EastEnders spoilers follow for Monday’s (December 16) episode that is now available to view on BBC iPlayer. The episode in question will air on BBC One on at 7:30pm.
Linda Carter’s (Kellie Bright) life flashed before her eyes in an extraordinary offering of EastEnders that depicted the landlady’s d.e.a.t.h – and it’s impact on her loved ones – if she failed to give up the booze.
The popular character, as fans know, has battled her alcohol addiction for five years, with her latest relapse coming in the wake of last Christmas, which saw her claim the life of Keanu Taylor.
Despite the fact that she was trying to protect Sharon Watts (Letitia Dean) from murderous Keanu, living with the guilt of taking a life – coupled with the subsequent murder cover-up – has had a monumental impact on Linda’s mental health over the past year.
Last week saw her reliance on booze spiral out of control as she left chaos in her wake, with Johnny (Charlie Suff), Sharon and Alfie Moon (Shane Ritchie) at their wits end over how to help her.
After seeing for herself how far Linda had fallen, Elaine Peacock (Harriet Thorpe) issued her daughter with an ultimatum, asking her to either go to rehab imminently or to leave the Vic at once.
Monday’s offering of the BBC One soap picked up shortly afterwards, with Linda ultimately choosing the bottle, pushing her mum to the floor in front of terrified Ollie (Harry Farr).
Johnny consoled his little brother, who revealed that he knows Linda has drinking problem as he drew a picture of her lying on the floor with a bottle in her hand.
Downstairs, Linda got herself another drink and proceeded to blame Elaine for her alcoholism.
In a bid to give her a wake-up call, Johnny interrupted to hand Linda the drawing from Ollie, but she failed to look at it properly as she pocketed it, grabbed a bottle of booze and made her way out of the Vic.
In the pouring rain, she glanced at Ollie’s picture and, fighting tears, she crumpled it up and chucked it on the pavement, turning her attention to the bottle before her, holding it close to her lips.
The matriarch hesitated, with her son’s drawing quite clearly having got inside her head as she fought the urge to take a sip.
Before long she gave in, downing the bottle of vodka as she headed off into the night, with a night of alcohol abuse ensuing.
After wandering away from the Square, Linda joined Glenn – the man she took him to the Vic previously – as she sought warmth from his coat. Glen, however, inappropriately touched her, with Linda swiftly leaving the scene – with his lagers in hand.
Upon arriving back at Turin Road, she doubled over in pain and began to vomit up blood. In devastating scenes, Linda died before our very eyes.
We jumped forward to her funeral, with Johnny in utter pieces, struggling to accept his mum’s death while siblings Lee (Danny Hatchard) and Nancy (Maddy Smith) returned for the service.
Sharon delivered a eulogy, discussing the difficulties of trying to supper an alcoholic, while Johnny caused a scene, yelling out loud that he would never forgive his mum for ‘choosing to die’.
He broke down in tears, desperately wanting Linda back, while Nancy blamed Elaine for not doing enough to help her mum when it mattered.
The family was quite evidently fractured beyond repair and, struggling with the guilt, Elaine erupted at the wake, ordering the punters out of the Vic as she fought tears.
But it turns out, none of this was real. At least not yet.
The following scene took us back to Linda standing outside the Vic in the rain holding the bottle, having now seen for herself what would happen if she didn’t stop drinking.
Taking another look at Ollie’s picture, she poured the drink down the sewer and threw the bottle to the floor, returning to the Vic to tell Elaine that she doesn’t want to die and that she will go to rehab.
Elaine was overwhelmed with emotion as the mother and daughter duo shared a hug.
