Almost perfect, but not quite. Just when you thought something was going to be resolved, two steps backward were taken. Once upon a time, I was the biggest Kat-and-Alfie shipper, and tonight was the first time in a long time, I found their storyline the most interesting. Shane Richie, Jessie Wallace and Miss Linda Henry owned that programme.
However, there were some stinkers exposed.
Welcome to the House of Fun.
The apt appellation for the Beale abode was bestowed by Cindy - it is a house of lies. Why she succumbed to the Beales' emotional blackmail is anyone's guess, because she certainly fired a volley of home truths in their direction.
Jane is seriously scary in her attitude and threatening demeanor to Cindy. Who does she think she is, questioning the girl's behaviour? This was an interesting, yet infuriating part of the episode. At the very beginning, when Ian was focusing totally on Beth and Jane was lying in bed, I thought for one brief moment, there was a soupcon of jealousy in the look on her face, and I don't think I'm wrong.
Cindy is right. Whatever Ian or Jane says, Beth is the substitute for Lucy. She's Lucy's niece and Cindy Snr's granddaughter, and she has the Cindy gene. She's Ian's chance to redeem himself for every bad parental judgement he inflicted on all of Cindy's three children. Cindy's also right in assessing that Ian and Jane want Beth in their lives more than they want Cindy.
All that bullshit Ian gave her about loving her and Beth just as much was what I called it: bullshit. Ian may feel a connection to Cindy Williams because she is Cindy Beale's daughter, but she's also the living reminder of Cindy's trying to have him killed all those years ago. And let's face it - both Jane and Ian want to keep Cindy close to home because, at worst, she's a loose cannon if things don't go her way. Closer to home, she can be controlled easier.
She's not one of Ian's children, but - like her mother - she reads Ian like a book. She knows he'll never change. He'll try to mould the child to his own image of what she should be. He'll do everything within his power to mould her into another Lucy. Effectively, Jane and Ian have taken Cindy's child, almost as insurance against Cindy telling their biggest secret.
That's really what the Beale marriage has amounted to - a cacophany of secrets and lies. Of all Ian's wives, Mel being the exception, Jane has been unable to give him the requisite child, and that was the fault of Steven Beale and Lucy. Take Beth out the equation, allow Cindy to have her adopted, and the Beale dynamic within the house consists of Ian, Cindy (who is no relation at all), Bobby (the unwanted child who killed his sister and who's a budding psychopath and manipulator), and Jane (his sociopathic adoptive mother who's calling the shots as much to protect her fat arse from going to jaile as to protect the murderer within.)
In that totally unsympathetic set-up, it wouldn't be long before Ian was crumbling every time he saw Bobby. Now he has Beth, his newest toy, on whom to focus his attention, and as Cindy recognised, it's a pretty sick set-up.
Cindy doesn't want her child. She feels no maternal instinct or longing for her, despite her line in the live episode about Peter not being a parent, so he wouldn't understand the need to protect a child. She wants to be a kid again, as is her right. The most bizarre situation would be sharing a house with her child and watching another couple bring her up. She couldn't even call her "sister" as she's not Ian's child, herself. How confused will Beth be? (Clock Jane's obdurate face when Ian ventured that Beth could call them "Nan and Granddad.")
Nope, Jane wants this child, more or less, because it would give Ian a focus, and it would mean he'd spend less time dwelling on Lucy and how Bobby killed her. The baby keeps Ian under her control, even though she realises, deep down, that Ian will never forget - and in his darkest moments - or forgive what she did to his child.
I wouldn't bank on Bobby containing his jealousy, however, but that might be deferred now that Cindy is staying.
Jane's not afraid to use Lucy as a means to blackmail Cindy into staying, and I'm glad she had the perspicacity to call the bitch out on this tactic, fully in front of Ian. Liam adding strength in numbers as well didn't help matters. For all Ian says he's not entitled to be a Beale, he is, as he was deemed last summer; and he's as obdurate as Ian in pursuing a girl who isn't remotely interested in him romantically - more than kinda reminds me of Ian and Cindy when he was initially pursuing her.
I was disappointed in Cindy, however, making the error of judgement to stay in the household. This will not end well, especially with Kathy on the horizon.
One small subtlety noticed - Jane originally thought to place the wreath given in Lucy's memory in the boot of Ian's car. (Presumably, they were going to the cemetary). She then realised the analogy between putting Lucy's memorial wreath in a car boot and, herself, having put Lucy's body in the boot of her small car.
What a prize bovine bitch! I hope she gets her full comeuppance.
Moonlighting.
I've not been a big fan of the Moons at all since the combined efforts of Kirkwood, Newman and the man-hating writing room basically botched their characterisation, but given the right storyline and dialogue, and both Shane Richie and Jessie Wallace can come to the fore again. Odd for me to say that, because I find Jesse O'Mahoney one of the weakest writers on the programme.
Even though we all knew what was going to happen tonight, it didn't make the tension any less. Kat, saying her goodbyes - first to Stacey and then to NuTommy, still wearing his mask and saying nothing.
This is actually clever - making the analogy of the child, literally masking his fears of his mother behind a mask, with the introduction, temporary or permanent, of a new child playing the character of Tommy. Tommy was always a chatty child, and this child is silent; but he's supposed to be, so traumatised is he by what he's recently noticed in his mother's behaviour.
Of course, as well, the gist of this storyline was meant to convey that Alfie knew Kat better than anyone. The tender kiss with which she left him as she said goodbye to the kids at Donna's, and the mention of a nice memory from Málaga was enough to set Alfie's mind racing. Seeing that Kat had given Tommy her market moneybag sealed his suspicion. The opened window and the sound of Kat's mobile ringing as Alfie stood outside convinced him that something was truly wrong.
Shane Richie's signature piece has got to be the breaking down of a door by kicking it in.
I guess this time, Kat was going to make doubly sure that she did herself in - first take an overdose and then cut her wrists, with a reverse psychology note on the bathroom door advising people to KEEP OUT.
Alfie was like a dog with a bone, thinking he'd rescued her, only to have her keel over from the overdose. Kat's actions were all caught up in Harry coming back to haunt her and Alfie setting the fire, yet trusting him to look after the children and wanting him to remember their best memory of Spain.
I actually thought the arrival of the paramedics with Stacey coming in deserved the duff-duff, but there you go.
I suppose Alfie will have redeemed himself by rescuing Kat from her darkest demons and by supporting her from her on out. If they reunite the Moons again, they have to end the con scams and the infidelity. We've been there and done that enough times, and the couple has to be settled into stability and different sorts of storylines. If TPTB aren't willing to do that, then, by all means, send them off, millionaires, to Australia.
The Inevitable Truth. Oh, dear, the Carters tonight. That was much ado about nothing. Mick's back in rallying-the-troops mood to go see Stan, whilst Shirley turns up, hungover and bemused by Nancy's voicemail from the night before.
The Carter emphasis in tonight's episode concerned Shirley finally being apprised of what happened the night of the Beale wedding, in the cellar, between Mick and Dean. Nancy, who believes the worst, finally tells her - but only because Stan has been asking for Dean.
One little niggle: Nancy told Shirley that she'd been wanting to tell her this for months, when the incident between Dean and Mick happened little over a month ago, the night of Ian's wedding. So Dean's been vanished for little over a month, and Nancy's been wanting to tell Shirley for months? How about for weeks, O'Mahoney?
The confrontation was all over the place, grounded only by Linda Henry's superb performance. Faced with the tragic possibility that her older secret son may have killed the younger one is too much for her. In an instant, you see the conflicting emotions run over her face, as she struggles to comprehend what this means, and we struggle to understand the truth. Could it be that Mick was finally, ultimately telling the truth - that he walked back into the cellar, Dean was on his feet and walked out of his own volition? It appears so. Lee believed him. Linda believed him. but then it's unclear whether or not Shirley believes that Dean did rape Linda, because at one point in the confrontation, Shirley's blaming Linda for Dean's disappearance and intimating that she's lying about the rape again.
The core of contention was Shirley wanting to go directly to Stan's bedside in order to inform him that Mick had killed Dean, a propostion so horrifying that, as Shirley ascertains, the other Carters, the Court Jester included, close ranks against her, warning her that she'd be on her own again if she entertained disrupting Stan's last days with upset and quarrelling.
And then the piece de resistance duff-duff ... Dean returns with Buster Bloodvessel.
However, there were some stinkers exposed.
Welcome to the House of Fun.
The apt appellation for the Beale abode was bestowed by Cindy - it is a house of lies. Why she succumbed to the Beales' emotional blackmail is anyone's guess, because she certainly fired a volley of home truths in their direction.
Jane is seriously scary in her attitude and threatening demeanor to Cindy. Who does she think she is, questioning the girl's behaviour? This was an interesting, yet infuriating part of the episode. At the very beginning, when Ian was focusing totally on Beth and Jane was lying in bed, I thought for one brief moment, there was a soupcon of jealousy in the look on her face, and I don't think I'm wrong.
Cindy is right. Whatever Ian or Jane says, Beth is the substitute for Lucy. She's Lucy's niece and Cindy Snr's granddaughter, and she has the Cindy gene. She's Ian's chance to redeem himself for every bad parental judgement he inflicted on all of Cindy's three children. Cindy's also right in assessing that Ian and Jane want Beth in their lives more than they want Cindy.
All that bullshit Ian gave her about loving her and Beth just as much was what I called it: bullshit. Ian may feel a connection to Cindy Williams because she is Cindy Beale's daughter, but she's also the living reminder of Cindy's trying to have him killed all those years ago. And let's face it - both Jane and Ian want to keep Cindy close to home because, at worst, she's a loose cannon if things don't go her way. Closer to home, she can be controlled easier.
She's not one of Ian's children, but - like her mother - she reads Ian like a book. She knows he'll never change. He'll try to mould the child to his own image of what she should be. He'll do everything within his power to mould her into another Lucy. Effectively, Jane and Ian have taken Cindy's child, almost as insurance against Cindy telling their biggest secret.
That's really what the Beale marriage has amounted to - a cacophany of secrets and lies. Of all Ian's wives, Mel being the exception, Jane has been unable to give him the requisite child, and that was the fault of Steven Beale and Lucy. Take Beth out the equation, allow Cindy to have her adopted, and the Beale dynamic within the house consists of Ian, Cindy (who is no relation at all), Bobby (the unwanted child who killed his sister and who's a budding psychopath and manipulator), and Jane (his sociopathic adoptive mother who's calling the shots as much to protect her fat arse from going to jaile as to protect the murderer within.)
In that totally unsympathetic set-up, it wouldn't be long before Ian was crumbling every time he saw Bobby. Now he has Beth, his newest toy, on whom to focus his attention, and as Cindy recognised, it's a pretty sick set-up.
Cindy doesn't want her child. She feels no maternal instinct or longing for her, despite her line in the live episode about Peter not being a parent, so he wouldn't understand the need to protect a child. She wants to be a kid again, as is her right. The most bizarre situation would be sharing a house with her child and watching another couple bring her up. She couldn't even call her "sister" as she's not Ian's child, herself. How confused will Beth be? (Clock Jane's obdurate face when Ian ventured that Beth could call them "Nan and Granddad.")
Nope, Jane wants this child, more or less, because it would give Ian a focus, and it would mean he'd spend less time dwelling on Lucy and how Bobby killed her. The baby keeps Ian under her control, even though she realises, deep down, that Ian will never forget - and in his darkest moments - or forgive what she did to his child.
I wouldn't bank on Bobby containing his jealousy, however, but that might be deferred now that Cindy is staying.
Jane's not afraid to use Lucy as a means to blackmail Cindy into staying, and I'm glad she had the perspicacity to call the bitch out on this tactic, fully in front of Ian. Liam adding strength in numbers as well didn't help matters. For all Ian says he's not entitled to be a Beale, he is, as he was deemed last summer; and he's as obdurate as Ian in pursuing a girl who isn't remotely interested in him romantically - more than kinda reminds me of Ian and Cindy when he was initially pursuing her.
I was disappointed in Cindy, however, making the error of judgement to stay in the household. This will not end well, especially with Kathy on the horizon.
One small subtlety noticed - Jane originally thought to place the wreath given in Lucy's memory in the boot of Ian's car. (Presumably, they were going to the cemetary). She then realised the analogy between putting Lucy's memorial wreath in a car boot and, herself, having put Lucy's body in the boot of her small car.
What a prize bovine bitch! I hope she gets her full comeuppance.
Moonlighting.
I've not been a big fan of the Moons at all since the combined efforts of Kirkwood, Newman and the man-hating writing room basically botched their characterisation, but given the right storyline and dialogue, and both Shane Richie and Jessie Wallace can come to the fore again. Odd for me to say that, because I find Jesse O'Mahoney one of the weakest writers on the programme.
Even though we all knew what was going to happen tonight, it didn't make the tension any less. Kat, saying her goodbyes - first to Stacey and then to NuTommy, still wearing his mask and saying nothing.
This is actually clever - making the analogy of the child, literally masking his fears of his mother behind a mask, with the introduction, temporary or permanent, of a new child playing the character of Tommy. Tommy was always a chatty child, and this child is silent; but he's supposed to be, so traumatised is he by what he's recently noticed in his mother's behaviour.
Of course, as well, the gist of this storyline was meant to convey that Alfie knew Kat better than anyone. The tender kiss with which she left him as she said goodbye to the kids at Donna's, and the mention of a nice memory from Málaga was enough to set Alfie's mind racing. Seeing that Kat had given Tommy her market moneybag sealed his suspicion. The opened window and the sound of Kat's mobile ringing as Alfie stood outside convinced him that something was truly wrong.
Shane Richie's signature piece has got to be the breaking down of a door by kicking it in.
I guess this time, Kat was going to make doubly sure that she did herself in - first take an overdose and then cut her wrists, with a reverse psychology note on the bathroom door advising people to KEEP OUT.
Alfie was like a dog with a bone, thinking he'd rescued her, only to have her keel over from the overdose. Kat's actions were all caught up in Harry coming back to haunt her and Alfie setting the fire, yet trusting him to look after the children and wanting him to remember their best memory of Spain.
I actually thought the arrival of the paramedics with Stacey coming in deserved the duff-duff, but there you go.
I suppose Alfie will have redeemed himself by rescuing Kat from her darkest demons and by supporting her from her on out. If they reunite the Moons again, they have to end the con scams and the infidelity. We've been there and done that enough times, and the couple has to be settled into stability and different sorts of storylines. If TPTB aren't willing to do that, then, by all means, send them off, millionaires, to Australia.
The Inevitable Truth. Oh, dear, the Carters tonight. That was much ado about nothing. Mick's back in rallying-the-troops mood to go see Stan, whilst Shirley turns up, hungover and bemused by Nancy's voicemail from the night before.
The Carter emphasis in tonight's episode concerned Shirley finally being apprised of what happened the night of the Beale wedding, in the cellar, between Mick and Dean. Nancy, who believes the worst, finally tells her - but only because Stan has been asking for Dean.
One little niggle: Nancy told Shirley that she'd been wanting to tell her this for months, when the incident between Dean and Mick happened little over a month ago, the night of Ian's wedding. So Dean's been vanished for little over a month, and Nancy's been wanting to tell Shirley for months? How about for weeks, O'Mahoney?
The confrontation was all over the place, grounded only by Linda Henry's superb performance. Faced with the tragic possibility that her older secret son may have killed the younger one is too much for her. In an instant, you see the conflicting emotions run over her face, as she struggles to comprehend what this means, and we struggle to understand the truth. Could it be that Mick was finally, ultimately telling the truth - that he walked back into the cellar, Dean was on his feet and walked out of his own volition? It appears so. Lee believed him. Linda believed him. but then it's unclear whether or not Shirley believes that Dean did rape Linda, because at one point in the confrontation, Shirley's blaming Linda for Dean's disappearance and intimating that she's lying about the rape again.
The core of contention was Shirley wanting to go directly to Stan's bedside in order to inform him that Mick had killed Dean, a propostion so horrifying that, as Shirley ascertains, the other Carters, the Court Jester included, close ranks against her, warning her that she'd be on her own again if she entertained disrupting Stan's last days with upset and quarrelling.
And then the piece de resistance duff-duff ... Dean returns with Buster Bloodvessel.
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