This week was always going to be one of filler episodes, as a lead-in to next week - filler episodes and red herrings, with a lot of curveball clues thrown in for good measure. As it was, this was the best episode of the week so far, with a clincher cliffhanger moment (which we know will come to fruition tomorrow night, mostly with a twist).
This has everything a good mystery reveal could want, so why am I pleased that the eventual killer will prove to be from the most unsympathetic mourning family suffering on the Square? And why am I apprehensive that the killer will be allowed to live wild and roam free whilst someone else, a real baddie, cuts it?
Call me quirky, but I'm finding one of the reasons I'm liking EastEnders at the moment is because some of the most unpleasant characters in the mix are characters who are genuinely unpleasant, and I'm not alone in my dislike of them.
The Awful Sitcom Smugness.
I think the only reason I'm able to stand the incredible world of smugness engulfing the Beales is because I'm convinced that one of them is about to be exposed as Lucy's killer, and all of this sitcom sweetness and stupidity will come tumbling down - or in EastEnders' PR speak, their world will "come crashing down around them" - once the killer's identity is exposed.
I'm still thinking Peter, with Jane covering for him. That's the only reason Lauren would be afraid of knowing the killer's identity - unless the killer is Ian.
First, let me clarify something about the next big event coming up in the lives chez Beale. I know I've been away from the US for a long time, but the so-called "pre-wedding dinner" ... ain't no such thing. The "pre-wedding dinner" is actually the Rehearsal Dinner.
Let me explain: A few days before the wedding, there is actually a rehearsal of the event, just so the music can be heard in the venue, the bridesmaids and ushers know how they're supposed to walk down the aisle and in what order - that sort of thing. The bride doesn't rehearse - it's considered bad luck, but afterwards, there is a big rehearsal dinner, for all the wedding party and their families, paid for by the family of the groom. It could be that, in the event of there not being a reason to rehearse the wedding - for example, if the wedding were a civil ceremony - there might be a "pre-wedding dinner" hosted by the groom's family, but normally, people invited are usually people connected with the wedding or members of the bride's and groom's families and close friends.
Watching the Beales play nervous apprehension for an event which should be old hat to both Ian and Jane the Queen ...
.. as they have both been around the block and down the aisle a few times before, but it was terribly pathetic, watching them get pre-wedding nerves over a meal being cooked in an up-market and over-priced burger joint. Is Masood still working for Beales or was he there lending moral support to the woman of his dreams, Jane the Queen?
That restaurant appears to be closed more than it's opened. Considering that most London eateries are opened pretty much continuously from lunchtime until late at night, Beales is empty most of the day and usually closed off for private family functions. I couldn't fathom the lather in which most of the people were getting - Jane worried about losing six pounds (maybe she needs to be milked) and whining about Ian's soufflés, Ian trying to do haute cuisine in a burger joint just to impress the local yokels, Peter worrying about Lauren not returning his calls until it all erupts and it takes the wise, old head of Mas to plough through the mess and sort Ian out.
Ian misses Lucy - but only because she'd be an extra pair of hands. It's left to Mas to smooth Ian's ruffled feathers and tell him how much Jane loves him. Yeah, she does, because Ian's her cover and her front for the part she played in Lucy's death.
The scene where Ian camps it up with facial cream, cucumbers and a silly shower cap to smarm up to Jane the Queen, was bum-clinchingly embarrassing, and the stuff of sickly sweet cardigan sitcoms, and just as bad as the scene where Ian strides off to confront Max after Peter expresses a worry that Max thinks Lauren is drinking again. Actually, the visit is two-fold: the real reason for the visit is for Ian to condescend to invite the Brannings, soon to be relations by marriage, to the social event of the year (pre-wedding): the pre-wedding dinner - that's Ian's wedding by the way, not Peter's.
Kudos to Max for not being interested. And even more kudos to Max for having the fortitude to say to Ian what others should have said about this wedding, and thus, attaining the line of the night.
You're weddings are like buses, Ian. There'll be another one before long.
The cozy, curiously comfortable world of the Beales is about to implode, but I wonder if the murderer amongst them will pay the price for his crime? Will Jane the Queen do so for her part in it?
Sins and Sinners.
Dot's a sinner troubled by sin and surrounded by sinners. It wasn't enough, just a few months ago, to find that she was submerged in a den of iniquity of liars - Ronnie, Charlie, Yvonne. Now, she's conflicted about her renegade son, holed up in a burned-out house next door and craving a fix of heroin. She's bought a fix, but throws it into the rubbish bin. (Is it me or do the residents of Walford have some of the cleanest rubbish bins in England?)
Like Pat with Ricky and Ian, like Shirley (for a time) with Jay and Ben, Dot's surrogate son is Arthur, who thinks the world of her and is more protective of her than any of her toady relatives like CharlieBoy or slimey stepsons like the Brannings.
CharlieBoy's and Roxy's dirty little secret didn't stay a secret long. Big mistake, Roxy, and rather stupid, if I may say so, to talk about sleeping with your brother-in-law in the foyer of his grandmother's house, without checking to see if Dot isn't around in the first place.
That had to be one of the best scenes of the show, the confrontation between Charlie, Roxy and Dot. In point of fact, Dot was right to hoist them on their own petards. It was more than pathetic to see Charlie try to justify his sleeping with Roxy as being down to the fact that he was overwhelmed with medical jargon and worried that Ronnie coming off the ventilator may result in her being brain damaged or not waking up at all. So that gives him licence to seek comfort with his wife's sister? And what's Roxy's excuse.
You're in love with Ronnie and I'm in love with (hesitate, make a face) ... Aleks.
So Roxy's gone off Aleks now. She knows what she's done with CharlieBoy is wrong, and she's scared shitless of a recovering Ronnie finding out - especially now that Dot knows - and banging Roxy's head against whatever countertop becomes available.
Roxy got the other ironic line of the night:-
Sorry to say it, Dot, but this is all your son's fault. He's a psychopath.
I'd look a lot more closer to home, Roxanne, and you know it. Bride of Frankenstein has a habit of finding out when you've been sleeping with one of her sperm donors, especially if you happen to fall pregnant.
That was more than rich, Roxy ticking Dot off about what Nick had done to "my sisTAHHH" and swearing that if she ever saw Nick alive again, she'd kill him. She's got nerve, lecturing Dot on Nick. Nick is Dot's son, and of course, she will only see him as her child, a small boy. He is her closest blood relative and someone she's known from birth, as opposed to CharlieBoy, who's a relative stranger to her. It's the unconditional love that will always make a parent strive to see the best in their child, even when they know there is no good left.
In the end, Dot gives the heroin to Nick, striving to make him understand how he'd damaged so many lives by cutting the brakes on Ronnie's car. But Nick points out that it wasn't Ronnie's car, and besides he's almost about to say that Ronnie's as much a psychopath as he is.
She knows exactly what's going on. (Nick's probably right. It takes a psychopath to know a psychopath). Let's take bets - Ronnie won't be damaged in any way whatsoever, and Ronnie is in need of a killer's karma.
More than anything, Dot doesn't want to see Nick leave, but how can she expect him to remain there? The Slater/Moon house won't stay empty like that forever. The question is: Is Nick actually dead now? Did his death occur with tonight's duff-duff, or will Friday's cliffhanger occur when Stacey enters the house to find Nick's body?
I think the latter. Nick is out for the count on smack. He arrived on Hallowe'en and will depart on Friday the Thirteenth.
Kat Slutter, the Busybody and Donna. And the Only Adult in the Room.
Kat is a miserable bitch, and I'm glad Stacey shot her attitude down tonight. How entitled is she? Walking into the flat in which she squats and which she cannot afford and demanding lunch from Stacey. WTF?
I know Stacey doesn't have a job at the moment, but does that mean that her purpose in life is to watch Kat's kids, clean up Kat's mess and generally be Kat's personal body servant? It would happen that she'd seen Lauren't pregnancy test and assumed it was Stacey's and immediately started sounding off at Stacey's stupidity. Bad mistake on Stacey's part to tell Kat that the test belonged to Lauren.
Kat's reaction?
Eeeuuuwww, you got Lauren's wee on your hand!
That sets up a situation within the next week or before Lauren leaves whereby Kat's big gob shouts out Lauren's condition to everyone not concerned. I liked it that Stacey sought Lauren out, and that Lauren told Stacey that there were other things more important than her pregnancy, and telling Peter made her afraid. Why? Is Peter the killer? When Lauren finally tells Stacey that she think she knows what happened to Lucy and how she'd sussed Emma's clues, Stacey advises her to call the police. Great piece of continuity there on Stacey's part ...
Do I have to spell it out for you with Bradley and Archie?
That's a loaded remark, because in the general scheme of things, we now can infer that the killer is a Beale. It can't help but be a Beale, and Kat's reaction to Lauren's and Stacey's tete-a-tete was equally as callous - wondering if Lauren were off to the clinic or the wedding shop.
Good for Stacey for handing Kat her fat arse. Kat needs to step up to the plate and either get back with Alfie or get a divorce. Stacey knows that Kat misses Alfie, the boys miss Alfie, and even Stacey misses Alfie. This was after Kat had found Alfie's offering of food waiting for her on her stall.
I wish she'd shut the fuck up about Alfie injuring her. Yes, Alfie did a stupid thing in planning the fire, but the fire wasn't intended to be a full-fledged conflagration (Big Mo's dodgy gear saw to that) nor was Kat supposed to be rolling around on the bed in the bedroom trying to get Alfie to come over. Instead, Kat condescends to agree to attend Ian's wedding with Kat. Once again, this is Alfie all over - he's already semi-promised to go with Donna.
Not that Donna cares, and Donna can do very well for herself without Pam's interfering.
Pam is seriously beginning to annoy me, interfering in everyone else's business, gossiping behind people's backs. She's got no business in worrying about Donna and Valentine's Day. If Donna says she doesn't do Valentine's Day or hats, she should respect her wishes. Instead, Pam's trying to push a romance between Donna and Alfie, when Donna's more interested in pursuing a no-strings relationship with Shrimpy, one of the newer market extras.
Donna is right, however, about Alfie when it comes to Kat. He allows her to walk all over him. It's time EastEnders put an end to this plethora of weak men who inhabit the show.
Good episode.
This has everything a good mystery reveal could want, so why am I pleased that the eventual killer will prove to be from the most unsympathetic mourning family suffering on the Square? And why am I apprehensive that the killer will be allowed to live wild and roam free whilst someone else, a real baddie, cuts it?
Call me quirky, but I'm finding one of the reasons I'm liking EastEnders at the moment is because some of the most unpleasant characters in the mix are characters who are genuinely unpleasant, and I'm not alone in my dislike of them.
The Awful Sitcom Smugness.
I think the only reason I'm able to stand the incredible world of smugness engulfing the Beales is because I'm convinced that one of them is about to be exposed as Lucy's killer, and all of this sitcom sweetness and stupidity will come tumbling down - or in EastEnders' PR speak, their world will "come crashing down around them" - once the killer's identity is exposed.
I'm still thinking Peter, with Jane covering for him. That's the only reason Lauren would be afraid of knowing the killer's identity - unless the killer is Ian.
First, let me clarify something about the next big event coming up in the lives chez Beale. I know I've been away from the US for a long time, but the so-called "pre-wedding dinner" ... ain't no such thing. The "pre-wedding dinner" is actually the Rehearsal Dinner.
Let me explain: A few days before the wedding, there is actually a rehearsal of the event, just so the music can be heard in the venue, the bridesmaids and ushers know how they're supposed to walk down the aisle and in what order - that sort of thing. The bride doesn't rehearse - it's considered bad luck, but afterwards, there is a big rehearsal dinner, for all the wedding party and their families, paid for by the family of the groom. It could be that, in the event of there not being a reason to rehearse the wedding - for example, if the wedding were a civil ceremony - there might be a "pre-wedding dinner" hosted by the groom's family, but normally, people invited are usually people connected with the wedding or members of the bride's and groom's families and close friends.
Watching the Beales play nervous apprehension for an event which should be old hat to both Ian and Jane the Queen ...
.. as they have both been around the block and down the aisle a few times before, but it was terribly pathetic, watching them get pre-wedding nerves over a meal being cooked in an up-market and over-priced burger joint. Is Masood still working for Beales or was he there lending moral support to the woman of his dreams, Jane the Queen?
Ian misses Lucy - but only because she'd be an extra pair of hands. It's left to Mas to smooth Ian's ruffled feathers and tell him how much Jane loves him. Yeah, she does, because Ian's her cover and her front for the part she played in Lucy's death.
The scene where Ian camps it up with facial cream, cucumbers and a silly shower cap to smarm up to Jane the Queen, was bum-clinchingly embarrassing, and the stuff of sickly sweet cardigan sitcoms, and just as bad as the scene where Ian strides off to confront Max after Peter expresses a worry that Max thinks Lauren is drinking again. Actually, the visit is two-fold: the real reason for the visit is for Ian to condescend to invite the Brannings, soon to be relations by marriage, to the social event of the year (pre-wedding): the pre-wedding dinner - that's Ian's wedding by the way, not Peter's.
Kudos to Max for not being interested. And even more kudos to Max for having the fortitude to say to Ian what others should have said about this wedding, and thus, attaining the line of the night.
You're weddings are like buses, Ian. There'll be another one before long.
The cozy, curiously comfortable world of the Beales is about to implode, but I wonder if the murderer amongst them will pay the price for his crime? Will Jane the Queen do so for her part in it?
Sins and Sinners.
Like Pat with Ricky and Ian, like Shirley (for a time) with Jay and Ben, Dot's surrogate son is Arthur, who thinks the world of her and is more protective of her than any of her toady relatives like CharlieBoy or slimey stepsons like the Brannings.
CharlieBoy's and Roxy's dirty little secret didn't stay a secret long. Big mistake, Roxy, and rather stupid, if I may say so, to talk about sleeping with your brother-in-law in the foyer of his grandmother's house, without checking to see if Dot isn't around in the first place.
That had to be one of the best scenes of the show, the confrontation between Charlie, Roxy and Dot. In point of fact, Dot was right to hoist them on their own petards. It was more than pathetic to see Charlie try to justify his sleeping with Roxy as being down to the fact that he was overwhelmed with medical jargon and worried that Ronnie coming off the ventilator may result in her being brain damaged or not waking up at all. So that gives him licence to seek comfort with his wife's sister? And what's Roxy's excuse.
You're in love with Ronnie and I'm in love with (hesitate, make a face) ... Aleks.
So Roxy's gone off Aleks now. She knows what she's done with CharlieBoy is wrong, and she's scared shitless of a recovering Ronnie finding out - especially now that Dot knows - and banging Roxy's head against whatever countertop becomes available.
Roxy got the other ironic line of the night:-
Sorry to say it, Dot, but this is all your son's fault. He's a psychopath.
I'd look a lot more closer to home, Roxanne, and you know it. Bride of Frankenstein has a habit of finding out when you've been sleeping with one of her sperm donors, especially if you happen to fall pregnant.
That was more than rich, Roxy ticking Dot off about what Nick had done to "my sisTAHHH" and swearing that if she ever saw Nick alive again, she'd kill him. She's got nerve, lecturing Dot on Nick. Nick is Dot's son, and of course, she will only see him as her child, a small boy. He is her closest blood relative and someone she's known from birth, as opposed to CharlieBoy, who's a relative stranger to her. It's the unconditional love that will always make a parent strive to see the best in their child, even when they know there is no good left.
In the end, Dot gives the heroin to Nick, striving to make him understand how he'd damaged so many lives by cutting the brakes on Ronnie's car. But Nick points out that it wasn't Ronnie's car, and besides he's almost about to say that Ronnie's as much a psychopath as he is.
She knows exactly what's going on. (Nick's probably right. It takes a psychopath to know a psychopath). Let's take bets - Ronnie won't be damaged in any way whatsoever, and Ronnie is in need of a killer's karma.
More than anything, Dot doesn't want to see Nick leave, but how can she expect him to remain there? The Slater/Moon house won't stay empty like that forever. The question is: Is Nick actually dead now? Did his death occur with tonight's duff-duff, or will Friday's cliffhanger occur when Stacey enters the house to find Nick's body?
I think the latter. Nick is out for the count on smack. He arrived on Hallowe'en and will depart on Friday the Thirteenth.
Kat Slutter, the Busybody and Donna. And the Only Adult in the Room.
Kat is a miserable bitch, and I'm glad Stacey shot her attitude down tonight. How entitled is she? Walking into the flat in which she squats and which she cannot afford and demanding lunch from Stacey. WTF?
I know Stacey doesn't have a job at the moment, but does that mean that her purpose in life is to watch Kat's kids, clean up Kat's mess and generally be Kat's personal body servant? It would happen that she'd seen Lauren't pregnancy test and assumed it was Stacey's and immediately started sounding off at Stacey's stupidity. Bad mistake on Stacey's part to tell Kat that the test belonged to Lauren.
Kat's reaction?
Eeeuuuwww, you got Lauren's wee on your hand!
That sets up a situation within the next week or before Lauren leaves whereby Kat's big gob shouts out Lauren's condition to everyone not concerned. I liked it that Stacey sought Lauren out, and that Lauren told Stacey that there were other things more important than her pregnancy, and telling Peter made her afraid. Why? Is Peter the killer? When Lauren finally tells Stacey that she think she knows what happened to Lucy and how she'd sussed Emma's clues, Stacey advises her to call the police. Great piece of continuity there on Stacey's part ...
Do I have to spell it out for you with Bradley and Archie?
That's a loaded remark, because in the general scheme of things, we now can infer that the killer is a Beale. It can't help but be a Beale, and Kat's reaction to Lauren's and Stacey's tete-a-tete was equally as callous - wondering if Lauren were off to the clinic or the wedding shop.
Good for Stacey for handing Kat her fat arse. Kat needs to step up to the plate and either get back with Alfie or get a divorce. Stacey knows that Kat misses Alfie, the boys miss Alfie, and even Stacey misses Alfie. This was after Kat had found Alfie's offering of food waiting for her on her stall.
I wish she'd shut the fuck up about Alfie injuring her. Yes, Alfie did a stupid thing in planning the fire, but the fire wasn't intended to be a full-fledged conflagration (Big Mo's dodgy gear saw to that) nor was Kat supposed to be rolling around on the bed in the bedroom trying to get Alfie to come over. Instead, Kat condescends to agree to attend Ian's wedding with Kat. Once again, this is Alfie all over - he's already semi-promised to go with Donna.
Not that Donna cares, and Donna can do very well for herself without Pam's interfering.
Pam is seriously beginning to annoy me, interfering in everyone else's business, gossiping behind people's backs. She's got no business in worrying about Donna and Valentine's Day. If Donna says she doesn't do Valentine's Day or hats, she should respect her wishes. Instead, Pam's trying to push a romance between Donna and Alfie, when Donna's more interested in pursuing a no-strings relationship with Shrimpy, one of the newer market extras.
Donna is right, however, about Alfie when it comes to Kat. He allows her to walk all over him. It's time EastEnders put an end to this plethora of weak men who inhabit the show.
Good episode.
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