Steven Wicks

I saw the Steven clips on You Tube again. I still can't help liking Steven's reunion with Lucy and Peter and the scenes with Jane before she realises he is unhinged. He actually seemedreally uncomfortable whenever Ian and Cindy was mentioned. His legs were shaking and he didn't talk much and Friday's scene with Jane he felt bad I think and wanted to leave.

Steven: "I'm sorry for what Lucy said - all that stuff about mum".
Jane: "It wasn't your fault".
Steven: "Not much help though is it? Old face turning up from the past. It's bound to upset her."
Jane: "Steven, you're here because you care about your dad, and I kno you've had your differences in the past, but if he were here now, if he could see..."
Steven: "I'd better go".

I agree. They should have been careful around Steven - well at least Ian and Lucy should have even if Jane didn't fully understand but it was a bad move on Lucy's part to call Jane. Jane doesn't understand Steven the way she and Ian do and the last thing you do is call someone who is bound to get really angry and upset and make matters worse instead of allowing someone who is calm, gentle and patient to resolve the situation. Anyway both Ian and Steven specificaly told Lucy to stay in the kitchen because it is not safe outside and she ought to have listened to them. Ian is her dad and Steven whatever his issues with Ian genuinely cares about his sister.

Ian saw Lucy walking towards the door though. He knew that she was on her way out to get someone - maybe he thought Lucy would call the Police rather than Jane but, either way he did nothing to stop her leaving.

He obviously wanted her to get someone.

Maybe. I'll have to look carefully in the omnibus tomorrow. Well, if Ian did see her and did not stop her he may naturally vhave hoped she would fetch help but it was unfortunate that Jane barged in and hit Steven at that point. Even Ian told her not to because he had calmed Steven - in fact Steven looked as though he was going to cry and Ian as though he was going to hug him. As someone in another thread said - Steven is indeed "a tortured soul".

He is deffinately tortured, i feel sorry for him, i always did even when he was played by Edward, he went through so much i can totally understand why he is the way he is even if i don't condone locking Ian up

I wasn't much sorry for him when Edward played him. Edward's acting was so wooden. Aaron's made me sympathise with him though what he did was definitely wrong.

I thought Edward was rather cute and sweet, but then i was 12 when Edward left, at 12 i guess you don't really critcize acting as much, i never wanted him to leave, Steven was always my favourite from the beale family, i was glad when i heard he was coming back, still am glad he is back of course but with Aaron playing him although i think Aaron is a good actor and portrays Steven well as a rather disturbed young man i do (as stated before) find that it is very easy to change my opionion of the character where as with Edward i liked Steven all the time

Though I can understand why Jane, Ian and Lucy did as they did, they did make mistakes.

Ok Ian - I can understand that he really hated Steven at the start for what he did and of course he wanted to call the police but I think that in a hostage situation the last thing you should try and do is contact anyone - especially the police. The reason is that this trigfers off a fear reaction in the captor. The captor, especially someone as unhinged as Steven - is going to do whatever it takes to stop the person calling the police whether it is resorting to pointing a gun at the person, attacking the person or whatever. But - Ian did things the right way the rest of the episode - submitting to Steven and asking Lucy to do so, talking somewhat calmly and for a moment I really thought Steven was going to break down in tears which is what he actually eeds to do and Ian was about to hug him.

Lucy - It is a shock to discover that your beloved older half brother has locked your father up but if it were me in that situation I would have realised that he is not evil. He is mixed-up. Whatever issues he had with Ian he certainly wouldn't hurt Peter and Lucy and despicable as his behaviour was - holding Ian captive and then staying with his family knowing he is the cause of their pain - he clearly has mental issues. He said it was over and was releasing Ian. He obviously hadn't hurt Ian and only pulled out the gun to stop Ian going to the policer and certainly felt guilty enough after a while to confess indirectly by showing Lucy what he had done.

Steven is right to say it is dangerous outside and even Ian told her to wait in thekitchen though he did not stop her leaving. If it were me, the lasrt thing I would want is to contact Jane. Jane would be angry and upset and act without thinking. I would have listened to their conversation but still waited, scared or not - trusting that Ian would make the situation calm. Ian nd Lucy are already in danger since Steven has a gun with him so the last thing that is needed is to bring Jane into danger by summoning her to the flat. Since Steven meant what he said when he said he wanted it over and was going to let Ian out after their conversation, the best thing to do is listen and wait. Judging from his past actions he doesn't sem to have actuallty attacked anyone and does not seemlikely to either.

Jane - I understand that she is naturally relieved that her husband is safe. She feels betrayed that her stepson whom she kindly took into her own hoyuse is the one responsible for all their pain. She is angry and fustrated despite realising he is unwell. Ok go in and hug Ian by all means but if the audience could see that Steven was on the point of crying and Ian had his arms held out to hug him, then Jane can see too that Ian has calmed Steven down. Punching him and asking him idf the gun was intended for him was a basd move. It made the situation tense and volatile again after all ian's efforts in comming to an understanding with Steven. Even Ian himself told Jane not to do anything stupid.

Ian started off doing the right thing when Steven threatened suicide. The every fact that Steven offered to kill himself and nearly acted on it shows that he is repentant and not evil. Ian told Steven gently not to be stupid and to calm down. Lucy messed things up by trying to grab the gun. Granted she is only 13 but everyone knows that a gun is a dangerous object that could accidentally go off. Then Ian and Jane made the same mistake instead of having Ian talk calmly and gently to him. Ian and Lucy understand him better and know him longer than Jane who is a complete stranger to him so she ought to have let them deal with it.

I think Steven had planned to kill himself - why hold onto the gun otherwise? When he had gone to the police station to turn it in, he changed his mind when that officer said he would want to speak to Steven again. I think Steven knew he was losing it.

What I found interesting, was when Steven asked Ian who he loved the most out of all of his wives, Steven was expecting him to say Cindy and Ian said Jane. Steven was expecting Ian to say Cindy, because even though he was beginning to take off his rose coloured glasses about Cindy, he still had her on a pedestal.

I have to say, this has been one of the best storylines in EE for a long, long time and the actors have been great.

I agree that this has been the best storyline in the whole of EastEnders - well since i watched it anyway and I watched it from Steve Owen's drug addiction. Maybe you'reright and he held onto the gun so that he could kill himself after confessing the truth - to Lucy at least and after telling Ian why he did what he did. Yes he always had Cindy on a pedestal but Cindy didn't deserve that. Like Ian said, both Cindy and Simon were not very nice people. The only problem with the storyline is how Steven can be brought back after all this but hopefully they will find a way.

He'll go to a clinic - be completely cured after a month or so and come back as though nothing as happened. That's my guess.