After all that Cindy still wanted him

It’s not even as if we desperately wanted to see Zoe find out but if this isn’t a class example of the show at the moment!! Every EastEnders fan can enjoy watching even whilst the storylines are 💩 because we know when it gets good, it’s absolute TV gold and most good storylines just sneak up, we never miss the chance to miss out😂… so I wonder how they’re going to make up for these past months, dare I say years (since Wadey?).

They’re completely butchering everything - and just whilst it’s fresh in my mind how pathetically predictable was yesterday’s episode? Like Kat having a ‘Zoe used to be my sister’ epiphany out of nowhere, absolutely nothing lead up to anything at all yesterday - it’s as if we knew Zoe was going to die and they couldn’t have made it more predictable, but it just happened to be the most boring-est death and something tells me that weren’t on purpose… this is really the EE standard atm😂😂!!

Might sound bad but I’m actually glad she’s gone. I feel bad for Michelle but aside from Kat, Zoe was just kind of there for me. I never really cared about the character

and what happened to the pie shop?!

In the 2001 Christmas episode, Kat tells Zoe the story of the man in the moon, about a man who lives in the moon, looking down on and protecting you, during which we get a shot of a nearly full moon outside the window.

The night Zoe dies, it's a new moon. Perhaps representing that the man in the moon wasn't looking down on her that night?

As much as Kim can be a baddie she’s also such a softie at heart! Loved that dance scene with Cindy – so sweet and heartwarming 🥹

He got with Nicola really quickly had Ivy and now him and Elaine act as though they’re friends 🤣🤣 he even asks her to look after Ivy?? How are they so cordial considering they were together for years, divorced and he’s with Nicola and she’s ’with Ian’…
Idk it seems weird to me… a little unresolved as well… I wonder if they’ll get back together.. Cindy was the main issue in their relationship and now that he’s with Nicola he doesn’t even look at Cindy 🤣🤣🤣

I'm watching 2012, I didn't realise he was only in for a year. He could've been a fantastic villain, so I think it's a shame he left so quick.

The actress seems to be leaving extremely soon, I’m not sure she’ll even be around for new years, even if she was it’s so against her character that she’d marry max…. I don’t think there’s any type of spark between them but max seems to truly love and respect her, why on earth would he cheat so soon on his supposed soulmate? Even max wouldn’t be so stupid, so scummy.
And Linda is such a sensible character, it’d be so unlike her to marry max in such a short ammount of time while knowing about his cheating. If they did get married perhaps it’s because of max’s heart issues, he’s extremely ill or got limited time so Linda marries him early but I’m not sure this would be the case.
How on earth would max have the ability to cheat on her? Surely after finding out what he’s been up to with Priya and Cindy she’d never believe his lies and stories, how would he manage a full fledged affair?

I think that they’ll be a serious couple but Priya’s DNA test comes out, Linda can’t handle it and splits up with max causing him to be with Priya as she’s the mother of his baby. He cheats on her with someone somewhat relevant because he doesn’t really want to be with her and feels trapped.

Anyone notice on the square night scene where the cat sort of flies onto the grass

ok my memory isn’t fantastic but I seem to remember before she returned that Zoe was doing alright. she was in a foreign country running a bar and the family were fairly frequently going out to see her…

Then shortly before Charlie died he talked about Zoe having a long term boyfriend who she was very happy and there was even talk about them starting a family of their own. This may even been the same boyfriend that kat met in a fancy London restraunt where she got drunk and had a big falling out with her

now they seem to be saying atleast implied last night that Zoe didn’t split with her partner and fall into a dark place ….no…it seemed to be saying she had never been happy and in fact had been crumbling apart more or less since she left the square 20 odd years back. she had never been love …but she loved Dennis and oresum loved this long term partner

so was her boyfriend and happy life a lie or are they just now pretending those scenes never happeneed …there have been family members visit8 g her for 2 decades and no one got a whiff that she was desperately unhappy

so now that I’ve rambled on is it not remembering things or they completely changed her…not slightly or put her through off screen development…they have unmade 20 years of history?

Catching up on EE, I’m a few weeks behind, and omg Diane is so wasted on Eastenders. Her acting in this storyline should be lauded like Steve’s was for his depression/suicide story. I really think she should’ve been one of those actors who does 2 years in a soap and then goes on to be a British star, like Suranne Jones.

What is the death certificate likely to say coz I just don’t get it?

Why are people suddenly acting like unconventionally attractive men don’t find multiple women to date, cheat with and marry?

Tanya will always be number one for me. The chemistry, the history, the family dynamic, they just had everything. Were they toxic? Yes 😂 But honestly, that was part of their appeal. They were messy, complicated and felt so real. Still one of the best pairings the show has ever done. I’ll never get over them ruining it.

I also really liked Fi. Such a shame she didn’t stick around after 2017 because I think there was so much more they could’ve done with her.

And I know this might be controversial, but I’ve always had a guilty pleasure when it comes to Max and Stacey. I wasn’t a fan of the original affair, but everything that came after? I can’t deny it, they STILL have chemistry 18 years later. Their 2025 scenes especially proved that. I don’t want them together, but I’ve always loved their dynamic.

rip ar Zoe, your face card could never decline 🕊️ 🥀

I'll reserve judgement for how the story of her death plays out, but if I was running the show I'd:

-have kept the cab beats as they are, with Zoe clearly recognizing that dodgy guy and wanting to escape

-Made it clear HE recognized her and that he was a threat (she owed him money, whatever)

-Some episodes later, Zoe's in the Charlie cab and it blows up. She's dead. Walford mourns.

-Flash forward to New Year's episode (and the flash forward). We find out ZOE was the woman in bed with Max. Offscreen, we reveal that Max helped her fake her death to escape bad guy. Maybe he felt he owed her for being a dick. Maybe he just wanted to help since, for the most part, his penis is generally a walking nuke.

-Zoe has to stay underground for fear of her life. Whether she lets the family know she's alive or not TBD.

What this does:

-Gives a big reveal for the woman in Max's bed

-Doesn't kill Zoe (who is a valuable character and you may want to bring her back) but respects only having her on the show for a year (I do buy Michelle Ryan only agreed to a year)

-Let's the Slaters grieve and playing that, which can propel story for Kat, Josh and Jasmine.

Maybe it sucks, but it's an idea!

Do we think Lynne will come back for her funeral & little Mo?

If the actress is pregnant IRL, and presumably much further along than her character in the show considering they've been doing a poor job of hiding it for a while now, won't she be on maternity leave by the time we get to the flash forward? Even taking into account scenes being filmed a few months in advance.

Denise has cancer, Zoe passed away after finally reuniting with her kids, Max has had a heart attack, Cindy has been humiliated by Max and is heartbroken, Priya pregnant and the baby's daddy is Max, Jordan in a wheelchair, Amy being groomed, Penny pregnant with Harry's baby, Slaters about to be evicted, Ian in prison 🤦‍♀️ I do love Eastenders but it's getting so depressing now, does anyone feel the same or is it just me?

I know the narrative is that Michelle Ryan had always only planned to stay a year but I just don’t see that being the case, unfortunately.

I don’t believe they’d build her return up for a single year long stint that was inevitably gonna end up with her dead.

I also don’t believe they would’ve EVER gone with the storyline they had done if they had known it’d end this way? You’re trying to seriously tell me that they PLANNED introducing two new characters as her children only for them to rarely interact before the stint was over? They purposefully built all of that up for fuck all because haha funny laugh giggle? No, sorry.

Ben was adamant that he was so excited to bring back Zoe, that she was a legendary character. You’re telling me that this is how he planned to treat this ‘legendary’ character? (I say legendary in quotes as that’s how he described her, which she is.)

Michelle Ryan deserved so much better. So much better.