TV I haven't watched Eastenders for years, probaby stopped watching in the early Nineties. But for some reason it felt like duty to tune in again tonight. It's a pity the episode resembled the first part of a Doctor Who Dalek adventure. You know they're coming (hell they're in the title) but the first cliffhanger will usually involve either the overgrown pepper pots or Davros coming out of the shadows and explaining that they want to take over the universe. And so it happened in Albert Square tonight as the end of the episode loomed. "Hello princess..." Den said to Sharon as he steps through the doorway at the very end. Dum. Dum. Dum. Dum. Diddy-dum-dum.
He couldn't appear at the start of the episode. An event of this magnitude had to be given the chance to simmer, and so instead there was half and hour of rivetting acting and Checkovian scripting as Sharon and Dennis (who I think is her adopted half brother although it wasn't clear who else Den had been with the busy man -- were 'chelle and Angie not enough for him?) consumated some feelings which had no doubt been simmering away for ages. This was one of those two handers the soap is apparently famous for and it sizzled.
Was it enough to make become an addict? Well mostly not. I tend to like my narratives to have a beginning, middle and end. The reason I like the US shows is that they have a finite series length, and usually a defined arc which plays out over that time period. The problem I have with soap is that like life, stories continue for weeks, months and in the case of the Dirty Dens, years, and you have to sit through some often quite tedious filler in order to continue with the story you're really interested in. Also there is the sheer commitment required. Eastenders is on for four nights a week and frankly doesn't feature characters I'd want to spend to much time with. I will be watching the rest of this week for old times sake, before returning to stories which last an average of two hours.
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