We witnessed history in tonight's episode. Tonight, for the first time, we saw an iconic character go from the sublime to the ridiculous in the space of less than thirty minutes.
To paraphrase Dickens, it was the best of Sharon, it was the worst of Sharon, in what was one of the poorest written episodes of the year.
The Lola-Lexi storyline has served its purpose. Lola, introduced as a pointless, chav-ridden character, exhibiting the worst characteristics of chav society, light-fingered and lying, mouthy and with rude attitude, has now become the victim she played so cleverly each time she was called up on her bad behaviour.
She loves her baby, that's unquestionable; but she has a defiant and willful attitude against any sort of figure or emblem of authority, she's wantonly aggressive and she has anger issues. Her child will be no better than the entitled, mouthy brats Bianca sends into society and uses every opportunity to blame any authority figure for her children's failure except herself. If Lexi has trouble reading, it will be the school's fault. If Lexi headbuts some other kid in her class, the other kid asked for it. Anyone who's perceived to slight Lexi in any way, will answer to Lola's temper and her fists. Lola was right in one assessment tonight: it's almost inevitable, if she doesn't clean up her act and curb her temper, that Lexi will end up in care one day.
People are seeing this storyline in terms of black and white, when it's more than that. It's more than just Phil wanting Lexi to "replace" Ben. No one can ever replace Ben. Or Louise. On this level, it's more about Phil seeing Lexi as a means of atoning for what went wrong with Ben. Phil lost Ben the first time, figuratively, when he was a baby - when Kathy, especially after Ben's meningitis, totally devoted herself 24/7 to Ben, shutting Phil out completely. At that point, Phil had done nothing wrong. He'd married Kathy and fathered their child, and he was a willing father, kept away from his son by a suddenly over-protective mother. In frustration, he turned to drink and developed an alcohol dependency.
In order to save his marriage, he began attending AA meetings, where he met another recovering alcoholic, Lorna, and they had an affair, which led to the end of his marriage. When Ben was two, Kathy emigrated with him to South Africa. Later, when Phil was heavily involved with Lisa, Kathy wrote him from South Africa, sending him a picture of Ben in a Christmas card, and at the same time, informing him that she was marrying again, and wanted his permission for her new husband to adopt Ben.
Such timing. Such tact.
And that sent Phil spiralling downward in a welter of angst toward Lisa, who - unbeknownst to him, got pregnant. Subsequently, as we know, Phil lost his daughter when Kate aided Lisa in taking her away.
When Ben returned to live with Phil, he was already troubled and psychologically vulnerable. That doesn't exonerate Phil completely for what happened with Ben, but the seeds had already been sewn. Lexi offers Phil the opportunity to begin again with a child who isn't going to be taken away from him and whom he can raise in order to prove to himself that he can do well by a child of his.
That still doesn't excuse the way he's been treating Lola, but - as well - I can see why he doesn't trust her with Lexi. Lola is young and she is stupid. She lives with Billy, and he's not the brightest lightbulb in the pack.
When she arrived in Walford, every time she behaved inappropriately - being mouthy to Ian Beale, nicking stuff etc, Billy praised her for "being a real Mitchell." When Lucy sacked her from the chippie, she broke in, stole the chip fat oil and vandalised Max Branning's office and forecourt because he asked her not to sit on the cars. Lucy called the police, and when she was arrested, Billy's plaintive whine was that this wasn't fair, it wasn't her fault, she was only fifteen, she was pregnant, she'd been in care yadda yadda.
Lola has become another victim. Even today, even now that Trish Barnes has softened her tone and shown herself to be more on Lola's side, even complimenting her progress and encouraging her, Lola displays nothing but rude, aggressive attitude toward her. I can understand her despairing behaviour at the court in view of the shock of Phil actually telling the truth, but this is not the sort of behaviour that impresses judges and people in authority. If Lola behaves this way in public, it tells the relevant children's legal authorities and social services that she has anger issues, and isn't yet mature enough to handle a small child. The fact, too, that her support system - with Billy - isn't exactly up to par is another thing.
Billy stole from his friend and employer in order to provide Lola with the finest of baby items. He's lucky Janine didn't press charges. Instead of taking Lexi to the local GP for her nappy rash, where she would have been able to get cream for free, again, they stole from Janine. Billy is unemployed. One wonders how they afford the rent on that flat, or are they still squatting?
On another level, the storyline is, most obviously, a vehicle to enhance and further the renewal of Phil's and Sharon's twenty-year on-again-off-again romance. So it's a massive plot device. How's that? A plot as a plot device.
And please ... shut up about Dennis Rickman. You know who knows about Phil's words with Dennis? I'll tell you.
Dennis (dead). Jonnie Allen (dead). Danny Moon (dead). Peggy (gone). Grant (gone). And Phil, who actually wanted to tell Sharon about what he'd said, but was discouraged in doing so by Peggy. For anyone who thinks Jack Walking-Wooden-Penis Branning is omniscient enough to know about that situation, then you're buying into what would probably be one of the biggest retcons of all time.
Fat Barbie or Rag Doll.
How Sharon went from this:-
To this:-
I think the second video sums her up nicely:-
I'm a bimbo girl
In a plastic world
Yes, that's Sharon, who went from Old Sharon to Bimbo Sharon in the space of 30 minutes. And that's down to Terminal Jack.
From the end of Lola's outburst at the court, with Sharon's reaction to Phil's telling the truth selectively for his own advantage, what we saw was old Sharon - the Sharon the Mitchells respected, the Sharon who didn't fear them or anyone else, but who stood up for what was right and just. In light of this, her telling Phil that he disgusted her was totally in character.
When she went back to Jack's flat and she objected to his controlling treatment of her, likening herself to a rag doll, pointing out his bizarre, controlling behaviour and asserting her right to do what was right for her and her own and asserting her interest in Lola as a person, once again, the writer was digging deep and giving us old Sharon.
But Sharon doesn't know Jack. As much as she says she walked into their relationship with her eyes wide open, she didn't; and many long-term viewers, especially those who know Sharon from the 90s or even the 80s, know that Sharon doesn't do one night stands, they know that Sharon doesn't sleep with a man in order to get a roof over her head. They know that Sharon doesn't do provocative banter with strangers, however attractive they might be. So Sharon's behaviour with Jack was incongruous to her character, just as their attraction was totally incongruous.
Sharon reckons Jack is like her "ex, " and that "ex" is assumed to be Phil, but there were so many - Duncan, Simon Wicks, Grant, Phil, fat Ross and Fireman Tom, and Saint Dennis. To which ex does she refer? She reckons to equate Jack with Phil, when Jack is more like some of the pejorative qualities Grant (1990s Grant) exhibited than anything Phil was. Jack is controlling in a way that Grant was as well, conniving like Grant (always thinking he knew what was best for Sharon) and Grant was a pretty dab hand at playing up the poor-pitiful-me routine. Like Grant, Jack's an ex-uniform guy. Grant was army, Jack Old Bill.
One thing Phil never tried to do was control Sharon, or manipulate her the way Jack has. If anything, Phil, during her last tenure on the show, respected her. In fact, Peggy apart, Pat Evans and Sharon were probably the only two women for whom Phil Mitchell had complete and utter respect. Sharon asks that of Jack, five minutes after Jack seemingly relents and allows her to visit Lola.
Allows.
She's not there five minutes before he's ringing her phone, wanting to know where she is. He still doesn't trust her.
And then we have the tedious angry sex routine as well. When two people start slinging valid home truths at one another, the obvious diversion is to have an anger fuck and that will make everyone feel better. The sight of Jack lolling on the couch with his belt undone and Sharon with something blowsy, floral and frilly thrown over her was quite sickening and insulting.
Because all of a sudden, Sharon's gone from old, strong Sharon to simpering Bimbo Sharon, the one who nestles up against Jack's purposely exposed hairy chest and coos and simpers, and says nothing when Jack demands, not asks, demands total commitment and then lowers the ultimatum that if Sharon is committed to him, she must break with Phil entirely.
Observation: Jack spoke about the Ice Queen tonight, and Sharon, uncharacteristically, is jealous. Jack says Ronnie couldn't be happy because there was something dark about her. Yet, this is the woman with whom he was prepared to run away with rather than have her face prison. Jack loved Ronnie even after she carried out the worst possible deception on him. He should realise by now that Ronnie was obsessed with him and having a baby. And Sharon should realise that she's the rebound from Ronnie divorcing him because she's the closest thing to a blonde Mitchell there is around at this time.
Jack wants to be a family with Sharon and Denny? Last week, he included Amy in that equation, but she seems to be conveniently forgotten along with Jack's other two children in France and Portugal whom he never sees and never references. Tell me, does Sharon know that one of Jack's children's mothers is Sam Mitchell, Phil's sister and her own former sister-in-law? I don't think so.
You know, if Glenda had stuck around, Jack would have fucked her; and if Sharon hadn't returned, he'd have scraped the bottom of the (faux) Mitchell barrel and settled for Shirley.
Another Observation: There's no disguising the fact that Letitia Dean has put on a hefty amount of weight. Not even the colour black can help her now, but the full-length flowing coat she wore tonight didn't do her any favours and made her look like a balloon. The hair was right, however.
Oh Denise Dooby-Doo
Ian's latest song. (Wonder if he sings this under his breath on the stall)?
So now we know that Patrick's storyline, a relevant one of the difficulty of caring for an elderly relative, is really a - yes - plot device in the development of Ian's and Denise's slow-burning love affair. This week, they're friends; next week, they kiss. Well, at least unfunny Kim has now elevated Ian to the position of "nice prat".
The Wrath of Dot
Another "Oh Grandma" elderly storyline, with Dot's obsessive concern about items missing from her home worrying Poppy and Fatboy about maybe perhaps Dot, you know, losing it because of her age. Mind you, Dot's sharper than Poppy will ever be.in her prime, but I suppose it is a genuine concern - especially since Dot's convinced that Cora's the culprit and has made a copy of her key. The clue is with Fatboy, who's got his own key from a copy made by Poppy.
This is a filler storyline which, eventually, is supposed to be funny and gives us the worst of June Brown, in unfunny, head-bobbing, cartoon mode.
(Jeez, as a Southerner, I'm bloody glad the Yankees didn't look and act like this.)
This is Billy's song, however.
Let's remember a few things about Billy Mitchell as he trots off to make Phil Mitchell listen (because Sharon couldn't make Phil listen today because she had to go home and fuck Jack):-
To paraphrase Dickens, it was the best of Sharon, it was the worst of Sharon, in what was one of the poorest written episodes of the year.
The Lola-Lexi storyline has served its purpose. Lola, introduced as a pointless, chav-ridden character, exhibiting the worst characteristics of chav society, light-fingered and lying, mouthy and with rude attitude, has now become the victim she played so cleverly each time she was called up on her bad behaviour.
She loves her baby, that's unquestionable; but she has a defiant and willful attitude against any sort of figure or emblem of authority, she's wantonly aggressive and she has anger issues. Her child will be no better than the entitled, mouthy brats Bianca sends into society and uses every opportunity to blame any authority figure for her children's failure except herself. If Lexi has trouble reading, it will be the school's fault. If Lexi headbuts some other kid in her class, the other kid asked for it. Anyone who's perceived to slight Lexi in any way, will answer to Lola's temper and her fists. Lola was right in one assessment tonight: it's almost inevitable, if she doesn't clean up her act and curb her temper, that Lexi will end up in care one day.
People are seeing this storyline in terms of black and white, when it's more than that. It's more than just Phil wanting Lexi to "replace" Ben. No one can ever replace Ben. Or Louise. On this level, it's more about Phil seeing Lexi as a means of atoning for what went wrong with Ben. Phil lost Ben the first time, figuratively, when he was a baby - when Kathy, especially after Ben's meningitis, totally devoted herself 24/7 to Ben, shutting Phil out completely. At that point, Phil had done nothing wrong. He'd married Kathy and fathered their child, and he was a willing father, kept away from his son by a suddenly over-protective mother. In frustration, he turned to drink and developed an alcohol dependency.
In order to save his marriage, he began attending AA meetings, where he met another recovering alcoholic, Lorna, and they had an affair, which led to the end of his marriage. When Ben was two, Kathy emigrated with him to South Africa. Later, when Phil was heavily involved with Lisa, Kathy wrote him from South Africa, sending him a picture of Ben in a Christmas card, and at the same time, informing him that she was marrying again, and wanted his permission for her new husband to adopt Ben.
Such timing. Such tact.
And that sent Phil spiralling downward in a welter of angst toward Lisa, who - unbeknownst to him, got pregnant. Subsequently, as we know, Phil lost his daughter when Kate aided Lisa in taking her away.
When Ben returned to live with Phil, he was already troubled and psychologically vulnerable. That doesn't exonerate Phil completely for what happened with Ben, but the seeds had already been sewn. Lexi offers Phil the opportunity to begin again with a child who isn't going to be taken away from him and whom he can raise in order to prove to himself that he can do well by a child of his.
That still doesn't excuse the way he's been treating Lola, but - as well - I can see why he doesn't trust her with Lexi. Lola is young and she is stupid. She lives with Billy, and he's not the brightest lightbulb in the pack.
When she arrived in Walford, every time she behaved inappropriately - being mouthy to Ian Beale, nicking stuff etc, Billy praised her for "being a real Mitchell." When Lucy sacked her from the chippie, she broke in, stole the chip fat oil and vandalised Max Branning's office and forecourt because he asked her not to sit on the cars. Lucy called the police, and when she was arrested, Billy's plaintive whine was that this wasn't fair, it wasn't her fault, she was only fifteen, she was pregnant, she'd been in care yadda yadda.
Lola has become another victim. Even today, even now that Trish Barnes has softened her tone and shown herself to be more on Lola's side, even complimenting her progress and encouraging her, Lola displays nothing but rude, aggressive attitude toward her. I can understand her despairing behaviour at the court in view of the shock of Phil actually telling the truth, but this is not the sort of behaviour that impresses judges and people in authority. If Lola behaves this way in public, it tells the relevant children's legal authorities and social services that she has anger issues, and isn't yet mature enough to handle a small child. The fact, too, that her support system - with Billy - isn't exactly up to par is another thing.
Billy stole from his friend and employer in order to provide Lola with the finest of baby items. He's lucky Janine didn't press charges. Instead of taking Lexi to the local GP for her nappy rash, where she would have been able to get cream for free, again, they stole from Janine. Billy is unemployed. One wonders how they afford the rent on that flat, or are they still squatting?
On another level, the storyline is, most obviously, a vehicle to enhance and further the renewal of Phil's and Sharon's twenty-year on-again-off-again romance. So it's a massive plot device. How's that? A plot as a plot device.
And please ... shut up about Dennis Rickman. You know who knows about Phil's words with Dennis? I'll tell you.
Dennis (dead). Jonnie Allen (dead). Danny Moon (dead). Peggy (gone). Grant (gone). And Phil, who actually wanted to tell Sharon about what he'd said, but was discouraged in doing so by Peggy. For anyone who thinks Jack Walking-Wooden-Penis Branning is omniscient enough to know about that situation, then you're buying into what would probably be one of the biggest retcons of all time.
Fat Barbie or Rag Doll.
How Sharon went from this:-
I think the second video sums her up nicely:-
I'm a bimbo girl
In a plastic world
Yes, that's Sharon, who went from Old Sharon to Bimbo Sharon in the space of 30 minutes. And that's down to Terminal Jack.
From the end of Lola's outburst at the court, with Sharon's reaction to Phil's telling the truth selectively for his own advantage, what we saw was old Sharon - the Sharon the Mitchells respected, the Sharon who didn't fear them or anyone else, but who stood up for what was right and just. In light of this, her telling Phil that he disgusted her was totally in character.
When she went back to Jack's flat and she objected to his controlling treatment of her, likening herself to a rag doll, pointing out his bizarre, controlling behaviour and asserting her right to do what was right for her and her own and asserting her interest in Lola as a person, once again, the writer was digging deep and giving us old Sharon.
But Sharon doesn't know Jack. As much as she says she walked into their relationship with her eyes wide open, she didn't; and many long-term viewers, especially those who know Sharon from the 90s or even the 80s, know that Sharon doesn't do one night stands, they know that Sharon doesn't sleep with a man in order to get a roof over her head. They know that Sharon doesn't do provocative banter with strangers, however attractive they might be. So Sharon's behaviour with Jack was incongruous to her character, just as their attraction was totally incongruous.
Sharon reckons Jack is like her "ex, " and that "ex" is assumed to be Phil, but there were so many - Duncan, Simon Wicks, Grant, Phil, fat Ross and Fireman Tom, and Saint Dennis. To which ex does she refer? She reckons to equate Jack with Phil, when Jack is more like some of the pejorative qualities Grant (1990s Grant) exhibited than anything Phil was. Jack is controlling in a way that Grant was as well, conniving like Grant (always thinking he knew what was best for Sharon) and Grant was a pretty dab hand at playing up the poor-pitiful-me routine. Like Grant, Jack's an ex-uniform guy. Grant was army, Jack Old Bill.
One thing Phil never tried to do was control Sharon, or manipulate her the way Jack has. If anything, Phil, during her last tenure on the show, respected her. In fact, Peggy apart, Pat Evans and Sharon were probably the only two women for whom Phil Mitchell had complete and utter respect. Sharon asks that of Jack, five minutes after Jack seemingly relents and allows her to visit Lola.
Allows.
She's not there five minutes before he's ringing her phone, wanting to know where she is. He still doesn't trust her.
And then we have the tedious angry sex routine as well. When two people start slinging valid home truths at one another, the obvious diversion is to have an anger fuck and that will make everyone feel better. The sight of Jack lolling on the couch with his belt undone and Sharon with something blowsy, floral and frilly thrown over her was quite sickening and insulting.
Because all of a sudden, Sharon's gone from old, strong Sharon to simpering Bimbo Sharon, the one who nestles up against Jack's purposely exposed hairy chest and coos and simpers, and says nothing when Jack demands, not asks, demands total commitment and then lowers the ultimatum that if Sharon is committed to him, she must break with Phil entirely.
Observation: Jack spoke about the Ice Queen tonight, and Sharon, uncharacteristically, is jealous. Jack says Ronnie couldn't be happy because there was something dark about her. Yet, this is the woman with whom he was prepared to run away with rather than have her face prison. Jack loved Ronnie even after she carried out the worst possible deception on him. He should realise by now that Ronnie was obsessed with him and having a baby. And Sharon should realise that she's the rebound from Ronnie divorcing him because she's the closest thing to a blonde Mitchell there is around at this time.
Jack wants to be a family with Sharon and Denny? Last week, he included Amy in that equation, but she seems to be conveniently forgotten along with Jack's other two children in France and Portugal whom he never sees and never references. Tell me, does Sharon know that one of Jack's children's mothers is Sam Mitchell, Phil's sister and her own former sister-in-law? I don't think so.
You know, if Glenda had stuck around, Jack would have fucked her; and if Sharon hadn't returned, he'd have scraped the bottom of the (faux) Mitchell barrel and settled for Shirley.
Another Observation: There's no disguising the fact that Letitia Dean has put on a hefty amount of weight. Not even the colour black can help her now, but the full-length flowing coat she wore tonight didn't do her any favours and made her look like a balloon. The hair was right, however.
Oh Denise Dooby-Doo
Ian's latest song. (Wonder if he sings this under his breath on the stall)?
So now we know that Patrick's storyline, a relevant one of the difficulty of caring for an elderly relative, is really a - yes - plot device in the development of Ian's and Denise's slow-burning love affair. This week, they're friends; next week, they kiss. Well, at least unfunny Kim has now elevated Ian to the position of "nice prat".
The Wrath of Dot
Another "Oh Grandma" elderly storyline, with Dot's obsessive concern about items missing from her home worrying Poppy and Fatboy about maybe perhaps Dot, you know, losing it because of her age. Mind you, Dot's sharper than Poppy will ever be.in her prime, but I suppose it is a genuine concern - especially since Dot's convinced that Cora's the culprit and has made a copy of her key. The clue is with Fatboy, who's got his own key from a copy made by Poppy.
This is a filler storyline which, eventually, is supposed to be funny and gives us the worst of June Brown, in unfunny, head-bobbing, cartoon mode.
This is Billy's song, however.
Let's remember a few things about Billy Mitchell as he trots off to make Phil Mitchell listen (because Sharon couldn't make Phil listen today because she had to go home and fuck Jack):-
- Billy was an abused child who grew up to be an abuser (his nephew Jamie).
- Billy was an ex-drug pusher, who hooked Steve Owen and who caused Beppe di Marco to have a heart attack.
- Billy is the runt of the Mitchell litter.
- Billy's inaction and inability to deal with a potential eviction situation made his family - Honey and their two small children - homeless at Christmas. Peggy had to take them in.
- This happened after Billy had stolen money from Peggy's charity box.
- Billy stole extensively from Janine's credit card, abusing his position of trust.
- Billy was stealing money from the post (a storyline which was inexplicably dropped after Billy found a horde of cannibis in the post - the inference being that Billy was going to go back to dealing drugs.)
And, most importantly of all, it was Billy who suggested that he and Lola go to Phil for help when Social Services took Lexi into care. They decided to disclose Lexi's paternity to Phil, which was all Phil needed to embark on his warped journey of atonement.
Having said all that, Billy talked a good talk and made many valid points, but - because this was Billy - Phil didn't listen. His mind was made up. Basically, I think his prejudice towards Lola stems from the fact that she's from Billy's branch of the Mitchells - the runts of the litter, the ones who couldn't cope and who resorted to dumping their children in care. Lola screams Billydom and Loserville, and that's why Phil's determined to keep his grandchild.
Awfully written storyline.
Another meh episode. Is anything ever going to happen again in Walford?
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