Even though Elaine Peacock (Harriet Thorpe) has only just returned to the square, it seems that she has already developed rivals in EastEnders.
Within minutes of her arrival, she infuriated Sharon Watts (Letitia Dean) and her mother Linda Carter (Kellie Bright) by giving out free drinks.
But when she confronted Nish Panesar (Navin Chowdhry), who had before thought the Queen Vic would be his, she had more tricks in her sleeve.
Linda had put both Sharon and Nish on hold in case their mother Elaine couldn’t come up with the money, but now she is at odds with both of them because of what she did.
Even while Nish maintained his composure after learning of Linda’s treachery, it was obvious he wasn’t happy, and his disposition only became worse when Elaine made the decision to introduce herself.
Elaine demonstrated that she could see right through Nish when he congratulated her on closing the business with Linda.
Despite Nish’s insistence that the best lady had won the position and his jab that Elaine was more qualified than him to deal with intoxicated people and change barrels, Elaine put him in his place.
She informed him that she wasn’t deceived by his performance and pointed out that she knew guys like him who concealed their fears with “a nice suit and a wide smile.”
When Suki (Balvinder Sopal) made the decision to leave and confronted Elaine’s razor-sharp tongue for herself, things only got worse.
When Suki linked Elaine’s drinking to Linda’s alcoholism, Linda was caught in the crossfire. Suki was shocked to see Elaine attacking Suki for tacitly supporting Nish.
Linda’s involvement in the debate was a step too far for Elaine, who immediately forbade the Panesars from visiting again.
Elaine and Linda finished their conversation as usual and went upstairs, thinking that was the end of it.
However, a loud commotion emanating from the bar quickly startled them.
They went down to check and discovered that everything had been destroyed save for one important object.
Nish had earlier purchased Linda a glass flamingo ornament while still holding onto the hope that they would start a company together.
Now that the bar had been fully demolished, the flamingo decoration took pride of position on the counter.
Could this be Nish making a bold statement?
Has Elaine gotten into a fight she can’t win?