So after watching tonight's episode of Eastenders I was thinking how strange the difference is between the characters of Stan and Aunt Babe now from when they first appeared. It feels even stranger when you consider how their first scene together came across to me and I'd assume other viewers as well.

While Stan was portrayed as, and even billed as being manipulative, cruel and selfish Aunt Babe was portrayed as the kind, gentle and funny matriarch of the family who all the Carters had respect and love for, and when Stan and her had their first scene together they actually seemed like polar opposites, Stan had been seen coming across as a bit of a manipulator in certain scenes and Babe was portrayed as the only character strong willed enough and wise enough to oppose him.

Now however, after fast forwarding some months Stan comes across, in my eyes as a man who did make a lot of mistakes in the past but as somebody who genuinely regrets them and who does care about his family. Recent scenes where he's really looked out for Dean and the fact that he's repaired his relationship with Shirley really reinforced that for me.

Aunt Babe has degraded from how she was back then, in the opposite direction. While she did bring up the weed idea months ago it was in a scene that was slightly comedic more than anything, whereas now it's got pretty serious and quite gritty. She's raised the ire of the entire family by roping and MANIPULATING (a key word when viewing the contrast) Tina into dealing drugs for her, and now seems more than satisfied to manipulate Dean into helping her as well, another contrast to Stan who genuinely seems to care about Dean.

Am I alone in finding both of their characters drastic changes to how they initially appeared to be as noticeable and significant? And if I'm not then do you think the changes were always planned or were a by-product of how popular Stan has been to viewers? I'd love to hear all your opinions.

You're bang on the money. It's as if they've swapped personalities.

This aspect has been very intriguing. Is it that appearances are deceiving to both the audience and the characters. Aunt Babe is sinister underneath whereas Stan has appeared to be blatantly sinister in the past and has now mellowed. Aunt Babes pulls the strings behind the scenes like all twisted matriarchs.

Don't be fool enough to think Stan has changed...

Yeah I remember that first scene between the two of them well. At the time it seemed to be 'He can't pull the wool over her eyes.' It's interesting that it now seems the roles have been reversed. I get the feeling that Stan will find out first about her manipulations and a big confrontation between the two of 'em is in the offing.

Tina wasn't manipulated by Babe.

Tina rang her up when she lost her job at the cafe and needed money and said she wanted in on the deal.

I genuinely don't see any benefit in making Stan evil again truth be told. We already have Babe acting like a villain and with Sylvie possibly being around there's no room for Stan to be bad in my eyes. Plus his touching scenes visiting Patrick were implemented in my opinion to make him more likable.