State of the Street - May 2015

What I liked this month:
Tony and Tracy and the attempt at the pub takeover
Jenny Bradley
Billy and Sean's relationship
The Victoria Court Fire in spite of the plot holes!


What I disliked:
The endless custody battle with David snarling at Callum and then feeling sorry for himself and Callum looking smug all the time.
Hate, Hate, Hate that Sarah is stupid enough to fall for his line and aggravate David even further by going out with Callum. Not impressed with her return so far.
Todd and his boring games. Get over it. And those whose life he's messing with? Don't forgive him this time. 

More custody battle tedium this month. David ran off to Liverpool with the kids but lost Max who called his real dad on the mobile Callum gave him. I would imagine Callum's paying the "pay as you go" fees as well. A brief mention by Sarah that David's father lives in Liverpool, it's just odd that Martin is almost never, ever mentioned. Why Liverpool, then? Because there's an airport there. Forget that Manchester has a much bigger one and David could have gone straight there and got on a flight. Liverpool does have a cheap airline that flies from there, I suppose.

And the next Mr. Obvious move was having Bethany mention one of David's past misdemeanors (Nick's accident) so that Callum could use it against David at the upcoming hearing in addition to David's running off with the kids in the first place. That wasn't illegal aside from pulling Max out of school though he could have called and said Max was sick.

Please can't this be over soon!? Kylie's back by the end of the month so let's hope that June is the ultimate showdown. And the way things are going, I wouldn't be surprised to find Callum being the next dead body with David, naturally, in jail for the crime. Not that he'd have done it of course, no. That's just the way it goes. The arrested person is never the guilty one. If Callum dies at some point it would likely be that Gemma because I don't think Macca has the cohones to do it.

Tony and Tracy were getting closer to owning part of the pub and it came down to the wire, didn't it? Tracy Barlow absolutely should not be allowed to own any part of the Rovers and I didn't think for a minute the powers that be ever intended for her to be! Tracy's devious plan was thwarted by Carla who offered to buy Liz's half instead of selling the whole what to "Travis, Ltd" aka Tony. So now, Tony owns half of the pub and Carla owns the other half, leaving Steve, Michelle and Liz to run it as management, or Liz, I suppose. I wonder whose name gets to be over the door now? I don't suppose it matters, Steve and Michelle hold the license and they still can, can't they? But will Liz move to Spain? Doubt it. Her dream of moving there with Tony is up in smoke, no pun intended considering how the end of that storyline came out.

Tracy let loose with a match and a blunt object, intent on making Carla pay for ruining her dreams because Tracy always blames other people for her own bad judgement. She didn't whack Carla and she didn't start the fire on purpose but that's how it turned out but she grabbed hold of Carla's second guess with both hands and she's going to have the whole neighbourhood turned against Carla before long.

Poor Carla must have nightmares about fire by now and this time she thinks it's her fault. Add to that the death of Kal and the serious injury to young Maddie and Carla is likely ready to throw herself back into the flames in despair. For all that fire and explosion, though, it seems to be only Carla's flat that is gone. Surely some of the others will have had some serious damage though Nick's is apparently just smoke-damaged. You may remember, that flat is owned by Dev though I donm't know if he still owns it or not. I think he does.

I fear Tony won't be long in Weatherfield now, now the affair and his dirty dealing is outed. I'd be surprised if he's there by the end of the summer. Tracy told Liz out of spite but I really hoped that Liz would tear some of Tracy's hair out. too shocked, I guess. Bev Callard was excellent in these scenes, from holding herself together through the wedding to smashing up everything breakable after, probably envisioning both Tony's and Tracy's face on the walls as targets. I am a bit surprised that Sean called Erica to come when she or her mother, i suppose, lives quite a distance when Eileen, Liz's mate, only lives a few doors down and might even have been out in the pub still at the reception, the one Steve and Michelle missed.

Roy and Cathy are slowly forging a friendship. Cathy seems very defensive and scared, kind of like a deer caught in the headlights, but perhaps that's more to do with trying to find her way since her husband has died. She's wary of Roy's motives though we know he doesn't have any beyond friendship. It will be interesting to see how this goes. We need storylines like this. Peaceful. Sweet. Please don't let her turn out to be another psycho. We've got enough of that with Tracy and Jenny though I am enjoying Jenny's storyline.

Jenny and Kevin's story is heating up, with Jenny more and more unhinged over Jack. Nobody believes Sophie's dire warnings that something is just not right with Ms. Bradley and by the end of the month, finally, Maddie discovers that Sophie was right when she catches Jenny in a black wig about to run away with Jack. Jenny wasn't just overprotective of Jack, she was getting more and more deluded that he was a child named Tom (hers? likely) and she had to protect him. From what? from whom? Only in Jenny's broken mind. Sally Anne Matthews is doing an excellent job, I think. With Maddie clinging to life as the month ended, Jenny doesn't know yet if her secret is safe. But there's also that phone message Maddie left saying Sophie was right about Jenny. She didn't elaborate but it's a clue.

I know they've done this storyline a dozen times over the years and that can get a bit tedious but this is one of the best of them all. Just my opinion. I suppose that's down to the chemistry and ability of the actors. I can remember when Claire had post-natal depression and met that mad Casey who then became obsessed with Ashley and baby Freddy while Claire was in hospital. But the difference was that Ashley would never have fallen for Casey in a month of Sundays and that whole storyline felt very contrived.

While it does seem a bit stupid that Kevin would be dumb enough to be blind to Jenny and not believe his daughter, we do know that Kevin isn't the sharpest tool in the box. If Sally had been the one to see Jenny's other side, Kevin likely would have believed her or at least have taken her a bit more seriously. It won't be long now until this one comes crashing to an end. I hope they can send Jenny to therapy and we can see her finding her way back. I would hate to lose her but I suppose that's probably too much to ask.

Faye continues to have disregard for her child which makes Anna despair. I do wonder where Social Services is? Faye hasn't been back to school so I assume she's keeping up with her school work at home. The Social were told that Faye didn't really want the child yet they have been nowhere to be seen and Anna's attempts at making Faye bond with the baby are quickly turning into bullying. Anna knows that Faye has continually been bullied at school so what does she do? Take the baby to Faye in front of all her school mates, including the bullies, and embarass her. Won't that make things even worse?

I am glad that Jackson and his family have got involved. I expect we may see them having the baby for some overnights, taking the pressure off Anna now and then. Wouldn't it be refreshing if they took the baby full time and just let Faye and Anna have access? 

If I was Faye, I'd be calling Social Services myself. The pregnancy storyline was good but this just makes me angry. I really don't want Faye to change her mind, I want that baby adopted out. Something different for a change. And it's pretty stupid that the writers haven't had Gail or Sarah tipped into this storyline somehow. Gail could be a good advisor to Anna and even if it wouldn't do much good, wouldn't Anna have asked Sarah to talk to Faye? Do the Powers That Be think we viewers are stupid? Don't answer that. It did seem kind of like Faye was softening a little by the end of the month though she's still not all that keen.

Eileen and Adrian and the phantom Jeff are getting on my wick, too, mainly because of Todd's interference. I really hate it when a "bad" character keeps doing nasty shit and never pays for it, at least not for long. They get forgiven over and over and Todd probably will this time, too, when what should really happen is that Eileen should wash her hands of her youngest son and ship him back off to London to face whatever it was that made him so disagreeable in the first place. If he's still blaming his family for him getting scarred for life, he's really got to get a life. That scar is barely noticeable.

Adrian seems like a really nice bloke and a nice fit for Eileen but as usual, she'll be a loser in love. Some characters on Corrie always seem to have that title and it's Eileen's lot in life, I think. People complain that she's bitter. Well, wouldn't you be?

Billy and Sean... Wasn't quite sure what to make of them at first. I do like each character individually. Billy is a really nice man with what sounds like a bumpy past before coming to terms with his calling. I like Sean, too but I'm wasn't quite sure they gelled as a couple or had much in common but when Billy admitted standing up to the Bishop about their relationship, it really overwhelmed Sean. Maybe that kind of committment could be the making of Sean.

It did seem to be the making of Billy who was a bit unsure of being out and up front about his relationships as it could jeopardize his career and that was difficult for Sean who has always been honest about his life and who he is. I think Billy likes that about Sean, too and it gave him the courage he needed. It's a tough spot to be in, for Billy, but I think he'll come out the other side with his career intact and maybe Sean and Billy's differences will help the other one grow.

The Gavin/Andy storyline has been back burner this month. Gail has more than that to worry about what with Sarah shagging the drug dealer and Nicky's cougar having a kitten. While I have enjoyed the Gavin/Andy part of this, Sarah's return so far has not impressed me though she's really acting pretty much as she always did, like a clueless kid. Bethany seems to have more on the ball than Sarah some of the time.

And finally, Mary's motorhome has been ousted. Therefore there must be an ulterior motive on the part of the Powers that Be. The motorhome does isolate Mary to an extent and it was always faintly ridiculous seeing this great behemoth parked around a corner here and there and even on the Street itself. Since the shop flat has been empty since Tim moved out, I expect that when Dev returns he'll install Mary there and she'll have a proper home. If he doesn't, he should.

Looking forward to June and I hope to see Kylie team up with David to kick Callum's butt. Jenny's storyline should be cresting soon and I think that will be good. I think I heard that Michael will be finding out the truth about Andy/Gavin so I'm looking forward to seeing that fall out. The aftermath of the fire, Kal's death and whatever Maddie's fate is going to be is going to roll on for a long time. I hope Eileen finds out about Todd soon except I fear that it will be a repeat of the last time they found out about his manipulations. By the fall, he will be back in the family's good graces. Bleh.

Overall, mostly a good month and June will be exciting too!