Three deaths, one break-up, one proposal and a body – what a week in Emmerdale!

This Emmerdale review is a bit tear-stained and blotchy. Because what a week it’s been in Emmerdale. What. A. Week. So much death and devastation and more on the horizon with the truth about Noah still to be revealed AND Nate’s body to be uncovered.

There’s a lot to say about everything that happened this week, so here’s what we thought in our Emmerdale review.

The limo crash

As stunts go, the limo crash wasn’t without its faults. The way everyone kept slamming the car door shut. The high heels on the thin ice. But watching those women make it across the frozen lake one by one was thrillingly tense!

And, as it turned out, the stunt wasn’t really the main focus of this week’s Emmerdale. The real story was everything that came afterwards. In fact, it’s hard to know where to start our Emmerdale review because it has been a week of such high drama and so many emotional moments.

Caleb v Cain

Let’s start with the drama in the men’s limo and Caleb confronting Cain about him sleeping with Ruby. It’s hard to listen to Caleb being holier than thou when it comes to adultery and family loyalty. Let’s not forget he slept with his nephew’s wife. BUT the fact remains that Cain did a very bad thing. Mack told him he was pathetic, and we can’t help but agree. Even Cain himself said “there’s some things you can’t come back from”. He’s right!

We’re glad everyone knows, and we hope Ruby doesn’t get too much of the blame because we really feel like she wasn’t in her right mind when it happened. Though she does deserve a bit of the blame. A little bit.

There’s one thing we keep coming back to in all of this. And that’s how Cain and Caleb are exhausting. This endless ‘act first regret it later’ stuff is wearing us out. It was hard enough when it was just Cain but now Caleb’s here too, doing the same stuff. We need a break from it all!

Emmerdale review: Leyla’s tragic death

We seemed to spend most of this week’s Emmerdale welling up, because it was all just so sad. Suzy’s death was horrible, and Vanessa having to leave her behind was really hard to watch.

But it was Leyla’s death that broke us! Jacob trying to resuscitate his mum was just devastating and him sobbing over Leyla’s body had us sobbing too. Joe-Warren Plant who plays the student doctor has smashed it out of the park this week – what a talent he is.

And it wasn’t just Jacob who had us in floods. The quiet sadness of Lydia telling Eric, and then Eric hugging his grandson made us weep all over again.

Suzy and Amy’s deaths

There is a jokey – sort of jokey – trope on social media about the risk of being a lesbian in film and TV. It even has a name – Dead Lesbian Syndrome.  And there’s no denying that gay women do seem to die at an alarming rate in Corrie, Emmerdale and EastEnders. Now we’ve lost Suzy, too. And another LGBTQ relationship – Matty and Amy’s marriage – has been tragically cut short. 

We thought it was worth pointing out, but none of that takes away from the utter sadness and shock of losing all three women this week. What a tragedy!

Emmerdale review: like watching a film!

Soaps are like old friends, aren’t they? You know what to expect from them. But sometimes they surprise us. And Emmerdale definitely surprised us this week.

We are sometimes suspicious when soaps use cinematic techniques to tell their stories. Odd camera angles, and background music, and special effects make us wrinkle up our noses because it’s just not necessary, is it?

Except when it is!

Emmerdale this week used the soaring, dramatic background music to amazing effect. The high shot of the ambulances heading to hospital made us catch our breath, and the paramedics on the radio saying someone had died put us on high alert. It was really clever storytelling and we loved it. We hold our hands up. We were wrong about this one! Totally converted to all this trickery.

Vanessa and Tracy finally get justice

We have long been bothered about how Kerry and Amy caused the death of Frank Clayton – Tracy and Vanessa’s dad – and just got away with it. And so, watching both women fight to save Amy was really moving. It was Tracy who got Amy out of the water, and they both held her tight after she was freed from the ice.

And then Amy died. She actually went and died. And now we definitely think justice has been done.

Nate’s in the water!

And while we’re on the subject of Amy, we can’t ignore what she saw in the lake. She saw NATE! We knew he was dead! We knew he wouldn’t have just swanned off to Shetland without even responding when Zak died. The question is, will a distraught and grieving Matty remember what his wife told him before she passed away?

And then right at the very end of Friday’s episode there was a dark figure lurking beside the water, watching the crime scene investigators drive away. Was this the murderer? Was it John Sugden? Or are we just supposed to think it’s John when really it was someone else entirely? We’re gripped by this twist!

Moira’s heartbreak in our Emmerdale review

Moira’s bleak acceptance of Cain cheating was absolutely heartbreaking. Almost like she’d been waiting for this to happen. We really felt for her. Right up until the point she went storming round to Ruby’s to shout at her. She knew what had happened. She knew how damaged and vulnerable Ruby was, but she still had to give her a piece of her mind. It’s totally on-brand for Moira, but it just seemed a bit unfair.

Emmerdale review: Happy ever after?

We have to admit we weren’t always totally on-board with the much-married Chas hooking up with the much-married Dr Liam. But Liam’s proposal “you’re the ping to my pong” made us laugh, and then Chas proposing in hospital made us teary (yes, again – it’s been an emotional week).

We almost feel like everything in Chas’s life has led to this point. Gordon Livesy. Carl King. Cameron Murray. Al Chapman. All those bad decisions have got her to here, where she’s ready to marry Liam. And all Liam’s heartbreak – losing Leanna’s mum and then Leanna herself – has led to this. Maybe this is a happy ending for them both?

Give it a rest, Steph

Our dislike of sulky Steph continued this week when she was – once more – completely vile to her mum (while living in her house, drinking her wine and working for Caleb). She is like a moody teenager in a 30-something’s body and she needs to learn how to read the room.

While we totally get Ruby’s determination to protect her daughter from the awful truth about her parentage, we think it’s time Steph was told. We’re hazy on the biology stuff but we reckon there could be repercussions for Steph’s health, for any children she might have in the future. It feels an important thing to know. Plus it might stop her whining for 30 seconds and that’s got to be a good thing.

Too many men in Emmerdale?

This week’s Emmerdale was everything a soap should be – emotional, entertaining, dramatic, full of memorable moments both big and small. But there is one thing that is slightly niggling at us. And that’s the fact that all three of the deaths this week were women. How Take A Vow can continue without Suzy and Leyla is anyone’s guess!

At the moment, Emmerdale feels a bit men-heavy, with the toxic masculinity of Caleb, Mack, Cain and Aaron all hanging heavily over the village. Maybe we need another crash – with the fellas in danger this time!

Read more: Who’s leaving Emmerdale? All the cast exits, arrivals and returns

Emmerdale usually airs weeknights on ITV at 7.30pm, with an early release on ITVX at 7am.

Classic Emmerdale usually airs every weekday on ITV3 at 6am and 6.30am, plus 1.40pm and 2.10pm.

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