Tonight we open with the continuation of the Tony/Liz fiasco. It would appear that Liz does indeed have a brain in that hair and has been putting on an Oscar-worthy performance in order to con the conman into giving her the pub back. She had everyone fooled- including me- and she spectacularly threw him out in Monday's episode. Tonight, we learn that Eileen seems to be going soft in her old age and has let Tony stay, but wastes no time in pressing him for answers about his plans over the breakfast table. Upon seeing that he is still around, Tracy takes great delight in ripping him to pieces. It doesn't take Tony long to realise that, quite rightly, Weatherfield is no place for him anymore. Before he leaves, he reveals to Jason that he and Todd torched Callum's car, presenting the truth as a 'leaving gift' for his son. Packing up his belongings into his van, he bids farewell to Eileen and Jason and drives off into the distance. Liz watches from the upstairs window of the Rovers, closes the curtain and begins to cry.
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| "Your brother and I- we stole Callum's car and torched it" "Come again?!" |
Two major storylines cleverly intertwined tonight. The residents of the Street leave their houses to an alarming piece of graffiti scrawled over the wall of the Bistro. Leanne looks horrified and upset to see the word 'WHORE' in bright red spray paint; she thinks she knows exactly who put it there.
Luke also thinks he knows exactly who did it. When Jamie turns up at the garage, Luke wastes no time in accusing the Jamie, who was in fact innocent. Jamie had merely popped round to the garage to blackmail Luke into racing, making it absolutely clear what will happen to his racy photos of Steph should he not race. Steph walks into the garage during the confrontation and demands an explanation. The boys fumble for an excuse and a frustrated Steph leaves.
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| "Oi! Leanne, if you're thinking about going back into business, you might wanna re-think your advertising strategy" |
Unfortunately, Leanne's instinct turned out to be correct. The bottle of spray paint she finds in Simon's bag confirms her fears. As usual, Simon creates a brick wall and fails to see what he has done wrong. He throws some harsh insults at Leanne and she finally reaches the end of her tether and raises her hand to him and comes dangerously close to hitting him. Both Leanne and Simon look as shocked as each other. She later laments to Eva and feels that Simon deserves better. Despite being the victim herself, Leanne sadly believes that it is the other way round and thinks that the solution is to send him to live with Ken. You know, all the way over on the next street. I am enjoying this storyline. Jane Danson is a great actress and Leanne is a brilliant character. The writers have done a fab job with her lately. They know she is not a comedy character. She is a character who is going to strongly endure drama after drama after drama. Long may it continue!
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| "How could you be so cruel? Do you really hate me that much?" "I just wrote what everyone thinks about you" |
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| "He needs you. You're his mum" "Si needs me like a hole in the head" |
Elsewhere, the totally thrilling drama of the Connfusing Conngregation of Connors 'conntinues' (sorry, I couldn't resist!). This week, we have been introduced to Caz Hammond, who is Kate's very clingy fiancée. Caz turns up at Kate's work, declaring she wants to spend 'every available second' with her and joins her for lunch. Later on, when Caz is entertaining the rest of her very-soon-to-be in-laws, Kate confides in Michelle that she thinks things are moving too fast. She very wisely tries to dispel these feelings by accepting Caz's offer that they set the nearest possible date for the wedding. If you read my reviews often, you'll know that I'm not a fan of the CCC. It just seems they don't really fit in yet and their stories aren't particularly interesting just yet. This is, of course, with the exceptions of Carla, who I believe is one of the greatest Corrie characters of all time and the wonderful Michelle, who has cemented herself firmly on the Street since her pop career went...pop.
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| "This sounds stupid" "Darling, I'm married to Steve. Stupid is a way of life" "Okay. Don't get me wrong, I love her to bits. I'm over the moon that she's here. But it's also really intense" |
I didn't enjoy this episode as much as the last few, but it still had a few good moments. Tracy had two comically bitchy appearances and there was a cute scene with the adorable Billy, which told us of a vicar's inability to go on holiday, due to Christmas, Easter, the Arch Bishop's advent party and the backlog of funerals that Christmas creates.
As always, thanks for reading!
If you're up North, stay warm and dry!
Jordan Twitter- @JordanLloyd39
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14 comments:
That photo of Simon sat there with his miserable face makes me want Leanne to smack him over the head with that can of spray paint! The problem with the Connors is that there's too many of them, they are coming over like an invasion. It is near impossible to develop any interest in a new character when they are summarily watered down by the presence of so many others.
Great write-up!
I felt I'd wandered into the wrong soap, with all the Connors, about whom I care very little at the moment,as I don't know them. The Simon plot is troubling, as no-one at any time has mentioned seeking professional help, it is bordering on the ridiculous. At the very least his school would have become involved by now.
Hang on - why did Tony have to stay at Eileen's? Where had he been staying before? Surely he had his own place, where had he been staying before Liz took him back?
I also wish Leanne would be more strict with Simon, she's the one constant thing in his life and he's walking all over her.
I'd have gotten a good smack upside the head for acting not even half as bad as he is! Kids these days!
Nice review, Jordan, thanks! I too have been frustrated about Leanne letting Simon's mental health issues escalate, but I think it's realistic for people to avoid getting help for many reasons, like fear of being judged, denial that it's that bad, even fear of retaliation from the abuser. Yelling at him to smarten up, or hitting him is so far from the solution, I can't believe anyone would even suggest it. It just models that kind of behaviour to him, reinforcing it.
Surely there are therapists in soap-land. I think it could be dramatic for Simon to bring up some of the many losses in his young life. Drama and art therapy could be very screen-worthy in some form. I do agree that it is odd that his school hasn't said anything to Leanne. These scenes must be hard for the actors to do, but they've know each other for a long time.
Hasn't Liz been great? Buh-bye Tony! Great acting & writing for this exit story. And was it just my eyes, or was Todd missing his facial scar?
Simon's storyline isn't about him, it's about rolling in another partner for Leanne. That's why we see Leanne talking to people about her problems rather than Simon talking to a friend/someone at school/Granddad. Corrie has a long history of not writing in professionals: Gary's PTSD, Faye's teen pregnancy, Max's ADHD (which seems to have disappeared), David's aggression. I'm not enjoying this storyline because it isn't doing justice to the subject matter.
It's true, there are too many Connors. We don't need whole families moving onto the Street. It didn't work with the Nazirs or the Prices and it's not working now.
I'm surprised no one has mentioned the irony of considering Ken as a substitute parent for Simon. He's the original rubbish dad. He abdicated his responsibility to raise his children after he was widowed. Times were different then. Single dads rarely took the entire responsibility for their children, but who knows how much that trauma contributed to Peter's proclivity for addictions, not to mention his lack of a role model. Ken has talked before about his guilt regarding his children. That may factor in his willingness to take on Simon now, but from Simon's point of view it would be a disaster waiting to happen.
I think the key thing is that Simon loves & respects his grandad and was terrified of Leanne telling him what Simon has been doing. Simon has no respect now for Leanne but he does crave respect from Ken (and Zedan, for that matter) and Ken is far more self-aware than when he was younger and conscious of where he fell short with the twins. That said, it is professional counselling that Simon is most in need of.
Could someone please explain why Simon begs Leanne not to leave him at No.1 If he hates her but respects his grandfather, then what's the problem?
Sadly I was afraid bringing on the Connor family would result in this. A bunch of characters in too many scenes that I just don't care about, not yet anyways. At least there's not too many right now, remember when the Morton family invaded the street, there was about 7 or 8 of them and they were being forced into storylines they really had no business being in. They really should have just let Aiden become established before bringing the rest in, since I actually found Shayne Ward quite appealing before he was lumped with the rest of his bickering clan. Bringing in an entire new family is always a gamble, for every Batterbys you have a Morton, Harris, and second generation Baldwin family. It's tough, hope Kate Oates has luck with the family she brings on. And you know she will!
Oh, and I'm actually sad to see Tony go. Not enough male characters on Corrie right now with some edge to them(an I mean believable edge).
I find the scenes between Caz and Kate not believable..rushed and awkward. IMO anyway.
Because he has abandonment issues! It's for the same reason he resents her for sending him to stay with his dad, whom he also loves. Leanne appearing to be prepared to wash her hands of him would terrify him to the core. He may treat Leanne with contempt but that's closely linked with his belief that she is the one who will always let him get away with it and put up with his behaviour. It's contradictory, but that's par got the course with psychological issues. He's a very confused kid.
Gotta love the armchair psychologists posting here. Let's try to remember that this is a soap and that Simon is not a real child with the type of issues he's faced. Be honest, what are the odds there is any child out there who has been abandoned, exposed to alcohol/addiction/fire and premature death as much as Simon has while living outside of a war zone?
This bleeding heart baloney is the same reason we are now expected to negotiate with children now rather than establishing who the parent/adult is and that respect will be given, not if the kid feels like it in between episodes of being a jackass. No matter how distasteful some may find it, saying a kid needs a smack is typically meant for emphasis on how rotten the kid is behaving, not because people actually think children should be smacked. How often has someone said in a moment of frustration that they want to kill someone and then actually done it?
I miss Tony already.
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