Evening Corrie fans, it’s Kelly here with your Friday night review.
Out on the Street, Jenny, Nick and Stephen all rush over to Teddy, who is unconscious but still breathing. For reasons no one understands, Stephen accompanies him to the hospital looking more like a pantomime villain every second. I’m surprised he didn’t enter the ambulance from stage left in a cloud of green smoke.
The minute he’s left alone with Teddy he of course tries to bump him off <boo, hiss, he’s behind you etc.> But, as with all villains, he feels compelled to first reveal his entire twisted plan to the audience, and so whispers his confession into Teddy’s ear before delivering the coup de grâce. This hesitation means he’s disturbed by Jenny and Teddy gets to fight another day.
In other (potential) killer news, Todd has discovered that Laurence’s deceased wife was from a wealthy family and met an untimely end by taking a tumble on the alps. Sean rejects his suspicions, telling his he’s got a long history of wrecking other people’s relationships and then Laurence warns him to keep out of his way. Please not another killer. At this rate, you’d be safer in south central LA than you would in Weatherfield.
Meanwhile, round at the creepy Christian house, Billy lies to Summer that he supports her decision about the surrogacy while watched over by Mike and Esther, who keep injecting with cult-ish statements like ‘she knows her own mind’. I’d say Summer had been brainwashed, but I’m starting to doubt that she has one.
Elsewhere, Nina is mocking Roy over his refusal to get a smartphone and Carla is disappointed when Peter suggests just a quiet night in for New Year’s Eve.
Finally, Stephen gets a call from Six Fella’s about the moped accident and manages to blag £10k compensation out of them. He tells them that once he has the money he plans to leave to country. You should have said that was the plan mate, we’d all have had a whip round.
And that’s not quite it for 2022, but it is, alas, it for me as this will be my last Friday night blog. But why Kelly, I hear you cry? Well, I’ve had a lot of fun picking over the good and bad of Corrie plots over the last few years, but I’ve increasingly started to feel that I’m no longer the target audience for the show.
You see, what I really love is a kitchen sink drama, two middle-aged women gossiping in the pub, the ups and downs of a long marriage, caustic-tongued barmaids. This is the Corrie I started watching whilst sitting on my parent’s rug in the 1980’s. Back then, unless I’m totally misremembering, you had the BIG DRAMA of Deirdre’s affair with Mike, but after that you didn’t really get any BIG DRAMA until Brian got stabbed three years later. Now it feels like there’s a murder every two months.
I realise of course that soaps must chase the ratings and stay relevant, but I feel like there’s an almost constant drive to cover the latest talking point, before moving on as quickly as possible to the next one. Grooming – tick. Coercive control – tick. White supremacy – tick. And this means you get lots of BIG DRAMA but at the expense of limited character development or characters doing things that make absolutely no sense. By contrast, when Corrie does domestic drama with Sally and Tim, it’s an absolute joy to watch.
So for the while I shall be leaving the wonderful Glenda’s band of Merrie Bloggers, but I’m sure I won’t be able to resist dipping back in with the occasional blog post. Hope you’ve enjoyed my blogs. Let me know in the comments or on twitter @mskelstar.
Ta-ra lady (and gents). Have a great 2023 chuck.
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9 comments:
I shall miss your blogs. I absolutely love reading them. Happy new year and thank you x
I'm sorry to see you go! Thank you for the great post. I completely understand though, I've stopped watching the show and only read the updates now.
With you all the way Kelly. For the last year I’ve realised life is too short -yes, I’m nearly 80 - to waste it on a tv legend pI now barely recognise. As a result I’ve stopped watching and relied on you and Scott to keep me up to date in your unique ways, and marvelled at your ongoing dedication to the task. So this will be my final comment too. May we both enjoy the rest of our lives remembering the golden days of the cobbles. Perhaps Jonathan and some of the other writers who deserve better, will be joining us too ?
I used to use the name..Where's Emily? and I lamented about the downfall of Corrie, only to have my comments stricken from the blog (much like this comment I am guessing) because they were a little too honest about the crappy program that is now Corrie.
So yes, I agree....life is too short to waste on a program with characters that I don't like...so back to youtube and the corrie of yesteryear. Tarrah mates!
First scott now another witty blogger gone, cant say i blame you. I love the classic episodes on itv3, really show the current day now. Stephen is a dire tribute act to richard hillman, the baileys should have been written out months ago and that missery summer and her boyfriend. All about box ticking in soaps now. Have a good new year
I'm sorry to see you go, Kelly. Happy New Year and have a great 2023.
Sorry to see you leave, Kelly, as I have really enjoyed your commentary. However, I completely understand your reasoning, and feel the same way myself. Really miss Betty uttering some wise comment under her breath. Those were the true Corrie moments. The whole Summer story line makes me want to turn off, and the Stephen nonsense does too. I hate the way they have totally revised the characters of Summer, who used to be a bright young thing, and Spider, who was an idealistic environmentalist. The story line writers must think we are stupid.
Thank you for all your great posts Kelly. I'm feeling very much the same about the programme, and I know that if it was some other drama I wouldn't hesitate to stop watching. I missed quite a few during the world cup and didn't feel particularly bothered!
When it's well written, Corrie is for everyone I believe. Good drama is appealing to all ages, no matter what the age of the character.
I've seen Facebook posts by national papers about the show not being very good, and there have been hundreds of comments saying that it's just not very good now - I really wish the producers would read them!
I will miss your great comments Kelly. All the best. Like others above, I sometimes wonder why I am still watching. But there are occasional gems. Mostly scenes with the older characters - Dennis's funeral, Audrey opening up about her depression - that have comedy or bring a tear to my eye. Also Amy, Jacob, Aadi, Asha and Nina show real potential. Deedee and Glenda are a breath of fresh air and Eileen's "gang" is great, so I live in hope.
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