EASTENDERS: No Faaaammmillyyyy Values...

I'll repeat it again, I think EastEnders has been great this week, all beginning when Max turned Ninja and jumped the dock after his guilty verdict.

Last night, he was captured, and Ninja status stripped, but not before correctly guessing that Bobby killed Lucy, and shouting it across so that the whole Square could hear.
Of course, no one will believe him now. But how could his daughter, Lauren, let it all get this far?
No family values, those Branning's...
Well, that's nothing we didn't already know, as Lauren once ran her dad over purposefully, Abi stalked and tried to drown Lauren last Halloween, and Tanya buried Max alive one Good Friday night. It all seems to happen on Good Friday in Walford, eh!
I mean, could you imagine any one of the Mitchell's letting one of their own go down for something they knew they didn't do? To be fair, even if they did do it, they would still do anything to get them off the hook!
Max was always fighting a losing battle with Abi, who's been 'brainwashed' by the Mitchell's according to Lauren. It was Abi who called the police, revealing her dad's location, while giving her best Janine-esque look to Carol and co... Talking of Carol, I really liked the ridiculous idea of her going off with Max on the run. She needs some fire in her blood of late, and that would've been a quirky exit for her!
But it wasn't to be, thanks to Janine Abi, and Max was surrounded. The scene where he realised who he was taking the blame for was tense. You could feel Jane's stress seep through the telly, and Laurie Brett has been on fire since the Lucy story begun. When Lauren revealed that she knew, too, a heartbroken Max uttered that she was dead to him.

He disowned one daughter, and his other disowned him.

But whatever next?

We know that last night was Jake Wood's final Max scenes for just over a year, but how on earth will this play out and how can Max be released when Jake returns next year?
Stacey is the only one truly in Max's corner. She may urge him to fight an appeal, and she already believed that Jane was hiding something, so surely Max's pleas of Bobby being the killer will set even more alarms off in her head?
Lauren is also headed off again until the New Year... Maybe with her tail between her legs, leaving her dad to languish after he 'deaded' her... But even Lauren can surely see Max's feeling of betrayal. I can't get over how she's allowed his to go for the length of a trial. Yes, she trusted Jane, but as soon as that Guilty plea was heard, she should have spoken up. And she especially should now, that Max is in even hotter water. But my guess is, for whatever reason, she will head back to New Zealand keeping schtum.

Next week, the Beale's have a new dilemma, as Ian leaves a suicide note and a panicked Jane rushes off to find him. Ian will then see Kathy for the first time (and probably die of shock!)
I wonder how the Beale's will ever come back from this Bobby killed Lucy drama. Comeuppance is 99% a must in soap, and the whole family will come a cropper should the truth be revealed.
Let's face it, Max will be back on the Square by next Christmas, either because the truth comes out before then, or he wins an appeal, meaning that the police investigation will re-open, and they will surely have to look into the Bobby allegation?

Then again, a lot can happen in a year. Bobby could always 'accidentally' kill again before then.
I mean, he does seem to like those stairs...

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