There's a long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long-winded discussion about the possibility of Phil linking up with Sharon that's going on now on Digital Spy. I don't know if the subject's been broached on Walford Web, but I'll have to check in the next few days.
Anyway, the "discussion" is more of an obsessive worry which, somehow, has made its way, repeatedly, into numerous threads to the point that it actually takes over other viable discussions. Anyone could be forgiven for the most obsessive commenter being mistaken for a troll.
This particular commenter is the chief propagator and proponent of the idea that Phil and Shirley are the most popular, most poignant and most enduring love affair ever to be portrayed in the programme's history.
(Cue music) ...
When they really are not at all. In fact - and I'm sorry to tread upon the toes of Shannis-lovers - neither were Dennis and Sharon. Dear, departed Dennis, alas, was a mere plot device to cover for Steve McFadden's sabbatical. It would have been a completely different kettle of fish if Phil had stayed on he Square, confronted Zombie Den and forced the fragrant Sharon to choose between her squeeze and her old man.
Sorry, folks, the enduring love affair on 'Enders is Phil and Sharon. Twenty years and still going on. Forget Jack ... that's not gonna happen. Anyway, who wants to see a real EastEnders' legend felled by a plank of wood? Jack seriously needs to retire for some cuprinol treatment.
And, of course, we're going to get the ubiquitous kabuki theatre of Phil and Sharon circling each other circuitously, playing hard-to-get and such until something happens which results in them finding themselves in bed with one another.
For the person who keeps insisting that no one else sees what EastEnders is trying to display with Phil and Shirley's non-romance (because that's what it ever was), one of the highest voices of reason on Digital Spy, felixrex, jumps into the foray and puts paid to any silly notion that Phil loves Shirley and any obtuse lack of understanding as to why he's not all over Sharon like a bad rash as soon as she showed up on his doorstep.
I yield to him (with some of my own comments in agreement):-
Speaking of Phil's current and immediate predicament:-
He's been on tenterhooks for months - trying to keep a lid on Ben, keeping an eye on Jay (the first weak link), then keeping Ian in line and trying to keep Shirley within controllable distance. At one point, he even fell off the wagon and started drinking again. Then, one day, when he thinks all has passed and he's home scot-free and Ben is safe, Sharon shows up, distressed, on his doorstep, just as he's about to have an engagement party.
Just because he's got engaged to Shirley isn't proof of his love. Andy Hunter got engaged to and married Sam; Max got engaged to Vanessa; Tanya to Greg. None of them were love matches, but rather matches of expedience. Still, when Sharon was in trouble, Phil dropped everything. And in the space of a day, Phil returns to find his world turned topsy-turvy with Shirley knowing his dreadest secret.
Now, instead of being worry-free, Phil's got an even bigger set of worries frying on his plate - chief amongst them being the fact that Shirley knows of his involvement in covering up the identity of Heather's murderer. As felixrex states plainly, Phil is a desperate man. Last week proved how desperate he was and the lengths he was prepared to go to in order to get Ben free of a prison sentence; now he's desperately fighting to keep his own name out of the frame (pun intended). Does he still love Sharon? Yes, but he isn't thinking rationally. He's thinking survivally. At the moment.
And still, when Denise was trying to persuade her to remove herself from Phil's influence, all Shirley could whine about was losing her "family." Shirley lost her real family ages ago, when she walked out on them to party and prolong adolescence with Heather. Heather was her surrogate child, and Shirley didn't do very well by her, either as a surrogate parent or a friend.
Phil will do what he has to do to keep Shirley onside and quiet. If that means sleeping with her, he'll do that for the rest of his life. It's his penance. It's not his love.
The bold bit in red is really self-explanatory. He's with Shirley out of expediency. Really, he needs her now more than she needs him - or so Phil sees it. It shouldn't take long, however, for him to realise that she isn't going to grass him. This is why this week she begins to - surprise surprise - blackmail him. And that will be why he outsmarts her by diverting her with a visit from Carly and Shirley's new grandchild. If he can't control Shirley by keeping her close and preying on her devotion, once he's sure she's not intent on grassing him, he'll control her by sending her away. Yes, she still loves him; and yes, that's totally irrational.
Phil's not thinking about Shirley or Sharon at the moment; he's thinking about himself. Self-preservation. After all, if he doesn't save himself, there won't be a future to contemplate with Sharon or anyone.
And, yes, it's patently obvious that at some point in the near future, Sharon and Phil will get together. That's one of the chief reasons she was brought back to the show. There's unfinished business between the two, and Steve McFadden wants Phil and Sharon together; what he says, pretty much goes.
Please, as well, disabuse yourselves of any notion that Sharon is insecure in Shirley's presence. Anything but. In fact, it's the opposite. Shirley has lived with the knowledge that Phil loved, loves and will always love Sharon - she's lived with that knowledge, at least, since late 2010, if not sooner. Sharon was the third person in her relationship with Phil, just as she was the unseen third person in Tiffany's marriage to Grant. Sharon doesn't know Shirley. Before two weeks ago, she had no idea she existed. She got the measure of her when Shirley accosted her in the club, and it was Shirley who was put in her place.
With thanks and gratitude to felixrex's wisdom.
Anyway, the "discussion" is more of an obsessive worry which, somehow, has made its way, repeatedly, into numerous threads to the point that it actually takes over other viable discussions. Anyone could be forgiven for the most obsessive commenter being mistaken for a troll.
This particular commenter is the chief propagator and proponent of the idea that Phil and Shirley are the most popular, most poignant and most enduring love affair ever to be portrayed in the programme's history.
(Cue music) ...
When they really are not at all. In fact - and I'm sorry to tread upon the toes of Shannis-lovers - neither were Dennis and Sharon. Dear, departed Dennis, alas, was a mere plot device to cover for Steve McFadden's sabbatical. It would have been a completely different kettle of fish if Phil had stayed on he Square, confronted Zombie Den and forced the fragrant Sharon to choose between her squeeze and her old man.
Sorry, folks, the enduring love affair on 'Enders is Phil and Sharon. Twenty years and still going on. Forget Jack ... that's not gonna happen. Anyway, who wants to see a real EastEnders' legend felled by a plank of wood? Jack seriously needs to retire for some cuprinol treatment.
And, of course, we're going to get the ubiquitous kabuki theatre of Phil and Sharon circling each other circuitously, playing hard-to-get and such until something happens which results in them finding themselves in bed with one another.
For the person who keeps insisting that no one else sees what EastEnders is trying to display with Phil and Shirley's non-romance (because that's what it ever was), one of the highest voices of reason on Digital Spy, felixrex, jumps into the foray and puts paid to any silly notion that Phil loves Shirley and any obtuse lack of understanding as to why he's not all over Sharon like a bad rash as soon as she showed up on his doorstep.
I yield to him (with some of my own comments in agreement):-
Speaking of Phil's current and immediate predicament:-
As many people have said - countless times - the man is in an extremely difficult situation right now and he is not thinking rationally. He is in a state of panic and desperation. Shirley is the only person other than Ben, Ian and Jay who know about his involvement in the murder; and she's the biggest threat to him in that regard right now. Ben has already promised not to implicate him; Jay can't implicate him now without contradicting his own statement and being charged with perversion, and Phil has always been capable of bullying Ian into complying with whatever he wishes.That's really pretty self-explanatory, but put in simpler terms ... Ben killed Heather. Jay was there and saw him do it. Phil found Ben by Heather's body. Phil's first reaction was to call the police, but Ben went into a panic, and his parental instincts kicked in.
He's been on tenterhooks for months - trying to keep a lid on Ben, keeping an eye on Jay (the first weak link), then keeping Ian in line and trying to keep Shirley within controllable distance. At one point, he even fell off the wagon and started drinking again. Then, one day, when he thinks all has passed and he's home scot-free and Ben is safe, Sharon shows up, distressed, on his doorstep, just as he's about to have an engagement party.
Just because he's got engaged to Shirley isn't proof of his love. Andy Hunter got engaged to and married Sam; Max got engaged to Vanessa; Tanya to Greg. None of them were love matches, but rather matches of expedience. Still, when Sharon was in trouble, Phil dropped everything. And in the space of a day, Phil returns to find his world turned topsy-turvy with Shirley knowing his dreadest secret.
Now, instead of being worry-free, Phil's got an even bigger set of worries frying on his plate - chief amongst them being the fact that Shirley knows of his involvement in covering up the identity of Heather's murderer. As felixrex states plainly, Phil is a desperate man. Last week proved how desperate he was and the lengths he was prepared to go to in order to get Ben free of a prison sentence; now he's desperately fighting to keep his own name out of the frame (pun intended). Does he still love Sharon? Yes, but he isn't thinking rationally. He's thinking survivally. At the moment.
Shirley is the loose cannon here, and he is well aware that she could go to the police at any point and tell them that she's just found out he was involved and land him in the shit. So what's the best way to control her? Take advantage of her natural weakness - her dependence; her desperate devotion for him. The longer he keeps her in his bed, the longer he keeps her on board.Simples. Shirley still loves Phil. Phil knows that. Even moreso, he knows it from her behaviour of the previous week. She screams for justice for Heather, then acts as though she's desperate to cling onto Phil. She found the picture frame; she confronted Ben with it, something that resulted in him running around to the copshop and wanting to give himself up. She stood there and positively encouraged it. Then, when push came to shove, she hid the frame when the police showed up to get it, corroborating Ben's statement. She had to be coerced to surrender the frame. Even then, even afterward, she remained at the Mitchell home, she complied with Phil's request to give at least a non-commital statement. As another commentator stated, she never presumed to leave the Mitchell house until Denise and Andrew reminded her how it looked as though she knew about the cover-up - especially when she was seen frantically trying to remove the red-pained MURDERERS graffiti from the Mitchell wall.
And still, when Denise was trying to persuade her to remove herself from Phil's influence, all Shirley could whine about was losing her "family." Shirley lost her real family ages ago, when she walked out on them to party and prolong adolescence with Heather. Heather was her surrogate child, and Shirley didn't do very well by her, either as a surrogate parent or a friend.
Phil will do what he has to do to keep Shirley onside and quiet. If that means sleeping with her, he'll do that for the rest of his life. It's his penance. It's not his love.
That is all he is thinking about right now; because his life is currently completely overtaken with concerns for his son's and his own freedom; nothing more, nothing less. He doesn't have time to think rationally about who he wants to be with in the future because he's too busy trying to ensure he has a future. Any romantic or sexual endeavors he embarks on at this point are purely down to tactics and manipulation; not genuine love or emotion. He doesn't have time for that at the moment. When he brushes Sharon off, it's not because he doesn't care or isn't interested in her; it's because he has more pressing matters on his mind which take precedence at the moment. When he tries to butter Shirley up, it's not because she's the one true love of his life and he wants to commit to her for the rest of eternity; it's because she knows his secret and he knows how to exploit her weaknesses in order to control her. He isn't thinking about how that could rule out his chances for a future with Sharon because he doesn't have time to think about anything beyond the present and what is happening right now. He is making rash decisions because he is desperate and panicking. When faced with the prospect of a long stretch in jail, few people think rationally. He certainly isn't going to bugger it all up by thinking Oh but if I manipulate Shirley by staying with her that might rule out a future for me and Sharon, so I guess I'll just forget about it, and if I go to prison then oh well!! He is a desperate man making quick decisions for the present; he doesn't have time to think about the future.
The bold bit in red is really self-explanatory. He's with Shirley out of expediency. Really, he needs her now more than she needs him - or so Phil sees it. It shouldn't take long, however, for him to realise that she isn't going to grass him. This is why this week she begins to - surprise surprise - blackmail him. And that will be why he outsmarts her by diverting her with a visit from Carly and Shirley's new grandchild. If he can't control Shirley by keeping her close and preying on her devotion, once he's sure she's not intent on grassing him, he'll control her by sending her away. Yes, she still loves him; and yes, that's totally irrational.
Phil's not thinking about Shirley or Sharon at the moment; he's thinking about himself. Self-preservation. After all, if he doesn't save himself, there won't be a future to contemplate with Sharon or anyone.
And, yes, it's patently obvious that at some point in the near future, Sharon and Phil will get together. That's one of the chief reasons she was brought back to the show. There's unfinished business between the two, and Steve McFadden wants Phil and Sharon together; what he says, pretty much goes.
Please, as well, disabuse yourselves of any notion that Sharon is insecure in Shirley's presence. Anything but. In fact, it's the opposite. Shirley has lived with the knowledge that Phil loved, loves and will always love Sharon - she's lived with that knowledge, at least, since late 2010, if not sooner. Sharon was the third person in her relationship with Phil, just as she was the unseen third person in Tiffany's marriage to Grant. Sharon doesn't know Shirley. Before two weeks ago, she had no idea she existed. She got the measure of her when Shirley accosted her in the club, and it was Shirley who was put in her place.
With thanks and gratitude to felixrex's wisdom.
No comments:
Post a Comment