B A ... As In Butcher Abandonment (It's a Generational Issue)

There's one thing EastEnders does right, consistently, and even when they don't realise they're doing it right - and that's showing families defined by what can only be described as a generational Achilles heel.

The more ascertaining viewer recognises the tragic flaw from dramatic depiction and from a relation of character backstories. The characters, themselves, depending on the depth and ability of the writers behind these characters, may or may not recognise their dark star.

Without a doubt, the best depiction of such is exemplified by the Mitchell family. Theirs is a long-standing tale of generational alcohol abuse heavily tinged with violence.

We've known for years, at least since the time Barbara Windsor took over the role as Peggy and had that character more fleshed out, that Eric, her husband who'd died years before, had been an alcoholic who regularly beat her and her sons. We watched as Grant fought his violent tendencies, which stemmed, in part, from his experiences in the Falklands War, but also from his upbringing. We're more familiar with Phil's demons - his own alcohol and drug addiction problems as well as his tendency to be violent with members of his own family.

Billy's side of the Mitchells were ineffectual parents who gave their children up to the public care system, where Billy, himself was abused and which taught him to abuse his nephew Jamie. Billy was put into care, his firstborn son was brought up in care, and his granddaughter and great-grandchild have experienced social care first-hand. So there's a generational pattern established there.

Archie, Eric Mitchell's brother, confirmed that, as boys he, Eric and Clive had been regularly beaten by their father, who was, himself, an alcholic. We know how Archie turned out.

The Brannings have a history of impregnating women, whilst their own female family members have a history of promiscuity. 

Jim only married Reenie, his first wife, because he'd got her pregnant. Max's first two marriages were because the woman in question - first Rachel and then Tanya - were pregnant. Jack's left four children by four different women, three of them related to one another. Carol, Suzy and Bianca have all led lives dominated by promiscuity.

Taking it further to the Branning satellites, Cora Cross, Tanya's mother, is an alcoholic, never without a drink in her hand and always with a permanent buzz on. She was most likely drunk when she conceived her first child, whom she gave up for adoption. She was certainly drunk, and five months pregnant with Tanya, when she was on her way to marry her husband. She referenced as much on the day Tanya married Greg Jessop.

Rainie, her sometimes-older-sometimes-younger (again, depending on the writers) daughter is a full-blown alcoholic whose also dabbled in hard drugs. She's seeking help from Alcoholics Anonymous and recognises that her addictions are encouraged by association with her mother and sister, so she's removed herself from their sphere, for her own good.

Tanya is also a drunk, again never without a wineglass or an excuse for one. She drinks when she's happy, she drinks when she's sad. She drinks when she's lonely. When she's with friends, she pops the cork. She's been known to drink in the morning and until very late at night.

Both women learned their behaviour patterns from Cora, and Lauren's acquired her budding alcoholism from observing how dependent her mother, her aunt and her grandmother are on that little pick-me-up to make them feel better and forget whatever is bugging them at the moment.

Which leads us to the Butchers ...

A certain commentator on the Walford Web Bullyboi Complex and Emporium is playing free and arrogant with a bit of the old passive aggressive, regarding Janine - especially with the fact that Janine abandoned her newborn child to the care of a man she didn't trust (who happened to be her husband).

This selfsame commentator stated authoritatively that she accepted Janine may have been suffering from PND, but women suffering from that malaise didn't usually abandon their children.

(This, stated as fact, after that very same commentator, rather brusquely upbraided a newish poster on an opinion stated as fact. There are none so blind, as the song says, as those who will not see, but there you go).

PND affects women in many different ways. It might be true that some sufferers do abandon children. It may be true that some do not. It's been proven true that women who suffer from PND have actually killed their children. That's not opinon; that's fact. If she has a problem comprehending that as fact, she should Google Andrea Yates or, perhaps, read this article.

Janine's pregnancy came at a time of whirlwind emotional upheaval in her life. She'd bonded with her maternal grandmother, who'd died. A very wealthy woman, she left Janine her entire fortune; overnight, Janine went from being a grifter living hand-to-mouth, to being able to afford a very comfortable lifestyle. She'd begun a relationship with Michael Moon, which was unorthodox if nothing else. Pat died, and she was in the process of grieving for her. Her brother was effectively exiled from Walford, and thus, she was isolated, with no close relatives or friends in whom to confide.

Even before all of this, Janine had emotional and psychological issues as a result of her family history. She was a late child, born years after the rest of her brothers and sisters, and unplanned. When she was a toddler, her mother died from cancer. Unable to cope with two teenagers and a young child, her father farmed her out to be raised by her adult older sister. When he remarried, Clare foisted her back on Frank and Pat. She always felt on the periphery of whatever family group had custody of her, and she was passed back and forth from father to sister, almost on a whim. She learned from an early age that even the closest of relatives let one down and couldn't be trusted.

When she finally settled with Frank and Pat, Frank had a breakdown and abandoned his family. When he recovered, after a bit, Janine left to live with him in Manchester. After a few years, he left her, again with Clare, and returned to Walford where he married Peggy Mitchell. When Janine showed up, she was treated as a nuisance, and when Frank and Peggy split, Frank abandoned Janine yet again, and Peggy threw her out on the street. She was sixteen.

Janine's idea of security was an older man father figure who was financially solvent. She didn't ask for love. She didn't believe in it.

This is everything that was going through her mind when she found herself pregnant by Michael - a man who'd rejected her amorous advances when she was on her uppers, only to respond to them when she was an heiress.

By the time Scarlett was allowed home from the hospital, Janine had had to deal with planning a wedding whilst heavily pregnant, being told by the local weird woman that her baby wouldn't be loved, presented with a very sick baby after a premature birth, and sitting 24/7 at the hospital with her daughter, often alone, because her husband couldn't man up to the responsibility. Once mother and baby were at home, Michael then proceeded to systematically chip away at the self-esteem and self-confidence of Janine, who was exhausted from what she'd been through, hormonal and clearly suffering from PND. He lied, he was secretive, he sought to distract her with shiny gifts (paid for with her money), constantly alluded to her mental state, derided her for her daddy and trust issues, and implied on more than one occasion that she was not a good mother.

In fact on the night she left, he massively told her this, which tipped her over the edge and caused her to leave, broken.

But Janine was also fulfilling yet another generational trait. Frank abandoned his family and his children on several occasions, often leaving them in dire straits. He abandoned Pat with enormous debts, and he embezzled money from Peggy when he left her. He thought nothing of dumping Janine throughout her life.

Diane ran away when she was an adolescent. She later stayed in France, whilst on a holiday there with Mark Fowler, later becoming pregnant by a German student. She would also abandon her toddler son with Ricky and a pregnant Bianca, so she could follow her musician then-boyfriend off on tour. Ricky has abandoned Liam on occasions, once not even seeing him for a year; and he decided to take a job in Dubai, without even waiting to say goodbye to his children or to ask Pat and Carol if they'd look after the kids.

Abandonment  is a generational flaw of the Butcher family. Janine felt it most keenly, and she probably felt it and recognised the fatal flaw in herself as she drove away from her daughter.

She left for her own sanity, which - in the end - will benefit her daughter. I certainly wouldn't condemn her for what she did, considering the person with whom she was dealing, who was doing all the psychological bullying; but then, for some people, Michael Moon is a hero.

Go figure.

Sometimes, two mirrors aren't even enough.