The show has lost the plot (Again). I was full of praise for EE two months ago with the conclusion of the Bobby storyline and Peggy's death giving us two weeks of Classic and unmissable episodes.

Tonight's episode was a clear example of just how random and bizarre the show has become. There was no substance to it, no point what so ever. After a normal Friday episode, we were given an out of the blue death episode, for no apparent reason. Not to mention the fact it was obvious who died the minute the spoilers were released.

A couple of weeks back, we were also 'treated' to Gavin's exit. A character with so much promise, who must have been on screen for about 20 episodes (If that) in the space of a year. It didn't help his exit was also underwhelming and also random.

There's then a load of filler plots that aren't worth tuning in for at all, in my opinion. Donna's storyline and the current Lee/Whitney tripe are clear examples of this. Also, what has happened to the Andy storyline? Ronnie found out he was stalking her and the whole plot has just vanished. Not really that surprising though as plenty of characters and plots go missing for weeks on end in modern EastEnders.

There's then a load of characters floating around with no real purpose. Sonia and Tina never have been and never will be interesting. Kyle and sadly Belinda are just extras, Stacey and Martin are struggling for storylines by the looks of things, and the Carter's seem to have served their purpose now that the rape storyline has concluded. They bore me to tears if I'm honest. It's been left down to the Beale's and Mitchell's to provide the drama for long enough now.

It's looking asif Corrie is soon to get a big shake up under KO, but my main question, is what is going on with SOC, and why haven't we heard anything? His episodes have already started airing, and we still don't know where the show is going, what his vision is, what characters will be playing a big part in the coming months, etc... The only storyline I can thing of this Autumn is Max's return. I hope we hear from Sean soon, because he certainly has his work cut out. There's just no substance to EastEnders right now. It's being slated online and all sorts.

Rant over now, but does anyone else feel the same?

typical summer storylines, it will pick up once Max returns.

Don't care for any Sonia storyline either, not bothered about Stacey, we've had far enough already of her the first half of 2016 and Kyle and Andy can leave the sooner the better. I'd rather see Glenda again

From what I've read in other threads it's all still DTC stories that are just being produced by SOC and his own vision won't start really until the Autumn. Agree the handover hasn't been that well done really and DTC ran out of steam in Jan.

I'm just sick to death of the unrelenting drama for the Beale's and Mitchell's. Talk about the dead, the dying and the damned. Their miserable faces are getting on my last wick. Time to give some other characters and families a look in. It's not just that they're hogging the show but it's all brain damage, liver failure, drug addiction, car crashes, buildings landing on them, assault, cancer and suicide. Its worse than Holby City.

I do think they provide some good drama, but I agree the show does rely on them to provide it.

Hm, that could be the case, but I remember the change over from LN to DTC was a great period for the show and we had interviews with him and all sorts. If these episodes are SOC's vision, it isn't the best first impression.

It's not good it's blooming awful. You'd think TPTB would have learned their lesson when the Mitchell/Beale Xmas brought in the worst seasonal viewing figures ever.

Would imagine it will be back to a Branning Xmas this year

Maybe we'll get a new family.

Because of the producer change over maybe.

It just came out of the blue tonight. No lead up no worry or suspense. His death was lackluster and we all knew it was him anyway. It would have been better to see the fight

There is no fixed storylines, no real drama, just repetitive/random nonsense that makes no sense half the time.

Storylines also keep vanishing then popping up again

There is a lot going on but at the same time, nothing is happening.
I half expect Billy to start stealing post again.

SOC is most likely finishing off overseeing DTC's episodes then he will start work on his own. Apparently SOC doesn't like social media much so probably won't give out as many interviews and such like DTC has, which could be good.

I'm hoping that EastEnders will be better as SOC worked on the show during the early 2000's, so hopefully there is lots of great stuff coming up. But I agree tonight was meh. Nothing really happening, the drama was lost amongst a sea of Whitney trying to tell Lee she was pregnant. Johnny and Lee Arguing, Linda finding out about the pregnancy, Belinda getting research, i.e. filler. Finding out who had died (even though it was obvious) was stretched until the end of the episode but it didn't have much suspense at all.

Agreed. Where have the big storylines that used to build up nicely gone that would get everyone talking and have an explosive conclusion?

They have been replaced by silly random plots with no substance, and silly filler stories, along with OTT Shock moments, that make no sense.

I hope Sean brings the show back down to reality. It's been in the DTC, Lamb and co bubble for far too long now, with them trying to convince everyone the show is the best it's ever been and in the safest hands possible.

Agree, this is a soap and there are too many gaps between these things. For instance what's his face after god knows how long asking Andy about the file!!! And the spinoff we have coming with kat and Alfie has lost all impact for me. It's been ages now and I don't care anymore.

The Mitchell and Beales are the backbone families of the Square, it's only natural they will get a lot of emphasis. Under DTC, they have returned to the forefront after years of Branning dominance. Nobody wants to watch the Mitchells living like the Waltons. They've always been edgy and a bit dark, I don't want that lost.

As for the Carters, there was a big thing of them being overused. Now they're in a bit of a lull and they're boring. It seems whatever is happening with the Carters they will never wi

I do agree though the whole Gavin thing was horrendous! He will be one of Dominic Treadwell Collins's epic fails. You cannot embed a character into a show, certainly not one billed as "making Archie Mitchell look like a teddy bear" by just having them appear randomly from the shadows every few weeks to cause mischief. I was delighted that the story is over and I hope he isn't coming back ever! I won't be adverse to them killing him offscreen.

I know where you're coming from. Normally stories will all build up to something. But at the minute I don't feel any stories are building up to anything (maybe apart from Andy/Ronnie), and I don't have a clue what the future holds. It's just a bit flat. Not awful, but not particularly good. To be honest if Grant wasn't on his way back with SOC taking over more or less straight after, I'd probably have given it a break for the summer. But I'm looking forward to seeing where SOC takes EE and maybe his lack of social media use will be a good thing in terms of shocks.

DTC, Lamb and Batten are the main people I think. Honestly though I've disliked the background stories changing just to facilitate Gavin, who has been a complete flop and has been forgotten about. Seriously, why did they bother with him? Not threatening, all he does is lurk, he's a little old man with a godawful wig thing who could be easily overpowered yet everyone is made to be scared. I was glad Sharon stood up to him in those weird episodes a couple of weeks ago. There have been times where some episodes literally just feel like a DTC fantasy, so hopefully Sean will not do this.

I think what DTC's main issue is (or was, rather) was that he was a HUGE fan of the show himself and particularly in the last year has acted out what he has wanted to and he let it spiral out of control. As an example, I was watching the programme on Peggy Mitchell's demise and DTC features in it, saying how 'Peggy Mitchell IS EastEnders' when she isn't really, the show has coped without her before and it will after, but I think him saying that does emphasise how much of a fan of EE he is, and he has let this cloud his ideas, execution and running of the show. You can tell how much he loves Peggy because Linda had the tribute after her funeral, FGS let the woman rest in peace as opposed to harping on about the 'Queen of the Vic' all of the time. To be honest, the bigger loss to EE has been Pat, and that loss can still be felt in episodes sometimes. She would have been involved in lots of key storylines, such as Lucy's murder and Dean raping Linda and trying to rape Roxy etc. She's definitely the bigger loss to EastEnders in my opinion and it's mainly because of the amount of links she had to characters.

As much as I like the Carters, Beales and Mitchells, I do hope SOC gives some other characters other s/l's, such as Martin/Stacey along with Kyle and Belinda, the Foxes, Kazemi's etc, they always feel as if they're pushed to the sidelines. Obviously, since the Beales and co are the main Square family they will always be there, but sometimes it would be nice to not focus on them. Hopefully if Kat and Alfie come back after Redwater they can have some decent storylines also, particularly as SOC worked on EE during Kat's best stint with the 'You ain't my muvva' storyline and other brilliantly compelling storylines such as 'Who Shot Phil?' and the Little Mo/Trevor domestic abuse one. Apparently he also storylined Dot's wedding to Jim which was a nice storyline imo.

Yeah. It has seemed very fan fiction-esque at times.

I don't mind it being dull in the summer as I tend to tune out anyway, particularly when its all over the schedules. If they spend the next 3 months on Shaqil, Billy and Les I can go and do something else like when we had weeks of Dean/Buster/Shirley angst last year.

SOC would have had minimal input in the episodes we're seeing at the moment, which would have been filmed at the start of June which was before he'd started at the studios. Scripts would have been written several months before that, the episodes would have been filmed. He would probably have had input in editing which may explain the choppy nature of recent episodes; it may be that he's already shaping direction of future storylines. But he'd be very unpopular indeed if he came in and started demanding extensive rewrites and filming. I would say that if he started at the end of June, bearing in mind that scripts are usually written about three to four months in advance, it won't be until October that we really start seeing his vision on screen.

But with all that said, I think people are getting their hopes up if they're expecting drastic improvements. The fact that he's kept the abysmal Alex Lamb says it all really. The show's main weakness is its horrible lack of structure within storylines at the moment. If SOC can't fix that, it doesn't matter how many brilliant ideas he has, he's going to hit a brick wall every time with Lamb in charge of storylining. I will reserve judgement, though, until the winter.

I am enjoying it more now than I was three months ago. I think the show is in a good place at the moment