As Toyah told Johnny, ‘I’ve lost everything.’
Is Toyah herself the real cause of her own downfall? Some, I'm sure will say she is and has only herself to blame. I take a different view. Toyah is not a bad person. Intentionally she has hurt no one. Any hurt that she has inadvertently caused was not deliberate. Toyah made poor choices and cooked up a crazy scheme – a scheme to which Eva agreed. It was not fully thought through. Ridiculously, neither Eva nor Toyah made allowances for the strong possibility that Eva would fall in love with her child and want to keep her. No account was taken of the strength of Mother Nature’s skill of making babies, at least to their mothers and fathers, absolutely the very best that could ever happen to them.
Eva’s love for baby Susie was almost tangible and try as she might to ignore it, Toyah could see that Eva was a mother, desperate to look after her own child. Given that Susie is Aidan’s child too, it adds a layer of even greater poignancy, now that Aidan is dead.
Eventually, as it always does in soaps, and quite often in real life, the truth came out. What she didn’t expect was the devastation that the truth would cause Peter. At 53, he did briefly wonder if he was keen / able to look after a child, but in the brief spell in which he believed himself to be Susie’s dad, he was as thrilled as any new father, only for Susie to be snatched away from him. He is understandably bitter and angry; angry that he has been deceived and angry that he is not Susie’s rightful father, a child in whom he has invested emotionally.
Toyah was desperate for a baby – the hurt that that desperation caused, with Toyah absolutely out of her mind in her desire to have a baby, was not something she even considered. When people are desperate, they do strange things, because they are not thinking rationally. The hurt that will be caused is neither intended nor envisaged. Now, she is a woman with no home, no job, no partner and as Leanne was so furious with her, almost without her sister, though that relationship has now healed.
So, what now for Toyah? She could adopt, single people do, ask surrogate Jackie to try again though with a donor this time, or she could throw herself into a career of her own choosing, a charity post perhaps, helping children by some means.
But before that Toyah seems to be getting her mojo back and not just accepting Peter’s decisions on how to go about selling The Rovers and ‘uncoupling’ their lives. (Uncoupling = an expression first coined by Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin on their divorce. We thank them.)
One thing’s for sure. For Toyah, things can only get better, can’t they?
By Ruth Owen, twitter: @ruth1722
Is Toyah herself the real cause of her own downfall? Some, I'm sure will say she is and has only herself to blame. I take a different view. Toyah is not a bad person. Intentionally she has hurt no one. Any hurt that she has inadvertently caused was not deliberate. Toyah made poor choices and cooked up a crazy scheme – a scheme to which Eva agreed. It was not fully thought through. Ridiculously, neither Eva nor Toyah made allowances for the strong possibility that Eva would fall in love with her child and want to keep her. No account was taken of the strength of Mother Nature’s skill of making babies, at least to their mothers and fathers, absolutely the very best that could ever happen to them.
Eva’s love for baby Susie was almost tangible and try as she might to ignore it, Toyah could see that Eva was a mother, desperate to look after her own child. Given that Susie is Aidan’s child too, it adds a layer of even greater poignancy, now that Aidan is dead.
Eventually, as it always does in soaps, and quite often in real life, the truth came out. What she didn’t expect was the devastation that the truth would cause Peter. At 53, he did briefly wonder if he was keen / able to look after a child, but in the brief spell in which he believed himself to be Susie’s dad, he was as thrilled as any new father, only for Susie to be snatched away from him. He is understandably bitter and angry; angry that he has been deceived and angry that he is not Susie’s rightful father, a child in whom he has invested emotionally.
Toyah was desperate for a baby – the hurt that that desperation caused, with Toyah absolutely out of her mind in her desire to have a baby, was not something she even considered. When people are desperate, they do strange things, because they are not thinking rationally. The hurt that will be caused is neither intended nor envisaged. Now, she is a woman with no home, no job, no partner and as Leanne was so furious with her, almost without her sister, though that relationship has now healed.
So, what now for Toyah? She could adopt, single people do, ask surrogate Jackie to try again though with a donor this time, or she could throw herself into a career of her own choosing, a charity post perhaps, helping children by some means.
But before that Toyah seems to be getting her mojo back and not just accepting Peter’s decisions on how to go about selling The Rovers and ‘uncoupling’ their lives. (Uncoupling = an expression first coined by Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin on their divorce. We thank them.)
One thing’s for sure. For Toyah, things can only get better, can’t they?
By Ruth Owen, twitter: @ruth1722
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I would like to see Toyah stick around, at least for a while, as it's good for Leanne to have her on the Street, especially now that Eva's gone. This break up with Peter and end of her stint as Rovers landlady should be a turning point for her character, with some new direction and goals that are more in line with the Toyah we used to know. Maybe we'll see her take a more active role at the Community Center, at the clinic or who knows where. I'm hopeful and looking forward to a change for her.
ReplyDeleteThere are quite a few 20 and 30 something educated professionals on the Street now, but they showed up with as adults with degree in hand. If for nothing else, I’d like to see Toyah go back to counseling or something related just to show that a kid from this street can be more than a stitcher or builder. That, plus she’ll be happier with a better suited job and have her own income and be rid of a string of horribly matched partners. I think Toyah could become great watching again, and not just a trainwreck.
ReplyDeleteIf she could only find a better wardrobe.
To answer the question,yes Toyah's downfall is her fault and she did intentally hurt a lot of people,The Connors,Peter and Ken whose daughter's memory Toyah exploited in her deception over Susie due to her obsession to have her own child.
ReplyDeleteThe worst part for me is that Toyah still acted like she was the 'victim' even crying on Johnny's shoulder after Eva left despite the fact he was denied his granddaughter the first weeks of her life because of her and Eva's scheme.
That being said,I do hope Toyah is able to turn the corner and become a counselor and become a stronger female character with more interesting story lines.
Yes, Toyah's baby scheme was appalling, especially from a qualified counsellor, but I don’t mind her staying if she gets a job appropriate to her qualifications. Sarah is better as the factory P.A. now that the scriptwriters have remembered all those years she spent in a similar job in Milan.
ReplyDeleteI too would like to see Toyah working in her profession. Certainly there are a few people on the street who could use some counselling. Also, we know she is an environmentalist - how about finding her a 'green' cause, teaming up with Yasmeen & Summer?
ReplyDelete