be" Rachel, that another sweet and pretty young thing would be having it off with Max behind Tanya's back. That "thing" (who wasn't sweet and wasn't pretty, if you can call a piglet pretty) was Stacey Slater. Stacey was the eighteen year-old who was banging Max.
But, you see, that was Max's fault. Even though Stacey seduced him initially to get back at Bradley for dumping her.
Tanya had a bried epiphany back in 2011, when she had her cancer cold, and she started wittering on about this illness was the price she had to pay for taking a father away from his child, but that didn't last long either. (In that lame excuse of a storyline, engineered to get the viewing public to like Tanya again, they failed to mention that cervical cancer can come about as a result of promiscuity, and Tanya's certainly a candidate for that.).
Since she's been on the Square, she's slept with Max, Sean Slater, Jack, Greg Jessop and Max again. Max and Jack, alone, would have been classified as walking STI's.
Now, she can't see something that's staring her right in the face, and this is something that TPTB have failed to exploit: Lauren's problems with drink do come from Tanya, all right; but they also come from Cora and Rainie. I'm surprised the hepatologist at the hospital didn't ask about drink consumption or a family history of alcoholism. Of course, Tanya would lie.
This episode saw Tanya, in my opinion, at her worst. Whatever the problem, no matter what bad happens, it always turns out to be Max's fault. Max is the one who's shut out of things, Max is the one who's exiled, Max is the one who's told just "to go." When Max is actually the better parent.
That doesn't mean the Brannings are brilliant parents. They're not. In fact, I'd go as far to say that Tanya is probably one of the worst mothers on the Square. She's selfish (as is Max) and she often puts her needs and desires before those of her children (as does Max). She also is incapable of showing equanimity amongst her kids, so that someone always feels that someone else is being favoured.
When the Brannings originally came to Walford, it was established that Abi had the bond with Max, and Lauren had the bond with Tanya. Now it seems to have gone the opposite way. But all in all, Tanya has sought to be the good cop, the "friend" for her daughters, rallying up with them against their father, even when the kids or she is in the wrong. Remember Tanya's last affair with Max, the one which split her and Greg up? That was Max's fault too, and Tanya stood by mutely while Lauren and Abi bullied Max into leaving Walford.
Tanya's doing the same now - laying down the law to Max, forbidding him to see or do anything for Lauren. Max is right. Lauren is his daughter too, and he wants to particpate in helping her get better, but nooooooooooo.
Tanya has to be the Little Red Hen. The Little Red Hen couldn't trust anyone to do anything, so she did everything herself. And make no mistake, Tanya blames all the tension in their relationship, which is affecting Lauren, on Max; when Max is the one who's actually being reasonable and wanting to help. Instead, Tanya keeps pushing him back to concentrate only on Kirsty.
Let's look at the situation once more. Tanya's sister is a full-on alcoholic and drug addict. She's admitted her problem and sought help through AA. She's recognised that her mother and Tanya encourage her behaviour and removed herself from the situation. Cora is a functional alcoholic. She's got a constant buzz on and can't go a day without a drink. Her remark that Lauren didn't look TOO bad was half convincing herself that excess drink doesn't lead to this situation. In fact, I'm surprised Cora the Bora is still alive or even has a liver that functions.
Don't forget that late last year, whilst wallowing in self-pity about The Magic Negro's rejection of her, Cora was necking whiskey with Lauren, knowing that Lauren had a propensity to drink. And Cora actually plied an underaged Abi with booze one afternoon when she was left in charge of her. Her attitude? That's not so bad, Tanya had done worse at her age.
And then there's Tanya. Tanya, who's never seen without a wineglass or looking for an excuse to have a drink. She drinks to celebrate, she drinks when she's sad. She drinks when she's lonely or bored. Jane provided a good front for her drinking to excess, and she even cracked open the wine just to do The Magic Negro's nails.
Lauren's problem is an acquired behavioral problem, and leaving her with Tanya or Cora is the worst thing that she could do. Max drinks, but rarely do we see Max drunk.
The way she was pushing Max away in this episode was totally in her selfish nature. She's not even told him that she's been in touch with this clinic, nor has she told Abi. As the hepatologist explained the expense involved, I'm guessing Max is going to be expected to fork up for Lauren's stay in this place.
Scene of the night with Tanya, when she was running through the market and tripped on her marital aid shoes, which she happened to leave on the bar of the Vic. Either Roxy will appropriate those or someone will call 'Elf'n Safety.
Max was totally right in his assessment of the situation with Lauren: Five minutes he leaves her with Tanya and she turns up in the Vic, demanding a drink. Tanya couldn't even be bothered to cancel an appointment with her so-called financial advisor regarding the Salon which never seems to have any clientele, and, instead, left a seventeen year-old in charge of a sister determined to get a drink.
Oh, and another thing ... that so-called bunch of prescriptions she had for Lauren looked curiously as though they were written on a scrap of paper torn from a notepad. Surely there would have been more than one page and a script for each medication, and why didn't she give Lola money to pay for the stuff?
Naughty naughty, Simon.
Who Feels Sorry for Lauren?
THE. SECOND. WORST. ACTRESS. EVER. IN. EASTENDERS.
Let's get one thing straight about Lauren. She's been drinking since she was fourteen years old. Remember Jane's hen night when she and Lucy Beale raided the alcoholic punch? Then remember wise old Uncle Jack serving a fourteen year-old Lauren and Peter Beale alcopops before the R and R was opened for the evening?
You can dish out all the excuses you want, but Lauren drinks because she wants to drink. Because she likes it. She doesn't drink to escape from Max's and Tanya's charades. Goodness knows, she's seen enough of that shit before. But she'll use this as a convenient excuse.
In fact, she's got the making of a real EastEnders victim, usually a female, and her behaviour in this episode exemplified this. Lauren's been drinking on the sly for years. She was drinking seriously when Billie died - in fact, it was Lauren who presented him with a bottle of vodka for his birthday. She only started drinking seriously when Tanya confided in her about her cancer cold, then took her to the pub to tie one on. In the presence of Carol, who tried to stop this.
In vino veritas, or rather, one's true nature comes out under the influence of drink, or when one is desperate for a drink. Lauren is, by nature, a selfish, self-centred and not a very nice girl. She is the epitome of two selfish parents. And, like her mother before her, nothing is ever her fault.
First of all, why is she out of hospital after only a couple of days? Hepatitis is a serious illness, and it takes weeks from which to recover. Also, according to the NHS website, excessive drinking doesn't factor in the causes. You can look at the link here. Hepatitis A is caused by poor hygiene, basically by needle-sharing as drug addicts (the sort of hepatitis Nick Cotton had) or by eating food prepared by someone who's hygiene isn't all that great. (Cora, anyone?)
There is such a thing as alcoholic hepatitis, which, I would imagine, Lauren has. But that's not hepatitis A as such. Still, it takes weeks to recuperate from this and someone will surely have to spend more than just two days in hospital.
Secondly, Lauren is blaming everyone but herself for her drinking problem. First, she picks up on Tanya's admonitions to Max about the tension between the two of them. She's right about what she says - one is just as bad as the other, but Tanya takes that as a clue to shut the door, metaphorically and literally, on Max. But Max was well out of the picture when Lauren started drinking seriously, and Max and Tanya were on exceptionally good terms when she went on that binge with Bag O'Bones Beale last year.
I think the real reason she's the way she is is down to Joey. He dumped her. She can't fuck her cousin - her cousin - and so she's acting out. Every time she's on the right track, she catches sight of Joey. Goes for a meal with Peter Beale, sees Joey with Lucy. Bingo. Starts to drink. Catches sight of Joey leaving her house ... Bingo again. Has to find him.
Now, it's Lucy's fault she's like she is, blaming Lucy for not stopping her getting into a car with a "disgusting bloke", when Lucy knew she couldn't stop her. She couldn't stop her a year ago, why would she stop her now? Then Carol takes the rap - not her fault about Billie, and she was thoughtless in her rant to Carol.
It didn't take long for Jossa to revert to her party piece - shouting her lines, talking in a funny voice, waving her arms about, gurning. A real alcoholic would be begging for a drink. Lauren is weak, but she's still strong enough to fend off Joey and Carol, who isn't exactly petite.
As for Joey, how thick is he supposed to be? Max explained, chapter and verse, the necessity of him staying away from Lauren, but as long as he's in Walford and hanging around, she'll see him, and want to drink again.
Face it. The only reasons Lauren drinks are because she likes it, and because Joey's dumping her gave her all the more reason to drown herself in self-pity.
The Non-Baby.
Sometimes, EastEnders does best when it understates a situation. Yes, Kirsty's predicament took back seat to the drama that was Lauren, but it did get the duff-duff.
Max has had four children, and he's been with two women, of whom he's observed pregnancy symptoms. Kirsty first admitted she was pregnant - when? - in March? She would be well into her fourth or fifth month by now. No bump, and regular periods, necessitating tampon purchases. Max must have been blind to all that, not to mention her adversity to going for a scan.
Saint Kat to the rescue ... Kat's the go-to woman now on the Square, and as much as I hate Newman's insistance that Kat naturally step into the shoes vacated by Pat, I do like her friendship with Kirsty - moreso than that with Bianca.
Once again, however, the negative pregnancy test was well into the rubbish bag before Max littered it all over the flat in a fit of pique. Why didn't she just shove it back into the bag, instead of holding in her hand, especially in a way that Max could see? Once again, Kat was right. Weeks ago, she should have admitted to having a miscarriage, and all this would have been history. Still, the shit's gotta hit the fan sometime.
The Village Idiot.
Bianca. She certainly fancies herself. And what a judge of character, thinking Carl White, criminal, ex-con and ex-drug addict, would make a good date for her. Loved the way he knocked her back. She should have fallen on her mangy arse, but she didn't. More's the pity.
Great review. Glad your better.
ReplyDeleteDing dong the witch is gone !
As I've said before I am a recovering heroin addict & so I shall just point out a couple of things that stood out to me during the episodes.
faTanya's 'selfless' decision to move all 3 of her (& Max's) kids lock, stock & barrel off to some rehab - without asking or consulting ANY of them including their father - hmm, very selfless.
Which brings me onto the question, what is faTanya's idea of rehab ? Her daughter needing the rehab is 19yrs old - my point being that she is old enough to go into treatment by herself.
The whole idea being that you go by yourself as far away as possible to remove yourself from the area, people & circumstances that have contributed to your addiction. By the sounds of faTanya's plan the whole tribe were going to book themselves in on some type of retreat !
The Hepatitis story was iffy as indicated by Emilia, although my Hep A was from dirty needles/spoons or sharing of cigarettes the outcome would have been similar.
The yellow skin lasts at least 10 days, during this time a LOT of weight is lost due to not having any appetite & vomiting. As I said before the gang I hung with didn't go to hospital as we were addicts & once admitted into hospital it can be pretty difficult to score gear (or at least taken out of your control - hoping that a dealer will deliver to the hospital). So we stayed at home suffering with the occasional reprieve.
Isolation was a glaring mistake in the storyline as once infected you are contagious for around 2 weeks. No sharing plates, knives, folks, towels & flannels etc. Toilets & sinks have to be disinfected (this is possibly where I caught it in some grubby smak den) nice :--)
Re; Tanya's fat :- I did notice that her face was VERY blubber like. So much so that during the episode I looked up on IMDb the fantastic series 'No Angels' where there is a massive difference in Jo Joyner's weight - even just in the face - & the show was only 7yrs ago.
Glad you are feeling a bit better.
ReplyDeleteAs you have said many a time, going back to when Tanya and Max hooked up, Tanya should have backed off when she found out Max was married. I agree. But I also think Max should have shouldered some of the blame. Afterall, he actually knew he was married when he started with Tanya. And with the tart who was rushing out the back door when Bradly arrived when Max first arrived on the square, and all the others in between, and including Stacey.
Dont get me wrong, I dislike Tanya as much as you, but Max is no angel in this either.
He should also grow a pair and stand up to Tanya over the children. Lauren needs a lot of help and support at the moment, but she also needs a steady homelife.
But I guess neither parent is in a situation to provide that.