EastEnders tonight puts Honey Mitchell in Bea Pollard’s path after a date turns bad. Bea then spots her opening to push further into Honey and Billy Mitchell’s relationship, and Emma Barton says Honey is still trying to see the good in her.
Emma Barton says Honey feels Bea is “really misunderstood,” and that view has roots in a long habit of being underestimated. “Honey’s always had to fight for approval in some ways, so when we go back years ago to when she finally got the job of being market inspector, that was such a big moment for Honey as she had always felt like she was the last option,” Barton said.
Years ago, Honey finally got the job of being market inspector, and Barton says that history still shapes how she reads people around her. “I think Honey sees some similarities in Bea, and although everyone has such strong opinions of Bea, Honey sees the good, or rather wants to see the good in her. I think she thinks everyone treats Bea unfairly,” she said. That leaves Honey trying to defend Bea and push Billy to warm to her, even after the ladder accident and the credit card debacle.
Billy turns to Phil
Billy Mitchell goes the other way. He turns to Phil Mitchell for help getting rid of Bea, gives her an envelope of cash, and tells her to disappear from Albert Square for good. Ronni Ancona’s Bea does not back down, and the next move lands in the Vic in front of Honey, where she reveals the Mitchells’ plan and accuses Billy of trying to sleep with her.
Honey’s doubt grows
Emma Barton says the failed date hits Honey hard because she is “very hormonal and very peri-menopausal,” which leaves her doubting herself and “who she is as a woman.” Barton added: “She is doubting who she is as a woman, and I think the signal she’s got from Billy, and especially after this failed date, is maybe she’s not attractive anymore.”
That is the problem Bea exploits. Honey wants peace; Bea wants Honey all to herself and is actively working to eliminate Billy from the picture. The grenade she throws next week is aimed at turning a shaky marriage into a public split, and the cleanest reading is that Honey’s refusal to see Bea clearly gives her the space to do it.
The Vic fallout
Barton’s bluntest line is also the most useful guide to where this goes: “Maybe he doesn’t fancy her anymore, and that’s really hard for her to process.” Once Bea drops the Mitchells’ plan in the Vic, the story stops being about Honey giving Bea another chance and becomes about whether Billy’s attempt to buy her off makes everything worse in front of the one person Honey has been trying to protect.
