Heartbreak and rage for EastEnders’ Suki and Eve as Ria is injured
Eve and Suki Panesar-Unwin (Heather Peace and Balvinder Sopal) have come a long, long way on their journey toward building a family in EastEnders.
When Suki discovered her step-granddaughter Avani Nandra-Hart (Aaliyah James was pregnant, her desire to raise the baby clouded her senses, and she acted heinously to convince Avani to continue with a pregnancy she clearly didn’t want, all so Suki and Eve could raise the baby.
Eve was initially reticent to commit to raising a child, but acquiesced to Suki’s wishes, believing that Avani was happy with the arrangement, though, when Eve herself stepped in and Avani confessed that she wanted a termination, she promised to, and did, support her through the entire process.
When Avani’s parents, Priya Nandra-Hart (Sophie Khan Levy) and Ravi Gulati (Aaron Thiara) found out about all that had befallen their daughter, the family utterly imploded and Suki and Eve found themselves living in separate houses.
Brought back together after Eve was subject to a grotesque homophobic attack, they reaffirmed their love for each other and Eve went a step further, declaring that she was fully onboard with the baby idea and wanted them to consider adopting.
It hasn’t been an easy ride for the Panesar-Unwins.
Eve’s vitriolic mother Norma (Jessica Turner) tried her hardest to put a spanner in the works, Ravi and Priya’s family collapsed amid the revelation that he’d been running a drug ring – all in front of their social worker – while Suki viciously clashed with her son Vinny Panesar (Shiv Jalota) when she learned he was expecting a baby with Penny Branning (Kitty Castledine).
The biggest hurdle was the final meeting with the adoption panel, though, which unfortunately fell on the same day as the anniversary of Jags Panesar’s (Amar Adatia) death, with another clash between Suki and Vinny exploding.
Suki fled the panel meeting, emotionally overwhelmed with memories of Jags, and Eve ended up drunkenly – and violently – confronting Nicola Mitchell (Laura Doddington), something she later used to blackmail them.
Despite the odds, Suki and Eve were accepted by the panel and welcomed Ria Virdi (Aaria Sharma) into their home, while also squashing their beef with Nicola, when they discovered some damning evidence of their own.
Their problems soon became incredibly domestic rather than dramatic, as their blood feud with Nicola was replaced with difficulties in bonding with Ria, particularly for Eve.
Surprisingly, though with the help of Nicola, she managed to form a strong connection to her foster daughter after Ria’s biological mum failed to turn up for her birthday party.
But the peace never lasts for long in soapland, does it?
Next week sees fresh tension for the new family, when Suki learns of the potential that Ria’s birth mum could still seek custody of her, effectively removing her from their care, leading Suki to turn her wrath onto Vinny, with them clashing – yet again – over Penny and the baby.
Later in the week, the community at large are enjoying Kat and Alfie Moon’s (Jessie Wallace and Shane Richie) community party with the Square descending into utter chaos, causing a community officer to shut the proceedings down, but not before Ria is injured in all the commotion.
With a potential custody battle weighing heavy on her and an injury threatening their chances of winning, Suki goes nuclear and threatens legal action against the Moons, causing Kat to storm away.
With Suki spewing venom and Ria’s mum potentially coming to reclaim her daughter, are things about to implode for their family?
