Emmerdale viewers have been left wondering just what Pierce Harris and his mum, Martha, are hiding – has he been sexually violent to women before Rhona?
Pierce turned up at Rhona’s hen do to crash the fun and make sure she wasn’t having fun or anything like that – or worse, cavorting with strippers again.
But right after he arrived, Vanessa walked in with his mother, Martha, having picked her up just outside the village.
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“Hello Pierce,” she said to her horrified son as a confused Rhona didn’t understand why Pierce had lied about inviting her mum to the wedding.
Pierce begged Rhona to just trust him, before storming out followed by his mother.
She chased him through the village asking him to give her a chance. She seemed perfectly lovely to us, so just what does Pierce have against her?
He repeatedly told her to go and called her a “drunken” wayward parent, who “lost her right to call herself a mother”. He claimed he’d kept the family together while she went off the rails after his dad died.
Martha then returned to see Rhona in the pub, where they sat down and shared stories. Martha explained herself to her daughter-in-law-to-be and talked about how Pierce was a “sensitive boy” and lost his temper once.
Rhona seemed stunned that Martha’s story didn’t marry up to Pierce’s. She was especially shocked when Martha said:
“He seems much happier now, he won’t make the same mistakes with you.”
“Mistakes? What are you talking about?” Rhona asked.
“Ask him,” Martha told her.
But we’d quite like to know what mistakes too. Has he been violent before? Has he attacked a woman before? Did he assault his own mother?
When Rhona confronted Pierce, he tried to turn the whole thing round and blame Vanessa, but Rhona (for once) stood her ground and wanted an explanation.
But he failed to give her one, instead he went round to confront his mum at the B&B. He violently grabbed her arm as she tried to get him to reveal why he was telling lies about her.
“You’re hurting me,” she said.
“Then don’t make me angry,” he practically spat. Okay, so he’s definitely displaying violent tendencies towards him mum, there’s a pattern here…
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“I thought she might have changed you, this one,” his mum said.
Changed from what?!
“I hope Rhona finds out the sort of man you are,” she added. What man is that? Violent, nasty, evil, controlling and manipulative? We hope so too!
The episode ended with Pierce calling off the wedding. But we know it goes ahead next week and he’s set to attack Rhona on their wedding night.
There’s definitely more to Pierce’s background than we know about, and there’s something in his past that seems to have caused him to behave the way he does. Martha must hold the key to that.
We know his late wife Tess felt controlled by him, but we never saw them together and we have no idea if he was ever this manipulative and vicious with her. But chances are he’s done it before.
Is Martha the only person who can save Rhona now?