Lauren Branning's world is set to implode in EastEnders, thanks to Mark Fowler Jr, who has sabotaged her efforts to prove herself to her father, Max. The car dealer has been on a mission to show Max that she has what it takes to run the business with him. Max decided to put her confidence to the test, setting her the goal of selling £80,000 worth of motors. If she wins, he will give her half of his business.
Lauren is determined to succeed, working alongside Mark, who has been fixing up old cars for her to sell. Her efforts have proven fruitful, and she is confident she will win the bet, leaving Max on edge. However, on the advice of Sam Mitchell, Mark has taken drastic action to raise money to pay off gangster Russell Delaney, who doubled his debt earlier this week.
Sam reminded Mark that he would make much more money doing up and selling dodgy motors rather than legitimate ones. Mark reiterated that Lauren wants to do things above board, but Sam pointed out that if the legitimate motors vanish, Lauren will have no choice but to get on board with the dodgy ones if she wants to win her bet and secure her stake in the car lot.
After giving it some thought, Mark decided to follow Sam's suggestion. In dark scenes towards the end of Thursday's edition of the BBC One soap, Mark and Sam emerged from the shadows in a remote location and set fire to the vehicle Mark had spent the previous night fixing up for Lauren to sell. Lauren had already secured a buyer for the motor, so Mark's actions will leave her devastated.
Will Mark's plan to get Lauren on board with selling dodgy cars work? If so, will he raise the money needed to get Russell Delaney off his back once and for all? And if they start doing up and selling dodgy motors, will it come back to bite them? There is also a theory that Lauren and Mark will be having an affair by New Year's Day 2027, as fans have speculated since the flashforward episode. Will their potential success in dodgy dealings ultimately see this theory come to pass?
EastEnders airs Mondays to Thursdays at 7:30pm on BBC One or streams from 6am on BBC iPlayer.
