Spoiler warning for Thursday 21st March 2024.
*Warning: This article contains spoilers for Thursday 21st March’s EastEnders, which was made available on BBC iPlayer at 6am.*
Dean Wicks (Matt Di Angelo) told yet more vile lies in the latest edition of EastEnders, as his plot to keep daughter Jade Masood (Elizabeth Green) in Walford intensified.
When Jade collapsed in The Vic after Dean furtively pulled the tube from her oxygen tank, Dean feigned anger at Jean Slater (Gillian Wright) for not keeping an eye on Jade as she promised. The paramedics arrived and took the teen to hospital.
In a moment alone, Dean cried as he watched over Jade. Meanwhile, Jean felt terrible as she and partner Harvey Monroe (Ross Boatman) rallied together, showing up at the hospital to offer Dean their support.
Dean vented his worry to Jean, telling her he blamed himself and manipulating her into claiming she must have been at fault. But when Dean’s guilt shone through, Jean grew suspicious, questioning what was really going on.
They were interrupted by a doctor, who asked Dean for a chat about Jade. In front of Jean and Harvey, the doctor mentioned that Jade’s antibiotics should have been working by now – but when Dean ignored the medic’s request to check the tablets, Jean could tell he was hiding something.
At Jade’s bedside, Jean managed to talk Dean into allowing her to pick up the antibiotics from Dean’s flat, unable to avoid it with the doctor keen to get to the bottom of what had happened.
Dean, of course, was wary that his tampering with the medication would be found out, and Jean came close to this discovery.
Jean and Harvey found both the packet of antibiotics and Jade’s pillbox, and Jean was immediately sure she was missing a vital clue. But when they returned to the hospital, Dean was quick to grab the pillbox from Jean.
Jade then regained consciousness, traumatised over her ordeal as she feared that her lung transplant had failed.
Jean accosted Dean in the corridor, wondering how Jade hadn’t noticed that she had been unattached from her oxygen, and insisting that Dean knew more than he was letting on.
Dean snapped that he felt Jade was being “punished for his past”, and Jean quizzed his sudden half-confession. “For the bad things you didn’t do?” she pondered.
She then accused Dean of adjusting Jade’s medication, and warned him that he didn’t scare her as she headed off to find a doctor. But Dean stopped her, saying he would tell her everything.
Dean claimed that the pressure of choosing between moving to Pakistan with mum Shabnam Masood (Rakhee Thakrar) and staying with him had got to Jade, and he lied that he had found her hiding her pills!
He told Jean that he had spoken to Jade about this, and had allowed her to continue skipping the antibiotics, but he would now ensure she took all her medication properly. When Jean urged him to tell the doctors, Dean suggested that Jade would hate him if he broke her trust.
Jean appeared to be taken in by Dean’s story as she comforted him and walked away, but will anyone find out how low he has sunk?
Anyone affected by Jade’s story can find help and support via Cystic Fibrosis Trust.
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EastEnders airs Monday to Thursday on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.
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