WALFORD businesswoman Suki Panesar has been put through the wringer and fans can’t help but empathise with her.
However, as EastEnders viewers root for her, here’s why we should stop and think before turning her into an LGBTQ+ hero.
Suki Panesar is on an apparent redemption arc
But is it enough retribution for the terrible deeds she’s committed in the Square?
Walford’s twisted tiger mother
Suki Panesar was the last member of her family to be introduced to BBC One viewers following the arrival of her four children in Walford in 2019.
Portrayed by Balvinder Sopal since her soap debut, Suki Panesar rocked up Albert Square in January, 2020, with the firm intent of patching things up with her daughter Ash as both women shared a complicated relationship.
It was revealed that Suki was terminally ill as she claimed to suffer from ovarian cancer.
She immediately struck up a friendship with Jean Slater (Gillian Wright) who had gone through her own cancer ordeal.
And while this could have been a story of forgiveness and reconciliation, Suki didn’t get off to a great start in the Square as it was revealed she was actually lying about her cancer to get her children’s sympathy.
The sick twist was eventually exposed by Jean Slater herself but Suki clearly didn’t learn her lesson.
From Kathy Beale to Sharon Watts, many devoted mothers have walked the streets of Walford, proving they are capable of anything out of pure love for their offspring – and Suki was a far cry from them.
Cunning, vicious, manipulative and dishonest, Suki’s devotion has rarely been solely to her children and mostly to her own selfish goals and vision of a perfect, traditional family.
Suki’s ambitions have clearly trampled on her love for her family over the years, making her an overbearing, demanding tiger mother with a huge villainous streak and narcissistic tendencies.
During her time in the Square, she showed a clear favouritism for her sons Kheerat and Vinny as she not only made Ash’s life a nightmare but she also took part in a plot to imprison her own son Jags, which ultimately resulted in his death behind bars.
This began when Vinny (Shiv Jalota) assaulted Martin Fowler and Suki, desperate to save him, threw Jags under the bus as she was disapproving of his relationship with Habiba Ahmed.
More recently, Suki shocked viewers of the London-based drama by letting Ben Mitchell (Max Bowden) die of an overdose after discovering his own involvement in Jag’s death, completely oblivious to the fact she was also to blame.
But aside from her less than sympathetic disposition, Suki has shown a darker, more problematic side of her personality making her the last person I would personally want to represent the LGBTQ+ community.
An ally we shouldn’t want
As a queer woman myself, I was privileged to be surrounded by an understanding support system while I came to terms with my own sexuality, which I kept a secret from my nearest and dearest for years.
Had my mother shunned me for being who I am, I would have been devastated – and Ash Panesar (Gurlaine Kaur Garcha) unfortunately experienced this when Suki humiliated her for her bisexuality.
Many parents in soap land have had trouble coming to terms with their children’s sexuality, as witnessed recently in Emmerdale with Mark Noble’s Colin Hamston, but Suki took this to another level during her time befriending Honey Mitchell (Emma Barton).
In a shocking storyline, Suki tormented her Minute Mart employee after kissing her without her consent.
Understandably, life outside the closet may be terrifying for a woman like Suki who has been raised to be the epitome of a conservative family woman.
But was making Honey’s life hard really necessary?
To top it all off, and as much of a Sukeve supporter I have become, I cannot relate to Suki’s initial poor treatment of Eve Unwin (Heather Peace), despite their romance developing into the heart-warming story we know now.
While I understand Suki’s upbringing and family life may have contributed to her behaviour, she still remained one of the most hated characters throughout her storylines due to her actions.
I expected better from EastEnders than a character stuck in another trope mainstream media should drop entirely.
Robert Sugden in Emmerdale, Ben Galadima in Doctors and Todd Grimshaw in Coronation Street, among others, were all locked in the closet, dating women before eventually coming to terms with their sexualities.
And while we desperately needed a woman in soap land to follow a similar trajectory, the armoured closet lesbian trope Suki was thrown into could have been harmful for the representation of the LGBTQ+ community, stereotyping its members as dangerous and abusive.
In 2023, we deserve a storyline where one can fully embrace themselves, no matter how slowly, without resorting to despicable acts.
This has most notably been explored with the younger generation of soap characters, particularly Emmerdale’s Arthur Thomas whose family immediately encouraged him to be on his own path – an indirect message for any questioning teen that they are welcome as they are.
Off-screen, from March 2021 to March 2022, police have recorded a 41% increase in hate crimes against individuals identifying as anything other than heterosexual in both England and Wales (26,152).
That same year, the authorities recorded 4,355 crimes against the transgender community, another important increase (56%) in comparison to 2020-2021 records (2,799).
The LGBTQ+ community deserves a better representation in 2023 and in years to come to finally eradicate heteronormative standards which contribute to the stigma.
With Suki’s extremely poor treatment of Eve, Honey and her own daughter Ash as a way to protect herself from her truth, it is hard for me to forgive her for her misdeeds, particularly as they continue to be unpunished.
A lesson on accountability
Suki’s slate is far from clean and, the only way I could possibly root for her fully is if she was finally given the comeuppance she deserves.
The businesswoman has dodged bullets with her son Kheerat taking the blame for Ranveer Gulati’s death and going to prison for her.
In recent months, Suki has gained sympathy from many viewers not only thanks to her romance with Eve but also due to her clearly abusive marriage with Nish Panesar (Navin Chowdhry).
And while her marriage may explain why she was unhappy with her life to the point of lashing out against her own children, it fails to justify why Suki was so horrid to everybody around her while Nish remained in prison for murder.
Being a domestic violence survivor is no reason to be exempted from blame for a homicide she clearly participated in by plotting against Jags to send him to prison.
Despite her ordeal, this is still the same woman who cruelly shamed her daughter for being bisexual, the same woman who lied about having cancer to manipulate her children and the same woman that was ready to let another resident die from a drug overdose.
Moreover, many other villains in EastEnders have had to take accountability for their actions, from the most depraved like Graham Foster, Bobby Beale, Dean Wicks and Gray Atkins to the highly problematic like Janine Butcher.
Why should Suki be treated differently?
EastEnders airs from Monday to Thursday at 7.30pm on BBC One.
Fans have been sympathising with Suki amid her clearly abusive marriage to Nish
But why shouldn’t she pay for her many actions?
