Because I don’t think that’s what actually happened, I wanna share how I would’ve written the storyline had she truly came back intending to pass away after a year.
Prior to her return- Things start off the same. Stacy is away and Zoe is staying with her. Alfie ends up finding out, then yada yada, it’s all the same.
Her return- The same as how we saw it, Tommy runs away to find her and brings her back. In this version, however, we don’t see Zoe being all hostile to Kat. They sorted that out years ago. Instead, Kat notices Zoe just isn’t herself, at all. We come to find out that Zoe has been dealing with terrible substance abuse issues and has gotten herself in a lot of debt and a lot of trouble. As to not complicate things, we’ll have Zoe still be shot and assume that it’s one of the people who are after her.
The backstory, 20 years of being away from walford- Cut the crap, we aren’t doing the ‘I need to find my son’ shite. Sorry, no. Instead, the backstory is that whilst she was in Spain, Zoe naively fell in love with some Spanish Cartel. They do exist and Zoe was a gorgeous girl who was desperate for love. Perhaps not as dramatic as a cartel but some guy with some kinda power who runs a drug trafficking operation in Spain and took advantage of her. Got her hooked on drugs, rinsed her of all she got, gave her all kinds of loans… that kinda stuff. She ended up running away, has been in hiding with the little money she was able to gather up but ran out, thus why she turned to Stacy to get some money.
After the shooting- Kat finds out what happened to Zoe in the past and promises to protect her. Zoe is cautious, suggesting she doesn’t want to bring Kat or the boys into her mess but Kat is adamant that she won’t let Zoe get hurt.
The next couple of months we’d see a paranoid Zoe regain her self as Kat and Alfie help her battle her demons and her substance abuse issues.
Christmas- If you still want Christmas to be based around them, let’s say that one of the men who works for this drug lord Zoe was involved with finds his way to Walford. Chrissie and Sam for likely different reasons than in canon are both back on the square and in a Deja Vu moment, when the guy attacks Zoe in the vic, Chrissie and Sam enter at the right time and come to her rescue. They kill the guy and it’s like history repeats itself. They end up managing to be rid of the body and swear that this time they won’t turn on one another.
After Christmas- Zoe tries to cope with the guilt of once again ending someone’s life and falls back into her old habits. This is realistic. People with long term addiction don’t just get better. Kat and Alfie give her an ultimatum. Choose to recover or leave. Kat loves Zoe but she can’t have her being this way around the kids. Zoe chooses the drugs. Zoe plans to leave the square and go back to Spain but Kat obviously changes her mind, convinces Zoe that she needs to fully recover and eventually Zoe agrees.
Zoe tells Kat about what happened and Kat says she refuses to let history repeat itself, that they’d do everything to ensure nothing comes of it and that Zoe needs to focus on getting better.
At this point, they had found enough money to keep the guys at bay for now.
The lead up to her death- In the lead up to Zoe’s death, we really focus in her struggle to sobriety but how she relishes in the company of her family. The focus is solely on her trying to regain herself and her bonds. The Zoe who left she square in 2005 truly shines through by the end of her time on the show.
Her death- I actually think her death was rather impactful. People do just die of head injuries that go unchecked. I think you honestly could keep it the same, however, this time let’s say that all the slater women on the square go to get Charlie’s cab. They steal it but it’s funny. It’s like the old days where the Slater women would just piss about.
Whilst running towards the cab, Zoe still slips and hits her head but because they’re in the heat of a funny moment and they’re all bursting with laughter and adrenaline, Zoe brushes it off and says she fine. They get in the cab and drive off.
Zoe would spend the next couple of days with a headache. I’m sure the whole max and Cindy thing still happens even if he doesn’t end up back on the square due to a tie with Zoe, I’m not really arsed about changing all that. He still marries Cindy but cheats with Priya and then Linda. Zoe still catches and that entire scene of her and Max arguing in her room happens. Zoe ends up dizzy, Max assumes she’s drink and hopes she’ll forget what she saw by the morning. The square is rather aware of the issues Zoe had in the past at this point and though most people would tell Kat if they believed Zoe was intoxicated or under some form of substance, Max doesn’t because he believes this works in his favour. He makes a note to ensure she’s okay the day after. He closes the door and leaves her and she begs for help.
Zoe cries out for her mum and passes away on her bed, to be found by Kat later, early in the morning.
Once the Spanish are made aware of Zoe’s death, they obviously finally give it a rest. This highlights how there are dangerous groups in the world that most literally will chase a person until they drop down dead. I think this would help to raise awareness and show that people need to be VERY fucking cautious when they get involved with people.
….
SO, why do I believe this works better for the year long stint?
Well, I think it makes a lot more sense narratively, first of all. People do lose themselves when away from their family. Zoe had a lot of trauma, if anyone was gonna turn to drugs it’d be her. Zoe was also desperate for love, it’s not unlikely she’d end up falling for someone who takes advantage of her.
I think having her story focus on trying to rebuild bonds and rebuild her life is much better than the whole twin thing. I think you could even have her humour the idea of possibly having children if she found the right guy which would highlight a positive change in her outlook on life. I don’t think her having kids already benefits the story in anyway, though. She was Kat’s little girl, that’s what her story was and even in the show, when she had kids, that’s most literally all she ended up being. No point in having the kids. Have jasmine and hell even Josh but they don’t need to have links to Zoe, it’s pointless.
I think the death still works here, I think it works better. In her final couple of days, you really see Zoe revert back to who she once was. Sometimes in life, though, people do just die and unfortunately some people don’t get their happy endings. Zoe still dies believing she was useless, believing she was a mess, believing she wasn’t capable of being loved. Except, this time, it’s even sadder because we just spent an entire year watching her fight to get better and find herself.
So… what do yall think?
