Cosy crimes and gritty sagas by Corrie Blog editor Glenda, published by Headline. Click pic below!

Tuesday 8 March 2011

Kevin and Sally reunited?


Hello, Corrie lovers. First time blogger here, although I’ve been lurking for quite some time and a few of you may have seen me posting here and there elsewhere, although not necessarily under this name…

Enough with the intros, on with the show. Corrie has gone a bit quiet these last few weeks, has it not? There’ve been a number of minor plotlines pootling along still, but most of the current major storylines seem to have either reached their conclusion or slid into the backseat for a time, allowing the cast members involved some much needed time off while others take their place on centre stage. As this week plays out, however, it looks as if the divided Webster clan are going to be stepping back into the limelight once more, as warring couple Kevin and Sally are brought back into one another’s orbit and forced to reopen lines of communication following Sophie’s accident.

Reading about this has got me thinking about the effect Kevin and Sally’s split has had on them as individuals. I don’t know what long-term plans the showrunners have for them, but I’m very interested to find out, as their fortunes have differed so enormously since their separation…with Sally faring considerably better than her embattled husband. It’s all about connections, and Sally has them in spades whereas Kevin, quite simply, doesn’t. Sally lives on the street. She also works on the street – and, more importantly, works in a bustling factory, which gives her a lot of individuals to interact with. She connects to Eileen’s household via Rosie’s relationship with Jason. She has her friendship with Gail, finally resurrected now that the writers have remembered it. She also has surrogate mother-figure Rita in the background, although they’ve not had many scenes together lately. And on top of all that, she has a shiny new boyfriend in tow. All in all, Sally has blossomed since her separation from Kevin, as her character has so many alternative angles to play on and so many other characters to interact with.

Kevin, in stark contrast, has become an increasingly isolated figure since the breakdown of his marriage. He no longer lives on the street – and his childcare provision for Jack is elsewhere, as well. He doesn't seem to have much contact with his daughters now that he no longer lives with them, especially after Rosie’s disastrous attempt at babysitting. He works on the street, but in a very small, two-man business, just Kevin and Tyrone…once the best of friends but now sworn enemies who seem to work in pointed silence, for the most part. In fact, since doing the dirty on Tyrone, it has become increasingly obvious that Kevin really doesn’t have any friends at all, does he? He falls into the same age bracket as Dev, Peter and Lloyd, but has never formed part of their little circle of friends, which also includes Steve, Ciaran when he’s around and Ashley when he was alive – you can take almost any combination of that group of characters and think of scenes where they’ve been seen hanging out together as mates. But Kevin? Nope. Zip, zilch, nada – he really is Billy No Mates, and the aftermath of his affair with Molly has seen him universally vilified as a home-wrecker on two counts. Even his dad doesn’t seem to have much to do with him anymore. Only Rita, bless her, seems willing to give him so much as the time of day. And the problem of having no one to interact with is that it really doesn't leave the character all that much to do, other than scowl.

The point of all this musing? I’m not sure. I’m just very interested to see what long-term plans the show has for Kevin and Sally, because as things stand it seems that while Sally’s future without Kevin looks bright, Kevin’s future without Sally doesn’t look nearly so rosy.

7 comments:

Tvor said...

Welcome to the blog!
Kevin used to have friends...Curly, Martin, even Terry Duckworth at one time, they were all of an age but they've all gone now. Too bad Martin wasn't still around, he and Kevin would have that younger woman thing in common lol!

mister_tmg said...

Pretty much spot on blog post there. I wonder if the writers thought this one through, as unless Kevin and Sally re-unite, Kevin is on a hiding to nothing.

Llywela said...

I suppose Kevin's trouble is that all his friends moved on...and he never bothered to make any new ones. Apart from Tyrone, and we all know how that one turned out! When he had his family around him, it didn't matter so much, as they kept him pretty occupied (as of course did his affair with Molly). But now that his life has imploded, the fact that he doesn't have anyone in his corner with him really is glaringly obvious - and is going to be an issue for the writers to resolve if they don't want him to go the way of Martin Platt!

Nick is another character who doesn't seem to have any friends any more and is in danger of becoming isolated, so it'll be interesting to see what long-term plans the writers have for him, too.

Beth said...

Same with Gail. I feel that that character has run it's course.

Llywela said...

I dunno, I tend to feel that most characters can be salvaged and reinvented. The will has to be there on the part of the writers, though, to give them new things to do and slowly but surely start to forge new connections for them, widening their circle of interaction. It's amazing how a character can be revitalised just by being allowed to interact with a few people they wouldn't normally have anything to do with. The writers have to be willing to invest time in building those new bonds, however - that's why I'm interested to see if they make the effort with Kevin or take the easy road by pushing him back toward Sally.

Yoork said...

Welcome to the blog Llywela (how do you pronounce that?! - I'm Canadian!)

I don't give much a thought about Kev and Sal to be honest these days. However, I would like to add that I really like Sally's new hairdo. I know it's because the "real" Sally is growing her real hair back out, but it really suits her! Somehow makes her look younger, fresher and more fashionable!

Llywela said...

*G* Llywela = Lluh-weh-la. Approximately - there is no English phonetic equivalent of the Welsh ll sound. It's kinda like lh but not really...

The Websters aren't my favourite characters on the show (although I do appreciate them enormously as cast heavyweights), but I've found the story of their (latest) marital breakdown very revealing with regard to their long-term potential as individual characters. Sally works extremely well as a newly-single lady, so far - she was strongly positioned to do so from the start. But Kevin was not in a position to fare so well on his own even without the fallout from his affair with Molly to further alienate him from the rest of the street's residents - it just seems that for him to standalone as a character, long-term, the writers are going to have to put a fair amount of investment into him. Or he could be in serious trouble. At least, that's how it looks from where I'm sitting right now!

Sally does look great with her new hair - and it must be such a confidence boost for the actress to be able to go commando on the hair front at last and look so fabulous.

GRITTY SAGAS BY CORRIE BLOG EDITOR GLENDA YOUNG, PUBLISHED BY HEADLINE. CLICK PIC BELOW!

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