Marcus and Todd up a tree

Like the prodigal son, Todd came back. Todd came back in disgrace and he's changed. Not for the better. When we first met Todd Grimshaw, he was a gentle, nice boy without a malicious bone in his body. He tried to do the right thing, make his Mum proud, and do what was expected but it just wasn't in him. He gave it all up for a girl, and then gave all that up for a boy.

Todd realized and accepted he was gay but in the wake of that discovery, his life and that of lover Sarah's was looking like ground zero after the wars. He left for That London to make a new life. Turns out that new life wasn't quite the climb up the ladder of success that he thought it would be. We saw a glimpse of that when he returned with posh Jules in tow. Todd was acting very snobby, trying to be like Jules but Jules took him down a peg or two for disrespecting his family.

Todd and humble apparently had a parting of the ways. He's back in Weatherfield, tail between his legs, having turned into a manipulator and a user. His mum is not proud and can see it as much as it pains her to admit it. He's been using people for jobs, drinks and money and now he seems to be using Marcus. He strung Sean along for a bit before letting him down and started making eyes at Marcus. But we can see that he's not falling for Marcus and indeed, he admitted to Eileen at one point that it was more of a challenge. He didn't think a gay man could have a successful relationship with a woman and seems out to prove it.

Enter Marcus. He's a lovely bloke. He is gay and still insists that is true even though he's fallen in love with Maria though to be honest, it's probably more about the little family package he so badly wanted. Still, it must be working in all aspects of the relationship. She seems happy enough and all loved up. But the clouds are on the horizon and it looks like Maria's about to realize she's chosen wrong yet again.

Todd started off flirting with Marcus and he's continued to make inroads. It seems like Marcus is starting to warm to Todd. Why doesn't he see that Todd is a scheming toady? And why hasn't Eileen warned him yet? She's fully aware that Todd is playing with Marcus.

Todd is a very good looking man. Marcus would have to be blind if he hasn't noticed. And when a good looking man chats you up and it seems like they really fancy you, it's flattering. You may develop a crush, an infatuation, and under those circumstances, you don't usually look at the negative traits. After all, Bad Boys (or Girls, depending on your choice) are always more attractive, right? They have that element of danger, of excitement. I wouldn't really class Todd as a Bad Boy. I'm going to be blunt here. He's just an asshole. But a lot of people are still attracted to assholes as much as or even more often than Bad Boys. Unfortunately true.

I know Todd "confessed" to Sean that he was falling for someone but I don't believe it's true. He's using Sean again, knowing that Sean, as Marcus' ex, doesn't approve of M&M. When Todd lures Marcus away and back to the gay bus and Maria's heart is broken, Marcus is going to lose that family he treasures. Todd will be triumphant and have no further use for Marcus who will be humiliated that he was suckered by Todd into his schemes and Sean will probably be used to engineer the discovery. The scales will fall from the eyes of all concerned and Todd will be the Street "pirhana" (Les Battersby reference, there. Anyone remember that?).

Will that change Todd? Will it 'eck. He'll smugly revel in the chaos he's caused, if the actor is planning on staying. If not, he'll swiftly fade into the night in a black cab in disgrace. At this point, as far as we know, the actor is staying so I wouldn't bet on that second scenario. He will likely stick around to cause more embarassment to his old Mum.

As much as I don't like Todd, I don't mind this storyline. I know it's facilitating Charlie Condou's exit but even if it wasn't, it's a good storyline, I think. Or maybe it's like watching a tram crash. Either way, it's holding my interest. That might be contrary to a lot of viewers but that's ok. To each their own, right? I'm waiting to see the inevitable fallout to see if I'm guessing correctly, and poor Maria, another lousy relationship up the pipes. She's far too naive when it comes to men, isn't she? Kirk will look properly disgusted at Todd and Marcus and Audrey will have her work cut out for her supporting Maria again, mmm???

State of the Street - January 2014

Peter, cold hearted cheating manipulating bastard. Loves and is in love with his wife, but like a dog in heat. Tina is only infatuated no matter what she herself thinks and he knows it. He's  using it, pouring on the charm so that she won't leave town. She tried but she left anyway but I'm sure she'll be back. She can't stay away. Just as well she left before Hayley died so we didn't have to have that distract us from the important stuff.


Hayley went downhill very quickly from New Year and it was so hard to watch. Only the actors themselves and some top notch writing kept me glued to the screen, tears often streaming down my face. Talk about pulling out all the stops! We've been through a month of an amazing story, top notch performances and writing and it isn't over.

At the end of the month. Fiz has discovered the truth of the timing of Hayley's death. I've read that some fans were angry that Fiz made it all about her at first but wouldn't you do the same? Wouldn't you react that way to find out someone that close to you decided to die at their own chosen time and didn't tell you? That's the kind of reaction people have to the suicides of their loved ones and add to that the fact that two people knew and didn't stop her? If you'll pardon the pun, that is a very bitter pill to swallow.

But I loved the scene between Carla and Fiz with Carla gently making Fiz understand and later, Roy explaining Hayley's true motivation. Fiz is coming around to it but Roy is not only angry, he's resentful as hell. We weren't sure he wasn't going to blow the whistle at the funeral but he didn't and he made as touching and as appropriate a speech as he did at their wedding. It doesn't mean he's over it though because he's gone walkabout. I'm surprised he's not been sleepwalking and maybe we'll see a recurrence of it in the weeks to come as he grapples with it.

Some thoughts on the funeral episodes:

As usual, there's always people glaringly missing. This time, it was Liz. Where was she? Neither Todd nor Eva was there. Todd I can understand, but Eva worked with Hayley. I guess David and Kylie kept the salon open and the Price lot kept the Bistro going so that's fair enough. I guess the corner shop was closed during the funeral because everyone else possible that could have been working was somewhere else. The Kabin was clearly closed as was the Garage and factory. No Owen or Gary that I saw. Odd that they wouldn't be there to support Anna. Didn't see Marcus or Maria either but maybe they were working as well. I thought, even though Rob had to keep the shop open, we might have seen a scene somewhere this week where he gave his sister a hug of comfort.

Funeral music. Don't Stop Me Now by Queen? I guess that's appropriate considering she wouldn't let Roy talk her out of taking her own life. But she touched Roy's heart with a Bach violin concerto because he thought it was the perfect duet. Just like them. "Close to You" as a singsong at the wake was heartbreaking. Nice, but just that little bit too much for Roy I think. I think it would have been better, though, to have Chesney as a pallbearer rather than Beth. She didn't quite fit in, for me. And laughed at Sally squabbling about being a bearer but only because she was put at the back. It was nice that Sean was one of them, too. Roy brought his satchel to the service. It seems to be his security blanket, doesn't it?

On with the show...

Kylie also hit rock bottom and when did David grow up? Man, even though he went off the rails last year, he sure pulled himself together after the shock of what happened to Nick. It was clear, as he said, that Kylie couldn't forgive David because she couldn't forgive herself and once she could admit that, it seems like she and David will rebuild their life together. I've really enjoyed this whole storyline in the whole year it's been ongoing. It's not over, because Nick is still dealing with his recovery which I feel has been shown quite well. Leanne's bruises lasted far longer than most bruises on the show and served as a daily reminder to Nick that he's damaged the one he loves the most.

Meanwhile Nick has managed to push Leanne away and is now walking around like a sulky child. It's your bed, mate, you lie in it. He's going to push her right into someone else's bed, I reckon and I figure it's going to be Kal's. I like him. I think he could be good for Leanne, as well. I know you should support your husband/wife through better, worse, sickness and health and she tried but it just wore her out. Gail's going around blaming Leanne and ranting that she should have stuck with Nick no matter what and Nick was only testing her when he said he was leaving. Then she That's not a bluff anyone should try if they don't want to lose and maybe that's exactly what he was doing, going by his miserable sour face after she let him leave. But it's too bad. He asked for it.

And while we're at it, as everyone else is pointing out, if Nick's too volatile to live with Simon, why is it ok for him to be around Max and a baby? Never mind, he's going back to the flat and Gail's even more upset because she's blaming Leanne that Nick is leaving mummy now! Is anyone else getting creeped out?


So Beth, Kirk, Craig and the caged rat are moving in with Chesney and Sinead and sometimes Joseph. Where are they putting everyone? That's a two bedroom house and they do this all the time in the Street, Someone's going to have to sleep on the sofa, and it's going to have to be Craig unless he's kipping in the old outhouse in the back yard. Same thing down the street where Leanne and Simon are moving in with Stella, Gloria and Eva.