Zoe stages EastEnders return ahead of tragic end as final scenes draw near

Zoe’s back…for a little while, anyway (Picture: BBC/Jack Barnes/Kieron McCarron)

Zoe Slater (Michelle Ryan) is back in EastEnders next week. Well, for a little bit, anyway.

As every soap fan and their mother knows, it’s been heavily rumoured that Zoe isn’t long for this world, and will be bowing out of the BBC soap in tragic circumstances, something that was backed up by behind-the-scenes photos that show the entire Slater clan – sans Mini Mo – filming a funeral.

Fans have been having their say on Zoe’s latest stint and it’s less-than-favourable response ever since the revelation that the Grim Reaper would be escorting Zoe from Walford in lieu of a black cab, but Zoe herself has been off-screen for a while, visiting her aunty Lynne (Elaine Lordan), who’s still having canine-issues.

It’s been a rather strange disappearance; after finally re-emerging after 20 years, Zoe’s sole focus was on locating her son, who she’d left behind at a hospital immediately after giving birth to him and his still-born twin sister.

Reuniting with her mum Kat (Jessie Wallace), what unfolded was nothing short of carnage.

Zoe’s return has been controversial (Picture: BBC)

There was the shooting, then the actually-alive private investigator Zoe thought she’d killed. Then came the baby bombshell, and a twisted lie that Dennis Rickman (Nigel Harmon) was the baby daddy.

Then the Max Branning (Jake Wood) reveal. Then a stalker. Then Chrissie Watts (Tracy-Ann Oberman). Then the murder of Anthony Trueman (Nicholas Bailey) and a wrongful imprisonment.

Then she was finally reunited with her son Josh Goodwin (Joshua Vaughan), and also actually-alive daughter Jasmine Fisher (Indeyarna Donaldson-Holness)… and disappeared shortly after.

Yeah, the whole thing has been a bit odd, frankly.

Shortly after the revelation that her twins had both been sleeping with Oscar Branning (Pierre Counihan-Moullier), Zoe faded into the background, before taking off for Lynne’s with half-brother Tommy Moon (Sonny Kendall) in tow.

Zoe sets her sights on Charlie’s cab (Picture: BBC/Jack Barnes/Kieron McCarron)

Next week sees Zoe re-emerge with Tommy, and the two land right back into the chaos of Albert Square.

With Tommy deeply worried about crossing paths with his former friend, Joel Marshall (Max Murray), Zoe attempts to help Kat deal with her anxious son.

Kat tries to help smooth things over between Jasmine and Patrick Trueman (Rudolph Walker), who’s still struggling to accept his granddaughter after she murdered his son.

Just as things appear to be on the up, though, Tommy steals a bottle of vodka from the pub and heads away to get trashed.

Zoe tries to nick the cab (Picture: BBC/Jack Barnes/Kieron McCarron)

Zoe locates her grandad Charlie’s (Derek Martin) cab up for sale, and decides to buy it.

As she and Kat set off, though, Kat learns about Tommy’s predicament and heads off to find him, leaving Zoe to approach the seller alone.

After clashing with him, Zoe pulls a classic ‘Slater’ and decides to steal the cab.

Back on the Square, Kat finds her son and encourages to open up, supporting him when he does so.

Kat is furious at Zoe’s actions (Picture: BBC/Jack Barnes/Kieron McCarron)

Kat is utterly furious when she learns of Zoe’s thieving of the cab, and things get even worse when the seller turns up in Walford, demanding £10,000 to keep quiet about the crime.

Desperate to keep her daughter out of prison, Kat is forced to stump up the cash, though she winds up clashing with Zoe in the aftermath.

Later in the week, Alfie pushes Kat to fix things between her and Zoe.

Surely mother and daughter will fix their perennially-fractious relationship before Zoe kicks the bucket…right?

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