Well, we all know what made this episode less than perfect, don't we? Walford's most unpopular offensive racial stereotype was back tonight, and far from keeping a low profile, Motormouth was back and as in-your-face as a newly relegated third-tier character can be. He had far too many scenes and too much dialogue, and stop this "cuz-cuz-cuz" crap with Abi and Lauren. Two years ago, you never knew they existed, and with his reappearance, it makes me wonder if that's the last we'll see of Rainie. Her relationship with Cora would be far more interesting to explore than the poor man's Fresh Prince of Bel Air.
I hope his contract isn't extended.
Phil sorely needs a gobsmacking dose of whuppass (or "whupparse" as they'd say here). Phil lies so damned much, I'm not sure he knows the truth, himself. He uses Jay remorselessly and trades upon Sharon's kindness to him in order to achieve his end - which is to make contact with Ben. Phil is actually quite disgusting the way he plays Jay, preying upon his most vulnerable point - the fact that Jay's fatherless - in order to stitch him up like a kipper. Every time Phil wants Jay onside, all he has to say is ~ You're like a son to me ~ which is a rank load of bullshit, and Jay knows it. Every time he walks away from Phil, there's something to draw him back.
Jay actually has a sense of moral justice, and he, rightly, takes the moral high ground with Phil in Phil's treatment of Sharon, bonking Shirley behind her back. Jay's cynicism should really be growing apace now, because he's clued onto Max's fanagling with silly Summerhayes (another one, who seems to have vanished into thin air) and has held him to account as well - not that either man would countenance anything Jay would say or do because they are so far gone down the amoral highway, they can't get out of the fast lane.
So what does Phil do is lie blatantly to Jay - Shirley was just a one-off ... His head was all over the place because of Jay ... yaddayadda.
I have to ask, is Phil's high opinion of himself and his standing in the community so enhanced that he thinks everyone in Walford will shun Sharon when his planned humiliation goes ahead? Sorry, but Sharon's not on the downside of the morality scale in this situation. She's not the one who's cheating. Phil is, and with Shirley, Queen of Scrotes, no less.
Shirley's riding so high now in her bitter hatred of Sharon and thinking her secret dalliance with Phil will lead to Sharon's downfall. Her snide remarks to Sharon are wearing a little thin, especially her hateful remark likening Sharon to a little princess. Sharon is Walford royalty, and Shirley is a rude plebeian upstart. She's so cocksure of herself and what Phil plans to do, but I wouldn't second-guess things going much against the grain for Shirley. She deserves to fail in this enterprise, and the fact that NuNuBen is waiting right around the corner, literally, is going to take the wind out of her over-billowing sails.
A lot of criticism has come in for EastEnders' attempts at humour, but Roxy's interaction with Dot and Charlie tonight was, indeed, humourous. DTC has Rita Simons back to her original best, zinger one-liners and winsome humour. I was almost sorry that Sharon demoted her from Maid of Honour to simple bridesmaid. Another storyline is in its incipient stages as Aleks ducks and dives and doesn't want to come to the wedding. The telephone conversation in Latvian would imply that Mrs Shirovs and daughter can just about be seen on the horizon, just about the time that Ronnie shows up and learns that Roxy's become "the other woman" in this charade.
Once again, special mention goes to Shane Richie and Danny Dyer. These two work so well together on screen. The highlight of the episode was seeing Mick lead the charge against the perfidious Tosh. Tosh obviously doesn't know the code of the East End, that you don't grass on people in your neighbourhood, even if you know they've been forced into doing something they shouldn't because of circumstances. Mick knows what Alfie did, and he understands why he did it. There but for the grace of God (or whoever), Mick may have done the same thing. He sees all to clearly that convicting Alfie would tear apart his family, deprive his children of a father and ruin everyone's life even more.
I realised tonight that Tosh has a really slappable face, and her assumption of the moral high ground was truly ugly. If I never ever like Tina again, I liked her tonight if only for her proper reaction to Tosh's assumption that it was her right to assume Alfie had done what he did, with no proof. As soon as Stacey knew the background of the story, without knowing that Alfie had started the fire, I knew we were going to be treated to one of the scenes of the infamous Stacey temper, but I was Team Stacey all the way. Especially impressive was the quiet support given all around from various people in the pub, from Mick's intervention ( I'm on your side, luv) to Max's subtle intervention. Odd now, that Tosh's defence of her actions had everything to do with the danger firefighters are under and nothing to do with Friday's reason - the fact that the Moons were parents and she wasn't. She's just a vindictive bitch, who was low enough to bring Mick's son and his actions in the fire, into the equation in order to try to emotionally blackmail Mick.
Tosh is a nasty piece of work, but what a nuanced nasty piece of work. She's gone from being the mature member of the Tosh-Tina duo to being a self-appointed moral arbiter in matters which have nothing to do with her at all.
The exchange between Max and Stacey was interesting, and it has me a bit worried. Was Max jealous? I don't want to see a redux of Stax, but the mention of Mick and Max's suspicion that Stacey might be interested (in yet another man) is certainly worth noting. No, I don't want to see a redux of Stax, but I don't want to see Stick either.
NuNuBen looks like a young Clark Kent.
I hope his contract isn't extended.
Phil sorely needs a gobsmacking dose of whuppass (or "whupparse" as they'd say here). Phil lies so damned much, I'm not sure he knows the truth, himself. He uses Jay remorselessly and trades upon Sharon's kindness to him in order to achieve his end - which is to make contact with Ben. Phil is actually quite disgusting the way he plays Jay, preying upon his most vulnerable point - the fact that Jay's fatherless - in order to stitch him up like a kipper. Every time Phil wants Jay onside, all he has to say is ~ You're like a son to me ~ which is a rank load of bullshit, and Jay knows it. Every time he walks away from Phil, there's something to draw him back.
Jay actually has a sense of moral justice, and he, rightly, takes the moral high ground with Phil in Phil's treatment of Sharon, bonking Shirley behind her back. Jay's cynicism should really be growing apace now, because he's clued onto Max's fanagling with silly Summerhayes (another one, who seems to have vanished into thin air) and has held him to account as well - not that either man would countenance anything Jay would say or do because they are so far gone down the amoral highway, they can't get out of the fast lane.
So what does Phil do is lie blatantly to Jay - Shirley was just a one-off ... His head was all over the place because of Jay ... yaddayadda.
I have to ask, is Phil's high opinion of himself and his standing in the community so enhanced that he thinks everyone in Walford will shun Sharon when his planned humiliation goes ahead? Sorry, but Sharon's not on the downside of the morality scale in this situation. She's not the one who's cheating. Phil is, and with Shirley, Queen of Scrotes, no less.
Shirley's riding so high now in her bitter hatred of Sharon and thinking her secret dalliance with Phil will lead to Sharon's downfall. Her snide remarks to Sharon are wearing a little thin, especially her hateful remark likening Sharon to a little princess. Sharon is Walford royalty, and Shirley is a rude plebeian upstart. She's so cocksure of herself and what Phil plans to do, but I wouldn't second-guess things going much against the grain for Shirley. She deserves to fail in this enterprise, and the fact that NuNuBen is waiting right around the corner, literally, is going to take the wind out of her over-billowing sails.
A lot of criticism has come in for EastEnders' attempts at humour, but Roxy's interaction with Dot and Charlie tonight was, indeed, humourous. DTC has Rita Simons back to her original best, zinger one-liners and winsome humour. I was almost sorry that Sharon demoted her from Maid of Honour to simple bridesmaid. Another storyline is in its incipient stages as Aleks ducks and dives and doesn't want to come to the wedding. The telephone conversation in Latvian would imply that Mrs Shirovs and daughter can just about be seen on the horizon, just about the time that Ronnie shows up and learns that Roxy's become "the other woman" in this charade.
Once again, special mention goes to Shane Richie and Danny Dyer. These two work so well together on screen. The highlight of the episode was seeing Mick lead the charge against the perfidious Tosh. Tosh obviously doesn't know the code of the East End, that you don't grass on people in your neighbourhood, even if you know they've been forced into doing something they shouldn't because of circumstances. Mick knows what Alfie did, and he understands why he did it. There but for the grace of God (or whoever), Mick may have done the same thing. He sees all to clearly that convicting Alfie would tear apart his family, deprive his children of a father and ruin everyone's life even more.
I realised tonight that Tosh has a really slappable face, and her assumption of the moral high ground was truly ugly. If I never ever like Tina again, I liked her tonight if only for her proper reaction to Tosh's assumption that it was her right to assume Alfie had done what he did, with no proof. As soon as Stacey knew the background of the story, without knowing that Alfie had started the fire, I knew we were going to be treated to one of the scenes of the infamous Stacey temper, but I was Team Stacey all the way. Especially impressive was the quiet support given all around from various people in the pub, from Mick's intervention ( I'm on your side, luv) to Max's subtle intervention. Odd now, that Tosh's defence of her actions had everything to do with the danger firefighters are under and nothing to do with Friday's reason - the fact that the Moons were parents and she wasn't. She's just a vindictive bitch, who was low enough to bring Mick's son and his actions in the fire, into the equation in order to try to emotionally blackmail Mick.
Tosh is a nasty piece of work, but what a nuanced nasty piece of work. She's gone from being the mature member of the Tosh-Tina duo to being a self-appointed moral arbiter in matters which have nothing to do with her at all.
The exchange between Max and Stacey was interesting, and it has me a bit worried. Was Max jealous? I don't want to see a redux of Stax, but the mention of Mick and Max's suspicion that Stacey might be interested (in yet another man) is certainly worth noting. No, I don't want to see a redux of Stax, but I don't want to see Stick either.
NuNuBen looks like a young Clark Kent.
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