After giving this episode a 7 out of 10, I watched it again. It really is a very good filler episode, once again, subtly hinting at what's to come in the future. It's very true that the show is treading water at the moment, in anticipation of the autumn when the established Big Guns take over, along with the Big Star who'll link Kathy to Sharon and show the Mitchells up for the amateurs that they are; but it's treading water in a DTC way, rather than the TunaGate, SnakeGate and Shaggerman sagas of Newman summers.
This episode was all about dynamics.
Shabnam/Kush/Stacey/Martin and Their Accompanying Satellites. It's been established that Stacey and Kush are the offending parties in what looks like yet another love triangle/square saga; but I can't help but think that this is an introduction to a bi-polar episode for Stacey, a grounding for her permanent relationship with Martin, which will see her integrated into the show's original family; and I think that it will be a study in the nuanced character of Kush, who - at the end of the day - turns out to be yet another weak-willed man, unable to think for himself and wanting just an easy life.
First of all, I want to discuss Stacey and Shabnam, the latest in EastEnders' ongoing study of female friendships. They are, indeed, the Sharon and Michelle of their time. I know, without a doubt, that someone is lurking about and ready to jump from the woodwork, wagging a cyber finger in my face to tell me a million ways why I'm wrong, but this is my opinon. Not only are they the natural successors to Sharon and Michelle, they are also the successors to the likes of Tanya and Jane the Queen.
Theirs is a friendship of inequality. Both women think the other has something the other hasn't. To Stacey, Shabnam has a perfect life - the hunky boyfriend which Stacey wants, and a family who loves her. For Shabnam, Stacey's got the freedom Shabnam's always craved and a daughter who loves her. Just like Sharon and Michelle, it's a friendship based on jealousy and betrayal.
The fact that I think Stacey is veering towards a bi-polar episode is that she's not thinking clearly. On the one hand, she desperately wants Kush - wantshim, not loves him - yet she identifies herself sincerely as Shabnam's best friend, and she cares deeply about her - deeply enough to apologise sincerely for having said some ugly things to her. She's not even identifying the fact that, should Kush choose her over Shabnam, that Shabnam would even want to be her friend; yet she's all too aware of the self-hatred and low esteem issues Shabnam has as a result of her secret (Roya/Jade).
Where she isn't very nice naturally is where Martin is concerned. Stacey is lonely and afraid. For the first time in her life, she's genuinely without family back-up and support. She wants a fella, and where she can't have Kush, she's used this frustration on confusing Martin, by coming onto him in a sexual way. I don't think she dislikes him. I genuinely thinks she's fond of him. They bonded over having lost fathers at a very young age.
She sends out so many mixed signals to Martin - telling him she's not interested, then sleeping with him; having comfort sex, then binning him - that I'm glad he finally ascertained that he just may be being used as the available body whenever Stacey felt in the mood and the couldn't come up with anyone else.
Now suddenly, it's Stacey who's socially gauche, thinking Martin is gauche enough and desperate enough to welcome her into his arms simply because she wants him.
I'm not someone you can just jump all over when the mood takes you ... I need more.
Martin's actually not being stupid here, even though TPTB have previously depicted him as a dolt. It's easy to assume that he's probably been emotionally abused and tortured by that cold-smiling evil bitch of a wife, Sonia ...
At the end of the day, all he wants is a woman who loves him, and he's, understandably, wary of Stacey, who binned him off as a friends-with-benefits in the morning, and now wants a full-on relationship in the afternoon.
Tonight, more than ever before, we got a glimpse of what and who Kush really is, and we got that from the comment made by his mother, when she found out about Shabnam's pregnancy, after Masood's misplaced rant, wondering why Shabnam was so ready to welcome this child and not Jade, who was out there, and alive and rejected by her mother. Taken aback by Masood's litany about Shabnam shaming the family and her community, Kush implores Carmel for support and is shocked by her reply, reminding him that marriage is one thing, but a child changes everything. A child binds you to the mother for life, no matter what changes occur, and changes DO occur. When Masood distinctly reminds Carmel that Kush bears a responsibility as well in this, Carmel shortly replies ...
That's what I'm afraid of.
Kush bolted. Right to Stacey, and made another remark that let us have a big insight into his character.
Nothing is happening the way it was planned.
What, exactly, was planned? I would imagine that Kush would continue sleeping with Shabnam without commitment, and that he'd met Stacey, who reminded him of his first wife, and he'd try her out as well, but fail to commit. Then, when he'd destroyed their friendship, he'd move on and move onto someone else. This is a man who, clearly, doesn't want a committed relationship, much less a child, and Stacey offers him the common-sense solution, by lobbing the ball of decision right back into his court.
He's got to get his priorities right, because teasing Stacey whilst he was engaged to Shabnam isn't fair to them both. In one fell swoop, Kush takes the nice guy route and chooses Shabnam.
Tamwar garnered the line of the night:-
Bagsy not telling the news to Mum.
At least, after Masood's initial outburst, Shabnam got the opportunity to sit down with him and explain why she could accept this baby, when she couldn't accept Jade. When she was pregnant with Jade, she was alone and the child was a result of a drunken encounter. Besides, with Jade, things were too messy, too much time had gone by and too much damage hed been done to ever allow their relationship to be normal. There is also the unsaid truth about what life for Shabnam would have been like as an unwed mother in her parents' home during the year they were ostracising her brother for being gay.
At least, finally, Masood accepts her rationale, and in return, she agrees to report her beating to the police and to give her blessing to Shirley's custody battle for Jade.
Granny Carol, Grandad Buster and The Assorted Assholes Who Surround Them. Carol has always been accused of being selfish. It's a Branning trait, which she wears as a badge; but she's also committed to her family and a dedicated mother and grandmother.
I don't think the attraction between Buster and Carol is a love affair, more than that, it's a quiet friendship. Buster has turned out to be a patient and wise man. He's now decided that, even though Shirley and Dean left the foster carer with a bad taste in his mouth about their suitability for caring for Jade, Buster has a point to prove. He's good at judging character, and for too long, when Shirley falls at the first hurdle, she bolts. Now he's determined to approach custody for Jade via Social Services, but he's being thwarted by Shirley, who's difficult to broach.
He genuinely likes Carol, and unlike any man whom she's known before, I think he sees her first, as a person in her own right, and then as a woman. It's the person he's encouraging. It's also not Carol's fault she's surrounded clowns to the left of her and jokers to the right. She's still a young woman. Both Carol and Shirley are, in fact, fourteen years younger than Kathy, who's not only a grandmother, but also a great-grandmother-to-be.
There never was a more offensive character in the programme than vile Sonia. Everything from her patronising, insincere smily whenever she imposes her will and person on Carol. Carol wasn't capable of attending her appointment alone; there, Sonia took it upon herself to designate herself as spokesperson for Carol's life. It was Sonia who decided that Carol really didn't want a breast reconstruction, and when Carol challenged her on that, Sonia's assumption was that Carol had binned David when he suggested that. (No, you dumb shit, that wasn't the reason Carol ended it with David;she ended it with David because she realised that David could never commit to her fully, and that she'd been nurturing a schoolgirl dream of him all her life).
Now, however, with the removal of Carol's breast, her signature identifying part of her body as a sexually active female are gone, so Sonia is ready for Carol to move onto the next level - Granny Carol, sipping soup in a corner in her rocking chair whilst wearing her granny shawl and being mentally incompetant to act on her own behalf.
Anyone notice how Sonia's taking over a house that isn't hers?
I don't think for a moment Carol slept with Buster. She wouldn't be that careless to leave behind a bra and it was obvious that she wasn't without her prostheses whe she returned.I think, however, Buster encouraged her to seek some quality time for herself and also told her it wasn't too late in her life to pursue her dreams.
Since Diane has become a straight man to Kim and Shirley, I liked Shirley's quip about the bra being two sizes too small for Kim, but it was the sort of thing Roxy might wear.
And, please, let's stop the rehabilitation of the rapist. However, I give Shirley kudos for admitting that Buster thought if Jade and Dean were re-acquainted, they, as grandparents, had to be a part of her life. Smart call.
Dean needs to go.
This episode was all about dynamics.
Shabnam/Kush/Stacey/Martin and Their Accompanying Satellites. It's been established that Stacey and Kush are the offending parties in what looks like yet another love triangle/square saga; but I can't help but think that this is an introduction to a bi-polar episode for Stacey, a grounding for her permanent relationship with Martin, which will see her integrated into the show's original family; and I think that it will be a study in the nuanced character of Kush, who - at the end of the day - turns out to be yet another weak-willed man, unable to think for himself and wanting just an easy life.
First of all, I want to discuss Stacey and Shabnam, the latest in EastEnders' ongoing study of female friendships. They are, indeed, the Sharon and Michelle of their time. I know, without a doubt, that someone is lurking about and ready to jump from the woodwork, wagging a cyber finger in my face to tell me a million ways why I'm wrong, but this is my opinon. Not only are they the natural successors to Sharon and Michelle, they are also the successors to the likes of Tanya and Jane the Queen.
Theirs is a friendship of inequality. Both women think the other has something the other hasn't. To Stacey, Shabnam has a perfect life - the hunky boyfriend which Stacey wants, and a family who loves her. For Shabnam, Stacey's got the freedom Shabnam's always craved and a daughter who loves her. Just like Sharon and Michelle, it's a friendship based on jealousy and betrayal.
The fact that I think Stacey is veering towards a bi-polar episode is that she's not thinking clearly. On the one hand, she desperately wants Kush - wantshim, not loves him - yet she identifies herself sincerely as Shabnam's best friend, and she cares deeply about her - deeply enough to apologise sincerely for having said some ugly things to her. She's not even identifying the fact that, should Kush choose her over Shabnam, that Shabnam would even want to be her friend; yet she's all too aware of the self-hatred and low esteem issues Shabnam has as a result of her secret (Roya/Jade).
Where she isn't very nice naturally is where Martin is concerned. Stacey is lonely and afraid. For the first time in her life, she's genuinely without family back-up and support. She wants a fella, and where she can't have Kush, she's used this frustration on confusing Martin, by coming onto him in a sexual way. I don't think she dislikes him. I genuinely thinks she's fond of him. They bonded over having lost fathers at a very young age.
She sends out so many mixed signals to Martin - telling him she's not interested, then sleeping with him; having comfort sex, then binning him - that I'm glad he finally ascertained that he just may be being used as the available body whenever Stacey felt in the mood and the couldn't come up with anyone else.
Now suddenly, it's Stacey who's socially gauche, thinking Martin is gauche enough and desperate enough to welcome her into his arms simply because she wants him.
I'm not someone you can just jump all over when the mood takes you ... I need more.
Martin's actually not being stupid here, even though TPTB have previously depicted him as a dolt. It's easy to assume that he's probably been emotionally abused and tortured by that cold-smiling evil bitch of a wife, Sonia ...
At the end of the day, all he wants is a woman who loves him, and he's, understandably, wary of Stacey, who binned him off as a friends-with-benefits in the morning, and now wants a full-on relationship in the afternoon.
Tonight, more than ever before, we got a glimpse of what and who Kush really is, and we got that from the comment made by his mother, when she found out about Shabnam's pregnancy, after Masood's misplaced rant, wondering why Shabnam was so ready to welcome this child and not Jade, who was out there, and alive and rejected by her mother. Taken aback by Masood's litany about Shabnam shaming the family and her community, Kush implores Carmel for support and is shocked by her reply, reminding him that marriage is one thing, but a child changes everything. A child binds you to the mother for life, no matter what changes occur, and changes DO occur. When Masood distinctly reminds Carmel that Kush bears a responsibility as well in this, Carmel shortly replies ...
That's what I'm afraid of.
Kush bolted. Right to Stacey, and made another remark that let us have a big insight into his character.
Nothing is happening the way it was planned.
What, exactly, was planned? I would imagine that Kush would continue sleeping with Shabnam without commitment, and that he'd met Stacey, who reminded him of his first wife, and he'd try her out as well, but fail to commit. Then, when he'd destroyed their friendship, he'd move on and move onto someone else. This is a man who, clearly, doesn't want a committed relationship, much less a child, and Stacey offers him the common-sense solution, by lobbing the ball of decision right back into his court.
He's got to get his priorities right, because teasing Stacey whilst he was engaged to Shabnam isn't fair to them both. In one fell swoop, Kush takes the nice guy route and chooses Shabnam.
Tamwar garnered the line of the night:-
Bagsy not telling the news to Mum.
At least, after Masood's initial outburst, Shabnam got the opportunity to sit down with him and explain why she could accept this baby, when she couldn't accept Jade. When she was pregnant with Jade, she was alone and the child was a result of a drunken encounter. Besides, with Jade, things were too messy, too much time had gone by and too much damage hed been done to ever allow their relationship to be normal. There is also the unsaid truth about what life for Shabnam would have been like as an unwed mother in her parents' home during the year they were ostracising her brother for being gay.
At least, finally, Masood accepts her rationale, and in return, she agrees to report her beating to the police and to give her blessing to Shirley's custody battle for Jade.
Granny Carol, Grandad Buster and The Assorted Assholes Who Surround Them. Carol has always been accused of being selfish. It's a Branning trait, which she wears as a badge; but she's also committed to her family and a dedicated mother and grandmother.
I don't think the attraction between Buster and Carol is a love affair, more than that, it's a quiet friendship. Buster has turned out to be a patient and wise man. He's now decided that, even though Shirley and Dean left the foster carer with a bad taste in his mouth about their suitability for caring for Jade, Buster has a point to prove. He's good at judging character, and for too long, when Shirley falls at the first hurdle, she bolts. Now he's determined to approach custody for Jade via Social Services, but he's being thwarted by Shirley, who's difficult to broach.
He genuinely likes Carol, and unlike any man whom she's known before, I think he sees her first, as a person in her own right, and then as a woman. It's the person he's encouraging. It's also not Carol's fault she's surrounded clowns to the left of her and jokers to the right. She's still a young woman. Both Carol and Shirley are, in fact, fourteen years younger than Kathy, who's not only a grandmother, but also a great-grandmother-to-be.
There never was a more offensive character in the programme than vile Sonia. Everything from her patronising, insincere smily whenever she imposes her will and person on Carol. Carol wasn't capable of attending her appointment alone; there, Sonia took it upon herself to designate herself as spokesperson for Carol's life. It was Sonia who decided that Carol really didn't want a breast reconstruction, and when Carol challenged her on that, Sonia's assumption was that Carol had binned David when he suggested that. (No, you dumb shit, that wasn't the reason Carol ended it with David;she ended it with David because she realised that David could never commit to her fully, and that she'd been nurturing a schoolgirl dream of him all her life).
Now, however, with the removal of Carol's breast, her signature identifying part of her body as a sexually active female are gone, so Sonia is ready for Carol to move onto the next level - Granny Carol, sipping soup in a corner in her rocking chair whilst wearing her granny shawl and being mentally incompetant to act on her own behalf.
Anyone notice how Sonia's taking over a house that isn't hers?
I don't think for a moment Carol slept with Buster. She wouldn't be that careless to leave behind a bra and it was obvious that she wasn't without her prostheses whe she returned.I think, however, Buster encouraged her to seek some quality time for herself and also told her it wasn't too late in her life to pursue her dreams.
Since Diane has become a straight man to Kim and Shirley, I liked Shirley's quip about the bra being two sizes too small for Kim, but it was the sort of thing Roxy might wear.
And, please, let's stop the rehabilitation of the rapist. However, I give Shirley kudos for admitting that Buster thought if Jade and Dean were re-acquainted, they, as grandparents, had to be a part of her life. Smart call.
Dean needs to go.
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