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The direction of Dotty in Eastenders

DUNDEEBOYDUNDEEBOY Posts: 110,057
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edited 05/10/21 - 19:01 in Soaps #1
I like Dotty as a character and I do like her as central character now as well, and I think a lot more on here have warmed to her.

However with the stuff with Rocky is he possibly her dad and not Nick,

This Kirsty stuff and there seems to be some indication of drugs habit for her mum , she did show some fear with the mum did she get hooked on drugs as a younger teen perhaps.

The vinny and Keegan stuff as well

The running the club

They do seem to be throwing a lot at her but sometimes with these current producers you just hope it plays out well for viewers as a lot of stories seem to be made up as they go along

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    solostarsolostar Posts: 9,505
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    TPTB can't make out whether she's a villian or someone we should root for
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    DUNDEEBOYDUNDEEBOY Posts: 110,057
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    solostar wrote: »
    TPTB can't make out whether she's a villian or someone we should root for

    That’s kind of what I was getting it, there were little clues you should be tonight , especially with the mum showing up.

    I suspect the producers may not yet have decided either
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    vaslav37vaslav37 Posts: 69,569
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    Hopefully she will leave when herself & Tom are revealed as Con artists.
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    DUNDEEBOYDUNDEEBOY Posts: 110,057
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    vaslav37 wrote: »
    Hopefully she will leave when herself & Tom are revealed as Con artists.

    You not a fan vaslav I’m intrigued why
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    laceydawsonlaceydawson Posts: 3,682
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    I think we are supposed to root for her in a way. We have seen glimpses of her caring lately, such as that scene with Tiff and with her mum tonight. I just think she isn't a particularly nice person, and she doesn't pretend to be either.

    Then again, neither was Stacey when she turned up.
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    ss147ss147 Posts: 1,614
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    I think we are supposed to root for her in a way. We have seen glimpses of her caring lately, such as that scene with Tiff and with her mum tonight. I just think she isn't a particularly nice person, and she doesn't pretend to be either.

    Then again, neither was Stacey when she turned up.

    Stacey was just a stroppy teenager not a con artist.
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    TVFan1983TVFan1983 Posts: 1,480
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    edited 05/10/21 - 19:30 #8
    I think if the character writing in the show wasn't mainly all over the place at the moment, the writing of Dotty, which is contrastingly actually very good, would be more easily identified as good writing. In other words, I really like how they're characterising Dotty and giving her this light and shade all the time. The storyline with Rocky is ill thought out and illogical, and let's face it, just wouldn't happen, but I quite like it that we're never entirely sure quite what makes her tick. It also helps that Milly Zero is a pretty decent actress.

    I always felt that as much as Dotty lacked warmth, she did have a heart in there somewhere. She's so much more of a human being than Nick for example who - to me - always seemed so cartoonishly nasty and "sinister" in almost a Lionel Bart's Oliver! kind of a way, rather than an actual, nefarious, threatening evil piece of work, like for example, Trevor Morgan, or Archie Mitchell. Dotty, on the other hand, communicated with everyone in a human way, was more sarcastic and snippy than outright nasty to anyone, and (until now with the Rocky "Tom" reveal) didn't really seem to be pretending to be anyone other than herself, or two-faced, which was always Nick's MO - coming back and putting on an act to get what he wanted.

    Even sleeping with Keegan.... it felt like a crappy thing to do, but not out of place in EE and something 90 per cent of the rest of the cast would do if the script told them to do it. That might just be an indictment on the current state of the cast though rather than a free pass for Dotty.

    The actress playing Sandy seems decent but I am a little bored of all these characters returning to "cause mayhem" and "make money". It's repetitive and unimaginative. That said, the way Dotty was with her mother in tonight's episode, the way she was when she found Tiffany unconscious, the flickers of discomfort whenever anyone is actually nice to her.... I think she's quite an interesting character actually, and not (as many of the characters seem to be at the moment) a 2D "villain". She has more interiority than her father.... but then we have the speculation over whether Nick is her dad or......as many of us are theorising, it could be Tom after all.

    I don't like retcons, which makes current EE almost unwatchable technically, but I wouldn't be mortified if they retconned Nick and Tom over Dotty's paternity.... it would mean despite the ridiculousness of the plot to get hold of Dot's money and screw over Sonia, Tom / Brian Conley would have reason to stick around, and we might, just might get some sort of meaningful relationship out of it all after all. I never did rate Nick even though he is one of the show's "originals" and well, June Brown isn't returning, so that legacy isn't such a big deal either at this time. We'll have to see where they take it, but I like Dotty, think Milly Zero plays the conflicted antagonist pretty well, and as preposterous as the "scam" story is, it is saved - just - by having Milly and Brian on screen together. What the story misses in credibility it makes up for in its driving characters' charisma.
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    persipersi Posts: 21,689
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    DUNDEEBOY wrote: »
    solostar wrote: »
    TPTB can't make out whether she's a villian or someone we should root for

    That’s kind of what I was getting it, there were little clues you should be tonight , especially with the mum showing up.

    I suspect the producers may not yet have decided either

    I think she's a bit of a cow but ultimately does have a conscience. She's also clearly got a massive chip on her shoulder about her dad.

    I think she sees herself as more villainous than she really is, tbh - she got quite a negative reception on the square when she first showed up, and then decided 'well, I might as well be like that then'. Especially after she found out about Sonia stealing from Dot and Dot letting Nick die. Dotty doesn't trust many people and doesn't have much in the way of family to look out for her.

    She could go either way, really. I could see her mellowing out or becoming much more awful - she's certainly got villainous potential. Tom might actually be good for her, depending on how things play out.
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    Cosmic GiftedCosmic Gifted Posts: 3,267
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    Her best episode was her first after the recast. After that they went the wrong direction with her.
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    amy566amy566 Posts: 1,075
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    I really just can’t take to her at all. She’s the only character in EE I can’t bear to watch right now, I find her quite repulsive. I think there’s a cold emptiness to her so I can’t even see her as a good villain. I hope she leaves soon.
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    nudge nudgenudge nudge Posts: 522
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    I think EE has too many of these 'are they bad are they good'/supposedly morally complex characters right now. The problem is the character work beforehand is paper thin, such characters (with the exception of Janine, and increasingly Suki) are not fleshed out enough. I agree that the producers don't really know what they're doing with Dotty, so why should viewers care about her? A shame really as I think Milly Zero does do her best with the material she's given.
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    laceydawsonlaceydawson Posts: 3,682
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    amy566 wrote: »
    I really just can’t take to her at all. She’s the only character in EE I can’t bear to watch right now, I find her quite repulsive. I think there’s a cold emptiness to her so I can’t even see her as a good villain. I hope she leaves soon.

    The thing is they have the good moments, then they have the flat out indefensible moments like how she used a dead teenager to get free meals in Walford East off Ian. The characterisation for Dotty is just all over the place.
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    shades101shades101 Posts: 9,134
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    I like dotty
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    MaxcidentMaxcident Posts: 7,270
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    Ahh yes the direction of Dotty, in other words, there isn’t one. First, we were suspecting she was a money-grabbing fiend when she first rocked up on the square; with her serial killer grandmother, then she decided to take the moral high ground with Ian, by blackmailing him over the death of a kid she knew for less than five minutes, and now she’s back to being a money-grabbing cow. She’s a bit similar to Gray, the writers change the direction of her story fortnightly to the point us viewers are left questioning her purpose.
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    Ames44Ames44 Posts: 605
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    amy566 wrote: »
    I really just can’t take to her at all. She’s the only character in EE I can’t bear to watch right now, I find her quite repulsive. I think there’s a cold emptiness to her so I can’t even see her as a good villain. I hope she leaves soon.

    Agreed. I don't like her and really there was no need at all to bring her back. For me, much like Vi (blech), TPTB gave it a try and it isn't working. Most viewers don't care for the characters and shoe horning them in to SL's (sleeping with Keegan, Stu's surrogacy) where there is no need - for the sake of plot only - adds to the annoyance.

    She actually reminds me of Danielle - her entire plot was being Ronnie's daughter and they hid her as Stacy's friend. I didn't care for the actress and in every scene she was on the verge of tears and said all of her lines looking down. UGH!
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    valdvald Posts: 46,057
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    edited 05/10/21 - 22:12 #17
    Her character doesn't warrant so much airtime. I hope she leaves and takes uncle Tom and mummy with her. They should let the Cotton name die out unless Charlie decides to return.

    There really are too many unpleasant characters dominating the show.
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    Aaron_SilverAaron_Silver Posts: 32,993
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    The only direction Dotty should be going is as far from Walford as possible :s
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    BadLadAshBadLadAsh Posts: 28,493
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    The only direction Dotty should be going is as far from Walford as possible :s

    👍😉
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    Pmson21Pmson21 Posts: 2,683
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    BadLadAsh wrote: »
    The only direction Dotty should be going is as far from Walford as possible :s

    👍😉

    Why are they suddenly calling her kirsty now? Feels to me that the character is having a rehash.
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    amy566amy566 Posts: 1,075
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    Pmson21 wrote: »
    BadLadAsh wrote: »
    The only direction Dotty should be going is as far from Walford as possible :s

    👍😉

    Why are they suddenly calling her kirsty now? Feels to me that the character is having a rehash.

    I think they know she’s very unpopular so maybe they’re trying to garner sympathy by making her mum be nasty to her. I think it’s too little too late. She’s always been a nasty piece of work, even as a child. I do think they’ve made a mistake with the casting too. If they wanted us to like her or feel sorry for her, they should have chosen a softer actress. She just comes across as cold and aloof. It’s really hard to warm to her at all IMO.
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    laceydawsonlaceydawson Posts: 3,682
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    Pmson21 wrote: »
    BadLadAsh wrote: »
    The only direction Dotty should be going is as far from Walford as possible :s

    👍😉

    Why are they suddenly calling her kirsty now? Feels to me that the character is having a rehash.

    Kirsty's her name. Nick only pretended her name was Dotty when he was trying to scam Dot back in 2009. For some reason, the nickname stuck.
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    phil.cphil.c Posts: 2,026
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    Maxcident wrote: »
    Ahh yes the direction of Dotty, in other words, there isn’t one. First, we were suspecting she was a money-grabbing fiend when she first rocked up on the square; with her serial killer grandmother, then she decided to take the moral high ground with Ian, by blackmailing him over the death of a kid she knew for less than five minutes, and now she’s back to being a money-grabbing cow. She’s a bit similar to Gray, the writers change the direction of her story fortnightly to the point us viewers are left questioning her purpose.

    Being a blackmailer is being money grabbing.

    So they haven't changed her character.

    I think she has been the same all along, even working in the club she was always looking at ways to fleece the punters.

    Viewers are not supposed to like her, so she is acting the part well.
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    ilovenicnacsilovenicnacs Posts: 43,398
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    Sorry but I dislike her totally, however much they try to "redeem" her.

    With this current Rocky storyline, I can't see how either of them can carry on living there once the scam is revealed... Unless the scam is conveniently forgotten about and Sonia stays "unscammed" , but still doesn't alter the fact that Rocky is not Sonias dad and sooner or later Sonia is going to tell somebody who will recognise that he is not Terry!

    Totally changing Her mum's personality too is just daft, when Sandy left with Dotty/Kirsty originally she was nice, Dot has spent several long holidays with them over the years and in fact returned from one when she brought Dotty back with her, so Dot was perfectly happy to stay with a drunken Drug addict, leave Dotty with her while she was growing up and never once mentioned to any of her friends and family in London about Sandy's problems..

    How Dotty contacted this "Uncle Tom" is another mystery, she found him in London after finding out Dot signed the notice giving Sonia the Power of attorney which Dotty knew nothing about until April! He was obviously on his uppers, but how would she find someone who was the half brother of her dad, who she knew nothing about, and think up a con to get her hands on Dots money, physically track down this "uncle" and recruit him into the scam, in the space of 4 weeks?

    No I don't think Rocky is her dad either, Rocky was hiding from Sandy as he didn't want to be recognised, but then why should she recognise him unless he had been living in the same town in Wales as them (with the London accent they all have), (which we know he wasn't as Dotty recruited him in London after she was living at Dots), and Sandy was in on the scam? (Which she obviously isn't as she has tracked Dotty down to get money from her), and when Rocky recognised Sandy (somehow as he has never met her) why didn't he warn Dotty she was there before he did a runner.

    They really haven't thought this through, or it's the biggest SOR since... Well since the last one. 😉

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    xTonixxTonix Posts: 56,274
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    They can take Hotty Dotty in any direction....to my bed would be a good start. Thanks.
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    corrienderscorrienders Posts: 3,282
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    Not a fan of her and her air time,

    dont forget this is the dotty who tried to help Nick, kill of Dot and try get her money.....

    To be fair Dotty did not go through with putting pills in Dot's drink but still..... she is dangerous
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