This article contains spoilers for tonight’s episode of EastEnders, which airs on BBC One at 7.30pm or can be streamed now on iPlayer.
Jasmine Fisher (Indeyarna Donaldson-Holness) has been quite the enigma since her arrival in Walford last month, when she instantly targeted Cindy Beale (Michelle Collins) and skilfully finessed Freddie Slater (Bobby Brazier) out of his job at The Albert and manoeuvring herself straight into it.
Cindy, no stranger to a spot of cunning, recognised instantly what Jasmine had done, but was impressed and welcomed her into the bar as a new staff member.
After matching with Oscar Branning (Pierre Counihan-Moullier), he asked if she was escaping from something or looking for something. Jasmine coyly answered that she could be doing both, and when Cindy and Elaine Peacock (Harriet Thorpe) pressed her about her life before Albert Square, she explained that she was avoiding having to join the family business. When she didn’t elaborate any further, Cindy and Elaine deduced that the business could be criminal…
Jasmine’s interest in Cindy became evident when she began to take every opportunity to dig in to her life and background, though the mystery continued to grow when she visibly balked at having to produce identification documents at Elaine’s request. She later shook Oscar down for information, leading her to learn that Cindy had previously faked her own death after informing on her gangster cellmate, Jackie Ford.
Tonight’s trip to Albert Square saw Jasmine take an opportunity to delve further into Cindy’s history, encountering a wounded Gina Knight (Francesca Henry) at work. Unaware that boyfriend Harry Mitchell (Elijah Holloway) is being held prisoner by Okie Okyere (Aayan Ibikunle Shoderu) and fed with drugs, Gina is feeling abandoned, and when Okie begins to drip poison in her ear about Harry having spent the night with a mystery woman while away in Wales, she continues to spiral.
Digging deep for more tea on Cindy, Jasmine plied Gina with shots and later allowed Oscar to serve them cocktails, all in a bid to loosen her lips and divulge as much about Cindy as she possibly can.
But the question remains…why?
The fan theory
When Elaine floated the idea that Jasmine belonged to a crime family, fans instantly picked up on it and married it with her interest in Cindy.
Fans will remember that, prior to Cindy’s reintroduction, fans believed she’d died in childbirth while in prison back in 1998.
Upon her reintroduction, fans learned that her death had been faked and she actually was placed into witness protection, due to her turning informant on her cellmate, Jackie Ford, to get a sentence reduction. Living as Rose Knight until 2023, once Cindy learned that Jackie had died, she reassumed her true identity.
‘So is new girl Jasmine part of Jackie Ford’s family out for revenge against Cindy? Jasmine Fisher/Jackie Ford, mysterious family…’ a fan posted on X in response to the storyline. Another added: ‘Wonder if Jasmine’s ‘criminal’ family are the ones who were after Cindy in jail… she was very cagey about giving her details…’
‘So, it’s been alluded to that Jasmine comes from a criminal family. And then she gave Cindy a very definite look as Cindy walked away… I have a feeling she’s related to Jackie Ford – Cindy’s cellmate she agreed to give evidence against’ a forth viewer wrote.
Though the night ended in tragedy for Jasmine and Gina, Jasmine did achieve her goal of extracting even more information on Cindy.
Is she a relative of Jackie Ford and a member of her dangerous gangland family? Is Cindy in mortal danger?
