Mary is unhappy with the children and unhappy with their
father, Dev, too She feels she is being used by them. Later though, in the pub,
Dev apologises and tells her what he sincerely believes. ‘You do a wonderful
job.’ She is momentarily cheered.
Emily and Rita call Mary over. ‘Ignore me Rita – I’m
suffering from an acute case of ennui. Like many French words, its precise
meaning is very hard to pin down.’ She continues. ‘I’m feeling dissatisfied,
I’m being wasted. I’m nobody and nothing. I’m simply redundant. Maybe it’s my
work-life balance – something isn’t fulfilling me. Amy’s 11 years old – she’s
got zeal, she’s got ambition, she’s got drive.’ She continues further. ‘Where
are the people my own age? I should be hanging out with Carla Connor, Steve and
Michelle. I’m a figure of ridicule, an aging spinster with nothing to offer.’
Rita and Emily point out that she has them for friends but
that’s not really whar Mary wants. Hearing Mary talk like this is an indication
of her insight and her growing self-awareness. It is also profoundly sad.
‘Where’s my exciting hobby, my go-getting friends, my
drive?’ she asks. Norris behaves like an insensitive fool. He is sarcastic and
unsympathetic.
Mary throws caution to the wind and instead of another
Dubonnet, she decides on a dry white wine. Well, it is a start.
Another character, who is experiencing loneliness, is Ken.
We have noticed though, the very early stages of a possible romance between
Audrey and Ken and I for one fully support this plot line. So Audrey lied about
reading one of Russia’s greatest novels. Well, what does it matter? Ken can
wallow in great literature while Audrey enjoys something else. After all, a
lack of intellectualism in his women has never really troubled Ken. He would
listen to Mahler as Deirdre would wash up to The Spice Girls.
Some may say it is too early after Deirdre’s death for Ken
to be in a relationship with someone else. Ken, though, doesn’t have decades in
front of him and nor does Audrey for that matter. Life is for living, so, with
no more ado, these two should get together. After a haircut, Ken suggests they
meet in the Rovers. Did anyone else notice how fondly Audrey messed with Ken’s
hair before cutting it, then rested her hands on his shoulders? Steve turns up for a trim and reports on Amy’s
progress with the violin. Apparently she has ‘an ear for it.’ Better than her
tidying skills, it seems about which she is arguing with her mother. It is also
revealed that Ken has put together a reading list for Amy and Steve has a list
of violin music for Amy. She’ll be glad to get back to school!
Beth’s faux respect to Mr. Connor and Mr. Connor was amusing
as was her comment about petty cash for the cake run not being reachable by
even Houdini. It is touching that Beth wears a letter C on a necklace, for the
wonderful Craig. Beth is being a great friend to Fiz too.
Tyrone is having one of the worst days ever. He’s done the
motorway breakdown and then tries to replace the unicorn, which he trod on when
he was rushing out to work. Hope is
taken ill but Fiz cannot get hold of Tyrone, because he has no charge left on
his phone. So, on arriving back at the garage, he learns that Hope and Fiz have
gone to hospital in an ambulance, as Hope seems really poorly. Turns out she has picked up an infection and
is staying in overnight. Tyrone heads off to the hospital and having difficulty
finding a parking place, dumps the tow truck in front of the hospital entrance.
It is towed away but Kevin sorts matters out.
As Tyrone gathers together the items that Fiz needs for her
and Hope’s hospital stay, including the wrong book, Tyrone picks up a photo of
Vera and Jack. What a great support they would be to Tyrone and family if they
were still around.
Alya offers to look after Jake for Izzy and Gary. Jake’s
parents are most grateful to her and anyway, as she herself says, she will have
to get used to looking after him.
When Gary returns home from work, he is surprised to see
Alya’s grandparents. Sharif quickly tells him what he has up his sleeve. He
calls Gary ‘an industrious and enterprising young man’ and after all, he did
fix the tea urn. Sharif offers Gary one half of his share of the gym. Anna and
Gary are dumbfounded.
Alya’s guilt at sleeping with Jason, threatens to derail her
relationship with Gary. She is restless, moody and unable to take a joke. Gary
puts it down to wedding nerves, but he has a shock coming his way.
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I imagine Kevin told Tyrone a white lie about the fine, and paid the £300. I wish the Ken and Audrey relationship had begun as totally platonic friends starting to spend more time together. We could have seen how their feelings took them both by surprise. Even a month would have been enough. As it is, we're straight into the romance. Interesting to hear Mary complain that she has no friends her own age. Not before time. Very strange how she has always hung around with the oldies. I liked the scene where Mary and Johnny were talking about 'the unexplained', and another one where Luke and Aidan were chatting about nothing in particular. Nice writing.
ReplyDeleteAgree with Humpty, a nice couple of balanced episodes. Warmth, humour and enough drama with Hope's illness - and the way it's affecting Tyrone. First episodes I've fully concentrated on in a while.
ReplyDeleteAfter last Friday, which frankly bored me stiff (and its rate that I say that), I approached tonight with no enthusiasm, but was pleasantly reassured. Some nice warm writing & performances. The borefest that calls herself Alya was nicely compensated for by the rest of her family, whom I find myself liking more and more, particularly Yasmine, who can be quite delightful now she's quit the shouting.
ReplyDeleteOn the subject of Mary associating with people of her own age - odd then (or is it inevitable?) that her new man, Ted Robbins, turned 60 recently.
Also it was nice to see Corrie highlighting one of the great evils of our age: hospital parking! While apparently a trivial issue, it can be of great concern to families with long-term illnesses - people, like Tyrone, really don't want to be bothered by petty regulations and outrageous costs when they're going through hell.
ReplyDeleteSo in order to prevent herself from being "a figure of ridicule, an aging spinster with nothing to offer", Mary needs to get liquored, find some go-getting friends (aka Steve and Carla), and an exciting hobby?? Wow writers, thanks for feeding the stereotype... especially when your collective age is what, 12?
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed Corrie tonight, Ken & Audrey I have no problems with, unlike Roy and Whatsername. I'm guesssing it's because we know and care about Ken and Aud already. Also Kens history of being a 'bit now a one' with the ladies doesn't make this new romance seem totally out of character.
ReplyDeleteKevin Kaveman is a bit of a bore though. After the incident of the forgotten death of his baby the writers had a chance to redeem themselves with perhaps giving him a touch of sensitivity about Hope's illness, but oh no. Still at least he came good in the end.
Aargh, that should be Ken being 'a bit of a one' with the ladies. Soz.
ReplyDeleteWith Hope having cancer at such a young age, our sympathies really ought to be with both of her parents. Yet Fizz has become such a harridan, than it really is hard to have any sympathy for her.
ReplyDeleteReally confused!
ReplyDeleteWhy is Kevin acting like he is the boss when he and Tyrone are actually partners?
Why is Aidan still acting as a partner even though he isn't now?
the best part of tonight's show was no Platt clan. Yeah!! Obviously they are setting up Mary with her new 60 yr old, married beau. I was surprised to see that the Alahan's still live on the street, we haven't seen them in ages, obviously Dev will be involved in another storyline soon (hint: Erica). I just hope TPTB do something really nice for Hope for Christmas - I can't see her travelling to Lapland but perhaps the street could conjure up a magical Santa Land for her??
ReplyDeleteWhen you think that Mary is the same age as Carla, Steve and Michelle, and even Tracy and Beth, and only a shade older than Nick, Leanne and yet everyone she spends her time with out-ages her by 30+ years.
ReplyDeleteYou are correct about Ken, he's never really chosen women that were his intellectual equal. It all fell apart quickly with the ones that were - Wendy Crozier and Martha from the barge.
Even if the money for the factory came from money JOhnny gave to Aidan to keep from the tax man, it's Aidan's name on the contract. Ergo, he's a named partner where Johnny is not. Carla would have every right to stop Johnny from being part of the factory as anything more than a salaried employee, which, I suppose, he is in a way.
Who writes these scripts? Sharif said that Stakhanovite would struggle to work as hard as Gary. He should have said Stakhanov, the original over - achiever in Stalinist Russia, who in 1935 mined many times more coal than his quota. A Stakhanovite was a member of the subsequent movement of industrial workers who then tried to outdo Stakhanov, but Sharif didn't say "a Stakhanovite", just "Stakhanovite", as if that were the person's name. But in any case the reference would have been lost on Gary who wouldn't have had a clue what Sharif was talking about!
ReplyDelete