Series Pure garbage
Eastenders is a pointless, miserable and repetitive show with nothing going for it. I've you've seen one episode, you've seen the whole series. Every episode deals with the characters arguing about something, fighting, doing drugs, getting drunk, being assholes and even committing murder. It all gets so tiresome so quickly that it's a wonder anyone even watches this trash. The characters themselves are incredibly unlikable, bland and annoying. As I mentioned previously, all they do is argue, fight, act like jerkasses, ect. And it's really hard to care about them. The only good thing about the series I can think of are the hilariously bad arguments and bad fights because of how unintentionally funny they are, but other than that, there's nothing good about this series. I wonder when this show will get cancelled, it's been going for so long and I think it's about time they just end it already.
Series Tried getting into it, too miserable to be worth the audience
I moved into the UK fairly recently to marry my now wife, and I tried getting into Eastenders as it's something she likes to follow and I thought it was something we could both bond over.
That was a colossal mistake.
It's common knowledge that Eastenders is a miserable show. It's like your screen becomes a black hole that only sucks in nice things. It's actually quite fascinating, in a horrible sort of way.
But it's so miserable, and trying so hard with its twists and turns that it wraps into itself and becomes a boring, predictable slog. And when something good happens, it's inevitably got a catch that makes it short lived, and such developments are so constant, with conflicts that get unnecessarily streched out, that you start to feel there's no point in caring or get invested into anything. And if a viewer has no personal investment, they're a lot more likely to think that nothing in the story is worth even paying attention to. And in that case...what even is the point of bothering?
While Eastenders does have some things going on for it, like some genuinely likeable characters and a good slew of skilled actors who can really sell some scenes...the overall depressing setting of Eastenders wastes both ultimately. And Perhaps no one in modern Eastenders embody best everything about Eastenders that works against it than the Panesar family: Conflicts that drag for a painful amount of time with the aforementioned twists and turns, with characters that are too vile or too one-note with nothing redeeming about them to be worth investing in. Suki's current arc of being a comparatively good person trapped in an abysmal, suffocating home environment while away from any people who genuinely support her, portrayed incredibly well by Balvinder Sopal, suffered from the general stretching of conflict (She's got an opening to send Nish to prison and be free and happy with Eve? Oh Nish was tipped off to the police by a spy in the force. Suki and Eve have an opening to run off and be happy together? Oh Suki had an accident and broke her ribs, which led to Vinny finding out and gaslighting and blackmailing her into staying with Nish and breaking things with Eve. Suki found out Ravi caused the murder that Kheerat turned himself in for and his working out a plan with Denise to get Ravi sent down and Kheerat freed? Oh Ravi was listening in on the whole thing and ordered an attack on Kheerat to put pressure on Suki.) to a point where there's little point in hoping things will get better for her and by the time they do, it'll be too soured by how long it took to get there to be any sort of satisfying.
But while Suki's story is too long-suffering to be worth investing into, even by Eastender standards, Nish is too arrogant and condescending with no real depth or charisma, Ravi's the same but with the bonus that his overall behaviour ruins the things that potentially humanize him and thus make him just another Nish...No character is more infuriating to watch in all of Eastenders than Vinny, who acts tough but can't walk the talk, blackmails and gaslights his mother into staying in a toxic marriage despite hearing her rant about how miserable she is in said marriage, has the gall to act like he and Nish are victims when Suki wants to leave with Eve to finally have some of the happiness none of her present family allow her to have and despite treating his mother like crap, he still expects her to help him clean up his messes when he's not running to his big brother for help.
Whenever Nish, Vinny or Ravi are on-screen, any enjoyment for the episode immediately tanks because inevitably, it all leads to the same conclusion and misery that is par for the course for Eastenders...and while I'm proud to have at least given it a shot...it's simply too bleak to be worth getting invested into.
And once again...if there's nothing worth personal investment, what's the point?