I have mixed feelings about the Billy storyline. On one hand, Daniel Brocklebank has been great, I've believed every bit of pain that he's felt. And the return of Lee has been surprisingly good. But the practicalities have been a bit off. Firstly, enough time has passed to get more pain killers from Dr Gaddas. Secondly, there'd be outpatient appointments. Thirdly, the Rev could probably get a referral to a pain management clinic. Fourthly, what the heck did Eva and Eileen think they were doing, making Billy go cold turkey with no medical supervision? And what exactly was Adam giving him? Surely the opiates Billy was prescribed would be just as strong as the off-brand pain killers from the lying Scotsman? Why didn't he slip his pills to Billy to begin with rather than the paracetamol? Also, don't vicars have sick pay? Why is Billy so skint? Why hasn't the Bishop come to visit, or any of his parishioners? Or Sean, even if it were just to gloat that the romance of the decade ended with Todd
Anyway, Summer hasn't finished (started?) her history project and Billy is called into school, where he bumps into Geraldine, who's kept in contact with Summer's teachers. Geraldine suggests that Summer come and stay with her until Billy is back on his feet (sans crutches). After a tearful farewell with his adopted daughter, Billy once again approaches his bruv for methadone, offering Todd's grandad's pocket watch as payment, but Lee only has heroin, which he and his bro take. What a perfect day!
Audrey's off on a course with the fragrant Claudia and so Bethany is left with Brian and his sensitive follicles. He leaves with a manicure and a Danny from Grease hair-do. Sam, one of the lap-dancers from "Tassels", turns up to tell Bethany that the club has re-opened and the new boss isn't fussy about checking IDs. With Audrey chewing her out for being cheeky to the customers, gyrating half-heartedly on a stage in hot-pants is starting to look like the better option.
Maria's also not in the salon because Liam has been sent home from school for messing with the electrical sockets. Maria tells Beth that she has to stop Craig saying to Liam that he can keep people safe with "magic".
Liz, wearing the contents of an American Apparel closing down sale and half a blouse, pops 'round to the cab office to make it up with Eileen, although her opening gambit is to say she and Steve don't like Phelan, so it doesn't go down that well. Eileen also rows with Nicola, who checks herself out of hospital and into her sister's gaffe in Leeds. But this development at least means that Sarah and Gary get back together for the 894th time.
Chesney has been tasked with looking after Ruby and Hope (Rope from now on), but he has the Food Hygiene fella coming over to the kebab shop, so he delegates childcare to Gemma, who puts the ill children in the yard/ginnel (?) in February (??) and applies blusher to them, which annoys Tyrone until Gemma manages to get them to go to bed without tears. Where's this going then? I think we know....
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Fiz and Tyrone were supposed to be the Jack and Vera of this generation.
ReplyDeleteI am not impressed that TPTB is messing with their relationship.
I like both characters, and each has had their share of heartache and broken relationships. They deserve a bit of stability and happiness!
Agreed. Tyrone cheating with Gemma is out of character at this point in his evolution. I think the character values what he has (his daughter, her daughter after the cancer struggle, getting out of debt with Fiz) after all he has been through. Lame development.
ReplyDeleteTyrone having an affair makes no sense. It would be more realistic for him to decide that Fiz needs to choose between her mum and him and the kids, and issue some sort of ultimatum. Most of the time we see Tyrone cower down, but every once in a while he becomes firm on something and won't change his mind (deciding he couldn't continue caring for Jack after Molly died, despite Sally trying to talk him into it; wanting to go all out for what might have been Hope's last Christmas; finally standing up to Kirsty; dumping Maria). That's what I'd expect to see from him as a response to Fiz being gone for an unreasonable amount of time, not an affair.
ReplyDeleteAdam gave Billy paracetamol to convince him his pain killers werent workong and to lower his tolerance. Then when he gave Billy his pills, Billy wpuld unknowingly up hiss dosage, leading to addiction. Billy clearly didnt go to a clinic for fear thhat they would recognize his addiction and have Summer removed from his care.
ReplyDeleteWhat I really don’t understand (and with zero NHS experience) is why there was no regular home care provided to Billy when he was released from the hospital. I know Sister Julianne isn’t biking over anymore but still, as the only adult in the household, he really should have had some type of visiting nurse care in addition to the physio. Also, wouldn’t the paracetamol tablets he had been taking look different than whatever Adam handed out later? Dan Brocklebank has been great but this story reeks.
ReplyDeleteThanks Rachel. I don't know how you turn out such well-written, thought-through, encapsulations every Monday, always within hours of the episode. I looked for your review last week and, when it wasn't there, realized how much reading it has become part of my routine. Then I remembered you were on holiday. Welcome back. You were missed.
ReplyDeleteThank you anonymous, that's really lovely to read!
ReplyDeleteCan't stand Bethany. What a nasty girl she's turned into.
ReplyDeleteSurely not even Liz with her 'mutton dressed as lamb' dress sense would think those hideous shiny red leggings looked good. A step too far wardrobe dept.!
ReplyDeleteWhy is Billy so skint, yes quite! Surely the church pays sick pay! Can't stand the whole thing, and no doubt he will one day make a miraculous recovery, when the storyline requires him to be functioning normally again. I would love to know what should have happened, had Todd not needed to be written out.
ReplyDeleteGemma and Kev would have been good for a fling, he might have cheered up a bit!
Gary mentioned Nicola was going to stay with her sister in Leeds. As far as I knew she was an only child. Was this just a lie he told Sarah so he didn't have to explain everything Phelan to her or simply a writer's oversight?
ReplyDeleteIt was Nicola who said, when she was leaving the hospital, that she was going to stay with her sister who is a GP.
ReplyDeleteI may ne misremembering but I thoufht Nicola did mention an older sister, which adds to her devastation that Nicola is not her presumed father's biological daughter.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the clarification re: her sister. I think I'm usually pretty good on details but obviously missed this one!
ReplyDeleteBilly's addiction has been handled so so badly. He's obviously still in chronic pain they wouldn't withhold medication if required and he'd receive monitoring. Has he even been to physical therapy it's doing my head in. They did all this research on OCD apparently for Craig. Why ignore the facts for Billy's storyline it's ridiculous
ReplyDelete