This week sees Peter finally reading the signals correctly. It's finally got through his thick alcohol-muzzled skull that he has to put Simon first. The guilt over his child turning to alcohol because of the example he'd set was overwhelming and he realized Simon was better off with Leanne.
This storyline is the stuff classic soap operas are made of and when Corrie does them, they do them very well. There's more of my thoughts on this storyline here.
Keep up the good work Corrie! We know you can do it when you try!
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The writing and acting by all was superb and believable. Special mention has to be made of Alex Bain because a weaker performance would have spoilt it. I guess it's chicken and egg; if he wasn't that good,he wouldn't have been so central to the scenes. We might have heard what happened through the other characters discussing it. I can't think of any other child actor currently or recently in Corrie who could have pulled that off so full marks to the boy.
ReplyDeletePeople say that Leanne is vindictive and no saint. Absolutely true, and very believable if you watch what happens to friends and family in real life. Peter's plan to be firm with Simon was plausible but Simon's his father's son and would not be told.
Carla discovered late in the day that she'd bitten off more than she could chew. Alison King is growing on me but Carla leaves me cold. She pursued Peter and wore him down until he surrendered. She hadn't learnt her lesson from pursuing Liam, another married man. OK, some might say you can't help you fall in love with but, as we've seen with Peter and Simon, if you really love someone, you have to let them go.
Right in the middle of Simon explaining his feelings to Peter, in an otherwise excellent scene, there was a line scripted for Simon which jolted so much, (it was more a line that an adult might utter) it momentarily stopped the action for me, whilst I pondered whether such a young child would say such a thing.
ReplyDelete- It was the line where Simon compared himself with Peter getting drunk with:
"So I took the wine to get drunk. I thought it would make my problems go away, too".
I can't claim to have an ear for how young children talk, but surely that's something an adult would say, not a junior school child? Do they really talk of their "problems going away"?
I'd have thought a child would have said something along the lines of "to make everything right" or "better" etc., as I don't think small children regard themselves as having 'problems', only of someone 'stopping' them from doing what they want.
The best children's dialogue I've EVER heard is in the BBC's sitcom 'Outnumbered', where the children are allowed to ad-lib, and the results recorded as is, with fabulous, award winning results.
But still, as I said it distracted me for only a moment in an otherwise excellent scene.
Sometimes children do come out with very adult sounding phrases, they hear them from the adults and parrot them. Simon is 8, nearly 9, not 5 or 6 where it definitely would have been out of place. He watches, he listens, he's been hearing a lot of adult dialogue over the past few months. He may even have heard the Social worker say that very phrase earlier that day.
ReplyDeleteThat kid creeps me out with his devilish face but he sure can hold his own in a scene! I also agree that he might come out with adult phrases and concepts because of the environment he lives in, for sure. My neie is about his age and says remarkable things sometimes, too.
ReplyDeleteSimon's lines are no more odd than any other characters - they've all had doozies. I wish the behavior had been explored a bit more, showing the school disruption or stealing instead of hearing about it from Brian, Tracy and Dev. Well done never the less.
ReplyDeleteIf Leanne is awarded custody, I hope she remains vigilant about Simon's trust fund, much of which is tied up in the Bookies. (Oh, look, the source for a new storyline.)
I too found Simon's line too old for his character - 8 years of age. He's a cracking little actor though and pulled it off. I don't like him though...he's a real brat..but doesn't that just show what a good little actor he is?
ReplyDeletekids have problems and know this! I don't think this was out of place at all. He's been approached at some point in his life by adults asking about problems or to talk about problems (teachers, parents and social workers are famous for this) so no, I don't think the line was out of place whatsoever.
ReplyDelete