“I never thought Oscar and Josh would dare to do that…” — Jasmine uncovers a shocking secret, and her reaction leaves all of Walford speechless
Jasmine Fisher’s (Indeyarna Donaldson-Holness) dark side has hardly been concealed since she turned up in Albert Square, determined to make her birth-mother and EastEnders legend, Zoe Slater (Michelle Ryan), pay for abandoning her at birth.
Having allied herself with Walford’s supreme uber-bitch, Chrissie Watts (Tracy-Ann Oberman), she launched a vicious and insidious stalking campaign against Zoe, while also making an enemy of Cindy Beale (Michelle Collins), which resulted Cindy lying in a pile at the foot of the Albert’s stairs, after Jasmine shoved her down them.
Her revenge mission took a violent turn when she believed Zoe’s life was in danger, having discovered her birth-father, Anthony Trueman (Nicholas Bailey) attacking her, and killed him.
Throughout all of this, the one soft spot she appeared to possess was for her boyfriend, Oscar Branning (Pierre Counihan-Moullier), who was utterly spellbound upon meeting Jasmine.
A perennial playboy, Oscar shunned his promiscuous past and pledged himself to Jasmine, despite her absolute reluctance to open up to him about anything. Pretty toxic, really…
After Jasmine’s role in Anthony’s death was finally exposed, Oscar resigned himself to a life without her, and began to wallow in self-pity, self-medicating with a seemingly endless stream of meaningless one night stands and casual partners.
Until he met Josh Goodwin (Joshua Vaughan).
The spark was immediate, the tension was palpable and it was undeniable that there was something between them.
With Josh having arrived in Walford to seek answers over how Jasmine had come to murder their birth-father and feeling overwhelmed following encounters with his pseudo aunties, Kim and Denise Fox (Tameka Empson and Diane Parish), he ended up in the Albert looking for a distraction.
And distraction he found in Oscar. Without having any idea who the other was, they found themselves kissing and later tumbling into bed. When they discovered their connection via Jasmine, and Oscar reunited with her following her release from prison, they decided to keep their night of passion a secret so as not to hurt anybody, but it was clear that their connection was too strong to simply be ignored.
As Josh acclimatised to life in Walford, his adoptive mum, Sandra (Dawn Steele), who’d previously also taken Jasmine in, let Kat in to some dark ponderings regarding her and the death of her husband.
Sandra told Kat that her husband died after a car crash while taking Jasmine to the swimming pool, making sure to point out that the weather was perfectly clear and that the car had no faults. There was absolutely zero subtext as to what she was suggesting.
Describing Jasmine as deeply troubled, with a steep history of lashing out, and having previously attempted to sabotage her own driving, she told Kat how she remembered arriving at the hospital after the crash to see Jasmine, her face utterly blank, without even a hit of emotion after witnessing the death of her father.
Oscar and Josh have since given in to their chemistry, despite their efforts to remain apart, and Josh decides to tell him of the mystery surrounding both his dad’s untimely demise and Jasmine’s potential role in it in tomorrow’s episode.
Horrified, Oscar turns to Jasmine for answers, and receives a vicious smack in the mouth for his troubles.
Oscar heads back to Josh, who tries to soothe him with a kiss, only for them to be discovered by Kat.
With Jasmine insisting that Oscar attend her birthday party, and with Zoe also determined that Josh should attend, Kat’s discovery comes as she arrives to invite Josh to the bash.
Absolutely floored, Kat turns to Alfie Moon (Shane Richie) for advice, and they both agree to remain silent for the time being, so as not to destroy Jasmine’s birthday or Zoe’s joy at celebrating with her children.
Still, now that Kat knows of the affair, surely it won’t be long until somebody else does, and if that person is Jasmine, are Oscar and Josh’s lives in danger?
