By Stephen Leach, who is in Twitter @SirTerenceBoot, our guest blogger, who shares his thoughts on current Coronation Street.
What a week it’s been. Absolutely relentless. Emotional highs and lows, but mostly lows, if I’m honest. I’ve not been so appalled since I watched Donald Trump give his inauguration speech; Clayton’s dad’s funeral was like the worst low-budget action flick I’ve ever seen. I’m still trying to get my head around their master plan, but it seemed to basically consist of twenty men getting themselves jailed all so that Clayton could spend the next few years hiding out on Roy’s allotment. Is he that valuable to the criminal underworld they’d be willing to do that for him? He’s hardly a master criminal, after all; his list of crimes includes pilfering beer and kebabs and killing a woman in full view of about a dozen witnesses for no reason at all. And now, utterly predictably, he’s holding Shona hostage. Yawn. Pray for her; if she makes it out alive she’ll still have to deal with the Platts. I know what I’d choose.
Steve and Tracy might not be great parents, but it’s not like they’re without any skills: the speed at which they casually whisked a mortgage out of thin air was nothing short of magical. Almost like they didn’t actually go to the trouble of asking any banks for permission. Even when Claudia gazumped them, Steve was able to conjure up an extra chunk of money to match her offer without breaking a sweat. (I noticed from Friday’s episode that the house was listed as £100,000 – round my way that wouldn’t get you one wall, let alone four.) Then again, it’s not exactly a surprise that houses in Weatherfield come so cheap – sure it’s an economic hotspot with full employment and excellent local facilities, but what with all the frequent murders and explosions, it’s not what I’d class as the ideal place to raise a family.
So that’s that for Amy and Tyler’s wee sprog, then. I’m not normally one to cheer for abortions, but I can’t help feeling a sense of relief (don’t be a total mingebag and pretend you don’t feel the same way). Let’s hope this finally means seeing the back of Tyler. His mum’s actually growing on me somewhat, though: the words “Amy Barlow” sound hilarious in a Northern Irish accent. And come to think of it, so do a great many other ones.
Speaking of which, I used to find Gina deeply and intensely irritating; now I mostly just feel sorry for her. Yes, I know she did a bad thing trying to seduce Tim, but it’s a bit rich of everyone to still be treating her like a pariah for it a mere two months on. After all, Kevin literally had a baby with Tyrone’s wife, and they’re still best mates. The factory lot turned on her at the speed of light, too: never does take much with that lot, does it? They never learn, the judgemental bores: even Sally, herself recently in prison on a false charge, refused to even consider the idea that Gina might be innocent of what everyone was accusing her of. You can hardly blame Gina for wanting to up sticks and go and stay with her family in Newcastle (bit of a weird turn of phrase, that – wouldn’t they be Sophie and Sally’s family too?).
What else is going on? Ah yes, we’re limping ever closer to the inevitable heartbreak that will be Kate and Rana’s wedding. You just know something will go wrong; at this point it’s hardly worth the trouble of thinking up a reason. Infidelity? Sure, why not. The only ray of hope is that Jenny will get off her face on champagne again and offend absolutely everyone. It’s been too long.
If there’s one thing I’m enjoying right now, though, it’s the interplay between Carla and Roy. The two of them really do put the rest of the cast to shame. I just wish this had all been caused by something a bit more impactful than a burning boat. No, but seriously – this is what’s been missing for a while now: genuine emotional tension, not overblown but with a lightness of touch. I know some find the pairing of Roy and Carla to be contrived, but it’s just so nice to see a platonic relationship between two characters who aren’t related – honestly, it works better for me than Carla and Jonny, which I’ve never really bought into. With the news that upcoming episodes will focus on Carla’s deteriorating mental health, I’m hopeful this could lay the groundwork for more quietly dramatic storylines that don’t have to be so issue-driven. Less of the high-octane stunts, please, and more character development. You know, the stuff that lasts.
By Stephen Leach, who is in Twitter @SirTerenceBoot - read all of Stephen Leach's guest blogs here.
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3 comments:
Hear! Hear! Well said.
Beautifully written, Stephen! If beauty can actually be used to describe the soap world of Corrie. You're right on, without being mean and insulting, about the more fluffy rinse-and-repeat type stuff. And I agree about the Roy/Carla pairing, with this deep look into what they are both truly made of. Truly unusual for the genre, and very enjoyable.
All the funeral scene was missing was Benny Hill music in the background! Not sure who came up with this story line but I hope it's over soon.
Everything was going well up until last week and it all fell apart. The only good thing is we know the Kate and Rana story is going to wrap up soon. The new producer can only do so much with some of the stories he inherited, hopefully once he gets past this stuff, it will be back to being good.
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