So Gary Lucy is the first axing of 2014. I'm not surprised. With the exception of the odious Dexter, whom no one seems to like except the current EP, DTC seems intent on wiping the slate clean of Newman castings.
Lucy's character, Danny Pennant, was returned to the fold on a whim and a pander. He was the plot device by which Chryed would leave, but his appearance in that storyline left many questions to ponder.
Was Danny Pennant gay? Although he came onto and slept with Syed, it was never actually stated or mooted. Was Danny Pennant a moral reprobate, someone who would do anything to get what he wanted, and he wanted Syed's money to invest.
A certain section of the viewing demographic clamoured for Pennant's return, and thus we were given him on a second chance, introduced as a friend of the Market Inspector, Mr Lister no less (go figure), who was on hand for the opening of Ian Beale's new restaurant. He shortly thereafter slept with Janine. The EastEnders' official website described him as bi-sexual, but he hung around on the periphery forever with no character development, no storyline and precious little interaction with any of the other characters.
Then in the lead-up to Christmas, he got chummy with and snogged Lucy Beale. Was he the older man who would guide her self-obsessed character from entitled adolescent to young adulthood? Shortly after the arrival, he was caught snogging Johnnie Carter byThe Creature from the Black Lagoon Shirley - eh voila'! - he becomes the natural successor to Christian: the predatory gay (read bi-) whose duty it is to lead recalcitrant young men out of the closet.
And now he's just another big-name television actor left to fester in the background of a soap who, until recently, seemed to have lost its way. We'll never know what or who Danny Pennant was or what he could have become, but it must be disheartening for the actor to land a plum job on the BBC's flagship show, and then to be left to flounder.
Bar Wars.
Sharon wants a bar, and now that she's Princess Leia to Phil's Han Solo (with apologies to Harrison Ford), what Sharon wants is what Sharon gets. This is the morning after the night before, and several people are nursing hangovers, including Sharon's new BFF, Linda Carter, who veers between AngieLite and PeggyLite as the Vic landlady.
Suffice it to say that Linda doesn't take too kindly to the fact that Sharon and Phil are thinking about buying and opening a bar/pub in the area (with money Phil got from the Carters buying the Vic). Linda wants to be Queen Bee in Walford, which begs a bit of concern to be had.
The Carters are newcomers to the area. All well and good that they're Shirley's newly-written family, but they are still strangers in the area. Shirley never was Miss Popularity, herself, and she's still jealous as a rubbish bin cat over Sharon and Phil being together. After all, Phil only bought Shirley a greasy spoon cafe and a burger bar, both of which she managed to run into the ground. Still, at the moment, she's "working" for Mick and drinking up the profits. The Carters made a very initial error upon arriving of trying to sack Tracey, and they still haven't managed to get on the good side of Dot.
I'm actually liking that DTC is showing them having difficulties in running the pub and settling in with the locals. But Linda's bigger-than-life ego and assumption that as landlady of the Vic, she's going to be the be-all and end-all of the Square is wrong. She's right to be rattled. Sharon was brought up in the Vic. It was her childhood home. She was landlady there and worked there with her father and stepmother. Her father died in the building. Her husband was killed in front of it. She's also managed and owned the club which is now known as R and R on two occasions.
And she's known to everyone in the Square who's lived in Walford for longer than ten years. She is a fixture. Linda's right to assume that the locals would flock to a pub fronted by a familiar face, rather than be served by a stranger. Besides, Shirley's face is hardly a welcoming sight.
This proposal by Sharon and Phil is the backdrop to yet another Mitchell feud ...
Bring it on.
Rising Damp or Are The Carters Just Stupid?
Only in an episode of EastEnders could Phil Mitchell come off as Han Solo one moment and morph into Rigsby the next.
The Carters have discovered that the Vic has a hefty case of rising damp - only three weeks after purchasing and moving into the pub. Of course, Mick bought the place, sight unseen, on his sister's word, a handshake and a bagful of cash, with no solicitor or surveyor involvement. Now they find that this problem is serious enough to cost them even more serious money.
Something's not right here, and it's been something that's niggled me about the Carters since they arrived. The sale of the Vic is transacted on Christmas Day, and they move in on Boxing Day, hot on the heels of a cheap booze extravaganza farewell by the Moons. Who buys a pub on Christmas Day and moves in on Boxing Day?
Their first problem, opening up on the 27th is that they're out of stock and they know no one, no contacts, neither in Watford or Walford, who can replenish their supply. They have to ask Alfie, who comes up trumps. Then, they're amazed that people start complaining because they aren't serving food. With an all-singing/all-dancing kitchen facility, they're amazed that people come to a pub to do anything but drink. And thirdly, Linda's unseen mother, Elaine, a woman who's been in the pub game for forty years, keeps ringing to check and see if they've done this right or that right, remembered to order something or another that they need.
Although the Carters say they've been in the pub trade for twenty years, I'm wondering if - apart from the pub that Shirley burned down fifteen years ago - they've actually ever owned a pub. I'm wondering if they either worked exclusively for Linda's mother at her pub in Walford or if they managed it. The clue is in Shirley's response to Mick's accusation that he bought the pub because of her.
You wanted a pub, I gotcha one.
Shirley knows Phil and she also knows that, most likely, Phil knew about the structural problem when he sold the pub. Tough shit. They opted to have no survey, no solicitor and no accountant to go over the books of the business, so any fault in the property found after completion of the sale is their problem.
Caveat emporium. Buyer beware.
Still, Shirley reckons that she can bring Phil around to see sense, and at least get him to stump up half the cost of the repair.
Again, tough shit. It's their problem. Besides, he's focused on his new venture and his new old relationship with Sharon.
When Sharon returns at the end of the Carters' visit, she and Phil share a laugh about their situation at the Vic. I don't think Sharon was laughing at Linda, but moreso at the stupidity of Shirley,
I would think this poses a dilemma for DTC, and I hope his abundant ego doesn't end up getting his knickers in a twist. I know he loves the Mitchells, but the Carters are also his fond creation, and the big question is who's going to come out the top dog in Walford - the new owners of The Vic, or the Mitchells and Sharon at the new venture?
No one ever beats the Mitchells, and Treadwell-Collins should be more than aware of the fact that the show suffers abundantly when the Mitchells are on a downward spiral, and the idea of Shirley fronting and centering the show isn't that much of an attractive prospect to some viewers.
So now we really do have bar wars, and the prospect of two drinking establishments in the Square. Let the games begin.
Car Wars.
Continuity reigns at last! It's been acknowledged that Roxy did indeed own the car lot. She owned the freehold of the thing, which David duly bought with money blackmailed from Janine. Of course, this means that Janine actually now owns the car lot's premises (just as she used to years ago) and half a share in the business - that is, if EastEnders have returned to their justice mode, abandoned when Saint Stacey Slater was allowed to walk away from a murder.
Still, Max is now David's "employee." And they've exchanged a portacabin for something that looks like a cross between a sauna and a stable - only fitting for two men who reckon themselves sexual studs and who have both had sex on the premises.
I'm Team Max, simply because I hate the way David conveniently uses Carol's illness whenever Max becomes recalcitrant and David needs him to sit up and beg.
Max is a loser, but David is an even bigger loser, and I want to see him left with exactly the amount of money with which he arrived. One pound.
BabyMamma Mystery.
You know Dominic Treadwell-Collins is back calling the shots when we have another pregnancy with a "Who's the Daddy?" mystery. Last time, it was Heather. This time, we have to guess who the Mommy is before having to guess the identity of the Daddy.
Finding out the identity of the owner of the positive pregnancy test has given Carol a distraction from her own woes. It's not Bianca. It's not Whitney, and it's not Lauren.
Shit. We know who it is - hairy Cindy the Greek, and the daddy candidates are TJ and Liam. Same old same old, but with the prospective mother being one of the most entitled and unlikeable young characters on the show.
Here's a question: Why hasn't Phil Mitchell, no friend of Ian Beale's, gone to the police about her theft of his £10,000? OK, Ian's returned it, but she committed a major crime, and she should have the shit scared out of her arrogant little arse. If not the police, why the hell hasn't Ian, who's supposedly responsible for her, punished her for doing what she did?
This is one pregnancy too far and one totally unnecessary with another unnecessary character. I hope that, baby or not, they bugger her off back to Devon and forget about her.
Daddy's Girl.
Another big surprise! Two reveals in the course of one week. I said all along that pervy Jake's liaision with ...
THE. WORST. ACTRESS. EVER. TO. APPEAR. IN. EASTENDERS.
was just a reprise of Tanya-Max-Rachel or even Stacey-Max-Tanya. It proved that Lauren, for all her self-righteousness and judgemental attitude toward her father and his peccadilloes (whilst ignoring her mother's amorality as well), is really no better than either of her parents.
In this episode, she was confronted, after rolling and romping the bed with the much-tattoed, horse-toothed Jake, with his daughter walking in and finding her frantically looking for her shoes, suddenly realising, at ten years of age, that Daddy had been fooling around with a much, much younger woman - in fact, her babysitter.
I know this is as much of an epiphany as Lauren's going to have from this, and I know that she was meant to see herself in this situation, because it's been often mooted that Lauren was the child who always found out about Max's affairs. But in the wake of this situation, she morphed entirely into Max and sought to emotionally manipulate a vulnerable child, telling her to think of her mother and how upset she'd be, promising never to ever enter the Stone household again.
In fact, Lauren's imploring of Bella regarding her discovery was a euphemism for "this is our little secret." It was another form of bullying, and the scene didn't benefit from Jacqueline Jossa's pulling faces and funny voices, both of which she employs in emotionally-charged scenes.
Max is about to reveal all to Sadie, inadvertantly, who bizarrely shared a scene at the Vic where Mick Carter suddenly acquired the personality and vocal mannerisms of Alfie Moon, and then the shit really will hit the fan after Monday's episode.
We know that this storyline and reveal is the swansong for Sadie, but where Jake goes, except back to the bottle after this, is anyone's guess. Wherever he goes, I hope he takes Lauren with him.
Watchable episode, but the weakest one of the week.
Lucy's character, Danny Pennant, was returned to the fold on a whim and a pander. He was the plot device by which Chryed would leave, but his appearance in that storyline left many questions to ponder.
Was Danny Pennant gay? Although he came onto and slept with Syed, it was never actually stated or mooted. Was Danny Pennant a moral reprobate, someone who would do anything to get what he wanted, and he wanted Syed's money to invest.
A certain section of the viewing demographic clamoured for Pennant's return, and thus we were given him on a second chance, introduced as a friend of the Market Inspector, Mr Lister no less (go figure), who was on hand for the opening of Ian Beale's new restaurant. He shortly thereafter slept with Janine. The EastEnders' official website described him as bi-sexual, but he hung around on the periphery forever with no character development, no storyline and precious little interaction with any of the other characters.
Then in the lead-up to Christmas, he got chummy with and snogged Lucy Beale. Was he the older man who would guide her self-obsessed character from entitled adolescent to young adulthood? Shortly after the arrival, he was caught snogging Johnnie Carter by
And now he's just another big-name television actor left to fester in the background of a soap who, until recently, seemed to have lost its way. We'll never know what or who Danny Pennant was or what he could have become, but it must be disheartening for the actor to land a plum job on the BBC's flagship show, and then to be left to flounder.
Bar Wars.
Sharon wants a bar, and now that she's Princess Leia to Phil's Han Solo (with apologies to Harrison Ford), what Sharon wants is what Sharon gets. This is the morning after the night before, and several people are nursing hangovers, including Sharon's new BFF, Linda Carter, who veers between AngieLite and PeggyLite as the Vic landlady.
Suffice it to say that Linda doesn't take too kindly to the fact that Sharon and Phil are thinking about buying and opening a bar/pub in the area (with money Phil got from the Carters buying the Vic). Linda wants to be Queen Bee in Walford, which begs a bit of concern to be had.
The Carters are newcomers to the area. All well and good that they're Shirley's newly-written family, but they are still strangers in the area. Shirley never was Miss Popularity, herself, and she's still jealous as a rubbish bin cat over Sharon and Phil being together. After all, Phil only bought Shirley a greasy spoon cafe and a burger bar, both of which she managed to run into the ground. Still, at the moment, she's "working" for Mick and drinking up the profits. The Carters made a very initial error upon arriving of trying to sack Tracey, and they still haven't managed to get on the good side of Dot.
I'm actually liking that DTC is showing them having difficulties in running the pub and settling in with the locals. But Linda's bigger-than-life ego and assumption that as landlady of the Vic, she's going to be the be-all and end-all of the Square is wrong. She's right to be rattled. Sharon was brought up in the Vic. It was her childhood home. She was landlady there and worked there with her father and stepmother. Her father died in the building. Her husband was killed in front of it. She's also managed and owned the club which is now known as R and R on two occasions.
And she's known to everyone in the Square who's lived in Walford for longer than ten years. She is a fixture. Linda's right to assume that the locals would flock to a pub fronted by a familiar face, rather than be served by a stranger. Besides, Shirley's face is hardly a welcoming sight.
This proposal by Sharon and Phil is the backdrop to yet another Mitchell feud ...
Bring it on.
Rising Damp or Are The Carters Just Stupid?
The Carters have discovered that the Vic has a hefty case of rising damp - only three weeks after purchasing and moving into the pub. Of course, Mick bought the place, sight unseen, on his sister's word, a handshake and a bagful of cash, with no solicitor or surveyor involvement. Now they find that this problem is serious enough to cost them even more serious money.
Something's not right here, and it's been something that's niggled me about the Carters since they arrived. The sale of the Vic is transacted on Christmas Day, and they move in on Boxing Day, hot on the heels of a cheap booze extravaganza farewell by the Moons. Who buys a pub on Christmas Day and moves in on Boxing Day?
Their first problem, opening up on the 27th is that they're out of stock and they know no one, no contacts, neither in Watford or Walford, who can replenish their supply. They have to ask Alfie, who comes up trumps. Then, they're amazed that people start complaining because they aren't serving food. With an all-singing/all-dancing kitchen facility, they're amazed that people come to a pub to do anything but drink. And thirdly, Linda's unseen mother, Elaine, a woman who's been in the pub game for forty years, keeps ringing to check and see if they've done this right or that right, remembered to order something or another that they need.
Although the Carters say they've been in the pub trade for twenty years, I'm wondering if - apart from the pub that Shirley burned down fifteen years ago - they've actually ever owned a pub. I'm wondering if they either worked exclusively for Linda's mother at her pub in Walford or if they managed it. The clue is in Shirley's response to Mick's accusation that he bought the pub because of her.
You wanted a pub, I gotcha one.
Shirley knows Phil and she also knows that, most likely, Phil knew about the structural problem when he sold the pub. Tough shit. They opted to have no survey, no solicitor and no accountant to go over the books of the business, so any fault in the property found after completion of the sale is their problem.
Caveat emporium. Buyer beware.
Still, Shirley reckons that she can bring Phil around to see sense, and at least get him to stump up half the cost of the repair.
Again, tough shit. It's their problem. Besides, he's focused on his new venture and his new old relationship with Sharon.
When Sharon returns at the end of the Carters' visit, she and Phil share a laugh about their situation at the Vic. I don't think Sharon was laughing at Linda, but moreso at the stupidity of Shirley,
I would think this poses a dilemma for DTC, and I hope his abundant ego doesn't end up getting his knickers in a twist. I know he loves the Mitchells, but the Carters are also his fond creation, and the big question is who's going to come out the top dog in Walford - the new owners of The Vic, or the Mitchells and Sharon at the new venture?
No one ever beats the Mitchells, and Treadwell-Collins should be more than aware of the fact that the show suffers abundantly when the Mitchells are on a downward spiral, and the idea of Shirley fronting and centering the show isn't that much of an attractive prospect to some viewers.
So now we really do have bar wars, and the prospect of two drinking establishments in the Square. Let the games begin.
Continuity reigns at last! It's been acknowledged that Roxy did indeed own the car lot. She owned the freehold of the thing, which David duly bought with money blackmailed from Janine. Of course, this means that Janine actually now owns the car lot's premises (just as she used to years ago) and half a share in the business - that is, if EastEnders have returned to their justice mode, abandoned when Saint Stacey Slater was allowed to walk away from a murder.
Still, Max is now David's "employee." And they've exchanged a portacabin for something that looks like a cross between a sauna and a stable - only fitting for two men who reckon themselves sexual studs and who have both had sex on the premises.
I'm Team Max, simply because I hate the way David conveniently uses Carol's illness whenever Max becomes recalcitrant and David needs him to sit up and beg.
Max is a loser, but David is an even bigger loser, and I want to see him left with exactly the amount of money with which he arrived. One pound.
BabyMamma Mystery.
You know Dominic Treadwell-Collins is back calling the shots when we have another pregnancy with a "Who's the Daddy?" mystery. Last time, it was Heather. This time, we have to guess who the Mommy is before having to guess the identity of the Daddy.
Finding out the identity of the owner of the positive pregnancy test has given Carol a distraction from her own woes. It's not Bianca. It's not Whitney, and it's not Lauren.
Shit. We know who it is - hairy Cindy the Greek, and the daddy candidates are TJ and Liam. Same old same old, but with the prospective mother being one of the most entitled and unlikeable young characters on the show.
Here's a question: Why hasn't Phil Mitchell, no friend of Ian Beale's, gone to the police about her theft of his £10,000? OK, Ian's returned it, but she committed a major crime, and she should have the shit scared out of her arrogant little arse. If not the police, why the hell hasn't Ian, who's supposedly responsible for her, punished her for doing what she did?
This is one pregnancy too far and one totally unnecessary with another unnecessary character. I hope that, baby or not, they bugger her off back to Devon and forget about her.
Daddy's Girl.
Another big surprise! Two reveals in the course of one week. I said all along that pervy Jake's liaision with ...
THE. WORST. ACTRESS. EVER. TO. APPEAR. IN. EASTENDERS.
was just a reprise of Tanya-Max-Rachel or even Stacey-Max-Tanya. It proved that Lauren, for all her self-righteousness and judgemental attitude toward her father and his peccadilloes (whilst ignoring her mother's amorality as well), is really no better than either of her parents.
In this episode, she was confronted, after rolling and romping the bed with the much-tattoed, horse-toothed Jake, with his daughter walking in and finding her frantically looking for her shoes, suddenly realising, at ten years of age, that Daddy had been fooling around with a much, much younger woman - in fact, her babysitter.
I know this is as much of an epiphany as Lauren's going to have from this, and I know that she was meant to see herself in this situation, because it's been often mooted that Lauren was the child who always found out about Max's affairs. But in the wake of this situation, she morphed entirely into Max and sought to emotionally manipulate a vulnerable child, telling her to think of her mother and how upset she'd be, promising never to ever enter the Stone household again.
In fact, Lauren's imploring of Bella regarding her discovery was a euphemism for "this is our little secret." It was another form of bullying, and the scene didn't benefit from Jacqueline Jossa's pulling faces and funny voices, both of which she employs in emotionally-charged scenes.
Max is about to reveal all to Sadie, inadvertantly, who bizarrely shared a scene at the Vic where Mick Carter suddenly acquired the personality and vocal mannerisms of Alfie Moon, and then the shit really will hit the fan after Monday's episode.
We know that this storyline and reveal is the swansong for Sadie, but where Jake goes, except back to the bottle after this, is anyone's guess. Wherever he goes, I hope he takes Lauren with him.
Watchable episode, but the weakest one of the week.
I agree it was the weakest episode of the week but I still can't bash it. This episode would've been considered a very strong one no less than 6 months ago. We all know the depths in poor quality this show has been in in the not-so-distant past.
ReplyDeleteWas I the only person who got the symbolism in the Lauren scenes though? We saw the shot Max looking out his window as the portakabin was being carted off. The camera pans down to see Lauren doing the exact same thing. Later in the episode we see Lauren leave the Stone's house, she turns back to see Bella staring out the window at her. History repeats itself.
Im confused about the Carters. I thought DTC created them and based them on his own family but Kellie Bright says in an interview with Whats On TV that she was first approached about the part over a year ago.
ReplyDeletePuts the whole thing into a new prospective.