EE spoilers stating max falls out with everyone again.. im TIREDDD feels like we're going round in circles already. Max & Linda have been so buzzy lately like the eye contact in the car lot scene was soo 🔥 the fact they've teased their relationship this early makes me doubt them acc being developed into a serious relationship. I didnt think she was the bride but thought maybe he was having an emotional affair with her. Seems like this ships back in the trenches going by the spoilers. Linda making a shocking discovery at the Albert- max potentially kissing someone else?
Lauren and maxs scenes this week were funny at some points but him not supporting her and being so dismissive felt very gimmicky. I get what they were trying to do and I know max is so selfish but to me he'd try to be bitter more supportive like the early EE era. I thought the same about the whole max used ai to write the speech for Abis memorial. Max has shown to be very real and raw about his emotions when he wants to be so it didn't ring true to me that some of those words didn't come from his heart.
Apart from brannings nothing else is keeping me investigated
it truly feels like they just want the big ending but can’t think of any genuine way to keep the suspense going in the meantime so it’s this constant back and forth and it’s FRYING me 😭
max and linda are extremely buzzy atm, i don’t think a relationship is gonna happen rn - thanks to this ‘shock’ she’s about to have - but i do feel like they’ve planted the seeds of them having fallen for each other and they’ll potentially be with other people (idk about linda but max deffo) in the year but still yearning for each other. i truly can’t see max feeling that way/that strongly about anyone else anytime soon, an affair feels more likely for them (especially if they’re continuing the tanya/linda parallels then it’s gonna be another vanessa/max/tanya/greg situ)
i have to say, i’m currently watching the lb lettings stuff and it’s interesting they had them mentioning that this week because max was as supportive of lauren’s venture then as he is now and what they’re completely getting wrong is that it made sense in 2014 that max was unsure of lauren running a business given her inexperience and her age but now? i would’ve hoped that given she’s got another 12 years of life experience on her, she’s a wife, mother of two and has worked in the car lot for a while now that he would have more faith in her - let’s have a bit of growth! we know that max and lauren end up falling out by the end of the year but let them get along in the meantime?
also re: ai, ian would absolutely use ai to write a speech (i mean i’ve just watched him copy and paste a ‘heartfelt speech’ for nick cotton’s funeral and i immediately thought if that had been done today, ian would’ve whipped chatgpt out), but max? he’s a dickhead but he would never struggle to think of things to say about his kids (and even if they wanted to have him struggle with writing it down and putting it in a succinct way then say linda had helped him not ai - the man didn’t even know what was wrong with the computer the other day, how was he working ai??!!)
i’m v much the same with the brannings, i enjoy the nigel storyline until lexi starts getting involved and i just think, she was great during the lola storyline but her having so much involvement in nigel feels like it’s taking away from it a little bit! i’m trying to enjoy the ravi/priya stuff but what was once brilliant acting is now waning a tad and it’s taking me out of the whole thing (it did also annoy me that they managed to find space for that storyline in the nigel-centric ep and i just found it almost insulting that they couldn’t drop it for one episode - especially that one?)
the guy in the green jacket deffo having an affair with Lauren. Was kinda sus she had her back to him the whole scene idk seemed intentional to me. The way Max was watching him from the window too.
So i guess Zack has moved in with Vicki as they're together? Ik Penny barely feature on the show normally anyway but now I'm thinking if she dead or in hospital or something. Maybe thats why Jack and Max have fallen out. Penny is likely going to be with Vinny who's family have been involved in some dodgy stuff.
he absolutely is, after lauren's text and the way he come over, that's definitely an affair!!
it does look that way with regards to zack and i'd made that conclusion when we had the trailer and realised max was staying in that flat. i do think something has either happened to penny or amy and that might be why jack's in a state and something has happened between him and denise.
Apologies, incoming word vomit about my initial random NYD episode thoughts:
Who the hell is ethan?
Max climbing out the window to evade the police wasnt as hot as when he legged it during his trial lmaoo
Who is the guy in the green jacket?
You were spot on about the similarities between priya and stacey so maybe it's priya in the flat. Max becomes involved with her and ravi in some way thus brushing with the wrong side of the law.
Lauren cheating on Peter maybe?
WHY is libby back?
NYD 2027 Layren and Max still arguing about his selfishness and his constant ability to fuck everything up. 🙄
no Tanya cameo or tease fml😭
Oscar saying her too? After Ian says he's moved on makes me think the bride is cindy.
Was kinda taking me out hearing them say 'the bride' to refer to her.
Ik this episode was to create mystery & suspense but idk i feel intrigued but so underwhelmed that it's just loads more questions
Whenever EE explores characters getting involved with crime & gangs it's pretty much always shit. Remember the 2018 aidan storyline? Phils endless gang drama bored me to tears. Hell the recent drug storyline made me stop watching. This makes me nervous for Maxs upcoming storyline.
I didn't recognise where cindy was? First i was like is that the vic but I think thats cause it reminded me of the vics old living room decor as I've been watching 2009 EE
Hm at one point I thought it was a womans gloved hand so cindy? I could understand her wanting Max to lose another child if pushed far enough.
'stuck in the middle with you' playing on the radio which ofc is alluding to max being trapped in a precarious situation. It's probably unintentional but kinda weird how linda&max have had scenes underscored by a song about internal conflict & being caught in the middle so to speak.
Again interesting song choices. 'Hope' playing in chelseas scene suggests her and max develop an emotional bond where lines get blurred maybe that's why he falls out with Jack. I'm thinking similar to 2014/15 Stax situation?
ALONE BY JESSIE WARE IN LINDAS SCENE?? 'Say I'm the one that you need' it's giving potential endgame couple (as much as you can with EE). Intriguing that they chose a song where the songwriter said its about her admitting her& her husband aren't perfect. And it explores a married couple having a child and needing to know that the other person wants the same and they're longing to get some time together. But it's EE so is it even that deep lol
Cindy's scenes' soundtrack being a song about embracing loneliness after toxic emotional chains. 'Its time to cut these ties and watch our shadows fly' is so cindy & max.
So maybe cindy does plan an elobrate revenge on Max which involves standing him up at the church. Max has feelings for Linda but she's still keeping him at arms length. Or something of the sort.
My jaw dropped to the floor when I saw chelsea lol but then I realised they were adding more red herrings.
i feel even more certain after that episode that the pregnant woman is just being kept safe by max (or setting him up?), i genuinely don't think he's the father of this baby - and i will be very surprised if he does end up being so.
that argument between lauren and max felt more like she was having a go at herself through him, especially since they've now implied that she might be having an affair with that guy
yeah i'm not bothered about the gang stuff and it does dishearten me slightly, especially after clenshaw spoke about wanting to steer the show away from all of that since crime works differently now compared to how it was in the 80s/90s but they needed a good hook i guess? although the only thing i think people (myself included) are more interested in is who's the bride! that's far more soapy! and especially with the den/michelle type tease of it all - classic!!
ever since the six playlists, i've been more inclined to believe that song choices - especially in special episodes like this - are always purposeful. the song choices that are actively pointed out in the subtitles all being songs that talk about not being alone but in such different ways!! with chelsea it's 'you're not alone,' with cindy it's 'sweet dreams of loneliness' and with linda it's 'so i can get you alone.' now to me chelsea and cindy's songs are about empowering/bettering themselves post relationships whereas linda's feels more romantically directed. that does however leave denise, who's whipped out that song i was talking about in my last replies but this song doesn't fit with the themes of the others. that song is about love winning and i think they're placing focus on denise (her not physically being there, patrick and libby being present) to make you think that she must be the one that max marries but i don't think that's the case at all. both max and jack were looking at wedding rings in that episode so i'm now thinking there's two weddings (which wouldn't be a first for denise) and something has happened between jack and denise but they're renewing their vows/getting married properly (since it was only a civil partnership last time) to save/start afresh with their relationship - love is winning. (i also think it would be a cheek if they've split jack and denise up after the audience have voted for them to be together).
i do think the chances of cindy being max's bride is quite high but i said before that it would have to be for revenge and i think this is it. the inclusion of oscar and lauren being held at gunpoint feels on line with cindy, she had a hit put out on ian after all - which might explain the inclusion of barry in nigel's ep since barry was who cindy got that idea from!! (and including barry in nigel's mind made little sense when they announced and even in the episode unless it was more for our benefit).
i imagine we're in for a year of feelings bubbling between max and linda and maybe he gets hurt and that's what makes linda snap and realise she doesn't want to lose him? but if she ends up being his bride then she's had to forgive him for something (and given how she's been for the last couple weeks where she's forgiven him for things very quickly then maybe it is her?) i am still hung up on the future teaser where her voiceover was included with the other brannings (and peter who is married to a branning), then the future arrow pointing to her door and then yesterday's episode with his body being framed in her house.
i think, regardless if she is the bride or not, linda will be the one he ultimately ends up with. they've been building her up to be a branning across the last year - that's a lot of groundwork. (and let's not forget that it was linda who had that scene with denise in the live ep about denise making a choice and linda moving on from her guilt - are they going to be our branning matriarchs? and worth noting that in the podcast clenshaw mentioned that wadey had been working behind the scenes at that point and had been planning storylines based on whatever outcome the audience chose)
Zoes return couldve been so much better. It's interesting to think of potential scenes she couldve had with Sonia if she was around. Ik they weren't close especially after Jamie but I could see Sonia taking pity on her and trying to talk some sense into her so she stops acting like an overgrown teenager. Also Sonia could relate to her choosing not to be a mother but later regretting it.
I liked Peter& Lauren's chemistry best in Ben Hardy era. It was so jarring hearing Lauren talk about how kind Peter is when he was so unsupportive with Jimmy initially & him being vile to her about the charity money. But yh Peter needs to distance himself from Ian so this romantic history doesn't go to waste. It is tiring to see every EE couple break up for the 100th time.
OMGGG YOUR MIND i didn't clock the cindy/david/carol parallels. Max & David not believing they can change but trying to be the family man for carol/Linda's sakes is just *chefs kiss* I miss the 2010-2013 branning era ugh I'd give anything to have her back. Though maybe she'd advise Max to steer clear of Linda cause despite the love between her&David they still didn't work out & Linda has young kids involved. The soundtrack for these two seems so intentional it's so buzzy.
The teaser released today deffo makes me think Max isn't the baby daddy. Perhaps it's Lauren? If stacey hadnt left Id have thought her but I dont think thats plausible. I can't think of anyone else it could be where it would be a non sexual thing. Also Max seemed genuinely happy looking at his wedding suit. So maybe it is Linda?
On a side note Max ofc is a sleaze but I found everyone piling onto him about how terrible he is so repetitive and slightly hypocritical tbh. Did everyone forget that Cindy also made a scene? And she was supplying pregnant Lauren with drugs? I hope he doesn't spend most of 2026 as Walfords pariah again.
why is the thought of zoe and sonia having a proper friendship all these years later making me emotional?! i would’ve loved that so much 😭 god she’s probably one of the few people who would understand how zoe feels my gosh
honestly when peter and lauren are good, they’re good but when they’re bad (and it’s usually cos of peter being an arse), they’re bad - very typical eastenders couple i fear lmao
the carol/david parallels are off the scale i tell ya, max and linda talking in the bar post cindy is a great visual (and sorta narrative) parallel to a scene in ‘96 where david tells carol all about cindy in a bar. linda watching max pack in the bedroom and then running after him to get him to stay in the same way carol did for david in 2013 - particularly since they use their kids as a way to convince them to stay but you Know there’s a part of them that knows it’s more than that but they won’t say it out loud (yet). their soundtrack is wild cos what do you mean it must be love is playing whilst linda’s talking to him about being better and being the man that tanya (and herself, which she stopped herself from saying) fell for? the song that plays during their first kiss in the albert was also crazy, it was myth by beach house and the lyrics are very applicable to their situation in 2020 🫡
i’m SO glad they’ve posted THAT clip for a teaser cos i knew it all relied on how he woke up to tell us if he was the father of that kid and my instant reaction was that he absolutely isn’t and like you say, he seemed very happy looking at his wedding suit, not the slightest bit regretful so whoever is in his bed then they have only slept in that bed and there’s nothing for him to be guilty for/about.
as for WHO it is, i do have, in the words of ethel, a little theory. i think from the moment max looked up at that banner towards the end of the ep was when you were supposed to start taking note since the banner was the signal that it’s started (since at the beginning of the ep, they were still putting it up aka the story was still being set up). he bumps into priya - i think something ambiguous will happen between them, maybe just a kiss but we won’t be sure if something more happened and then she will find out she’s pregnant and we assume, oh yeah typical max he hasn’t changed and he’s got someone pregnant but it won’t be his! it will be ravi’s! and something will happen to explain why she’s stayed over. then linda runs over, talking about family, home and him being a better man/parent so there’s his marry - further emphasised by the framing of his head essentially sitting in no.5 (and linda also walking in the direction that the future sign was pointed?) then it goes to the bar - where max is headed himself - we see characters but they don’t speak and the first character to speak is nicola and i’m not quite sure how yet but i do think she’ll provide the kill aspect (maybe she kills someone and sets max up for it for whatever reason?) - her line about killer parties was very poignant. i also think it’s important to note the fact that in both his first interactions with priya and nicola, linda has walked into scene just after they’ve left, so they seem to be tying those women together.
if there’s one thing about the characters in this show, they will be hypocritical at every opportunity lmao, they’re far too hard on max. he’s done plenty wrong but there’s others in that room that have done equally bad? the fact that cindy was allowed to sit in with the beales post christening but max was the one shunned? cindy didn’t tell him who she was neither so they’re both as bad as each other there. just glad he’s got linda fighting his corner and not judging him cos she knows what it’s like to be judged (and i also think what happened with phil at the beginning of the year is partly why she won’t let him be alone, she doesn’t want someone else to go through that, let alone the father of her child)
The epsidoes this week have been so good mainly cause of the Brannings. Shout out to the slater kids though their reactions to jasmine made me laugh "Can't be bothered to work out who you are to me"
Maxs pathetic 'I was helping a neighbour cause she had a spider in her hallway' had me dying. The cindy and max fall out was so good. Max finally punching Peter and calling him a rat, I cheered. Peter has been annoyed me sm with how he's treated Lauren- always making her out to be the bad guy. So it was deserved. I was rooting for their divorce for so long but it would mean breaking up the beale-branning clan which would be a shame. So I fear she's staying with that man for the foreseeable.
The max and linda scenes today hmm. I definitely think they were there to add more speculation about maxs bride in the flash forward. It was all going so well until the last 2mins of the episode like whyyyy Max.
icl it’s always obvious when zoe isn’t around/has limited screen-time because my enjoyment of the episodes goes up massively 🫣 i find her a very tiring character to watch and i think because we’ve had 20 years of the slaters without her, i think they’re still struggling to slot her into that newer dynamic that she’s not really been part of (i’m hoping that once these bigger storylines die down and her son comes along and she can focus on bonding with her children, she might feel better - like i did really enjoy her scenes with jasmine before it all came out and kicked off)
max and this neighbour shouldn’t be as funny as it has been but it does just sum him up doesn’t it, ofc you had to go help the neighbour with a spider babe 😭 and cindy and max are gonna make me laugh cos they’re truly both as bad as each other with their constant “poor me” act and i can’t help but love them
peter’s had that punch coming for a long time, he is his father’s son and his constant gloating and looking down his nose at lauren, it’s about time someone did it! thank you, max! i am always torn on peter and lauren though cos when they’re good they’re good and when they’re bad, they’re bad. and watching their love story from teenagers into adults, i do have a soft spot for them, i just need peter to stop being like ian and to step away from him - he needs to take a leaf out of michelle’s book and move out (which was just moving across the square) of that beale family dynamic before it ruins him. ik he’s been living in no.25 but he needs to tell his dad to do one now and again. (ian and kathy really are giving pauline and lou 2.0)
their scenes in the last two episodes have been really good, her just always being there, a bit reluctantly on his side cos even though he’s pissing her off, she knows what it’s like to be judged/feel alone (as she says herself today). linda’s deffo been in the running since the flash forward was announced and it was hinted that max was getting married and along with that teaser video, she’s for sure heavily embroiled in it all. i will say though, she could’ve backed out of that conversation a lot sooner than she did and it was only when they were just about to kiss did reality set in and she backed off 🫡
i have to say, and there’s a song that plays in today’s ep that doesn’t help this thought, i am picking up on some major cindy/david/carol vibes going on. cindy is still cindy and her going after someone who has beef with ian, tracks. david - who’s drawn parallels to max in previous years - having this huge, lustful, dangerous affair whilst pining over and really just wanting carol? and then carol who fights her feelings but it’s all there, bubbling under the surface? hmm, feels familiar that.
You're so right about Max & linda having potentially the most compelling dynamic as it steers him away from the endless bad Max cycle he's been in since 2014. It goes hand in hand with the observation you've prev made about Linda & Tanya being so similar. Yh I'm hoping you're correct about the pregnant woman. But like you I fear I need to proceed with caution with Wadey at the helm.
Take zoe & jasmine for instance. Firstly it felt like a rip off Ronnie & Danielle. Also the 'twist' when revealing her true identity was so fake- why werent their scenes with her and the Slaters. She spent more time around/asking about cindy. They could've easily had jasmine ask for a job in the vic after seeing Zoe there. Zoe making up elaborate lies about the baby daddy when we all knew the only reason campthony was hanging around was for the reveal😭😭 all this makes me nervous for 2026.
And i agree with you that 'killer' apparently being one of Maxs defining traits doesn't ring true. I wasn't a fan of 2017 Max being responsible for Steven dying but tbh wgaf (though i will say i think Steven had potential & his unhinged behaviour was kinda entertaining). 2017 bad Max era sorta made sense seeing as he was fitted up for a crime he didn't commit. Max has always had a slight rough edge- I mean he was phils bestie way back when- but I can't imagine he'd acc cross that line. Especially now he's trying to get his family back. Max is all bark but no bite imo (or should be). Any crimes he commits should simply amount to bigamy, public indecency (ofc he likes doing the nasty in semi public places), fraud (he's a insurance guy so ofc) and aggravated assault idk 😭😭 The fact it was armed response making the arrest too?? I mean I don't believe he's a big time drug lord as some have suggested but that would explain the reaction?
Linda's voiceover being used as well as the other brannings for the teaser earlier was intriguing. It seems like they're teasing she'll have a bigger role in the family 🤭. There's so much potential in reviving the brannings to make them the iconic family they were before.
The spoilers about the them hosting a memorial for Abi sounds promising, I hope the whole family are there. I enjoyed seeing Jack's kids at the xmas dinner. I wanna see Max battling with his mental health & struggling with his s/h (this sadly went unexplored when he came out of prison). Have Amy be the one who picks up on it and tries to help him- him tearing up as she reminds him of abi in that moment. Him bonding with Ricky about being a young dad with bradley& helps him navigate his school life & being responsible with Charli. Max helping Penny organise a big do at the club. Him warning Harry not to mess Penny about (which she ofc berates him for cause she's already got a dad). If this storyline teases out the girldad aura Max had when him & Tanya pranked the kids into thinking he needed an amputation cause his hand was 'stuck' in the bowling ball, then ig it'll be worth it.
Wow i didn't realise i had so much to say😅
i just think that sticking him with cindy and/or nicola would be fun, exciting, soapy and lustful but if the goal here is to watch max change (and it would have to be, to avoid it all just being a repeat of everything we've seen of him before) then you would have to put him with the woman who doesn't fall for his tricks, who knows exactly who he is and what he's about and that's linda!
her being one of the voiceovers, along with the future arrow pointing to the house that's not only just known as The Branning House, but is now the place where she works and lives? that's incredibly on the nose and it wouldn't be the first time she's been lumped in with the brannings. it always stood out to me that when lauren was going the process of jimmy's diagnosis, it was very much the beales vs the brannings (which is continuing on) and linda was the only one on lauren's side - effectively making her a branning. lest we forget how defensive she got when ian made a jibe about annie's genetics!! then there's oscar and lauren being there to wave linda off on her cruise after promising to keep annie a secret from max. elaine, also, teaming up with oscar to do some digging on jasmine? linda keeping her ginger child a secret from its father which has previously been done by branning women - even if they were jackson in name at the time. the overstating that she's a carter before ending the episode accepting that she sorta no longer is a carter and that it's a new chapter in her life - with max turning up in the very next scene? and ofc that frame placement of max standing in front of elaine. (and if you go reeeeally digging into it, the carters and the brannings have always crossed over in some way). they've definitely set her up to be involved heavily with that family.
on the note of those videos though, the past one had just nigel, julie and phil as the voiceovers - all of whom were directly involved in that flashback/hallucination ep - and the present one had alfie, zoe, kat and jean which has me now wondering if jean was the one who killed anthony. and if the character voiceovers signify direct involvement then it just confirms that linda, too, is directly involved with the brannings.
the thing with the zoe storyline, and the glaring issue, was not letting the audience in on some of the secrets sooner. what made the ronnie and danielle storyline so good was that we knew a good few months before ronnie found out, that danielle was her daughter. so we watched as ronnie spoke to her not knowing that she was speaking to her daughter. we watched danielle struggle with whether or not she should tell her - we understood her actions. the reveal of zoe's stalker i think was fine to drag out until christmas, especially if they wanted to give chrissie that big moment but we definitely should've found out a lot sooner that jasmine was her daughter (and that anthony was the father). because, knowing that, we as the audience could then make the link between her quizzing cindy about her life with her trying to understand why a mother would leave behind her children (since cindy has now done that twice in her life). not everything has to be hidden from the audience! it's fun being in the know and a great example of that was watching everyone stress over max being with annie and them not knowing if he knew that that was his daughter (and i mean i think the whole annie reveal should've been a bigger moment given it's something that's been anticipated for 4/5 years but hey ho).
i think max has definitely been set up for something because that man, even though he has technically killed someone, just isn't a killer. as you say the 2017 stuff does make sense given he is just angry at everyone who had betrayed him but that's worked itself out so i don't see the need to return to it. and i know he does feel betrayed over the annie stuff but even that has been quickly resolved (cos i think a part of him realises that it does make sense that he's been kept away from another child to keep them safe from him).
big branning family scenes do give me life, i'm thoroughly enjoying watching 2010 with carol, max and jack being annoying siblings with their families littering the square so to potentially get all that again in 2026, i am rather excited to see it all! totally and utterly here for a branning revival (and if linda does become one herself, i will be obsessed with the fact that it then means that her and denise are the matriarchs of that family cos how iconic is that?!)
"There's a woman in the bed next to him who is clearly pregnant when he wakes up... there is a whole heap of chaos." PARDONNN?? Really hoping this storyline is as good as they're hyping it up to be as I'm invested though I think there has been some questionable choices about his return so far. First I thought bloody hell 'not another one' (shout out to Brenda from bristol meme). Then i was like wait does that mean it's Nicola (they r sharing scenes tgt soon). She's blonde & ballsy totally his type. Also why is it he decides to fix up only after speaking to her & doesn't listen to the various other people that try reasoning with him? But now I'm like wait it can't be nicola she ain't an elephant😭 So if in deed Max has got another woman pregnant I think it's so pointless (apart from being a shock moment). There's so much to still explore with Annie and Oscar (and AJ whenever she returns). Like once in a blue moon we see Phil & Raymond together. They don't feel like father & son. Wadey says the storyline is based around whether Max can change or will he always be a womaniser and I think there's another way they could explore that. Sorry to ramble on.
don’t apologise!! i think the twist is gonna be that he isn’t the father of this baby tbh because like you say, there’s so much going on with oscar and annie as it is. he’s already struggling to split his time between them so why add another kid to the mix? doesn’t make sense to meee
i initially thought they’ve set up three blonde women as potentials (linda, cindy and nicola - since they’re the only women - who are/could be posed as love interests - who will have had significant interactions with him in the lead up to this flash forward) but then that article came out about the pregnant woman and it’s thrown me so unless it’s what i’ve suggested in that, he isn’t the father of that baby then i ain’t got a clue!
him listening to nicola and not linda (and him getting angry w her and upsetting her) is interesting but i think she might bring up her struggles with harry so there’s a bit of speaking from experience there. but i will say of those three women, there’s two who i would say that are most like max - self-destructive, struggle with parenting their children, struggle to settle down - and one who isn’t so surely if you’re wanting max to go down the route of change, you’d put him with the one who isn’t totally like himself, who can actually change him?
i do have lots of worries though because wadey’s openly admitted to wanting to do his own flash forward because of the six flash forward - but this is being taken one step further and being made into a whole episode which, your ideas have to be set in stone for that execution (and given how things have gone since he took over, i don’t have much faith). then him saying that max’s life can be summed up by that “kiss, marry, kill” line which i just flat out don’t agree with. kissing and marrying sure absolutely, that’s on the nail for serial cheater max branning but the killing angle? hm, surely that’s more fitting for janine? whose husbands/fiances have all died? 3 of which have been directly/indirectly caused by her?
that article has dampened any excitement i had tho icl cos why are you telling us all this!! let us watch the episode!!
the NYD episode tease! idk how to feel about it. i cant be dealing with another Max being fitted up for a crime he didnt commit storyline. But also Idc for him acc committing one& being sent down WHERES THE ORIGINALITY FFS. WHERES THE CHARACTER PROGRESSION? like yeah irl some people never change no matter how much you want them to but Max was such a tired character post Abi this is an opportunity to tell new stories ngl his 2020 era helping bobby& dynamic with linda was more compelling than this
i went into this in the other answer but honestly the side we seen with max in 2020 was so good and it really humanised him in way that hadn’t been seen since 2006/7. let the man open up like, let him develop and change - actually let the things that have happened to him, progress his character. we’ve done all of this before like 😭 make his return worth it!! i can’t be doing zoe 2.0!!
part 2 was so underwhelming to me and its a shame Zoe's return has suffered from lacklustre storytelling. Ik Chrissie is a b*tch but i personally didnt find the story of her going to the hospital & bumping into Jasmine believable. The anthonys dead plot reminded me of the awful 2018 alfie died after being pushed down the stairs plot. tbh Im nervous for the upcoming flashforward ep as I dont think Wadeys storytelling has been great so far & i fear itll be same old same old with max
(can’t believe i’m saying this but) they definitely should’ve just kept to the zoe stuff for part two cos to have a reunion between the three women who killed den watts, on christmas day, is a MASSIVE deal and it being lumped in with some very low-stakes stuff was really jarring but equally i think that shows how poor the storytelling has been of this zoe storyline. there simply hasn’t been enough good substance to justify having that spread across the half an hour and there isn’t enough to spread! like an almost empty tub of butter 😭
i think wadey likes big flashy moments but what makes eastenders, eastenders, is the normal every day shit, stuff that you wouldn’t blink twice at but it all slowly builds towards the bigger stuff and it makes the bigger stuff feel more rewarding. clenshaw recently said in that after dark podcast that eastenders doesn’t need bells and whistles, it’s not a 9 o’clock drama and that literally sums it up! it’s soap! i wanna see yolande in the launderette with elaine coming in to have a gossip. i wanna see kathy and vicki having a giggle in the cafe or kat and alfie actually discussing the day to day life in the vic, serving drinks. i don’t want to see them all waiting around for the next big thing to happen!!
i’m yapping now but i remember at the time of martin dying, people couldn’t understand why they’d made a new sign for the stall if they knew that martin was gonna die but it’s like..the writers ofc knew that martin was gonna die but the point is the character’s DIDNT, they’re going about their daily lives, not knowing what’s around the corner. but the characters i’m watching now, feel like they’re too aware of what’s gonna happen next and that isn’t how it should be! !
i will be very disappointed if they continue to villainise max because max categorically isn’t a villain, he’s a very traumatised man and i do understand why people hate him - he is a prick who treats women like shit 90% of the time - but he is such a complex character whose concept of love and relationships is so fucked up because he was abused by his dad and also watched his dad treat his alcoholic mother like shit (which he then had to pick up the pieces of). they should dive more into that not just have him doing the same old stuff again! let him change! let him grow! he’s got the chance of raising another child (even if he has missed out on 4 years of her life) so let him do it!!
paul mentions today 💔💔 damn right it should've been anthony lol Paul was such an fascinating character. I enjoyed seeing his guilt unravelling after barrys death & his friendship with natalie was an interesting dynamic.
paul was ALWAYS the better brother! he went to prison for anthony and anthony would always forget that when he got on his high horse about stuff 🫠 paul deserved so much better than what he got - the scene where their mother is dying and she only calls out for anthony breaks my heart :(
max flirting with cindy through the closed door sorry but i cringed so bad like
the elevator thing made me chuckle but i can’t wait for the look of dread to wash over cindy’s face when she finds out that he is the max branning she’s been waiting to scrap 🫡
JACK CALLING OUT MAX STILL OBSESSING OVER HIS DEAD SONS EX WIFE OHH HE ATE THAT ONE LITTLE THING. but also im TIREDDDD OF SCUMBAG MAX OUTBURSTS please let this be the last time i beggg
the way i got triggered because i was in the middle of watching bradley’s funeral ep before part 1 started 😭 too fragile for bradley mentions jack (even if it was real of him) xx
i need them to play on the grinch/cindy-lou comparisons they made yesterday and have annie be the reason max becomes a better man (i doubt it will but we can live in hope)
the classic EE feels in the ep yesterday was chefs kiss ngl i teared up especially with the scenes with young phil & debbie. i hope clare returns at some point even its just for 1 episode as nigel deteriorates further.
it was soooo good!! i just wish they’d left barry out of it cos he was not needed at all - especially since he barely interacted with nigel in the 90s, can think of a few characters i would’ve put in there before barry 😭
i will be really disappointed if they haven’t managed to convince gemma back for clare cos it would be the cherry on top of the cake and a lot of clare’s characterisation in the 00s circled around nigel, we need her!!
max proved possesses 0 braincells-wdym he spent a 2hrs with annie max& told her hes her dad. even Phil had better sense for a lil bit with Albie. im still in tears at max storming into the beales to drop the news& its crickets but hes too dumb to notice. i died at oscars shocked pikachu face i love him sm. aw i wish abi was still here to add to the dynamics too. imo he deffo saw abi in annie at the grotto. now let max/lindas unrequited to requited mutual dislike to requited love story begin :)
good ole max branning 🤭 i did howl at them all trying to react like it’s news and then ricky, patrick and yolande being confused/worried about seeing him with annie lmao he’s gonna be raging when it comes out that they all knew. and he absolutely saw abi (and bradley) in annie and i think if abi was around, she’d for sure be the one to have told max
i would be very surprised if they aren’t going down the route of max and linda, especially since they share a kid (and i mean, it happened with carol/david and ricky/bianca after all and they too had secret ginger daughter reveals 😌) and there’s just a load of unfinished business between them. plus the chemistry is there !!!
i adore so many of EE complex women icons like stacey, ronnie, carol tanya etc but as much as i really enjoy nicola i really dislike the shireen story firstly cause she comes across as such a typical boy mom that has me side eyeing her. the optics of her saying shireen (harrys poc gf) wasnt good enough for her special boy is just yikes. ik its not intended to come across as racist but the optics are horrifying esp when she had v little remorse. i get why he forgave her but i kinda wish he didnt
i really enjoyed nicola when she first came in, i thought she felt like a proper classic character with the perfect mix of masculine and feminine energy but i do think that the whole shireen stuff dragged her character down - typical eastenders always going that one step too far i fear. i do still enjoy her, i just wish they hadn’t gone down that route because it will always be something that taints/hangs over her. i’m intrigued to see how she’ll be with a baby and how her relationship with george will pan out!!
i will say though that i don’t think harry has forgiven her, it feels more to me that he’s turning a blind eye to it for barney’s sake more than anything else - it’s something that always there, bubbling under the surface for sure
