{"id":11312,"date":"2022-02-17T21:30:54","date_gmt":"2022-02-17T20:30:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/?p=1586628"},"modified":"2022-02-17T21:52:17","modified_gmt":"2022-02-17T20:52:17","slug":"emmerdales-big-meena-twist-redeems-killer-plot","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/rss_feed\/emmerdales-big-meena-twist-redeems-killer-plot\/","title":{"rendered":"Emmerdale\u2019s big Meena twist redeems killer plot"},"content":{"rendered":"

Why the ITV soap was right not to kill off Meena when it had the chance. <\/p>

By Laura Denby\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Thursday, 17 February 2022 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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Twisted serial killer Meena Jutla (Paige Sandhu) was finally taken into police custody in tonight\u2019s Emmerdale<\/a> (17th February).<\/p>\n

The culmination of this long-running plot has been several months in the making, with many viewers taking issue with the lengthy journey. But ultimately, the events of this explosive week prove that the storyline has been executed in exactly the right way.<\/p>\n

Meena\u2019s reign of terror has, at times, led to raised eyebrows. Complaints ranged from the police\u2019s inability to find damning DNA after victim Leanna Cavanagh (Mimi Slinger) desperately clawed at Meena\u2019s hair; to Meena\u2019s quick escape and subsequent return to wander openly around the village.<\/p>\n

But let\u2019s face it, Hotten police are no more competent than those in Walford or Weatherfield. If they were, every soap killer would be locked up within a week, which would certainly spoil the anticipation.<\/p>

The genre is notorious for slow-burn, frustrating moments to invest the audience in a villain\u2019s comeuppance. The character wouldn\u2019t have been half as interesting without that extra time; and the fact that it\u2019s taken an age for Meena to be caught out makes the pay-off that much more enticing.<\/p>\n

She was also having too much fun to care about risking her capture. \u201cAnyone in their right mind would never have come back. I really am my own worst enemy!\u201d This played into the story perfectly, eventually leading to her own downfall.<\/p>\n

Meena popped back to kidnap one-time beau Billy Fletcher (Jay Kontzle) and his new wife Dawn (Olivia Bromley) on their wedding day. The stage was set for more death and destruction \u2013 but while there was plenty of the latter, this time around nobody lost their life. The murder of any more mainstays would have been overkill, and Meena didn\u2019t need to win the day to make an impact.<\/p>\n

From Dawn\u2019s near fatal meeting with that gun, to the shooting of Leyla Cavanagh (Roxy Shahidi) and Harriet Finch\u2019s (Katherine Dow Blyton) attack, Emmerdale constantly kept us guessing over Meena\u2019s movements.<\/p>\n

Of course, we knew Paige Sandhu\u2019s performances as the animated psychopath would be as compelling as ever, and Meena\u2019s camp demeanour and endlessly entertaining one-liners were on point.<\/p>\n

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Beyond that, we simply couldn\u2019t predict what was coming from one moment to the next \u2013 quite the feat for a storyline we thought we had already got the measure of.<\/p>\n

Every twist produced gripping high stakes drama, but Emmerdale also delivered great character-driven scenes. Meena\u2019s despicable behaviour meant the choices of others around her felt organic, and the history of the surrounding characters slotted seamlessly into the narrative.<\/p>\n

Dawn informed Meena that this wasn\u2019t the first time she had stared down the barrel of a gun; with her fighting spirit serving as a reminder of her harrowing experience with dodgy copper Malone, who she took down in order to protect herself.<\/p>\n