Anyone seen John?

Boy, what a week. I wouldn’t have had two huge storylines peaking at the same time; it was a lot for us to deal with, wasn’t it? I was wrung out at the end of it all!

Seems like ages ago now, but remember that first shot of the week of John in the factory? He looked as if he’d spent way too long on a sunbed, either that, or had stolen Fiz’s makeup (she hasn’t worn any for weeks now)!

Chesney looked remarkably clean and polished for someone who’d just escaped from being locked in a cellar for a week, didn’t he – as did John after being holed-up in the attic. What did he do when he needed the loo? (Just a thought!)

You had to smile at John’s explanation to Fiz: “When the tram fell out of the sky, it’s as though the Gods were smiling on me … er, fatalities notwithstanding.” He made it all sound so feasible, didn’t he? All he wanted was his family and his job. Not much to ask out of life is it, but that would have been more than enough for John. I think we all feel for him, and it’s testament to his portrayal of the character that we do. What happened to him though? Bet we weren’t expecting that!

The other big event this week started off at the Rovers. It was a shock to see Steve phoning Social Services. Did he do it to get at Tracy/David though, or to get Max taken away because he felt Becky was closer to him than Amy? (I’m still not quite sure of his motive.)

Poor Becky. It all started so well for her. She looked really happy, didn’t she? She was upbeat, positive, and reckoned she’d finally got her life sussed. I loved her line to Steve: “Tracy likes two things in life: attention and money … and men. … That’s three things. Attention, money and men.”

It’s been heartbreaking to see that joy turn to such pain, and her acting had me in tears several times as the lies were exposed and her world collapsed around her. Like John; Becky only lied for the right reasons, but lies are lies, and – sure as eggs are eggs – they’ll come back to haunt you (especially in Soapland)! When she decided it was Tracy who’d shopped her, she reacted in the worst possible way, but who wouldn’t have felt like doing the same thing? Pity she’d got the wrong person though. Oops.

I’m glad it was on after the watershed, because it was really quite alarming to see her smashing-up the Barlow’s front room. Tracy looked absolutely scared to death, but for Becky to have just been able to go and open up the back of Owen’s van and pull a sledgehammer out was stretching credulity a bit, wasn’t it?

What builder would even leave tools in his van (let-alone leave it unlocked), and also, whenever anyone goes to belt anyone in a Soap, normally they’ve been grabbed before they’ve even had a chance to land the first punch, so how come none of the men made any attempt to restrain her?

Talking about crying: I was disturbed to see baby Liam crying his eyes out in the middle of it all (I was quite glad to actually see him though; I thought he’d gone for good), and how cute was baby Hope? What a little bobby-dazzler she is.

Just a thought: How was Steve able to grab hold of a hot mug of coffee? This ties in with the ‘drinking from a clearly empty mug and forgetting to swallow,’ so many actors fall victim to. In the real world, we’d burn our hand if we held a scalding mug of tea/coffee (just saying).

Laughs were a bit hard to find this week, but my Grin of the Week is:

David: “I think Kylie might be a bit uncomfortable if you’re here.”

Gail: “Well, I’m uncomfortable that she’s here but I have to lump it.”

David (when Becky flies into the salon): “ Damn. We’re all out of straightjackets,” and

Dev: “How are things?”

Steve: “Oh, you know, bad to worse.”