By Stephen Leach, who is in Twitter @SirTerenceBoot - read all of Stephen Leach's guest blogs here.
Where on earth did Wednesday’s episodes come from? There I
was, long past ready to give up on the Bailey family. I was starting to think
that they might be too far gone to be saved from the same fate that befell the
Mortons; I had high hopes for them at the start, but I was growing increasingly
bored every time they appeared onscreen. We’ve hardly seen James for months,
and Aggie (on balance my favourite of the foursome, though that’s not saying
much) seems to have been self-isolating for months now (has she actually got
coronavirus? See, I can’t even remember).
Meanwhile words can scarce express how little I cared about the
Michael/Grace back-and-forth drama: it seems to have been going on for months
with the same dreary scene played out again and again. The revelation that she
was leaving for Spain fell flat: the show clearly expected us all to feel…
something… about it, but given that we’d learned so little about her beyond “she’s
Michael’s daughter’s mother” even total apathy felt like an overreaction. But
there I was expecting a bog-standard stolen-baby storyline, and it turns out
that Tianna isn’t just not Michael’s child, she’s not even Grace’s! Did not see
that one coming. I love when Corrie reminds us all it can actually do twists.
Let’s hope this is a sign of good things to come. Freed from
the shackles of parenthood Michael might actually end up doing something
interesting. Perhaps once all the current nastiness with Geoff is done with
Alya should break up with Ryan (he’s so pointless these days, it’d at least
give him something to do) and strike up a relationship with him, uniting the Nazirs
and the Baileys in an effort to lessen the likelihood of both clan’s
extinctions.
Speaking of fatherhood, where on earth did they find the kid
playing Nick’s son? I absolutely love his energy. I was kind of dreading his
arrival – Nick’s a grouchy sod with the soul of a dishcloth, after all, and any
offspring threatened similar boredom – but this child has more pep and spirit
than most of the adult cast combined. For a moment it almost felt like he was channelling
Ben Mitchell (the cute young one, not the string of moody adolescents he’s
regenerated into over the last few years). Let’s all cherish his delightfulness
for a brief few moments before Leanne discovers his existence and erupts with
rage for the fortieth time this week.
So how much longer do we have to wait until New Todd shows
up, then? Billy and Sean were all over the case for about a day; it was looking
likely that he’d show his face, and then… nothing. How much longer do we have
to wait? I know Sue Cleaver can’t return in person for a while yet, but I’d be
entirely happy to watch her give him the tongue-lashing of his life over Zoom.
To be honest, the main reason I want Todd back is so that he
can charm his way back into Billy’s affections. Nothing personal, Paul, but you
and Billy are the least convincing couple the Street has ever seen (and with
Nick and Carla on that illustrious list, that’s one hell of an achievement). I
always liked Billy and Todd together; Todd brought out Billy’s darker side, and
more importantly gave him something to talk about other than the man upstairs.
Seriously, every time Billy appears on screen I mentally count down the seconds
until someone mentions religion because the topic absolutely must come up in
every scene Billy appears in lest we somehow forget that he’s a vicar. You
know, if the dog collar and sanctimonious attitude didn’t clue you in.
Hopefully they’ll maintain this pacey energy next week. I’m hoping for Geoff to suffer some sort of horrific accident, Nina to wow the factory with a range of goth-chic negligees, and for Shona to finally get her end away with David. Oh, and Gary’s finally back (that was a flipping lengthy honeymoon); hopefully Imran and Adam will finally get around to taking him down and achieve justice for dear Rana. Remember her? No, me neither.
All original work on Coronation Street Blog is covered by a Creative Commons License
2 comments:
I like Paul and Billy together and I don't want to see Todd return for yet another love triangle storyline.
Since it's rumored that Ray is Callum's father and he has a cohort to help him get revenge on the Platts,perhaps Todd is the one helping Ray as revenge for feeling used by Sarah when she manipulated Todd to frame Jason's father Tony for Callum's murder letting Todd believe she killed Callum and he wanted to protect her.
Couldn't agree more about your opinion on Billy and Paul. The show seem to have just stuck them together because they're both gay and for lack of any other options, because as we know a gay man must fancy all other men ... it's beyond ridiculous. They've also gone with a weird Dad / Son vibe between the pair of them which is just incredibly icky, Billy's relationship with Paul ages him by about ten years. I just don't see why either of them would be with each other, they're so miss matched.
I liked Billy and Todd together too, unlike with Paul, you always felt like they both genuinely fancied each other, I don't even believe Paul likes Billy half the time. Dan and Bruno brought a huge amount of chemistry to their performances as an on screen couple, I'm unsure if that level of chemistry can be matched, but it will be a huge breath of fresh air to see Billy question his current relationship and if it's indeed right for him.
Post a Comment