*Warning - spoilers for EastEnders episode airing on BBC One on Thursday, November 7 at 7.30pm and available on iPlayer now*
Not only have I made a living out of writing about soaps for the last 20 years, but I am also a huge EastEnders fan, and tonight's episode is without a doubt one of the best I have watched in a long time.
At the end of Wednesday night's episode, we saw Reiss's web of lies closing in on him, with Bianca finally knowing that the hunch she has had about him killing his wife Debbie has been right all along.
After finding the CCTV footage from Teddy Mitchell, Bianca confronted Reiss about letting Sonia go to jail for a crime he committed, and he seemed to have a change of heart and promised to give Bianca the pillow that he used to kill Debbie, which he has been keeping at a lockup, on the understanding she will let him go on the run.
Desperate to get her sister out of jail, Bianca agreed, but once they arrived at the lockup, it turned out it was all a hoax and the pillow didn't exist. The episode ended with Reiss coming at Bianca with a blanket and telling her that he is sorry.
Tonight's episode picks up the following morning and we see Reiss arriving home dragging a huge trunk. Of course, my first thought is that Bianca is dead and hidden in the suitcase... have I watched too many crime thrillers? Probably.
The episode sees Reiss try and avoid Martin as he questions why he has got a huge gash on his head (Bianca hits him over the head with her candle stick in self-defense) and hide his grisly suitcase from Callum when he comes round to persuade him to go to the police station and make a statement about Bianca attacking him.
After a lot of suitcase dragging and near misses, Reiss finally gets the huge trunk into the boot of his car, only for Kim to try and call Bianca and then her phone starts to ring from the back of Reiss's car. Eventually, Reiss arrives back at the lock-up (which is soundproof by the way - for his tuba playing, of course!) and we finally discover Bianca's fate. It turns out she isn't in the trunk at all, but actually alive and fairly well - having been chained up in the lockup all night.
Instead of Bianca's lifeless body in the truck, Reiss actually has all the mod cons you could need when holding someone hostage. From a travel kettle to a microwave, he has thought of it all. But with all this effort he has made to make sure Bianca has all she needs in the lock-up, it seems he is planning to keep her there for some time. But Bianca isn't one to sit around quietly and wait for someone to rescue her... could her desperation to get out push Reiss to the edge and force him to silence her for good? Reiss has killed once before out of desperation, who says he won't do it again?
If I had one complaint about tonight's EastEnders, it's surprisingly that they could have strung out the whole Bianca in a trunk a lot longer, taking a few more episodes to reveal that she was alive and in the lock-up. But as I say, maybe I have just watched too many crime dramas!
EastEnders airs on BBC One from Monday to Thursday at 7:30 pm.
