10 minutes ago, Lindsey. said:

Also, Zoe is Joel's mum right?

I think that's the general feeling... feels like ages since Zoe made her appearance now. She must be returning properly at some point this month.

I don’t think it is thankfully after today’s episode.

After a strong start to Ben Wadey’s tenure I’m really not feeling anything happening in the show right now. Obviously the awful Suki desperate to raise essentially her great grandchild as her child saga, but also the rubbish with Oscar and the gangster wanting money is a total waste of his potential and like something they’d do on Coronation Street. It’s probably just a lull while all his plans take shape, hopefully anyway.

It does feel like a lot of the plot is treading water until the returns of Zoe and Max. Plus the Truemans can’t get married until the first week of September because only then and New Year are you ever allowed to get married.

The Suki stuff though is just mind boggling. It’s almost like they haven’t understood her character at all from the beginning to now. I hope that spoiler is true.

So Joel's mum is called Chloe and is getting married? That definitely rules out Zoe then. Bit of a red herring in Ben Wadey's debut episode to line up Joel's talk of his mum adjacent to Zoe's return. I have to give it to Max Murray as he's really playing the character of Joel so well and you can see there's a lot of layers there to unpack, particularly around his attitude towards his mum (and women in general); I think EE are dealing with this in much better way than they are the Suki/Avani story.

1 hour ago, T Boy said:

It does feel like a lot of the plot is treading water until the returns of Zoe and Max. Plus the Truemans can’t get married until the first week of September because only then and New Year are you ever allowed to get married.

The Suki stuff though is just mind boggling. It’s almost like they haven’t understood her character at all from the beginning to now. I hope that spoiler is true.

Kst and Alfie gor married in June though!!

I found today's episode much better than the last couple of weeks in general. The Avani storyline is still ridiculous (yay for more Priya today though) but the Joel strand is interesting (totally agree with Lewis that the actor is doing a really good job of portraying an unlikeable, complex villain) and I'm glad Oscar was showing some remorse for his bad actions, now please let the payment from Lauren be the end of the abysmal 'Fat Mike' 🙏 

I did really think that Zoe would be Joel’s mum but I definitely don’t now. If Zoe was “Cleo” and engaged now, why would she have got help from Stacey and Alfie if presumably a man was around? I suppose someone on a self destruct like Zoe could have had an impulse engagement and a short relationship between when she ran from Stacey’s place but nah. Even worse, TikTok fans seem to think she will show up married to Max That would just be far too small of a world.

To me the mentions of Joel’s mum make sense to further his story not to be a hint at someone else’s. It’s a layer to why he is how he is and I think a sign that bringing his mum back up is going to make him spiral even more and probably get worse, rather than a hint at a future character or a returnee or anything.

I think I’m so firmly convinced by the “Zoe is Joel’s mum” theory that I’m reading this as a red herring.

My somewhat wild, but considering the coincidences in Ben Wadey’s tenure so far, theory is this:

• Zoe and Cleo aren’t that different as names, could be a fake name she was using to make her harder to track down with all the Den stuff. Would also explain why Vicki and Spencer haven’t worked it out.

• Zoe is engaged to Anthony Trueman. After failing to be saved financially by the Slaters/Alfie she could have contacted or bumped into Anthony for help. He might have helped her and due to their history got quickly engaged again.

• Zoe and Anthony return to aid Patrick before his wedding. Zoe doesn’t want to bump into Kat but Anthony reassured her it’ll be fine.

• Zoe bumps into Joel unexpectedly upon return and has a similar “you ain’t my mother” moment.

1 hour ago, T Boy said:

It does feel like a lot of the plot is treading water until the returns of Zoe and Max. Plus the Truemans can’t get married until the first week of September because only then and New Year are you ever allowed to get married.

The Suki stuff though is just mind boggling. It’s almost like they haven’t understood her character at all from the beginning to now. I hope that spoiler is true.

Kst and Alfie gor married in June though!!

53 minutes ago, AaronTM said:

I think I’m so firmly convinced by the “Zoe is Joel’s mum” theory that I’m reading this as a red herring.

My somewhat wild, but considering the coincidences in Ben Wadey’s tenure so far, theory is this:

• Zoe and Cleo aren’t that different as names, could be a fake name she was using to make her harder to track down with all the Den stuff. Would also explain why Vicki and Spencer haven’t worked it out.

• Zoe is engaged to Anthony Trueman. After failing to be saved financially by the Slaters/Alfie she could have contacted or bumped into Anthony for help. He might have helped her and due to their history got quickly engaged again.

• Zoe and Anthony return to aid Patrick before his wedding. Zoe doesn’t want to bump into Kat but Anthony reassured her it’ll be fine.

• Zoe bumps into Joel unexpectedly upon return and has a similar “you ain’t my mother” moment.

This is iy!!!

I think the you ain't my muvva moment, after being promised she winet bump into Kath, will be Kath arguing with Joel, like last night. Vicki will be there too. Joel says to Vicki, you ain't ma muvva, after she complaind about bad things he's done. Zoe hears all this, and she appears behind them and says, no she ain't, but ah ahrmm! Duff duff duff

Edited 21 hours ago21 hr by Big Fat Sue

Kat and Alfie zillionth wedding doesn’t count.

Fat Mike jumpscare in Casualty as he's appearing as a drug dealer in their current storyline. There's no escape 🥲

Edited yesterday at 11:521 day by lewistgreen

Elaine and Cindy working together is going to be an absolute joy to watch

Yea I'm v much here for that, good move with what to do with Elaine next and hopefully will make Cindy a bit more interesting/likable as well

Elaine and Cindy running a gay bar is gold, this kind of frenemies light relief I think is exactly what Cindy needs.

Yeah it felt wrong not seeing Elaine behind a bar of sorts so this new role should be good for them both, have enjoyed Elaine's scenes with Yolande this week too!

I know I’m the only one who thinks this but Kim would be top of my axing list, awful awful character

Yea Kim adds nothing

Elaine and Cindy's back and forth is great too, I hope they continue that dynamic

The Joel stuff is very interesting. Curious to see where it leads.

Yes was very impressed again with Ross and Joel. Vicki also adds to that dynamic, I'm slowly warming to them all even without Sharon here to prop it all up

Max Murray is outstanding and it’s a very unique, actually compelling teen storyline that other soaps wouldn’t tackle. There’s a lot of layers to Joel and it’s no mean feat to bring layers and humanity to what is on the surface just the most vile behaviour. It’s very timely since sadly a lot of far right ideals are seeping into a lot of young people’s lives and with the background with his mum, he’s at a prime vulnerable state to be drawn into all this, it’s very interesting as a social commentary and a conversation that does really need to be had and looked at.

Vicky just gets better and better too, I’m glad they’ve built a unit around her instead of just plonking her back in with Sharon and giving her nothing to do. Alice Haig feels like pure classic Eastenders.