Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm ... how very ironic that the writer of tonight's episode was named Gavin, of all things.
Excellent episode tonight, the only thing spoiling it being Jane the Queen stinking up the place.
The Evil Stepmother. The Wicked Queen. The Cow. The Old Trout.
Excellent episode tonight, the only thing spoiling it being Jane the Queen stinking up the place.
The Evil Stepmother. The Wicked Queen. The Cow. The Old Trout.
All of the above are infinitely too good for that flab, bone and hank of hair known as Jane the Queen. This is Cindy's story, and yet the underlying manipulator throughout is Jane.
Keep your friends close and your enemies closer, and Cindy is a loose cannon that Jane will most definitely have to keep close to home and contain. Cindy knows Jane's biggest, darkest and grubbiest secret, and Cindy out of sight and away from Walford might just prove to be Jane's undoing.
I'm not a fan of Cindy's at all, but I felt immensely for her in the past two episodes. At the end of the day, she's just a kid, and that's really what tonight's theme throughout was all about - kids, children, and parents of all sorts. We saw a feckless mother step up to the plate for a child who wasn't hers, we saw a grown woman trying desperately to find her birth parent, and we saw a very young mum open up to another young woman who connected very strongly in the panic moment Cindy endured when she walked away from Beth, because Shabnam shared that same secret.
Cindy is totally overwhelmed by the prospect of motherhood. She decided to have her baby on a whim, and now she's confronted with the realities of bringing up a baby and how that can curtail the natural growing up process of a young person. She spoke a volume of truth tonight when she said she wanted what was best for Beth and also what was best for her, and that very well might mean putting the child up for adoption.
No one's thought to tell Cindy that she needs to relax more around Beth, because babies sense strain and tension and they react in kind. Shabnam was able to calm the child down, simply by treating her in a relaxed manner - totally different to the way she reacted months ago around the Moon twins. Maybe having shared that secret with Stacey helped her own assessment of her past actions. She certainly didn't judge Cindy's actions, and I like how they bonded over Beth's predicament.
Cindy was very articulate in expressing her concerns to Shabnam, and she brought the nail down accurately on the head of the Beales when she spoke about how they'd gone on and on at her over the past months, telling her what she should be feeling and how she should be acting and responding to Beth. They constantly railed at her about this, yet more times than not, stepped in to do the heavy lifting with the kid at a moment's notice, not even thinking that Cindy might be having problems relating to motherhood so young when all of her friends were still at school.
The child's been away from her for a month. She's bonded with Jane and Ian, yet they shove a fretting baby on a nervous, overwrought and overwhelmed young mum, with the suggestion that she take the baby out for a walk. This, after having undermined all of her efforts at parenting since they returned.
I actually found Jane quite sinister tonight, especially when Cindy had no recourse but to ring her and tell her about Beth's disappearance. (Anyone could fathom all along that Liam happened along and found the child). The way Jane stood over Cindy in the kitchen, her hands clamped down on firmly on Cindy's shoulders in a domineering, prepossessing way, leaning over her in the subtle passive-aggressive manner and purring:-
You do trust me, don't you?
It was almost hypnotic the way she said that; then, just for good measure and in an even more threatening way ...
You know, Cindy, that I'll have to tell Ian about this.
So many ways to keep Cindy under her thumb and onside in order to hide Jane's filthy little secret.
Jane is such an abject, selfish bitch, even moreso now that she's secure in her control of Ian. In her own mind, the roles have reversed from a decade ago. It's Jane, she thinks, who calls the shots in the Beale household now, with Ian the obvious weak link. Jane strides around that house as if she owns it. Whilst Ian is off on a mission to find out about Dot, Jane's at home, cleaning up the mess that is Cindy and her attitude toward Beth. What's so disgusting about Jane is the casual, off-handed way shestill takes advantage of Masood. I don't know what's worse - the way she uses him as a lackey or the way he tries to stick his nose up her fat arse given the slightest opportunity.
If you need a place to go when Hurricane Ian lands, there's always mine. I'm cooking, and there's plenty to go around.
This is Masood coming onto someone who is a newly-married wife and mother, herself; and without as much as asking permission, Jane tells Cindy she needs to get out of the house - but not to a place where she might be able to walk off and abandon the baby - instead, she dumps her and Beth at Masood's house, not even caring that he has guests.
The irony is that in leaving Cindy with Masood, she never imagined that Shabnam would prove an apt listening post and a pillar of advice - admitting to Cindy that not every woman is meant to be a mother, that Cindy needs to do, not only what is best for Beth, but what is best for herself, and - poignantly - telling her that she did nothing wrong in walking away because Beth was still safe and sound. This is the first sound advice the kid has received, considering she's got Jane and Ian harping from one side, lecturing her about what she's supposed to do and then doing it for her in order to undermine her, and Liam the Lug coming at her from the other side, telling her what a "natural" mother she is. She isn't. Again, she's just a kid, and he's seeing her that way because he sees the pair of them playing house with Beth. Cindy didn't even think enough of Liam to thank him for finding the baby.
Jane got the surprise of her life, in attempting to play "good cop" and promising not to tell Ian, when Cindy tells her she wants to put Beth up for adoption.
Her Heart Belongs to Daddy.
Keep your friends close and your enemies closer, and Cindy is a loose cannon that Jane will most definitely have to keep close to home and contain. Cindy knows Jane's biggest, darkest and grubbiest secret, and Cindy out of sight and away from Walford might just prove to be Jane's undoing.
I'm not a fan of Cindy's at all, but I felt immensely for her in the past two episodes. At the end of the day, she's just a kid, and that's really what tonight's theme throughout was all about - kids, children, and parents of all sorts. We saw a feckless mother step up to the plate for a child who wasn't hers, we saw a grown woman trying desperately to find her birth parent, and we saw a very young mum open up to another young woman who connected very strongly in the panic moment Cindy endured when she walked away from Beth, because Shabnam shared that same secret.
Cindy is totally overwhelmed by the prospect of motherhood. She decided to have her baby on a whim, and now she's confronted with the realities of bringing up a baby and how that can curtail the natural growing up process of a young person. She spoke a volume of truth tonight when she said she wanted what was best for Beth and also what was best for her, and that very well might mean putting the child up for adoption.
No one's thought to tell Cindy that she needs to relax more around Beth, because babies sense strain and tension and they react in kind. Shabnam was able to calm the child down, simply by treating her in a relaxed manner - totally different to the way she reacted months ago around the Moon twins. Maybe having shared that secret with Stacey helped her own assessment of her past actions. She certainly didn't judge Cindy's actions, and I like how they bonded over Beth's predicament.
Cindy was very articulate in expressing her concerns to Shabnam, and she brought the nail down accurately on the head of the Beales when she spoke about how they'd gone on and on at her over the past months, telling her what she should be feeling and how she should be acting and responding to Beth. They constantly railed at her about this, yet more times than not, stepped in to do the heavy lifting with the kid at a moment's notice, not even thinking that Cindy might be having problems relating to motherhood so young when all of her friends were still at school.
The child's been away from her for a month. She's bonded with Jane and Ian, yet they shove a fretting baby on a nervous, overwrought and overwhelmed young mum, with the suggestion that she take the baby out for a walk. This, after having undermined all of her efforts at parenting since they returned.
I actually found Jane quite sinister tonight, especially when Cindy had no recourse but to ring her and tell her about Beth's disappearance. (Anyone could fathom all along that Liam happened along and found the child). The way Jane stood over Cindy in the kitchen, her hands clamped down on firmly on Cindy's shoulders in a domineering, prepossessing way, leaning over her in the subtle passive-aggressive manner and purring:-
You do trust me, don't you?
It was almost hypnotic the way she said that; then, just for good measure and in an even more threatening way ...
You know, Cindy, that I'll have to tell Ian about this.
So many ways to keep Cindy under her thumb and onside in order to hide Jane's filthy little secret.
Jane is such an abject, selfish bitch, even moreso now that she's secure in her control of Ian. In her own mind, the roles have reversed from a decade ago. It's Jane, she thinks, who calls the shots in the Beale household now, with Ian the obvious weak link. Jane strides around that house as if she owns it. Whilst Ian is off on a mission to find out about Dot, Jane's at home, cleaning up the mess that is Cindy and her attitude toward Beth. What's so disgusting about Jane is the casual, off-handed way shestill takes advantage of Masood. I don't know what's worse - the way she uses him as a lackey or the way he tries to stick his nose up her fat arse given the slightest opportunity.
If you need a place to go when Hurricane Ian lands, there's always mine. I'm cooking, and there's plenty to go around.
This is Masood coming onto someone who is a newly-married wife and mother, herself; and without as much as asking permission, Jane tells Cindy she needs to get out of the house - but not to a place where she might be able to walk off and abandon the baby - instead, she dumps her and Beth at Masood's house, not even caring that he has guests.
The irony is that in leaving Cindy with Masood, she never imagined that Shabnam would prove an apt listening post and a pillar of advice - admitting to Cindy that not every woman is meant to be a mother, that Cindy needs to do, not only what is best for Beth, but what is best for herself, and - poignantly - telling her that she did nothing wrong in walking away because Beth was still safe and sound. This is the first sound advice the kid has received, considering she's got Jane and Ian harping from one side, lecturing her about what she's supposed to do and then doing it for her in order to undermine her, and Liam the Lug coming at her from the other side, telling her what a "natural" mother she is. She isn't. Again, she's just a kid, and he's seeing her that way because he sees the pair of them playing house with Beth. Cindy didn't even think enough of Liam to thank him for finding the baby.
Jane got the surprise of her life, in attempting to play "good cop" and promising not to tell Ian, when Cindy tells her she wants to put Beth up for adoption.
Her Heart Belongs to Daddy.
The search for the mystery father goes on, and now Dot's brought into it. So consumed is Sharon in trying to find her mystery dad, allegedly from Walford, that she treats as insignificant a summons from Denny's school for a meeting. Ian's desperate to see Dot and plays on the heartstrings. Sharon and Ian are all Dot has now, and Linda thinks perhaps Dot might remember or recognise something that might lead Sharon to her father.
Who put that atrocious red wig on June Brown? I know Dot won't be looking her best, on the medical wing of the prison, but the wig really was a bad one. Dot's still the martyr.
I killed my son. I deserve to be punished.
Although Ian and Sharon are concerned about Dot, Dot's concerned about Sharon, because she senses something's wrong. Alas, Dot doesn't remember any Gavin. And then we get a long foreshadowing moment about how Lou and Ethel, being gossips, would have known something. Or Arthur and Pauline. Or Pete and Kath ... all gone. (But not all gone).
Just because Dot doesn't remember or know any Gavin doesn't mean that Gavin was using a fake name. Walford isn't a small place, and maybe Gavin's people were the sort Dot, in those days. would have known or even known about. Gavin's people may have been the sort who only showed up at the pub to wheel and deal with Den.
Ian is floundering. He's still reeling from what he learned on his wedding day, and he's clearly hiding his discomfort from Jane by doing what a lot of people do when they are in crisis mode - retreat, in his mind, to a time when things seemed safe. Sharon's quest to find her birth father and establishing that he was part and parcel of Walford gives Ian a chance to do just that - retreat to the past. He offers to delve through a plethora of old pictures from Pete's past to see if, somehow, they might connect a name on a letter - Gavin - with a face in a picture that they wouldn't recognise.
Hell, it was Ian's attempt to retreat to a safer place - a place before Cindy and the Cindy Gene and Jane were ever thought about. Jane, entering the house when Ian was in full flow of looking at the pictures with Sharon, was more than miffed that Ian paid her scant attention, even when she suggested that she was having dinner with Masood. The only thing that sparks an interest in Sharon is seeing Ian's baby picture and thinking he looked like her as a baby. (Pardon me, but I thought Sharon was fostered and adopted as a toddler and not a small baby. How would Den and Angie have any such early baby pics?) The resemblance, obviously a passing one, leads Sharon to think that Pete might be her father, and she wants a DNA test to prove that she and Ian are brothers. In her way of thinking, that would explain the secrecy surrounding the adoption.
It's poppycock, of course, and Sharon is wrong. Pete Beale would no more have cheated on a pregnant Kathy than he would anyone. Pete had been married to a cheater previously - Pat. Pete didn't cheat. Besides, Carol Stretton was fourteen years old. Pete wouldn't do jailbait.
This is red herring territory.
Who put that atrocious red wig on June Brown? I know Dot won't be looking her best, on the medical wing of the prison, but the wig really was a bad one. Dot's still the martyr.
I killed my son. I deserve to be punished.
Although Ian and Sharon are concerned about Dot, Dot's concerned about Sharon, because she senses something's wrong. Alas, Dot doesn't remember any Gavin. And then we get a long foreshadowing moment about how Lou and Ethel, being gossips, would have known something. Or Arthur and Pauline. Or Pete and Kath ... all gone. (But not all gone).
Just because Dot doesn't remember or know any Gavin doesn't mean that Gavin was using a fake name. Walford isn't a small place, and maybe Gavin's people were the sort Dot, in those days. would have known or even known about. Gavin's people may have been the sort who only showed up at the pub to wheel and deal with Den.
Ian is floundering. He's still reeling from what he learned on his wedding day, and he's clearly hiding his discomfort from Jane by doing what a lot of people do when they are in crisis mode - retreat, in his mind, to a time when things seemed safe. Sharon's quest to find her birth father and establishing that he was part and parcel of Walford gives Ian a chance to do just that - retreat to the past. He offers to delve through a plethora of old pictures from Pete's past to see if, somehow, they might connect a name on a letter - Gavin - with a face in a picture that they wouldn't recognise.
Hell, it was Ian's attempt to retreat to a safer place - a place before Cindy and the Cindy Gene and Jane were ever thought about. Jane, entering the house when Ian was in full flow of looking at the pictures with Sharon, was more than miffed that Ian paid her scant attention, even when she suggested that she was having dinner with Masood. The only thing that sparks an interest in Sharon is seeing Ian's baby picture and thinking he looked like her as a baby. (Pardon me, but I thought Sharon was fostered and adopted as a toddler and not a small baby. How would Den and Angie have any such early baby pics?) The resemblance, obviously a passing one, leads Sharon to think that Pete might be her father, and she wants a DNA test to prove that she and Ian are brothers. In her way of thinking, that would explain the secrecy surrounding the adoption.
It's poppycock, of course, and Sharon is wrong. Pete Beale would no more have cheated on a pregnant Kathy than he would anyone. Pete had been married to a cheater previously - Pat. Pete didn't cheat. Besides, Carol Stretton was fourteen years old. Pete wouldn't do jailbait.
This is red herring territory.
Roxy's Trump. I love Roxy Mitchell. She's a flakey girl with a big heart who doesn't learn from her mistakes. I've especially liked the bonding scenes with her and Aleks's daughter Ineta. Ineta's feeling lonely, missing her mum and adjusting to life in a new country with a new stepmum. Roxy's a loving, but neglectful and selfish mother. When Roxy is told by Ineta that she's being bullied by a girl at school with a scary mother, when she's told about the girl grabbing her and holding her until Ineta smacked her in the mouth, Roxy tells her she did the right thing - although it really wasn't nice to hit people.
Then, leaving the house, when they run into the chav that is the Scary Mother, Roxy decks the woman and wins Ineta's admiration.
What a shame she slept with Charlie.
Nice Guys Finish Last. Suck it up, Alfie-haters. Alfie suspect and later learns that Martin has lost everything and is living in his van. All of a sudden the fruit and veg stall handed Alfie by Ian doesn't seem right. You know, you just know that Alfie is going to hand what could be his livelihood back to Martin. It's a family business, after all.
Honourable Mention. Kush trying to do "honourable" by Masood, who knows very well that Kush allowed him to win. And there, on prominent display in the Minute Mart is the Lottery Scratchcard display, and Billy mentioning his luck tonight.
Trust me. It's Alfie who wins, and Kathy's husband, Gavin, is Sharon's father.
Then, leaving the house, when they run into the chav that is the Scary Mother, Roxy decks the woman and wins Ineta's admiration.
What a shame she slept with Charlie.
Nice Guys Finish Last. Suck it up, Alfie-haters. Alfie suspect and later learns that Martin has lost everything and is living in his van. All of a sudden the fruit and veg stall handed Alfie by Ian doesn't seem right. You know, you just know that Alfie is going to hand what could be his livelihood back to Martin. It's a family business, after all.
Honourable Mention. Kush trying to do "honourable" by Masood, who knows very well that Kush allowed him to win. And there, on prominent display in the Minute Mart is the Lottery Scratchcard display, and Billy mentioning his luck tonight.
Trust me. It's Alfie who wins, and Kathy's husband, Gavin, is Sharon's father.
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