If Friday’s
Corrie had an overarching theme, it was loss. The Nazirs mourned Kal, the
Grimshaws peered into the gaping Todd-crafted chasm of what could have been, and
Craig lost daylight hours to sleep as well as a chance to see Beth and Kirky’s mayonnaise
infused homage to 50 Shades of Grey; perhaps more of a gain that one.
Dev’s
reaction to Kal’s loss is to seize the day, but Julie may be misinterpreting
this as a planned proposal, and Nick doesn’t want to lose Steph despite her being
complicit in Andy’s deception.
Both
episodes were so beautifully written by Damon Rochefort and Jan McVerry that I
watched them twice. The dialogue flashed with witty exchanges and observations,
none of which appeared forced, while the sensitive moments were evocative and poetic.
Indeed, there were so many lines worthy of their own mention that collective praise
will have to suffice.
Todd
Grimshaw is a man happy to play the long game in order to get the most out of a
scheme, and his attention to detail in exacting revenge made tonight’s reveal a
rather enjoyable watch despite his cruelty. The prelude to his confession was nicely
intercut with scenes of Seán and Jason’s mock date at the bar.
Eileen thinks
she is meeting Jeff from Dubai Adrian
Standing there in a red top with an apple
martini in hand, Eileen realises that Jeff from Dubai Adrian
While
Eileen and Jason erroneously remark that he has always been “jealous and
twisted,” Julie is closer to the mark when she asks “How did you get so cruel?”
to which Todd replies, “Swimming with sharks”. He reminds
them that they stood him up when he arranged a family meal in the Bistro by way
of an apology for his behaviour last year, and that it is as a result of this
that he ended up wandering the streets, being beaten up and scarred. “See even
if I wanted to forget I can’t” he cries, “cos it’s there every time I look in
the mirror reminding me you’re all two faced spineless sheep.”
He reveals
to Jason how he even orchestrated the plot to split him and Eva up. As with Eileen’s
betrayal, Jason provided him with the raw material when he allowed himself to
become enraged with jealousy and, as Todd rightly points out, chose to drown
his sorrows than fight for her. The clever part of Todd’s deception is that he
knows his victim’s weakness and uses it against them.
The thing
is, Todd still fulfils the role of outside observer looking in, and I can’t
help but enjoy this aspect of his character. His comments on Adi and Asha being
“something [for Julie] to parade around the park”, and Jason and Eva being “great
for the beach shots, not so great for the gene pool. Darwin
He appears
to enjoy meting out justice on all that have hurt him and reveals more of
himself than he might like when he remarks how he’d love to be “dumb enough not
to be hurt by the world” and laments how he is pushed away for being “too
bright, too sensitive, too ambitious”. While the former is undoubtedly true, he
is wrong about the latter. Indeed, Jason was once jealous of the pride and special
place Eileen held in her heart for Todd.
He departs
with a comment from Julie about dying a lonely man and cries out that at least
he’ll have lived. Todd is a character that continues to fascinate me and now
that all of this has been revealed, I wonder what lies ahead for him.
As the Nazirs
prepare for Kal’s funeral, each scene that unfolds is uniformly sensitive and
dignified in its subtlety with the exception of Ken's tactless comment about looking forward to witnessing a muslim funeral, and Roy presenting a cheque to the family on behalf of Carla. Let's be honest, knowing all three characters as we do, neither of these incidents would have happened.
There is a poignancy to Sharif worrying about Zeedan while he himself is grieving, and it was a lovely touch to have Ken empathise with him about losing a child and express his gratitude that Kal saved Amy. The silent tears at the muslim
funeral are very moving, as are the scenes between Zeedan and Alya, and Yasmeen and Sharif who talk about their
heroic son in the garden. She declares herself sorry for
setting the bar too high “I should’ve let him be more ordinary,” she laments, “he’d
still be with us now”. But Sharif says they did that together, and it’s what made
him the leader and hero he was.
Zeedan
wishing for one more minute with his father to tell him he looked up to him,
and Alya replying that some things don’t need to be said was a beautiful scene.
Qasim Akhtar has really come into his own, and I find myself enjoying any scene
he is in at the moment.
Both Todd and the Nazirs tend to evoke differing opinions among fans, but as far as I'm concerned, these episodes were all the better for having both families centre stage.
By Emma
Hynes
Twitter: @ELHynes
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