Nurse Ratchit, matron saint of the Walford Web kindergarten and wannabe Don Draper dollybird expostulates re TPTB basically fucking up Sharon (the way they've fucked up Kat and Bianca):-
Point One:
As regards the disappointment about Sharon; perhaps it is time they stopped bringing back faces from the past, it's not enough to have the big entrance and then leave the character to drift about.
I hated Max's line to Tanya about turning Sharon into Jane; Sharon is not a fill in friend, she should be doing more than a brief two lines to Phil.
Tanya's selfishness even extended to turning her daughter's 'pretend birthday' (yuck) into a party for herself complete with crap music from the 80s.
Point One:
As regards the disappointment about Sharon; perhaps it is time they stopped bringing back faces from the past, it's not enough to have the big entrance and then leave the character to drift about.I couldn't agree more, and I've said as much. Although EastEnders is a soap, it's official genre title is "continuing drama." You know, it ... continues, as in a straight line, moving forward. The show is an ensemble piece, which means that no one character is more important than the next, and that characters can leave at will and be replaced by others, always moving forward and never looking back. For too long now, EastEnders has depended on bringing back characters from the past as well as introducing new characters who only have a familial connection with existing Walford residents. In just the past five years, we've seen the return of Ricky and Bianca, Carol, Alfie and Kat and now Sharon.
The more I consider it, the more I wonder if Sharon's return were a plea made in desperation for old viewers to return. If so, this was an epic fail, considering the writers on board at the moment have absolutely no clue about this character's history and her personal tastes.
Since her return, most of her scenes have consisted of her riding shotgun to the prominence of various Brannings (or riding shotgun on Jack's priapism). The scene with the disgarded wedding dress where Sharon, a relative stranger to that fragrant hypocrite Tanya, was literally begging to be included as a bridesmaid at yet another of Tanya's weddings, was embarrassing - almost as equally embarrassing as her reincarnation as Sharon the over-protective and neurotic mother to yet another obnoxious child actor who's all too aware of his cuteness.
Point Two:
Also, Sharon is a woman in her forties, almost a decade older than Tanya. When one reaches that point in one's life, one is wary of making too fast a friend too quickly. Firm friendships are the ones made in one's youth which have lasted. This is why Sharon works better with Ian and Phil. Instead, we get brief snippets of scenes with them - people with whom she shares a history and background - sacrificed at the altar of a sudden and shallow friendship encompassing Bananarama, a group from a decade when Sharon was a budding young woman and Tanya should have been little more than a child.
Sharon is not Jane. Sharon is an original cast member, the daughter of an iconic couple, the wife, at various times, of two other iconic characters and the lover of a third. She wasn't created to bask in the reflected glory of a woman whose head is so far up her fat ass she couldn't see the dawn for looking, and she shouldn't be expected to fulfill this function now.
Point Three
Still, I'm glad people are finally acknowledging the fact that everything has always ever been only about Tanya, and her inherent selfishness has been recognised. Time was, I was ripped a new asshole in the early days of Tanyadom and constantly reminded what a "good person" Tanya was. As early as 2007, even before Stax, the skinny, untalented, lollipop-headed version of Lauren was whining to Max about how selfish Tanya was. If her own daughter, on the cusp of adolescence, can recognise a selfish bitch when she sees one (and eventually grow into the same), why can't a viewer make that observation without risking the petulant ire of that infamous passive-aggressive Walford Web kindergarten bully Callum (or whatever he calls himself these days) or their resident schizophrenic troll Biffo/Blossom.
Still, it's nice that Nurse Ratchit and I can find common ground on something, innit?
Since her return, most of her scenes have consisted of her riding shotgun to the prominence of various Brannings (or riding shotgun on Jack's priapism). The scene with the disgarded wedding dress where Sharon, a relative stranger to that fragrant hypocrite Tanya, was literally begging to be included as a bridesmaid at yet another of Tanya's weddings, was embarrassing - almost as equally embarrassing as her reincarnation as Sharon the over-protective and neurotic mother to yet another obnoxious child actor who's all too aware of his cuteness.
Point Two:
I hated Max's line to Tanya about turning Sharon into Jane; Sharon is not a fill in friend, she should be doing more than a brief two lines to Phil.This is why I'm beginning to wonder about Lorraine Newman. In another place and time, Sharon would be the last person with whom Tanya would be friendly. Jealous, yes; friendly, no. Tanya approaches plainer women - the bovine, supersized Jane was a perfect reflection for Tanya's plump prettiness, as well as being pliable enough to offer her a front for disguising Tanya's drink issues.
Also, Sharon is a woman in her forties, almost a decade older than Tanya. When one reaches that point in one's life, one is wary of making too fast a friend too quickly. Firm friendships are the ones made in one's youth which have lasted. This is why Sharon works better with Ian and Phil. Instead, we get brief snippets of scenes with them - people with whom she shares a history and background - sacrificed at the altar of a sudden and shallow friendship encompassing Bananarama, a group from a decade when Sharon was a budding young woman and Tanya should have been little more than a child.
Sharon is not Jane. Sharon is an original cast member, the daughter of an iconic couple, the wife, at various times, of two other iconic characters and the lover of a third. She wasn't created to bask in the reflected glory of a woman whose head is so far up her fat ass she couldn't see the dawn for looking, and she shouldn't be expected to fulfill this function now.
Point Three
Tanya's selfishness even extended to turning her daughter's 'pretend birthday' (yuck) into a party for herself complete with crap music from the 80s.Tanya is supposed to be 36. The 80s were thirty years ago, which means Tanya, at Bananarama's height, was a small child of six. She'd have been more interested in Blue Peter than Bananarama, but maybe she was old before her time. Shirley and Heather, yes, they were 80s chicks, but Tanya would have been more into the likes of The Bangles and Madonna than Bananarama as such.
Still, I'm glad people are finally acknowledging the fact that everything has always ever been only about Tanya, and her inherent selfishness has been recognised. Time was, I was ripped a new asshole in the early days of Tanyadom and constantly reminded what a "good person" Tanya was. As early as 2007, even before Stax, the skinny, untalented, lollipop-headed version of Lauren was whining to Max about how selfish Tanya was. If her own daughter, on the cusp of adolescence, can recognise a selfish bitch when she sees one (and eventually grow into the same), why can't a viewer make that observation without risking the petulant ire of that infamous passive-aggressive Walford Web kindergarten bully Callum (or whatever he calls himself these days) or their resident schizophrenic troll Biffo/Blossom.
Still, it's nice that Nurse Ratchit and I can find common ground on something, innit?
No comments:
Post a Comment