I remember Jeff's death. It's a key event in a major arc. Of course I remember it.
I had
no recollection of it. Of all the Claudia Blaisdel things he's done, dying in a fire he accidentally started is the most Claudia Blaisdel of them all!
It's far from the first time S&D has bereaved parents of their child. In fact I can't think of another series that has done it more. As recently as a month and a half ago, Irene's son died. But this is the first bereavement that's really affected me. Heather trying to hold it together on the phone when she's trying to reach Katie got me tearful, but Mike breaking down and crying onto Heather's shoulder really got to me. It's a rarity to see a blokey bloke cry in this way on TV and consequently felt taboo and groundbreaking... and almost voyeuristically intimate to me as a viewer.
I was really willing Jeff to be dead, but then when I saw how devastated Mike and Heather were, I felt a bit bad. First Todd, then Luke, then Jeff -- I don't think even
EastEnders has slaughtered so many of its young in such quick succession. I kind of love how S&D took such a nice wholesome happy-go-lucky family like the O'Briens and then just completely and utterly
destroyed them.
The sinister Roger Carlyle storyline is a treat. It's so thrilling and strikes the perfect balance by being outrageous and making me believe it. Patricia managing to fight off and get away from two professional hitmen who had a gun to her head seems like it stretches credulity to its limits. But knowing the big picture even that makes perfect sense. Things are happening incredibly quickly now. No wonder I became addicted at this point before. Nobody would dare stop watching with these cliffhangers.
It's such an ingenious way of writing Patricia out of the show.
I’ve decided I quite like Alan. Or at least I like the actor playing him. But the casting seems off. The writing has Alan pursuing women, getting into fights and drops numerous references to him working out. But the actor is a likeable, ordinary, slight young man. He’d be perfect for the Jeff O’Brien lad next door type of character, but he’s not a great fit here wearing suits and shirts that look like he’s raided his Dad’s wardrobe. To be fair it was commented that he’s out of his league in the fight. But there still feels to be a strange lack of congruence between what’s on the page and what’s on the screen. Jill’s all over him and has never felt this way about anyone. Amanda has swooned over how similar he is to Todd. But the dynamic somehow comes off as big sisters to the brother their parents had later in life.
Yes, Jill swooning all over Alan even though he's clearly a little shit feels very random, even by S&D's standards, but now you mention it, it's the casting of Alan that makes it seem so out of whack.
Patricia being on the run and the threat, however, is as thrilling as I remember. Rowena Wallace has wowed me playing her as broken once again, and she’s found new shades within to make this as authentic and heartbreaking as her previous breakdowns. Perhaps more so.
The countdown to Patricia 1.0's exit has begun, and maybe it's because I'm eager to start with the new season but somehow I find it all a bit exhausting.
It just feels like one nervous breakdown too many.
I'm not sure I enjoyed watching Patricia having yet another breakdown. I don't know if it's because, as Willie says, it's one breakdown too many, or because Rowena Wallace is so good she actually makes it difficult to watch, or just the frustration of seeing her being gaslighted ... I think it's a combination of all three.
I have no memory of Patricia and David’s actual wedding and it’s perhaps easy to see why, what with it taking place in the living room at David’s country home and in the middle of a particularly fast moving series of events and cliffhangers. Turns out it's one of the series' most beautiful moments.
Objectively it could be deduced that the writers were forced to pack a lot of storyline into this final run of Season Three in order to bring it to a satisfactory close. But from a subjective viewpoint, I didn’t question it. Even Barbara and Irene being witnesses worked for me. There was a conversation around their decision to do so that was admittedly a little convenient and rushed. But it was enough to satisfy. And it was great to see them standing grimly in the background. I was reminded of Laura Avery rolling her eyes Gary and Abby tied the knot. Except Irene didn’t roll her eyes. She just looked pensively sad.
Sadness was, indeed, the pervading element of the wedding. It’s perhaps the saddest onscreen union I’ve seen. There was no element of celebration. Instead the tone was decidedly funereal. David looked stoic. Barbara uncomfortable and gritting her teeth to get through it. And then there was Patricia. It’s perhaps the most pitifully frail I’ve seen her, with dark rings round her eyes and almost being propped up by David. It was like watching a dying woman.
It's very sad and very ironic -- getting David was what Patricia wanted all along (well, on and off), but then when she finally gets him, she's too out of it to really notice. It's kind of the opposite of Gary and Val's final remarriage on Knots when it felt all the drama and poignancy surrounding their characters had suddenly evaporated. Patricia and David tying the knot feels almost tragic.