Eastenders - Current Episode Discussion - VIII

[maidmarian]

What a pig Max Branning is - and what a hypocrite! They don't come any easier than him after all. Kat's got the excuse of the trauma of her abuse for her promiscuity. What excuse has Max got other than he's a sleaze?

I'm glad Phil managed to con him now (although I think it was waaay out of character for Max to be so easily fooled). I was very surprised Charlie was in on it. Last thing I remember was that he and Phil disliked each other so why is he working with him now? (I can't even remember Charlie starting the revenge plan Liz.)

So Babe's game is to insinuate herself into Mick's family? She'll probably be living at the Vic before long. It looks like she set up the brick through the window to try to persuade Dean to leave. Let's hope it works!

wasnt Max buried alive in a coffin by Jim?.
I dont make excuses for Max -but it wouldn't
make for a pleasant personality-having a parent
treat u like that.

Agreed- sooner Dean goes the better. Being
drawn out far too long. Still hoping there is
some justice tho-even if not legal!

[maidmarian]

Dupl

[Dazzle]

wasnt Max buried alive in a coffin by Jim?.
I dont make excuses for Max -but it wouldn't
make for a pleasant personality-having a parent
treat u like that.

I get what you're saying about Max, and his history does indeed explain (but not excuse) some of his bad behaviour.

I was talking specifically about sexual behaviour in my last post and especially Max's vile attitude that Kat would sleep with him because she "never says no". Everyone (including Max) knows that Kat is that way because the abuse made her feel like a "dirty girl" who deserves nothing better than to be used by men, so Max's comment was disgusting, inexcusable and hypocritical in my opinion!

He's the most promiscuous character on the square and there's nothing in his history to explain or excuse the way he treats and uses women. Remember the way he treated Vanessa and Kirsty? What a pig!

[maidmarian]

I get what you're saying about Max, and his history does indeed explain (but not excuse) some of his bad behaviour.

I was talking specifically about sexual behaviour in my last post and especially Max's vile attitude that Kat would sleep with him because she "never says no". Everyone (including Max) knows that Kat is that way because the abuse made her feel like a "dirty girl" who deserves nothing better than to be used by men, so Max's comment was disgusting, inexcusable and hypocritical in my opinion!

He's the most promiscuous character on the square and there's nothing in his history to explain or excuse the way he treats and uses women. Remember the way he treated Vanessa and Kirsty? What a pig!

I agree that this sexual behaviour is inexcusable
and hypocritical but typical of a certain type.
I did wonder if his excessive language etc Kat-
is part of the get Kat & Alfie back together story-
by making Alfile more acceptable by not being
as bad as someone else!

But some of the women will know how he has
treated others - but that is part of soap wisdom
- female characters too dim & desparate to see
the obvious or think it could apply to them.

I dont think Max values people at all in any way.
Especially women. Perhaps another inherited trait !
or learned behaviour!
Jim treated his first wife and daughter appallingly
before he was morphed into "lovely old codger"
His racist and general rant in the church at Carols
wedding to Alan Jackson is etched in my soap
memory!
As for Max being a babe magnet ..... Words almost
fail but not appropriate for a respectable forum

[maidmarian]

Dupl

[Dazzle]

I totally agree with your post, especially:

As for Max being a babe magnet ..... Words almost
fail but not appropriate for a respectable forum

[tammyy2j]

Charlie has becoming really unlikeable

I wonder what Babe wants? She does want to control all the Carters

After Kat went with Derek, I think Max thought for sure she would do him too, I do find Max and Kat together interesting as a couple

[parkerman]

I'm sorry but I am now officially bored to tears with the whole Mick/Shirley/Dean story. It just goes round and round in circles. And as for Tina's role in it, how can she possibly side with Shirley and expect Mick to be reconciled with her? It makes a very boring story completely nonsensical as well.

Someone please castrate Dean and let's have done with it.

[tammyy2j]

Linda's rape is taking a back seat to all the other Carter drama, she needs justice fast and soon, Dean has to pay

[Dazzle]

I'm sorry but I am now officially bored to tears with the whole Mick/Shirley/Dean story. It just goes round and round in circles. And as for Tina's role in it, how can she possibly side with Shirley and expect Mick to be reconciled with her? It makes a very boring story completely nonsensical as well.

Someone please castrate Dean and let's have done with it.

Linda's rape is taking a back seat to all the other Carter drama, she needs justice fast and soon, Dean has to pay

**Warning - long rant**

I totally agree with you and so do lots of other people from what I've read elsewhere.

I was defending EE and DTC to the hilt and lauding how EE had been saved only a couple of months ago. That was true for me - at that time - but I can no longer say it.

The rape storyline has been badly misjudged in my opinion, and even worse it's completely taken over the show. I see people criticising the Carters again and again but in my opinion the problem isn't that family, who are all good characters played by decent actors, but with the all-consuming rape storyline they've all become enmeshed and enmired in.

It started well and I certainly believe the EE team were well-intentioned but, as Tammy says, it ceased being about the rape and its effect on Linda (and Mick) a long time ago. Now all we get are endless and nonsensical scenes of Carters feuding and taking sides.

No one with any sense wants to watch a drama where a rape victim's being constantly harassed by the perpetrator and his posse. I know we have several killers on the square but there are extenuating circumstances for all of them so I can forget (if not forgive). Sex crimes are a whole other level of distasteful because by their very nature they're so degrading and cannot be accidental or provoked. I will never forgive Dean for the rape and his callous behaviour since. If he'd shown some remorse privately it might have been just bearable, but he's completely lacking in empathy or conscience about it. All we get is self-pity. Are we actually supposed to sympathise with him that he was beaten up in prison and that he's a pariah in Albert Square?

Then there's Shirley, who's never been a nice character, but she's had enough sympathetic moments to redeem her - up until now. I'll never forgive her behaviour towards Linda and her supposedly beloved first born, even when Dean's (hopefully) long gone. I'll also never believe that Mick could forgive her behaviour, though we all know it'll happen at some point.

EE are in serious danger of losing me as a viewer again over this storyline if it doesn't end soon and if Dean doesn't get some kind of satisfying comeuppance. I did think that he raped Shabnam when she told her story to Stacey and that's how the truth would come out, but that was so long ago now that it almost feels like I dreamt those scenes!

Pull your socks up DTC and give us viewers an ending we can live with to this storyline and QUICKLY. And for goodness sake make sure the baby (a completely unnecessary and sensationalist addition to the plot) is quickly ascertained to be Mick's! You wanted a realistic rape plotline that showed how hard it is for victims to get justice, and I agreed with that, but it's also got to be palatable to your viewers (and let's face it, it's long since stopped being about Linda).

**End of rant (for now)**