#bernietaylor

Tuesday 14th July 2020

Hello everyone! After a wonderful week away with my partner, I am now back and posting! I realise it's been a while and I'm aware I've missed a few episodes, I'm looking forward to jumping into them as soon as I can. But firstly, I have managed to catch up on last week's iconic episode, the most recent iconic moment so far ... Walford Pride! I remember watching this episode and thinking "Wow" to all the rainbow colours! I am not a homosexual, but I fully support Gay-Rights! I believe in gender equality and I believe it doesn't matter what the gender is, love is love! This brilliant episode was aired just last year on 5th July 2019!

If I remember rightly, this episode focused on multiple people ... Bernadette, Callum, Ben ... Callum still reeling and coming to terms with his sexuality, and still deeply hiding the fact that he's gay from his fiance' Whitney!

Bernadette knows she's gay, during her time on the square she befriended Tiffany and after a while, it became clear that she was developing feelings towards her friend. Unfortunately Tiffany didn't feel the same, as much as she wanted to be close to her friend, he feelings never escalated that far. I remember their fall out was a pretty bad one, Tiffany pretended to be someone else online to get Bernie to think someone was interested in her, even though I think Tiffany's heart was in the right place, to prove to her friend that she could meet someone, it kinda backfired. Bernie was hurt once she realised it was all a lie and she felt Tiffany had made a fool of her. Tiffany realised her mistake and knows it's Bernadette's first Pride and she wants to make it up to her friend and make it special for her. I love how much Karen is supporting her daughter and getting everyone involved, her whole family has been brought around her, wearing feather boa's and rainbow themed clothes and painted rainbows on their faces! It's cute how overwhelmed she was with the whole experience. I love the scene between Bernie and Tina, it's like Tina is kinda helping Bernie feel comfortable. Tina can relate as she says "My first Pride, I just kept staring!" She can understand how Bernie must be feeling ... weird, uncomfortable, nervous. It's nice for Bernie to have a friend there and help her realise it's okay to be feeling these emotions, but she has even more reason to celebrate with everyone else.  

It's amazing how far Ben and Callum have come, looking back on this episode, you can see how hard it was for Callum to try and ignore Ben. When you look at Callum now, he's a hell of lot happier now he's accepted who he is and he's now dating Ben. After their first encounter together, Ben made it difficult to Callum to forget what had happened between them, he was there at his every move constantly reminding him. I feel sad watching this a bit as this was sad time for Callum, having to deny who he was and living a lie. All the Pride celebrations were just going to make it 10 times harder! Even Stuart questioned him whether there was something he wanted to say to him, after seeing him helping out at The Prince Albert. Stuart knows that his brother is hiding something, it's only when Callum goes to leave and he notices a gay couple walk into the restaurant and looks at them longingly, wishing he could be happy like that, Stuart clicks and Callum can no longer hide. He tells his brother that he and Ben are not "Just mates" and something has happened between them, even though he pushes the belief that he loves Whitney and wants to be with her, it's horrible to Callum lying to himself, I am just so relieved he's in a much happier place now. In this episode, Ben is flaunting himself over every man he sees and Callum is just deeply trying to ignore it all, even though his eyes are drawn to Callum over and over again.

Can I just also say how amazing Tina is in this episode? She is completely in her element, she absolutely glows in this episode. I don't think Tina gets enough credit, she is part of one of the most epic families on the Square, and I feel like she kinda gets forgotten about, or maybe pushed to the side-lines a little bit? Has she really had a big story-line since arriving on the Square? I mean there was one where her girlfriend Tosh appeared on the square, that didn't last very long ... and then there was the story with Stan and Sylvie, then her brief story with Stuart and how he turned out to be the one who bullied her as a child. I feel it would be lovely for Tina to have a big story-line, whether it's something to do with her family or whether she meets someone and begins a romantic relationship with someone. Do you guys agree? Do you think Tina should be getting more screen time and a bigger and better story-line of her own? Let me know what you think! I'd love to hear your thoughts!

What an amazing atmosphere it must have been filming this episode. The music was fantastic, the colours, the people! I, for one, would've loved to have even been an extra in this episode! I feel it must've been incredibly fun! I love the ending song "Proud" by Heather Small, I believe it's huge anthem for the gay community, that song made the episode for me. Bernie embracing everything and enjoying her time with her family and friends in the Square taking part in the parade. Yet, on the more devastating side, reflects the agony that Callum is feeling. Ben getting attacked by Stuart and being threatened to stay away, while Callum and Whitney are dancing in the street, Whitney is looking incredibly happy, while Callum is really choking back tears. It was so so powerful to watch! It's lovely and yet heartbreaking at the same time, for different characters. I remember watching it being so overwhelmed by it all. Am I right in thinking that this was the first Gay Pride event in a soap? I possibly could be wrong, but I am thrilled that the writers put this together, it is iconic and deserves to be in the list of EastEnders Iconic Episodes!

What do you project into the cosmos?