Sally and Tim are still sniping at each other, mostly about Elaine and her disappearance. Tim is slowly catching on (very s-l-o-w-l-y) and quizzes his dad about his mum and lack of photographs of her. D.I. Sally is on the case and borrows the keys to number 6 on a pretext and tries to steal Geoff's laptop for clues. The ghastly one reappears and Sally "hides" in the kitchen, only to be discovered by her father in law. He demands to see the book Sally is pretending to borrow and then he threatens her.
Toyah and her Edwardian blouse visit Leanne and Oliver (who is permanently off-screen). Toyah explains that Imran has his assessment with the social services. Leanne asks Toyah to come 'round later as she "wants loads of people around Oliver". Erm, Ms Battersby! There's a pandemic on! And Manchester is one of the worst-hit areas! And Oliver is vulnerable! Imran thinks he's screwed up the fostering process as he got defensive when the social worker brought up Rana's kidnap by her parents.
Meanwhile, silver fox Dev puts the kebab shop on the market. As an aside, is this Dev's third act? When he first was in the soap, he was the hot young blade, women falling at his feet. Then he was unlucky in love, camp, salad cream-loving Devster. Now we have a more serious, sober, responsible Devendra, whom, I have to say, suits the bearded look. Talking of the Alahans, I love Asha's new glasses also. What I don't love is Corey and his bad hair snogging young Asha down the ginnel (off-screen). He's a bad 'un, Asha! And he's far too tall. Dev agrees with me, but more because he's going bankrupt paying to keep the video Corey recorded off the internet, along with Oakhill school fees. Nina sensibly tells Asha not to spend her life trying to please boys.
What I'm also not loving is Big* Shona. Are her teenage antics supposed to be the lighter side of brain damage?? It's just quite annoying. She insults Bernie's belt (and jeans), then throws blackcurrant juice over her jumper. Later, David pops out to get ice-cream for Lily (also off-screen) and Shona manages to lose her as she counts up to 500 in a game of hide and seek and Lily sneaks out the front door. TBC.
* Big as in child in adult's body.
Rachel Stevenson - on twitter
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The Shona storyline is not really doing any good to highlight the plight of brain injured people when many viewers just find Shona plain annoying and trying to drag out any humour from the situation is so heavy handed.
ReplyDeleteThe Shona storyline is a hideous portrayal of what should be an awareness issue for the public. Getting her kit off in the street and behaving like a 5 year old is an insult to anyone dealing with this tragic problem.
ReplyDeleteI hate what they’ve done to Shona’s character. The actress only wanted to go on maternity leave and they created this entire plot to fit around it. There’s no subtlety whatsoever in the way her brain damage is being portrayed, it just goes from one extreme to the other, and the whole thing feels like it’s being played for laughs.
ReplyDeleteAlso, something about the acting just feels off to me.
I just don’t get why the writers went down the route with Shona when they didn’t have to. If they wanted to raise awareness about brain damage then why not just use Nick?
I find it laughable that there are two people in the Platt family with brain damage and yet this has barely been acknowledged or touched upon by the characters themselves.
We know Shona and David are going to get back together and Shona’s magically going to get back to ‘normal’, so there are no real stakes involved and I find myself wanting the story to hurry up and end.
Took the words out of my mouth. Shona’s brain damage is being portrayed bad which is a shame as Julia Goulding is a good actress. The talk about spreading awareness about brain injury is a scapegoat for us to feel guilty about criticising the portrayal. If they really wanted to spread awareness about brain injuries, they are doing it the wrong way. They already have a character on the show who has a brain injury, Nick. Involve him in the storyline and show his brain damage effects as well
DeleteDoes Corrie have something against strong women? Because it sure feels like it!
ReplyDeleteCarla, the street’s ultimate alpha female – had a mental breakdown – lost her pride and joy, the factory – now has nothing.
Yasmeen – introduced as a strong, opinionated woman, the backbone of the Nazir clan – met Geoff – now a shell of her former shelf.
Shona, another strong female – brain damage – acts like an annoying five-year-old.
Abi – fun, feisty, never afraid to stand up for herself and others – a drugs relapse – becomes a damsel in distress reliant on white knight Peter Barlow to save her.
Gemma, gobby, fun free spirit – saddled with quads (ruining character) – postnatal depression.
Maria – okay, Maria was never what I’d class as a strong woman– but my goodness, if they kill off any more brain cells she’ll be brain dead!
Rana, had serious potential – crushed to death – completely forgotten about.
Corrie used to be all about strong women so why is current Corrie so insistent on tearing them down and victimising them? I’ve lost count of the number of times Carla’s been knocked off her pedestal and made into a ‘victim’, reliant on the men in her life to save her.
It’s been so disheartening as a female viewer to watch Carla go from being this strong-minded businesswoman to this watered-down, pint pulling background character. What’s wrong with having a strong woman in a position of power? Similarly Toyah, who was a councillor, for some bizarre reason has abandoned those career aspirations and is now happy to work in the factory doing what exactly? Can’t a woman have a career in Weatherfield anymore?
Sheesh…
At this rate, there’ll be no strong women left!
Out of the current crop, who would you class as a strong female?
I’d argue Tracy is, but her edges have been worn down too much for my liking. Liz used to be, but she’s fallen through the cracks in recent years. Leanne is another one who’s fallen to the wayside. There’s Jenny, but again, we see so little of her…
So that leaves only Sally, Evelyn and Alya (although I absolutely cannot stand Alya).
It's such a shame. Does Anyone agree? Or disagree for that matter?
Long time viewer in Canada here.The writing and acting has definitely gone downhill in last decade or so.There is no continuity that follows a logical thread...I know its a soap and we need to suspend disbelief,but there are too many moments where we feel like screaming at the TV because the plot line is outrageous.For example,a phone call to a govermental agency can quickly answer any question about Tim's birth mother.
ReplyDeleteAlso I dont think the show flows well with storylines that go on one week and then the following week there is no mention of them,then suddenly they pick up again.
The show is extremely bloated with new charachters,yet long time residents are not getting any storylines.
Why is necessary to bring in new charachters to play the love interests of current singletons?
Could Daniel not have found another way to deal with his grief?
Its absurd.
Agreed. There are too many characters and storylines which is why everything feels disjointed and messy. You can't get invested in a storyline because as soon as it's introduced it gets dropped and another takes its place. It's hard to care about the characters because they disappear off screen for months at a time and we never see couples together. The show is so plot heavy and issue based that character developmment has gone out the window. Corrie used to have a warmth about it, a real sense of community. It was about the people and how they interacted with each other. Now it's about cardboard cut-outs portraying the latest social issue. Geoff and Yasmeen's story is the ONLY reason I'm watching. The rest is rubbish. Corrie really needs to up it's game. Very poor.
DeletePoor Dev, struggling to look after 2 difficult teenagers and he gets no sympathy, just abuse from Cathy and Chesney. It really isn't his job to provide an income for half the street!
ReplyDelete