Coronation Street Weds 7th December episode review

Hiya! It's just Jordan with this week's Wednesday review - fashionably late of course!

Wednesday this week proved to be far more than a mere bridge episode. One huge stonker of a soapland secret smashed its way out from a most unlikely suspect. But before we get to that, I am going to briefly bore you with the rest of the mundane by-comparison events in Weatherfield.

Wednesday's visit to the cobbles started with a bang when Roy makes Nessa scream in the middle of the night. Nessa screams so loud, she wakes both her sister and her nephew up. Cathy and Alex dart into her bedroom to find Roy sitting silently on the edge of her bed, as if frozen solid like Anne Malone. However, in the morning, Roy is dumfounded at Nessa's teasing threat to lock her bedroom door. It would appear that he has been sleep walking

Just round the corner at number 1 - another house where siblings like to reappear every so often - Peter is urging his long-lost little brother Daniel to go to the police about his long-lost mother.  Somewhat surprisingly, Daniel takes the advice of his older brother and soon the pair are sat at an interview table with a generic Corrie officer. He recounts the day she left, six years ago - detailing the flowery shirt she wore and the checked scarf he had bought her for Christmas, finally showing a sign of emotion.

Later on, Peter takes Daniel to the pub and assures him that Ken is still caring, despite his stroke and despite Daniel's absent mother. The brotherly moment is interrupted by some trampy blonde, a friend of one of Michelle's wedding-planning clients, who confidently shoves herself between the two and attempts to get her claws into Peter. When Peter shows little interest, she stupidly claims that if he is gay she can turn him. It is then that Peter confides in Daniel that there is only one woman out there for him. This gets Nick's knickers in a twist, positive that he is after Leanne - the ex-prostitute who has had both of their surnames on her passport at one point or another.

And now onto what was undoubtedly the strongest link of Wednesday's episode. Erica can tell that there is still something about Mary. Earlier in the week, she had found the children's nanny burning old papers. There's an unfamiliar name on the papers -  a name which Erica attributes to being Mary's long-lost mother. It looks as if Mary is on the edge of explaining everything to a concerned Erica when Norris overhears. Not wanting to let the Weatherfield Gazette know, Mary swiftly cooks up an excuse and hastily leaves the café.

For once, Norris seems genuinely concerned about his friend rather than just scraping around for gossip. He calls at the flower shop, and following soapland regulations, Mary's secret is unravelled to a shocked Norris in the back room. Mary's not trying to find her mother. She's trying to find her son's mother. The unfamiliar name which Erica spotted belongs to the woman who adopted Mary's son several years ago. The words creak out of Mary in an almost-candid fashion, each word piecing together some sort of an explanation for Mary's character.

At age 14, Mary babysat  for a local family. She was raped by the father of the family; her own mother almost turning a blind eye. It was Ken's stroke which spurred this revelation; Mary saw his long-lost family gather around him and began to feel guilty that she had not kept her own son. Norris - who Mary really should call her best friend - urges Mary to find her son.

Mary is not so keen on the idea, the fear of rejection playing heavily on her mind. I know this could be looked on as a typical soap storyline. It's not the first time it's been done and it won't be the last, but what makes it different is the character. Mary has always been a bit of a quirky oddball on the Street, often talking strangely about her mother and uttering every sentence as if reciting poetry, But I suppose every soap character has to harbour a great secret at some point or another, and Patti Clare should be highly commended for the blinder she played when revealing this one.

"My mother didn't love me. If she did, she would've protected me
and I'm afraid that he'll think the same thing"

Apart from the wonderful scenes with Mary and Norris, the episode was rather bland.  The Maria/Aidan/Maria triangle edged forward aimlessly. This episode would have worked spectacularly as a two-hander between Mary and Norris. Those scenes certainly made up for what the others lacked. How could the performance of the episode possibly go to anyone other than Patti Clare as Mary Taylor?

Oh! And as it is the 9th December as I write this, I would just like to wish our favourite Street a happy 56th birthday!

As always,

Thanks for reading!

Jordan
Twitter- @JordanLloyd39

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