Evening Corrie fans, it’s Kelly here with your Friday night review.
At No. 13 Abi wakes up on the sofa again, with Kev’s living room looking like someone’s thrown a hand grenade in there. Even without the hangover, she has the morning from hell, as she has the police turn up, Debbie haranguing her through the letterbox, a visit from the social worker, and finally Saint Toyah letting herself in through the back door to deliver her moral lesson of the day. I think we all know which of these is worse don’t we readers.
Toyah stops her from taking the ‘stuff’ she’s just bought (what, can we not say cocaine until after 8.15?) and lets the social worker in, who explains that Abi is needed at the hospital as her baby is sick.
Meanwhile Michael tells Aggy and Ed that he’s decided to stop looking for Grace, which inevitably means she’ll manifest at the child’s birthday, like Maleficent in ripped jeans. For some unknown reason this good news leads Ed to go full Kardashian and try to hire the Bistro for the one-year-old’s party, complete with a full entertainment package and the whole street invited. After hearing the news from Mary, Michael bursts the Peppa Pig balloon when he tells his dad he’d prefer it if they just had a small family party for Glory, so clearly this was all just a ruse to queue up Dis-Grace’s return. In fact, the most interesting thing I learned from this storyline is that Ronnie and Debbie are totally at it! But then I am very juvenile and have a mind in the gutter.
Talking of which, over at Bessie Street ex-escort Nicky turns up in Daniel’s classroom to tell him she’s applied for a job as a teaching assistant. Hmm interesting vetting procedure you have there, Mrs Crenshaw. Daniel agrees to meet her after school for a drink in the Rovers, where he introduces her to Daisy as his ‘friend’. By which of course he means sex worker who I used to pay to do some horrible stuff while wearing my dead wife’s cardigan. He later berates Daisy about telling Nicki he’d moved away and deleting her voicemail, and insists she has no reason to be jealous. He strangely fails to mention the cardi of shame though. I actually feel like Daisy might be too good for him.
Elsewhere, Laura finds a new PI. This one might know what he’s doing, as he’s an ex-cop and immediately picks up that Gary knows more than he’s letting on. Gaz nearly has a stroke of luck when Kelly, (who looks like she’s just come from the tanning shop), finds out and tells her mum to stop as she wants nothing to do with Rick or his money. Unfortunately, Laura, (never the listening to her child sort of parent), doesn’t seem to be put off. Also, Leanne lies to Nick that she’s taking Sam to an after school club so he can continue to play chess with Roy.
Finally, Toyah accompanies Abi to the hospital (God knows when she finds time to do any work at the factory), where they find out that Abi’s baby has a bowel condition and may need an operation. At a kind nurse’s instigation, Abi finally sees and touches her tiny son. She’s still scared and unsure and feeling guilty about not being able to breastfeed, but Saint Toyah of Battersby gives her a stern ‘Now then lady…’ talking to, telling her she must decide whether she is going to be a proper mum or not. It works and Abi names her son Alfie, as it means ready for battle, and says she is going to fight to keep him.
Oooh I wonder if Toyah’s halo will slip when she realises who the baby-daddy is.
And that's it for this week. Catch me in the comments or on twitter @mskelstar.
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I think we know where the Abi's baby storyline is going. Desperately ill Alfie can only be saved with a blood transfusion or something else from his parents. Abi's body isn't up to being extracted from - so who's the daddy? This is Imran's exit storyline. Either he confesses all or he does a runner. Sadly, the baby doesn't survive and this must be the trigger for Abi's exit at some point.
ReplyDeleteOr, nothing like that actually happens and Imran cracks under the pressure, confesses all and gets kicked out by Toyah and leaves to make a fresh start. No death of Alfie and no departure of Abi. I don't feel that Sally Carmen will leave as long as Joe Duttine is still in Corrie. Why do people insist on using wild guess work all the time?
DeleteJeanie (anon): Almost certainly the baby will survive. It's--how will the secret come out and how will Toyah respond? If Charlie de Melo weren't leaving you could see Toyah accepting both of them in order to have the baby she's always wanted. And honestly, the baby would be much better off with her than Abi.
ReplyDeleteI used to love Abi, particularly her friendship with Sally, what a great pairing! and her easy camraderie with Tyrone. But now find her a bit tiresome. As with other Corrie characters--like Becky, it's become all Abi, all misery, all the time. And always (again just like Becky or the hapless Anna Windass) it's always self-destruct mode.
How many times do we have to see her screaming, or drug using, or weeping and wailing and begging for a second (no, third, no, fourth, no, fifth) chance?
The PTB are ruining a great character by putting her misery and self-destructive behavior front and centre. She was so much more interesting when we had some of that, mixed with more positive things like her friendship with Sally or her standing up for Carla or her befriending Jack. Then, you could see why people liked her, despite some of her behavior.
But that's what always happens--Corrie finds a character and actor who unexpectedly resonate with their audience (like Becky and Abi who both came onto the street in the same way--as
criminal, self-destructive secondary characters brought in for a primary character's story). Build on it. Then overwork it to death.
Sounds right, though I can't see Abi leaving while Sally Carman is with Joe Duttine.
ReplyDeleteNo way would a former sex worker get a job in a school.
Not an expert on this, and correct me if I'm wrong, but surely this would only come to light if she were convicted of some sort of sex working. No convictions, then nothing will be show up?
DeleteA fair point but then what has she put on her CV? Presumably she left off sex worker so there will be a big gap
DeleteEasy,stay at home, single mum. Gap accounted for
DeleteYes Moaningmamma. Checks on anyone working with children are very strict. Also, Daniel makes it sound as if Nicky would be in charge of a whole class! A teaching assistant works with individuals, or maybe small groups of pupils who need extra help for a variety of reasons.
ReplyDelete