Emmerdale fans have been left moaning after they accused producers of ‘dumbing down’ beloved character.
Over the past few months, ITV viewers have been gripped by the coercive control storyline within The Dales.
Tom King (James Chase) has been bullying, manipulating, and abusing Belle Dingle (Eden Taylor-Draper) behind the doors of their cottage home.
She has rarely left the house due to her husband’s horrid ways, as she has even been made to feel more distant from her own family.
Over the years, Belle has been involved in gritty storylines and has not been afraid to stand up for herself, or at least that is what fans have thought.
Now, they think she is a shadow of her former self, as she struggled to keep her marriage alive and do as her husband said.
Charity previously concocted a plan to try and rescue her in an intervention after their house nearly caught fire as she was locked inside.
Belle also aborted their baby behind her husband’s back before he plotted to kidnap her and whisk her away to Wales.
Now fans seem to have had enough of the storyline, as they say that Belle is now almost unrecognisable.
On fan forum website Reddit, one fan has written a short essay on the character, accusing producers of ‘dumbing’ her down.
The viewer explained: “There’s lots to admire about the abuse storyline but there’s one thing that’s been bugging me.
“Obviously there are many reasons people can become trapped in an abusive relationship in the real world, but it feels like they’ve had to dumb Belle down and forget her past for the story to work.
“It was only 6 years ago Belle dated Lachlan, a manipulative serial killer, not unlike Tom.
“He hasn’t been mentioned much if at all during this story, as if they want viewers to forget what she went through and how she eventually escaped his clutches.
“I vividly remember when she had her final showdown with Lachlan, so I’ve struggled to believe in this version of Belle when I feel like we’ve seen bits of this before.”
They added: “Is it just me who thinks Belle would have seen the red flags much sooner with Tom and got out because of her past with Lachlan?
“The problem for me is the way the writers rushed Tom and Belle’s early relationship.
“I’ve found it hard to believe she would like him and stay with him, whereas Belle and Lachlan had about 3 years of them bonding and he was eventually welcomed by the family.”
And it seems the loyal Emmerdale fans agree, as they flooded the comments section under the thread.
One wrote: “Honestly after the fire thing I’m suspicious she really is just a step above drooling all the time…”
The problem for me is the way the writers rushed Tom and Belle’s early relationship.
Emmerdale fan
A second viewer noted: “I think Belle perhaps took a rather too romantic view of Tom when he reappeared, as he was in a way her ‘first love’, and that can skew your judgement a bit.”
Whilst a third added: “I was thinking the same, realistically people would be wary of him just based off his 2013 appearance alone, he stalked Chas and threatened to kill her, bullied Sean and manipulated him into vandalising the pub, and generally caused trouble for half the village.”
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