Oh Hollyoaks, you've gone devilishly dark...

The reason Hollyoaks always has its praises sung by viewers is the way it doesn't do things by halves. I've said it before and I've said it again - the boundaries are always pushed by the soap.

And last night's first look over on E4 did that once again, bringing us into the New Year with a bang.

My favourite part was how the writers had me, along with many others it seems, feeling sorry for one of the most horrid men in soap.
When Patrick Blake's Motor Neurone Disease storyline was announce, I thought it was a clever way to take a character who had done so many unforgivable things, and put him into a position where you would easily have empathy for him.
Of course, over the last few months, and with Maxine back in his life, we saw Patrick's dark side once more. He's been setting Maxine up, to frame her for his murder, after begging her to help him die when he was ready. Patrick thought that Maxine was with him again in pity and believed that she truly wanted to be back with Darren Osborne. But at the eleventh hour, after Maxine refused to go through with the plan, Patrick realised that she did love him, and wanted to stay alive for his family's sake, as long as possible.

There were holes forming in Patrick's previous plan of framing Maxine, I thought. Especially as his daughter, Sienna, knew of his pleas about wanting help to die, and in turn Sienna had told her Bobby boyfriend, Ben.
But that didn't matter now, as Patrick had changed his mind, and with Sienna about to rush off to tell Maxine the good news, she was quickly stopped for a moment, when Patrick confessed to his video recording, which had been sent to Ben at the Police station, confessing all about Nico killing Carly.
Another redemption here from Patrick, who was genuinely concerned for his daughter's welfare at the hands of his murderous granddaughter.

The Blake's... Hollyoaks' very own family of doom...

Murderous? Not yet, because I do believe that Carly's death was an accident. But now, as Sienna rushed off to stop Ben from watching the recording, little did Patrick know that Nico had heard all on Minnie's baby monitor. And she would now turn into a murderer.
Knowing all about Patrick's previous plan to frame Maxine, Nico approached her granddad, telling him that they had a plan, and the police would think Maxine had done it... what with all the evidence he'd left behind.

And so poor Patrick was killed at the hands of his teenage granddaughter, with Maxine coming home (ecstatic at the messages left, that he'd changed his mind and wanted to live), and finding his body.

As Max screamed out, it was no one other than Darren who heard her...

I can't see this ending well for Maxine...or Darren.

If Maxine realises what Patrick had planned, what will she do to keep herself out of prison? And what's next for Nico?
We used to think that Sienna was bad, but her daughter's more than a chip off the old block, that's for sure.
Nico nearly lost it over her involvement in Carly's death, but this time she knew what she was doing, so I imagine she will act like the cold-hearted killer she's turned in to.

No wrong-doings stay hidden in soap for long, as even Lindsey's reign as the gloved-hand killer is set to be exposed this year. But will Nico strike again before her secret's out?

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