EastEnders’ Max Branning (Jake Wood) isn’t just a lothario, capable of seducing just about anybody who tickles his fancy. He can also be a truly formidable enemy.
The aftermath of his false imprisonment for the murder of Lucy Beale (Hetti Bywater) led Max to attempt to destroy the entire Square by teaming up with evil rapist, James Willmott-Brown (William Boyde). It’s fair to say that crossing Max can be hazardous to ones health.
Jasmine Fisher (Indeyarna Donaldson-Holness), though, doesn’t really do ‘intimidated’. She’s dangerous in her own right, having teamed up with the devilish Chrissie Watts (Tracy-Ann Oberman) to taunt and torture her mum, Zoe Slater (Michelle Ryan), before killing her dad Anthony Trueman (Nicholas Bailey).
Yeah, come to think about it, getting on the wrong side of Jasmine is probably equally as dangerous.
With Zoe agreeing to plead guilty to manslaughter in the hopes of getting a more lenient prison sentence, Kat Moon (Jessie Wallace) is practically foaming at the mouth at the thought of her daughter spending years in prison for a crime she believes Chrissie committed. Kat’s desperate to convince Jasmine to make a statement to the police. In her mind, if Chrissie is in the frame, the case against Zoe falls apart and she can come home.
Of course, Jasmine can’t shift the blame to Chrissie. Firstly, because Chrissie is downright terrifying, and secondly, it could come out that Jasmine herself killed her dad.
Knowing this, yesterday she promised Kat she’d make a statement to keep her off her back, before asking boyfriend Oscar Branning (Pierre Counihan-Moullier) to run away with her.
Desperate to get out of dodge, Jasmine set about convincing Oscar to follow her plan, though he’s unable to commit.
It’s only a conversation with his dad that convinces him to take a chance on love and, despite knowing he’ll miss his family, he agrees to start a new life somewhere warmer, more romantic, and with presumably less murders than Albert Square.
After realising that the cash they’ll need will take forever to save, Jasmine heads to the Vic and lies to Kat that she’s made a statement. Max listens in and bites at her that, seeing as she’s in trouble with the police, she’ll need to stay put. He finds a surprising ally in Cindy Beale (Michelle Collins), who tells him that Jasmine is dangerous and had previously attacked her.
Snooping in the back of the Vic, Max overhears Jasmine asking her adoptive mum for money, threatening to disappear forever if she doesn’t comply. Realising that her plan is a vanishing act, not a holiday, Max drags Jasmine in front of Oscar but it’s no use.
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Back at the Vic, Max confronts Jasmine again, though as Kat and Oscar appear, Jasmine lands a knockout blow and lies that Max has tried to kiss her, leaving everybody, but mostly Max, utterly floored.
Jasmine has proven time and time again that there are few lengths she won’t go to when she’s trying to achieve something, and with her future on the line and a murderous secret hanging over her head, it seems that destroying Oscar’s already fragile relationship with his dad is simply collateral damage, a necessary evil to get both her and her boyfriend out of harms way and into the beach hut that Oscar had earlier fantasized about.
As for Max? He’s come up against an enemy just as devious and underhanded as he’s proven himself to be time and time again. We’re sure he’ll tell Oscar that Jasmine is a liar, but as we all know, Max has form for sleeping with his children’s partners. With Jasmine having Oscar exactly where she wants him and the Slater clan ready to defend her, does Max have a cat in hell’s chance at clearing his name? Would an unholy union between Cindy and Max be enough to shut Jasmine down?
We suggest you stay tuned in as the battle lines have been clearly drawn.
