Steve promises Tracy he will collect her and Amy from the airport. Needless to say he fails because he gets sidetracked - and Tracy wants to know why he has spent £600 on a coffin as she spotted it when she looked online at the joint account. Steve claims that it is for Liz's friend Pauline (who she?). However we know that Steve took Emma to the undertaker and did a deal with the undertaker to fund the coffin so that the undertaker only charges Emma £2000 for the cremation and other services. The undertaker tells Emma it is a summer sale but even she works out that it is not and that somehow Steve talked him into being kind to her. However later "the undertaker" does tell Emma that Steve paid the £600. Emma thanks and hugs Steve in the Street in front of Tracy (whom I suspect was "the undertaker"). Tracy says there is no Pauline - and above we can see Steve's reaction. Steve admits it - but cannot explain to Tracy in front of Emma that the latter may be his daughter. Steve actually stands up to Tracy for once. Tracy is fewmin' as they say these days and does not understand why Steve would be flashing the cash for a bird with whom he is not sleeping. Liz gets Steve to back off - but he is looking for DNA tests.
Ken's bridge afternoon gets going in the Rovers: Ken and Claudia, John and Jenny, Mary (after much prevarication) and Brian, Yasmeen and Geoff (or as Claudia prefers to call him "Jerry"). We get a throwback to the nonsense insurance claim and Geoff tells Yasmeen the money will be in his account soon. The bridge competition has Johnny and Jenny communicating strategy through his orders for chasers; Mary (who earlier claimed she and her mother were competition winners) spends much of the evening seeking to pretend she has not played before and talking a lot to distract the opponents - which Geoff eventually spots and ends. Jenny steadily gets drunk! Ken and Claudia lose to both Johnny/Jenny and Brian/Mary! Mary winds up Claudia with reference to her "costume jewellery" - above. Eventually Claudia storms out and Geoff works out that Johnny & Jenny are cheating based on the drinks they consume as chasers and the number of fingers on glasses, Jenny blows it as she is drunk!
Robert remains between the devil (Michelle) and the deep blue sea (Vicky). Now we know it is simple - the devil is just nasty but there is a chance of swimming to safety in the sea. But somehow Robert has not got the message and is running back and forth. He tells Vicky that the ring he gave her is a fake and they need to go out and buy one together. She gives it to him so that he can drop it off at the jeweller to be resized for Michelle's J size finger (48.7mm circumference). Vicky wants to set a date for the wedding. And she has been studying wedding magazines. (Robert we all know a wedding planner you could employ!). Robert avoids bedding Vicky by pretending to fall asleep on the sofa (above) but in reality he is awake pondering his choices.
Gemma feels Bermie should get a job - but the latter does everything she can to avoid employment. Later Bernie pretends the toilet is broken so forcing Gemma to use a bucket. She then applies the urine to a large number of pregnancy test sticks and starts selling the test sticks on the dark web to garner some cash. Michael Bailey not only repairs the toilet he also suggests a better way of marketing the pregnancy test sticks putting them on legitimate websites as for "novelty use only" and he hopes she has washed her hands! And she gets nine orders in an hour! Michael gets cut in for 25% of the legitimate business.
Bethany is depressed. Everyone else is moving on with new jobs and challenges and she is stuck in a rut. Then Emma comes in to get Maria to cover whilst she goes to the undertakers and Bethany realises that perhaps things are not so bad. Later Daniel talks to Bethany - she needs two lists - things she wants to do and those things she is good at doing. Oddly this story is left floating with Bethany planning writing two lists - filler to be forgotten or to be resurrected later?
Having lost at bridge Geoff and Yasmeen return home and the former turns his ire on Yasmeen who has spotted something is wrong. He is surprised she has had time to notice as she did not earlier - undermining him at every opportunity (above). She belittled him, tried to make him look small and he says she succeeded. He has never felt more humiliated than he did today. Apparently she made a joke about him taking the game too seriously and she let Mary go to the toilet when she asked in writing (having been forbidden from speaking except to bid). He says that Yasmeen and Mary were ganging up to make him look stupid and Yasmeen was certainly not giving him any help to win the card games. She responds that it is only a game and he goes off on another rant about her belittling him. And apparently she was flirting with Johnny. Yasmeen considers this so unreal she starts laughing (a dangerous thing to do)! Geoff gets really angry and shouts at her not to laugh at him. He decides they should spend the night apart and accepts her offer that she will use the spare room. And he heads up the wooden hill leaving an upset Yasmeen downstairs.
As previously mentioned I feel that stories of coercive control have been badly overdone in soapland and I whilst it has now been admitted that Geoff was recruited for this story I don't have to like it or want it. If the story had to be done why not a female control freak - not that uncommon.
Odd about Daniel and Bethany - they have not had many previous scenes together and I suspect that Sinead would be jealous if her husband was talking to another blonde!
Poor Steve - we know why he is trying to do the right thing - but Tracy will find out!
Writers: Damon Alexis-Rochefort and Owen Lloyd-Fox. Director: Duncan Foster
No Corrie Comicals this week. Hope normal service will return next week. And great banter with those who have tweeted me - thank you.
Kosmo
@Kosmo100
All original work on Coronation Street Blog is covered by a Creative Commons License
I do feel that a lot of the issue storylines are basically the same one: 'This (whatever the issue is) can happen to anyone': Aidan, David, Yasmeen, Carla. They aren't character led and you can see the difference when it is character led. Peter's recent near descent into alcoholism was believable because addiction is part of his make-up.
ReplyDeleteIt was Liz that said there was no Pauline.
ReplyDeleteTracy said she was stuck at the airport for hours. It takes 40 minutes on the train from Manchester airport to Salford so therefore the same to ‘Weatherfield’.
If the bridge contest took place in the afternoon, what was Maria doing in the Rovers at that time guzzling wine? Was Audrey running the salon and barbers single handedly?
If the toilet was broken why not use a bucket of water to flush it?
So many conundrums on Corrie.