Tuesday, 20 March 2012

Coronation Street double episode review, Monday March 19

So, long time favourite Anne Foster - bookies stopped taking bets on her weeks ago - was,  as many fans had  long suspected - unveiled as her son Frank's murderer. I think it had seemed obvious that  it was her for a while   - the tensions and slightly unhealthy relationship between her and Frank had been flagged up from the start. But I  did  still wonder that the all too obvious hints, such as Frank's missing watch, might have been yet another red herring and Jenny just  might have been revealed as  the surprise murderess in a final twist ? But not so. But you don't  bring in a fairly big name actress Gwen Taylor for a bit part role (and  the actress who played Jenny was pretty wooden) and Taylor made the part of neurotic, needy Anne very much her own. 

Anne,  it emerged, had  killed her evil son with the lead piping, sorry hit him with the whisky bottle, after she overheard his admission  to Carla that he'd raped her and Frank then insulted her as a "silly old woman" and refused to hand over his father's watch. Taylor's undoubted acting skills as the deranged, hurt, rejected mother driven to filicide (very Greek tragedy!) came to the fore in the final dramatic showdown scene with Carla, as Sally, who also learnt the truth, after spotting Anne with the watch,  lay stricken at the bottom of the stairs. Carla , cool. calm and sympathetic, persuaded  Anne, in a tense denouement, to drop the knife she was carrying or there could have been more murder victims.
Kevin arrived on the scene to call an ambulance for  the unconscious Sally, whom I'm sure will survive as Sally Dynenor isn't leaving the soap any time soon!. The ending of the "Cluedo" whodunnit  storyline was well-handled and a tour de force for Gwen Taylor but the whole saga has dragged on a bit and now it's back to Coronation Street business as normal.
In other news, Kylie, surely not one of nature's Miss Jean Brodies, found home schooling her young son was not an easy task.
Tina asked out Tommy for a date and Sunita knew it was Karl who had been raiding the Rovers'  till to fund his gambling - but didn't tell his partner Stella who suspected all the other employees. He rewarded Sunita  with a kiss on the cheek.

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5 comments:

  1. What great performances from Alison King and Gwen Taylor.

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  2. Characters who have fallen unconscious in the past year
    Stella
    Ken
    Leanne
    Tracy
    Sally
    Sophie
    Frank (due to dying I suppose)

    I think that's it.

    Oh...I forgot Chris (what's his name) the brain tumor bloke)

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  3. These episodes were beyond satire. I felt sorry for Anne, so alone in the world that she had to accept Sally as her new best friend, a woman Anne seemed to despise a fortnight ago.

    Carla really should have told Sally she was attending the funeral as a lame plot device, so she would have a reason to visit Anne later. Maria and Michelle's pointlessness was highlighted by Carla telling them about Anne's comment to her. Weren't they both sitting next to her? Maybe they had nodded off with the tedium of it all.

    These episodes were contrived and badly done. The best thing was Gwen Taylor's performance, but even that was diminished by her confession being heavily edited with scenes of Kevin not calling the Police when he saw Anne holding Carla at knifepoint. There was no suspense, just a lot of unexplained strange behaviour. The stories really need to be better than this.

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  4. Excellent performances all round last night and manmy congratulations to Corrie for keeping up the suspense.

    Ok, I'd worked out that it had to be Anne but only because she was one of only 2 people involved without a long term contract. Though I still thought there was a chance that Jenny Plot-Device would turn up and fool us all.

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  5. Anon.. you're right. I do worry about post-concussion syndrome, or some cognitive impairment of some characters due to frequent loss of consciousness. Head injuries are no laughing matter.
    Then I remember that it's Not Real..
    Rebecca in TO

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