A wedding that almost certainly won’t be going ahead. Max Branning (Jake Wood) waking up after a night with his pregnant paramour to

take a phone call from his bride-to-be. A gunman. An absolute ton of coppers. A new baby. Solicitation to murder. Lauren Branning’s (Jacqueline Jossa) big secret. Four potential brides. Max’s ultimate choice between his two children.

 

 

That’s certainly a lot to digest. But don’t worry, we’ve worked tirelessly to list everything that ‘Enders teased in the episode, coming up with a comprehensive guide before the many (many, many) mysteries begin to unravel over the coming months.

Fifth time lucky? Apparently not, as Max kicks off his wedding day in bed with another (pregnant) woman before he’s met with an army of police, forced to jump out of a window, betrayed by his daughter, arrested for solicitation to murder, interviewed by the police and returns home to discover a gun-toting mad man has kidnapped both of his children and is asking him to choose which one dies.

Not only that, but the tuna tartar that Ian Beale (Adam Woodyatt) had demanded has been swapped with pulled pork. Eugh.

I mean, soap weddings rarely go off without a hitch or three, but this is taking the biscuit!

Jack apparently has custody of baby Ethan. Who is baby Ethan? We’ve absolutely no idea, though a later discussion reveals that Max has apparently saved his (and Jimmy’s) life at some point in the previous year.

Is Ethan Jack’s? Or, more importantly, is he not Denise’s? Is that what’s driven them apart?

Could it have driven her all the way up the aisle with his brother, who she’s previously had no time for?

It’s established early that Lauren and Max aren’t on good terms. She’s willing to attend his wedding, but husband Peter Beale (Thomas Law) certainly isn’t, especially after ‘what happened’. While brother Oscar (Pierre Counihan-Moullier) is clearly in a much better place with their dad, Lauren’s steely.

While buoying her uncle Jack (with the mysterious baby Ethan), Lauren receives a text asking her to meet in the ‘usual place’, and as she’s (briefly) hiding Max at her house following his escape from his own home, he informs her that he knows exactly what she’s been up to.

She’s later incredibly edgy in the presence of a mystery man while being comforted by husband Peter Beale (Thomas Law).

Back at home with Oscar, she receives another text, telling her it’s ‘decision time’ and as she goes to leave, she’s stopped by the same gun-toting man from before.

Is the person she’s meeting connected to the mystery man we meet later? When Max proclaims that he knows what she’s doing, is he aware of an affair between the two? Is the decision she needs to make between mystery man and Peter?

More importantly, is she more like her dad than she wants to believe?

As with baby Ethan and mystery man, the gun-toting villain offers no clue as to his identity, but unlike the former, we also don’t see his face. Does this indicate that he’s someone that we know? Besides Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden) and Ravi Gulati (Aaron Thiara), who else that lives on Albert Square has easy access to a gun and is proficient at kidnapping?

Surely neither of those would then later make Max choose one of his children to die? I mean, they’ve both been bad, but not that bad!

Clearly Max has made a terrible enemy…

Max’s ties to crime?
After being arrested for ‘solicitation to murder’ (ordering a death, basically), the policeman in charge of the investigation asks Max about his ‘criminal contacts’. The swarm of armed police who earlier came to collect him also indicate that the authorities think Max is incredibly dangerous.

Has Max stepped into the void left behind by Phil and Ravi as Walford’s face of gangster-ism? Honestly? I hope not…

His earlier proclamations to Lauren, though, that he’s mixed up in something bad but is totally innocent suggest that he’s gotten in way over his head and hasn’t inexplicably become a crime lord.