Surprise, surprise!
That was a thoroughly excellent episode. The two surprises packed a punch, but the continuity was good, and - above all - the unexpected was and totally could be plausible.
Stacey: Ryan the Red Herring.
Whoda thunk that? When Whitney thought Stacey's night with Martin didn't go to plan, she was quick to offer Ryan as an option.
Ryan's still out there.
Yes, he is, and he's still wanted and on the run for murder, so any way Whitney can arrange for Stacey to meet and get together with Ryan has got to be furtive and clandestine. Stacey isn't interested in Ryan, and I'm glad.
I've no doubt we shall see Ryan at some point, probably when Stacey and Martin are preparing to marry, he'll turn up, like a bad smell, belloweathering about wanting access to Lily, and he'll probably do something like kidnap her for a few days; but the important thing is that Stacey, although polite enough to Whitney, wasn't remotely interested in Ryan.
Good.
So Stacey called Sean.
Yep. Sean.
I suppose it's too much, at this point, to have expected an appearance, even a Skyped one, by Robert Kazinsky. That horse ha bolted to Hollywood, and he/s climbing the ladder to success out there in a big way. I'd love for Sean to return one day, if only to remind Roxy that they are still married, to tell Ronnie to fuck off, to smack Charlie across the face, and to grab Roxy and Amy and fly off into the sunset.
Without Robert Kazinsky, it behooved TPTB to create a virtual Sean, courtesy of Skype seen from Stacey's point of view and a faulty sound connection, which necessitated her wearing headphones, so we only heard her side of the conversation.
A lot was revealed - such as Stacey was lonely now. She thought she'd return to Walford to be amongst family and build some sort of stability for Lily, but she was lonelier now than she ever was on the run. Being on the Square brought back constant memories of Bradley, whom she misses and for whom she's still grieving. And she misses Sean. (It was at this point we found out to whom she was talking).
And then the big reveal: Sean gave Stacey the mysterious key. The key belonged to their father, Brian, and when Stacey asked the purpose of the key, Sean told her all would be revealed in good time, and the connection cut off.
And so another mystery begins; however, I thought the conversation she had with Sean was a catharsis moment, much the same, but on a smaller level, as what was happening with Kat. Stacey's admitted now, to a family member and someone who knew Bradley, how much she's missing and grieving for him. Maybe now that she's admitted this, it will enable her to move forward, and maybe she might begin to see Martin in a new light. Her relationship started off much the same way with Bradley, and maybe she sees a lot of Bradley in Martin and is afraid to pursue the relationship for fear of history repeating itself.
I'm quite happy for their relationship to be a slow-burner, to establish a warm friendship first and let the romance grow and last. It's time that the show created its own endgame couple once again.
Kathleen.
We needed this.
We all knew Kat - Kat Slater, Kat Moon - as Kat and what she was. We understood how she came to be that way, how she turned her parents' assumptions about her into a self-fulfilling prophecy and how she became the local bike - as a result of having been raped by her uncle and the resulting poor self-esteem which developed from that trauma.
However, recently, we've seen Kat as a frustratingly circular character, one of a plethora of female characters, plagued by a traumatic event in their past - sexual abuse by a relative (Kat, Ronnie, Whitney), domestic abuse (Zainab), grinding poverty and poor life decisions (Carol) - as an excuse to behave badly and abscond responsibility for their actions, instead, shifting blame, often, to he shoulders of the person closest to them.
In 2002-2005, we learned about what we thought were Kat's darkest secrets, how she was taken to the edge and how Alfie's love redeemed her. In 2010, she returned a more broken, more hateful and generally viler version of herself. She used her "dirty girl" excuse as a reason to cheat and wantonly humiliate Alfie.
Everything Stacey said to her in Thursday's episode was spot on correct - Kat veered from self-destruct to self-destruct, with Alfie picking up the pieces along the way ... because he loved her. Alfie assumed total blame for Kat's breakdown, promising to mend her and let her go. He remembered the ballsy, gobby girl he married, but Kat needed to go back before she became that girl and reclaim who she'd been and acknowledge why she changed.
We learned a lot about Kat tonight, and I know that I'm quick to recognise and smell a retcon, but I'm going to put my hand up and say everything that was revealed tonight was entirely plausible.
Kat was a kid. She was fourteen, and, I would imagine, a very young fourteen, when she gave birth. She was in labour, and she was confused. It would be easy when a young child was in that sort of state to mistake a convent for a hospital and nuns for nurses.
And it seems that this last suicide attempt of Kat's wasn't her second attempt, it was her third. What I didn't understand was when this first attempt take place. The storeroom she visited first, I thought she remembered having her child in there, but June Whitfield's delightfully naughty nun - indulging in the private vice of having three cigarettes a day and keeping a flask of whiskey close by (both things not unheard of amongst convent folk)confirmed that Kat gave birth in the room which was now Sister Ruth's room. What happened in the storeroom was Kat's first suicide attempt.
The re-introduction of Harry into Kat's life, long after his death, has brought about frightening thoughts and memory flashbacks. She went to stay with her Auntie Vi, when she began to show at home. (Check, that's confirmed). When Kat went into labour and Vi wasn't around, Viv took her to the convent to give birth. Kat thought this was a hospital. Sister Ruth (June Whitfield) remembered Kat and her mother. As she stated, many who came seeking their services, came alone or with a boyfriend. Few came with their mothers.
I must admit, I was initially confused by the nun's reference to Kat's "babies" in relation to the fire, but I thought off-screen smalltalk had established that.
Little did I know.
This was a brilliant background tale for its continuity and for the proof that someone in the writers' room finally does understand Kat. Kat hates herself because when Harry did what he did, she didn't kick, scream, scratch and claw to draw attention to what was happening; she hates herself because of the assumptions her parents drew of her part in this circumstance - that Harry was having a midlife crisis, and that Kat was an enticing little madam who led him on. From this, Kat put Kathleen away and became Kat, the goodtime girl who, as Max Branning says, would never say no. That her parents would sympathise with Harry over what was happening and not believe Kat's version of events is despicable.
Then, having scratched the surface, we see what's really troubling Kat - she feels dirty because she enjoyed the attention Harry gave her. Viv and Charlie were always rowing - so much for Charlie's version of his sainted Viv - and Harry paid special attention to Kat. She felt singled-out and unique, but I was confused when she expressed jealousy at hearing there were others with whom Harry was involved. Does she mean the victims who are now coming out of the woodwork? She must, and that means that Kat feels dirtier for having secretly felt hand-picked by Harry, when he was simply a dirty old paedophile who had a string of young blossoms on the pick.
Finally, there was the acknowledgement of her affair with Derek, a man she now described as disgusting, but whom she recognised was yet another version of Harry, and she fed her poor self-esteem by indulging in an affair with him.
The most important point laboured in this soul-searching discussion was the fact that before Harry, Kat was an innocent and happy child, indeed a sweet child,and all it took to destroy that was Harry's abuse.
If there were any shortcomings in this episode, and I appreciate it had to be because of the time factor, not much was made of Kat's marriage - apart from how happy she and Alfie were to leave Walford in the snow in 2005 with 83 quid (consistency again) - or how much she had hurt her husband with her constant infidelities, now that we know the reasoning behind them.
Finally, there was the gift from Sister Ruth, the medallion showing the mute Saint Zoe of Rome, who was given her voice at the foot of the dying Saint Sebastian. Ruth told Kat that story before, and from that, it was evident where Kat found inspiration for Zoe's name.
The Big Surprise. Did that come out of the blue? The fact that Kat had twins back in 1984?
It's very plausible, in fact. Here's how: Kat was fourteen, she was very young, very frightened and in labour. She could have had a Caesarian, which may have entailed Kat being given an anasthaetic. Two babies were born. We knew that Zoe was raised by the Slaters, but what happened to the boy, who was alive? Kat was still a minor; perhaps Viv and Charlie decided they couldn't afford taking both babies, and chose Zoe to keep and raise, especially since they'd already raised four girls previously. As a minor, Kat's parents would have signed off the boy for adoption.
Or perhaps Kat is blocking out the memory of a second child - again, something that isn't implausible. She says things are coming back to her in flashes of memory. Perhaps this memory is what is trying to surface.
Whatever the reason, I'm betting this child went to Ireland, either adopted out or farmed out with someone else, and I'm willing to bet that this is the reason the Moons are going to Ireland - to find Kat's son.
Cracking episode.
That was a thoroughly excellent episode. The two surprises packed a punch, but the continuity was good, and - above all - the unexpected was and totally could be plausible.
Stacey: Ryan the Red Herring.
Ryan's still out there.
Yes, he is, and he's still wanted and on the run for murder, so any way Whitney can arrange for Stacey to meet and get together with Ryan has got to be furtive and clandestine. Stacey isn't interested in Ryan, and I'm glad.
I've no doubt we shall see Ryan at some point, probably when Stacey and Martin are preparing to marry, he'll turn up, like a bad smell, belloweathering about wanting access to Lily, and he'll probably do something like kidnap her for a few days; but the important thing is that Stacey, although polite enough to Whitney, wasn't remotely interested in Ryan.
Good.
So Stacey called Sean.
Yep. Sean.
I suppose it's too much, at this point, to have expected an appearance, even a Skyped one, by Robert Kazinsky. That horse ha bolted to Hollywood, and he/s climbing the ladder to success out there in a big way. I'd love for Sean to return one day, if only to remind Roxy that they are still married, to tell Ronnie to fuck off, to smack Charlie across the face, and to grab Roxy and Amy and fly off into the sunset.
Without Robert Kazinsky, it behooved TPTB to create a virtual Sean, courtesy of Skype seen from Stacey's point of view and a faulty sound connection, which necessitated her wearing headphones, so we only heard her side of the conversation.
A lot was revealed - such as Stacey was lonely now. She thought she'd return to Walford to be amongst family and build some sort of stability for Lily, but she was lonelier now than she ever was on the run. Being on the Square brought back constant memories of Bradley, whom she misses and for whom she's still grieving. And she misses Sean. (It was at this point we found out to whom she was talking).
And then the big reveal: Sean gave Stacey the mysterious key. The key belonged to their father, Brian, and when Stacey asked the purpose of the key, Sean told her all would be revealed in good time, and the connection cut off.
And so another mystery begins; however, I thought the conversation she had with Sean was a catharsis moment, much the same, but on a smaller level, as what was happening with Kat. Stacey's admitted now, to a family member and someone who knew Bradley, how much she's missing and grieving for him. Maybe now that she's admitted this, it will enable her to move forward, and maybe she might begin to see Martin in a new light. Her relationship started off much the same way with Bradley, and maybe she sees a lot of Bradley in Martin and is afraid to pursue the relationship for fear of history repeating itself.
I'm quite happy for their relationship to be a slow-burner, to establish a warm friendship first and let the romance grow and last. It's time that the show created its own endgame couple once again.
Kathleen.
We needed this.
We all knew Kat - Kat Slater, Kat Moon - as Kat and what she was. We understood how she came to be that way, how she turned her parents' assumptions about her into a self-fulfilling prophecy and how she became the local bike - as a result of having been raped by her uncle and the resulting poor self-esteem which developed from that trauma.
However, recently, we've seen Kat as a frustratingly circular character, one of a plethora of female characters, plagued by a traumatic event in their past - sexual abuse by a relative (Kat, Ronnie, Whitney), domestic abuse (Zainab), grinding poverty and poor life decisions (Carol) - as an excuse to behave badly and abscond responsibility for their actions, instead, shifting blame, often, to he shoulders of the person closest to them.
In 2002-2005, we learned about what we thought were Kat's darkest secrets, how she was taken to the edge and how Alfie's love redeemed her. In 2010, she returned a more broken, more hateful and generally viler version of herself. She used her "dirty girl" excuse as a reason to cheat and wantonly humiliate Alfie.
Everything Stacey said to her in Thursday's episode was spot on correct - Kat veered from self-destruct to self-destruct, with Alfie picking up the pieces along the way ... because he loved her. Alfie assumed total blame for Kat's breakdown, promising to mend her and let her go. He remembered the ballsy, gobby girl he married, but Kat needed to go back before she became that girl and reclaim who she'd been and acknowledge why she changed.
We learned a lot about Kat tonight, and I know that I'm quick to recognise and smell a retcon, but I'm going to put my hand up and say everything that was revealed tonight was entirely plausible.
Kat was a kid. She was fourteen, and, I would imagine, a very young fourteen, when she gave birth. She was in labour, and she was confused. It would be easy when a young child was in that sort of state to mistake a convent for a hospital and nuns for nurses.
And it seems that this last suicide attempt of Kat's wasn't her second attempt, it was her third. What I didn't understand was when this first attempt take place. The storeroom she visited first, I thought she remembered having her child in there, but June Whitfield's delightfully naughty nun - indulging in the private vice of having three cigarettes a day and keeping a flask of whiskey close by (both things not unheard of amongst convent folk)confirmed that Kat gave birth in the room which was now Sister Ruth's room. What happened in the storeroom was Kat's first suicide attempt.
The re-introduction of Harry into Kat's life, long after his death, has brought about frightening thoughts and memory flashbacks. She went to stay with her Auntie Vi, when she began to show at home. (Check, that's confirmed). When Kat went into labour and Vi wasn't around, Viv took her to the convent to give birth. Kat thought this was a hospital. Sister Ruth (June Whitfield) remembered Kat and her mother. As she stated, many who came seeking their services, came alone or with a boyfriend. Few came with their mothers.
I must admit, I was initially confused by the nun's reference to Kat's "babies" in relation to the fire, but I thought off-screen smalltalk had established that.
Little did I know.
This was a brilliant background tale for its continuity and for the proof that someone in the writers' room finally does understand Kat. Kat hates herself because when Harry did what he did, she didn't kick, scream, scratch and claw to draw attention to what was happening; she hates herself because of the assumptions her parents drew of her part in this circumstance - that Harry was having a midlife crisis, and that Kat was an enticing little madam who led him on. From this, Kat put Kathleen away and became Kat, the goodtime girl who, as Max Branning says, would never say no. That her parents would sympathise with Harry over what was happening and not believe Kat's version of events is despicable.
Then, having scratched the surface, we see what's really troubling Kat - she feels dirty because she enjoyed the attention Harry gave her. Viv and Charlie were always rowing - so much for Charlie's version of his sainted Viv - and Harry paid special attention to Kat. She felt singled-out and unique, but I was confused when she expressed jealousy at hearing there were others with whom Harry was involved. Does she mean the victims who are now coming out of the woodwork? She must, and that means that Kat feels dirtier for having secretly felt hand-picked by Harry, when he was simply a dirty old paedophile who had a string of young blossoms on the pick.
Finally, there was the acknowledgement of her affair with Derek, a man she now described as disgusting, but whom she recognised was yet another version of Harry, and she fed her poor self-esteem by indulging in an affair with him.
The most important point laboured in this soul-searching discussion was the fact that before Harry, Kat was an innocent and happy child, indeed a sweet child,and all it took to destroy that was Harry's abuse.
If there were any shortcomings in this episode, and I appreciate it had to be because of the time factor, not much was made of Kat's marriage - apart from how happy she and Alfie were to leave Walford in the snow in 2005 with 83 quid (consistency again) - or how much she had hurt her husband with her constant infidelities, now that we know the reasoning behind them.
Finally, there was the gift from Sister Ruth, the medallion showing the mute Saint Zoe of Rome, who was given her voice at the foot of the dying Saint Sebastian. Ruth told Kat that story before, and from that, it was evident where Kat found inspiration for Zoe's name.
The Big Surprise. Did that come out of the blue? The fact that Kat had twins back in 1984?
It's very plausible, in fact. Here's how: Kat was fourteen, she was very young, very frightened and in labour. She could have had a Caesarian, which may have entailed Kat being given an anasthaetic. Two babies were born. We knew that Zoe was raised by the Slaters, but what happened to the boy, who was alive? Kat was still a minor; perhaps Viv and Charlie decided they couldn't afford taking both babies, and chose Zoe to keep and raise, especially since they'd already raised four girls previously. As a minor, Kat's parents would have signed off the boy for adoption.
Or perhaps Kat is blocking out the memory of a second child - again, something that isn't implausible. She says things are coming back to her in flashes of memory. Perhaps this memory is what is trying to surface.
Whatever the reason, I'm betting this child went to Ireland, either adopted out or farmed out with someone else, and I'm willing to bet that this is the reason the Moons are going to Ireland - to find Kat's son.
Cracking episode.
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