Thursday was the 19th of March, or in other words: How a Show Can Go from Hero to Zero in Thirty Short Days. Seriously. Wednesday's show was less than mediocre; it was positively Newmanesque.
The show misses the Mitchells.
Much Ado About Nothing.
Gosh, how I miss Janine - a genuinely strong woman who didn't need a man to verify and confirm her existence. Why is it that every genuinely intelligent female character, one who promises empowerment and individuality, has to be morphed into a stereotypical freak simply in order to "codify" an individuality she'll shortly discard and disparage, probably in favour of some gormless male - and most males are, in the man-hating environment that is the EastEnders' writers' room, suitably gormless?
Rebecca is being disparaged by the likes of Cindy because Rebecca has suddenly become a Goth.
Are you going to eat my brain or something? Cindy sneers.
Kudos to Rebecca: I'd have to look hard to find it first.
Cindy deserved that, the ungrateful, shitty, little bitch. Rebecca may look strange, for whatever reason; but at fourteen, at least she's not out shagging shapeless, slack-jawed lugs on the floor of a house in which she's really got no right to live. At least Rebecca doesn't roll her eyes at the thought of a child she's borne and doesn't want.
The weird bit of continuity came with Rebecca contemplating changing her name back to Chloe, the name Sonia originally gave her, then taunting Martin about him and Sonia having given her up for adoption, something catty CindyBitch lapped up like cream. Actually, it wasn't Martin who gave Rebecca away; it was Sonia. Sure, Martin wasn't keen at all about being a fifteen year-old father - not everyone is a Mick Carter - but Pauline fought long and hard to get custody of Rebecca. Remember this?
(Sonia was just as vile then, wasn't she?) The point there was that Sonia gave the kid up, then kidnapped her, then stalked the mother of the adoptive mother when the adoptive parents were killed, until finally the old lady died and Sonia got Rebecca ... except she walked away from her then to be with Gnomi.
We had a great amount of this episode taken up by the story of teenaged angst, and it wasn't even proper boy-loves-girl teenaged angst, just drivel about a girl getting sent home from school for showing up looking like a cross between Morticia Addams and the girls from St Trinians, and how two clueless and essentially selfish parents briefly acted in tandem to get the child to see sense.
The girl who plays Rebecca should seriously stick to playing guitar. She's not a very good actress, and teenaged struggle for individuality and her parents' response to that (by dyeing their hair blue) was contrived and the worst piece of stereotypical reverse psychology ever depicted. Further, it led to that awful reflective scene between Sonia and Martin where they mused about what a "great team" they were and how Sonia was the intelligent one who always knew what to do, mingled with the requisite lines about how hard it was to raise teenagers and wondering when they would both feel like proper adults.
Yawn yawn yawn yawn yawn.
I know a lot of people are having trouble with NuMartin. Looking back over a couple of clips of Old Martin tonight, I don't think he's far off the mark. He's more like Old Martin mixed in with a hefty dose of Bradley (designed to gain the appeal of Stacey, no doubt). He's certainly naive enough to believe he may be in with a second chance with Sonia. Seriously? Martin, do you really want to go back there? Another tip to continuity tonight when Martin related to Kush the trauma he and Sonia had shared - Rebecca's birth, his stalker and what he described as Sonia's "lesbian phase."
Kush, on the other hand, seems to hit the nail on the head about Martin's situation - Martin, he says, simply doesn't love Sonia anymore. I don't even think Martin believed he loved Sonia. He just wanted a bit of familiarity about him, as well as help in bringing up his daughter. Anyway, he was soon put straight (pun intended) when he saw silly Sonia giving a tongue tonsillectomy to the Court Jester.
Sonia, however, continues to be vile. Tonight, we got to see her in action as a nurse. My only thought was that Stan must have been in the throes of delirium, for wanting to cop a view of Sonia's rear end or a rubdown given by her tender hands. She veered tonight from pithy nurse-like comments to promising the Court Jester that "she would always be there for her."
Look ... Martin can stay. Rebecca ... meh. Sonia can bugger on out of Walford.
The Non-Carter Story. I suppose the highlight of this non-story was the rather muted appearance of Andrew Sachs. He's not Ginger Pete or another Carter or even Sharon's father. He was just an elderly man on Stan's ward in the hospital.
I'm sorry, but if this is what Timothy West reckons is his King Lear bow-out, either he doesn't know his Shakespeare, which I doubt; or he reckons his reputation as a classical actor preceeds him and that the audience is so bowled over by his phoned-in presence for the moment, that they'll take any PR reference to Shakespeare as gospel, when it's not.
Tonight's offering was much of Stan ranting about wanting the money he gave Shirley. We got a brief glimpse of Shirley "managing" Blades, and looking as if her greasy hair might have done with a wash from Lola, refusing Tina's naive request that Shirley dig into the till and magically produce the 10 grand Phil loaned her for Blades, which still hasn't been repaid.
Stan did, however, speak the truth, when reminiscing about how neither Mick nor Shirley had cared about him, until they came, cap in hand, to ask for money, and he'd given them everything he had. Now he wants payback for a care home. He's also pretty accurate in his assessment that they were hoping he died sooner, rather than later, in order to avoid paying back the debt they owed him. (Cast your mind back to Spring 2014, when Stan demanded repayment of the loan for Dean, and Mick took offense that what was clearly a loan, needed repaying.
Stan and Babe reconciled. (Yawn) Tina appeared even more childlike and inane than ever. She's gone back to dressing like a five year-old. Did she seriously think Babe had the sort of money Stan wanted?
Cora and Patrick got drunk in Stan's name. (Yawn again).
Insignificant Others. Well, at least we learned that, although Kush was fond of Shabnam, and foresaw a future with her more than anyone since the death of his wife, he wasn't ready for marriage after a couple of dates. He really had no choice but to end the relationship on Masood's terms or else be forced into a marriage with a woman he didn't know. I suspect the flowers he bought were for his wife's grave. It was more than a bit disheartening to see a woman of nearly thirty, giving sidelong glances of hope at a man who clearly was uneasy in her presence.
Fatboy and Donna? Well, at least he was sympathetic and understanding with her and seemed to genuinely connect with her as a person. She opened up to him about her medical history, and, attitude dropped (which, I fear, was a front), she's actually quite a nice person.
Pam, I seriously hate now. She's nosey and controlling. I liked Donna's successful attempts to elbow her out of her life.
Not a good episode.
The show misses the Mitchells.
Much Ado About Nothing.
Gosh, how I miss Janine - a genuinely strong woman who didn't need a man to verify and confirm her existence. Why is it that every genuinely intelligent female character, one who promises empowerment and individuality, has to be morphed into a stereotypical freak simply in order to "codify" an individuality she'll shortly discard and disparage, probably in favour of some gormless male - and most males are, in the man-hating environment that is the EastEnders' writers' room, suitably gormless?
Rebecca is being disparaged by the likes of Cindy because Rebecca has suddenly become a Goth.
Are you going to eat my brain or something? Cindy sneers.
Kudos to Rebecca: I'd have to look hard to find it first.
Cindy deserved that, the ungrateful, shitty, little bitch. Rebecca may look strange, for whatever reason; but at fourteen, at least she's not out shagging shapeless, slack-jawed lugs on the floor of a house in which she's really got no right to live. At least Rebecca doesn't roll her eyes at the thought of a child she's borne and doesn't want.
The weird bit of continuity came with Rebecca contemplating changing her name back to Chloe, the name Sonia originally gave her, then taunting Martin about him and Sonia having given her up for adoption, something catty CindyBitch lapped up like cream. Actually, it wasn't Martin who gave Rebecca away; it was Sonia. Sure, Martin wasn't keen at all about being a fifteen year-old father - not everyone is a Mick Carter - but Pauline fought long and hard to get custody of Rebecca. Remember this?
(Sonia was just as vile then, wasn't she?) The point there was that Sonia gave the kid up, then kidnapped her, then stalked the mother of the adoptive mother when the adoptive parents were killed, until finally the old lady died and Sonia got Rebecca ... except she walked away from her then to be with Gnomi.
We had a great amount of this episode taken up by the story of teenaged angst, and it wasn't even proper boy-loves-girl teenaged angst, just drivel about a girl getting sent home from school for showing up looking like a cross between Morticia Addams and the girls from St Trinians, and how two clueless and essentially selfish parents briefly acted in tandem to get the child to see sense.
The girl who plays Rebecca should seriously stick to playing guitar. She's not a very good actress, and teenaged struggle for individuality and her parents' response to that (by dyeing their hair blue) was contrived and the worst piece of stereotypical reverse psychology ever depicted. Further, it led to that awful reflective scene between Sonia and Martin where they mused about what a "great team" they were and how Sonia was the intelligent one who always knew what to do, mingled with the requisite lines about how hard it was to raise teenagers and wondering when they would both feel like proper adults.
Yawn yawn yawn yawn yawn.
I know a lot of people are having trouble with NuMartin. Looking back over a couple of clips of Old Martin tonight, I don't think he's far off the mark. He's more like Old Martin mixed in with a hefty dose of Bradley (designed to gain the appeal of Stacey, no doubt). He's certainly naive enough to believe he may be in with a second chance with Sonia. Seriously? Martin, do you really want to go back there? Another tip to continuity tonight when Martin related to Kush the trauma he and Sonia had shared - Rebecca's birth, his stalker and what he described as Sonia's "lesbian phase."
Kush, on the other hand, seems to hit the nail on the head about Martin's situation - Martin, he says, simply doesn't love Sonia anymore. I don't even think Martin believed he loved Sonia. He just wanted a bit of familiarity about him, as well as help in bringing up his daughter. Anyway, he was soon put straight (pun intended) when he saw silly Sonia giving a tongue tonsillectomy to the Court Jester.
Sonia, however, continues to be vile. Tonight, we got to see her in action as a nurse. My only thought was that Stan must have been in the throes of delirium, for wanting to cop a view of Sonia's rear end or a rubdown given by her tender hands. She veered tonight from pithy nurse-like comments to promising the Court Jester that "she would always be there for her."
Look ... Martin can stay. Rebecca ... meh. Sonia can bugger on out of Walford.
The Non-Carter Story. I suppose the highlight of this non-story was the rather muted appearance of Andrew Sachs. He's not Ginger Pete or another Carter or even Sharon's father. He was just an elderly man on Stan's ward in the hospital.
I'm sorry, but if this is what Timothy West reckons is his King Lear bow-out, either he doesn't know his Shakespeare, which I doubt; or he reckons his reputation as a classical actor preceeds him and that the audience is so bowled over by his phoned-in presence for the moment, that they'll take any PR reference to Shakespeare as gospel, when it's not.
Tonight's offering was much of Stan ranting about wanting the money he gave Shirley. We got a brief glimpse of Shirley "managing" Blades, and looking as if her greasy hair might have done with a wash from Lola, refusing Tina's naive request that Shirley dig into the till and magically produce the 10 grand Phil loaned her for Blades, which still hasn't been repaid.
Stan did, however, speak the truth, when reminiscing about how neither Mick nor Shirley had cared about him, until they came, cap in hand, to ask for money, and he'd given them everything he had. Now he wants payback for a care home. He's also pretty accurate in his assessment that they were hoping he died sooner, rather than later, in order to avoid paying back the debt they owed him. (Cast your mind back to Spring 2014, when Stan demanded repayment of the loan for Dean, and Mick took offense that what was clearly a loan, needed repaying.
Stan and Babe reconciled. (Yawn) Tina appeared even more childlike and inane than ever. She's gone back to dressing like a five year-old. Did she seriously think Babe had the sort of money Stan wanted?
Cora and Patrick got drunk in Stan's name. (Yawn again).
Insignificant Others. Well, at least we learned that, although Kush was fond of Shabnam, and foresaw a future with her more than anyone since the death of his wife, he wasn't ready for marriage after a couple of dates. He really had no choice but to end the relationship on Masood's terms or else be forced into a marriage with a woman he didn't know. I suspect the flowers he bought were for his wife's grave. It was more than a bit disheartening to see a woman of nearly thirty, giving sidelong glances of hope at a man who clearly was uneasy in her presence.
Fatboy and Donna? Well, at least he was sympathetic and understanding with her and seemed to genuinely connect with her as a person. She opened up to him about her medical history, and, attitude dropped (which, I fear, was a front), she's actually quite a nice person.
Pam, I seriously hate now. She's nosey and controlling. I liked Donna's successful attempts to elbow her out of her life.
Not a good episode.
No comments:
Post a Comment