This episode was rife with misogyny. I was surprised a woman wrote it, but I can understand her writing to depict certain male characters' pejorative attitudes to any female with an attempt at strength.
But then ... some women are their own worst enemies.
The Dirty Girl Returns.
I really understand why Kat is turning to Alfie at this moment. Confronted with the spectre of Harry looming over her and threatening to invade her personal space again, she's naturally attracted to Alfie. After all, it was Alfie who redeemed her in their original love story of 2003. She seeks the moral security and comfort he offers, as if he's a moral protection against whatever it is that Mo is pushing her to do, something to do with Harry's legacy.
Mo, herself, deserves smacking. The Moons would never have got into the bind they were in, had Mo kept up her rent. And calling Alfie "Fire-Starter"? Sorry, but the fire would have fizzled with a minimum of smoke damage had someone not stored illegally-obtained flammable hair products. Big Mo wants to look at her big mouth in the mirror and ask where the origin of the Moons' problem lay. I didn't like the harping of Mo and Stacey at Kat when they found Alfie helping on the stall.
Oh, and Mo sniping at Kat about hanging around with "Alfie Bleedin' Moon", who'll only let precious Kat down again? Sorry, Mo, but you need a reality check. This is the one time in Kat's ten-year association with Alfie that he's let her down. Big time, yes; but it's certainly as big as every time Kat spread her legs and cheated, wilfully and knowingly, with another man - Roger, Michael Moon (twice), the delivery man, and Derek. And every time Alfie picked up the pieces, which is what he'll do again.
I get it that "Kat Slater" is Kat's self-pitying, emotionally stunted, self-hating dark side that is a walking self-fulfilling prophecy about her guilt at not screaming down the house as Harry raped her, but Alfie can be forgiven if he thought she may have wanted to speak to him about a reconciliation, and he was right in wanting to hear what had spooked her, as well as reminding her, as he's done religiously, since they've been together and even now, that she was better than the slut she was pretending to be; but Kat is her own worst enemy, and when she's on the warpath this way, with her excess make-up as a defence mechanism, she's singularly unsympathetic.
Look, we all know what the secret is about the recent conflict between Big Mo and Kat - the money Harry left Zoe has been untouched, and Mo wants Kat to take it, for the boys more than anything, and I can understand Kat's squeamishness in taking what is tantamount to worse than blood money for something that, for Kat, has been the worst defining factor in her life.
I want to sympathise with her, but I am so over the Moons at the moment, I just want them gone. In fairness to Alfie, he was genuinely trying to play down any instant reconciliation with Kat, but he was spurred on by Billy and also by Pam's interference.
Just a quick word about Pam ... she holds the record time for any new character going from hero to zero within the first year of her existence. She started out as a warm, compassionate and caring person, something the Square needed, and she's now evolved into an interfering, gossiping woman who masks it all with a veil of niceness. I was shocked at her and Donna at the bar gossiping about Mick's and Linda's absence. How on earth did the rumour about the purported "affair" between Linda and Dean leak out? Don't tell me: Shirley, hence the speculation about whether or not Linda and Mick would return separately or together. Even when she's unseen, Our Shirl's sowing seeds of dissension, and if she has anything to do with it, Linda will be out on her ear.
As much as many people hate Alfie, of all the male characters, he's the one who does have and attract the most friends. Men like Alfie. He's Ian Beale's only friend. He gets on well with Billy, who's promoting his own self-importance in "keeping the Mitchells together." He and Mick have shared confidences, and before that, he was friends with Terry Spraggan.
Nancy Drew and Our Girl. I recently speculated about the next generation of matriarchal characters on the Square, singling out Sharon as the new Peggy, Carol as the new Pauline and Stacey as - yes! - the new Pat. Some may think that strange, but consider this: both characters arrived on the Square, rough-hewn, and unwelcomed by relatives. Both characters married and cheated on their respective spouses. Both characters have killed and served time in prison for that. Both characters have learned from their mistakes and, in seeing the wisdom of their ways, have effected not to judge and to counsel wisely.
At the moment, Stacey is the Wise Woman of Walford. Just keep her away from Kat's bad influence. But just as Kat brings Stacey down, so Peter brings Lauren down.
Lauren's back in detective mode again, spurred on by Carol's disclosure of Max ripping up Emma's police file of evidence about Lucy's death. The kitchen scene between Lauren and Abi was evocative in displaying exactly why Abi is, at the moment, so unpopular and why Lauren is becoming likeable again. Lauren is genuinely worried about her father's bizarre behaviour, whilst Abi is waxing lyrical about him making it up with Ben, which Lauren thinks is so bizarre. Yet Abi becomes perturbed that Lauren wants to know why Max destroyed the police file. Abi gets stubbornly emotional and wants to move on.
Did Abi kill Lucy? As much as I want Abi to depart, I don't think she did.
Lauren approaches Stacey to help her get to the bottom of Max's behaviour, because based on something she's seen in the file, she's worried that Max may have killed Lucy. That's the elephant in the room for many people, and bringing Max's name out into the open surely means he's ruled out of the list of suspects. I like the Lucy-Stacey friendship that's forging.
I want Abi to take a running jump.
Taking Candy from Children.
That's Ben, when he's taken for a ride upriver by Max and Charlie. The first scene between Ben and Max contained some of the most misogynistic language ever displayed on the show. Ben's most laughable line about Sharon was ...
She doesn't treat me like a businessman.
That's because you aren't, you idiot. You went from being a schoolboy to a killer and served time. The only thing prison taught you was not to bend over in the showers to pick up soap, and you've positively no business experience or acumen at all. In fact, the your entire mechanical ability has been retconned because in your previous resurrection, you were one epic fail.
But the references to Ben "sitting back and letting Sharon ruin it" or referring to Sharon as one "smug cow" were distasteful. At least Jay had the good sense to caution Ben not to do anything unless he checked with Sharon. Phil Mitchell did dodgy deals, but he covered his tracks. Sharon always erred on the side of caution and came out on top.
Ben's going to fuck up, and his smug smile as he clinked glasses with Max in the pub presaged the shit hitting the fan.
Ben is the absolute epitome of the classic stupid boy. He deserves Abi.
Parenthood.
This is not Roxy, Aleks and Charlie. Well, it's not Roxy.
You know the one think I absolutely abhor about Roxy? It's this phrase:-
My sisTAHHHH.
Roxy's idea of parenting CJ, who's changed again into a smaller mutant baby, even a doll in one scene, is to lumber Aleks, the only person in that household with a job, with the actual hands-on childcare and domestic chores, whilst Roxy spends hours with my sisTAHHHH. Aleks cares for the child and his daughter Ineta ferries Amy the Diva back and forth to school
And just who is Roxy to shout the odds about Aleks, who might be in serious danger of losing his job if he continues existing under Roxy's spoiled thumb as her manservant? I'm glad he grabbed his coat and stormed out the door when she started making demands in the name of my sisTAHHHH.
I'd like to see my sisTAHHHH croke it, or at least confess to Lucy's killing.
But then ... some women are their own worst enemies.
The Dirty Girl Returns.
I really understand why Kat is turning to Alfie at this moment. Confronted with the spectre of Harry looming over her and threatening to invade her personal space again, she's naturally attracted to Alfie. After all, it was Alfie who redeemed her in their original love story of 2003. She seeks the moral security and comfort he offers, as if he's a moral protection against whatever it is that Mo is pushing her to do, something to do with Harry's legacy.
Mo, herself, deserves smacking. The Moons would never have got into the bind they were in, had Mo kept up her rent. And calling Alfie "Fire-Starter"? Sorry, but the fire would have fizzled with a minimum of smoke damage had someone not stored illegally-obtained flammable hair products. Big Mo wants to look at her big mouth in the mirror and ask where the origin of the Moons' problem lay. I didn't like the harping of Mo and Stacey at Kat when they found Alfie helping on the stall.
Oh, and Mo sniping at Kat about hanging around with "Alfie Bleedin' Moon", who'll only let precious Kat down again? Sorry, Mo, but you need a reality check. This is the one time in Kat's ten-year association with Alfie that he's let her down. Big time, yes; but it's certainly as big as every time Kat spread her legs and cheated, wilfully and knowingly, with another man - Roger, Michael Moon (twice), the delivery man, and Derek. And every time Alfie picked up the pieces, which is what he'll do again.
I get it that "Kat Slater" is Kat's self-pitying, emotionally stunted, self-hating dark side that is a walking self-fulfilling prophecy about her guilt at not screaming down the house as Harry raped her, but Alfie can be forgiven if he thought she may have wanted to speak to him about a reconciliation, and he was right in wanting to hear what had spooked her, as well as reminding her, as he's done religiously, since they've been together and even now, that she was better than the slut she was pretending to be; but Kat is her own worst enemy, and when she's on the warpath this way, with her excess make-up as a defence mechanism, she's singularly unsympathetic.
Look, we all know what the secret is about the recent conflict between Big Mo and Kat - the money Harry left Zoe has been untouched, and Mo wants Kat to take it, for the boys more than anything, and I can understand Kat's squeamishness in taking what is tantamount to worse than blood money for something that, for Kat, has been the worst defining factor in her life.
I want to sympathise with her, but I am so over the Moons at the moment, I just want them gone. In fairness to Alfie, he was genuinely trying to play down any instant reconciliation with Kat, but he was spurred on by Billy and also by Pam's interference.
Just a quick word about Pam ... she holds the record time for any new character going from hero to zero within the first year of her existence. She started out as a warm, compassionate and caring person, something the Square needed, and she's now evolved into an interfering, gossiping woman who masks it all with a veil of niceness. I was shocked at her and Donna at the bar gossiping about Mick's and Linda's absence. How on earth did the rumour about the purported "affair" between Linda and Dean leak out? Don't tell me: Shirley, hence the speculation about whether or not Linda and Mick would return separately or together. Even when she's unseen, Our Shirl's sowing seeds of dissension, and if she has anything to do with it, Linda will be out on her ear.
As much as many people hate Alfie, of all the male characters, he's the one who does have and attract the most friends. Men like Alfie. He's Ian Beale's only friend. He gets on well with Billy, who's promoting his own self-importance in "keeping the Mitchells together." He and Mick have shared confidences, and before that, he was friends with Terry Spraggan.
Nancy Drew and Our Girl. I recently speculated about the next generation of matriarchal characters on the Square, singling out Sharon as the new Peggy, Carol as the new Pauline and Stacey as - yes! - the new Pat. Some may think that strange, but consider this: both characters arrived on the Square, rough-hewn, and unwelcomed by relatives. Both characters married and cheated on their respective spouses. Both characters have killed and served time in prison for that. Both characters have learned from their mistakes and, in seeing the wisdom of their ways, have effected not to judge and to counsel wisely.
At the moment, Stacey is the Wise Woman of Walford. Just keep her away from Kat's bad influence. But just as Kat brings Stacey down, so Peter brings Lauren down.
Lauren's back in detective mode again, spurred on by Carol's disclosure of Max ripping up Emma's police file of evidence about Lucy's death. The kitchen scene between Lauren and Abi was evocative in displaying exactly why Abi is, at the moment, so unpopular and why Lauren is becoming likeable again. Lauren is genuinely worried about her father's bizarre behaviour, whilst Abi is waxing lyrical about him making it up with Ben, which Lauren thinks is so bizarre. Yet Abi becomes perturbed that Lauren wants to know why Max destroyed the police file. Abi gets stubbornly emotional and wants to move on.
Did Abi kill Lucy? As much as I want Abi to depart, I don't think she did.
Lauren approaches Stacey to help her get to the bottom of Max's behaviour, because based on something she's seen in the file, she's worried that Max may have killed Lucy. That's the elephant in the room for many people, and bringing Max's name out into the open surely means he's ruled out of the list of suspects. I like the Lucy-Stacey friendship that's forging.
I want Abi to take a running jump.
Taking Candy from Children.
That's Ben, when he's taken for a ride upriver by Max and Charlie. The first scene between Ben and Max contained some of the most misogynistic language ever displayed on the show. Ben's most laughable line about Sharon was ...
She doesn't treat me like a businessman.
That's because you aren't, you idiot. You went from being a schoolboy to a killer and served time. The only thing prison taught you was not to bend over in the showers to pick up soap, and you've positively no business experience or acumen at all. In fact, the your entire mechanical ability has been retconned because in your previous resurrection, you were one epic fail.
But the references to Ben "sitting back and letting Sharon ruin it" or referring to Sharon as one "smug cow" were distasteful. At least Jay had the good sense to caution Ben not to do anything unless he checked with Sharon. Phil Mitchell did dodgy deals, but he covered his tracks. Sharon always erred on the side of caution and came out on top.
Ben's going to fuck up, and his smug smile as he clinked glasses with Max in the pub presaged the shit hitting the fan.
Ben is the absolute epitome of the classic stupid boy. He deserves Abi.
Parenthood.
This is not Roxy, Aleks and Charlie. Well, it's not Roxy.
You know the one think I absolutely abhor about Roxy? It's this phrase:-
My sisTAHHHH.
Roxy's idea of parenting CJ, who's changed again into a smaller mutant baby, even a doll in one scene, is to lumber Aleks, the only person in that household with a job, with the actual hands-on childcare and domestic chores, whilst Roxy spends hours with my sisTAHHHH. Aleks cares for the child and his daughter Ineta ferries Amy the Diva back and forth to school
And just who is Roxy to shout the odds about Aleks, who might be in serious danger of losing his job if he continues existing under Roxy's spoiled thumb as her manservant? I'm glad he grabbed his coat and stormed out the door when she started making demands in the name of my sisTAHHHH.
I'd like to see my sisTAHHHH croke it, or at least confess to Lucy's killing.
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