Every week I run through the best and worst bits of the week on Emmerdale. Tell me your faves and fails in the comments! Vanessa and Pierce came face to face with horrifying consequences and Pete’s final episode aired as Anthony Quinlan left the show.
Faves
Vanessa’s Nightmare
Pierce is unravelling and fast, as his delusional plan to reunite with Rhona was interrupted by coming face to face with Vanessa. Surely you realised it would happen sooner or later Pierce?! Desperate Pierce went to an extreme length to keep Vanessa out of the way and tied her up and gagged her, even going as far as keeping poor Johnny upstairs and away from his mum. As Vanessa feared for her life, the scenes between the two were tense and gripping, and their on screen history makes it all the more chilling. While Pierce’s panto villain plotting at Home Farm was fun we saw the brutal lengths he is really capable with Vanessa and it gave Jonathan Wrather a great opportunity to show Pierce unhinged and deranged. A brilliant and exciting watch as well as being uncomfortably grim viewing for poor Vanessa. Looking forward to seeing the thrilling climax of this story play out!
Perfect Performance
If I was picking a stand out character of the week then it would have to be Vanessa, who had a truly awful week but was so watchable thanks to flawless performances from Michelle Hardwick. I’ve long bemoaned the fact Vanessa is one of the show’s most underrated characters who often gets overlooked when it comes to stories of her own – but could this be about to change? This week tensions were still high between her and Charity after her lies about Graham’s money. But as Vanessa struggled with the weight of this secret, she was tearful and strained in some quiet and subtle scenes. Eagle eyed viewers might have noticed Vanessa even take a mystery trip to the hospital suggesting her mind might be on more than just Charity’s wrong moves. As Vanessa’s week went from bad to worse Pierce appeared and Vanessa was plunged into a horrifying hostage situation. Fear is something difficult to put across on screen especially in such a heightened soapy situation but Michelle played it brilliantly and the adrenaline filled fight with Pierce was one of the show’s most desperate and real looking confrontations in a while. Can’t wait to see where this story goes.
Forbidden Feelings
Belle and Jamie got closer this week and shared their first onscreen kiss as Jamie moped about the situation with Andrea and Belle offered him support. These two continue to have a nice chemistry and a believable attraction (far more than their respective relationships). This week though there was another obstacle thrown at them when Kim saw their kiss and warned Belle off. Belle stood her ground in a great scene with Kim but continued to be conflicted about what to do about Jamie. These two have great potential if they keep it slow burn and obstacles are a good thing, otherwise if the only thing keeping them apart is upsetting Ellis – it’s a bit of a weak reason. The higher the stakes the more we’ll root for them.
The Rebound Guy
Liam and Leyla decided to make a go of things this week, after growing even closer as they planned David and Theo’s gathering. Despite their flirtations, one person who wasn’t a fan was Liam’s daughter Leanna who warned him not to be the rebound guy lurching from woman to woman. She has a point! This was an amusing scene as Leanna gave Liam a dressing down about his disastrous relationships and suggested he be alone for a while. Liam is a naturally funny character who has fun interactions with almost everyone and although I’m not as fond of his dynamic with Leyla as I was with Bernice, they’re a fun couple. Now they’ve decided to make a secret go of things I’m hoping they find their own unique direction rather than the same heightened comedy set ups that Liam shared with Bernice otherwise they might just feel like a poor imitation than loveable in their own way.
Coming Back Fighting
Moira was back in the village this week and she returned with a strong attitude, determined to make a fresh start. The first scene we saw her was the powerful woman we know and love, gun toting and giving the rustlers what for. Although Matty wasn’t keen to brush things under the carpet, Moira wanted to reunite with the kids and keep things civil with Cain. It’s hard to know where the future lies for Moira and her relationship with Cain. The week ended with her signing the divorce papers but when the two of them hint towards their lingering feelings it’s hard not to feel the pull of Jeff Hordley and Natalie J Robb’s chemistry. On the other hand, Moira’s fallen into a bit of a rut after the Nate debacle so a new direction would be welcome. Maybe it’s time we had a new farming family and Moira found a new role in the village?
Fail
Wendy Woes
For a show like Emmerdale, which has a fantastic track record of well told, sensitively handled stories that cover important topics, it beggars belief how far they are going out of their way to try and get the audience to sympathise with Wendy. Wendy isn’t a rapist, but her treatment of Victoria just months after her horrific attack was harassment. She intimidated, gaslighted and stalked Victoria to the point she felt she had to move away. Even when Lee died, Wendy forced Victoria to relive her trauma again and again by moving in a few doors down. This behaviour is inexcusable and unforgivable and yet rather than tell an empowering story of Vic finding her life again, almost all of her recent screentime has been putting words in her mouth that excuse Wendy’s behaviour. Rape survivors shouldn’t have to forgive their rapist or their cruel family. It doesn’t make them a bad person. And yet Emmerdale continue to paint a harmful image of the “good victim” who is forgiving and empathetic. The narrative is: Vic has forgiven Wendy because she’s a “good person”. What about survivors who can’t and won’t? Wendy says she saw Vic was a “good” person so could see she wasn’t lying – but this choice of dialogue is harmful for survivors who carry a stigma and an image of being promiscuous or aren’t your typical “good person”. Telling a story about a mother who learns the awful truth about her son’s behaviour could have been a great story and I have to believe Emmerdale had those good intentions but the reality has been a horrible watch. If Wendy and the Posners were brought in as a new family and we got to know them and it was only later we learnt Lee was a rapist, we’d be on the same journey with Wendy and empathise ourselves. As it stands it seems like Emmerdale have bent over backwards to absolve Wendy and deny Vic an empowering journey in order to force this story. It’s stomach churning to watch Wendy portrayed as a victim, sobbing over her son and his innocent childhood when we saw the horrifying rape Victoria faced and the way the Posners bullied her afterwards. Whether it’s realistic for the mother of a rapist or not, the narrative has been ill conceived at every turn, stealing Vic’s agency and forcing a concept that the Posner family deserve a second chance because they are Harry’s biological family. Why? It doesn’t work. It’s disheartening to see this unwatchable, harmful writing continually tarnishing the show’s excellent reputation for crucial stories.
Nate’s mum Cara arrived this week and already she has elevated the Nate saga, making it far more engaging. It’s early days for the character but she is enigmatic and seems to have a distinct personality compared to anyone else in the village. At first, as a stranger, Cara took Moira to the hospital before her real identity was announced in a satisfying showdown. It was refreshing to see her give Nate a talking to about his behaviour as she made both Moira and her son accountable, but perhaps the real potential lies with her and Cain. Their first meeting bristled with tension but we later got to see chemistry between them as they discussed their past. Rather than their discussion feeling laboured with exposition, the actors made their characters’ former relationship come to life – could lingering feelings return? Cara’s exactly what this story needs and with a great actress in Carryl Thomas I can’t wait to see more of her.
Charity felt guilty this week when she discovered Graham had taken Noah to hospital when he was unwell, and Graham belittled her parenting efforts. Charity’s relationship with Noah has always been complex and arguably the most interesting of all her relationships with her children so it was good to explore that this week. After his recent hospitalisation over the drug taking, Charity poured her heart out to Noah, eventually expressing how much she loved him and how sorry she was for not vocalising it. Feeling rejected and unloved, Noah needed more reassurance and these were some beautifully performed and written scenes – a real highlight of the week.
The scales fell from Sarah’s eyes this week as she realised that Danny had been lying to her about the drugs and exploiting her feelings for him. Earlier in the week Danny had been in full manipulation mode, even appearing with cuts and bruises to show how desperate he was to clear his debts with the dealers. But conflicted Sarah, repeatedly encouraged by Noah to do the right thing, was torn between her feelings and what was right. As it soon became clear Danny was only using her and lying about his injuries, Sarah made the decision to turn him into the police. Emotional Sarah confessed all to Noah, who was quick to reassure her that she’d done the right thing. Sarah turning him in was a genuinely surprising moment and the performances from Katie Hill were excellent, especially as she told Noah that she really liked Danny and it hadn’t made her feel better. The conclusion of this story was well written, with Sarah’s mixed feelings pleasingly not making the end too neat.
Moira’s breakdown has been a divisive story in the Dales with some viewers finding Moira unlikeable and not the character they recognise. Despite this, it looks as if Moira has reached a turning point, even if she’s still just as bitter! Sympathy for Moira seems to come and go, but I’ve no doubt that she could return to the strong character she was, thanks to Natalie J Robb’s consistently good performances. This week in her hospital bed she seemed small and vulnerable, eager for her life to get back on track and earn Cain’s forgiveness, but with Nate still around and now Cara, it soon sunk in that they won’t just be able to forgive and forget. Like all soap characters who slip down an unrecognisable path (remember Finn’s stalker storyline?) a break from the village often works its magic to “reset” the character and spoiler fans will know Moira will soon be off to Nanna Barton’s – so can we expect the return of the woman we know and love(d)?
A soap whodunnit is always full of exciting probabilities as we try and piece together the clues, but the only downside is the murder victim always has to make a lot of enemies first! This week saw tensions ramp up between Graham and Marlon and Graham and Charity. While these are believable tensions, you can sense their reactions have been cranked up a little to lay the foundations of them being suspects. This week we saw Graham steal from the outdoor pursuits company in a scene that was teeth itchingly contrived, all to build him a big list of enemies. Graham eavesdropped on Ryan and Priya talking about pets and passwords only for it to be followed by the world’s clunkiest scene where Ryan accidentally revealed the account password. As anyone knows passwords these days often require symbols, numbers and capital letters at least so it was a real stretch of believability that Kim would have such a weak password. Not to mention it made Ryan look really naive and stupid quite frankly, for a so called computer expert. No, it wasn’t a major story of the week but it’s unbelievable little things like this which can make a story fall apart. Surely they could have found a smarter way for Graham to steal the money and keep Ryan involved?
Top of the highlights this week is Kim, who seems to have hit her stride, almost a year since she made her full return to the village. Early months indicated Emmerdale weren’t quite sure what to do with her and the brief panto stint last year didn’t help much – and nor did the Joe and Graham muddle. Now, with tangible motives and a family around her, Kim feels a lot more well rounded. I really enjoyed that she was a big part of the village this week, funding the lights and having a sense of power that is reminiscent of the Home Farm contingent of old Emmerdale. Rather than cartoonishly making people’s lives misery, it was welcome to see Kim’s ruthless attitude towards Wendy whilst being sympathetic towards Victoria’s plight. Similarly her war with Graham is more watchable now it’s about something relatable – her son and granddaughter. There was also an element of fun too, with Harriet scamming her to give the light fund to the homeless instead, and this has helped to make her more than just a outlandish soap bitch, but more of a believable character and that can only benefit the future of Home Farm.
After another emotional week for Lydia, Emmerdale are surely paving the way to give Karen Blick some award nominations next year? This week Lydia struggled with the pressure of her newly found biological family and the news that she could lay her son to rest, now that she had his ashes. Feeling suffocated by her mother, Lydia opted to scatter the ashes with just the Dingles (or the few that turned up!) and later asked for space from her mother and sister, acknowledging there was no quick fix to her years of feeling isolated and abandoned. As much as I liked the casting for Lydia’s family and it gave her character new dimensions, I’m glad Emmerdale didn’t rush to make them close, with everything forgiven. However with the Huntington’s test still looming, I’m interested to see what happens next now that Lydia’s drawn a line under her new family – will they just be forgotten about? Stories lately have felt a little stop start and I hope Lydia’s doesn’t go the same way.
Noah was in full protection mode this week as his concern for Sarah grew. Since her secret pill popping at the party, he’s been suspicious of her new friend Danny and the reckless way she’s been behaving. This week saw Noah spying on her and later confronting Danny about her health. Bratty Sarah was furious at Noah for damaging her street cred, despite Noah tearfully telling her how worried he was. I’ve always been a big fan of Noah and he’s been absent for some of this year so it’s been good to have him taking a prominent role in this storyline. I like his sensitivity and big heart, helped by Jack Downham’s vulnerability in the part. Spoilers indicate Noah’s got some gritty material ahead which is something to look forward to.
I was impressed and surprised by the performances this week as Jamie and Andrea came to the forefront of the show with their tragic miscarriage story. While this heartbreak was a way to trigger Kim’s change of heart for the first time it actually made me believe in their relationship, bonding them closer. Both characters have felt a bit flat since their early promise and the scenes this week suggest they are capable of much more, especially if it means delving more into their relationship in a more emotional way, separate from the convoluted history.
Moira continued her drunken spiralling this week, losing an ally in Pete and losing grip on herself when she repeatedly turned to the bottle. There was some friendly support from Vanessa, but with Matty away and Pete now working with Nate, Moira’s completely on her own and in this state losing work and access to the kids. Unfortunately though, this time round, Moira just isn’t very sympathetic. When she’s had drunken meltdowns before, when she lost Holly and after Emma’s death and the PND she experienced after having Isaac, Moira’s had our sympathies and support – but this time I’m not so sure. Moira’s cheating was clumsily handled and almost universally hated by viewers so it’s no real surprise her self-pitying meltdown isn’t quite hitting the mark. She might be on self-destruct, but what the scenes lack is a sense Moira is taking responsibility for what happened, instead what we’ve been seeing a rather cold and unsympathetic Moira and she’s difficult to root for.
Wendy moved into Emmerdale village this week in another twisted turn to this continual torture of Victoria. As Wendy continues to blather on about her innocent son, it appears some villagers have completely lost the plot. Wendy’s support of Lee and harassment of Vic began long before Lee’s death, so to hand-wave her behaviour as grief or as a grandmother who just wants contact is sickening beyond belief. Even characters like Chas, who should be unflinching in support of Victoria, defended Wendy and bonded over the “bad behaviour” of their sons. Yes, that’s right, comparing the survivor of childhood rape to a rapist. What is Wendy’s narrative purpose in the village beyond more hell for Victoria and to plunge Aaron into a bigger meltdown? Are we supposed to feel sorry for her? To paint Wendy as a victim – her house vandalised and unwelcome – and putting empathetic words in the mouths of characters who should know better is completely tone deaf and unless she becomes the show’s next deranged nurse then these latest developments are a hard pill to swallow from a show that has had a strong history of empowering their rape survivors.
Very sadly this week saw our favourite village drama queen, Bernice, leave the show. Readers of this blog will know that Bernice has always been one of my favourite characters in Emmerdale but bias aside, I think she’ll be a real loss to the show. Despite viewer complaints that Bernice’s exit was rushed and perhaps unbelievable I think it was a great exit, even if it was crammed into two episodes. It felt quite fitting that forever unlucky in love Bernice had to sacrifice her happy ever after to go and care for daughter Dee Dee who has been neglected due to Bernice’s self absorbed bubble. The exit gave Bernice her growth moment, showing she could be selfless and a good mother against the odds. Samantha Giles has always given Bernice the perfect blend of kooky-craziness in her humour and yet had buckets of likeability and there were plenty of more serious moments that she nailed. Her exit gave us both the outlandish humour but also managed to be very emotional as Bernice made her big sacrifice. There are few actors or characters that can do the big comedy moments and yet bring so much pathos to serious stories. Overall the exit two parter had minor flaws and as a whole, it was a great send off for Bernice, giving her meaningful goodbyes and that bittersweet sacrifice that saw her leave tearfully, knowing she was doing the right thing. You’ll be really missed Bernice!
Is there an Emmerdale newbie more loveable than hapless Liam? We might have to swiftly overlook the grim moment he punched Jacob last week and find some way to forgive him, but besides that, he’s by far one of the best new characters in the show. I feel like I’ve been singing his praises forever but each week he manages to be charming and funny in a way that makes his character so appealing. This week saw the end to his relationship with Bernice (even if he doesn’t know it yet) and his overly dramatic and slightly strange reaction – like eating their wedding cake and making a Bernice themed advent calendar – is enough to put a smile on your face. His stag do antics were entertaining and although his main anchor to the village is gone I have faith he’ll continue to be a great addition to the show. He has real personality and a quirkiness which makes him different from other arrivals who have sometimes suffered from dull scripts. There’s plenty of mileage in his relationship with Leanna, his colleague friendship with Manpreet and the men who celebrated his stag. While it was a real shame to lose the flirtatious and fun Cavastock, I’m really glad Liam’s sticking around.
There was plenty of twists and turns for the Tates this week as Kim’s bitterness drove her to destroy Graham’s new relationship with Rhona. Revealing to a packed pub that she and Graham were married was a brilliant moment and rather enjoyable to see devilish Kim at work. Later though, Graham had a trump card of his own to play, shocking Kim that Millie might not be her flesh and blood after all. Kim’s reaction to Andrea’s betrayal was disappointingly muted as she vowed to get a DNA test but as she threatened to tell her oblivious son the truth, Jamie and Andrea had news of their own – she is pregnant. All these surprising turns were good at keeping viewers on their toes and seeing Kim play dirty in clever ways was lots of fun. The only reservation about these stories is that apart from Kim, the Tate household, Graham included, are all just a bit dull. We’re months in and I still don’t feel emotionally invested in these characters. And even Kim could do with a breaking point now and again and if learning the granddaughter she’s grown to love might not be hers then what will crack her facade?
One of the biggest plots this week was Dawn and Billy’s investigation over what Al was really up to. After seeing Al get whacked last week Dawn soon discovered that Al was completely broke and had borrowed money from the local criminals we saw Cain and Aaron get mixed up with. Dawn and Billy’s sweet romance last week worked because it was light and fun and casual but this week they both got bogged down into a story that wasn’t very interesting to watch and turned Billy back into a bit of a moaner. Besides, are money trouble stories ever very interesting? Especially when they involve cartoonish gangsters. Worst of all this story has squandered Al’s initial potential as the charismatic manipulator and it’s not helped that he’s stuck in an office (the lifeless Sharma factory set) doing very little. Of course, Ellis’s abrupt exit might have ruined their early plans for Al, so we have to hold out hope that they inject a bit of life back into him when Ellis returns. My hopes are pinned on Al becoming a new smart villain. Think Declan Macey.
As the aftermath of Moira’s affair with Nate rumbles on, it doesn’t get any more watchable. Sadly the discovery of Nate being Cain’s son hasn’t made him more interesting and his glum looks around Wishing Well aren’t making him sympathetic but just seem like he’s throwing himself a pity party, with Belle his sole fan. No sob story in the world could give him charisma and his motivation for ruining the family and then sticking around seems clumsy at best. Then there’s Cain, the victim in all this, but written as even more of a caveman than usual. His reluctance to let Nate be part of the family is one of the more understandable character reactions and yet others react to him as unreasonable. But just to make Nate seem even more of the wounded soldier, Cain lashes out at him and the rest of the family in ways that are inexcusable. Then Moira, feeling sorry for herself, drinking and failing to make amends, desperate to get rid of Nate but unwilling to really recognise her part in the destruction of the family. I don’t have much sympathy for any of them now and I am dreading the increasingly desperate ways to embed Nate into the Dingles and have Cain accept him. What next? Nate saves Monty from a burning building? Nate donates an organ t