Langford on Soaps: Ben to Commit Bloody Murder on "EastEnders"

LANGFORD'S PICKS AND PANS

Hollyoaks

Well, it looks like Callum and George are going to be just friends, at least that’s what I’m forecasting after weeks of wondering. And that’s fine. Romance would have been nice, but I like them both, and I always enjoy strong friendships between gay men and straight men. But I do hope that the show eventually gives George a love interest. Though as I said before, this is Hollyoaks,so I’d be surprised if they didn’t. I did think the scenes of the guys cruising Callum in the gay club were cute. He’s the kind of guy who would definitely attract attention.

Meanwhile, as for Brendan, I liked his scenes with Cheryl and especially with Darren, even if Brendan suddenly hanging out with Darren makes little sense given they’ve said about two words to each other since Brendan arrived in town.

I particularly liked the scene where Darren talked about having to please the women in your life and Brendan responded that he wouldn’t know about that. Brendan has really gotten comfortable with his sexuality (and his wardrobe has certainly gotten flashier), though I can’t believe Darren didn’t know. He must be one of the few people in town that didn’t.

However, as I mentioned last week, this show really seems to have no direction and that’s fully in evidence with Brendan, who wanders around town, drifting through various storylines, playing the Greek Chorus. That is such a waste of a strong and dynamic character that the show centered around for most of last year.

Has the show forgotten the rating and critical success they garnered when they used this character properly? Or when they actually wrote long term story arcs? Here’s hoping they remember – and soon.

Good Times, Bad Times

Good Times, Bad Timeswas strong this past week as they dealt with the ramifications of Edwin’s death. While the acting was very good across the board, I think that Cynthia Abma really shined as Bianca. I loved her scenes, and watching Bianca planning what clothes Edwin would wear as he was buried brought a tear to my eye. Bianca did what she always does, strugging to hold her family together and keep them together in the face of a crisis. I enjoyed all her scenes, but I think my favorite was when she told Anton that no matter where he ran and what room he went into, Edwin would still be dead. Great stuff.

Ferry Doedens was good as Lucas as well, and I suspect given that Lucas has always been highly emotional that he’s headed for a major downward spiral. Lucas generally prefers to ignore the bad things in life, I'm guessing his efforts to do that will lead to some unfortunate behavior.

I did like the scene between him and Ludo where Ludo told Lucas that Edwin’s death was no excuse for his nasty behavior towards his mother and sister. That was spot on, and it was good to see Lucas go and apologize to Nina. And I must add that Noud is looking very delicious for someone near death just an episode or two ago.

*THANKS TO GTSTfanMARK FOR THE CLIPS!