This is really annoying. A whole episode of "I've got some bad news...." CUT AWAY to different scene.... CUT BACK to news already broken and reactions all missed out.

In what way is this effective? Are they deliberately trying to miss out all the drama and emotion?

Why would hearing the news need to be shown more than once? If we saw everyone on the square be told what happened the episode would be more than an hour long.

Because you'd hear the same story six times in one episode.

Because they aren't very good at drama

If we saw the breaking of the news all the time it would lose it effectiveness - all we needed were their reactions - worked much better this way - seeing to full on grief of Jack - followed by just the reactions of the others.

You guys are missing the point. We DID see the same scene 6 times.... over and over again. somebody walking in looking upset/saying "I've got bad news" etc.... an episode of people walking in with bad news but never actually showing the drama of seeing anyone's reactions. We DIDN'T see their reactions. We saw some of them after the news had sunk in. Not the same thing. Missing what could have been quality emotional scenes. I agree it would have been repetitive but better to repeat actual emotional drama than 30 minutes of people saying "What's happened?" CUT AWAY.

That's what it felt like anyway.

Jack and Glenda coping should have been the sole focus of the episode, IMO.

And , we've seen the exciting bins for months .

It reminded me of how Home and Away used to do the death ring eps.

Badly executed episode imo.

The acting of some of the cast was not on point really for me.

Possibly we should have seen the reveal of them at the beginning floating. Maybe Max and/or Jack go looking for them. I'm surprised Jack didn't do this as he is usually very clingy.

Totally agree OP, it was incredibly annoying and most of them didn't seem too bothered by it.....even Stacey could only muster a weird grimace and Martin was thinking about his pie.
I know they are used to tragic deaths on Albert Square but I didn't think they had become this desensitised to it!

I agree. I understand the vision of what they were trying to do, but sadly it was at the expense of what could have been better/classic scenes.

Agree with you 100% this really ruined it for me. They could have done a scene like when Nigel Bates told Claire her mum had died and we saw it from Grant's point of view. This would have been really touching if they did it with the kids.

Sharon's reaction was far too calm for me when she was initially told.

This did make me smile

I agree, it was massively frustrating.

I think tonight's episode was one of the poorest in weeks. The aftermath of the story was never going to be huge (not a bad thing, it's not a murder plot that warrants storylines to go sparking off), but in terms of what could have been done, tonights episode lacked focus and most disappointingly, lacked substance. Like you say, it just felt like people walking from house to house with a sad face, announcing "Something terrible has happened"...

Also, how many times was 'Max pulls the bag of cocaine out of his pocket' (to remind the audience he still has it) played!?

A dull, disappointing episode enveloped in a period where I've found the quality to be consistently good.

I agree. Max and Jack were told what happened by the police so we don't need to hear everyone else get told, just see their reactions.

It is so annoying but I was half expecting an episode full of the camera cutting away just as someone is about to break the bad news. They seem to do it in all the soaps but Eastenders is the worst for it. It's almost as annoying as when a major event has just taken place at the end of an episode, and then the next episode starts with the next day (like after the deaths of Dennis, Danielle and Bradley.)

As already pointed out, we didn't see their reactions. That's the point of the thread.

(Also, you're wrong about Max. He was the first of the cut-aways the episode was full of.)

I assumed it was because they didnt know the ending as it was being kept a secret and just filmed a few people today? They filmed people crying or upset but no reason given

I must admit I was really taken aback when Stacey pulled an almost comical sad face/pout.

Completely agree. It took away the impact. I only felt emotion when Jack and Phil were told (I liked how Sharon delivered the news, she almost had me going).

We saw Sharon, Phil, Dot, Ben, Louise, Abi, Lauren, Stacey, Martin and Michelle all react to the news although I agree it was quite brief. Though Jack didn't want too many people to know, I agree that they could perhaps have shown more and had Ian, Jane and Steven's reactions too.

I can see what they were trying to do, but I don't think they pulled it off.

They also kept saying they wanted to keep it quiet for now - and then went and told nearly everybody in the square.

I thought exactly the same. When they cut to Jack as Max told Sharon, I thought oh, maybe it's because they're saving the reaction for the rest of the Mitchells or Phil. I'd have much rather have seen longer with Phil & Sharon than the only big reaction scene be the Fowlers. Ben & Louise were probably the most we got in the way of a reaction.

Well i very much doubt they could fit in everyones reaction in the half hour!
It was quite realistic though the way everyone was told, i see where they are going with the show adding 'realism', however its just not doing it for me. I dont want to switch off but i cant keep on watching this if its going to be the same sort of nonsense every episode. I want escapism. Not trying to be funny, but even the actors are looking bored.
Ronnie and Roxy have pretty much been the only interesting characters for me in the past 3 months