Possibly therein lies the problem. As exemplified by numerous comments on these very pages, the most that Stella can elicit is apathy. Many loathe her whereas most of us just accept her for the vision in beige that she is. Had this been Hayley, then we would have felt justifiably upset. Tears would have been shed. At this stage of the game though, Stella's passing would not have been a cause for regret.
The idea of the locals stripping off in the local restaurant (how weird was that) hovered between gigglesome and dreadful. Sean's truly disgusting jacket should have been fed to the flames and Rita should have known better. For some reason, these scenes didn't feel right - they were all just a little too out of the ordinary, especially the shoe-horning in of the seldom seen Doctor Carter and another odd post - "We'll Meet Again" cameo from Tommy.
Otherwise, the fire episodes were funny in parts (the previously blogged Peter Barlow line was pure genius) but also manged to feel a little clunky. The swift drafting in and demise of Toni was poor. Expendable, she sallied forth into the flames.
Even with fire raging, Tina still found enough venom in her to bitch about Kirsty, the latter of whom was spiralling out of control in a sour world of her own making. Meanwhile, a more beige than usual Stella was pulled from the wreckage and deposited in an ambulance. The medic advised that "She's in respiratory arrest" to which Gloria/Barbara Royle responded, Mrs Overall style, "Please tell me what's happening".
However the best was saved for last, with those touching hospital scenes as Weatherfield General cured Karl of smoke inhalation within minutes, in order that he could continue emoting like a comedian in a 1970s working men's club. Meanwhile, Dev was doing a passable impression of Thomas the Tank engine reversing into the sidings, as he tenderly rubbed Sunita's scorched hands. She gamely slept through it all, grateful of the chance not to be boomed at by her increasingly odd ex.
The week's episodes held little excitement and few expectations and therefore I was not disappointed. They heralded the end of the Collinson era, the beginning of the end for the much-maligned Sunita and a new beginning for our favourite pub. If nothing else, let's raise a glass of Newton & Ridley's to that.
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12 comments:
I felt oddly detached throughout the whole fire scene..the scrambling around by the cast..the horrified looks on the actors faces...it seemed so familiar. I don't like watching Dev bawling his eyes out yet again..we went through this when his son was gravely ill not that long ago..and now, with Sunita going, we'll be subject to all sorts of crying jags and bouts of depression where Dev is concerned..but of course who will step in to save the day? Sophie...little yoda that she is. I didn't buy into Pauls grief, much less the wooden acting by most of the staff standing around the Bistro..were they supposed to be in shock? Why was Dr. Carter just standing there? Surely a crack physician of his calibre might have been useful elsewhere. Oh well...6 months of waiting for the great 'Rovers' fire and it was, for me anyway, just a bit of a fizzle.
Yeah, Clinkers your post summed the fire up nicely for me.
It was a luke warm fire all round. We've seen far too many explosions, tragedies during PC's reign that the cast had a look of 'here we go again' about them.
How much excitement can you muster knowing that those in Weathy General are miracle workers and St Ella will be back on her feet being boring as dishwater again before the middle of next week. (She's not been in the show 2 years and this is already her second coma - how unlucky is that?!)
It all felt that time and budget had been spent on setting the spectacular special effects and then a week before somebody mentioned they'd better put a story together to go with it. There were so many holes in it you could have driven a bus.
Has PC gone now? If he has good flamin riddance!
The back room was on fire, the pub was in flames. Everywhere Stella looked, there were flames. She could not even get down the stairs for flames. Yet Karl could make it up the stairs. Stella was unable to break the front bedroom window with the metal lamp base - its single-glazed! Paul managed it with a hammer, though where that came from, god only knows. Even Karl was not able to manage to kick the window in to save his 'true' love. All done quite badly. I loved the actual fire. When Sunita emerged from the cellar and looked around the room, we saw her POV and seeing the rovers in flames gave me chills down my spine. And this time, both front windows blew out, unlike last time. The Select must have survived last time, which makes no sense... lol...I love Corrie, but using such an iconic disaster to kill 'Toni'? We bareley care about Stella! So to then see Paul be so concerned abut Toni was annoying. In 20 years time, people will say "who's Toni?" and we will say " she was in 3 eps, yeah, it was daft wasn't it" and they will say "Elsie was the Gretest"
Bringing on a character (Toni)just to kill in the fire...so lame. Since he's leaving already, I'm surprised they didn't just give Paul a heroic end. Not too imaginative to kill a firefighter in a fire, but a death that would have sent at least a couple characters into a tailspin. At least they didn't come up with a contrived reason for Kirsty to die in the fire...I still have hope they'll rap up her story in a decent manner. Personally, I would have liked Ryan to perish, just to get him off the show...there's been so much said about what a waste Stella and Rob are on the show, but I find Ryan's stories a pain to watch.
Yes, Toni dying in the fire was a bit lame. We had no emotional investment in her. I am glad, though, that Sunita didn't die on the spot. It gives Karl a chance to look daggers at her while Dev snuffles all over the poor girl.
Great post again Clinkers D - you have actually made Frosty laugh. More "outpourings" of grief from Dev to come I am afraid but he will have his two little friends Sophie and Jenna at his side. Sigh.
The special effects were really special and if it had just been about Sunita being trapped it would have been a gripping episode. But, unfortunately, I couldn't have cared less about Stella and Toni.
It felt like the Full Monty show was strapped on to the story, adhering to the soap cliche of something dreadful happening while something hilarious was going on elsewhere eg. Alf dying in his sleep during Gail's party; Martha Longhust dying during a Rover's party.
The stars of the show were the special effects team. Very well done!
Clinkers - spot on! The fire was amazing and I was really impressed by the pyrotechnics - all credit to the team who made it happen. As I have said before it's a shame the storyline let it down! Compare the reaction (despair) to the news that Hayley is leaving to the reaction (despair?) that St. Ella is staying for another 2 years (on this blog at least!).
The rest has been said - Dr Carter in the Bistro, when at the tram crash he was running around with his medical bag; Toni's death - such a shame, she seemed as though she would have made a proper Corrie character; St. Ella back in the same bed she was in a wee while ago. Oh dear.
I think I'm the only one feeling sorry for Dev though!
Brilliant!
Peter Barlow's comment about Tracy was fab.
I could have done without the scene of Leanne moaning in the hospital. They should focus on Gloria and Eva now because their relationship with Stella is far more convincing.
I was in stitches when Dev started crying - if you can call it that. I like the actor but his 'sniff sniff sniff' was too funny.
Just watched the Wednesday episode and Dev's acting was cringe making It was hard to decide what all the sniffing was all about he sounded as though he was working on a line of coke.
How much longer are they going to keep the character?
Sunita's death would have been the ideal time to have him and the twins depart to India or anywhere but the Street.
He's long past his sell by date yet they keep him and let better characters go.
After all the hype the whole fire story line was a bit of a let down, great effects but the rest of it was actually boring.
I agree with the comment about Dr. Carter just standing around in the Bistro when he should have been out in the street helping out it's as if Collinson didn't tell the scriptwriters what to do with him.
Also kind of surprising that the police and ambulance were there so much before the fire department.
I agree with the comments that it seemed that so much time was spent on the effects that they forgot they needed a story to go with it.
Great Post and you summed it up nicely! When Doc Carter was propping up the bar and the rest of the wooden planks were standing around it looked like a scene from Zombies - the Living Dead...they were aimlessly shuffling about with no real purpose. The whole Paul telling everyone to stand back and wait for the Fire Fighters while being Stella banged on the window with her head back and her mouth open was so daft...and hilarious which I'm sure it wasn't meant to be. Nice fire though.
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