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Sunday 17 April 2016

Coronation Street double episode review, Friday 15 April 2016

It was a Sunday Corrie catch-up for me this week, and with an arrest for Gary, Norris-driven accusations of theft for Tyrone, fluey Sinead and panicky Sarah on the cards in Friday’s double, I found I was steeling myself for it. So, here goes.

Gary sets about getting more cannabis for Izzy from “Don of the donuts” Dane but is late for their appointment. It’s funny that the sight of Dane in a tracksuit proved the trigger for Sharif to call the police considering he looked most gym-appropriate than he has done on any other occasion. Dev tries to diffuse the situation, and it’s odd to find him so anxious for Dane to wait considering he sees him as innocent and knows the police are on the way. In any event, they arrive after the transaction is completed, and Gary is caught red-handed with a quarter in his pocket.

Anna is furious to learn Izzy is still using drugs and is busy telling her she doesn’t deserve to have Jake when the phone call comes to say Gary has been arrested. Ever her measured self in times of crisis, Anna shrieks and snipes as she watches the cop car speed away and is ushered into the gym. After learning Sharif is responsible for calling the police, she tells him the whole story before storming off with Kevin. With the truth now out, Dev and Sharif are surprised to learn that Erica knew. Sharif maintains he did the right thing both as a responsible citizen and for the sake of the gym.

Izzy leaves her brain at home with whoever is looking after Jake and heads down to the police to hand herself in to PCs side-eye and heavy-handed, resulting in an upgraded charge from possession to dealing for Gary. Despite her regret, Izzy asks “why should I stop?” leaving Anna more incensed than ever.

Luke may be laughing with the lads, but he’s furious and hurt with newlywed Maria. Pablo tricks him into coming to the salon where he tries to get the pair back together with the help of some Argentinian moonshine before being told to “go and be fabulous” in London by Maria. She pleads with Luke to forgive her, saying her heart was in the right place while he’s cynical and sees her as being tricked by Pablo.

You'd think it would take a lot more than donning a lion costume and crawling on the cobbles to win someone back in such circumstances, but hey-ho, it works and they indulge in a bit of afternoon delight in the back of the salon. Whatever would Mrs. *insert irritating salon customer here* say? Luke then proposes, and Maria says yes.

David and Audrey actually proved the funniest part of this jape. I love that Audrey remains Luke’s biggest fan. She warns Maria about men on the rebound, and David’s face as she asks him “Would you hang about if you were a handsome young man?” is a picture. He’s similarly amusing as Maria emerges from the salon dressed as a lion, and he looks at the bottle he’s quaffing from, asking “What are they putting in this water?” 

Aside from the absent consequences and speed with which this storyline has progressed and wrapped up, Audrey insisting David film Maria’s apology for her was out of character, and David’s delight at the prospect of it going viral as they all laughed wasn’t in any way laudable. Have we not seen Beth fall foul of online bullying in the past, not to mention Steph’s recent experience which, while different, similarly portrayed online engagement in a negative light. For me, Maria’s caper would’ve been lighter had someone not been filming it with a view to embarrassing her on the internet.

Tyrone’s latest addition to his scrap metal collection is a typewriter from Brenda Kelly’s days in secretarial college; is this, by any chance, the new PC Fat Brenda?

Mary plants a seed in Norris’s mind that Tyrone may have stolen the absent street signs, and the latter marches over demanding that they be restored by 6pm. An apology is later due as it transpires the Council were cleaning the signs. Did they really necessitate removing? Mary acts throughout as if she had nothing do to with it and is the motivator behind Norris calling over and offering a fridge to make it up to them. It's satisfying to find him sickened at the news that his donation is worth £40 and he tries to renege on it to no avail. With an amusing “cheers Nozzer”, Tyrone now has the money for his taxi license, and it’s great to see Fiz so proud; she is far better when she’s not being Mumsy, controlling and overbearing. Only that pair could publicly announce they were going to the pub to celebrate in front of a benefactor however.

I’ve recently written here that different writers appear to write differently for Mary. Tonight she was closer to old Mary; nosy, and a bit off-kilter. Norris was certainly in vile mode, and his remark about her needing an elastic waistband from comforting herself post-Brendan with peanut brittle was dreadful.

Sinead learns a hard lesson; don’t pose for a summer pyjama shoot in front of a wind machine in April. Chesney goes to Portugal without her, and to make matters worse, he cancels their hotel and will stay with Katie and Joseph. She confides in Fiz that Chesney’s enthusiasm for her at the moment is as cool as Craig’s meat thermometer. I enjoyed Fiz’s facial expression at the mention of “that Gemma” who appears to be entertaining Chesney no end.

All appears to be going well for operation christening as Todd agrees to be godfather to "HP", but Billy has bad news; there’s been an oversight and it will have to be put back a week. Sarah’s unreasonable panic levels catch the attention of Kylie and Billy as does her relief to learn he’s pulled some strings and all will go ahead. Kylie looks concerned as Sarah declares they can “Move forward and forget everything that’s happened, starting Monday”. Could any member of the Platt family be that lucky?

By Emma Hynes
Twitter: @ELHynes

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14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Never posted a comment before but these episodes were probably the worst I've ever watched. Izzy is such a unsympathetic character and her lack of intelligence is incredible. She doesn't seem to mind how much trouble she is causing plus the fact she is putting her child in danger. Even though she claims she is doing it for him she is clearly only doing it for herself. The scene at the end when she got angry with Anna was just her trying to make out Anna was the bad guy. Anna is only trying to protect her grandson and Izzy herself, but Izzy clearly thinks she has a right to take drugs and is above the law. These two episodes made Izzy more unsympathetic than ever and the poor acting makes her even worse.

Ryan B Oxley said...

A brilliant write-up by Emma as always!!

Some of these storylines are starting to stretch credibility.
Maria marries a gay guy in Portugal, comes back, dresses up as a lion (half drunk midday) with no sign of her son or her dog?.Mid-life crisis?

Dev appears to be in the gym all the time. Sharif is beyond dull, although more of Erica please. Has anybody seen Faye?. A lot of(the brilliant)Tim and Anna(horribilis) on screen but no child.

Gary is again in trouble, the 'fall guy' as always. Although I did enjoy Dane, the donut drug dealer. Mikey North is a brilliant actor often paired with the wrong females - Ayla and Izzy. Izzy is almost managing this medicinal cannabis storyline and a fantastic issue for corrie to handle, yet I don't find it credible for Izzy to have used it in the first place.

We seem to have ALOT of characters these days, unfortunately I don't have time for the most recent introductions to the cast (excluding the extended Connor clan who are all superb, did I mention I love Erica?!). Enjoying the Platts on screen, cant wait for Steve's return either. Duly missed. I think he will have a new comedy partner in Tim.

Just my Sunday Corrie synopsis for this week.

Keep on blogging guys, love this site.

Ryan Oxley - Sheffield

Anonymous said...

Sad state of affairs when I'm entertained more by the comments put forward by the viewers than the actual show.

Anonymous said...

One of my main gripes with the street at the moment is the inconsistency in the scripts. Mondays double episodes were brilliantly written; witty, well paced and well mixed between humour and drama. Fridays lacked hunour and were far fetched. Does it depend on the characters involved as I have little time for the Windasses, Norris or, at times, Maria. There is light at the end of the tunnel but it keeps getting blocked occasionally!- Micky

Humpty Dumpty said...

The cannabis storyline is another example of how 'real life' situations don't automatically translate into Corrie fiction. Bethany's bullying was another example. I can't make myself care about Izzy or Bethany simply because I know or have read about someone who is going through the same thing in real life. I don't think that's me being uncaring but more that the writers aren't making the characters believable.

Humpty Dumpty said...

The cannabis storyline is another example of how 'real life' situations don't automatically translate into Corrie fiction. Bethany's bullying was another example. I can't make myself care about Izzy or Bethany simply because I know or have read about someone who is going through the same thing in real life. I don't think that's me being uncaring but more that the writers aren't making the characters believable.

Tvor said...

As nosy as Norris is, you'd think he'd have noticed the Council works van uninstalling all the signs in the neighbourhood, wouldn't you? I know. I overthing these things.

C in Canada said...

Tvor is quite right - people removing signs in the neighborhood would never had got past Nosy Norris! Why did the need to be removed to be cleaned anyway? Tim probably could have done it with his ladder and bucket.

Izzy is really annoying, as much as I think the storyline reflects what some folks in reality are experiencing. I just can't stand her whining. You'd think she'd have had some sense before making things worse for Gary who's done so much for her.

Anonymous said...

Terrible episodes, bad storylines, dire scripts and iffy acting. Why did the canabis plot have to drag Gary into trouble AGAIN? It would have been far more interesting if otherwise respectable Erica had landed in trouble . The Maria stuff is pathetic and beyond far fetched.

Anonymous said...

Where was Liam when Maria was babysitting other children with Luke?
How is wearing a lion's costume half drunk in the middle of the day a good makeup ploy for marrying someone illegally?

Anonymous said...

I'm totally baffled by the Maria marriage--it's not just that it's so bad, but it's so perplexingly pointless, Corrie uses a lot of preposterous scenarios, but they are usually to launch long, dramatic, (and sometimes ultimately interesting) story lines.But this was wrapped up in a few episodes. What's the point of being so stupid and introducing something as serious as an illegal marriage for absolutely no long term story or character development?

Abercrombie said...

I'm going to tell you a story...one day the production team sat around a table and the producer said 'can any of you come up with the most cringeworthy, preposterous, unbelievable and pointless story to enable Maria's return. After all the character is a bit dopey and we need something that will annoy all our viewers so that we gain a lot of publicity'. 'I know' said one bright spark, 'let's bring her back married, she won't consider it important enough to bother to tell her boyfriend and then when he is upset out of all proportion, she will dress in a lion costume and all will be well'. Give that writer a raise!

Anonymous said...

In the whole of my 63 years, I have never, ever, heard of any council anywhere removing street signs for cleaning. Why would they even bother wasting money on that sort of thing?

Anonymous said...

What I can't get over is that Sarah demands that her child be christened immediately! On a weekday? Where does she get off? Has she or any of her family ever attended church? Here in Canada babies are christened during regular Sunday Church services usually 5 or 6 at a time.

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