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"Characters in soaps change, and this is a given and a good thing. Todd Grimshaw was not always a conniving so and so, and Liz did not always wear leopard print, but there has been one massive change to a character - that of Sinead.
When Miss Tinker first came to Weatherfield four years ago, she was a sweet and caring young thing; the perfect match for cheerful Chesney. Cynics might have thought ‘not for long’ as the rules of soaps is, if you are young, happy and optimistic, there may be troubles ahead.
And, sure enough – Sinead has been stuck in a relationship with ‘Chez’ until she decided to heed Donna Summer’s advice, by saying ‘Enough Is Enough’ and moving on. So, who did she decide to hook up with to mourn the loss of the guy who stinks of Doner Kebabs? Mini Ken – aka, Daniel Barlow, he with the kind of foppish hairdo that Hugh Grant was donning in Four Weddings and a Funeral.
In true Deirdre and Ken style, these two are an odd couple. One reads English Literature and the other reads Take A Break.
But, for some reason – ‘new’ Sinead’s actions have never seemed that believable. For Katie McGlynn, it is probably a god send, as it gives her plenty to get her teeth into, and Sinead was becoming so boring, that even Ken seemed interesting in comparison.
But, has the change been too rapid? Sinead has had an abortion and lied about it. She keeps getting so drunk that even Auntie Beth has said: “This isn’t you!” Too right, it’s not and is it a McGuffin? The mystery of who assaulted Ken, making him drop his Guardian crossword continues. So, is Sinead being set up as being so erratic, that we start to think “She dunnit?” Only to find out that it was Pat Phelan, after all?
I hope that the writers develop Sinead and Daniel as the off-couple, as this has worked with Deidre and Ken, and I still laugh at the bespectacled one when she shouted: “You’re boring Ken!” But, I want Sinead to do the same, as opposed to cooing over ‘Mini Ken.’
Jonathan Harvey is king of the one liners, so I would love to see him create some sparks with this young couple, through humour. As, seeing Sinead swigging leftover booze from holidays past, that she has never been on, is becoming a bit galling.
I would love Chez and Gemma to get together, then Sinead’s transformation into ‘Sue Ellen’ swigging a bottle of Soave on the Red Rec would be believable, because she would have something to fight against. Having Chesney cooing over her like one of Jack Duckworth’s pigeons isn’t working for me. And the speed in which she has fallen for 'the fop' is so fast and furious, I thought Vin Diesel was driving the script.
Sinead and Daniel - I wish you all the best, but you need time apart for this to work. I suggest a drunken holiday with Auntie Beth. And four Jaeger bombs later, if you want something more academic, then so be it. Until then, Gemma and Chez need to get it on in the stock cupboard, as that would be a match made in Corrie heaven and would create fireworks necessary to change Sinead to grenade, in an explosive and much more believable way."
Guest blog post by by Glenn Meads who is on Twitter and LinkedIn
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I could not agree more! It's all been too quick, too out of character for the Sinead/Daniel pairing to be believable. The silly drunk scenes do not work for me. They have the basis for a good story line but seem hellbent on making it ridiculous.
ReplyDeleteI do wish they would give Gemma some "normal" time though. She's always on, like she's playing in a panto.I can't help but think Vicki Pollard every time she is on screen.
I've gone right off Sinead, they can write her out for all I care.
ReplyDeleteAnd I don't believe for a second that someone like Daniel would fall for someone like Sinead. Never in a million years. Very bad writing.
Thanks for your comments. And I agree re Gemma, she needs some drama now, as Dolly-Rose Campbell can hack it, with ease.
ReplyDeleteI liked this post very much. I too was thinking they had changed Sinead much too quickly and not for the better.
ReplyDeleteI have to say that her falling for Daniel in a hot minute isn't the part that I find out of character- I seem to recall she got over involved too fast with Chesney as well- it's her suddenly not knowing her own mind that bothers me.
She used to have a quiet determination and now is written as though she can't speak her mind without being drunk and always needs to blame someone for how things work out.
She's a free woman: she can drop her old boyfriend, take up with a new one and get rid of an unplanned pregnancy without it being about what anyone else did, said or wanted. It's ridiculous that she's being made more weak willed and stupid just as she's being paired with someone more formally educated. It feels like a heavy handed attempt to show how different they are and that opposites attract but it's backfiring because that's why I don't see Sinead and Daniel as the new Deirdre and Ken: in that couple, the partners were different but Deirdre was no pushover or doormat. That's what made them interesting.
While I do hope that Gemma and Chesney get to have a serious side to their friendship, I don't think they should be rushed into a romantic relationship and certainly not to spark jealousy in Sinead. All in all, Chesney is well rid of her and should focus on his own life for a change.
Sinead was more interesting when she had her soap business. I could see her being attractive to Daniel if she had something other than the dreary factory job. She clearly has mad design skills, a different kind of intelligence that's suppressed by a monotonous job -- I wish Johnny would recognize that and send her on a fashion course to boost the factory's portfolio or something like that (we're allowed to have fantasies, it's a soap). A creative with control over her work would be a better match for our future English lit teacher. And be slowly drawn out because they'd both be in school and then starting their new careers.
ReplyDeleteNice, thought provoking work, Glenn!
Thanks Abby!
DeleteI quite agree with your thoughts on Sinead, Glenn. I first noticed the sudden change when we started seeing her seated in that dreary flat the brothers share. Compare that to the loudly colourful place she shared with Chesney, which seemed to always be bursting at the seams with life and people coming in and out the door.
ReplyDeleteI know young characters grow older and change, but I hope Sinead keeps more of her strong side. I saw some strange behaviour coming from Daniel after the abortion, first in Ken's hospital room, where he acted like he was doing her a favour by forgiving her, then telling her, not asking her, to sit down next to him. Very nasty. She came over to him and acted like a subservient girlfriend. I don't mind more realism in Corrie, but would not want to see a creeping dark nastiness find its way in.