I admit, he's always been a bit... well, hard to take. Jimmi Harkishin's always made, let's say, interesting acting choices. Dev is a riot of harumphs, eye rolling, and squeals, meaning you're never quite sure how he's going to react in any given situation. He could explode with rage or do a whinnying horse impression; we just don't know. Dev's provided some great comedy over the years, with his combative relationship with Steve, his womanising (this is the man who bedded both Dierdre and Tracy, never forget!) and, of course, a certain thirty foot high nude photo.
Some people hate him. I've always found him strangely hilarious, perched on his stool in the corner shop, giggling at the people who come in. He's also a genuine Alpha male, one of the few left on the Street after the death of Mike Baldwin and the Connor brothers. Since Sunita's return, however, the character's lost a lot of his appeal. He's ceased to be who he once was.
Part of this is down to the loss of Amber, who was always willing to prick his pomposity and superiority complex with her razor sharp tongue. His exasperation as she casually ran rings around him was always a joy, and she's seriously missed on the Street.
We've also been asked to accept too many unlikely circumstances in too short a time. Firstly, Dev's new found paternal instincts toward the twins, who haven't even been seen or even mentioned over the past five years. Then he and Sunita reconciled, with her swiftly dumping a fiance and apparently choosing to ignore his many other unmentioned children, even though this was what drove them apart in the first place. Finally, the two of them move out of Sunita's massive home in the suburbs to the tiny two-up, two-down that is number seven.
All of this was hard to swallow, and clearly there just to enable the return of Shobna Gulati. I like Sunita, but I think these developments have damaged Dev, possibly beyond repair. He's been weakened by being dragged into these plots, and he's lost a lot of his appeal along the way. Dev no longer rules the roost: Sunita controls him completely, and it's strange to watch. The women in Corrie have always been the dominant force, but some men need to retain their hairy chest and double whiskey attitudes: would Mike Baldwin have given up his penthouse flat in Weatherfield Quays as quickly as Dev sacrificed Victoria Court?
The situation's compounded with the current Aadi storyline, which again has nothing to do with the Alahans, and everything to do with writing out the Peacocks. It's required Dev to be brutal and unpleasant to people he's lived alongside and trusted for years, and it's not working. He's lost most of his humour. Dev needs to be back to his strange, unusual, unique self before he's damaged goods.
What do you think? Do you think Dev can be redeemed, or should he be under a tram come December?
