Emmerdale spoilers follow from Thursday night's episode (November 25).
Emmerdale killer Meena Jutla has claimed her third victim in the village, brutally silencing Ben Tucker after he found some incriminating evidence against her.
Thursday night's hour-long episode ended in tragedy as Meena fatally attacked Ben with a kayak oar, making sure that he'd never be able to spill her sinister secrets.
As Meena's murderous saga is the ITV soap's biggest plot at the moment, we can't really blame the storyliners for finding a way to keep her around. But is it just us, or is it time for a change in direction before things go stale?
So far, the Meena story has followed a fairly rigid and predictable pattern when it comes to her victims. Each time – with Leanna, Andrea and now Ben – somebody has managed to catch her out, only to be quickly culled by the ruthless villain.
Leanna's demise was probably the most shocking, especially as it was the first time we'd seen Meena resort to murder. But since then, the element of surprise in the story has often been lacking.
Back in Super Soap Week, when spoilers revealed that a mystery "someone" would witness Meena trying to drown Victoria, it seemed obvious that this person wouldn't stick around to tell the tale.
Sure enough, we ultimately saw Andrea uncover the truth and her subsequent scenes with Meena played out with many audience members fully expecting her to be killed off. The Emmerdale producers wouldn't lose malevolent Meena so soon, right?
There was hope for a change in gear when the police reported that Andrea had been murdered, creating confusion and suspicion in the village. Sadly, this element of the plot was quickly dropped when the authorities mysteriously changed their minds and ruled out foul play, sending us back to square one.
It was a similar story with Ben. As soon as the spoiler dropped that he'd find the incriminating video footage exposing Meena's guilt, die-hard fans guessed that he'd soon be killed off too. Ben wasn't a character that the storyliners had invested much time in, so he was hardly likely to spark Meena's downfall.
With Ben now dead, Meena has managed to retrieve the damning evidence and looks likely to once again keep the upper hand for some time to come. And so the plot resets again.
It's fair to point out that all soap storylines focusing on long-running villains have this sense of frustration. You know the usual tropes – the police miss all of the vital clues, key evidence gets misplaced for months, or usually-intelligent characters inexplicably miss obvious signs of guilt.
This is usually in aid of stretching out the storylines for as long as possible, as a soap serial killer can be ratings gold.
If we think back, though, some of the most successful storylines involving soap villains have given those characters formidable opponents.
On Coronation Street, the legendary Richard Hillman had to contend with suspicions from his mother-in-law Audrey Roberts, who was convinced that he couldn't be trusted.
More recently, Corrie's Geoff Metcalfe storyline was refreshing to watch because so many people on the Street knew he was a bad man, even if they couldn't prove it. This subverted our usual expectations of soap characters always believing the wrong person.
In Hollyoaks, part of what made Silas Blissett's serial killer storyline so successful in 2011 was his feud with nurse Lynsey Nolan. Lynsey figured out that Silas was a killer early in the storyline, creating a gripping cat-and-mouse game that played out for months.
After managing to eliminate three amateur detectives with ease, Meena now needs a longer-term opponent to shake things up, level the playing field and genuinely keep the audience guessing over where the storyline might go next.
Could Manpreet be the one to realise that her sister is a wrong'un? Might Dawn start keeping a closer eye on Meena as they battle for Billy? Or could Ethan start to do some digging over those fake texts from Meena? The possibilities are certainly there.
Moving forward, the Meena story – while slightly divisive with fans – still has lots to offer. We've loved watching Paige Sandhu embrace the role of a high-camp, comic serial killer, dishing out one-liners and pop song renditions in between brutal murders.
When we look back on the plot, though, we want to remember genuine gasp-worthy moments and unexpected twists, rather than a killer who predictably made her way through expendable characters without any real opposition.
Emmerdale airs on weeknights at 7pm on ITV, with an extra episode at 8pm on Thursdays.
Read more Emmerdale spoilers on our dedicated homepage.
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Daniel has been writing about soaps on Digital Spy since 2004 and took over as Soaps Editor in 2010.
He has interviewed hundreds of soap stars over the years, from Bill Roache to Lacey Turner, and regularly visits the sets of Coronation Street, EastEnders, Emmerdale and Hollyoaks for behind-the-scenes trips and press events.
He has served as an awards judge on numerous occasions for the likes of the BAFTA TV Awards, RTS Programme Awards and British Soap Awards. In 2020, he was Highly Commended for Best Section Editor at the BSME Awards.
