Happy New Year - a little late but my first episode review of 2022. Much of tonight was taken up by Joseph being on the run. Early on when Hope was so upset that she could not face going to school, I thought Evelyn was on the point of rumbling the body hidden in the attic - but she let me down - missing out on Hope eating at least three lots of breakfast. And then we were led to think the body would be discovered by the house valuer who reckons the place might be worth £175k if they were lucky or £150k for a quick sale. (That is a really wide variation and have they forgotten that the cladding is hiding weakened brickwork and it might fall down if the cladding is removed? - I thought so too!). Hope pretended Cerberus had gone missing so that she was left to her own devices and threw Joseph (in one of her hoodies) out of the house with all his possessions (above). Chesney undertakes a TV appeal for his lost son and Dev starts a fund raiser to provide a reward for anyone finding the missing child. Hope goes briefly missing as well - and checks up that Joseph has not vanished completely.
Alya and Zeedan are persona non-grata at Speed Daal or anywhere else; relations with Yasmeen are completely ruptured and I think the makeover of the restaurant means it looks a lot better (when will Nina's Noodles get the makeover it so desperately needed? I suspect the H&S inspectors might not give it a 5 star rating at the moment). Stu tries to get Yasmeen to make up with the grandchildren and admits to having a wife and children - Yasmeen suggests he should get in touch with them. Yasmeen however finds the perfect home for the dirty money, donating £29k to the reward fund.
Now that Summer and Amy have repaired their friendship the latter is seeking assistance with her UCAS personal statement - although it does not seem to be going very far. Amy wants some of the sweets she knows Summer has hidden somewhere - but Summer says they have gone to the shelter. Amy has a hospital appointment later and Amy is going with her and Summer assures Billy that she has it all under control (referring to her diabetes). At the hospital the nurse downloads Summer's test results and apparently she missed one last night - she forgot, apparently. But otherwise the readings are in order. Leaving the hospital they cross paths with Jacob, apparently now a "former drug dealer", with his right arm in a sling as payment for leaving Sharon's gang - he wants to know how Kelly is (above).
Pleasingly, all is well with Sophie, and Sally is more concerned over the missing flowers - the ones Tim bought for Aggie - so Tim lies and tells Sally they were for a retiring cab driver she did not know. And from a campaign leaflet Sally finds that Maria knows about the new Weatherfield County training ground plans, as Tim told Gary! Tim has to admit his need for a heart triple bypass operation to Peter Barlow who adds to the pressure on Tim to tell Sally - but the latter is waiting for the right moment and he cannot deal with all the crying and fuss. When he gets home Tim accidentally smashes what I think was a wedding photo.
Gordon the delivery man not only wants Shona to check off the delivery in detail but also wants a sup of special tea and the chance to tell his stories to a new audience. Shona however is not that keen and sends him on his way after two cups of tea, telling him his stories are boring, although Gordon threatens that Rita will put her straight later as he is a well-known raconteur in the trade. Shona confesses her actions to Rita who offers her support saying she has wanted to rein in Gordon a number of times. There is something odd going on. All of these and the previous scenes were outside the Kabin. No shopkeeper would be outside the shop taking delivery because of the thieving kids shoplifting inside - so what is wrong inside the Kabin?
In Victoria gardens Max is studying his phone whilst Summer, Asha and Amy discuss meeting Jacob; they don't believe he has changed and think he remains a nasty piece of work. Amy grabs Max's phone to find he has a picture up someone's skirt - which Summer recognises as it's her! Amy applies pressure to everyone to get it reported - but Summer does not want to know. Max refuses to take it at all seriously so Amy is determined to take action and get the person who took the photo suspended. Summer refuses to tell Billy what is going on and when she gets indoors and once Billy has gone out she gets out a very large bar of chocolate (above).
In the Rovers, Maria and Sally argue over the leaflet Maria has been circulating which being waste paper is anti-ecological. Maria gets so wound up that (above) she accuses Sally of taking back-handers from the Weatherfield County developers. After several minutes of this, Jenny chides both of them as a missing child is far more important and if they want to argue they should go and do it at the Flying Horse. They glare at each other. When she gets home Sally is not in the right mood for Tim to tell her anything.
Clint, Bernie's dishwasher-selling friend, hears about the reward fund and runs across Hope who was bringing Joseph back to the Street. He takes them into the ginnel of doom and Hope demands £100 each to play along with his plan to say that he found Joseph in the industrial park (above). Meanwhile Chesney has reached the conclusion that Joseph is never going to come home. Clint takes Joseph home and Joseph falls asleep in Chesney's arms on the sofa. And you know that Clint? Gemma used to braid his hair when she was little!
All a bit by the numbers tonight. Will the police work out that Clint did not find Joseph? Will Hope's behaviour come to light? Will Amy bring down the "up skirter"? Will Summer survive her chocolate overdose? Will Tim tell Sally? Is Gordon the new Derek? Has Jacob reformed? Can Yasmeen and Stu make it up with their families? All these and many more questions will be answered in future episodes - possibly!
Written by David Isaac and Simon Crowther. Directed by Afia Nkrumah.
Kosmo
