Now we were gathering to bid farewell to the relatively unlamented Kal (or Kal-Gone as I now like to think of him).
Dull father, weary partner and slightly doughy fitness instructor, Kal had blandly struggled through eighteen months of Street life. Now it had come to this, Ken Barlow rubbing his hands with glee at getting to experience a Muslim funeral. Kal's funeral. So low-impact was this character that I forgot who had died at one point.
Admittedly though, the remaining Nazirs came across in just the right way. A mixture of bewilderment, sadness, anger and even some compassion for Weatherfield's very own Munch's Scream, Leanne. Yasmeen could have been shrill and hysterical. Instead we got a thoughtful performance from Shelley King. Slightly dreary was Alya's 'I'll make her pay' threat in respect of Carla. Given the waves of loathing washing over La Connor, she may as well hurl herself under the nearest sewing machine. Other than that, the bit of bonding between Ken and Sharif was nice plus a chance for Comedy Dev to provide a restrained, almost monosyllabic few scenes. Anyone notice a reference to Deirdre too? The beginning of the end of her story.
Onwards then to Eileen, a character who I genuinely loved in her early days but who now, I admit to not being all that bothered about. The once razor-sharp one-liners have been replaced by sarcasm and she tends to flip-flop between feast and famine in the romance stakes. Eileen treated dull old Adrian like a doormat and so I settled down with a nice hot mug of schadenfreude to witness yet another of her demises. However, it didn't quite work out that way.
In the convivial setting of the Bistro ('Come! Meet our elderly looking owner and his team of fraudulent staff!'), the singularly unlovely Todd treated his nearest and dearest to a round of vitriol and an apple martini. A camp little flourish from the Toddster there.
Watching Eileen's world crash around her was quite awful. Todd gleefully stabbed her in the back, eyes shining with malice. Jason's eyes shone, as usual, with the spirit of nothing at all as he tried to comprehend what was going on. When the penny finally dropped, so the Grimshaw fist swung into action and a nation cheered. Suddenly I find myself back on Team Eileen although realistically, we all know that she will repeat this behaviour ad-infinitum until her dying day. The grass is always greener anywhere than at Eileen's. Which given her concrete back yard, is a fair comment.
What next for Mistress Grimshaw? A romp with Michael followed by a 'Prisoner Cell Block H' boxset with Sean? Eileen's a daft old bat at the best of times but I'm on her side. As for the Nazirs? They may emerge from the leaden shadow of Kal-Gone and shine brightly. Here's hoping that they do.
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12 comments:
I liked Kal and am saddened to see that Leeanne won't get the happy ending she deserves with Kal that she did not get with Nick.I think it's a shame he's gone while the likes of Callum and Andy get to remain only because they're linked to the Platts.
I'm not looking forward to months of poor Carla being 'tar and feathered'fo causing the fire nor the possibility of Deirdre's funeral being used as a sympathy ploy for Tracy whose botched attempted murder on Carla led to two deaths.
"Kal-Gone" *snork*
Very good analysis. I always liked Eileen and even if she's much changed from her earlier days, you can see the progression, with disappointment piled on disappointment and that horrible Todd adding to her grief. I really hated this storyline. Never bought that Todd would be so twisted over a bit of embarassment and a tiny scar that he'd make his whole family pay. It's all his own doing anyway. I'm past caring why he is the way he is. I get so frustrated wtih Eileen refusing to give up on him, forgiving him over and over when he does nothing but wreck peoples' lives, including hers. Adrian reckons he's well out of it. I agree because he'd have to look over his shoulder for Todd all the time. Too bad, Adrian and eileen were a very good match.
I really can't believe that Carla would send a cheque not even knowing if there would be a charity fund or something and Roy, with all his good sense wouldn't talk her out of having him deliver it at the funeral wake. Very bad taste and timing and he should know that.
I'm sorry but the sad scenes of the funeral didn't endear me to any of the Nazirs. They're still boring and I couldn't care less about any of them. What a good touch, though, to make Carla send a card with cheque; just what she would do and so inappropriate. I was completely underwhelmed by Todd's revelations in the Bistro. Tearing his shirt open like Superman (was that intended?) to display the red t-shirt and the apple martini appearing right on cue should have been wonderfully outrageous. Instead, it was a damp squib, hardly comparing with the spiteful tricks Tanya Pooley played on Raquel. We loved Raquel who was naïve and an easy target. Eileen is far from naïve and doesn't elicit much sympathy. She was willing to canoodle with Paul the fireman whilst his sick wife sat not two yards from them. It comes down to the same thing. We have to care about characters to find their storylines absorbing. Thank goodness for Craig and Faye who are saved, perhaps, by being too young for the writers to give them endless affairs. They're the only characters worth watching at the moment.
Wish Todd had a family member sharp enough to deliver the home truth that it was his own fault that no one showed up to his precious little dinner party, and that no one forced him to walk down that dark street alone.
I was really looking forward to Jimi Mistry joining Corrie. But...they had no clue what to do with him. The poor guy was dealt a bad hand from SB and the writers. Pairing him with Leanne was just silly. They never worked as a couple.And killing him off in that lamest of lame fires was ineffective and cheesy. Watching that whole fire ordeal, we found ourselves actually laughing at how ridiculous it was. In my opinion it was the worst written event that ever aired.
All of the men on the street were running around like a Benny Hill skit, when they could have easily joined arms,or grabbed blankets from their homes, told them to jump and had Amy, Kal and Leanne on the ground in less than a minute. Kal and Leanne spent so much time negotiating with Amy as the flames whipped up, it defied logic.Any parent would have grabbed her and carried her to safety, rather then trying to cajole her into moving. It was grossly disappointing.
Jimi Mistry was probably relieved to leave it all behind. I will look forward to seeing him in the movies again.
Agreed Zagg. And Maddie rushing into the explosion for no apparent reason was a lazy plot device to write off the character. Again, laughable.
David - Love your writing, your wit, and always look forward to your posts. Any chance you are willing to take on those Wednesday reviews Glenda mentioned?
Thanks for the feedback. It's always lovely to read what everyone's take on the episodes is.
Is this the end of Todd now, surely he cannot come back from this and why would he want to be somewhere in a dead end job where he clearly hates everybody and everything. I cannot really understand why he did it anyway. I am not a fan of Eileen and she sure dont deserve Adrian, but she hasnt been a bad mother to him?
The ridiculousness of Leanne rumbles on when the Nazirs WOULD NEVER have accepted her and Zeedan seems to have done a total 180 deg turn and now hates Carla who is moping around the Street with a face like Michael Rodwell. No doubt she will soon be run outta town for six months or so.
Todd's head is ginormous in comparison to Ryan. Also couldn't care less about Eileen..lost cause that one. Todd will be back under her roof.
Tony has to turn up dead so we can have a nice long list of suspects to go through and Liz will end up behind bards.
Never was and never will be a fan of Eileen. She deserves every bad thing that ever happens to her, she's so full of bile and vitriol.
Union Jack, same could be said about Norris Cole.
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