Coronation Street Friday 17th November episode review

Hiya! Guess who’s back. Yes it’s that Friday reviewer who has been ridicuously sporadic recently. I should hopefully be back to normal now (as in, publishing reviews any time before the Monday episode) but thanks to deadlines and some weird thing called football, I have been a little quiet recently on the bitchy blogging front. So – Friday’s episode. The recent formulaic approach applied: a wedding wrapped up in a guilty secret, some more issue-driven woe for Michelle and some forced farce. Woo hoo! Here we go…

 

It’s the day of Rana and Zeedan’s proper wedding thing. They did have their religious blessing thing last year, but for the purposes of this shock-but-not-shock confused lesbian storyline, they’re suddenly upgrading. And as we have seen in the past few weeks, tension has been building between Rana and Kate as it appears they are both suddenly attracted to each other. That attraction was confirmed in Wednesday’s episode when the pair finally kissed. However, now the wedding day is upon her, Rana is left reeling following the kiss and wondering what to do.  To make matters worse, Kate feigns sickness to avoid the wedding and a chat with Aidan spurs her to go to the mosque and confess all. Through tears, she explains that she is in love with two people. During this time, Kate leaves Rana a voicemail declaring her love for her and begging her not to go through with the marriage. Typically though, Rana deletes it without listening to it. After scenes which seem to go on forever, once Rana lets slip that she is married, her leader asserts that she has no choice to make, for in the eyes of Allah she is under lock and key. No comment. So, pressured by religion, the reborn lesbian miraculously redoes her blotched makeup and goes through with a wedding she doesn’t want while Kate sits at home drowning her sorrows with a bottle of wine.  At the reception, Rana catches a still-drunk Kate who dismisses the content of the voicemail as unimportant, at which point they are of course interrupted and the situation is dragged out for further episodes.

"I'm drunk and you're married. But in the morning, I'll be sober and you'll still be married"

Anna and Phelan are at war again. After instigating yet another slanging match, Phelan drops a dramatic bombshell on Anna. He reveals that they will soon have a grandchild in common, for the baby that Nicola is carrying is Gary’s. Anna is shocked and furious – as usual – but Phelan’s revelation is of course, not an act of kindness. Now – how do I put this tangled web of affairs into coherent prose? Phelan also tells Anna that he is framing her for pushing Seb off that ladder a few weeks ago, and that if she does not help bring Nicola back into his life after she stormed off out of it, he will make sure she is sent to prison. Bizarrely, Anna is more concerned that if she doesn’t go to prison, the truth may come out about Gary’s infidelity. Once again, the worst thing in the world to the small-minded characters on the Street is sleeping with someone other than one’s designated, signed for partner and it drives me mad. Infidelity is hardly murder, and it does not provide good fuel for a story anymore. 

"You and I share nothing!"
"We're gonna share a grandchild!"

 

 

 Michelle’s life seems to have taken inspiration from the title that odd pop album Charlotte Church released many moons ago – Tissues and Issues. Although she was given a break from the need for tissues in Friday night, Michelle did get a whole new issue to tackle. She’s been spending a lot of time with Robert – and indeed his tackle – since he was released from prison. Over breakfast, Michelle expresses her concerns about a lump she felt in one of Robert’s testicles last night. Most of us will already know that a testicular cancer storyline is in store for Robert, and last night laid the foundations. Michelle urges a reluctant Robert to go to the medical centre. Unsurprisingly, he doesn’t go to the medical centre and lies. But he clearly believes that there is nothing to worry about, given that he orders a bicycle online so he can take part in a triathlon. He assures Michelle that there is nothing to worry about, but this is Soapland where there is always something to worry abou

Elsewhere, a few bits of clunky comedy were inserted for our bemused amusement. Moira called into the Kabin, where she complained to Vic Reeves that she needs she needs her tape to be sticky on both sides, which as newsagent-related innuendos go, is admittedly rather fantastic.  As well as that, Chesney – complete with a headlamp -  along with Gemma did some digging around in a  deep fat fryer in search of a tiny item of Gemma’s that had found its way in

A couple of episodes which weren’t painful to watch, but just not overly interesting. Although the daft lesbian drama doesn’t really excite me, the acting of Faye Brookes in Friday’s episodes must be highly commended.  The testicular cancer storyline has potential, but it feels far too issue-driven.  Right down to the dialogue, it was an issue which landed like a public service announcement, especially when there were some contrived lines about breast cancer versus testicular. I do like the idea, but please, Corrie, like with all the issues you’ve broadcast recently – for God’s sake, let them come naturally. It seems as if lately they’ve just picked a headline in The Mirror and picked a character to go with it. I will never give up on Corrie because, like all of us bloggers and I bet our readers, we love Corrie for the essence of it, not necessarily the stories. I love the evergreen nature of Corrie, I love the relatable characters.

I love the Street.   

As always,

Thanks for reading!

Jordan

Twitter @JordanLloyd39

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