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| Ian; The Point of No Return? | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: 12 Aug 2015, 11:56 (1,813 Views) | |
| Mrs Peel | 12 Aug 2015, 11:56 Post #1 |
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Since Live Week, I have thought - and for the most part, I still do, as she started it off - that the motivating force in the Beale household for keeping Lucy's murder en famille has been Jane. Jane was always the hard-faced bitch who dismissed anyone's qualms of conscience by reminding them that they were doing this exercise "to protect Bobby." She was the nice cop who tried to emotionally manipulate Cindy into allowing the Beales to adopt Beth, she's the one who runs to "comfort" Cindy when she gets the jitters, all the while keeping a fish eye on her activities. She was the one who stolidly encouraged Ian to sacrifice his brother as Lucy's murderer because Ben "had form" and could cope with prison better than a young child. It actually got to the point where Ian was ready for Ben to be charged and was willing to see him imprisoned because Ian reckoned that Ben was damaged goods and Bobby wasn't. Hello? But since Ben was exonerated and Max has been put in the picture, the Beale roles have changed. It's Jane now, who's seen first-hand how Max's arrest, and subsequent trial and imprisonment will affect his family, some members of whom (Liam) are actually Ian's relatives as well - she's seen Abi coldly reject Max in favour of the Mitchells, when Jane knows Max to be innocent, and she's seen, up close and personal, how Carol is suffering. Jane has a brother too, and she'd fight as hard for Christian to clear his name as Carol is fighting for Max. It's now Ian who's the driving force and in the ugliest way. He's the big-bellied bully, who picks on people who are little more than children. He's got Cindy scared of the repercussions she'll face - i.e. prison - if she comes clean about what really happened that night, and now he's manipulating Liam into keeping his mouth shut,with a one-way ticket out of Walford. Exactly what would happen, if Liam told? This is the crux and the difference between Ian and Jane. Jane is delusionally trying to protect Bobby - even when she was determined to come clean to Carol about what happened in the house that night, I believe she would have told Carol that she, Jane, killed Lucy and thus would manage to protect Bobby. That's what's motivating her. But with Ian, it's something else - simply, the desire to protect his fat arse and what he has accomplished materially. When Jane announced that she was going to confess to Carol, his first reaction was ... You can't! We'll lose everything! Not "think of Bobby", not "think of yourself," but the fact that a confession would eventually mean that the Beale empire would be dismantled. Bobby would go to a Young Offenders prison, where - maybe - he would get help. Jane would go to prison for a long time, and even Ian and Cindy would receive sentences for perverting the course of justice. Only as a second thought did Ian pull the old "woe-is-me-I'm-afraid-of-being-alone" routine. Only as an afterthought did he dredge up the fact that Lucy was dead and Peter a world away. He couldn't lose Bobby, his last remaining child. Ian has past the point of no return, and he deserves comeuppance as much as Bobby, Jane, and Dean and Ronnie do for what they've done. I just hope TPTB have balls enough to pull this one off in style. |
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| WalfordCommon | 12 Aug 2015, 12:17 Post #2 |
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I despised Ian last night. Until he is dealt a hefty comeuppance I can't see myself ever sympathising with him again. |
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| AGavinIsMyLife | 12 Aug 2015, 14:41 Post #3 |
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I don't agree with this at all. His businesses would suffer as a result of the cover-up being exposed but I believe that's a consideration firmly at the back of his mind right now. Jane's worse than Ian IMO. She's created this unholy mess by not telling the truth immediately. She's put Ian in the position of having to choose between two sons, having to continue accepting sympathy from the community despite knowing the truth, following Ben's arrest once again having to choose between two family members. Ian's behaviour is out of order but Jane's at the root of all this and it bugs me that the writers are now attempting to portray her as the sympathetic one. Realism isn't DTC's strong point IMO so if he's around to deal with the fallout of the truth coming out, I don't doubt Ian's continued existence on the Square. If we're being somewhat realistic however, I agree with you in that there's no turning back for Ian. Forget Phil Mitchell, Ian would be getting death threats from people he doesn't even know who have been following the high-profile Lucy case in the media. No-one but Dot, Kathy and Sharon (and this might be a bridge too far for her) would give Ian the time of day. As said above, his businesses would suffer. At worst, his safety would be at risk from vigilantes; at best, there's nothing left for him. This isn't even considering the possibility he may serve prison time too. You could argue that other characters have done worse and stayed in the show but I'm not sure about that. By swapping the babies, Ronnie wasn't about to let someone rot in prison for her crime. Ronnie hadn't elicited genuine sympathy, even from her biggest enemies as Ian has done from Phil. Plus upon her release from prison, Ronnie had the family support that Ian simply won't have bar Kathy and even Kathy herself may not be popular, what with faking her death for years. Not everyone is convinced Dean is guilty of what he's done which enables him to stay on the Square. The likes of Archie were bumped off. Janine comes and goes, the polar opposite to Ian. |
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| See You Slater | 12 Aug 2015, 15:02 Post #4 |
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I thought Jane would be the cold hearted bitch whilst Ian would struggle but it seems to be the other way round, which puzzles me a little as before live week Jane was doing a very good job at holding it together. Jane is also a more expendable character than Ian. Ian is so unsympathetic at the minute, and the fact he keeps telling Bobby he's done nothing wrong is disturbing. I LOVE this storyline, but I do think it could be detrimental in the long run when we potentially lose the longest serving character in the show because of it. |
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| Mrs Peel | 12 Aug 2015, 17:04 Post #5 |
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Ian is very conscious of his position in the community and that of his family, past and present. He is also very greedy. Every person who lives in that house, and even Peter, who fled abroad, are liable for arrest and prosecution if this every comes to light. Losing his empire is a big part of Ian. He loses that and he loses his identity. Just look at what happened the last time - he had a mental breakdown and didn't function properly until he'd built the thing back up. The very daughter he mourned shafted him to get control of his businesses, then Ian shafted her to get them back. When Ian was just working on the fruit and veg stall, he was a different person. He was nice, pleasant, pleasurable and convivial. The moment he started to acquire money and businesses, his ugly side re-emerged, but the weird thing is that at that point, he became attractive to women again. Denise found him sexy, and Jane competed with her for his attention. I guess power really is sexy.
Jane is certainly the instigator of this entire mess, and, surprisingly, she admits it. She admitted it this week. Suddenly, she's able to see the damage her actions, as a reaction to Bobby's actions, have done not only to the Beale family, but how they've caused ructure with other families. The Beales were always the great preservers of community life on the Square, and now Jane has set in motion something that would smash all of that. I don't think they are trying to portray her as being sympathetic at all. She isn't, not after the way she behaved in emotionally blackmailing and manipulating Cindy. The Beales, and that includes Jane, have been bloody cruel to the point of emotionally abusive to her. Jane doesn't get a by, and if and when the truth is out, she'll be escorted from the Beale house by the police, handcuffed and with a blanket over her head. I do think, what they are trying to do is make the public know that Jane now sees, at the point when Lucy's investigation is re-opened in view of new witnesses and evidence, how the police now have to make this one stick and the core question is how amorally strong she is in seeing someone innocent incarcerated for a crime he didn't commit. She was perfectly willing to see Ben arrested and sent down, but Max touched a chord with her. She thought nothing in sacrificing Ben - if anything, this forced the main Mitchell to own up to what his son is and why he's like he is - but Max's plight touches Carol, who's lost a child and who's battled through cancer, and who's the mother and grandmother of Ian's extended relatives. Jane seeks redemption, through confession to Carol; and I think she's ready to accept whatever punishment comes her way. She even remarked about how she'd destroyed the family through what she's done. I even think she sees what years of bad parenting has done to Bobby, but even now, when she was intent on "confessing" to Carol, I had the feeling she was about to confess that she'd killed Lucy, thus sparing Bobby.
I agree, in the natural course of events, Ian's name would be shit amongst the community now. Not even Phil Mitchell could cover this one. Dot will forgive anyone - hell, she was sneaking Ronnie upstairs into the Vic knowing Tommy was on the premises. Sharon has covered for two murderers - Dennis and Ronnie. I truly don't know what Kathy would do or make of this situation, because I don't know what's transpired with her during the past 15 years. At best, Bobby would go either to a young offenders' prison or to a secure unit if he were found to be in need of specialist care. Jane would certainly get a lengthy prison term, and we are looking at short prison sentences for Ian and Cindy for perverting the course of justice. At the end of this entire thing, we may see Ian away from the Square - Woodyatt is doing panto at Christmas, so that would explain a sentence of about six weeks.
Janine's situation was self-defence. But Janine knows exactly what she is and she owns it. Ronnie, however, is a psychopath living on borrowed time. She's shown absolutely no remorse for any of her crimes, and she thinks she's invincible. In the words of Ben Mitchell, she needs slapping down. As for Dean, the viewers know what he did, and he'll get just karma too. Hopefully. What I don't want to see for the Lucy situation is a wet repeat of the ending of "Murder on the Orient Express", where the police decide that various people slapping Lucy about brought about her demise and decide to kill no one. That's neither clever nor cute. |
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| Dan | 12 Aug 2015, 17:15 Post #6 |
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Jane may not be close to Max but she is close to Tanya and Carol and I think this has caused her conscience to be expressed. She compartmentalized the entire situation and simply did what she could to survive and keep the police off the trail day by day. Her behaviour, in the way she dumped Lucy's body and then returned to the family as though everything was normal is unforgivable but Max has pricked Jane's conscience. Ben didn't much because she doesn't like the Mitchells and Jake didn't because she doesn't know him at all. Max has opened a can of worms, however. What staggers me about Ian is how little a reaction he is having to his daughter's death. I suppose he has compartmentalized it too but he spent nearly a year thinking that she died hating him, which we later discovered was not the case. I do agree about him being conscious of his position in the community but there's not even a sign of disquiet with him regarding Bobby or a wonder of what Jane could live with them after what she did with Lucy - he even said the one good thing that came out of it was him and Jane getting back together. This is his daughter's murder he is talking about. I suspect he may be on the verge of another breakdown because this behaviour is not usual even for a grieving person and even for Ian. |
![]() Walford is about to change, lives are about to be destroyed, alliances will begin and the residents will never be the same again. Welcome to "Dungeon". New fan fic, coming soon... Thanks Nick M for the brilliant sig! | |
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| Mrs Peel | 12 Aug 2015, 17:19 Post #7 |
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This has ceased to be about Lucy at all for Ian. He's accepted that she's dead. Instead, the object behind all of this is not only to protect Bobby, but to save himself from prosecution, imprisonment and humiliation before the community. |
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| WalfordCommon | 12 Aug 2015, 17:26 Post #8 |
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Something I found interesting/weird was ian's total lack of interest in the altercation between Lucy and Max at the car lot... on a human level I mean. All that concerned him was more evidence against Max when you'd think a father in his circumstances would want to know every last detail of his daughters final hours...he'd want to know exactly went down in the car lot and why his daughters blood was staining the floor but he seems to have completely detached himself from Lucy as a father. It's really weird. I think he's going to have another breakdown and wind up sectioned. |
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| Desdemona | 12 Aug 2015, 18:17 Post #9 |
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Jane was set up as a scapegoat (the adoptive mother, how cheap is that) so I am 'relieved' to see Ian's responsibility/behaviour addressed at last. Not a pretty picture but at least it is an honest and consistent one. I am sure Ian will be redeemed once again, sooner rather than later through another breakdown. Edited by Desdemona, 12 Aug 2015, 18:20.
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| Mrs Peel | 12 Aug 2015, 19:06 Post #10 |
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One thing I have noticed - when Jane was calling the shots and Ian was intermittantly expressing doubt, gazing at the spot where Lucy died etc, occasionally you'd see him scratching his arm, and he had a shuffling gait through the house, gestures that were manifestations during the time of his mental breakdown. Yet since Ian's taken control of the situation, Ian reassuring Jane now instead of the other way around, manipulating Cindy and generally behaving like a dick toward Liam, who's his nephew, those manifestations have stopped. Ian is, at best of times, a species of control freak. He doesn't function well in a situation unless he's in control of the situation. It wasn't enough for him to be financed by Janine, he had to steal profits from her and buy her out. He had to play Lucy at her own game, and he had to fanagle Jane into helping him finance the restaurant. Again. It has to be Ian's businesses, Ian's children and Ian at the helm. Of all his wives and girlfriends, Mandy was probably the most honest, when she told him point-blank that he was afraid of ending up alone. |
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| Forest11 | 12 Aug 2015, 19:08 Post #11 |
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Well we know Ian's metal state will turn soon with the attempted suicide attempt pictured. I wonder what triggers it.
Edited by Forest11, 12 Aug 2015, 19:09.
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| Swirly | 12 Aug 2015, 19:12 Post #12 |
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For me it is certainly coming across now that Jane genuinely did all this because she thought it was best for Bobby and though Ian was initially doing it for this reason he is now coming across as very cold hearted and is simply desperate to keep this lie hidden for his own sake but I like to think this is maybe because keeping this secret is actually a distraction from the awfulness of what happened to Lucy in his own home....at least this would probably be the only way that Ian could be sympathised with after what we have seen over the last few weeks. |
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| Desdemona | 12 Aug 2015, 21:42 Post #13 |
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Ian always needs to be confronted and 'corrected' when it comes to ethical matters but there is no one to take up that position at the moment. I wonder how much further the boundaries can be pushed. I find Ian beyond redemption lately, particularly in the way he treats Cindy. I really hope his behaviour will be addressed properly (rather than explained away by a breakdown) |
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| Mrs Peel | 12 Aug 2015, 22:33 Post #14 |
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You are right, there is no one. Jane has lost that moral high ground. Sharon, herself, is covering for a murderer for the second time in her life (Dennis, and now Ronnie), and she'll shortly be covering for her third when she finds out the truth about Lucy. Who knows what's been happening with Kathy these past nine years? At any rate, having abandoned her sons for whatever reason, she may have lost the right to speak out about him too. It's times like these when I really miss Pat and even Pauline. Were she to discover the truth and based on some of the concern she's shown Ian over the past year, Carol might be able to do this same thing, but she's going and she probably won't know about this. Ian is emotionally stunted in early adolescence. In many ways, his petulant and petty, vindictive behaviour, his greediness, are mirrored in a lot of Bobby's behaviour. Bar killing his sister, Bobby is the child the most like Ian.
The Beales' collective treatment of Cindy has been appalling - Jane's as much as Ian's, but his has a particular strain of vindictiveness. He loses no opportunity to remind her pointedly the low esteem in which Ian holds her mother and how similar, pejoratively, Cindy is to her. In many ways, Ian is using Cindy Jnr as a way of getting back at her dead mother. He doesn't like the girl, but he's stuck with her presence now because of what she knows. |
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| Desdemona | 13 Aug 2015, 08:39 Post #15 |
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EE's moral core has been considerably eroded with the growing number of storylines that revolve around violence (from rape to murder and everything in between, even the assaults on Lucy by several characters were quite shocking to watch) leaving many characters implicated in crime. When Carol goes, only Denise and Patrick can carry a certain moral authority and these characters are quite marginalised. Kathy and Sharon are relatively untainted (in the not so strict new moral order) so I can see them playing a part in Ian's trajectory that will hopefully see him examine his conscience. |
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| DirtyDen | 13 Aug 2015, 10:19 Post #16 |
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DirtyDen(ise)
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I don't get the Ian bashing if I am honest. Jane did what she did to protect Bobby and keep the family unit together, she was obviously concerned about how Ian would treat his son if he found out, which obviously he ultimately did. Ian once he knew also decided in the interest of protecting his family that the secret could never come out. I don't think that the truth will ever surface (unless Laurie decides to leave EE, in which case the writers will make her the scape goat). The multi layers on this storyline have been second to none, and in the history of EE this has to rate as one if not the best storyline. |
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| Forest11 | 13 Aug 2015, 10:34 Post #17 |
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If Pat was still in the show I wonder if DTC would have had her as part of the Beales in the live episodes and her agreeing to cover it up. Otherwise she and not Cora would have been with Stan. |
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