I'm partial to a villain. At a distance of course, but I must admit to a predilection to watching the machinations of a bad boy or girl. For a villain to be truly villainous he/she depends upon a certain personal charm, an ability to inspire trust, plus excellent lying and cheating skills. A villain cannot have much of a conscience either - a strong moral grounding would derail them. To be thoroughly effective they must use their personal charm and other villainous essentials, on a person who, for whatever reason, is gullible; made to be so by the villain.
In Phelan we have a man who exhibits all necessary villainous credentials. Leaving aside Anna Windass, Phelan does seem capable of charming several women. Sally seems to have fallen for his charm, and that, despite her determination to be the best and most influential female politician since Angela Merkel. Eileen too is well under his spell. There was once a brief moment when she looked as if she might doubt him, but that swiftly passed.
Astonishingly, Jason gives the OK for his £60 grand plus to be released to Pat Phelan. Incredibly, Jason's mother, Eileen, goes to the bank to release the money. Are they stark staring mad? Or do they really trust Phelan with their money and their livelihood? Well, it seems that they do trust him, so that is enough for Phelan to go ahead with his swindle. What mother in her right mind would withdraw her son's hard earned money to give to a man she barely knows? And I thought Eileen was supposed to be a woman of sound judgement, wisdom and life experience.
As for Caz, she has gone from an inconvenience and a liar, to some pretty nasty plotting. And who is her side kick? Is it her brother, a friend? Judging from the looks and glances exchanged between them they are clearly in cahoots. Caz has wholly exploited Maria's kindness in allowing her to stay. There is the burglary, the attack, the phone calls and the stolen watch that Liam found in Caz's bag. Then the pathetic reasoning as to why she forgot to tell Maria that she had found Liam's dad's watch, nor could she remember where she found it. Maria - get rid of her sharpish! Maybe Maria is now more aware of Caz not being all she seems. She did ask Caz to leave, but then, out of fear, asked her to stay.
Because this is soap opera, both Phelan and Caz will be found out. Tim and Todd are both aware of Phelan's intended treachery, and maybe, the whole Caz threat will be thwarted by hero Luke, resulting in a reconciliation for Maria and Audrey's favourite boy. And then of course, there's David and his revenge...
Ruth Owen, twitter: @ruth1722
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Jason's money was hardly hard earned....didn't he inherit it from his dad or something?
ReplyDeleteMaybe he inherited some but is it not the case that Jason worked really hard, so what he earned would be hard earned?
ReplyDeleteI can just about accept that Sally is trying to prove herself as a councillor though I'm pretty sure she would have been warned by a council officer to beware of Phelan. He must be well-known in certain circles for dodgy dealings. But as Eileen's fancy man. Oh please! The man is a maggot, totally charmless. I don't get that relationship at all. The actor plays the 1D villain really well but we could do with seeing a bit more sexual charisma. I guess Phelan will be undone by someone on the council having a quiet word with Sally. Eileen didn't really transfer the money in the end, did she, or only a small part of it? Eileen's face was full of doubt in the café and maybe the bank persuaded her to put the funds into a holding account. The conversation with Todd was to keep up the pretence and trick viewers? Maybe.
ReplyDeleteHumpty Dumpty I can only hope that you are right about Eileen not transferring the money, however, with the storylines we have had lately on Corrie St. I don't hold out much hope. Everything is just too predictable and depressing.
ReplyDeleteI really hope Eileen has fallen for Phelan's scam hook, line & sinker - I hope she loses everything to him, never to get it back and is forced to leave the street. That would wipe the smug smirk off her face. HATE THAT (POOR EXCUSE FOR A) WOMAN.
ReplyDeleteRe Anon 6.52. I think you're forgetting it's Jason's money, not Eileen's, therefore it'd be Jason who'd be left with nothing. She'd still have a roof over her head, and suffer no personal financial loss
ReplyDeleteOne of the many clichés of soap writing, dumbing down characters for the sake of storylines. Like when characters will instantly take the word of a newcomer over a lifelong friend, without question.
ReplyDeleteWhen it comes to villains, Tony Gordon has always been my favorite. He had the charm and polish to put people under their spell.
ReplyDeletePat? He's just plain creepy. Don't know why anyone falls for it.
I agree about Tony Gordon. He was more than a 1D villain. No don't like Phelans character. Not because he's a villain but he is so phony that you can tell he's a villain from a mile away. Eileen is stupid to fall for his charm. But that's Eileen.
DeleteIt would be great if Eileen really is onto Phelan and hasn't transferred the money, but I somehow doubt it. The scriptwriters have made her pretty stupid recently. But I really don't want poor Jason to be conned out of his inheritance, he doesn't deserve that. ( Yes, I know he's not a real person! ) I'm still not sure what Phelan is up to. Vinnie said the flats would never be built, so will they split the money and do a runner? Surely they'll have to change their identities too, to avoid being arrested? I'm probably over-thinking this...
ReplyDeleteThe Pat/Eileen storyline makes no sense at all from a business standpoint. Wasn't the reason Phelan involved Anna's husband in his last failed project that his name was mud in construction and he needed a straw man? Why would he be in a position to present a project to anyone much less a city council less than 2 years later?
ReplyDeleteAlso, Jason, thanks to his hard work and his father's contribution is perfectly in a position to be the contractor on a project himself so why wouldn't he simply return and carry this out himself and get all the profit instead of splitting it with Pat or anyone else?
Todd, who was said to be working in a law firm until he came back would surely know how to check up on Phelan's reputation as a person and a businessman. If he just went to a pub where construction workers hang out and paid for a few drinks I bet he'd get plenty of dirt and leads on how to unmask Pat. A nosy child with a laptop would have done better than just give Pat dirty looks by now. He's worse than useless so far. Eileen's gullibility doesn't surprise me at all,though, anyone who'd think Michael was such a prize that she took him off Gail's hands is soft in the head.
Maria's latest adventure will end in tears just as all the others have.