TO say I was in shock with tonight’s episode of EastEnders would be an understatement.
BBC One viewers will see Elaine Knight (Harriet Thorpe) return to Albert Square in chaos after her honeymoon.
After some time away, it’s clear that she does not grasp just how bad things have gotten for her daughter Linda (Kellie Bright), but they are going to get a whole lot worse.
She snaps at Johnny (Charlie Suff), Sharon (Letitia Dean), Alfie (Shane Richie), and Phil (Steve McFadden) as Linda is seemingly missing.
Elaine becomes relieved to find her dishevelled daughter swaggering through the Square, but she’s got a wine bottle in hand.
What came up next broke my heart as Linda has become totally infantilized by her demons.
Linda admitted that she slept with a random man – whom she did not know the name of – just as Elaine noticed that she soiled her underwear.
Elaine completely broke down as she brushed her grown-up daughters hair as Linda sat in the bath.
She tried to clean her daughter up as she drunkenly referred to memories of her childhood, sat in an almost embryonic position.
Bath time is a special ritual for any parent with young children, but seeing a broken woman nearing the age of 50 blabbering away whilst her mum brushes her hair takes the biscuit.
The agonising pain of motherhood that was etched across Elaine’s face was both heartbreaking but also almost poetic.
It would only get worse as Linda continued on her self-destructive path of repetitive behaviour, bringing back a random drunk fellow to the Vic.
The aspect of alcoholism that EastEnders has shown so well is the effect on Linda’s wider family.
My heart was broken once again as a terrified young Oliver came to find his grandmother as a random man started to relieve himself in his bedroom.
This is after he previously confessed to his older brother Johnny that he didn’t want to return home after school because he was scared of his own mother.
This episode was like a slow and painful unravelling, as Elaine slowly came to realise the extent of her daughters dangerous spiral.
Linda arrived on the Square on Boxing Day in 2013, along with her husband Mick (Danny Dyer) and has been a hit with soap fans ever since.
Her first storylines revolved around the fact that she struggled to come to terms that her son Johnny is gay
In a storyline that had long-lasting repercussions, she was then raped by Mick’s brother Dean Wicks (Matt Di Angelo).
She fell pregnant shortly after and then was left devastated emotionally when she gave birth to a premature baby after falling down the stairs.
Things soon got worse for Linda after she discovered that her husband Mick kissed their daughter-in-law Whitney Dean (Shona McGarty), who was married to their veteran son Lee (Danny Hatchard).
One of her more memorable storylines was when she was accused of perverting the course of justice. This was after Stuart Highway (Ricky Champ) is shot and she was falsely accused of attempted murder.
Over the years she has suffered from a variety of illnesses and disorders which include bulimia, alcoholism, and a secret battle with cervical cancer. After she gave birth to her youngest son Ollie (Harry Farr), she also had to deal with his autism diagnosis.
Although she and Mick seemed to be the perfect couple, the pair split up for a short time after she had an affair with Max Branning (Jake Wood). This lead to another pregnancy.
However, the pair finally got divorced after Janine Butcher (Charlie Brooks) set her eyes on Mick. She wanted the landlord all to herself and she lured Linda rival back into alcoholism to drive a wedge between them.
After this led to Mick’s apparent death at sea, she struggled to adjust to life without her ex-husband and the true love of her life. This was just after the pair decided to have another go at their relationship.
Recently, Linda was the person who was at the very centre during ‘The Six’ storyline. She tried to save her best friend Sharon Watts (Letitia Dean) when she was being strangled by Keanu Taylor (Danny Walters). When she killed him with a meat thermometer, the group framed her rapist Dead Wicks after he returned to the square. Since then, she has struggled to cope.
The newlywed decides to call a meeting in the Vic storage room with Alfie, Johnny, Sharon and Phil to apologise to them for lashing out.
Sharon couldn’t help but refer to her own mother Angie (Anita Dobson) and her famous battle with alcoholism.
“What I learned from dealing with my mum and Phil is, sometimes you have to let them reach rock bottom, the real rock bottom.
“You have to leave them standing on their own two feet. Because as long as you keep holding them up, they are never going to face any of it.
They way the writers have referred to the legacy of the show is the definition of intelligent writing.
“Walking away from both of them, is one of the hardest things I have ever done. But you just have to break the cycle.”
For Sharon to refer back, in the very pub that it all took place in, surrounded by alcohol was just too poignant.
The way she continued to treat and react to Linda by throwing her out just the episode before was fascinating.
She has been there, done that and worn the t-shirt, now three times over as she watches her best friend fall victim to the same disease that took her mother.
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One cannot help but think about Angie, as we see yet another landlady of the infamous Walford pub fall victim to addiction.
The way the writers have referred to the legacy, both overtly and covertly, is the definition of intelligent writing.
But just when we think it couldn’t get worse, bosses have figured out a way for Linda to fall down further.
Linda is dealing with her own demons as she misses her seemingly dead husband and is engulfed by grief over the murder of Keanu (Danny Walters).
Walking away from both of them, is one of the hardest things I have ever done. But you just have to break the cycle.
Sharon Watts
This is as Lauren (Jacqueline Jossa) is dealing with her smack habit and Phil fights to stay sober, the holy trinity of addicts.
Coronation Street has also done their own storyline around the disease with Peter Barlow (Chris Gascoyne).
But I can honestly say I have never seen anything like this which is so stark, dark, and dangerous. This is what soaps SHOULD be like.
It’s clear that the producers are delicately building on years of dramatic layering to what could very well be a devastating crescendo.
In comparison, Coronation Street are willing to kill off legacy characters just to advance short term plots that are not really going anywhere.
Emmerdale has been brilliant with the Tom and Belle coercive control storyline, but viewers are sure to wonder what’s next after that.
With every day that passes, I am becoming more impressed by what I have watched, constantly waiting in anticipation for the next Duff Duff.
I wish I could say the same about the others.
EastEnders continues Monday to Thursday on BBC One and iPlayer.
