State of the Street - July 2012

Marcus and Sean's breakup was so painful to watch. It was very real, wasn't it? Tears, acceptance, pain and heartbreak. No screaming or throwing things or temper tantrums like everyone else has. Well, not at the end, anyway. Sean pushed Marcus to the brink when he confronted him at the hospital but later, when they both knew that it was over and they loved each other but wanted different things, it just broke my heart. Leaning on friends. In real life, of course, Marcus really would probably have left town but I'm glad he's staying around because I really like the character and the actor. Maria's crush really didn't come to much. Audrey pointed it out and it seems to have died off, as they do, I suppose. It would have been interesting to follow it up a bit more though. By the end of the month, Marcus might be seeing Aiden and Sean is still struggling.


Lloyd's back! I'm quite glad to see him. The story that brought him back was a bit silly but I don't care. Seeing Lloyd, Steve and Eileen in the cab office together was worth it! They had a rough start, though, which sunk to childish behaviour and pettiness and subterfuge. But really, though having three cabs sabotaged by Tracy costs a bomb to fix, did Lloyd really start up the company with only three cars? Lloyd and Steve ended up on top of each other on the school playing field after a full body tackle after Lloyd found out. When you hit bottom, there's only one way to go! And yes, they did repair the damage and merged the two companies. Hopefully they kept on the lady drivers and could supply them when asked for one.

Tracy still has hopes of getting Steve back and you'd think after all these years, she'd have figured it out. Steve is often quite nasty to Tracy but with her tenacity, he probably needs to be and yet it doesn't sink in. And Steve sold Number 13 back to Kevin in a matter of minutes. I really can't get over the real estate dealings on the Street. Kevin offered more money to move in straight away but there's procedures! Sometimes it's just so contrived, isn't it? Beth and Tracy have rights as tennants and Tracy's name is on the deed, she must have some say. But no. We have to play the unreality card. I do hope Tracy has a solicitor to ensure she gets her half of the proceeds as much as i hate her, she's legally entitled, I would think, if only as a future divorce settlement. She may not deserve it but they are legally married.

Peter hates Nick. That's a given. He's got good reason to. Over and above Nick having the affair with Leanne there's the stunt Nick pulled, encouraging Peter to drink while he was recovering from the tram crash injuries. That's pretty low. Now he's playing substitude daddy to Simon which *really* rubs Peter the wrong way and doesn't Nick love stirring it and pushing all Peter's buttons? Was it more about his dislike or more about jealousy that Leanne had someone new/old and the fear that Simon would like Nick better? Probably a bit of each. I pretty much love every storyline with these characters, there's so much chemistry and the acting is superb.

It was interesting to see Peter whine about making sacrifices for Simon and how Simon is the most important thing all the while causing more upheaval in the little boy's life. If he hadn't kicked off so much at Nick, Leanne wouldn't have decided to move away. It sent Peter back to the bottle yet again, it sent Carla the other way.

He's finally come around to realizing that Simon really should be the priority but it's too bad he didn't think of that when he was crawling up Carla's skirts. He railed against his father for abandoning him, he pushed Carla away, accusing her of being glad he could lose Simon forever, he even tried to "abduct" Simon himself. For all that Carla has been demonized as the other woman, she managed to persuade him to let Simon go in the end. I did wonder why he didn't tell Simon that he would write and phone him. Now Leanne and Nick can settle in but you notice, she still can't say she loves Nick?

Another couple I really like is Izzy and Gary. Her getting pregnant and his reactions to it were wonderful. The doctor says she should be ok but Owen of course hit the roof, even harder than when Katy got pregnant. This time around he's got even more reason to worry, though he always reacts in the worst way. What parent wouldn't be frantic when a child whose health is precarious wants to do something that could very well jeopardize that health? I think that if anyone is up to a challenge like that, Izzy is. Plenty of people with far more serious disabilities than hers raise children successfully. But sadly, the pregnancy failed. They're one of the better couples on the street so it's nice to see them in a good storyline even if it's a sad one.


A couple i don't like the thought of is Mary and Roy. Mary has clearly got a crush on Roy and is doing everything she can to try to impress him, between learning about things he likes, to hanging around him all the time, giggling. Roy is oblivious of course but Mary just makes me ill to watch. She's so long past her sell-by date that she's rotting. She's not funny anymore and should be got rid of. I don't know why she hasn't been run out of town already. Hayley, while it took awhile, twigged what was up.

The bullying story really didn't go in too deep. Faye was being picked on for being adopted which makes no sense considering how many kids in school have step-mums or dads. Not a lot of difference really. There would be far more reason to bully her if they found out her mother died of a drug overdose, I would have thought.

Two new faces on the cobbles this month, a new brother for Carla, renamed from the fore-mentioned Darren unless there's another brother in the woodpile somewhere and a new face for Ryan Connor. I think i like Rob, though he doesn't seem to be everyone's cup of tea judging from various fan reaction. I like the actor as well though I do think he needs a better haircut. Still, he's been in prison, so you have to cut him slack for that.

NuRyan is being played by a very competent actor as well but the character? He's an obnoxious arrogant oik and seems set to be the new bad boy on the Street to replace David Platt. Why do we need one? Why do we have to have drugs on our Street? It's all too Eastenders if you ask me. I don't like him but then he's not meant to be likeable but I like even less his storyline so far.

Sunita and Dev hit the wall. She manipulated it so that Stella caught her and Karl in a "compromising position", shall we say. Beds changed hands, Karl is living in Number 7 mainly because he's got nowhere else to go. I really think if he did, he'd be elsewhere but she's living in a dream world. Again, yet another couple doesn't really put their kids first yet Sunita gets teary that she's torn their world apart. Well if she'd thought of that first, she wouldn't have done it. I was dreading that scene where Dev would get drunk and pathetic and sad because I really don't rate Jimmi Harkishin's acting but to tell you the truth, he was very good and not cringeworthy at all! One scene out of many, though, doesn't make an Oscar performance.

Corrie's Not Big Week

It wasn't billed as a "Big Week" but this week on Coronation Street was awesome! It was filled with emotional ups and downs, drama and comedy. It was probably the best full week of Corrie I can remember in ages. No explosions, no murders, no hostage situations, no Stella (or very little).


The main focus of the week was the Barlow storyline. There was booze, abduction, arguments, fear, and anger. There was the dragging up of history between Peter and Ken. We had Peter hurling accusations at Carla for tempting him away from Leanne and blaming her for all his problems. Her crush, his turned head.  He was horrible to her, through the booze and disappointment and anger. He then tried to lure Leanne back with a cufflinked shirt and a belly full of booze. He told Leanne he'd never taken her ring off. He didn't. I wondered why Carla never mentioned that.

He went on a bender and I think everyone's heart broke when Simon took one look at him and accused him of being drunk. He lurched around the cobbles, getting into public and private arguments. Nobody plays drunk as well as Chris Gascoyne. He disappeared and they all thought he might have killed himself. Because of a recent tragedy where a young man was found in the canal near Manchester, they edited out any visual and verbal reference to Peter being in the canal as the original story went but it still worked. And now Peter's disappeared with Simon, which was the root of all Peter's angst this week anyway.

Kirsty and Tyrone had another bust up when he was helping Fiz and she thought she might be going into labour. You can see her rage building and her jealousy fuelling it and even she doesn't understand why she's doing it.

With the Windass group, we got a bit of Owen railing at Izzy about being pregnant and the discovery and finish of the bully story. That was a bit of a damp squib really. We've only seen it for a couple of weeks but it's been going on for months? Brian, who is supposed to be the head of the school, was kowtowing to the bully because her grandmother is the chair of the school governors. Did anyone find it ironic that he was bullied by Julie into doing the right thing?  The governor did the right thing as well. She made her granddaughter apologize and that had to be the snarkiest and least heartfelt one I've ever seen! Wasn't the little girl great!? But it's done and dusted now.  Game over. Happily ever after until the next crisis.

Carla's brother has appeared and there's old history, a connection with Michelle and family obligation. He got qualifications while in prison and now he's working at the factory and messing up, flirting with the girls and recovering the lost contract. Michelle told him about Carla's recent troubles with Frank. That isn't even the half of it when you think about what Tony put her through) Rob's a serious flirt, though it was nice to see Eva laugh and smile again. Half the factory girls were giving him the eye as well and he wasn't adverse to giving it back.

One brief scene that struck me: 

Gail about Leanne "She let you down." Nick "No she didn't, it was the other way around!"

It's about frigging time I heard Nick admit that the breakdown of their marraige was his fault!!! Hey may have said it in more or less those words in the past but this seemed more direct even if it was an offhand remark.

Miscellanous good stuff:

Tracy winding up Norris under long suffering Emily's roof. It constantly amazes me how much room these houses seem to have. All of the old side houses only have two bedrooms upstairs, and a small bathroom. Emily's downstairs has a more formal sitting room and the back room has the dining table. Norris has a bedroom. Where's Tracy staying?

Kirk and Marcus were good too, bonding over steak and kidney pie, trifle and bad beer. Kirk hasn't been on our screens in far too long. I think he needs a storyline of his own!


It's so nice to see Tyrone reconnect with old friends like Fiz and with Tina and Tommy. I like it when Corrie shows these easy friendships. They don't do it often enough. These particular ones are meant to fuel Kirsty's insecurities and jealousy. I wonder if they'll persue this if things fall apart with Kirsty and Tyrone?

I hate Mary these days. But the little storyline with Mary and Roy finding a common interest in chess is going to be good although I don't look forward to the inevitable crush Mary is quickly developing on Roy. Roy is not going to notice because he's oblivious to things like that but Hayley sure is and she's already not Mary's biggest fan.