EastEnders - Breaking up and Making up...

Lately, EastEnders has not been at its best. We get the odd outstanding episode, such as Heather's centric episode and the episodes focusing on Whitney but then we return to episodes of a mediocre standard.

Tonight's episode was one of the mediocre ones. We have Kat and Alfie breaking up and making up, then breaking up again, then getting back together again - it really is an endless cycle and becomes very boring to watch. I do like Kat and Alfie, but they need to stop being so overused or I will soon get tired at the sight of them. Alfie's being portrayed like Mother Teresa, helping the woman with her bags on the way to the Tube and putting up with Kat's behaviour. I hope we start to see some of his flaws soon, or Alfie being the saint will start to wear thin. Their grief at losing their child has been acted out extremely well, but everything involving them seems to be going round in circles. There's no plot development at all. I have a feeling that Kat and Alfie won't get any further development until Ronnie gives them their baby back...

And talking of Ronnie, this is another character I'm starting to get tired of seeing. It's the same case as Kat and Alfie - there doesn't seem to be any plot development or progress at all. In each episode, she's still disliking Michael and she's still pulling the same miserable face. In my opinion, the baby swap should have ended when Tommy's funeral was taking place. Ronnie was on the brink of confessing then, but she never did. She even handed the baby over to its own mother, but the truth still didn't come out which I found highly unconvincing! This has lead to the baby swap plot dragging on and on ever since. Maybe the writers had something big planned to drive the story forward, and this may have been stopped because of the baby swap controversy over the New Year. Whatever the reason, this story has really dragged and made me really dislike Ronnie. It would have been great to have seen some twists and turns in this story, but this hasn't happened, maybe due to the high level complaints that the BBC received from angry viewers. Whatever the case, I can't wait for it to all come out in the open now and for Kat and Alfie to be reunited with their son.

Despite the negatives, there were some positives to this episode. I'm starting to really like Michael Moon. As a character I think he has brilliant potential. He could shape up nicely as the next villain of Albert Square, if the writers play it right. The actor who plays him seems to bring a lot of mystery and charm to his role, making him good to watch on the screen. His pairing with Roxy does seem a tad contrived though, just to make the fall out of the baby swap even bigger as it will obviously affect Michael and Roxy's relationship.

One thing EastEnders has done well with over the past year is improving friendships and introducing a sense of community in the Square, which was sorely lacking in Deirdrick Santer's era. I'm loving Tanya and Syed together, and Fatboy and Ian provided some amusing moments tonight. These friendships could develop into something credible and convincing to watch on screen. I think in particular, Fatboy bounces off a lot of different characters very well. His scenes with Dot are always a joy to watch and I hope to see some more scenes between him and Dot in the future.

Speaking of Dot, Carol ended up really saying the wrong thing didn't she?! But it's what we were all thinking of as viewers... I think this Mr Bishop guy has the right intentions and there's nothing wrong with them both seeking companionship with one another, but he needs to remember that Dot is a married woman.