This has to be The Entitlement Episode, because it's all about whoever "me" is in this instant, or maybe it's The Mother Episode. Let's start with the prime offender.
The Bitch.
That would be Shirley, and before anyone jumps down my throat, this isn't a "hate Shirley" rant. Shirley does enough on her own to make people hate her, and as someone is so fond of reminding me, Shirley isn't supposed to be a sympathetic character. True, but then, she isn't a character we love to hate either. She's just vile.
The absolutely most arrogant line of the night goes to Shirley:-
This is my home, my pub and he's my son. If you don't like it, you know what you can do.
Or to Tina:-
This is my home and my business.
Oh, shut up, you wizened old bag!
It was like being in a parallel universe, watching the Carters, who hadn't spoken civilly to each other this time last year, trying to act like a normal family, faced with the painful decision of placing a close family member in a care home. The truth is that this time last year, Shirley was filled with hatred for Stan, and no one had seen Sylvie in years. Had her existence not been discovered, Babe could quite easily have arranged for her to go into a care home with her children being none the wiser. Besides, those lujo care homes Babe had found online may not have taken residents like Sylvie, whose assets mounted to not having a pot in which to piss. Care homes take what they can from residents, and if you don't have £40K in assets to pay, they take your state pension.
But, I suppose since the Vic is Shirley's business and Shirley's pub, she can draw on the assets to pay for Sylvie's care.
Shirley Queen of Scrotes warns Tina to never let her grow old. She didn't want to be bitter, lonely and alone, which is exacly what she is 90 per cent of the time - she's always bitter, and she's lonely because she doesn't have whatever man about whom she's obsessed in her life. The way she's going now, she will end up alone and in her natural habitat - the gutter.
More than anything tonight proved Shirley's ulterior motive. Yes, yes, yes ... we know she's Dean's mother, and any mother would have believed her son. Love is unconditional, but as Tina so eloquently reminded Shirley, Dean is Shirley's son too, and that's where the niggle comes in. Shirley's motive is to get Linda out. Linda's never liked poor old Shirl, and then we have Tina's throwback line of the night, and with this line, Tina moved up an eon in my estimation:-
This isn't about YOU, Shirley.
But it is. It's always about Shirley for Shirley. It's always about what's in it for Shirley. How long have Mick and Linda been gone for her 1 per cent of the pub to become Shirley's pub and Shirley'sbusiness - even planning Linda's signature piece, Ladies' Night. Wasn't it about a year ago when Linda first pulled this? Even Nancy kept saying this didn't feel right, but even Nancy and Lee are getting decidedly uneasy about Mick's and Linda's long absence.
So Shirley's modus operandi is to remove Linda from the pub and set herself up as the head of the business and the family. (Note she was sitting in Mick's position at the head of the table). Shirley has always done shit like this - use an opportunity to move herself ahead, and never mind who gets hurt along the way, or are we forgetting her egging Phil on to steal Roxy's money and then ostentatiously buying an expensive fur coat in which to revel in her achievement?
All because, in Shirley's bitter and twisted mind, Linda never liked Shirley and thought Shirley was the nemesis in forming Linda's perfect family either.
Shirley is one of the foulest, most vile characters ever introduced on this show. Played by a capable actress, yes, but the character is absolutely poison. I can't wait for Linda to regain her moral strength and kick that scrag-end all over Walford before she crawls back to the gutter in shame.
The Deceitful Mother.
Nick's song:-
So Dot's kicked Nick out. Or has she?
Panto Dot again tonight. Did she really think Sharon would show friendly toward her in the cafe? After all, Sharon's husband is languishing in prison, whilst the real perpetrator of the main crime is walking free.
So even Dot shows a bit of two-faced slyness in the episode. She spends the majority of time bobble-heading around, reminding Charlie of the bleeding obvious - that Nick's gone and so has Yvonne, leaving just the three of them - Dot, Nick and Matthew the baby. (I thought Charlie was moving back to Roxy's?) And Dot manages to do this in such a gut-wrenchingly evocative way.
She hasn't slept all night, and we're to think that this has been due to her wrestling with her conscience about how she'd treated Sharon and about what Nick had done. but it wasn't that at all: It was Dot, simply worrying not only about what would happen were Nick's newest hiding place discovered, but how, also, to keep her own skinny arse out of the nick, itself.
For Charlie, in the wake of knowing what Nick had done and how Yvonne had helped him, it's too much seeing the outcome of Nick's action. So Charlie, instead of the overtly Christian Dot, goes about doing various acts of attrition. First, he confesses everything to Fatboy, who then visits Dot and gives her his blessing for having turned him out in favour of the grandson she had only just gotten to know.
The next thing Charlie does, as an act of penance, is to confess all to the Mitchells (and Ian, who's become a satellite member of the Mitchell family as well). There, he admitted that Phil wasn't guilty of either killing Emma or critically hurting Ronnie.
It was Nick, a fact which shocked the likes of Billy, Roxy, Jay and Ben, who thought him dead. The revelation appalled big, tough Roxy, to whom Sharon had the innate privilege of handing her her arse:-
You were eager enough to believe Phil had done this.
Surprisingly, Charlie confessed everything, including the fact that he wasn't a policeman, and that confession came upon Billy asking him to call in some favours from his mates in the force.
Classic question?
Are you even Dot's grandson?
This was classic Mitchell stuff, all the family assembled and Sharon - Sharon! - assuming her rightful place as Ma Mitchell. Even Peggy would have been proud.
Charlie's third confession (get it? the Trinity, you see) is to his sleeping Bride of Frankenstein, after promising the Mitchell mob that he'd go right to the police, and, in the process, would get sent down.
By the time, Charlie's confessed to the sleeping Ronnie, Roxy's made an appearance and Sharon followed, fresh from a session in which she was emotionally blackmailed by Dot.
Dot was despondent, repeatedly blaming herself to Sharon for having been too soft on Nick, and now blaming herself for Charlie, maybe, having to go to jail and having yet another child grow up without a father. Oh, woe-is-me!
Now, both Sharon and Roxy have bought into the meme that Charlie can't go to the police. It would deprive Matthew of a father and Ronnie of a husband whom Roxy thought Ronnie loved. In addition, Sharon points out, Dot would go to prison, herself - as Dot pointedly informed Sharon as an "accessory to the crime." (Dot really knows how to take advantage of a generational friendship, yet please remember that when Sharon confronted her with the truth, in front of Nick, Sharon was asked, none too politely, to leave.)
Presumably, Sharon has a contingency plan in place, because if Charlie doesn't go to the police, and Nick goes scot free, Phil is still languishing in prison. I hope so.
Mr Slime and the Stupid Boy.
Max's other job:-
And Ben ...
Ben's done a boo-boo, and now the crows have come home to roost, in the form of Max (notice that the gecko has a red triangle where Max's hair should be). Max has taken over The Arches now, and nothing anyone can say will induce Max to give the property back to the Mitchells. Of course, Sharon doesn't know about this, and Jay has admonished Ben to go and get her and apprise her of the situation, which he refuses to do. It's only a matter of time, however, before she knows; and Abi suddenly woke up and realised that, although Max acted legally, within the brief time frame Ben strutted about as CEO of the Mitchell empire, he basically conned Ben and used Abi as bait to reel him in. Now Abi knows her worth to Max in the general scheme of things.
Pygmalion.
More Stacey and Shabnam. Can't be bad. The irony here is Shabnam nagging at Masood for being middle-aged and acting years younger than he's supposed to be, when Masood points out to her that she's actually the one, all along, who's been acting middle-aged. I liked the scene when Kush caught her wthout her hijab, and later she decided to go to The Ladies' Night event, having a giggle with Stacey.
Whoever suggested to the writing room a Stacey-Shabnam friendship should be congratulated.
And a special word for the writer Natalie Mitchell. I could be wrong, but I think this is the second episode she's written. Her first one was in the depths of Newmandom, and it was absolutely the only Newman episode that caught the real essence of the show. I hope we see more from her.
The Beginning of the End.
The apple doesn't fall far from the tree. Nick's holed up in the remains of The Slater Hotel, which, as we all know, was once Reg Cox's house. Nick's alter ego, after being declared dead, was Reg Cox. Connect the dots. (Pun intended).
The Bitch.
That would be Shirley, and before anyone jumps down my throat, this isn't a "hate Shirley" rant. Shirley does enough on her own to make people hate her, and as someone is so fond of reminding me, Shirley isn't supposed to be a sympathetic character. True, but then, she isn't a character we love to hate either. She's just vile.
The absolutely most arrogant line of the night goes to Shirley:-
This is my home, my pub and he's my son. If you don't like it, you know what you can do.
Or to Tina:-
This is my home and my business.
Oh, shut up, you wizened old bag!
It was like being in a parallel universe, watching the Carters, who hadn't spoken civilly to each other this time last year, trying to act like a normal family, faced with the painful decision of placing a close family member in a care home. The truth is that this time last year, Shirley was filled with hatred for Stan, and no one had seen Sylvie in years. Had her existence not been discovered, Babe could quite easily have arranged for her to go into a care home with her children being none the wiser. Besides, those lujo care homes Babe had found online may not have taken residents like Sylvie, whose assets mounted to not having a pot in which to piss. Care homes take what they can from residents, and if you don't have £40K in assets to pay, they take your state pension.
But, I suppose since the Vic is Shirley's business and Shirley's pub, she can draw on the assets to pay for Sylvie's care.
Shirley Queen of Scrotes warns Tina to never let her grow old. She didn't want to be bitter, lonely and alone, which is exacly what she is 90 per cent of the time - she's always bitter, and she's lonely because she doesn't have whatever man about whom she's obsessed in her life. The way she's going now, she will end up alone and in her natural habitat - the gutter.
More than anything tonight proved Shirley's ulterior motive. Yes, yes, yes ... we know she's Dean's mother, and any mother would have believed her son. Love is unconditional, but as Tina so eloquently reminded Shirley, Dean is Shirley's son too, and that's where the niggle comes in. Shirley's motive is to get Linda out. Linda's never liked poor old Shirl, and then we have Tina's throwback line of the night, and with this line, Tina moved up an eon in my estimation:-
This isn't about YOU, Shirley.
But it is. It's always about Shirley for Shirley. It's always about what's in it for Shirley. How long have Mick and Linda been gone for her 1 per cent of the pub to become Shirley's pub and Shirley'sbusiness - even planning Linda's signature piece, Ladies' Night. Wasn't it about a year ago when Linda first pulled this? Even Nancy kept saying this didn't feel right, but even Nancy and Lee are getting decidedly uneasy about Mick's and Linda's long absence.
So Shirley's modus operandi is to remove Linda from the pub and set herself up as the head of the business and the family. (Note she was sitting in Mick's position at the head of the table). Shirley has always done shit like this - use an opportunity to move herself ahead, and never mind who gets hurt along the way, or are we forgetting her egging Phil on to steal Roxy's money and then ostentatiously buying an expensive fur coat in which to revel in her achievement?
All because, in Shirley's bitter and twisted mind, Linda never liked Shirley and thought Shirley was the nemesis in forming Linda's perfect family either.
Shirley is one of the foulest, most vile characters ever introduced on this show. Played by a capable actress, yes, but the character is absolutely poison. I can't wait for Linda to regain her moral strength and kick that scrag-end all over Walford before she crawls back to the gutter in shame.
The Deceitful Mother.
Nick's song:-
So Dot's kicked Nick out. Or has she?
Panto Dot again tonight. Did she really think Sharon would show friendly toward her in the cafe? After all, Sharon's husband is languishing in prison, whilst the real perpetrator of the main crime is walking free.
So even Dot shows a bit of two-faced slyness in the episode. She spends the majority of time bobble-heading around, reminding Charlie of the bleeding obvious - that Nick's gone and so has Yvonne, leaving just the three of them - Dot, Nick and Matthew the baby. (I thought Charlie was moving back to Roxy's?) And Dot manages to do this in such a gut-wrenchingly evocative way.
She hasn't slept all night, and we're to think that this has been due to her wrestling with her conscience about how she'd treated Sharon and about what Nick had done. but it wasn't that at all: It was Dot, simply worrying not only about what would happen were Nick's newest hiding place discovered, but how, also, to keep her own skinny arse out of the nick, itself.
For Charlie, in the wake of knowing what Nick had done and how Yvonne had helped him, it's too much seeing the outcome of Nick's action. So Charlie, instead of the overtly Christian Dot, goes about doing various acts of attrition. First, he confesses everything to Fatboy, who then visits Dot and gives her his blessing for having turned him out in favour of the grandson she had only just gotten to know.
The next thing Charlie does, as an act of penance, is to confess all to the Mitchells (and Ian, who's become a satellite member of the Mitchell family as well). There, he admitted that Phil wasn't guilty of either killing Emma or critically hurting Ronnie.
It was Nick, a fact which shocked the likes of Billy, Roxy, Jay and Ben, who thought him dead. The revelation appalled big, tough Roxy, to whom Sharon had the innate privilege of handing her her arse:-
You were eager enough to believe Phil had done this.
Surprisingly, Charlie confessed everything, including the fact that he wasn't a policeman, and that confession came upon Billy asking him to call in some favours from his mates in the force.
Classic question?
Are you even Dot's grandson?
This was classic Mitchell stuff, all the family assembled and Sharon - Sharon! - assuming her rightful place as Ma Mitchell. Even Peggy would have been proud.
Charlie's third confession (get it? the Trinity, you see) is to his sleeping Bride of Frankenstein, after promising the Mitchell mob that he'd go right to the police, and, in the process, would get sent down.
By the time, Charlie's confessed to the sleeping Ronnie, Roxy's made an appearance and Sharon followed, fresh from a session in which she was emotionally blackmailed by Dot.
Dot was despondent, repeatedly blaming herself to Sharon for having been too soft on Nick, and now blaming herself for Charlie, maybe, having to go to jail and having yet another child grow up without a father. Oh, woe-is-me!
Now, both Sharon and Roxy have bought into the meme that Charlie can't go to the police. It would deprive Matthew of a father and Ronnie of a husband whom Roxy thought Ronnie loved. In addition, Sharon points out, Dot would go to prison, herself - as Dot pointedly informed Sharon as an "accessory to the crime." (Dot really knows how to take advantage of a generational friendship, yet please remember that when Sharon confronted her with the truth, in front of Nick, Sharon was asked, none too politely, to leave.)
Presumably, Sharon has a contingency plan in place, because if Charlie doesn't go to the police, and Nick goes scot free, Phil is still languishing in prison. I hope so.
Mr Slime and the Stupid Boy.
Max's other job:-
And Ben ...
Ben's done a boo-boo, and now the crows have come home to roost, in the form of Max (notice that the gecko has a red triangle where Max's hair should be). Max has taken over The Arches now, and nothing anyone can say will induce Max to give the property back to the Mitchells. Of course, Sharon doesn't know about this, and Jay has admonished Ben to go and get her and apprise her of the situation, which he refuses to do. It's only a matter of time, however, before she knows; and Abi suddenly woke up and realised that, although Max acted legally, within the brief time frame Ben strutted about as CEO of the Mitchell empire, he basically conned Ben and used Abi as bait to reel him in. Now Abi knows her worth to Max in the general scheme of things.
Pygmalion.
More Stacey and Shabnam. Can't be bad. The irony here is Shabnam nagging at Masood for being middle-aged and acting years younger than he's supposed to be, when Masood points out to her that she's actually the one, all along, who's been acting middle-aged. I liked the scene when Kush caught her wthout her hijab, and later she decided to go to The Ladies' Night event, having a giggle with Stacey.
Whoever suggested to the writing room a Stacey-Shabnam friendship should be congratulated.
And a special word for the writer Natalie Mitchell. I could be wrong, but I think this is the second episode she's written. Her first one was in the depths of Newmandom, and it was absolutely the only Newman episode that caught the real essence of the show. I hope we see more from her.
The Beginning of the End.
The apple doesn't fall far from the tree. Nick's holed up in the remains of The Slater Hotel, which, as we all know, was once Reg Cox's house. Nick's alter ego, after being declared dead, was Reg Cox. Connect the dots. (Pun intended).
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