Emmerdale

[Red Ranger 1]

Well, Ella seems to be more and more messed up by the episode.Adam, what were you thinking?You do have to wonder what she thought was going to happen, she deserves to lose everyone after this. Typically, soap's "female violence towards men is okay" attitude means she hits Declan ever though she's the one that cheated.My biggest worry is for the Bartons:Since this is a soap, Mia will obviously find out at one point, probably quite soon, and I hope Declan doesn't make good his promise if that happens.John's reaction was comedy gold:"How in god's name did you manage to pull a woman like that?!"

Alex staring at Alicia's breasts the way he did would be pretty creepy behaviour even if he didn't have a girlfriend.Given that he saw through Victoria and Amy's little scheme, it's frankly very debatable whether Victoria can trust him.Eric pulling the wool over Val and Amy's eyes was rather enjoyable and, even when they got their own back, it was nice that they didn't fool him completely.

I don't think Aaron's actions even deserve a manslaughter conviction, it did seem like Jackson drank at least some of the drugs himself while Aaron just held the glass for him.Assisted suicide would probably be better.Much as I liked Jackson, Hazel's assertion that he wouldn't have done this if he'd known the outcome seems rather naive.

[Slade]

Firstly I’m going to give Chas a bit of credit again. When Gennie was in her face telling her some home truths and Charity was telling Gennie to back off I was expecting Chas to lamp her but I wasn’t expecting Chas to storm off crying. I think it was a combination of the fact some of what Gennie said was right and she was finding it hard to cope with the stuff happening with Aaron but she did decide to walk away.

I actually didn’t have a problem with Alex staring at Alicia like that. If anything you could tell from her reaction that she relished the attention.

I thought the stuff with Declan was hilarious. Every time he was in a scene I couldn’t stop laughing. How he didn’t smack Adam is beyond me. Despite what happened with John and Eve I was actually expecting John to go into a self-righteous rant but I wasn’t expecting his “How did you manage to pull a bird like that line?” to Adam which I agree was classic. It was almost as if John had a kind of admiration for Adam sleeping with Ella. Obviously Declan doesn’t want to truth to come out because he understandably wants to protect Mia but it’s also because he doesn’t want to face the embarrassment of his daughter’s eighteen year old boyfriend sleeping with his ex wife. Purely for entertainment reasons I really, really want this to come out. Can you imagine what the reactions of some of the locals would be not to mention some of the conversations in the Woolpack and the fall out with Mia and her mother. I was willing Ella to tell Charity and Jai this week but even when she was wasted she still managed to restrain herself.

If I’m being honest I’m finding a few of the characters quite annoying at the moment:

Gennie - What Nikhil said to her was pretty bad but I’m sick of her attitude towards him especially at work making her smart remarks and constantly undermining him. She should learn to be more professional. If she can’t she should think about leaving. The only reason she told him to drive carefully was because Jai had a quiet work with her. Still it does feel like Nikhil’s reverting back to the person he was when he first turned up.

Charity - At times I seriously think she’s a waste of space. Her attitude when she was working at the Woolpack was a massive pain in the backside. And I hated the way she threw the sauce over Alicia’s top and shown a total disregard for Diane i.e. when she had the lock-in. I’m surprised Diane put up with her for that long TBH but I suppose at least Chas fired her –eventually. Not that she’s finished stuffing things up at the Woolpack she’s hanging around the factory and hindering Nikhil from doing his job. I think he’s frustration is understandable and it doesn’t help when she winds him up.

Leyla – She has annoyed me with her whole attitude towards Alicia and Andy moving to Spain. Clearly she wants Jacob to stay but I don’t think she has any right to stick her nose in. And it feels like she’s prepared to be quite underhand about it i.e. calling the school and I’m sure she would have told Jake if Alicia hadn’t of backed out of taking Jacob.

Nicola - Her attitude towards Jimmy is extremely frustrating. I agree with Jimmy that stopping him from seeing Angelica is also going to hurt her and I don’t really blame him for wanting to spend the whole day with her although interestingly she admitted to Laurel that she still loves him. I’m glad at least Rodney’s being objective.

Brenda – Brenda and her big mouth. Not once but twice. I’m still trying to work out when she firstly told Nicola about Rodney meeting Jimmy earlier on in the day then the fact that Rodney had let Jimmy see Angelica before was deliberate or accidental.

[Red Ranger 1]

I have to admit, while I don't think Aaron or Hazel deserves to go to jail over this, I do think they made the wrong decision and I've no problem with the verbal abuse they seem to be receiving as routine.Hazel sitting around wallowing instead of facing up to what's happened isn't really helping me sympathise with her.

I am going right off Leyla at the moment, with her increasingly underhand and obsessive attempts to keep Jacob with her.Taking his phone off him so he couldn't call Alicia was just cruel.There was probably a time when I thought Jacob was better off with Leyla and they certainly can't keep him in the dark forever but at the moment he sees Alicia as his mum and Leyla shouldn't be getting in the way of that.

Nikhil sacking Holly for theft on what was circumstantial evidence at the best annoyed me but at least he apologised afterwards.I do find myself on his side concerning Charity though, who's feeling increasingly like a millstone round their necks.I find myself laughing at the camaraderie between him and Jai as they convinced Charity that Nikhil had had to walk back after she made a mess of their deal.Not sure what the deal is with Cain and Holly, I think she probably fancies him but he's only hanging out with her to wind people up.Still can't help thinking it's Moira he's going to have the affair with, especially after his comments about taking her for a test drive.

Actually find I wouldn't have minded if something had happened between Jimmy and Gennie but I doubt they'll go there.At least it doesn't seem to have affected Nicola letting him see Angelica.I've stopped caring about Victoria and Alex, they seem to be on and off on an episode by episode basis and I'm having trouble keeping up.

[Slade]

Last time I posted I mentioned how annoying I found some of the characters. Well nothing’s really changed and I'm finding quite a few of them unlikeable at present. I’m not going to mention all of them but here goes

Carl – Annoyed me immensely when he used the money Scarlett gave him for Chas for his Haulage business. And he seemed completely unrepentant about it and couldn’t understand why she was so annoyed.

Eve – Doesn’t really appear to do much but b*tch about Carl and make snide remarks towards him. I wonder what she’s still doing on the show especially with Scarlett going as she hasn’t been involved in any major storylines for months and isn’t really interacting with any of the other characters.

Ella – Hated the way she tried bully Katie into ending her relationship with Declan and am glad Katie didn’t back down. Most of her time seems to spend acting like a hopeless, desperate drunk.

Leyla – Still annoying me with her attitude towards Jacob and if Alicia wants to go to Spain with Jacob she’ll just have to accept it.

Alicia – Completely and totally self-centred. Example, when she and Andy came back from Spain and they were talking about Aaron she just glossed over it and turned the conversation back to herself. I don’t like Leyla’s interference but Alicia really should think about Jacob before moving.

Amy – Complete waste of space. Once again shows a complete disregard for the two people who have gone out of their way to treat her like their own daughter and steals from them.

Andy – Hated his attitude towards Sam and Sampson. It annoyed me how aggressive and confrontational he was. Although it’s understandable he wants to protect Sarah. Completely agreed when Sam outlined his hypocrisy in taking the moral high-ground about hitting women. I just wish he’d actually said it to Andy.

I struggle to like Aaron at all in general but I’ve actually quite liked him this week. I really liked the fact that he was resigned to his fate and the fact that he finally appeared to accept the implications of what he did and didn’t try to defend himself when Jerry had a go at him after the court case. I thought he was going to be found guilty so was surprised when he got off. He did bother me by the end the way it felt like he was trying to lay the blame on Hazel and Chas when he consciously made the decision to help Jackson end his life.

Despite the flack he received I’m glad Ashley stuck to his guns and went to the trial to support Aaron. Unfortunately the rest of Aaron’s family couldn’t understand that Ashley didn’t have a problem with Aaron himself but more with what Aaron did.

Really not happy that Jai’s treating Charity to a 5-star holiday in Turkey. I don’t think Nikhil is either.

I'm actually glad Scarlett's gone. She was a character that I found quite boring and I struggled to see the point of her if I'm honest.

[Red Ranger 1]

I was also expecting Aaron to be found guilty but I'm glad he wasn't.Whilst I don't agree with what he did, I don't think he deserved to go to jail for it.And I'm kind of glad that he seems to have accepted that they made a mistake and that he's got nothing worth celebrating.I thought Rhona was a bit blunt when she told him to move out and wasn't particularly happy with her at that moment.

Whilst Scarlett wasn't that interesting a character, I did like her and it's always good to have someone nice and pretty to brighten the place up, so on that level I'll miss her.Not sure I'll miss Eve that much, although I did think she tended to get looked down on more than she deserved by people who could be as bad as her (*cough*Chas*).Bit odd to have Scarlett leave and then Eve leave a couple of episodes later to join her, might as well have had them go together.

I wouldn't be surprised if Cameron turns out to be responsible for Sarah's bruises, I've never entirely trusted him, but I do wonder if she's got some sort of illness that means she bruises easily. Ashley seems to have turned into a bit more of a windbag than usual lately, with his rather unsympathetic attitude towards Sandy, got a worrying suspicion about where they're going with that...

Leyla was completely out of order to grab Jacob and head off without telling anyone, especially since Jacob was uncomfortable with the whole thing.David was asking for trouble asking her to choose between Jake and him but maybe he was just looking for a way out.And Leyla was barmy for expecting Alicia to let her go to Spain with them.Whilst she deserves it to a point, I did feel a bit sorry for her when it became obvious she'd been left with no-one.

[Slade]

Just a note on this whole thing with Cain and Moira. It reeks of similarities to the storyline with Angie several years ago when he used Ollie to get closer to her, bedded Ollie to make Angie jealous then did get with Angie in the end.

I think the show’s been quite eventful as of late.

I am starting to get really fed up with this storyline with Aaron and whilst I appreciate it is quite a sensitive issue it’s been incredibly frustrating still seeing him act like a jerk, pushing away all the people who are trying to help and support him such as Chas, Hazel and Paddy. I didn’t blame Rhona for pressuring Chas into getting him to move in with her ASAP or Diane for wanting him to leave when he did move into the pub. Who in their right mind would want to live with someone acting like that? The whole thing when he was speeding, lost control of the car and crashed it was pure selfishness. He didn’t once think about Chas in all of it. He didn’t think about how it would affect Chas if something did happen to him or even Chas getting injured. I don’t normally condone violence but when Cain caught up with them and pulled Aaron out the car I probably wouldn’t have minded if he’d decked him. And I think even Aaron conceded that Cain would have been within his rights to have done so. I very rarely agree with anything Cain does but I thought he was absolutely spot on to sack Aaron and was annoyed when Chas talked him into giving Aaron his job back. I do think Aaron’s realised the implications of what he’s done and we did see a slight change in attitude and hopefully that will now continue because the way he’s been as of late I’d rather not see him at all to be honest.

I’ve had very little sympathy for Amy as of late and was really glad she was outed by her former foster brother like that although the fact that she was only partially at fault meant she gained a certainly level of sympathy from Zak, Alex and Victoria which I don’t think she deserved. Regardless I do quite like the relationship with Amy and Zak and she seems to treat him more like a parental figure than she does Val or Eric. Likewise I don’t feel very sympathetic towards her about being pregnant. Irrespective I think having an abortion is a sensible option given that she wouldn’t want any attachment to Cain Dingle. However I did feel a bit sorry for her and it really annoyed me the way Cain got heavy handed and tried to bully and threaten her into a termination and assuming that she goes along with it I really don’t like the way that he’s won...again. But I still think it’s the best thing all round.

A while back I said I really disliked Charity, well the dislike is starting to turn to hate. She deliberately stuffs the order up on the computer then gets the women at the factory riled up so they can rally around each other and make life near impossible for Nikhil as an employer although admittedly he still at times has very little tact and does himself no favours. I didn’t like the way Lisa was with him but it was understandable given the circumstances. I also didn’t like the way Ros very childishly made the prank call to Nikhil then told him to stick his job. Jai really annoyed me the way he immediately sided with Charity and refused to take anything Nikhil said into consideration although I fear it will be to late before he realises.

Oh dear, David is coping really badly since Leyla left although it was quite amusing seeing him burst into the Woolpack in her wedding dress. I liked the way Pearl stuck up for David and told Alicia that he took her in when she needed help so she could help him out now he’s in a similar situation. I’m glad she did go round to help him even though her cooking has a lot to be desired. It was also really good seeing Nikhil there to. It’s actually good to see Nikhil with a friend and doing something which actually doesn’t involve the factory or work.

What Adam is doing is beyond stupid and incredibly selfish I might add. How long does he actually expect his rekindled romance with Mia to go on for? Has he thought about how it will affect her when she finds out about him and Ella? (Because believe me she will!) Has he thought about his parents livelihood when Declan finds out about them? Still I quite liked Holly’s reaction when he told her but to reiterate what I just mentioned even she thinks this will all come out. I found it quite funny when Mia saw Declan and Katie together and was very grown up about it. I liked the way Declan was a bit suspicious and made the remark about his cheque book being burned (or something like that). What I liked best about the stuff with Declan and Katie was the way it wound Ella up. I LOVED that! Although not completely at fault, Ella cheats on Declan and does the dirty on her daughter and acts like the victim but now both Declan and Mia are in relationships and she’s all on her ownsome and is forced to kip at a mates house. Aint life grand?

[Red Ranger 1]

Kind of ironic that Val and Eric finally seem to have given up on Amy right when I wanted them to be on her side.Cain's lost pretty much any redeeming features he had left by trying to force her to have an abortion:Bit of a turnaround from the days when he was desperate for Jasmine not to have an abortion in identical circumstances.I'm actually glad that Amy's got Victoria supporting her, even if her loyalty does seem a bit misguided at times.

Well, Adam really was playing with fire by getting back with Mia.Loved Holly's sarcastic interjections when he admitted to John and Moira what happened.When Adam was doing the whole "You couldn't stay away from Mum if someone told you to!" thing with John, I really wanted him to retort "I wouldn't sleep with her mother either."I'm glad Mia's finally seen Ella for who she is and she's gone, only worried about Declan going after the Bartons;given the way he was behaving, it's no wonder John and Moira kicked him out.Still, might have bigger fish to fry for the moment:Mia being Jai's daughter was a definite surprise and I wasn't expecting it to affect Declan's relationship with her as much as it has, I'm rather disappointed with his reaction.

Glad Jai finally found out what Charity was up to.Wasn't happy with the way she just dumped herself on Gennie acting the victim, although Noah's moaning about how they keep leaving home raised a bit of a smile.

Not too sure how to feel about the Laurel/Marlon thing.If it's just about them being attracted to each other when they shouldn't, fine but if something actually happens between them...no.Laurel would never do that to Ashley.

[Slade]

Well predictably Adam and Mia didn't last 5 minutes. I don't think for one second that he loved her. To me it was just lust because he was single. I have to admit I did like that scene in the Woolpack where Adam and Ella were publicly exposed (although it would have been even better if Cain had been there). Best part was Chas's raised eyebrow when Mia outed them then her slightly impressed expression when Mia kneed Adam in the groin.

I didn't particularly like the way Declan stormed round to the Bartons and threatened them but I do feel his behaviour is understandable given his state of mind at the time. I do sympathise with him at the moment. His whole world's been turned upside down, found out his best mate slept with his ex wife behind his back, is the father of the child he brought up as his own, is torn between resenting his daughter and loving her and in the end decided he didn't want to be around her. I'm not too bothered Mia's gone. Although I liked the story line I didn't find her to be a very interesting character. Well at least Declan's got Katie I suppose.

I'm not sure if Hazel's gone for good but I actually don't mind her ATM. I liked that Chas wished her well and despite the fact that I've been pretty annoyed at Aaron's attitude towards her, I think him turning up even half acknowledging her was his way of burying the hatchet.

It is a sad storyline with Sarah's illness but I don't find it remotely interesting if I'm honest. I have to admit I did find it funny when Andy blamed Debbie's parent's "inbreeding". Regardless it is a very valid point though. The idea that family members having offspring with each other has the possibility of passing on illnesses inherited via recessive genes.

I was over the moon when Charity was outted. Fair play to Gennie and Chas too for not denying it too and understanding Jai's point of view. And I liked the way everyone turned on her then Jai finished with her. Getting back with her is one thing but I think he needs his head read if he wants to spend the rest of his life with her. Still it was worth it just to see Nikhil's reaction, also Cain and Debbie's. I'm actually not that annoyed about it because of the way she was outted previously and that everyone had a downer on her although I do wonder if she is still carrying a torch for Cain.

[Red Ranger 1]

Jai agreeing to marry Charity does seem a pretty insane decision on the face of it.I'm not sure if she's still got feelings for Cain or not:The kiss looked mostly one-sided but she seemed to be a bit affected afterwards.Glad he told her the whole story about Mia, especially after he lied about Declan knowing about him and Ella.Declan wasn't quite so truthful with Katie but I think he told her enough. Really thought Charity was going to let it slip in the pub but fortunately she realised in time.

Kind of up and down with Amy, I thought it was a shame Eric and Val weren't on her side initially, then I was annoyed when they forgave her.(Especially since it seemed to be largely the result of other people interfering and telling them they should.)Still, turns out neither Amy nor Cain got what they want:Short of chucking herself down some stairs, Amy's stuck with the baby.So it's win/win.

I am basically interested in Sarah's storyline but it doesn't half feel dragged out.I think it's been going about two months and we still seem nowhere nearer finding out what it's about.I did think it was unfair of Debbie to take Sarah to Jersey when Andy's worried about not seeing her, even if she did tell him about it.Mind you, there didn't seem to be any reason for Andy to refuse to go away with Alicia, when as she pointed out Sarah's not even gonna be there.

Don't really care about Aaron.I'm not a huge fan of the character so it's hard to muster much sympathy in him literally beating himself up.Did like Ashley's little chat to him though, showed a lot of understanding.Surprised they seem to be pushing Rachel towards Marlon, I thought she'd end up with Sam.Or is that just to make Laurel jealous?

[Slade]

Probably for the first time since I resumed watching Emmerdale after I stopped watching it for years I'm wondering if it's worth it any more. I'm finding a significant number of the characters so unlikeable at the moment and the ones I do like I don't find very interesting.

I was really annoyed with Cameron, Cain and Charity this week. The underhand way in which they went about stealing Carl's vans thereby ruining his haulage business had me rolling my eyes and shaking my head. Incidentally Carl really annoyed me last week when he slashed Cameron's tyres but I don't think he deserved that. Debbie's probably annoyed me the most however. I don't particularly like her but in a funny sort of way respected the way she single handedly raised Sarah on her own and ran her own business. Granted that I don't expect her to rat on her own family and it's one thing keeping quiet or acting completely ignorant like the way she did when Jai and Cain ripped off Nikhil but she actively participated in the theft. She spoke to Enda and knowingly distracted her so Charity could steel the keys to Carl's office. I know Carl was the one that started this but I thought that was taking it too far. I really hope that there are consequences for Cameron, Cain, Charity and Debbie but I suspect nothing more will happen with regards to the police so it will be interesting to see what Carl does. And that's twice he's effectively ended up losing a lot of money because of the Dingles. It's also annoying because of the storyline with Sarah (and now it seems her condition is more serious) and what they did to Carl kind of detracts from that.

Cain's attitude towards Amy this week shows precisely why I dislike him so much. He should be ashamed of himself threatening her like that. Don't like Victoria one bit but lucky for Amy she has a friend like her who was prepared to stand up to Cain and invlove Charity.

Although Charity semi redeemed herself warning Cain to back off Amy, I still don't like her at all. It was obvious that she and Cain were going to get back together and if he'd stayed away from Amy she would have happily done the dirty on Jai. Nikhil comes across as quite naive when it comes to women and relationships but even he can see the affinity between Charity and Cain and it will probably always be there. The best thing for Jai would be for him to finish with Charity and have nothing more to do with her but he is so smitten although deep down he knows there is a problem he's given her the benefit of the doubt.

Moira is seriously doing my head in. I can't stand the woman and for the most part she is acting like a complete cow to John. Every time he does anything she always has a go at him and seems to constantly bite his head off. In saying that I didn't particularly like his attitude towards her when she told him about the truck they'd bought of Cain. One of John's biggest problems is that he is a very proud person and although I agree they shouldn't trust Cain one bit, I really don't think they have any choice in the matter. They are that close to losing everything. In saying that Moira is playing a very dangerous game not telling John about the repayments. I always thought that Cain was only doing Holly a favour as an excuse to get closer to Moira and now that Charity has quashed any chance of a reunion, and Moira will have to see him on a regular basis until she paid back the money she owes him, she's going to be spending more time with him so I expect them to get closer. Like I mentioned before reeks of similarities to the storyline with him and Angie several years ago.

Alex and Victoria were quite annoying the way they deceived the estate agent and used that as an excuse to squat at Declan's house and it was frustrating seeing them being so stubborn refusing to move out but what Declan did to Andy was really low, even for him. I'm struggling to understand who Declan has the issue with. Is it John or Adam? Because if it is Adam then there was no real reason to hire Andy thereby removing him from working for John and then fire him so quickly. I would have thought he would have done something more direct. On the other hand if his problem is with John as John himself has already suggested then it is more understandable to do that to Andy as an indirect way of getting at him although I fail to understand why Declan would have a problem with John. It's not as if John's ever done anything to him personally.

Disappointed is the word I would use to describe what's happened with Marlon and Laurel. Really not happy that the writers have gone down this route but I guess it's a storyline nonetheless. So far it's just been a kiss so it will be interesting to see whether it develops into a full blown affair. If it did that would be the second time that's happened to Ashley.

Up until she declared her love for Andy, Alicia was really annoying. She was so wrapped up in herself and acting completely selfish. Ironically after being quite irritating himself with regards to his attitude towards Cameron regarding Sarah, I don't mind Andy at the moment. Still I can't say I'm over the moon about his reunion with Alicia as part of me really wanted to see Alicia get together with David.

One positive thing about this week is after having Aaron shoved down our throats, wallowing in self pity and treating the people closest to him like cr*p, at least they've toned his amount of screen time down which I guess is a blessing.