And thus she departs ...
Arguably, the most complicated, most nuanced character in the history of the show, and a brilliant legacy character as well - daughter of Frank Butcher, step-daughter of Pat and Peggy, step-sister to David Wicks and Phil Mitchell.
Janine is no more. She's gone. And what's more the pity is that the majority of people have watched this show, either from 2000 or from 2006, and they only buy into the myth of "evil" Janine. It's always amazing to find out how many numpties think of Janine as a multiple murderer, which is one thing that she's now.
Barry?
That was an accident, pure and simple. Barry got into Janine's space and she pushed him away. He lost his balance and fell down the mountainside. By the time she got to him, as callous as she seemed, he was dead within minutes, and no ambulance could have saved him.
David, the elderly Jewish man she was about to marry? The guy was sick when she got involved with him. If you want to blame anyone for shocking him into an early grave, blame Ricky and Pat.
Danielle? Come on. She did the show a favour with that drip, who stood there like a deer mesmerised by the headlights of a car, with ample time to move.
In actual fact, we know she only killed once, and that was in self-defence, against a psychopath who was totally out to kill her. And yet, there still exist some people incapable of critical thought who maintain that Janine "drove" Michael to do what he did.
Luddites, psychopaths are born, not made.
As sad as I am to see Charlie Brooks leave the show, because she's the best actress by miles, and sadder yet because I have a feeling that she won't be returning, I'm glad she left before WonderBoy got his seedy little tentacles into her and returned her to grifting pantomime status she held under his tenure and that of his master Santer. Still, he did get his oar in in the final scene and try to make his mark. For that insult, I give him this song ...
The Departure of the Queen of Sheba.
I wanted to give this a 9 or a 10, but I couldn't, simply because this Executive Producer, who was part of the team who turned Janine into a panto bitch, cheated her out of a moment of telling a few much-needed home truths to the chav contingent who inhabit the home she owns and in which she allows them to remain at a fraction of the cost of London rent of a house of that type. In fact, had Janine not bought that house and paid off Pat's debts, Carol, Bianca and her brats would have found themselves in a high-rise on a sink estate.
Some of the home truths she could have thrown back in Carol's sourpussed, self-righteous face? The fact that she bullied Janine's brother completely out of Walford, isolating her at a vulnerable time of her life, when she was in the early stages of pregnancy and grieving Pat. Both Carol and Bianca have never once shown proper gratitude for what Janine did for them. They were often late with the rent, never had a good word to say to her and were overtly rude. Bianca knew Janine as a child and a young adolescent. When Janine returned to Walford in 2000, Bianca was gone and she didn't see Janine again until 2008; from then on, she did everything in her power to turn Ricky against his sister.
As for sitting in judgement of Janine, who the feck are these people? Ian wasn't too good to sleep with her on two occasions; he was unfaithful to Jane on a further occasion. Jane slept with Ian when her first husband lay dying. She then slept with Grant Mitchell whilst with Ian and attempted to seduce Masood. Carol is a bad-tempered bully at the best of times, and when any of her brood or family go against her way, it's the highway for them. At the moment, David's in that situation, for having told the truth. She wanted him to lie in order for Janine to be imprisoned; she was rightly offended at Kat's lie, but she gets the royal hump with David because he tells the truth.
A cat has better morals than Carol.
Both Bianca and Sonia have cheated on their respective husbands, but assume the moral high ground when anyone tries the same against him. Sonia has done nothing but speak to Ian and David as though they were shite since her return, when both these men are not only blood relatives of her sister, they are also the only extended paternal family her daughter has.
And as for the pity party being thrown for poor, innocent Alice, consider this: Alice conspired to commit murder. That little crime, in and of itself, carries a life sentence. And it's been conveniently forgotten also, that Alice plotted with Michael to kidnap Scarlett. That both those crimes, to which Alice confessed, have been blithely thrown out the window in order to give the local yokels the chance to take a pop at Janine was nothing less than a disgrace to the character, the history of the show and her legacy. Granted, most viewers who have watched the show since 2000, know only the cartoon grifter Evil Janine, just as they know Philth the Thug, but anyone who watched before that, watched Janine grow up or Phil when he was the restraining influence on a PTSD Grant, would see why they've turned into the characters they are today. They'd recognise Janine's abandonment issues and her trust issues. Everything about her confession in court as well as that godawful scene in the Vic, the ambiguous final scene where we're left uncertain as to whether or not she'll go to Paris to fetch Scarlett and the appalling fact that she didn't receive Julia's Theme at the end is insulting to the character and the actress. And for anyone who says that she didn't get that theme because she may be back, I point you in the direction of the fragrant hypocrite Jane, who's returned innumerable times since receiving her goodbye theme in March 2011.
What did save this episode and what was poignant was Janine's reconciliation with David. The line of the night goes to him, when Janine asked him why he did what he did for her.
Because you're my sister.
That line and the fact that Janine recognises David for the bounder that he is, his silent acknowledgement that he finds playing paterfamilias more than difficult, and the final farewell of the Butcher children, who still love Janine, was worth more than the insult of the previous scenes. Especially touching was Liam's farewell. It's a shame this show has whitewashed Ricky out of existence, but it's nice to know that Terry is a nice person who sees good in everyone.
David should dump Carol. She'll take his money to pay for her private treatment, but it didn't mean a rat's arse to her that Janine pointed this out to her. That's how entitled she is. And after all of that, she left David with the money. She is a far, far bigger and better person than any of that chav lot who mouth off and mouth breath. I was hoping she would throw her drink in Carol's face.
Another Fine Mess for the Moons.
So that was Alfie's "dark secret"? Is anyone surprised? The Moons are all con artists who fail inevitably, but he'd better be looking for other employment at the moment because the way things are going with Kat, she'll be away for a few months for having perjured herself. And did I not hear anything about Janine withdrawing her charges against Stacey? She left forthwith, so presumably our girl is still wanted.
If this is the best TPTB can come up with for Alfie and for Kat, perhaps it's time they left the show now. We were led to believe that Alfie had "done something bad." To me, that usually means a robbery or smuggled some drugs or something of that sort. It shows you the sort to which TPTB are pitching that show when all they could think of was Alfie marrying someone on the side or having and affair. Proof positive that the people watching the show today and even those writing for it do not know the characters.
The actress who played Nicole will ostensibly sell the burger van, as she can't take it all the way back to Australia with her, but the character was one-dimensional, badly written and badly portrayed. It was obvious from the getgo that this was only going to be a five-minute storyline. What's puzzling me even more is that in the past two episodes, the bookies have figured in background shots on the show. I can't think of a better place for Alfie to work than at a betting shop. But since Sharon's forgotten she owns that, that's a non-starter.
The highlight of that dire storyline was the look Alfie shot poor pitiful Skanky as she sat, practicing her worried look, in the Moons' front room. Kat risked her freedom for that. Oh, well, it looks as though "I'm'avin' twins" is this year's "I'm a dirty girl."
This was a good episode. It was watchable, but it was annoying, because it proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that this EP still does not understand the nuanced character Janine is, but I suppose his motto is "Keep It Simple _________".
I'll miss Charlie Brooks, and I don't expect she'll be back, at least for a long time, if ever; and the show will suffer from her absence.
Arguably, the most complicated, most nuanced character in the history of the show, and a brilliant legacy character as well - daughter of Frank Butcher, step-daughter of Pat and Peggy, step-sister to David Wicks and Phil Mitchell.
Janine is no more. She's gone. And what's more the pity is that the majority of people have watched this show, either from 2000 or from 2006, and they only buy into the myth of "evil" Janine. It's always amazing to find out how many numpties think of Janine as a multiple murderer, which is one thing that she's now.
Barry?
That was an accident, pure and simple. Barry got into Janine's space and she pushed him away. He lost his balance and fell down the mountainside. By the time she got to him, as callous as she seemed, he was dead within minutes, and no ambulance could have saved him.
David, the elderly Jewish man she was about to marry? The guy was sick when she got involved with him. If you want to blame anyone for shocking him into an early grave, blame Ricky and Pat.
Danielle? Come on. She did the show a favour with that drip, who stood there like a deer mesmerised by the headlights of a car, with ample time to move.
In actual fact, we know she only killed once, and that was in self-defence, against a psychopath who was totally out to kill her. And yet, there still exist some people incapable of critical thought who maintain that Janine "drove" Michael to do what he did.
Luddites, psychopaths are born, not made.
As sad as I am to see Charlie Brooks leave the show, because she's the best actress by miles, and sadder yet because I have a feeling that she won't be returning, I'm glad she left before WonderBoy got his seedy little tentacles into her and returned her to grifting pantomime status she held under his tenure and that of his master Santer. Still, he did get his oar in in the final scene and try to make his mark. For that insult, I give him this song ...
I wanted to give this a 9 or a 10, but I couldn't, simply because this Executive Producer, who was part of the team who turned Janine into a panto bitch, cheated her out of a moment of telling a few much-needed home truths to the chav contingent who inhabit the home she owns and in which she allows them to remain at a fraction of the cost of London rent of a house of that type. In fact, had Janine not bought that house and paid off Pat's debts, Carol, Bianca and her brats would have found themselves in a high-rise on a sink estate.
Some of the home truths she could have thrown back in Carol's sourpussed, self-righteous face? The fact that she bullied Janine's brother completely out of Walford, isolating her at a vulnerable time of her life, when she was in the early stages of pregnancy and grieving Pat. Both Carol and Bianca have never once shown proper gratitude for what Janine did for them. They were often late with the rent, never had a good word to say to her and were overtly rude. Bianca knew Janine as a child and a young adolescent. When Janine returned to Walford in 2000, Bianca was gone and she didn't see Janine again until 2008; from then on, she did everything in her power to turn Ricky against his sister.
As for sitting in judgement of Janine, who the feck are these people? Ian wasn't too good to sleep with her on two occasions; he was unfaithful to Jane on a further occasion. Jane slept with Ian when her first husband lay dying. She then slept with Grant Mitchell whilst with Ian and attempted to seduce Masood. Carol is a bad-tempered bully at the best of times, and when any of her brood or family go against her way, it's the highway for them. At the moment, David's in that situation, for having told the truth. She wanted him to lie in order for Janine to be imprisoned; she was rightly offended at Kat's lie, but she gets the royal hump with David because he tells the truth.
A cat has better morals than Carol.
Both Bianca and Sonia have cheated on their respective husbands, but assume the moral high ground when anyone tries the same against him. Sonia has done nothing but speak to Ian and David as though they were shite since her return, when both these men are not only blood relatives of her sister, they are also the only extended paternal family her daughter has.
And as for the pity party being thrown for poor, innocent Alice, consider this: Alice conspired to commit murder. That little crime, in and of itself, carries a life sentence. And it's been conveniently forgotten also, that Alice plotted with Michael to kidnap Scarlett. That both those crimes, to which Alice confessed, have been blithely thrown out the window in order to give the local yokels the chance to take a pop at Janine was nothing less than a disgrace to the character, the history of the show and her legacy. Granted, most viewers who have watched the show since 2000, know only the cartoon grifter Evil Janine, just as they know Philth the Thug, but anyone who watched before that, watched Janine grow up or Phil when he was the restraining influence on a PTSD Grant, would see why they've turned into the characters they are today. They'd recognise Janine's abandonment issues and her trust issues. Everything about her confession in court as well as that godawful scene in the Vic, the ambiguous final scene where we're left uncertain as to whether or not she'll go to Paris to fetch Scarlett and the appalling fact that she didn't receive Julia's Theme at the end is insulting to the character and the actress. And for anyone who says that she didn't get that theme because she may be back, I point you in the direction of the fragrant hypocrite Jane, who's returned innumerable times since receiving her goodbye theme in March 2011.
What did save this episode and what was poignant was Janine's reconciliation with David. The line of the night goes to him, when Janine asked him why he did what he did for her.
Because you're my sister.
That line and the fact that Janine recognises David for the bounder that he is, his silent acknowledgement that he finds playing paterfamilias more than difficult, and the final farewell of the Butcher children, who still love Janine, was worth more than the insult of the previous scenes. Especially touching was Liam's farewell. It's a shame this show has whitewashed Ricky out of existence, but it's nice to know that Terry is a nice person who sees good in everyone.
David should dump Carol. She'll take his money to pay for her private treatment, but it didn't mean a rat's arse to her that Janine pointed this out to her. That's how entitled she is. And after all of that, she left David with the money. She is a far, far bigger and better person than any of that chav lot who mouth off and mouth breath. I was hoping she would throw her drink in Carol's face.
Another Fine Mess for the Moons.
So that was Alfie's "dark secret"? Is anyone surprised? The Moons are all con artists who fail inevitably, but he'd better be looking for other employment at the moment because the way things are going with Kat, she'll be away for a few months for having perjured herself. And did I not hear anything about Janine withdrawing her charges against Stacey? She left forthwith, so presumably our girl is still wanted.
If this is the best TPTB can come up with for Alfie and for Kat, perhaps it's time they left the show now. We were led to believe that Alfie had "done something bad." To me, that usually means a robbery or smuggled some drugs or something of that sort. It shows you the sort to which TPTB are pitching that show when all they could think of was Alfie marrying someone on the side or having and affair. Proof positive that the people watching the show today and even those writing for it do not know the characters.
The actress who played Nicole will ostensibly sell the burger van, as she can't take it all the way back to Australia with her, but the character was one-dimensional, badly written and badly portrayed. It was obvious from the getgo that this was only going to be a five-minute storyline. What's puzzling me even more is that in the past two episodes, the bookies have figured in background shots on the show. I can't think of a better place for Alfie to work than at a betting shop. But since Sharon's forgotten she owns that, that's a non-starter.
The highlight of that dire storyline was the look Alfie shot poor pitiful Skanky as she sat, practicing her worried look, in the Moons' front room. Kat risked her freedom for that. Oh, well, it looks as though "I'm'avin' twins" is this year's "I'm a dirty girl."
This was a good episode. It was watchable, but it was annoying, because it proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that this EP still does not understand the nuanced character Janine is, but I suppose his motto is "Keep It Simple _________".
I'll miss Charlie Brooks, and I don't expect she'll be back, at least for a long time, if ever; and the show will suffer from her absence.
I couldn't agree more about Janine - my favorite character by a mile. In fact one of the few likeable left.
ReplyDeleteThursdays episode came very close to being my last (until/if Janine returns) as I felt cheated by the crap that was doled out to her by the likes of gobshite that is Cancer Jackson and the other moral reprobates sitting in judgment like a bunch of Saints.
How dare she (Carol)stand there in the face of Janine telling her
"because I'm not like you Janine - I'm a good person, I don't scheme & plot AND NEITHER DOES ALICE"
WTF ? OMG what a fucking cheek ! Again conveniently forgetting whose roof she & her white trash scrubber family lives under.
It was only because she got off that I changed my mind about continuing to watch - that's how close I am to giving up on this once great show (I've watched from day 1).
Thank goodness for your sensible views & for putting the facts straight. Long may this blog continue.