#shirleycarter

[doof-doofblog]

"Another Time, Yeah?"

Tuesday 15th June 2021

(Part One & Part Two)

Hello again everyone, as promised I'm back with another post - 3 blog posts from me this week, that's more than I did last week!! But anyway I'm going to review everything from Tuesday's episodes in this post.  

So without further ado, I'm going to begin with mentioning Ruby. The day after her second miscarriage, Martin is surprised to learn that once again she has every intention of going to work and forgetting about the events that have occurred. Martin tries his best to convince his wife to rest for the rest of the day but as Ruby tries to explain her reasons for wanting to go to work, she notices the screen on Martin's laptop, it shows that he's been looking up options for IVF.

Understandably, Martin is trying to help in any way he can to make sure he and his wife have they family they've been longing for. However Ruby makes the valid point that it's not the getting pregnant that's the problem, it's being able to stay pregnant. Martin tries to explain that if they really want to have a family they can consider other options available, but Ruby then drops the bombshell that after everything she's gone through she really can't bring herself to go through any more trauma and loss. She informs Martin that instead of trying to fight to have a family, she's going to embrace the family she already has.

However, later Ruby is seen alone, visiting the memorial that she and Martin created for their lost baby, she gently adds another stone to commemorate the second baby she has lost. As the camera spins we see that just across the patch of grass, Jean is sat on her own but as she turns around and notices Ruby, she joins her. Jean realises exactly what's happening and speaks softly to her. Informing Jean about the decision to not try for another baby and to accept the family she has, Jean makes a very touching statement - "You know what I see? I don't see a woman who's given up, I see a woman who's grieving, and I believe there's still a lot of fight in you!" - as beautiful as those words are, it completely hits Ruby to the core and she softly begins to cry, such a moving moment.

--

The next thing I'm going to mention is Tiffany and Keegan. It's the day of their photoshoot and Tiffany is completely excited about the press and media attention. Wanting to get her name out there also, she informs Keegan that she's come up with a name for their joint business - Something along the lines of "ButcherBakerBeauty-Baps?" ... (I'm sure they'll come up with a better name eventually!) Suddenly when Tiffany sees herself in the mirror she's horrified to see that the day of their photoshoot she been graced with a spot on her chin, frantically she begins to flap, claiming that she needs to look good for their photoshoot - I have to be honest the main thought that was entering my mind at this point was "The photoshoot isn't even meant to be hers so why is she making such a fuss?" - without meaning to be mean, but I don't know I guess it just didn't sit right with me, she shouldn't be focusing on her and should be supporting her husband instead.

As Tiffany calls her friend in desperate need of some assistance, it seems that her friend manages to get someone round to do Tiffany's make-up. However when Tiffany compliments the stylist's skin, the lady informs her that she does cheat by using injections such as Botox and fillers. Realising that injecting herself with something could change her appearance to the way she wants, Tiffany urges the beautician to use the injections on her for her photoshoot - even though the beautician warns her it can be very pricey! Again, I have to be honest - as soon as I realised that Tiffany was going to ask for injections my mind just went racing - how much do you want to bet that Tiffany is going to become addicted to beauty injections?! It could be a possible new storyline for her which could end with serious consequences?

Even though she is thrilled with the end results, Tiffany is shocked to see the price she has to pay for the treatment and asks whether she can pay half now and pay the rest within in the next couple of days. Later as Keegan and Tiffany are enjoying the photoshoot - the photographer is keen on focusing on Keegan and asking him questions about his business. But when Keegan tries to turn their attention to Tiffany so she can promote her business/brand - you can see that the photographer is the least bit interested.

The next day, as everyone is gushing about the article in the newspaper about Keegan, Tiffany buys herself a newspaper hoping to see a whole page spread of herself and her husband in the newspaper. But she is visibly devastated when she realises that she hasn't even been mentioned and the whole article is about Keegan and his business. She later voices her annoyance and devastation to her friend Chloe, claiming that she has spent a fortune on injections for nothing! But worse still, how is her husband going to react when he finds out she's spending money on things she doesn't need!

Chloe then suggests that in a way to make as much money as she can so Keegan won't suspect anything is for her to flog diet pills. She claims she doesn't know how they work and has never used them but manages to sell them and get decent enough money for doing so. For a split moment I had hoped that Tiffany would know better than to sell some dodgy diet pills, but it looks as though she is very tempted. Later when she meets up with Bernie, she confides in her friend about the money she has spent on fillers to make herself look good for the photoshoot.

Of course Bernie is sympathetic towards her friends, but then suddenly Tiffany starts rummaging in her bag for something and empties out the contents of her bag, quickly Bernie notices the tubs of diet pills she's in possession of and asks where she got them from and whether they work, it's then that Bernie drops the bombshell that she needs to lose weight quickly, and Tiffany is a bit surprised by her choice of words, asking why "Quickly". It's then that finally Bernie feel able to tell someone about her plans and informs Tiffany that she's agreed to be Rainie and Stuart's surrogate, much to her best friend's shock. Tiffany warns Bernie to be careful where Rainie and Stuart are concerned because when she offered to be their surrogate she recalled that they didn't leave her alone. But Bernie is adamant that she needs the money for her family and claims that her Mum believes that she'll be getting a bonus from the call centre. Eventually she practically begs Tiff to allow her to use the diet pills, she claims she can be her guinea pig in a way and will pay her once she's made her money from the surrogacy. Tiffany looks really reluctant to do so but makes Bernie promise that she'll read the instructions before taking them.

Honestly, I fear this is going to be a massive downward spiral for the both of them. Tiffany getting hooked on beauty injections and then Bernadette getting addicted to diet pills and both making themselves ill. What do you guys think?! I'm really intrigued to hear your thoughts on this one!

--

Elsewhere on the Square, Shirley is still reeling about the news of Linda's pregnancy, she still can't understand why she wasn't told much earlier on when she arrived back in Walford. She admits to Nancy and Frankie that she feels as though her family are shutting her out. I have to say though I loved the banter between the three of them in this scene. Nancy tries to swerve the conversation from her parents sex life to Shirley's own love life and happens to point out that she hasn't been with anyone since Buster!!!

Oh my goodness, do you guys remember Buster??? It was proven that he was in fact Mick's biological Dad, which makes him Nancy and Frankie's Grandad. Hearing that Frankie has a Grandad seemed to excite the girl, but she and Nancy still continue to make fun of Shirley - claiming that for her next birthday they're going to buy her a pair of slippers and a throw as they claim it's time for her to hang up her knee-high leather boots. I do love the jip that Shirley snaps back at them, it makes the whole scene much more comical and the dynamic between them all is just brilliant!

It's then they Frankie points to Terry sat on his own and urges Shirley to ask him for a drink, at first Shirley shows no interest but after being goaded by her Granddaughters, she eventually gets the courage to approach Terry and (in not so many words) informs him that he will be buying her a drink. The one thing that completely confused me though was that Terry called himself by the name "Rocky" as he introduced himself to Shirley, can anyone explain to me why? His name is Terry right? I don't understand where the "Rocky" came from? - Unless it's similar to Callum's name - Callum "Halfway" Highway?!

Meanwhile, as Terry agrees to have a quick drink with Shirley, Sonia is at home prepping a lovely roast dinner meal for herself and her Dad to celebrate and early Father's Day. But back in the pub, as Shirley and Terry begin to chat and get to know each other, Nancy and Frankie keep showering them with drinks. As the sisters notice that they appear to be getting on, Nancy places down another drink in front of them claiming it's on the house, while Frankie sneakily changes the time on the clock.

Terry is adamant he can only stay until 1pm as he has a lunch date with Sonia, but as he looks at clock to see he still has plenty of time, he continues to drink. Unfortunately though, both Frankie and Nancy reveal to each other that instead of giving them single vodka drinks, they've been serving them triple vodka's all shift. Eventually as things get a bit loud, Nancy and Frankie realise their mistake. Shirley and Terry are both drunkenly singing along to "Come On, Eileen!" and then eventually "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)".

I have to admit, even though it was hilarious watching drunk Shirley singing along to the music and having a laugh with Terry, you do feel sorry for Sonia as you realise that Terry has accidentally stood her up for her meal. Arriving at the Vic and seeing the drunken state her Dad is in, she demands Terry to leave Walford and to never come back. Over the next day or so, Terry is desperate to make it up to his daughter and he appears to think that the only way he can do it is to roll out the red carpet in her house for her and make her a meal of her own and instead of calling it "Father's Day" makes it a "Daughter's Day".

As Sonia agrees to give him one final chance, they make it up by taking a selfie together. But when Terry leaves his phone on the table and Sonia takes a look at the picture, she begins to scroll through his phone and sees that there are other photos of houses on his phone. What could these mean? Is he planning on moving to Albert Square for good? OR is he in some kind of business where some of the local properties are going to be knocked down? Who knows?!

--

The next thing I have to mention is Kat and Phil. Kat is completely excited to learn that things are on the move where her business with Phil is concerned. Phil has confirmed that he has bought the laundrette for their business opportunity and they're just waiting for the paperwork to go through. Only her happiness doesn't seem to last for long as when she enters the café and is confronted by Sharon, it seems that Sharon warns her that anything that Phil is involved in is never legit. Although Sharon's relationship with Phil was completely different compared to Kat's relationship with him, it seems that Sharon's words fill Kat's head with doubt. Eventually she takes it upon herself to confront Phil, claiming she wants to see the paperwork to make sure everything they're doing is legit. She claims that she has already been prison once and doesn't want to end up there again, she needs to be completely certain that going into business with Phil is the right thing to do. I think people are too easy to judge Phil, they should give him a break, he informs Kat that he shouldn't listen to a word that Sharon's said and to trust him, he wants to focus on their future and having something in place for both of their children, but more importantly if she is wanting this as much as he does, then she needs to learn to trust him. I still think that if all goes well for these two, Kat and Phil could potentially be the new power couple on the Square! What do you think?!

--

Lastly, Callum is still appearing to struggle with the trauma of what happened with his partner. The one person he's been able to confide in is Whitney. After anxiously waiting to hear news about his partner's condition, he was completely relieved when Ash informs him that Fitzy's operation was a success and he should make a full recovery.

As he excitedly informs Whitney about the good news, Whitney reminds him that he should tell Ben now, considering that Fitzy is going to be okay. Callum kind of shuts that comment down and asks Whitney whether she'll accompany him to the hospital to see his partner. However, without their knowledge, Ben sees them from across the Square getting into a cab together, I have to say Ben & Callum's married life hasn't really started off well has it? They've come back from their honeymoon, Phil is still reluctant to talk to either Callum or Ben as he stills holds a grudge against Callum for going behind his back, and Callum has had to deal with the trauma of witnessing his partner being stabbed on the job.

But even though Callum maybe wants to tell Ben about his, Ben did at the start find it hard to accept Callum in the police and had the cheek to ask him to quit, but realising that he loves Callum for who he is and not is job, changes his mind and just requests that Callum never speaks about work to him. So of course, with that in mind, Callum must feel that he has no one else to talk to about recent events, which is why he has leaned on Whitney over the past couple of days. But when Ben sees them getting into that car together, you can tell he's beginning to speculate what they could be up to.

Unfortunately, after returning from seeing Fitzy in the hospital, it looks like it hasn't really helped Callum cope with it, he begins to fret and lash out claiming it was his fault that he's in hospital with wires all attached to him. Almost hurting himself on the garden gate, Whitney acknowledges that she has seen Callum this way before, and it's all down to his PTSD - (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) - we know that he went through it when he was in the army, but now it appears to be resurfacing. The one thing that crossed my mind was, is Ben aware about Callum's PTSD? Has that always been a thing that Ben has known about, I'm a bit unsure?

However, it seems that Whitney is eager for Callum to inform his husband now more so than ever that what's been happening. But when Callum arrives home and Ben asks him how his day at work was, Callum lies to him once again claiming he's had a really busy day and just wants to have a shower alone. Now Ben knows that Callum is lying about being in work, so obviously he's going to be wondering what else he's lying about or not telling him. As Callum makes his way into the shower, Ben grabs his opportunity to search his rucksack and it seems he's completely stunned to find an engagement ring - of course he's going to be completely clueless and wondering why his husband has an engagement ring, but we know that before Fitzy was rushed to hospital, Fitzy gave it to Callum to give to his girlfriend.

I think Callum really needs to talk to Ben soon before he jumps to conclusions and lashes out, accusing Callum of something he's completely innocent of. Overall a good few episodes I have to say, I've really enjoyed being able to type up a couple of blogs this week, I was getting myself a little stressed out that I was so far behind and hadn't posted in a while, but again I want to thank you all for continuing to follow me and show your interest in my blog, it really means the world. Please feel free to send me any thoughts or opinions you may have on the current storylines. Enjoy the rest of your week and I'll be back very soon! Love you all xXx

#eastenders #rubyfowler #martinfowler #jeanslater #tiffanybutcher #keeganbaker #bernadettetaylor #rainie highway #stuarthighway #soniafowler #terrycant #shirleycarter #nancycarter #frankielewis #katslater #philmitchell #sharonwatts #callumhighway #benmitchell #ballum #whitneydean #soapblog #soapfan

[victoriasills]

Shirl’s not happy. It’s official, I only have 2 more episodes of Eastenders left. We’ve been rationing them throughout lockdown since filming stopped back in March 😱 This is from a series of #Eastenders drawings I started pre-lockdown. No one messes with Shirley Carter 💪 . . . . . #art #figurative #drawing #traditional @bbceastenders #contemporarydrawing #pencildrawing #animationart #lockdownlife2020 #shirleycarter #eastendmums #eastend #eastender #bbc1 #lindahenry (at Southend Town Beach) https://www.instagram.com/p/CDDysvmlZrA/?igshid=168zpaw33uaoe

#eastenders #art #figurative #drawing #traditional #contemporarydrawing #pencildrawing #animationart #lockdownlife2020 #shirleycarter #eastendmums #eastend #eastender #bbc1 #lindahenry

[r0byates]

Urgh, anyone else feel like Shirley at the thought of going to work this morning? 😣 #eastenders #bbc1 #walford #shirleycarter #work #mondaymemes #monday #mondaymorning #backtowork #earlystart #earlymorning https://www.instagram.com/p/B2vZ52RBNsx/?igshid=nsa6y3gom7fw

#eastenders #bbc1 #walford #shirleycarter #work #mondaymemes #monday #mondaymorning #backtowork #earlystart #earlymorning

[dearshirleysetia]

Cutest girl ever😍😍🤩♥️😉 . . . #dearshirleysetia #shirleymanson #shirley #shirleyradio #shinebright #shirleysetialivenow #shirleysetiafan #shirleytravels #shirleyb #shinebrightlikeadiamond #shirleycaesar #shirleysetiaa #shirleysetiaoriginals #shirleycarter #shilpashetty #shirleysahrmann #shirleytemple #shirleysetia_fans #shirleydieu #shirley_setia #shirleysetialove #shirleydiwas #shirleysetiaforever #shiro #shirleysetia #shirleysetialive #cute #marvel #savage #memesdaily https://ift.tt/2LMKLt4

#shirley #shirleysetia

[theasianwiththemellowblackness]

#drawsomething #idrewthis #eastenders Genuinely teared up when #mickcarter called #shirleycarter Mum

#shirleycarter #mickcarter #idrewthis #drawsomething #eastenders

[doof-doofblog]

"Our Family's Alright - That's All That Matters!"

Friday 21st May 2021

Hello again everyone! Hope you're all doing well! Today I'll be reviewing Friday's episode, before I do however I know I missed Thursday's episode so I'm going to give you a quick debrief on what happened during that episode. Needless to say that everyone was more than excited when they learnt that Sonia's Dad, Terry, had arrived on the Square! It seemed that he had made quite an impression on Tiffany specifically, she seemed more excited than anyone. But I do have to mention the iconic quote she said to Dotty, after over a decade since she last quoted it, Tiffany told Dotty where to go ... "You're NFI - Not Flippin' Invited!" ... absolutely iconic!! However, after Terry making a good impression with Sonia's family, Sonia couldn't help the feeling that it was too little too late for her Dad to be walking back into her life. As politely as she could, she informed Terry that a simple drink isn't going to make up for long lost years without her Dad. Understanding her completely, Terry left informing her that Jack has his number if she ever wanted to call him and reach out to him to possibly rekindle their relationship. Sonia watched as Terry turned away and walked off into the night.

Meanwhile, Martin makes a fool of himself and lashes out Zack after believing Lily's lies about Ruby cheating on him with Zack. After punching Zack in front of Sharon and Ruby in the club, Ruby puts him straight that his daughter is lying to him and how it hurts that he believed his child without even talking to Ruby first. Is Martin now in the dog house? What is he going to do make it up to Ruby? But also, how are they going to deal with Lily and her lies?!

Elsewhere Mick was preparing himself for court, Frankie still feeling the pressure of her Mum asking her to give a character reference for her. Although I can understand how Frankie must be feeling like piggy in the middle at the moment, she wants to be there for Mick, but I don't know, even though she loves her Mum, she can't stand by her after what she's learnt.

--

Anyway focusing on Friday's episode, I'm going to begin with Sonia and Dotty. I guess it's fair to say Dotty and Sonia have always had a rocky relationship, they've never really seen eye-to-eye. Does Dotty really get a thrill out of slagging off Sonia? I feel there is more to it really and in this particular episode, I think Dotty gives Sonia some food for thought.

After having a bit of a row at home, Dotty leaves and heads to the club, but Sonia follows to check if she's alright, it here that Dotty admits to her that she'd give anything to have one last chat with her Dad, how can she stand there and watch willingly as Sonia just let's her Dad walk out of her life. At the beginning of the episode, Sonia claims that she's surprised that Tiffany believed everything that Terry had said about his life, in Sonia's eyes - why should she believe this man who, even if he is her Dad biologically, he is a bit of a stranger to her. She knows nothing about him and he knows very little about her, as far as she was concerned, it's too little too late to make up for lost time.

But I think after Dotty admitting that she's give anything to be with her Dad again, Sonia takes these words on board. I think she probably will reach out to her Dad and slowly begin to build a relationship with him. What do you guys think? I'm not 100% sure whether Terry is going to be a permanent role in the soap, but it'll be interesting to see what he brings to the Square, what friendships he'll make and whether we'll find out anything about is past?

--

Elsewhere, Sharon has informed her brother that regardless of him not actually sleeping with Ruby, he's not as innocent as he makes out, as he has been continuously flirting with the married woman, purposefully winding Martin up and instructs him to apologise and take him for a pint. But, Ruby seems less than impressed with her husband's actions as we see he has been sleeping on the sofa. As he wakes, Ruby walks in informing him that she's been up since the early hours of the morning looking after his children, almost kind of giving them guilty treatment. She mentions how she was looking forward to him coming home from Dubai, how much she had done for his children whilst he was away and he throws it back in her face by listening to Lily's lies. It's fair to say that Ruby is deeply hurt and informs Martin that he has to confront his daughter and stop her from saying all these horrible lies, otherwise Lily or Ruby herself will be moving out.

Realising the seriousness of his mistake, he gives his word to Ruby and eventually gets his chance to speak to Lily. I believe that Lily is still holding a grudge against Ruby for putting her Mum in prison for something she didn't do, so feels she needs to get her own back in some way. Is she really trying to split her Dad and Ruby up to maybe teach Ruby a lesson? However, even though she's a kid and she's missing her Mum, what she is doing is really out of order, making up lies about Ruby just to get back at her.

Martin confronts his daughter and informs her that she needs to stop the lies and give Ruby a break. But it's not just the lies she's been saying, even cutting up her deceased Mum's wedding dress. Even though Lily claims she didn't know it was Ruby's Mum's, she still shouldn't have done it. This is an interesting one though, who's side are you on? Ruby's or Lily's? As Martin instructs his daughter to be more respectful to his wife, Lily leaves the house without saying a single word, although it's clear she's not very happy about it. Later we see her sat at the allotments calling her Nan, asking whether she can move back in with her.

Of course Jean isn't going to see her Granddaughter out on the streets, but I feel that maybe Jean will start to ask questions about why Lily is wanting to return to live with her. Actually speaking of Jean, I happened to notice that maybe two or three times in this episode, she complained of stomach pains - although she used the excuse of having prunes for breakfast and it has made her slightly windy. But something is telling me it could be more than that. Could it be the cancer? I have to be honest, I am still stunned to realise that no one in her family knows about her cancer and only Ruby is aware about how terminal she is. If Jean takes a turn for the worse, surely Ruby is going to have to inform them about what she knows? I swear though if EastEnders come to the decision of killing Jean off, I will be deeply upset!!! (Let's hope it won't come to that!)

--

Now of course the main focus of the episode was Mick and his family. Today was the day that they had been dreading, but yet they had all been waiting for. It was the day that Mick would finally face Katy in court. Even though he is twitching his leg with nerves, he's looking as ready as he'll ever be as the cars pull up outside the Vic, ready to take him and the family to court.

As everyone gathers in court, Frankie is trying to tell both Mick and the rest of the family something, whatever it is it seems really important, but she's never given the opportunity to say what she needs to say. As The Carter family make their way into the court, you can't help but feel for Mick as he comes face-to-face with Katy, the person who abused him as a child, one last time. Frankie is sat beside her Dad as she tries one last try to attempt to tell him something really important, but unfortunately the moment is taken from her a second time.

As statements are read out in the court, it becomes clear what Frankie was so desperately trying to tell her Dad and his family. It turns out that Frankie did give her a Mum a character reference, regardless of what she did in her past, Frankie cannot deny that she was a good Mum to her. Katy looks over to her daughter with a smile as the Carter family look over to Frankie in shock. Frankie almost looks as if she feels she's betrayed her Dad's side of the family, but Mick does the most honest and decent a thing a Dad could. He takes a firm hold of Frankie's hand, informing her that he completely understands her giving her statement, at the end of the day, Katy is her Mum and she gave her a happy childhood, regardless of her crimes.

As the court goes into recess, The Carter's confront Frankie about her decision, informing her that she could've jeopardised the length of sentence that Katy could receive for her crimes. Shirley more so than anyone is voicing her disappointment in Frankie, but Frankie defends herself. Do they really have wanted her to be a victim of Katy's also? Frankie cannot deny that her Mum gave her a good childhood, and Mick interrupts the discussion claiming that Frankie did the right thing and he completely understands and supports his decision.

During this whole interaction, Nancy makes herself scarce and gets some fresh air. But as the court is called in to hear the final statement and the verdict, Mick goes to search for Nancy as the rest of the family enter the courtroom. As he makes his way outside, he's faced with the terrifying scene of Nancy having a vicious epileptic fit in the middle of the road. Mick acts fast and stays with his daughter, putting his jacket under her head so she doesn't get any lasting brain damage from bashing her head against the gravel. Devastatingly, the rest of the Carter family have no idea what's happening as they're waiting for Mick to return to give his victim statement.

But Mick knows he cannot leave his vulnerable daughter in this state and desperately calls an ambulance. Linda then informs the judge to read out Mick's statement on his behalf. Now I have to say how this moment played out was really powerful, the words used in Mick's statement were so moving that it brought both Linda and Shirley to tears. But hearing these words about how much he was made to feel embarrassed and how it affected his anxiety and relationships with his family, he claims that without Linda and the strength of his family he wouldn't have been able to carry on. While hearing these words, Mick stays with his Nancy until she slowly comes round from her seizure.

Eventually Nancy is helped by paramedics and she slowly comes round from her horrific seizure. Together they walk back into the courtroom, just in time to hear the sentence Katy is given. A total of 10 years in prison! Now I have to be honest, how this episode ended was absolutely perfect, touching and powerful. As the Carter's leave the court and step out into the fresh air, Mick grabs each daughter, Frankie and Nancy, from both sides and hold them ever so tightly. The air is blue and bright, the birds are singing and Mick takes huge breath in. I absolutely LOVE that Julia's Theme was used for this ending, after a horrendous couple of months that Mick has had to endure, it's all over. Katy has been put away for her crimes of child sexual abuse and Mick can now sleep easy knowing justice has been done.

Together as a family, Mick, Linda, Shirley, Nancy and Frankie leave the court together. A untied front showing full well that nothing could ever bring The Carter Family down! With Katy now behind bars, the can carry on with their lives as a family. An absolutely beautiful and moving ending to a deeply devastating storyline! I can't applaud everyone enough for their performance in this storyline - Danny Dyer, Kellie Bright, Rose Ayling-Ellis, Linda Henry and Simone Lahbib! They've all been absolutely incredible!

What did you guys think of the episode? Was it a satisfying ending for you or do you think Katy should've got a longer sentence? Did you enjoy the use of Julia's Theme? I'm really excited to see what happens with the Carter family now, I'm hoping and praying that Frankie will now become a firm member of the Carter family. Thank you all for reading! Please feel free to leave me any comments or messages regarding any of the current storylines happening in EastEnders right now. I'd love to hear your thoughts! Love you all xXx

#eastenders #soniafowler #tiffanybutcher #dottycotton #terrycant #sharonwatts #zackhudson #martinfowler #rubyfowler #lilyslater #jeanslater #mickcarter #lindacarter #shirleycarter #nancycarter #frankielewis #katylewis #soapblog #soapfan

[doof-doofblog]

"I'm Your Father, Love!"

Tuesday 18th May 2021

Hello again everyone! Hope you're all doing okay, I'm back with another post and tonight I'll be reviewing Tuesday's post episode. However before we get started I have a little bit of news to share, which I'm sure the majority of you might've heard by now. Adam Woodyatt has announced that he's not going to be returning to Albert Square until at least 2022! So of course, for me, that raises the question - What has Ian been doing all of this time? Where did he go when he wondered off into the night? I know that there's going to be some major questions to be asked. We all last saw Ian leave the Square after he realised that his new wife, Sharon was poisoning him after she found out about his involvement in her son, Dennis's death. I hope Ian's return will be a big one, considering the way he left - with no money, no phone - just the clothes on his back, I'm eager to see where he has been and what he's been doing. What do you guys think?

Anyway, focusing on the episode at hand, firstly I'm going to begin with Katy and Frankie. Considering that Monday's episode ended with Katy returning to the Square, it wasn't going to be long until she crossed someone's path. Unfortunately for Frankie, it turns out her Mum has come back to the Square to see her. As Frankie is sat quietly in the club, she's startled as she looks up to see her Mum standing over her. Katy tries to plead with her to have one last drink with her before she gets locked up, but Frankie is having none of it. Although when she escapes from her Mum arrives back at the Vic, she realises that Mick's victim statement is all placed in an envelope and ready to be read out loud in court. 

To me it seems that Frankie was struggling whether to go and see her Mum or not, because at the end of the day, she is her Mum. Eventually Frankie agrees to meet with her Mum in the park, without anyone else around. At first it looks as if they're bonding as Katy recalls about the time she took her daughter to the beach around Christmas time. It looks as if Katy is still holding onto the hope that she can be seen as a good person in her daughter's eyes. Eventually it becomes perfectly clear what Katy is wanting from her daughter, she questions whether Frankie will give her a character reference so the court can see what kind of person she can be. But Frankie realises that once again she's being used by her Mum, she walks away completely ignoring her Mother. I do feel for Frankie as she is kind of in the middle of all of this, but she needs to realise that she has no blame in any of it, all the blame leads directly to Katy. 

Returning to the Vic, Frankie confides in Shirley, informing her of her Mother's request but she makes it known that she completely refused, much to Shirley's delight. Shirley claims she's proud of Frankie for doing the right thing and how she always knew she was on their side. I think as much as Frankie is wanting to stand by her Dad and help him through this ordeal, I guess a part of her is also thinking that she's also losing her Mum in all of this. I think I do feel for Frankie right now, but I am really intrigued to see the court scenes when they air. Will Mick be able to read his statement in court with Katy sat right there in the room?!

--

Elsewhere on the Square, Sharon is prepping herself for the launch of her new gym, however she's getting very little help from Zack. As she voices her ideas to him, he's insulting every single suggestion. He informs her that she needs to think bigger and advertise on social media and consider that people are going to be wanting to join the gym, so she should have some fresh smoothies made etc etc. 

As Zack tries to, once again, show off, Martin and Ruby happen to be walking with Lily across the Square. Is it me, or does this Zack think that he's God's gift to women? Showing off and flirting with anything that moves, but it seems his eyes are focused on Ruby at the moment - and Martin is really noticing which is making him incredibly jealous and possibly even cautious. Only did you guys happen to see the look on Lily's face? Do you think she has sussed out that her Dad may be jealous of Zack? 

Later as Zack is trying out a new cocktail, I'm not 100% sure whether it was something new for the club or something he was working on for the gym launch, but regardless he gets Ruby to be his guinea pig. However, lurking in the corner, sitting and watching everything unfold in front of her, is Lily. Ruby happens to notice her step-daughter and questions why she's not in school. Lily makes up an excuse and instantly asks her step-mum whether she has a crush on Zack, which of course Ruby firmly denies and informs her not to get involved in "Adult Business!" 

However, it looks as if the cogs are turning in Lily's mind. I'm assuming she still really doesn't look Ruby and will do anything to make her life a misery, maybe even split her and her Dad up. As she returns him and is sat watching TV with her Dad, Martin asks about what she's been doing whilst he's been away. It's then that Lily spins a web of lies, telling her Dad that Ruby wasn't around much and she was hanging around with Zack a lot, even mentioning that Zack had stayed over. Knowing full well how this would make her Dad feel, I think it's simply to do with Lily getting back at Ruby, purely for her Mum's sake. Is there anything Lily won't do to ruin Martin and Ruby's marriage?!

--

Another thing I have to mention is Bernie! Now Bailey has returned home, the Taylor family are slowly getting back to normal and having the family together again. Even though the family are terrified to let Bailey out of their sight. Bailey overhears Karen shouting for her in a blind panic, but once Karen realises that she's still safe and sound in the apartment, Bailey realises how worried her family were about it, claiming that she's seen all the online posts about her online. Does Bailey now feel guilty for running out on her family? Did she really believe that her family would be better off without her? The poor kid! 

But it seems that Karen isn't the only one who's concerned about Bailey's whereabouts, it looks as if Keegan is eager to keep a close eye on her also. He mentions to Tiffany that he and Bernie will be taking Bailey out for some lunch. Later as they all gather at McKlunky's, Keegan asks his sister about this "bonus" she'll be getting from Kheerat. But Bernie reassures her brother that he doesn't have to match her money, and he doesn't have to pay her back either. As a sweet and joking gesture, she informs him that as soon he has made his first million, that he can pay her back! 

However, the previous episode, Rainie informed Bernadette that she and Stuart are going to be finding another surrogate, so if Bernie is eager to make some quick cash for her family then she needs to act fast! Desperately she approaches Rainie begging her to give her a chance, to the point where she pushes herself to inform Rainie that she can lose the weight within a month! Rainie realises that Bernie is deeply serious about her surrogate and agrees to give her the one month deadline for her to lose weight so she can be their surrogate and carry a baby safely. 

Now I fear that this is where Bernie's eating disorder is going to come in, I know what it's like to lose weight, it can be a long and hard process - weight does not simply drop off you within a month! I fear that Bernie may make some drastic and hard decisions when it comes to her eating now. Will she perhaps start making herself sick? Or will she not eat at all and eventually go light headed and pass out? There could so many different and dark roads this storyline will take, I just hope there will be no lasting damage to both Bernadette, and the soon to be baby she'll be carrying - if it ever gets to that point! What do you guys think of this current storyline? I'm really interested in hearing your thoughts on this one! 

--

The final thing I have to mention is Sonia! Oh poor Sonia! After overhearing Dotty and Tiffany taking the mick out of her and calling her horrendous names, it looks as if Sonia is feeling as if she's aged since leaving the Square. Almost to the point where she feels it's time for her to change her look, she approaches Denise in the salon and asks her to give her a new do - from what we gather, something along the lines of what Dua Lipa has! 

Now Denise questions Sonia's decision and can see that maybe Sonia is having some kind of breakdown. She swiftly talks her into having a drink with her at the Vic. I have to say though, this scene between Sonia and Denise I absolutely loved. We don't get to see these two women socialise enough, it was just so lovely to see Denise reassure Sonia that she's not as "Boring" as some people think she is! She is a very important part of the community and mentions rightly how much Sonia has had to cope with over the last year, being a nurse and regards to the pandemic. It made it feel quite realistic for me, everyone knows how much we have needed the NHS this last year or so and how hard every single NHS employee has worked to keep us all safe! Even though the pandemic is real and Sonia is a fictional character, it was just nice for someone to reassure her that she is important and she is deeply loved within the community. I also have to say how much I love Denise also - I don't think Diane Parish gets the recognition she deserves! 

However as the drinks begin to flow, Denise and Sonia begin talking about Dotty. Denise informs her that she shouldn't listen to anything Dotty has to say, but unfortunately lets slip that Dotty has been performing as a hostess at the club. Learning this news, Sonia storms right over to the club and instructs Dotty to stop doing what she's doing, flaunting herself over middle aged men for money! However, she happens to insult a man standing by the bar, calling him a pervert! Dotty is left absolutely humiliated, but personally - it felt good to see Dotty be told straight! Don't get me wrong, I don't dislike Dotty, but I think becoming a hostess and dragging Tiffany in to doing it also, just doesn't seem right. I don't think she's no where near as bad as her Father, but I think she'll always have a rebel side to her! 

Oh so finally Brian Connelly has made his first appearance on the Square as Terry Cant. His first encounter was accidently bumping into Rainie. But as he continued to wonder Walford, he found himself in Ruby's club, working up an audience telling them a really interesting story, from what I could make out! However, he happened to be the one who was caught up in Sonia's confrontation with Dotty, being the one called a pervert. 

As Sonia returned back to the Square and began chatting once again with Denise and Tiffany, she was horrified to see that the "Pervert Man" had followed her back to the Vic. As she makes herself scarce by hiding underneath the table, Terry begins to ask for Sonia Fowler. But as Denise questions what he wants her for and whether she's done anything wrong, Terry informs them that she in fact hasn't done anything wrong, but called her Dad a pervert! Yep, that's right! Terry Cant is Sonia's Dad!!!! Where has he been all this time? How will Sonia react to her Father rolling up on the Square?

I know that Thursday's episode has already aired, but I'm looking forward to reviewing that episode tomorrow! Do you hope that Terry will become a permanent member of the cast? What else will bring him to Walford other than reconnecting with his daughter? I have to be honest, I'm looking forward to seeing what Brian Connelly will bring to the Square. I know he's well known for his comedy, but I'll be interested to see if they bring a more serious and maybe dark side to his character. I just think it'll give Brian Connelly that chance to shine and prove he can be a brilliant actor as well as a brilliant comedian! What do you guys think?? 

Thank you all for reading, it truly means the world! Please feel free to leave me a comment or leave me a message regarding anything currently happening in EastEnders right now. I'm looking forward to hearing your thoughts, opinions and theories! Love you all xXx

#eastenders #ianbeale #katylewis #frankielewis #shirleycarter #mickcarter #sharonwatts #zackhudson #martinfowler #rubyfowler #lillyslater #baileybaker #karentaylor #bernadettetaylor #keeganbaker #tiffanybutcher #rainie highway #soniafowler #denisefox #dottycotton #terrycant #spoilers #news #soapblog #soapfan

[doof-doofblog]

So, I made a little something! What an amazing year it’s been, full of drama, emotions and more memorable EastEnders moments! Thank you all for your on-going support! It means the world! Here’s to the next year! Love you all xXx 

#eastenders #martinfowler #shirleycarter #jackbranning #denisefox #philmitchell #jeanslater #kathybeale #jaybrown #honeymitchell #patricktrueman #soapfan #soapblog #oneyearanniversary

[doof-doofblog]

"Our Family!"

Monday 14th June 2021

Part 2

Hello again folks, sticking to my word this week, I am back with another blog post. Tonight focusing on the second part of Monday's episodes. Even though EastEnders have released all their episodes online this week, I'm sure the majority of you have binged watch them all already, for me - it makes it much easier for me to do it one at a time and do a blog about each one - tomorrow though, seeing as it's my day off from the day job, I'll be writing about Part 1 and Part 2 of Tuesday's episodes together - makes it much easier I'd say!

So without further delay, let's jump right into it! I'm going to begin with Keegan and Tiffany, after applying for Walford's Best Street Food 2021 Competition, Keegan is more than thrilled after receiving a messaging informing him that his business has been shortlisted for the competition. Of course Tiffany is more than thrilled for her husband, but did anyone notice the change in her mood as soon he mentions that he has been asked to attend a photoshoot so pictures can be taken to promote his business? I guess it's fair to say that Tiffany has always been drawn to wanting fame and fortune, whereas Keegan just wants to be successful in life I guess.

Excitedly, Keegan informs Tiffany that if he was to even become runner-up or even win the competition, the photos and all the media attention he'll be receiving should increase his following on social media, hence making his business more successful. As Keegan rushes off to find some decent clothes to wear for his photoshoot, Tiffany looks, to me, a little bit jealous! Does she wish that maybe it was happening to hear instead, or as well as? For me, it seems that Tiffany confirms that she's jealous by later suggesting to Keegan that they go into business together - she is so desperate for that taste of fame and fortune as well that she doesn't want to miss being a part of it.

As Keegan asks his wife's opinion on the clothes he's chosen for the photoshoot, Tiffany claims that she's had a brilliant idea and proposes that they go into business together. Her beauty course just so happens to finish this summer and it seems she wants to put her knowledge to the test, suggesting that they could bring their businesses together - Food & Beauty - make their own social media page to build a following and go to this competition together to promote their new business. Even though Keegan is eager to support his wife's idea - he does seem to question how food and beauty can go together? (I mean, I too don't see the connection with food and beauty - unless they go along the path of vegan/organic/no animal testing route - which could work?!). Keegan then suggests that Tiffany joins him at the photoshoot much to her excitement - but will things go the way they plan? Will they be more interested in Keegan business rather than Tiffany? I'm intrigued to see what will happen regarding this subject!

--

Elsewhere, Terry is still trying to work his way in with the local Walford women and it seems that Kathy is the lady in his sights. As he and Sonia enjoy another morning of Father-Daughter bonding at the café, Sonia questions Kathy whether she's heard anymore news about Max and Abi - just incase you guys may need reminding of Kathy's connection with baby is Abi is that she is technically her Great-Grandma - so of course Kathy is going to be wanting to see the young toddler and is eager to know whether she's safe.

After revealing that she's still not heard any news from Jack and mentioning that Rainie has been in a state since the news broke about Max taking Abi, Terry leaps into action to try and get into Kathy's good books by informing her that she needs to be with her family at a time like this and offers that himself and Sonia will cover her shift for the rest of the day. Even though Kathy is reluctant at first to accept his offer, Terry is almost insistent and gets straight to work by standing behind the counter.

However even though Sonia seems happy to be helping her Dad look after the café, she can't help but giggle after overhearing Terry singing her praise, giving their café customers the story about the time when she saved Ben's life with a biro pen after he had been shot by Hunter Owen in the Queen Vic. Honestly, I think that's another thing that the character of Sonia is going to be remembered for now - what do you guys think?!

Later on when Kathy returns after spending a bit of time with Rainie, Terry is still reluctant to leave, claiming that he won't finish the job until everything has been cleaned. Kathy is surprised to see that things have been left in good hands and a disaster hasn't occurred. It's then that Sonia takes it upon herself to urge Kathy into going for a drink with her Dad, to which she happily agrees. Is this going to be new romance on the cards for Kathy? Honestly, I think she and Terry would make a lovely couple, and Kathy deserves a bit of happiness and I'd love to see her have a love interest, I'd love to know your thoughts on this possible new romance?!

--

The next thing I'm going to mention is Ruby. In this episode, after the receiving the devastating news that she's pregnant again and will most likely end up having another miscarriage, Ruby eventually informs Martin. It's clear that Martin is completely disheartened to hear that there's nothing that the clinic/nurses can do to stop Ruby from suffering with miscarriages. Ruby explains that she's so early in the pregnancy that when she does miscarry, it'll just be like a heavy period, unfortunately. I have to say, I think Ruby's character has been slowly changing since the feud with Stacey came to an abrupt end when Stacey went to prison, but I mean in a way that - she's trying to make things right with Lily and since the very beginning all she has really wanted is to have a child of her own. Devastatingly she informs her husband that she will end up having the miscarriage either that day or even the following day.

As Martin heads off to work with this news sinking in, Ruby is left to rest on the sofa, but her rest doesn't seem to last for long as she gets interrupted by a phone call from Lily's school, my first thought process was that Lily had been in trouble, but acknowledging that Martin can't collect her from school, Ruby takes it upon herself to collect Lily. As they both walk back from school, Ruby is questioning her stepdaughter as to how and why she feels ill - as clearly, she doesn't look it. At first Lily is reluctant to inform her of why she's feeling ill, but when she asks Ruby to lend her some money, Ruby is suspicious and questions what she needs the money for - it's then that Lily looks over the to building they're standing outside of, the pharmacy/chemist and Ruby instantly assumes that Lily has started her period. She tries in the most gentle way possible to reassure Lily that it's completely normal and it's something every woman unfortunately has to go through - but it's only when Lily creases over in embarrassment that Ruby looks confused. Its then that she admits that in fact she has nits and needs money for hair/scalp treatment.

Feeling sympathetic for her stepdaughter, Ruby helps Lily wash her out and comb her hair through to get rid of the nits. It seems that as time is slowly going on, Lily and Ruby are coming to enjoy each other's company and dare I say, beginning to bond. It's then that Lily then informs Ruby that Amy Mitchell has been, in a way, bullying her at school. Informing Ruby that Amy laughed at her as she was scratching and informed her that she wouldn't make any friends by the time she joins the school properly in September. Hearing this news, Ruby decides to take matters into her own hands, much to Lily's protests - but Ruby wants to do best by her stepdaughter and doing so, she confronts Amy on the front step of her house.

Stating that Amy must be ashamed of what she's done to Lily, she claims that bullies are weak people who pray on others because of their own misery and that they don't like the person that they are - Amy claims that she wasn't bullying Lily. Suddenly it looks as if Jack over hears the conversation and when Ruby informs him about Lily has told her, Jack dismisses Amy from the conversation and informs Ruby that it just so happens that Amy had nits the previous week, so it may look as if she passed them on to Lily. As they agree to confront each other in future where the children are concerned, Ruby heads back to inform Lily about what she's learnt.

However it looks as if before Ruby enters the house, Lily has been snooping in the "Worry Box" - what was she looking at? Is she going to make things much harder for Ruby now after she confronted Amy? Interestingly though, as Ruby informs Lily about Amy's nits, Lily tells Ruby that she doesn't need to worry, that she'll make a good Mum one day - which I thought was incredibly sweet of her to say, of course she has no knowledge about Ruby's diagnosis of endometriosis, but her just saying those words would understandably mean the world to Ruby. As Ruby smiles and goes to walk out the room, she suddenly clutches her stomach in agony.  

Later when Martin comes home and finds Lily sat on the sofa with a tub of ice cream, he asks his daughter where his wife is, it's then that Lily informs him that she's been stuck on the toilet for quite a considerable amount of time. Instantly we know that means devastating confirmation that Ruby has indeed had another miscarriage and tragically lost a second child, without a word she comes down the stairs and gives her husband the saddened look of confirmation. They don't share a word between each other but Lily urges Ruby to join her on the sofa, as she does, Martin gives a small and soft smile, it must make him feel hugely relieved and happy that his daughter is making a go of building a relationship with his wife and building a bond.

--

Lastly, after getting caught up in another woman's pregnancy, through absolute no fault of his own and completely missing Linda's scan Mick returns home after being at the hospital and excitedly informs Nancy about his experience delivering a new born baby, but when he realises that Linda is still not home and after putting his phone back on charge to incoming messages from his wife, the realisation sinks in that Linda had to go through her scan alone. Desperately he tries to get in touch with her and eventually they end up meeting in the park.

It's this scene which really touched me in a way, it's the moment that both Linda and Mick come together and open up about how their both feeling about her pregnancy. I guess it's fair to say that since Linda informed her husband about her being pregnant with Max's baby, Mick hasn't really been wanting to speak about it or even if Linda mentions it to him - he's easily distracted or talks about something else completely. Understandably, Linda is feeling all sorts of emotions right now - being 6 months pregnant, carrying another man's baby and her husband not willing to talk to her about how he's feeling - it's no wonder she's getting emotional and driving herself mad with worry.

She states that Mick hasn't even felt the baby kick once during this pregnancy - whereas the other times she was pregnant, he happily felt her bump without asking. However of course this pregnancy is completely different compared to her previous ones, why would he want to feel the baby kick, knowing full well that it's not his? Mick sort of clams up when he's confronted with that aspect of things - he shouldn't need to be asked to feel his wife's baby bump - it's then that Linda admits that she's come to a decision, that she'll stay at her Mum's until the baby is born and then she'll put the baby up for adoption.

This news seems to shock Mick, does he know deep down that Linda is going to be able to break herself away from a her baby? Regardless of who the Father is, she has grown to the love the child growing inside her, so putting the child up for adoption for her family would be the most devastating thing for her I think, but it says so much about her character that she's willing to do it for her family, for her husband if he can't bring himself to accept the child. She voices that she was saddened to hear the news from Nancy instead of her own husband that he was having a slight wobble about her pregnancy. She insists that if she had known sooner about how Mick was feeling, she would've had an abortion.

However, Mick knows her too well to know that she wouldn't have had an abortion. The next question Linda asks is very valid one - even though Mick tries his best to reassure her, how would he feel if the child was born with ginger hair? Would it be an every day reminder to him that he's not the child's biological Dad? How on Earth would he be able to cope with that? Would people ask questions etc etc? She pleads for him to just tell her the truth and explain to her exactly how he's feeling about the whole situation.

It was this moment that really moved me, he takes a deep breath and admits to his wife that he was having worries about whether he'd be able to bond with the baby, but then he also reassures Linda that she has to stop blaming herself for what she did, to him it doesn't matter and they've become even closer and stronger in their relationship over the last couple of months. Together they can face anything! Referring to Frankie also, Mick says a beautiful meaningful quote :- "Something beautiful can come from something we'd rather forget!" - he then does the thing that Linda has been wanting him to do the most for a very long time, he reaches over the table and gently touches her baby bump, reassuring his wife that he will love this child, simply because it's a part of her! So touching, I nearly welled up!

I think this was the talk that both Mick and Linda needed, they needed to be on the same page and know that they were both in this together. Although the other obstacle they face is when the locals begin noticing Linda's bump, questions are going to be asked. Later, returning to the Vic, Mick and Linda both decide to face all their neighbours and friends together, united, and inform them about Linda's pregnancy. The locals are all thrilled by their news and congratulate them, but when they ask how far gone she is - instead of telling them the truth, Linda states that she's 5 months pregnant (where in fact she's 6) - no one would suspect a thing or even consider that anyone else but Mick is the Father of the child. Frankie acknowledges her excitement for becoming a sister again, whereas Shirley arguably questions why they hadn't informed her sooner, considering she's been back for a good while.

However, as everyone raises a glass and toasts Linda's pregnancy, Mick and Linda smile at each other, knowing that they can face anything together, united and strong! But will things get too much for them? We know that Kellie Bright is currently pregnant in real life and will be heading on maternity leave eventually, I'm intrigued to see what will be her exit storyline - I'm convinced it will have something to do with this current pregnancy story, but how will it play out? Will Shirley find out their secret and work out that she is in fact pregnant with another man's baby? Will she figure out it's Max's?

Ooooo I'm really looking forward to seeing what happens next! Thank you all for reading, it truly means the world! Please feel free to send me any messages or comments letting me know your thoughts and opinions on the current storylines! I'll be back again tomorrow! Love you all xXx

#eastenders #keeganbaker #tiffanybutcher #soniafowler #terrycant #kathybeale #rubyfowler #martinfowler #lilyslater #amymitchell #jackbranning #mickcarter #lindacarter #nancycarter #frankielewis #shirleycarter #maxbranning #soapblog #soapfan

[doof-doofblog]

"I'm Going To Kill Him!"

Wednesday 10th February 2021

Hello again everyone! Hope your week is going well so far! Just want to say thank you for all your support over the past year! I'm really looking forward to seeing what the next year has in store for EastEnders. Already there are so many exciting storylines, characters coming and going. I can't wait for all of it to come!

Now following Wednesday's episode, the first thing I want to talk about is Max. I guess its fair to say that the poor man has been struggling over the past few days/weeks. After accidentally stumbling across a leaflet for a clairvoyant, he felt that possibly it could help with his emotions and maybe reaching out to his deceased daughter, Abi. When the lady arrives, she's nothing like you would expect … no turban on her head, no crystal ball, pretty normal from the looks of things. She slowly begins to talk and question Max about Abi, at first it seems that he doesn't seem to believe the nonsense about ghosts and spirits. She advises Max to not question it all, but just to talk and let it flow. He begins to talk about when Abi was a little girl and how he called her his "Princess". I have to say, when it comes to reminiscing about Abi, I also miss her character. There was a time when she did become a bit of a brat, but then what teenagers don't go through that phase? The one thing which Abi always loved though, was her Dad. He was her hero. I guess you could say that she was very much a "Daddy's Girl".

Understandably, as Max reminisces, its gets a bit too emotional for him. I do start to really feel for the guy, okay he has made (countless) mistakes in the past, but to be fair, he's not really a bad guy is he? The clairvoyant informs him that Abi remains close and states the fact that she does forgive him and she still loves him. This appears to be a comfort to Max, hearing confirmation that his daughter is always close to him. Later on in the evening, Jack returns home whilst Max is doing the washing up, when he notices the clairvoyant leaflet on the kitchen counter, at first he seems baffled that Max has gone ahead and approached one. Informing him that he needs to be careful as they are co-artists, however Max notifies Jack that there was no ghosts going around the house, but most importantly that he felt a close connection with Abi, which is what he's been needing for a very long time. To be fair, Jack can't argue with that, if his brother insists that he felt his deceased daughter, then there's simply nothing left to be said. We know Max's exit is slowly creeping upon us, but the one thing that I'm left questioning is - what will happen to baby Abi? Will Max take her with him? Or will he leave her with Rainie and Stuart and allow them to bring her up? Or maybe leave her with Jack? Who knows?

--

The next thing I've got to mention is Gray and the Carter family! After hearing news from the detective that Tina has been spotting shoplifting, Mick seems to feel that there could be some hope that Tina will come home. But Shirley still can't help but feel that Tina disappearing, living on the streets, shoplifting to survive is all her fault, even though Mick and Gray try to console her and inform her that she's not to blame. The horrible thing that they don't know though, is that Gray has paid a homeless woman to portray herself as Tina, to make the Carter family believe she could still be alive. As I'm watching this particular storyline continue, I really don't know how much further Gray can take this, what is he going to do next? If the scent goes cold once again on Tina's whereabouts, how else is he going to make it look like she's still alive? Does he still have Tina's phone? I have to say though, I do feel for Shirley right now, blaming herself for really no reason. Mick tries to console her, stating that she was also looking after her son during the time when Tina went missing, she simply couldn't be in two places at once. How was she supposed to know Tina would go missing?! I have to be honest though, I hate how much Gray is being so two-faced!!! Informing the Carter family that he's going to do all he can to help locate Tina, knowing full-well that she's dead and he in fact murdered her. That's just pure evil isn't it?!

Oh, I know I've said this many times before, but I really can't wait for Gray's secrets to be revealed! The Carter family are going to want to get their revenge! Suddenly Shirley makes the drastic decision that she's going to leave in search of her sister, she's going to walk the streets and possibly go knocking at Tina's friends in an attempt to find her. When Gray hears this news, he tries to persuade her not to as it would be like looking for a needle in a haystack, but Shirley has her mind made up and nothing anyone says or does is going to change her mind! Is looks as if as soon as Gray got past one hurdle, something else props up and he's got to try and find another way of stopping them from finding out the truth. How will he be able to stop this one?! Can I also just mention that regardless of hating the character of Gray, Toby-Alexander Smith is doing such an incredible job in portraying him, his performance is just - Wow! If it ever comes to it, I'd like to see him win a Best Villain award, it would be so well deserved!

--

The final thing I need to mention is the main focus of the episode, Lucas and Denise! At the beginning of the episode, we see that Denise is trying to get in touch with Lucas, after her discussion with Chelsea in the previous episode, eager to get Lucas on that plane to Ibiza and frame him. Eventually Lucas agrees to meet with Denise and hear to what she has to say. As they meet in Lucas's apartment, Denise tries her absolute best to convince him to make his relationship with Chelsea work. I just want to mention the specific moment when Denise is trying to persuade Lucas that their daughter still loves him, even though she knows full well that it isn't true, it looks as if she has to force the words out of her mouth as it makes her sick to the stomach to even say such a thing. The look in Denise's face I thought, was brilliant! She drops the biggest hint of all though that if he really wanted to go the full hog with getting his daughter back on his side, he should go to Ibiza with her. Now, this was really interesting - the look in Lucas's face changed slightly, almost as if he knew full well what Denise's intention was. He knows that Chelsea was going to plant drugs on him and frame him, but to hear Denise talk about it, makes him suspicious that she could be in on the plan also. Lucas isn't dumb, he knows exactly what they're planning, but without giving any hint that he knows, he gently nods his head and agrees to Denise's suggestion. However, later on Lucas is seen alone in the church, praying. Now I think this is the moment where people think "Oh, has he actually changed his ways?" Because it certainly had me thinking! He appears to be deeply upset to realise that the people he cares about the most, refuse to believe he's changed and is convinced that they will only ever see him as the killer he once was. He lets out a heartfelt, devastating cry which leads to the pastor confronting him and asking him what's wrong. He opens up to the minister, informing him about his knowledge about Chelsea and Denise coming up with a plan to frame him, it's then he questions the minister - What is the point in him trying to change his ways when his family don't believe in him? For a moment, it looks as if he really is going to stop trying.

Returning to the Square, as Lucas returns from the church, Denise is finding herself getting distracted in the salon. As Raymond sits happily with a ball, Denise is having to deal with irritable customers on the phone, suddenly she receives a phone call from the pastor who just so happened to be with Lucas earlier, as she goes to grab the phone, she notices that little Raymond has suddenly disappeared. Raymond had taken himself outside and began kicking his little ball around, but unbeknown to him, a cart had come lose from a car was slowly rolling backwards towards him. Denise pops out and sees the vehicle heading towards the small boy and desperately calls out his name - out of nowhere Lucas leaps into action, pushing little Raymond of out harms way. I have to be brutally honest, for a split second, when Raymond disappeared I had assumed that Lucas had taken Raymond, just to get his own back on Denise - but maybe Lucas really has changed his ways?! Denise is more than relieved to see that Raymond is unharmed. Later on, when everyone is gathered to the Vic and Denise is happy to see that Raymond has no lasting trauma, Chelsea subtly thanks her Dad for saving Raymond and takes the little boy home. It's then that Lucas and Denise finally get to sit down and discuss things, Lucas acknowledges that him saving Raymond isn't going to change people's opinion of him and it won't make up for the terrible things he's done in the past, but he pleads to Denise that if Chelsea is willing to give him a second chance, he really doesn't want to mess things up. It's then that Denise drops the bombshell that their daughter is actually in deep trouble, even though she doesn't explain details, Lucas seems to click on to the subject very quickly, acknowledging that he knows about Ibiza and the drugs and that she was attempting to set him up, which leaves Denise incredibly stunned! Eventually they arrive back at the house and Denise realises she can't hide what she knows anymore. She informs him that Chelsea has an ex-boyfriend named Caleb, and in fact he was the one who kidnapped her and hid her in a warehouse, it all makes perfect sense to Lucas that this Caleb was actually the one behind his attack, as a warning to his daughter, he did both of these things to her parents as a warning to her. They both come to realise that this Caleb is a very dangerous man and if Chelsea doesn't pay her debt, he will come after the whole family. Lucas steps into action, informing Denise that he's not going to stand for someone blackmailing his daughter, attempting to attack her family just to warn her. He informs Denise he's going to find Caleb and kill him!!

Is Lucas only going to go and make the situation worse?! How is Chelsea going to react when she learns her Dad knows the truth? Oooo has Lucas really, truly changed his ways for his family? What do you guys think? Once again there are all sorts of ways that this story could go, Lucas I think is also very hard to read, one minute I think he's still a very dangerous killer, and the next minute I think maybe he really has changed? Who knows? I guess we'll have to wait and see to know for sure! Overall a brilliant episode I thought, brilliant performances from everyone involved. Jake Wood, Diane Parish, Don Gilet, Linda Henry, Toby-Alexander Smith ... everyone is just brilliant! Thank you all for reading, it truly means the world! I'll be back again very soon! Love you all xXx

#eastenders #maxbranning #abibranning #jackbranning #shirleycarter #mickcarter #grayatkins #tinacarter #lucasjohnson #denisefox #chelseafox #calebmalone #raymond

[doof-doofblog]

"I'm Taking Ben With Me!"

Tuesday 17th November 2020

Hello again everyone! Hope you're all doing okay! Now this the episode that the majority of us have been anxiously waiting for! Is the robbery going to be a success? Or is something going to go horribly wrong and someone gets caught? I'm really looking forward to writing about this episode, something tells me it's going to be gripping and explosive!

The episode begins with Phil, Shirley, Ben, Kat and Kush all arriving at the Insurance building to make a start on their robbery. Phil instructs the group that he wants things to be over as quickly as possible, it makes sense that they shouldn't be there for as long as they specifically have to! He makes it perfectly clear they need to be in and out, end of! Kat informs them that the security guard won't be there until 8am, which really should leave them plenty of time! But then again is it 8am or 8pm? Who knows? I'm sure that will come to light as the episode goes on. They quickly go off in separate directions - Ben and Phil together, Shirley and Kat together and then Kush.

Ooooh, meanwhile back on the Square, Ian enters the Vic after calling the police about the robbery. The look on his face looks like guilt to me - maybe even dismay, jealousy, shock - maybe all of them rolled into one? Max once again calls out to him as he's sat in a booth, as to whether he's got the money to pay him back - Ian ignores him and turns around to see Sharon behind the bar approaching him, asking him where he had been, he ignores her also and makes his way upstairs of the Vic. Max and Linda giggle as they think he's giving everyone the silent treatment because of their actions earlier in the day, sneaking behind the bar and giving out free booze! As they giggle about Ian, Max is looking through Linda's portfolio of her idea of making superhero costumes for autistic children. Sharon watches them as they seem to get cosy. Max is complimenting Linda's work and pushing her to go for her new business plan, even though Linda admits she can't afford it, even if she did want to go ahead with it. Max then asks whether Mick knows, but Linda bows her head and admits that she hasn't told him yet, considering he's been going through a lot lately, she feels perhaps this isn't the right time to be informing him about her new idea. Max looks at her almost with sympathy, but it does look as if he's contemplating something - will he somehow give her the money to start her business? Will he end up helping her set it up? What do you guys think?!

Across the Square, Tina has packed her suitcase after overhearing Iqra and Ash talking about her moving out. She tries to reassure them that their decision is fine and that she completely understands, Iqra appears to be really sympathetic and Ash apologises for her finding out the way she did. When they ask where she's going to stay, Tina jokingly says "The park bench seems free!" - they look at her with shocked expressions but she reassures them that she'll be okay. But in all seriousness, where is she going to go? It's not like she can go back to the Vic, will Gray maybe take her in as he has with Shirley? Could she go and stay with Mick and Linda for a while until she finds her own place? I'd hate to see her be homeless!

At the police station, DI Thompson is playing the recording of Phil and Kat discussing their robbery, whilst Callum is also in the room hearing the discussion. Thompson pushes for Callum to inform him about what he knows, but Callum insists that that is the first time he's heard anything about it, he even insists that Ben wouldn't tell him anything like that! Thompson begins to get frustrated until a fellow officer rushes in telling them that they've had an anonymous tip-off about a robbery and the culprits disguised as cleaners. Thompson knows that that is where Phil and Ben are, he instructs Callum that no matter how he does it, he wants someone arrested! Callum begins to panic and we see him send a message to his boyfriend, warning him to get out of the building! But back at the Insurance company, Ben, Phil and Kush have found the parking lot with the expensive cars, Ben and Phil work separately on different cars whilst Kush stands and watches - he questions how he can help in any way, but they just inform him not to touch anything. Kush watches with a (quite a cute) smile - must be the adrenaline!

Returning to the Vic, Ian is starring into space, almost in a world of his own. Are the events of his actions running through his mind? Does he actually realise he's put his brother and his Dad in danger? Does he feel no shame or dismay?! As he sits alone, Lexi is stood in the doorway and calls him a "Snake!" - which takes Ian completely by surprise. I love little Lexi, she's such a superstar! She informs her Uncle that that is what her Dad calls him. As she continues to insult her Uncle further, Kathy appears and informs she'll be taking Lexi home shortly. As Lexi disappears, Kathy informs her son that she's come deliver his mail, Ian appears thankful to his Mother, she informs him that not everyone is against him, even though it must feel like it right now. She then shows him that one specific later that came was the first payment of the Cafe remortgage is due, suddenly Ian's face drops as his Mum asks him to take care of it, he then sheepishly asks her whether she can pay for it for the month and he'll start to pay from the following month. Kathy instantly looks really disappointed in her son, she questions whether that was his plan from the very beginning, put her into debt and then her be the one to pay it all back. Ian insists that that isn't the case and tries to explain that he needs a few weeks to sort things out - I think that Ian has got himself into something he can't control, he can't pay Max back, he can't pay his Mum back, he can't even pay for the remortgage payments. I think he's on a big downward spiral. Kathy refuses to pay for it and tells her son that it's on his shoulders, but just as she turns to walk away, Ian starts acting like a child and saying that she would do it for Ben - so he is! He's jealous of his brother! Is that it?! - He claims that Ben is the Golden Boy and can do no wrong, but when he drops the insult that she's an unpaid baby-sitter, Kathy hits back! She informs her son that she actually doesn't want paying to look after her granddaughter, because that's what families do!!! That's what Grandparents do! You'd think by now that Ian would understand the concept of "Family" instead of always focusing on money. Kathy states that she would've hoped that Ian would've had a conscience after everything he's done, but it looks like he well and truly hasn't got one!

Back at the parking lot in the Insurance building, Phil and Ben are attempting to jump-start the cars. Ben appears to get his car going pretty quickly as Phil is struggling with the wires of his car. Ben looks over and queries whether his Dad is having problems, but Phil is adamant he's almost got it working. Kush then asks whether he could help, but Phil insists that his only role is to get the gate open when they're ready to leave, but Kush checks they only have 40-odd minutes remaining. Kush makes the valid point that getting the gate open will only take him 5 minutes, Phil then passes Kush the crowbar, instructing him to get the last car working. As he does so, Kush once again gives Phil an excited smile, I do feel it must've been the adrenaline rush of the possibility of doing a successful robbery and the chance of getting a good amount of money at the end of it. Phil laughs and comments that the job they're doing now is much better than selling boob-tubes!

Returning to the Square and at the Prince Albert, Tina walks in with her suitcase to find Kathy drinking on her own. As she joins her, Kathy notices that she has her luggage with her, she informs the poor girl that she can't sleep in the bar again. Tina then comes to the realisation she'll have to bunk up with Shirley again. It's then that Kathy responds to her by telling her that she has family who care about her, Tina can see that Kathy is upset about something and asks what's wrong. Now whether it's the drink that causes her to spill the beans or whether she just needs someone to talk to, Tina pours her another glass of wine and promises not to say a word to anyone, Kathy confides in her colleague about Ian committing fraud by forging her signature and re-mortgaging the Café, much to Tina's shock.

Back at the Vic, as Ian quickly sneaks out into the back in the background, Sharon is at the front and appears to be on the phone to a solicitor, she's informing them that she's knows what is owed to her and what Phil's solicitor is offering can think again about their offer. Ahhh, it's all coming to light now! Max has approached Bobby and is trying to convince him to change the age on his leaflet, and the only reason that Max has done that is so Linda can apply for her business idea. Bobby seems doubtful at first as his thought process is that his sister would want the opportunity to go to someone who was her age, but Max tries to push him to change the age limit, as that way there would be more applications from older ladies. Bobby asks Sharon for her advice, seeing as she and Max are both trustees for Bobby's charity, and she voices her opinion - on what good it'll do for Max? But he insists he's just doing right with a business attitude. Suddenly Linda appears and asks them what she's missed and when she realises that Bobby has agreed to change the age limit on his applicants, Max smiles at her and Linda instantly knows that he's done that for her. She thanks him for helping her and she starts to wonder how she'll make a start on her new business plan, however she needs to send in the application first - what if she's not successful?! She's getting in a bit over her head isn't she? Well Max also?! Or is it written in the stars - she'll apply and she'll get the money to start her new business. Max encourages Linda to call her husband and tell him the good news, however she seems reluctant to do so. As Max approaches the bar to get them another drink, Sharon confronts him head on - she knows what he's up to and warns him to stay away from her, even though Max plays dumb, Sharon can see right through him and warns him that she is her best mate and doesn't want her ruining her marriage to Mick, she doesn't want their marriage ending in divorce - she states that Mick and Linda are meant for each other. Max tries to reassure the blonde vixen that he and Linda are just friends, so she has nothing to worry about. But Sharon gives him one last warning, she'll be watching him from a distance!

Back at the parking lot, Kush successfully manages to break into the car, he seems so proud of himself and so excited, once he knows that he has managed to get into the car, Phil sets things in motion, for them to get into their cars ready to driver off and he instructs Kush to get the gate open. However, when Kush goes over the gate and types in the code, nothing happens. He tries for a second time and once again, nothing happens - has Kat given them the wrong code?! Or is he simply putting in the wrong code?! I don't know whether you guys noticed but the final digit of the code looks like either the number 6 or the letter B (In lower case) - Kush only types in the number 6, something is telling me that he's simply typing it in wrong and it actually is the lower-case B. But I could be wrong, maybe Kat has got the code wrong. Kush looks over to Phil and Ben in a slight realisation of panic that they might not be able to get out. Meanwhile, Kat and Shirley are trying their best to clean the offices, well Kat is however, whereas Shirley is being typical Shirley and is casually sat whilst Kat does all the work. As Kat asks her to make more of an effort, Shirley declines and Kat is quick to announce that she's done good when it's come to the robbery plan. Suddenly, a member of staff comes into the office and finds her and Shirley there.

Ian has found his way into the restaurant and appears to be in such dismay he throws a stash of paperwork all over the floor. As he does so, Suki walks in and see the state he's left the restaurant in, as she approaches him, Ian makes it clear to her that he doesn't want her in the restaurant. However, Suki is quick to make a proposition for him, she informs him about her plans for the Slater household and with him being a member of the council, she thinks he can help get her application get the attention she's wanting. In return she will give him £10,000! Ian is left stunned by her offer and tells her that he's actually not to be bought, but in his desperate need for money, will he take her up on her offer? It may just be the only way to get the money he needs to pay people back with. But of course, that would mean even more trouble for Slater's, once they find out that Ian helped Suki with her plan, he'll only have a few more people out to get him! Something tells me this whole situation isn't going to end well for Ian! What do you guys think?!

Back at the Insurance building, Shirley and Kat are in a blind panic as they're trying to get rid of the gentleman that's walked in on them. Shirley pushes Kat to try and get rid of him. They very subtly and quickly leave the man in the room as he appears to get distracted by sirens approaching the building from outside. Downstairs in the parking lot, Phil is frantic for Kush to get the gate open, Ben quickly notifies Kush that the police are approaching and Kush finally realises that he's been putting the code in wrong, finally he manages to put the code in correctly and franticly, Kat and Shirley dash towards the cars as Phil is shouting for them to get going. Kat pleads to Kush to come with them and leave the one car on it's own, but he's adamant he can do it! As Ben and Shirley drive ahead, the police are gathering outside the building, Kush is frantically trying to get his car to start as Kat begs him to just leave it and go with them. Phil shouts at Kat that they need to move quickly before they get nicked, Kat takes one last look at Kush and simply just says "I'm sorry!" before getting in the car with Phil and leaving him behind.

Kush is absolutely stunned that she's just left him to face the police alone. Callum arrives outside and manages to see Ben leave the scene in his car, only when Phil follows in his car, DI Thompson sees him very clearly and instructs his fellow police officers to go after him. He then instructs Callum to go into the parking lot to see if there is anyone else about. Unfortunately Kush is still struggling to get his car to work, Callum comes face-to-face with Kush and tells him to simply exit the car peacefully as police forces are surrounded everywhere, there is no easy way for him to get out of this now. Kush realises he's backed into a corner, he does everything Callum instructs him to do, only he decides to quickly make a run for it! Callum quickly dashes after him and follows him into a room on the third floor of the building. Kush attempts to hide, Callum comes into the room and spots Kush's reflection, however what he does next is a very interesting thing, he informs his boss that Kush actually got away, much to Kush's relief. When Callum shuts the door, making Kush think he's left the room, Kush attempts to make his escape but is surprised to see Callum still standing there. For a moment, I truly did think Callum was going to let Kush go, but instead he insists on arresting him. Kush begs to let him, but when Callum states he can't simply do that, Kush makes one last threat - if Kush is going to be sent down for this burglary, then he's going to make sure that Ben does to!

Ooooooo what is Callum going to do?! Is he going to let Kush off the hook so he can protect Ben? Will the police catch up with Ben and Phil?! What does this mean for Kat and Kush's relationship?! This has been a brilliant episode to watch, really gripping! I don't think I've seen one as gripping as this for a while! I'm really looking forward to finding out what happens next! What are your thoughts on this episode? What do you think will happen next?! I'd love to hear your thoughts, please feel free to comment or message me, I'll always find the time to reply! Thank you so much for reading! I'll be back again very soon to see what the aftermath of this robbery will be! Love you all xXx

#eastenders #kushkazemi #callumhighway #benmitchell #philmitchell #katslater #shirleycarter #tinacarter #kathybeale #ianbeale #suki panesar #maxbranning #lindacarter #sharonwatts #iqraahmed #ashpanesar #bobbybeale

[doof-doofblog]

"I Think That's It!"

Thursday 14th January 2021

Hello again everyone! Hope your week is going well so far, I'm really looking forward to reviewing today's episode! I feel there's a lot of emotion and drama going on in the soap right now, still so many secrets and lies to be exposed! I do believe that a new EastEnders trailer has gone out, I have say it looks absolutely brilliant, very exciting with confrontations between Frankie and Mick and then Ash and Suki!! Ooooo it's all going to kick off!! I'm really looking forward to seeing what's due to happen within the next couple of episodes! But back to this episode, I won't waste anymore of your time and jump straight into it!

Okay, so there's a few things I want to talk about. The first thing I'll mention first is Iqra! I do get the feeling that her relationship with Ash is kind of on the rocks, they seem to be disagreeing on things a lot. Plus Ash seems to have a big interest in Peter all of a sudden! During the scene where Iqra and Ash are sat alone in the Cafe, Peter enters and no surprise, Suki follows after a while. However as Iqra and Ash make themselves scares after Suki makes a comment on them staying up too late the night before, did anyone notice that she implied that she and Peter had slept together?! Peter orders himself a drink, to which to interrupts and offers to pay for it, telling him to enjoy his drink - to which she made a disgusting comment that she "Enjoyed" her time with him the previous night! Firstly - Ewwwww! - I don't know what your opinion is on Peter and Suki, but personally, I really don't like it! But I do have a feeling that Iqra is going to have another love interest soon! - The new girl at the Prince Albert - Mila! If she is going to become a regular character and we're going to see more of her, I think it would be nice to give her a storyline. We've already seen her beat Kim to win a job at the Albert, also seen her chatting up Frankie, and now she's been introduced to Iqra. What's not to say that Iqra and Mila begin get grow a close bond and eventually fall for one another? It would be nice to see Iqra in a happy relationship, as I feel right now, she's not happy with Ash. What do you guys think? I'd love to hear your thoughts on this possible theory?!

The second thing I want to talk about is the Carter's. Shirley is determined to find her little sister, much to Gray's frustration and panic. Before Mick arrives to accompany her to the police station regarding her attack on Katy, Shirley makes a call, which is later to be revealed as one of Tina's friends, as she desperately tries to search for her sister. As she does so, Gray is looking even more worried, for his own sake. He tries to convince her not to make any calls to Tina as it will makes things look bad on Tina as well as Shirley herself! Later when Shirley and Mick arrive back from the police station, they both inform Linda that Katy isn't going to press charges on Shirley for her attack. (Deep down I'm thinking it's because she doesn't want her own crimes being revealed!) But it's during this moment, when Mick and Linda begin to fret that Tina still hasn't been in touch with any of them, Shirley reveals to them that she actually received a text from Tina, informing them that she actually had attacked Ian. Instantly, things don't make sense to the Carter family, they believe that what the message is saying isn't true. But Mick makes the valid point that even if they don't believe it, they have no proof to show that she actually is innocent. It's then that Linda takes a huge gamble and requests to speak to Max. Since Linda ended their fling, Max has been down in the dumps and moping ever since. So when he gets a message from Linda asking that they talk, he goes round to her apartment when no one else is around. She informs Max that she's sorry for the way she treated him, but regardless of sticking by her husband, she does still care for him and treasures his friendship. But she then turns the subject onto more important matters and informs him that she's worried about Tina, even though that Tina has sent them a message almost admitting to attacking Ian, the only way to prove that it wasn't her was to give the police the weapon. Now we all know that the weapon used to attack Ian was the blue Lucy Beale Award, which Max ended up stealing and burying in an attempt to save Linda. The big thing here is, is that Linda is basically asking him to give up the weapon to put Tina out of the frame, but I don't think she realises that it could make Max look guilty of attacking Ian instead, and Max makes a very valid point here, even though he cares deeply for Linda, he refuses to go back to prison for anyone! Why should he also help her family after what's happened between him and Linda? I get Linda is just trying to help her family, but honestly - I think she needs to find another way, approaching Max is the wrong way to go about it.  

Thirdly, let's talk about Martin and Ruby, shall we?! When we first see them, Martin appears to have gotten off the phone to, I'm assuming, Sonia or Bex, and he happily informs his wife that he's going to be going away to see his daughter. Ruby has a face like thunder, she is clearly unhappy and as soon as Martin tells her his plans, she has the audacity lie once again to him to reminding him that she's pregnant. I hate to say it but I loved the way Martin responded with "I didn't think I'd have to ask your permission to see my daughter!". Ruby states that since she's told her husband about her pregnancy, he hasn't shown her the slightest bit of interest, however Martin puts on a front saying that he's happy that she's carrying his child, but as he leaves the room, we can see that he still doesn't feel right about it. However, later on Martin bumps into Sharon with little Albie in the park. As they begin talking, Martin reveals to her that Ruby is pregnant, even though it wasn't planned. As she congratulates him, he questions how show manages to cope, knowing that her son Albie was born on the same day she lost her other son, and also happens to mention that he never thought he'd see the day when she and Ian would be married. It's at this point when Sharon has to put on a front and basically lies to Martin, informing that even though it wasn't the future or family that she had planned, somehow it works for her. Her words must play on Martin's mind though, as later, returning to Ruby, she's alone in the house and reaches for a bottle of wine from the shelf, only to be interrupted by the front door opening, she quickly puts it back. Martin enters and comes with a peace offering, he reveals he has bought some baby items such as a baby grow, little boots and a teddy and informs his wife that she'll make an incredible Mum. Ruby seems completely overwhelmed by his surprise baby gifts, but the realisation sinks in when she realises she has to pregnant fast, before Martin becomes suspicious! What on Earth will she do? Could she convince Martin to sleep with her? Or would she have to take extreme measures and get pregnant by somebody else?!

The next thing I want to talk about is Sheree and Patrick. Trying to avoid the situation which is happening with her husband, Sheree is keeping herself busy at the salon. Cleaning things making everything look absolutely spotless, regardless of the fact that her first client isn't due for a long while. Suddenly Stacey and Jean enter, announcing that it's Jean's birthday and she's eager to get rid of the dark eyebrows that Mo has applied for her. Sheree takes it upon herself to help Jean out and stating that she has all the time in the world to help her. During Jean's time in the salon, Kim steps in and confronts Sheree about not visiting Patrick in the hospital after his stroke, she states that if she doesn't step up she'll be disowned by family. Jean witnesses this confrontation and sees the devastating look in Sheree's eyes, she takes it upon herself to console the poor woman and informs her that families can be hard to talk to if they don't understand the upset and hurt you're feeling. It's then that Jean begins to tell Sheree all about Daniel and his aspect of life, regardless of knowing he was dying from cancer, he lived every day to the full and didn't let it get him down, he was strong and was right up until the very end. I believe it's these words which really hit home for Sheree, after Jean's wise words, she rushes to the hospital to be at her husbands bedside. Meanwhile poor Patrick has been asking Isaac for his wife, even questioning why he's there when she should be at school - however what Isaac says really moves me, "I have to be here for my Dad!" - Is this the first time he ever called Patrick "Dad"? Even so, it was so moving, the look in both of their eyes was so warm. Eventually Sheree arrives at the hospital, Patrick is happy to see her but also informs her that he doesn't want her to be his carer, as that was not what she signed up for when they got married - however, Sheree informs her husband that she won't be going anywhere, she's going to remain at his side during this knock back in his health, but informs him that he will be taking all the medication he needs and following the doctors instructions.

Now, I've mentioned her already but I need to talk about Jean, we need to talk about Jean. I've said it before and I've said it again, what an absolutely inspirational woman! Regardless of coming to terms with her own personal situation, she's still wanting to help out everyone around her, previously it was Dotty and Iqra, today it was Sheree. I have to be honest, I absolutely LOVED the fact that she talked about Daniel again, even though he was such a small part of the soap, his role was very very important and he plays such a huge part in Jean's life, we need to make sure he's not forgotten, and Jean continuing to talk about him is just perfect, even if it is quite sad. After getting her eyebrows fixed and getting dressed up in another gorgeous dress (She's been wearing some stunning dresses recently!) she begins to record a video of herself. At first, I know it sounds silly, but I genuinely thought she was doing a video for Daniel, even though he wouldn't be able to see it, I just thought it would've been a way for her to still kind of talk to him, if you get what I mean? But as she continued the video and talking to the camera, I think it became clear that the video she was recording is actually intended for Stacey and the rest of the family. In the video, she announces that devastatingly that she feels in herself that the cancer has returned, even though she hasn't had it confirmed, she can feel it. Not only does she announce this but she also states that she's taken the drastic decision not to have treatment this time around, she wants to live the rest of her life to the full and be just like Daniel. She doesn't want the family to worry and to accept her decision. I did find this very emotional to watch, I mentioned this in my previous post but I can't applaud Gillian Wright enough for her performance as Jean, she is absolutely incredible actress. The only thing that plays on my mind though however is that, I would be incredibly devastated if they were to kill her off. Jean has been such a breath of fresh air in EastEnders, even during her absolute lowest moments, everyone loves her and wants her to fight through the toughest times. I truly believe that the Slater family will be lost without her, the whole Square would be lost without Jean - Oh I love her so much!

I know there are plenty of storylines happening at the moment, and with the recent trailer which has been released, I can't wait to see it all unfold. But Jean's storyline is the one that really going to keep me guessing the most I think, I hope to God that her cancer hasn't returned, or maybe it's something completely different and not cancer - (I don't know?) - But either way, I just hope Jean will be okay and EastEnders don't kill her off! What do you guys think? How do you feel about Jean's current story? Are there any storylines that are keeping you gripped at this moment in time, how do you feel about them all and what are your thoughts and theories?! I'd love to hear what you have to say, please feel free to leave me a message or a comment, I'll always respond! Thanks again folks! Enjoy the rest of your weekend and I'll be back very soon! Love you all xXx

#eastenders #sukipanesar #ashpanesar #iqraahmed #peterbeale #lindacarter #mickcarter #shirleycarter #tinacarter #grayatkins #maxbranning #martinfowler #rubyfowler #sharonbeale #patricktrueman #sheree #isaac baptiste #kimfox #jeanslater #staceyslater #danielcook

[doof-doofblog]

"You're The Biggest Mistake I Ever Made!"

Tuesday 12th January 2021

Hello again everyone! Hope you're all keeping well! I apologise for this one being late, but I'm really looking forward to seeing what happens next, following yesterday's episode! I'm not going to waste any of your time and jump straight into it!

Firstly, I want to mention Frankie and Ben. With recent events spiralling out of control, poor Frankie has no idea how to cope with it all, knowing that Mick is her Dad and that her Mother is a paedophile! Ben and Callum find her at the Prince Albert and decide to stay with her to keep an eye on her as it becomes clear that she's been drinking all day! Ben seems concerned for his friend, he manages to sit down and inform her about the fight he had just witnessed outside on the Square, informing Frankie that Shirley had beaten a woman up on the Square, but refused to say who it was. Frankie seems to look suspicious, after Ben tells her this information, she takes a quick look at her phone and sees that she has many missed calls from her Mum, but chooses to completely ignore them! During her time in the Prince Albert, Frankie has been assumed as gay, first with Tina and now with this new lady working at the bar, calling her "Gorgeous!" - I mean, that does not necessarily mean that the girl was chatting her up, could be just a nice polite compliment, but Frankie seems to take it as another girl is once again chatting her up, she questions Ben why people assume that she's gay - but as soon as Ben makes a light joke, she snaps back at him, leaving Ben very surprised. He can see that his friend is struggling with something, will he manage to find out what?!

The next thing I want to talk about is Dotty's party, now there's quite a lot to cover here involving a number of characters. Firstly, that Sharon offers Dotty an olive branch and gifts her a crate of alcohol for her party. She informs the teenager that she and Dotty's Grandmother "Dot" have been close for years and she hate for them to fall out because of Dotty, she tries to inform her that she and Ian are just starting out and she should accept it and move on. However, during the party, Dotty can't seem to come to terms with Sharon's offer, it's only after some wise words from Jean that she decides to give the alcohol back to Sharon and informs her that she can't just forget what Ian did to Dennis. It would be wrong for her accept it, unfortunately, Dotty doesn't know about Sharon's knowledge of Ian's involvement in her son's death. But Dotty makes a statement, that she needs to think about who she's really married to, there is no misunderstanding and she knows exactly what Ian did! She made the very important point that maybe Ian can buy Sharon, but she can't buy her!

During Dotty's party, poor Iqra is stood on her own, but when Keegan and Tiffany ask where Ash is, she informs them that she's probably still working, the states that the girl is a workaholic! Only just a few seconds later, Ash appears from around the doorframe - it looks like she's already had a few drinks already, much to Iqra's shock! I do feel for Iqra during these scenes, as it looks as if Ash is slowly losing interest in her girlfriend. Even when Ash proposes taking the party somewhere else, Iqra questions whether it's a good idea, to which her girlfriend responds with "Well, you can just stay here!" - leaving Iqra visibly upset. Later, when Iqra and Jean find each other, Jean gives Iqra some wise words also. When Iqra informs her that Ash has changed since Jag's has been in prison, its as if she doesn't know what her girlfriend wants anymore. Once again, Jean plays the role of being everyone's agony aunt and gives Iqra some home truths to think about, also mentioning that she needs to live in the moment, she has her whole life to figure out what she wants, but while she's young, she needs to live in the now and enjoy it! But while Iqra and Jean are having this conversation, Ash, Peter, Tiffany and Keegan have gone to the Panesar's office, where they thought the party would kick off. However, it's only when Suki walks in and informs everyone to leave that it looks like the party's over. It's been blatantly obvious in recent weeks that Peter has been flirting with Ash, even before Suki comes in to ruin the party, he questions Ash on what his chances are of being with her, she looks tempted but gives him the blow that he stands no chance with her at all. But when Suki tells them to leave, as Peter grabs his coat, his wallet falls out, which of course, Suki takes pleasure in snooping at. But she seems either disgusted or stunned to find a condom in Peter's wallet. When he comes back to find it, realising that Suki has found the content of his wallet, he informs her that it's best to be safe. Suki seems interested to know that Peter is interested in her daughter, however Peter informs her that her feelings towards him are not mutual. But what happens next REALLY shocks me - Suki starts flirting with Peter! Informing him that she's just been on a date and that the obvious end result of that date has ended with her talking to him and not in bed with her date. Peter seems kind of shocked and embarrassed at the thought, but Suki informs him that passion doesn't stop at the age of 40 and drops the biggest flirtatious bomb of all and questions whether he'd like to find out!!! To say I was shocked is a total understatement!! I have no idea why Suki would even be interested in Peter, would it be simply to get her own back on Ian? Or to even cause a rift between him and Ash? Who knows?!

Also, can I just mention what an absolute inspiration Jean was during this episode! Regardless of having to deal with the possibility that her cancer is back, she puts on a brave face, with some gorgeous make-up, gets dressed into a stunning sparkly dress and attends Dotty's party with Mo! During her time there, she helps not to just one - but two people - Dotty and Iqra! Informing them to take a hold of their life, live in the moment and enjoy it while they can. Jean seemed to be really enjoying herself at the party and also seemed to be taking her own advice. When Iqra asks her what she wants, she simply gets up and says "I want to dance!" - Jean gets up onto the dancefloor and shows the young ones how to live in the moment. She's swaying her arms and legs and singing along to the music, eyes closed - actually living in that very moment! Jean was just beautiful tonight, an inspiration. I love her so so much! I want to applaud Gillian Wright for her performance as Jean, she's just a fantastic actress and plays the role of Jean so perfectly, I can't fault her at all!! Of course we don't know for sure whether Jean's cancer has returned, I pray to God it hasn't, but even so - she has given us a brilliant life lesson. Don't dwell on things, face life head on, enjoy it - because we simply don't know how long we all have on this Earth!

The final thing I want to talk about, of course is Mick and Shirley! After the events of what happened in the previous episode, Mick is panicking that his Mum is going to the police everything, about why she attacked Katy and that soon Mick's secret will come flooding out onto the Square. Linda tries to console her husband, but he states that he simply isn't ready for things to be revealed yet. I do also feel for Shirley during this episode, during her confrontation with Linda, she states that after learning the truth, she can't just stand back and do nothing! Linda pleads to Shirley not to call the police, she understands that she wants to help Mick, but doing this isn't the right way. She makes a very valid point that they are both on the same side here, they both want to be there for Mick, even though they both want to rip Katy's throat out for what she's done to him, but they have to do what's best for Mick and do things at his pace - otherwise it'll make the whole situation 10 times worse for him. Linda suggests that she goes round to their apartment and speaks to her son. It's this scene in particular which got me really emotional. Poor Shirley is in absolute bits, tears flooding down her face as she talks to her son about not being there for him and how she blames herself. She informs Mick that she didn't tell the police why she hit Katy, for his sake! She goes on to talk about not being able to be there for him whilst he was in care, she blames herself - not for putting him into care but also of what Katy has done to him. As a mother, she feels she should've known, she should've protected him. She is deeply apologetic towards her son. Mick doesn't say a word and listens very carefully to his Mother's words - it seems as this has been the words he's been needing to her, slowly and gently he leans forward to his Mum, informing her that all of this is not her fault, the only person to blame is Katy. He says those 3 small words that Shirley has been longing to hear for a very long time "I love you!" - Shirley's sobs seem to ease as finally the relationship between her and her son is rekindled. This scene almost made me cry - I also have to applaud Linda Henry for her performance as Shirley, another fantastic actress which EastEnders are extremely lucky to have! I have to be honest, Shirley is one of my favourite characters, I've loved her since she first appeared on the soap, she has so much fire about her and I love her so much!! EastEnders wouldn't be the same without her! Taking her own advice, that she wants to be there for her family, she wants to look out for her family more than ever now, she goes back to the Atkins household where Gray is waiting for her. She informs him that she's going to start looking for Tina, something isn't right and she needs to find her baby sister - the look on Gray's face is an absolute picture! Panic! Something tells me it's not going to be too long until his secrets slowly start to reveal themselves. What is he going to do now? How on Earth is he going to be able to stop Shirley from searching for her sister? What other low lengths will he go to?!

The final thing I want to mention is Max! After leaving Mick and Shirley alone to have their talk, Linda finds herself in the Vic. Max finds her sitting alone and approaches her, questioning the local gossip about Shirley beating up a lady, someone who's known to Mick. Linda attempts to ignore his questioning, informing him that it's none of his business and has nothing to do with him. Max seems really put off by this, he can't seem to understand why all of sudden, after their fling, Linda is back to being the doting wife. He asks her to please tell him, just to give him some kind of understanding as to why she's suddenly dropped him like a tone of bricks! He informs her that she doesn't have to stay with Mick out of duty, but Linda stops him before he can say anymore and informs him that it's not duty that she's staying with Mick, it's because of love. She still loves her husband very dearly. Bu Max refuses to give up and states that he can't understand that "One minute you're mine, the next -!" This really doesn't sit well with Linda and abruptly stops him once again, stating that she was NEVER his and that he was the biggest mistake she ever made, leaving the Vic and Max alone with the hurtful truth that she regrets their fling, even more so now.

Overall a very brilliant episode, powerful, emotional, inspirational! Everything you wanted really! I can't wait to see what happens next. Will Frankie be okay? Will she eventually be able to have a conversation with Mick? Who knows? I hope in time that Mick will be able to approach his daughter and they'll be able to come to terms with everything - together. What the heck is going on between Suki and Peter? Do you guys find that weird and disturbing as much as I do?! Plus, how is Shirley going to find Tina and will Gray attempt to stop her?! Oooo so many questions which I can't find out the answers to! I hope you've all enjoyed reading, I really enjoyed writing this post! Please feel free to leave me a comment, I'll always respond! Enjoy the rest of your day folks! Love you all xXx

#eastenders #frankielewis #benmitchell #callumhighway #ballum #sharonbeale #dottycotton #iqraahmed #ashpanesar #peterbeale #sukipanesar #jeanslater #mickcarter #shirleycarter #lindacarter #grayatkins #maxbranning

[doof-doofblog]

"It's Disgusting!"

Monday 12th October 2020

Good evening folks! I hope you've had a brilliant weekend. We're are back with another week of EastEnders and I am so intrigued as to what is going to happen this week. I'm just going jump straight in with it ... so the episode starts this evening with Whitney on the phone to Bianca. Bianca must've heard what happened while she was in court, Whitney is visibly tearful as she tries to explain to her what has happened and how she's going to deal with it. Is Bianca also trying to convince her to plead Not Guilty? As Whitney is walking through the Square, Sonia is following along behind her, adamant she needs plead Not Guilty, but Whitney has had enough. She claims to her that Leo is dead because of her, I guess Whitney just believes she needs to do what's right, regardless whether he made her life a misery or not. Do you guys really think she'll go down for Leo's murder? Or is there going to be some miraculous change of heart/mind of the jury and they could find her Not Guilty? Who knows?!

Meanwhile, Mick is still feeling the blame for what happened in Court. It's understandable that his head all over the place right now, trying to cope with the fact that he's found a daughter he never knew he had! He still hasn't told Linda about Frankie, how much longer is he going to keep her a secret? We all know secrets never last long in this soap and it's always explosive when secrets are revealed! He's just going to make things worse for himself and for Linda if he leaves it much longer! What do you guys think? Linda can see there's something clearly wrong with her husband, she tries to comfort him and assure him that what happened in court was not his fault, his panic attack couldn't be helped. But will Mick really see it that way?

Ahhh okay, so Phil is still going to do whatever he can to make sure that Raymond will be in his life. I kind of love the fact that he's making a cheese sandwich, I don't really know why ... I just think it's brilliant! Phil Mitchell making a cheese butty! Ha! Anyway, while he's preparing food in the kitchen, Ben is having a word with his Dad whether it really is a good idea to keep seeing Raymond, as he makes the valid point - "You can't go back on adoption!" Plus things are only going to explode once Ellie finds out who Phil really is. I know I've probably said it before, but this story is one that I'm really looking forward to - whether something will come out of it remains to be seen. But even the possibility of Ben seeing his younger brother, I think that scene - if it ever happens - is going to be beautiful!

Meanwhile, in the café, Gray is seen still looking very miserable, is he still thinking about what happened the day before? Is he perhaps hiding from Karen and Mitch? Karen still hasn't caught up with him for missing his wife's funeral, but I'm sure as soon as she claps eyes on him, she'll be having words! In the background Sonia and Linda are discussing how important it is to keep hold of things that mean the most to you, as one day it could all be taken away. As Linda leaves the room, Sonia approaches Gray and basically pleads to him to speak to Whitney, to try and convince her to change her mind, but Gray feels he's caused too much damage to her trial already, so he declines, much to her disappointment.  

At the Prince Albert, Frankie is talking to Tina about other possible theme nights and promotions that they could put on at the bar, she states to Tina that not everyone who go to gay bars are gay, Tina makes a really funny remark to Frankie, after making a move on her and feeling embarrassed because she rejected her. Frankie's reaction is almost apologetic, she obviously feels bad for giving Tina the wrong impression. Suddenly, Linda makes her way in and asks Tina to have a talk with Mick, as she's asking Tina this favour, Frankie appears to listen in to the conversation. She overhears Linda explain that her husband isn't sleeping, not eating properly, isn't opening to up to her - she feels like he's hiding something. Frankie realises that it's because of her, we can see the look in her face! Is Frankie going to be able to somehow convince her Dad to tell the truth to his wife?!

Back at the Mitchell household, while Ben is waiting for Lexi, he's explaining to his boyfriend that he's really worried about Phil being hurt again. He worries that if Phil is going to keep seeing Raymond, it could all backfire for him. He makes the important point that the one person he's forgotten about is Denise, how is Denise going to feel if/when she finds out Phil has repeatedly been to see their son. Callum makes the suggestion that perhaps Phil seeing Raymond may be a good thing, the silver lining is that he's not focusing on any dodgy deals or dodgy work right now. Whilst Ben and Callum are having this discussion, little Lexi has hear to the door on the other side, listening in to their conversation. While this chat is taking place, Denise and Jack are walking through the Square, Denise appears to be just a little bit on edge as Jack makes the remark that she's been drinking a bottle of wine every night since being reunited with Raymond. As Denise shrugs off Jack's remark, they bump into Phil as he leaves Minute Mart, they share a quick look and he walks away. Denise admits to Jack that she doesn't trust him, I have a feeling that somehow Denise is going to stop Phil from seeing their son. This is what I mean when I say this story could go so many ways, there are so many routes the story could go down and I am so intrigued and excited to see what happens.

Meanwhile at the Vic, Kat and Jean are doing their jobs and cleaning all the tables and bar area. I love how Jean is talking about that for Hope's birthday she was going to get Mo to dress up as the Queen. Brilliant! As she continues her conversation with Kat, the subject turns onto the topic of Stacey, and how she became to realise that Martin only lied to her to protect her. Jean reveals that Stacey is hoping for her and Martin to get back together once he returns from his holiday. But as Kat is listening to this, she's scrolling on her phone on what we only assume to be their social media pages, but then she stop and says "Oh my god!" - Something has happened between Martin and Ruby, but what?!

Back at the Café, Tina and Linda are discussing Mick. Tina is reassuring Linda that there is nothing wrong with her husband, she explains that this is what Mick does, if something is bothering him, he'll disappear to sort himself out and he'll return. She assures Linda that she hasn't done anything wrong, she everything will be fine come dinner time. While this conversation is happening, Frankie finds Mick in the park and decides to join him. We can see that Mick is in deep thought as she places a coffee mug in front of him. Frankie tries to console Mick, she promises that she never wanted to cause him any stress, she doesn't want to come in between his marriage. She understands if he doesn't want to tell Linda about her, she wouldn't even ask him to. Mick smiles at his daughter and offers to buy her a bacon sandwich (YUM!) ... but as he queue's up, he bumps into Max. He decides to apologise for his behaviour the other day, Max is more than understanding, they both come to a mutual understanding and accept each other's apology, Frankie is watching in the background as they chat. Suddenly their conversation changes and Max sympathises with Mick about what happened in court, bringing up his fling with Whitney, as the conversation continues Frankie is completely stunned. Mick returns to her and she starts kicking off on him, saying that he had some affair with a lady named "Wendy!" - that's a good point, does Frankie even know who Whitney is? Has she even met Whitney yet? Mick tries to explain to his daughter that she has completely misunderstood, but she walks off before he gets a chance to explain.

Meanwhile at the Slater household, Stacey is excited to see that Martin and Ruby have returned from their holiday. This could be the chance she needs to tell Martin exactly how she feels. As she rushes upstairs to get ready, Jean and Kat are trying to come up with a plan to try and stop her before she walks into the situation and ends up feeling humiliated. They clearly know something we don't ... Suddenly the front door slams shut and they realise Stacey has already left. Eventually she finally catches up with Martin, he's stood on his front door with his luggage case. Stacey pours her heart, saying she understands why he lied to her, but she wishes he'd have just told her the truth, it could've saved them so much arguing. As she's saying this, Martin looks as if he doesn't know what to say, "Talk about timing, Stace!" he says. She looks a little confused as Ruby makes an appearance, she states to Martin that he's got to carry her over the threshold .... WAIT! WHAT?! .... THEY'VE GOT MARRIED!!!!! WHO? WHAT? WHY?? .... I didn't even think Ruby and Martin were a serious thing! I did not even think they were going to last!!! Ooooo did you see the smug look on Ruby's face as Martin says to Stacey that they've got married!!! Do you want to know what I think, I think it's Ruby's way of getting her own back on Stacey ... like, "You stole my money, I'm going to steal your man!" ... What do you guys think? I feel so sorry for Stacey, I was kind of hoping that Martin and Stacey would rekindle their relationship and start again!

Back at the Prince Albert, Tina is fuming at Frankie for leaving the bar when she specifically asked her to cover. Before Frankie is even having a chance to apologise or explain herself, Tina is kicking off at the poor girl, asking whether she's some kind of stalker because she's found out about her taking photographs of the family. Eventually Frankie manages to get a word and states a name "Katy Lewis!" ... Tina's face turns to shock ... Frankie then begins to explain that Katy Lewis is her Mum, now this is the confusing part ... Tina's face turns from shock to pure joy! She seems so excited to hear that name. She reveals that she and the rest of the family as well as Frankie's Mum are old friends. Tina instructs that as soon as they finish up at the bar she wants to discuss with Frankie everything about her Mum, the look on Frankie's face is just pure confusion!

Back on the Square, Gray bumps into Whitney. This is first time they've seen each other since his breakdown in court. She reveals to him that the only way she's going to be able to go through with it is if she pleads Guilty. Gray instantly tells her not to! He struggles to say the next sentence as it's kind of referring to him also, he slowly states to Whitney that Chantelle believed that you should always tell the truth, because it'll always come out in the end if you don't! It looks as if what Gray has said to her has managed to persuade her to plead Not Guilty, could this be the pep talk she needed to fight her way through court?!

The last scene of tonight's episode was in the Vic, Tina and Frankie had met up with the rest of the Carter family and Tina excitedly explaining to them all that Frankie is Katy Lewis's daughter. Mick looks a bit quiet as he sips his drink, Linda recalls hearing the name, whereas Shirley seems to remember her perfectly. This is really interesting now, Tina then reveals to Frankie that Katy was Mick's carer? She make the revelation that Mick was only 12 when he seemed to have a crush on her. Frankie's face drops! Her head is spinning as Mick admits that he was just only 12. Frankie excuses herself to escape the conversation, Mick follows her pretty quickly, as they talk together alone in the corner of the Vic, Frankie is absolutely shocked, she can't believe what she's just heard - she initially thought that she was the result of an affair? But it looks as if he could've been sexually abused as a child!!! Did Frankie's Mum abuse him???!!! Also, very interestingly, did you see the look on Shirley's face! She knows something! She knows something isn't right with Mick!!!

I'm telling you now folks, that new female character who's going to be joining the soap. No name revealed, and yet we know she'll have something to do with the Carter's ... I'm telling you now! That is Katy Lewis! That is going to be Frankie's Mum! I am so convinced!! She is going to turn up to the Square, searching for her daughter, eventually she'll bump into Mick he'll start to relive everything he went through as a child. Will Frankie end up choosing who to live with, her Mum or Mick? Oooo I cannot wait to see how this story progresses!!! What do you think folks?! Really looking forward to hearing your thoughts about the current storylines! I'll be back tomorrow evening following Tuesday's episode! Goodnight everyone! xXx

#eastenders #mickcarter #frankielewis #lindacarter #tinacarter #shirleycarter #whitneydean #grayatkins #soniafowler #benmitchell #philmitchell #callumhighway #ballum #denisefox #staceyslater #jeanslater #katslater #martinfowler #rubyallen #katylewis

[doof-doofblog]

"You Murdered Your Wife!"

Christmas Week Review

(Episodes Commencing Tuesday 22nd December 2020 - Saturday 26th December 2020!)

Hello everyone! I'm sure it's been a hot minute since I last posed, I hope you all had a brilliant week and a brilliant Christmas! This blog post is going to be a little different, there's quite a bit I've missed recently due to working over the Christmas period and also seeing family. So instead of posting a post about an individual episode, I'm going cover the whole Christmas run up and reveal in this one post! I hope it'll give me the opportunity to catch up with you and enjoy our discussions revolving around recent events.

So firstly, I'm going to start with Honey's Community Christmas Dinner! After all her hard work of bringing everyone together and putting on a fabulous Christmas dinner for the community, disaster strikes when the fridge stops working, causing all the food to be all ruined! Only of course, Jay is there to save the day, it's clear he's been swooning over her for months now and what better way to win her over than to gather together some last minute prepared food and to add the icing on the top, announce to their neighbours how much of a wonderful woman she is! During the festivities everyone is dancing in the street, whilst other locals including Denise, Jack, Bernadette and Patrick eat and drink and be merry. Also I just want to mention how hilarious Kim was, arriving drunk and throwing up through out the day and eventually getting up for a boogie with the rest of the locals. The day ended on a high when Jay and Honey were left in the kitchen cleaning everything up, only things got a bit hot when Billy caught them kissing! (We all knew it was going to happen eventually!) Elsewhere, Tina had been released on bail after being charged with Ian's attempted murder, however when a brick is thrown through the Queen Vic window, warning Ian that things are not yet over, Ian comes to believe that Tina is not behind his attack, as Gray and Shirley both vouch for Tina being at home at the time when the brick was thrown! Also, Max proposes the idea to Linda of doing a runner and leaving together for New Zealand, he claims that he fully believed Linda attacked Ian and reveals that he got rid of the murder weapon, thinking he was doing it to save Linda! Only when Linda announces that she's not responsible for Ian's attack, he worries that if the police find out about the Lucy Beale Award, he could be sent down for a crime he didn't do!! He's convinced that Linda loves him as much as he loves her, he tries to persuade her, mentioning that Mick doesn't show her any form of love or intimacy anymore!

--

After witnessing Honey and Jay locking lips, Billy is clearly devastated, he feels betrayed that the boy he brought up as his own and his ex-wife have been intimate behind his back. He's completely and utterly heartbroken that they could've done this to him! They catch up with him and promise that their kiss never meant anything! Even though by the looks in their faces, deep down you can tell they both have feelings towards one another. They give their word to Billy that it was a terrible mistake and it'll never happen again, to which he responds that if it ever does, both Jay and Honey will be dead to him! I do doubt though however that Jay and Honey will struggle to be away from each other. In other parts of Walford, things are looking bad for Tina, after her conversation with Shirley, she's shocked when he sister offers her some money and proposes that she does a runner, this leaves Tina feeling shocked, admitting that if she ran it'll make her look guilty. But Shirley is convinced with the amount of evidence building against her, she may have no other option but to run, as she's scared for her sister. Devastated that her sister doesn't believe her, later Tina turns to her brother, Mick. Surprisingly, Mick apologises to his sister for speaking to her in such an awful way previously, he suggests that she doesn't run and that she faces it head on, and he promises to be by her side when she does. Can I just mention what an absolutely amazing scene that was between Mick and Linda! After Max being found in his flat, Mick reveals that he's already aware about his wife's infidelity. Only when Linda arrives, she begs Max to leave whilst she tries to talk to her husband. This scene was absolutely brilliant, amazing performances by Danny Dyer and Kellie Bright! After trying to explain to her husband about her actions, she pleads to him to fight for her, she is literally crying and pleading to him to show her that he cares for her, even in just the smallest way! But when Mick says that if Max makes her happy, he won't stand in her way, she can't seem to believe the words she's hearing and slaps her husband around the face, just to get a response, even taking it a step further by threatening to have an alcoholic drink! When she desperately asks him "Why won't you fight for me?!" - he simply replies with "I have no fight left!" - This is absolutely devastating for the couple, for a split moment when Mick got up from his seat, I thought he was going to let rip, fling a chair over the room or something - but there was simply nothing! After realising that her marriage isn't going to be fought for, Linda heads back to Max, when he reveals he has actually fallen in love with her, she admits that she still loves her husband but it looks as if their marriage could well and truly be over. Elsewhere, Ian tries his absolute best to apologise to his sons, his intention is to apologise to everyone he's wronged in an attempt for all the death threats to stop, starting with Peter and Bobby. After he makes an emotional, pleading speech to his sons, they invite him to attend the community event later in the evening, Ian is more than pleased and thankful to have been able to rekindle his relationship with his sons. During the event, everyone is gathered at the Square, watching a slideshow of neighbours and friends they've lost over the previous years, whilst a beautiful choir sings Silent Night. Images of our favourite characters including Peggy, Abi, Chantelle, Pauline, Pat, Dot and Ethel are shown to the community, everyone is reminiscing and sharing happy tears as they share memories of loved ones, even Phil and Karen attend as their loved one's images pop up. Only everyone is in pure shock, none more than Ian, when an image of him appears saying "R.I.P Ian Beale!" Honey states that no one put that image in the slideshow, suddenly Ian becomes aware of everyone around him and realises that the person who attacked him is close. I loved this moment when as the choir carried on singing, every single suspect, slowly looked over to Ian to see his reaction - Bobby, Ben, Kheerat, Suki, Peter, Phil - it is absolutely mesmerising, fantastic editing and camera work! Absolutely loved it!

--

And then we come to the banger, THE BIG ONE! The Christmas Day episode!! Wow, wow, wow! Another jam packed one right?! There are 3 or 4 main things I want to cover in this one! First one being the big return of Lucas Johnson and his daughter Chelsea!!! This has been such a long time coming and what an epic return it was!!! I do feel sorry for Denise however, as obviously her plans for a traditional Christmas did not go to plan. Even though she took Raymond to his church, she was left absolutely stunned and shook with fear as Lucas appeared (once again) as a supposed changed man!! But what shocked her Christmas Day even more was learning that her daughter, Chelsea, had been seeing him, spending time with him and had been doing so for a few months behind her Mother's back. This deeply saddened Denise, and it understandably made the whole family on edge as they heard the news about Lucas returning! Even Patrick took it upon himself to confront the murderer. We can absolutely see instantly that Lucas hasn't changed his ways, clasping his fist whilst being confronted by Patrick, and then also approaching Ruby as she walks along the Square, alone! I know it's way too early to say, but has Lucas already spotted his next victim?! 

The next thing I want to mention is the Slater's - it looks as if it's a happy Christmas for the Slater family, even though Kat has her concerns that it could be Kush's last Christmas, they take full pleasure in enjoying presents, food and drinks! Even though Martin and Ruby plan to spend their first Christmas at home as a newly-married couple, they get dragged into spending their day with the Slater's. Before Ruby arrives at the household, Martin has already given out his presents and it turns out the one he gave to Stacey is a beautiful sparkling watch, as she's overwhelmed by the gift, we can see absolutely clearly that that gift wasn't in fact intended for her, however it's only later on after having drinks in the Vic with the family, poor Stacey gets completely the wrong end of the stick and kisses her ex-husband, informing him that she still feels the same way about him and they could work things out, only for him to sadly drop the bombshell that he accidentally mixed up the presents and in fact the watch was meant for Ruby and the keyring Ruby opened was for Stacey. However, the one thing that none of the Slaters are aware of, is that privately after buying herself a gorgeous new dress, Jean devastatingly finds a new lump. Does this mean that her cancer could've come back? What an absolutely heart-breaking thing to find out on Christmas! 

Following the devastating blow between Mick and Linda on Christmas Eve, Mick decides that they shouldn't pretend anymore and have Ollie separately on Christmas Day. This clearly upsets Linda as Mick walks away with his son. Much to Shirley's surprise, Tina has invited Mick and his son over to Gray's for Christmas dinner, Shirley is absolutely over the moon when she sees her son and Grandson appear on the doorstep. When everyone is sat around at the table, Tina and Shirley voice their thanks to Gray as he carves the Christmas turkey. Tina happily passes a gift to Mick which is revealed to be a picture of him, Katy and Tina as kids - this seems to really spook Mick but he thanks his baby sister all the same, however Shirley can see that her son isn't looking right, she urges for them to inform her what's the problem. Only instead of informing her about Katy, Mick informs her about Linda having an affair with Max. Furious, Shirley takes it upon herself to confront her daughter-in-law and is stunned when Mick follows announcing that she doesn't mean anything to him anymore. These words look as if they really hurt Linda, to her, it seems that her marriage has completely come to an end, she turns to Max and mentions that she could consider going away with him to New Zealand. 

Later on in the evening, after having altercations with Gray through-out the day, Tina decides to make it up to him and clear the dinner table and put all the cutlery away in the dishwasher, however in the most creepiest way, Gray informs her that she's put the cutlery in the wrong way, that the knives should in fact go blade-up! He watches her and it almost looks as if he's imagining doing to her what he did to Chantelle! I do fear for Tina, could she find out his secret and be his next victim? 

And Oh my god!!! The big one, the big reveal we've been waiting for! Early on in the episode, we can see that Ian is still completely on edge of countless death threats, he looks out of the Queen Vic window and sees his brother, Ben, playing with his daughter Lexi. Ben notices and makes a gun motion with his fingers towards his brother. Instantly this plays on Ian's mind and eventually he confronts him in the middle of the Square, when suddenly the police turn up and it looks as if they're hear to collect Ben, however much to everyone's surprise, they're actually there for Peter after it's revealed his DNA was found. To Ian's surprise he asks his son "Why?" to which he responds with "I enjoyed watching you squirm!". Earlier in the episode Sharon announces to her new husband that she's going to visit Denny's grave, during their drive up to the cemetery, Ian is talking about nothing but himself and how Peter could betray him. She doesn't look a bit interested in her husband's rant and in forms him to go back to the pub. Ian does as he's told and whilst Sharon stands by her boy's gravestone, she makes a call to Phil. At first we have no idea why she's calling him, but eventually it all comes clear - when he eventually makes it to the cemetery, she informs him that she wants Ian dead today!!! WHAT DID I SAY FROM THE BEGINNING?! I KNEW SHARON WAS BEHIND IAN'S ATTACK!!! It turns out that for months they've been waiting on hearing Dennis's voicemail and it looks as if the blonde vixen is out for revenge and justice for her son! A flashback shows us that it was actually Phil who attacked Ian that night but before he could finish the job, he was interrupted by Peter spray-painting on the doors and made his escape. It looks as if Ben missed his Dad by seconds as he walks over Ian's motionless body and voices that he had it coming! It looks as if Phil and Sharon had been planning this for months possibly, however when she informs Phil to go back and finish the job today, when Phil gets to the pub he finds Ben standing over Ian with a baseball bat and he comes to realise that he can't go through with it. If Ian's blood gets on his hands, it'll come back to his family - annoying as Ian is, he can't kill a member of his family, especially when it's his son's brother. When Sharon comes home to see that Ian is still alive, she confronts Phil and is devastated when he announces that he wants out of their plan to kill Ian, he voices that she's grieving and needs professional help to come to terms with her grief. But instead, Sharon calls him a coward and informs him she'll do it herself. As everyone goes home and everyone is with their families, Sharon is seen in the Queen Vic kitchen, crushing small pills, she melts them with a blowtorch, places them into a Christmas Pudding and serves them to Ian! After all the suspects that were listed, I had a VERY big feeling that Sharon would be the one behind Ian's attack! As much as I'd love to know how she got hold of the voicemail from Denny, I am certainly looking forward to seeing when Ian realises it's his new wife who's trying to kill him! Another fantastic Christmas episode!

--

Finally coming to the final episode of this week, Boxing Day! Oh my goodness, this one had me on the edge of my seat and shaking!!! I'm sure you're all aware of what's got me shaking to the core!! That will be the thing I focus on last! Firstly, I'm going to focus on Sharon and Ian. After the previous day, Phil and Sharon bump into each other outside of the Vic, neither of them say a word to each other as they both have a silent knowledge of what's going on, it looks as if Phil is questioning her with his eyes, only his question is answered when Ian appears from the top bedroom window, shouting down to his wife. With the comfort of knowing that Sharon hasn't gone through with her plan, Phil walks way. Only little does he know that she's actually poisoning him! Later on in the episode, Sharon convinces Ian to show his face and step outside, even though he is reluctant to do so, and it just so happens that the first people he sees are his Mum and his son, Peter. Peter reveals to him that he's been released by police with no charges, leaving everyone completely by surprise. So that puts Peter out of the frame! 

Meanwhile, after Denise's huge shock at seeing Lucas the previous day, she and Kim take Raymond to the park for a kick about for a bit of space. Innocently, Ruby approaches the little boy and compliments his Christmas jumper, but it seems as if recent events have spooked Denise, as she calls the little boy to stay close to her. As she walks away with the little boy, it looks as if Ruby is feeling an emotion that she's never felt before. Later on when she and Martin meet up at the Vic, he apologies for the way they spent their first Christmas. However, something even more interesting is on Ruby's mind, she questions her husband whether he has the feeling that something in his life is missing, but when he simply can't think of anything and announces he has everything he wants, she drops the bombshell that she wants them to have a child of their own.

So the last and big section I need to talk about involves Gray and all members of the Carter family! The first thing I'll mention is the brief scene between Linda and Mick, as it comes to dawn on them that their marriage is coming to an end, Linda reveals to her husband that they should discuss new arrangements when it comes to Ollie, when each of them get to see him etc. Deep down you can see it's visibly hurting both of them that it's come to this, but what else are they supposed to do? Mick won't talk and Linda truly believes that her husband has lost complete interest and doesn't want her anymore. As Linda leaves with Ollie, Mick feels like he needs someone, of course his first person to contact is Katy. When she eventually returns to the Square, once again she starts to manipulate Mick, trying to convince him that moving away would be the best thing for him, pointing out that his marriage to Linda is over, what is keeping him in Walford? The fact that he does actually still love his wife and his family and his little boy!! Meanwhile whilst all this is happening with Mick, Gray is reeling after Tina let it slip in front of his children that Chantelle was planning on leaving him. This has left him out for revenge on Tina! Even Mitch has started questioning whether what Tina has said is true, which is clearly going to rattle Gray's cage, he points the blame straight onto Tina for his children not wanting to see him, to which she repeatedly apologises for. However, he seems to think that she has completely crossed the line. When he bumps into the Detective who's working the case of the attack on Ian, he reveals that Peter has been released without charge and also the witness they gave wasn't reliable and that Tina's case probably won't make it to court. Gray goes back and completely twists his words and informs Tina that she has to leave the Square today as the evidence against her is building and building! To their absolute shock, both Shirley and Tina begin to panic, Mick hears the commotion and questions what's happening, as Gray reveals that the police could be coming for Tina at any moment and she needs to leave quick, he proposes that he leaves the Square with her. Taking Katy's advice, he seems to realise that this could be his way out of Walford! Shirley is in absolute tears as she comes to the realisation that both her sister and her son could be leaving so suddenly. As Mick hurries home to grab his belongings, Tina informs Gray that she'll forever be thankful to him and will find a way to repay him, as he begins to make plans in booking a plane flight for them. Before Tina goes to grab her belongings, Shirley stops to give her a late Christmas present - which I have a huge feeling could be VERY important - a golden chain with her name on, Tina is weepy as she thanks her sister and tells her she'll miss her. As Shirley bids her sister farewell, I have a devastating, horrible feeling that this may be the last time Shirley will see Tina alive?! Later on as Tina rushes to grab her last few items from the shop, she bumps into the Detective and states that the witness they have for her is a liar, however he drops the bombshell about her witness being unreliable and that Gray should've told her, it becomes clear to Tina that Gray has been lying to her. As she arrives back at the house, Gray is finishing packing her things, it appears to be just the two of them in the house. Everything comes crystal clear to Tina that Gray wants her out of his house and out of Walford - I thought this was such an epic, gripping scene! I was fearing for Tina the entire time!! She confronts him about his lies and even comes to the realisation that the way he's treated her is exactly the way he treated Chantelle. Gray is absolutely stunned to realise that she is on to him and she has come to know the truth about how his wife died, she threatens him that she's been watching him and she knows exactly the type of person he his! But as soon as she mentions Chantelle, about the way he treated her and abused her, you can see Gray getting angrier and angrier, denying all allegations that Tina is throwing at him! I did feel that Tina was so brave to stand up to him, but I am fearing that this could be the last time we see Tina alive? She says those very important words - "You killed her! You murdered your wife!" and you can see it clear as day that Gray knows he's going to have to get rid of her before she reveals his secret.

I have to be honest but this episode has fantastic performances from Toby-Alexander Smith and Luisa Bradshaw-White! Are you guys fearing for Tina as much as I am?! I do feel that the gold chain with Tina's name on is going to be very significant! Will Gray murder Tina, get rid of her body and convince Shirley that Tina has actually fled, without Mick and left her chain behind?! Who knows? Either way, I don't know how Tina is going to escape the wrath of Gray now she's aware of his secret. What do you guys think? Did you enjoy the Christmas episodes as much as I did? I'd love to hear your thoughts! Thank you for reading, I apologise it's taken so long, but I hope you enjoy this post as much as I've enjoying writing! I'll be back tomorrow following tomorrow's episode - what will happen to Tina?! Love you all xXx

#eastenders #christmasweek #christmasreview #honeymitchell #jaybrown #billymitchell #karentaylor #denisefox #kimfox #lucasjohnson #lindacarter #maxbranning #mickcarter #ianbeale #sharonbeale #benmitchell #philmitchell #tinacarter #shirleycarter #katylewis #chelseafox #grayatkins #peterbeale #staceyslater #jeanslater #martinfowler #rubyfowler #kathybeale #patricktrueman

[doof-doofblog]

"Let's Have That Playdate Tomorrow!"

Friday 20th November 2020

Hello again everyone! Hope you all are doing well, this current lockdown is nearly at an end! Hopefully things will start to look a bit better when Christmas comes around! I apologise for me being so behind on the episodes lately, unfortunately I am still working during this current lockdown and of course with things happening in my own personal life, there are times I miss out on watching an episode, let alone even getting the time to review one and type up a blog. I want to thank you all for your on-going support, there have been so many spoilers as to what may be happening over the Christmas period on Albert Square, I'm really looking to watching it all unfold!

Meanwhile, let's carry on from where I was last up to, Friday's episode. The episode begins with Kat, she's slumped on the kitchen table as Stacey makes her way in. Poor Kat looks as if she hasn't been able to have a wink of sleep all night. She reveals to Stacey that she's tried calling everyone she knows trying to find the whereabouts of Kush, she's still trying to call him but his phone remains off. Who knows where he must've gone to after the robbery?! He seems to have just done a disappearing act. But Kat isn't one to just hang around and do nothing, as she grabs her coat, she informs Stacey that she's going off to the police station to give her statement and then she's going to try and find Kush. If the police haven't got him then he must be somewhere?!

Meanwhile, Callum looks absolutely lost. He's seems to be in a world of his own as he tends to his busted lip. As Ben walks in, they begin to discuss how the whole situation has turned into such a mess. Callum informs his boyfriend that he really didn't have a choice but to let Kush go, considering he'd threatened to take down Ben with him if he got caught. Ben then speaks his opinion that Kush should remain missing, he seems to be believe that they would've gotten away with the robbery if Kush hadn't set off the silent alarm - however things seems to take an interesting turn here, Callum then reveals to his boyfriend that there actually wasn't a silent alarm, and the other reason the police turned up was because they received an anonymous 999 call. Ben seems to look deeply concerned, but does he have an idea as to who grassed them up?! Wait till he finds out that it was his brother!!

At the laundrette, Max walks in on Linda drawing up some new ideas for her business idea. She shows Max her rough copies of the new superhero's she's made, and of course - Max is really impressed and suggest that she should post them online. Once again I'm sensing more flirtation between the two, they suggest bringing their children together for a playdate and perhaps modelling some outfits that Linda has designed, but it's just so blatantly obvious that Linda is flirting when she suggests having an adult in on the modelling too to be pose with the children. They share a giggle as Sharon enters the building, oooh Sharon knows she has walked in on something! Both Linda and Max act very coy when she asks if she's interrupting something, Linda reveals to her friend that Max is helping with her business idea for the Lucy Beale Award. Sharon knows that Max is up to no good, the last thing she wants is for Max to break up another marriage! What do you think, are Linda and Max just good friends? Or do you fear that something is going to happen between the two and they'll cross the line?!

In the Cafe, Tiffany is informing her husband that both Rainie and Stuart haven't been in touch with her for a while since she agreed to be their surrogate, however once Keegan notices that she's had her phone on "Airplane Mode", loads of messages seem to come through once she's taken it off. I mean, of course Stuart and Rainie are going to be in touch with her as much as they can, it's the excitement of being one step closer to becoming parents. Suddenly they make their way into the Cafe and insist on buying Tiffany breakfast, however in stead of buying a lovely full English Breakfast, Rainie brings up a plate of salad to her - I mean, I get she wants her to be healthy so she'll be able to look after their baby okay, but something tells me it would start being a bit of an insult if she starts telling her what to eat and what not to eat. Tiffany and Keegan can both see this is going to be a really long journey for them.

Out on the Square, Ian appears to be dressed in his finest as he gives an interview for the Walford Gazette newspaper. I'm unsure what that interview is for, possibly for his public image? Or wanting to get the word out that the Vic is now under new management. He's one again gloating to this news crew that if it wasn't for him, the Queen Vic would've hit rock bottom with sales, business, etc. However, unfortunate for Ian, Tina is stood behind him listening to every word he's saying. It's interesting how many people he's really beginning to annoy and how many people are/will have it in for him. As Tina walks away after hearing him insult her family, Suki approaches and acknowledges how happy she is that someone as up-standing as Ian is getting the recognition he deserves, of course she's only saying that because they've come to an agreement of some kind. I do have a feeling that things aren't going to continue going well for Mr. Beale.

Returning to the Mitchell household, Kat pays them a visit an informs Callum that she's been down the statement having to give a false statement. She informs the young police officer that he didn't drop him in it but she knows full well that he let Ben off, she demands to know where Kush is, if anyone would know, he would, right?! Callum informs Kat that he has no idea of the whereabouts of Kush, its then he also drops the bombshell that he did find Kush during the robbery, but Kush ended up punching him and fleeing the scene. Kat can't believe that Kush would punch Callum, but he informs her that it's probably best if Kush stays hidden for the time being, as he not also took part in a robbery, he also assaulted a police officer, so maybe he is just lying low.

At the Atkins household, Phil is questioning Gray whether they'll be any issues in changing the licence plates on the cars. But Shirley reassures her boss that the paper work needs to be absolutely spot on, which is why Gray is doing the paperwork and Phil isn't! Interesting, there seems to be a lot of people who are in-the-know about this robbery. It's amazing how none of them have grassed any of them up, well of course except for Ian. But there's Kat, Stacey, Phil, Shirley, Ben, Callum, Kush, Gray, Sharon ... (Well maybe she doesn't know about the burglary but she's felt comfortable about giving Phil a false alibi?!) As Phil leaves the property, Tina arrives back and it's clear to see that she is seething over Ian's insults to her family and his attitude towards them and the Vic. Tina pleads to her sister that they attempt to get the pub back in their name, but Shirley reminds Tina that Linda is still an alcoholic, that was the reason they sold up in the first place. But Tina seems to believe that Linda is doing a lot better recently, she explains that since they sold the pub, Mick hasn't been the same, he seems to be so unhappy and lost. Could there be a way for the Carter's to win back the pub?! Is the pub really in Ian's name or Sharon's name? As Ian has always said that he bought the pub for Sharon, but who's name is really on the lease of the building?!

Returning to the Vic, Linda is informing her best friend about application for the Lucy Beale Award. It's nice to see Linda looking more positive and happy about her future prospects, but it's clear to see that Sharon is worried for her friend about getting too close to Max. As Linda is glowing with the excitement of a whole new beginning, Sharon voices her concerns about Max, but in a loving, friendly way that everything seems okay now between them, but if things go on it won't be long before Max will have his tongue down her throat. (However little does she know that they have already shared a kiss!) Linda reassures her friend that she wouldn't cheat on Mick and that she literally just sees Max as a mate. But Sharon has a good point, whilst Mick is away staying with Lee, it's understandable she's enjoying the attention but I'd hate to think she'd cheat on her husband whilst he was away, especially considering what he's been dealing with in recent weeks.

Meanwhile at the restaurant, Iqra is sat doing paperwork. Ian is stood behind the bar as Suki walks in, subtly she hands him over an envelope with half of the amount she promised him inside. Ian doesn't seem impressed and pulls Suki into the back for a private word, leaving the money on the bar counter. As he pulls Suki to one side he asks Iqra to watch the bar whilst they're in the back. Iqra is quite reluctant but once both Ian and Suki are out the back, Iqra starts to clean behind the bar, until she eventually comes across the envelope with the money inside it - instantly she's looking a little confused as to where this money has come from, but suddenly she begins to hear voices. Ian and Suki are both discussing their plan, Suki tells Ian that he won't receive the other half of the money until he has held up his end of the bargain and put things into paperwork and he has signed some kind of formal documents she needs, planning approval etc. Iqra is really shocked to have heard what she has, but what will she do with this information? Will she tell Ash what her Mother is really up to?! Or maybe will she help Tina in getting the Vic back in the Carter's name, knowing full well that Ian is up to some dodgy deals with Suki! Who knows?!

Back out on the Square, Whitney is seen leaving the Minute Mart as car sirens can be heard, slowly Ruby approaches from behind and they both watch in amazement as from across the Square, the police pull up the Slater household and barge their way in as they look for Kush. Stacey's voice can be heard objecting to them entering the house. Ruby voices her opinion that it doesn't surprise her that the police have come knocking at their door, however Whitney's response is more sympathetic, she questions that maybe the police have got the wrong house? But Ruby just laughs at Whitney's response and says that it wouldn't surprise her if they found something at the Slater household. Hmm, does Whitney know more than she's letting on?! Why would she be so quick to defend the Slater's?!

At the Carter's household, Max once again is helping Linda with her costumes (Wow! Can I just say how big baby Abi has grown?! I know it sounds silly, but I still picture her as a little baby, not the toddler that she's become. Didn't realise it was that long ago that Abi Branning passed away! Only feels like a year or two ago - which may possibly be how old young Abi it?!) As Linda is eager to get the children in their superhero outfits, Max picks out one for Ollie to year, however Linda recalls that the one he picked was the one Mick made for him when Ollie was first diagnosed with Autism. You can see a slight look of sadness as she mentions how Mick didn't want their son to feel different from everyone, so instead of different they made him feel special. When Max puts the superhero outfit away, Linda admits to him that it was actually Mick's idea to make their son a Superhero outfit. Is there a sense of guilt between them now that Mick hasn't been brought into the idea of superhero clothes for children?! Or the fact that they're feeling guilty for spending a lot of time together and have quite visibly been flirting with one another? Who knows?!

Meanwhile, Iqra has found her way to the Prince Albert, unfortunately she doesn't seem to be listening fully to Tina as her head is replaying what she's overheard from Ian and Suki. Tina is voicing how much she's going to miss living with her and Ash, but she understands that her moving out would help Iqra and Ash spend some time together. However, Iqra feels trapped in a corner as she admits to Tina that she can't stand Ash's family. I have to say I really do like the friendship between Tina and Iqra, I did kind of wish that they were a couple instead of Iqra and Ash. Anyway Iqra finds it in herself to confide in Tina and reveals everything that she witnessed, Suki giving Ian some money in return for some approval on a planning application. Tina tells Iqra that she's got to tell someone, she knows full well how dodgy Ian is being at the moment. Iqra pleads to her not to tell anyone, especially considering the fact the Iqra can't tell her own girlfriend that her Mum is up to something. But what will Tina do with this information? Will she find a way of getting her own back on Ian herself?!

Back at the Carter household, Max and Linda are enjoying taking pictures of their children in Linda's new children's superhero outfits. Only things take a slight U-turn when Max comments that they both make a good team. I think Linda maybe feels a little uncomfortable with his comment, he thanks Max for all his help but expressions her opinion that once they're done he should leave. Only when Linda begins to take photo's of Ollie with the flash on her phone, it frightens the poor boy and he attempts to hide underneath the kitchen table with his hands over his eyes. Linda apologises to her son and tries to coax him out but to no avail, Max then decides to take it upon himself to try and gain the little boy's trust. He gets down to his level and squeezes underneath the table, softly he speaks to the little boy and after suggesting that they build a den after taking their photographs, the little boy removes his hands from his face, much to Linda's surprise. Eventually Max persuades little Ollie to get up and join in with taking photographs, to which Linda is incredibly thankful.

Back on the Square, Tiffany and Keegan are approaching the chippy (Yum! Everyone loves a chippy, right?!) As Keegan orders himself some food, Tiffany feels a bit gutted that she's having to stay healthy. As she's voicing her frustration, Stuart appears from behind and informs her that he's managed to go to the chemist and pick up some vitamins for her. He pulls out about 3 or 4 different tube bottles full of pills and Tiffany is looking pretty overwhelmed with this new information that she's having to take pills as well as eat healthily. However it looks as if enough is enough when Stuart asks her to start taking them that day, she understands that they want the baby to be healthy but she assures Stuart that she wouldn't let anything happen to their child once its in her womb. Stuart seems to understand, he apologises for coming on so heavy, its nice that they have come to acknowledge each other's understanding, Tiffany tells him politely that she's more than happy to carry their child for them, but it does not mean that they can start telling her what she can and can't do, and in all fairness - Stuart completely agrees and announces that they'll do it Tiffany's way, to which she then responds with happily ordering something from the chippy.

Once again, returning to the Carter household, Ollie and Abi are both playing happily together as they wind down after their photoshoot. Linda is sat with Max as they look over the photographs they've taken. This scene did get me a little worried as I sensed something, once again, was going to happen between the two. Max brings up the fact that he's trying to be supportive to Linda considering he was with her the last time she had a drink, he doesn't want her to feel that she's got no one to talk to, but regardless of them spending time together, he admits that he knows that she and Mick are solid. It's then Linda seems to look upset and reveals to Max that things haven't exactly been brilliant between them recently, she explains that each time she tries she feels she's just pushing him further and further away. Perhaps this is why she's been enjoying Max's company so much, it's made her feel something again - I mean when was the last time, Mick and Linda actually had a laugh with each other and showed each other some affection? It's been a long time, hasn't it?! Max seems to understand but he makes the big confession that the only reason he kissed her a while back is because he wanted to, and more interestingly, he stills wants to! Things are looking as if they are going to pounce on each other, however Ollie breaks the silence as he asks for his Mummy. As Linda goes to see her to son, Max suggests that they make another play date for their children, to which Linda coldly responds by saying she'll text him.

Back at the Slater household, Kat answers her mobile which is ringing on the kitchen table, it appears to be Stacey on the other end. She informs her cousin that she's been desperately trying to search for her boyfriend but can't find him anywhere. Suddenly, there's a knock on the backdoor and Kat is surprised to see Whitney stood there. It's then Whitney announces that there's something she needs to show her, pretty urgently and they both leave the house together. Meanwhile in the Vic, Ian is feeling positive about his interview with the newspaper, even though he is looking incredibly happy with himself, the fella from the newspaper seems less than impressed as he downs his bottle of beer. Across the bar, both Callum and Ben are trying to talk about something other than the robbery. Oh but just by coincidence, as soon as Ben questions whether Callum can trace who dialled the 999 call, Ian is stood behind the bar ear-wigging on their conversation. However Callum is unsure whether the call will be able to be traced, but then again the only thing they'll find out is that it was made from a telephone box. Maybe Ian did a clever thing for once and made sure he dialled from a phone box and not a mobile phone, that way it would be harder for them to trace?! Suddenly Tina enters the Vic and makes her way toward the bloke from the newspaper. Ooooh I'm liking the look of this!!! She questions whether he's writing an article  about Ian Beale, but the bloke doesn't seem interested if she's going to comment on how much of a aspect to the community he is, but then his attention in instantly grabbed as Tina admits that that is not what's doing, she mentions that if he really wants a story then she has one for him. Ooooh - I'm loving this! Yes! GO TINA!!! Is she going to spill what Iqra has informed her about and portray Ian in a terrible light?! In all seriousness, it's more than what he deserves! Only the downside is, will it fall back onto Iqra and will she get the blame?!

Eventually Kat makes it to what looks like Whitney's attic, she's questioning why Whitney has brought her up there, only as she turns around, Kush is seen sat in the very far corner, almost looking scared and very sheepish. Kat is absolutely elated to find her boyfriend is safe and sound, she announces how worried she's been about him, but Kush is nothing but deeply apologetic for making such a mess of things. He's tries to explain how he thought he would be able to start the car and how things just turned so messy. Kat is just happy to see that Kush is safe, she promises him that they will sort everything out together.

At Ruby's club, Linda is sat alone with a drink, Ruby enters the room carrying a huge box of wine. It looks as if Linda is feeling sorry for herself, she seems very agitated when Ruby politely asks if she's okay. Whether she's waiting for someone or something else. Linda then voices that everyone around her sees her not as Linda anymore, but Linda The Alcoholic! Ruby tries to persuade her that that isn't the case at all, she tries to explain that she has lots of friends and family around her who are just trying to look out for her. She questions whether she should all Mick, but Linda snaps back that he isn't her carer, he's her husband. She also makes sure to point out to Ruby that the drink she's got in her hand is only orange juice, nothing else! But Ruby is quick to throw in one last dig, she knows that she's drinking a soft drink, as she explains that all her staff have a list of who not to serve alcohol to, and it turns out that Linda's name is right at the very top of that list! Honestly, that's a bit of a big insult, I think that would hurt anyone really wouldn't it?! As Ruby leaves the room, Linda takes it upon herself to approach the box of wine which she's left at the bar and swipes a bottle before leaving. Once she's home, she's sat alone with the bottle and a glass already poured, to me it looks like that she really can't take Mick's behaviour anymore, she's feeling lonely, unwanted and maybe also missing her husband as well as missing their happiness and intimacy. She attempts to call him but to no avail as it the dial tone rings dead, I did fear at this point that she was going to take a big gulp of wine. She brings the glass up to her face and she gently smells the wine, she then plonks the glass back down and dials another number - Max! She agrees to go along with the playdate for the children for the following day, but something else is telling me, is she doing it for the company. If Mick isn't around then why not have Max's attention. I do thing as things go on, something will happen between the two, what do you think? Feeling a little more relieved she gets up and throws the glass of wine and the bottle down the sink!

A very interesting episode I have to say, some very interesting things taking place, I mean I do feel a lot of it will come to some form of explosion within the next few days. I do feel that all this that's happening right now will be the drama that's all going to explode coming towards Christmas! Christmas is only a month away and it's not going to be long now until huge secrets are revelled and big bombshells are going to be dropped. EastEnders is always explosive at Christmas, right?! I, for one, am incredibly excited to see it all unfold! Thank you all for reading, I'll be back again tomorrow with another blog. Enjoy the rest of your evening folks! Love you all xXx

#lindacarter #maxbranning #tinacarter #iqraahmed #ianbeale #sharonwatts #suki panesar #katslater #kushkazemi #staceyslater #callumhighway #benmitchell #ballum #philmitchell #whitneydean #grayatkins #shirleycarter #rubyallen #tiffanybutcher #keeganbaker #stuarthighway #rainiecross