Admittedly, of the ‘big three’ soaps, EastEnders is least known for its comedic moments and its latest stab at garnering a chuckle has left viewers more perplexed than tickled.
Out on the Square, Harvey Monroe (Ross Boatman) apologises to Peter Beale (Thomas Law). He won’t be able to make it to baby Jimmy’s Christening, due to helping Nigel Bates’ (Paul Bradley) with his film project.
Alfie Moon (Shane Richie) overhears, calling wife Kat (Jessie Wallace) over, announcing that they’re in the presence of Walford’s very own film star, comparing him to the much-celebrated Pedro Pascal.
As Harvey basks in the compliment, Kat is quick to burst his bubble. ‘Pedro Pascal?’ she scoffs. ‘More like Pat Butcher!’
…huh?
Naturally, we headed to the comments. Perhaps there was some deeper meaning we’d missed and an ‘Enders super fan with knowledge that outclasses ours would be waiting to explain why the joke was, in fact, hilarious.
Unfortunately not. We, instead, found a slew of replies that shared our confusion, while pointing out all the flaws in the joke. As it turns out, there’s quite a few…
Harvey never met Pat
PCG/@PGUK78 posted: ’Why is Harvey offended? He never met Pat at all. Come on guys, you’re better than this’
As PCG noted, Harvey never crossed with Pat Evans (also Harris, Wicks and Butcher!) (Pam St Clement), having first arrived in Walford in 2021.
While our Pat, a stalwart of Walford since 1986, was ‘you-bitch-you-cow’ing her way around Albert Square with her jangling earrings, Harvey wasn’t on the scene. Like, at all.
In fact, he didn’t show up until nearly an entire decade after she was controversially killed off, so his wounded-puppy face seemed odd.
Kat didn’t know ‘Pat Butcher’
PCG/@PGUK78 also reminded us: ‘Kat never knew a ‘Pat Butcher’ only a Pat Evans.’
Pat was a Butcher by way of being married to Frank Butcher (Mike Reid) between 1989 and 1996′, becoming an Evans later that year when she married Roy Evans (Tony Caunter).
Though Pat and Mike continued on-and-off, they never remarried, and even if Pat gave up the Evans name when her marriage to Barry dissolved, surely she’d revert to her maiden name of Harris?
Kat first arrived in Walford in 2000, smack bang in the middle of Pat’s marriage to Roy. She met Pat as an Evans and never as a Butcher. Strike two, we’d say…
Did you get the joke?
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Of course I did!
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Not even a little bit!
The line made no sense
Brandibuilds/@Brandibuilds: What did that Pat Butcher line even mean???
No idea, hun. We were kind of hoping you could tell us?
In all seriousness, the joke made absolutely no sense. Pat was never an actor, so stomping on Harvey’s fantasies of being ‘Pedro Pascal’ by comparing him to a woman he doesn’t know, who never attempted to make it on the silver screen is an absolute head-scratcher.
Even if the joke was meant for Alfie or Peter, who did know Pat, it still makes no sense due to the above reasoning.
Our final verdict
As far as the rest of the episode, there were numerous bombshells dropped. We finally learned the identity of Zoe Slater’s (Michelle Ryan) long-lost child, and the father.
Upon her return, Zoe revealed she’d given birth to twins, a boy and a girl, though she believed the girl had been stillborn, and has spent much of her time back in Walford attempting to track down her son.
As Anthony Trueman (Nicholas Bailey), who’s been pursuing a reunion with Zoe, convinced a colleague to access any files that may contain information about babies who’d been abandoned in 2006.
Her search struck gold, as she found exactly what he was looking for, though Anthony was further horrified to remember that he and Zoe had resumed their romance in 2006, realising that he must be the father of the babies.
In a further twist, Anthony’s colleague revealed that while Zoe’s daughter had been born without a heartbeat, she was resuscitated after Zoe’d fled.
Cue Jasmine Fisher (Indeyarna Donaldson-Holness), being questioned by the police over her possible relation to the Ford crime family, firmly shutting suspicions down by revealing that she is the daughter of Zoe and Anthony.
So, in the grand scheme of things, the weird Pat joke was a minor part of an episode stuffed to the gills with reveals and drama.
Still, it was pretty weird, wasn’t it?
