ITV Share By Kerry Barrett Aug 2 2025 By Kerry Barrett Aug 2 2025 Bad men Ray and Joe, boring Dylan and rubbish dad Marlon - it's not been a good week for the lads in Emmerdale Except for Robert who's keeping us all entertained, and yay for the return of Steph! April Windsor Cain Dingle Features Share By Kerry Barrett Aug 2 2025 By Kerry Barrett Aug 2 2025 Our Emmerdale review this week is all about bad men. And boring boys, and rubbish dads. Frankly, it’s not been a good week for the lads of the village. Though we must admit there were a few bright spots in among all the gloom – or one large Robert-shaped bright spot at least! Here’s what we thought of the action – or the lack of it – in this week’s Emmerdale review. We’ve lost track of when Joe’s being honest and when he isn’t – and it’s hard to care (Credit: ITV) Bad men in Emmerdale: Joe sneaking about Joe Tate just keeps turning up like a bad penny, sneaking about, letting himself into people’s houses, getting everyone to do exactly what he wants. It’s all gone a bit far now. Remember before Christmas when Kim and Will were lying to each other and then lying some more? Eventually it got to the point where nothing they said or did was believable and we were all waiting for the big reveal that it had been a clever trick. That’s sort of where we’re at with Joe now. We don’t believe when he’s being nice and we don’t believe when he’s being nasty, and we’re rapidly losing interest. article continues below Read all the latest spoilers Marlon wasn’t listening to what April wanted (Credit: ITV) Marlon’s parenting skills Once more this week, Marlon proved he is one of the most terrible fathers in a village full of dreadful dads. We mean, the bar is set pretty low for fatherhood in Emmerdale, and even so, Marlon’s struggling to reach it. This week he decided to bully April into not doing the apprenticeship she wanted, and then when that failed, to bully Belle into taking it away instead. Slow hand clap. Fortunately, Belle’s got a lot more sense than her cousin, and April quickly twigged her dad was behind the withdrawn offer, and things were ironed out. But honestly, come on, Marlon. Saying all that, of course, we still think April’s whingy and ungrateful, and DIDN’T NEED TO RUN AWAY in the first place. We were underwhelmed by Dylan’s return (Credit: ITV) Dylan and April Speaking of April, her old chum Dylan turned up this week with a jazzy new haircut and an air of desperation. He’d been stabbed in the leg with a pitchfork by Kyle, who was protecting the family farm with gusto when Dylan went poking around for drug dealer Ray. Dylan was convinced that the overworked staff at Hotten General would immediately clock that he’d been up to no good if he showed up at A&E. So April patched him up instead. It’s hard to care about either of them to be honest. Will Joe stick around (Credit: ITV) Bad men in Emmerdale: Ray’s back We also don’t really care about Ray, though we do really love Joe Absolom and his sinister performance as the drug dealer. Perhaps this will change as he gets more involved with the villagers? Cain and Moira took on Sam and Lydia this week (Credit: ITV) Dingle v Dingle Woah. Moira really went for Lydia didn’t she? We watched that scene back about four times and still couldn’t really see that it was an accident! Don’t get in the way of Mrs Dingle, Mrs Dingle. We are quite loving Moira at the moment, though, She’s unapologetic, determined and fierce. Those intruders couldn’t get away fast enough when she brandished the gun at them – and who can blame them?! Aside from that, though, we can’t be doing with ragey Cain. Him smashing up the flower pots at Home Farm was so juvenile it made us roll our eyes. Charity’s embryo implantation Our hatred of Mack continues but even a stopped clock tells the right time twice a day and all that, and he was absolutely right about not supporting Charity’s baby-making endeavours. And then he changed his mind. Ah well. Victoria needs a story Remember the last time Victoria Sugden had a story all of her own? No, we don’t either. Currently it seems she only exists to come round the corner at the right time to break up a fight or overhear an argument between her warring brothers. She deserves better! Vic’s going to come round the corner any second… (Credit: ITV) Robert’s on the case and we’re loving it! One thing that really brightened up this week’s episodes, though, was Robert. Who’s still trying to get to the bottom of what John’s up to. This week, Robert stepped up his detective work when he realised John was always around when people were in trouble. Mr Right Place At The Right Time as he called John, was always showing up. But his Miss Marple act hit a snag when John managed to listen in on his conversations via a strange orange plug. John’s little smile when he heard Robert’s revealing chat with Ray was brilliant. This storyline has felt like it’s dragged a bit but suddenly it’s got interesting again! Steph came back Hooray! More please. And we’re still enjoying Lewis and Nicola in the cafe, too. Celia We’d wondered what had happened to Celia but she reappeared this week with a business proposal for Moira. We liked their interaction and thought Moira could possibly have been a bit more polite, considering Celia had just dragged her out of a metaphorical hole. But that aside, these two women make a formidable team and could just balance out the many, many toxic men in the village. Read more: Who’s leaving Emmerdale? All the cast exits, arrivals and returns Share Good to Know Share By Kerry Barrett Aug 2 2025 By Kerry Barrett Aug 2 2025
