It's a Weatherfield mess tonight as Nick attempts to rent an empty lot in the arches to set up Bistro 2: This Time It's Personal, in order to have a go at Robert. To be honest, if, despite Robert's burgeoning alcoholism, the original Bistro is full on a Monday lunchtime, I think there's enough trade to go around. Leanne thinks it would be a disaster to open up next door, and she should know about those, having once torched her own restaurant for the insurance. Nasty Nick, not content with this wind-up, tips off the coppers about Robert drink-driving a catering order to a client (ever heard of Uber?) and ends up with a fine and a twelve month ban. Zeedan, meanwhile, can't stand the heat and gets out of the kitchen, after the most cheffy argument ever. Don't cry over burnt canapés, Zee! But it's Nick who suffers when Leanne finds out about his crafty plans and refuses to go into business, or indeed have anything more to do with him. Interestingly, he is prepared to own up to the fact that his hatred for Robert motivated him to do his dark deeds, but Leanne is not ready to confess her incipient baby-bump.
It was Steph who discovered that it was Nick who phoned 999 - with this and her detective work re: Leanne's pregnancy, maybe she should join the police rather than Craig, who has trouble with his application to join the force. "Do you want them by year or alphabetically?" asks Beth when Craig asks her to list Tinker family convictions. "If we were on Who Do You Think You Are, it would be a Strangeways Special," he complains about his errant relatives, although I do hope we get to meet The Gogglebox Four one day.
Craig is pretty keen on this idea, even having learned the full Police Caution, but Beth tries to put him off, claiming that the world will always need window cleaners and graffiti artists, even trying to convince him to join the RAF instead. "You used to make great paper planes!" Kirk thinks Craig would do well: "You'll be tasering shoplifters in no time." Having discovered that it's only immediate family convictions that matter, Craig finishes his application and gives it to Beth to post who almost, but not quite, puts it in the bin. She's obviously hiding something - will Craig use his detective powers to work out what? This is a fun storyline, but what about Craig's plans for art school? Did that go out the window when stroppy goth Caitlin McGuinness dumped him?
Fay(e), meanwhile, will hopefully never join the police force, given she shot Tim in the back "for desertion" during paintball. Tim is doubly annoyed in this ep when he finds out Phelan, in an attempt to butter up Councillor Metcalfe, used his equipment to put up some shelves for Sally's office. You should never touch another man's tools! Phelan knows how to work a scam: you have to go through the proper channels and he starts to convince Sally about the new flats. Todd is onto him though; he doesn't yet know that the development will never be built, but he is sure that Pat is after Jason's £65K. I prefer this war of attrition to Robert v Nick: the players are more evenly matched, it's about cunning rather than macho posturing, and the stakes are higher than Nick's rather petty revenge fantasies.
Jenny has already won the war against Eva without Eva ever having known it was being waged. Despite Sinead's fantasy of glamour couple Eva and Aidan breakfasting with croissants and cafetière, Eva claims it's more tea and toast. She hints to Aidan about them moving in together but Aidan isn't keen, hoping instead to bribe her with a three and a half star hotel, "some spa rubbish" and a bottle of Prosecco. He knows how to treat a girl right, right?
His dad is also after another roll in the hay stockroom. Jenny, having been round the block more times than Eva, is less interested in subtle and more into manipulation, planting the acorn that quickly grows into an oak tree as she nicks Eva's idea to rent Carla's old flat and by the end of the episode, "Mr Connor" has a key to Victoria Court. Unfortunately for Eva, it's the wrong Mr Connor. I do hope Jenny likes watching Game of Thrones, although I see Johnny more as Foyle's War kind of chap.
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Craig and the coppers when they were breathalysing Robert......as if!
ReplyDeleteNick is rewriting history again, saying Robert slept with his (Nick's ) fiancée. Hadn't Nick and Carla split up at the time? Nick's decision because of his brain damage. As for Robert "stealing" the bistro, he bought it perfectly legally, unaware of Tracy's plotting behind the scenes.
ReplyDeleteBut apart from that, I loved the scenes with Craig, Beth and Kirk, and also Faye and Tim. Nice family relationships and the humour Corrie used to be famous for. Shame Craig may be letting his art go, I'd love him to go to art school, but the police ambition is admirable, so long as it's not setting him up to be killed by some lowlife.
No, Nick & Carla had not split up (it was Leanne he split with because of his brain damage). Carla had just learned Johnny was her father & went AWOL. While she was at the casino / sleeping with Robert, Nick was trying frantically to locate her. Robert, on the other hand, had split with Tracy. So Nick isn't rewriting history at all; he's correct.
DeleteI'm not sure if I'm being too picky, but it seems to me when someone walks into the Bistro they turn right through the double doors to the bar section and the tables - what we saw tonight was the entrance to the Bistro being exactly side by side with the entrance to the old warehouse that Nick wants to purchase and open as a new restaurant. Doesn't make sense.
ReplyDeleteI did love the scenes with Craig and the police, Beth & Kirk, also Faye with Tim - nice, cute no-drama scenes. Yeah.
I'd say you turn left as you enter - but as there must be an as yet unseen foyer between the bar & street door (the toilets are located there) we can't be sure how the interior orientates to the street. I was pretty surprised there's another exit from the kitchen that Tracy used when Carla was being held by thieves - that's totally invisible from the street. And whatever happened to the office (where Ashley died)?
DeleteCould be be a "police artist"? Does such a job exist? He could create identifit portraits.Catching criminals and using his art in one sweep!
ReplyDeleteNick wants to open a bistro right next door to an existing one. Surely he would never get 'change of use' in a small street like that. Never mind, it's not to be taken seriously. While Craig and the coppers really wasn't meant to be taken seriously, it was too obviously stuck in for laughs. That kind of scene belongs in a sitcom.
ReplyDeleteI believe Robert was briefly split from Tracy at the time of the one nite stand with Carla but I don't think Carla and Nick were apart. She was reeling after finding out about Johnny
ReplyDeleteHeartily agree that Craig would make a lovely police sketch artist! Although I wonder if his talents are not too abstract for such literal portraiture. Although maybe that would be an asset since people are trying to describe what someone looks like based on their (abstract) memory.
ReplyDeleteDo the police hand out bans at the station? Thankfully I have no experience of this but I thought that was a job of the magistrates' court?
ReplyDeleteThanks Tvor and Cobblestone, your memories are better than mine. It's so easy to get confused with all these folk accidentally having sex with other folk's partners. Then it's "Oops, I'm pregnant. How did that happen?" Does nobody use birth control?
ReplyDeleteThe back door out of the kitchen would lead to the street behind the viaduct and likely used for deliveries. It doesn't come out on the main street in front. As for where the inside of the restaurant is in relation to the unit next to it, I think the Bistro is a bit Tardis-y! From the interior camera angles, it seems like it should be behind and to the right as you would look at it from outside facing the door. It's probably meant to be smaller than it looks on screen. The interior set of the Rovers is quite small as well and would fit inside the building with the addition of the small kitchen and living space behind the bar though it looks much bigger on screen. I think it's probably the same for the Bistro.
ReplyDeleteI hope the Craig joining the police storyline isn't just some plot device to reveal whatever Beth got up to in a previous life. Like the fought -over allotment that was brought in to introduce Cathy, and has hardly been mentioned since.
ReplyDeleteAlways enjoy episodes with Craig! Agree that police artist would be an interesting choice, though it's probably only part-time work.
ReplyDeleteFor the first time I found some of the background music in the show way too loud. I enjoy hearing songs that match the storyline, but this was loud background radio in characters homes, just noise! Hope this doesn't become a thing.