Coronation Street Episode Review Monday 18th October

Hello and welcome to Horror Nation Week - Day 1! Why this whole thing wasn't done on Hallowe'en week, I'm not sure. I'm also not sure why the residents of Weatherfield think that a pop-up anything is a good idea after the Christmas winter wonderland that ended with one dead and one with maternity leave related brain damage.

Death stalks the street - or at least Ryan dressed as the Reaper is. Abi looks at her biscuit tin gun for the hundredth time. Harvey breaks a bone in his hand in order to get to hospital. The Alahans set off on their putative glamping trip. The sinkhole is starting to crumble. The rain is belting down. The scenes are set, the games are afoot.

Sam, Nick and Shona preview the haunted house, featuring Kirk as a mummy in a coffin. Sam asks why he isn't in a sarcophagus and asks what dynasty Kirk is from. Trust the nerd to ruin everything. Nick persuades Leanne to dress up as Morticia, which is not a sex game, but to replace Natasha who is stuck on the motorway, for her and Sam's mum 'n' son costume.

Johnny tells Carla that he's moving to Indonesia to be with Kate, which seems like a bad idea for three different reasons: 1) it's like saying you've got one last day before retirement b) what twenty-something wants her papa with her on holiday and c) Kate is pretty annoying. Carla is upset by this and invites Jenny over to the haunted house to try and talk him out of it.

Abi stalks Corey (who lives in a sun dappled suburb (the storm seems to be very localised)), but a policeman turns up and she quits the scene. Turns out Nina called the cops and she persuades Abi to hand over the gun. Corey has fetched up on the street on his way to the House of Horrors and starts harassing Nina, who stomps away from him back to the cafe, where she finds out that what she actually has is a glue gun. Corey dons a wolf mask and Abi pulls a (little red riding) hood over her head and they both enter the haunted house (where there are some very poor costumes - look, supporting actor, a pair of devil horns does not a Hallowe'en outfit make). Meanwhile, the lights go out and Ryan finds that the generator has fallen into the sinkhole. Corey insults Summer, Amy, and Kirk before finally finding Abi. He taunts her until she brings out the gun and shoots the mirror next to his head. For her next trick, I was expecting her to shoot an apple off of his head, but the sinkhole intervenes, dragging them both down to the sewers.

 

 

Rita has spragged up Imran and Toyah comes round to give him a mouthful, to be told that Harvey's appeal is dead in the water and he will never get out of chokey. What they don't know is that a friendly (bribed?) prison guard hasn't properly locked Gangsta Gaskell in the prison van and he wrestles the wheel of the van from the un-bribed driver and they skid in the rain into Dev's stalled car, both of them spinning out of control, overturning. Harvey pulls himself up onto the top of the van and stands menacingly in the CGI rain. Kevin turns up in the pick-up truck and is promptly bopped over the head by Harvey who steals his truck and sets off for the Street to find Leanne. Dev struggles his way out of his seatbelt and decides to prioritise rescuing Asha over Aadi (despite the latter's laments), which is fair enough: Asha is unconscious and Aadi is alert and responsive, at least it is until the car explodes. Maybe the CGI rain will put it out?

With all the storylines bleeding into each other, it's a pity that Harvey can't kill Corey and vice-versa.

Come back on Wednesday for Day 2!

Rachel Stevenson - on twitter

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