State of the Street June 2016

I do apologize for not getting last month's State of the Street posted at the end of May. If you're still interested, it's here.

June on Coronation Street, as you might expect, was dominated by the murder investigation. As expected, many fingers were pointed. The police, consisting of one rude and annoying female detective and one very silent male detective were leaning towards Jason as the culprit until Todd told them that Tony confessed to him on the night of Callum's death. Why did he do that? Two fold. He wants to protect Jason and he wants to protect Sarah.

You see, Sarah is distraught. Her worst nightmare has come true and she's a gibbering wreck. She didn't exactly tell Todd she killed Callum but she did say it was her fault and she believes it. If she hadn't lured Callum to the house that night, he would not have attacked her and Kylie wouldn't have had to kill him. Todd took it the wrong way and assumes she actually did it. Even if she had, it would have been clearly self defence, as clear as it was when Kylie weilded the wrench. Todd then confessed to Billy, putting Billy square in the middle between God, honesty and protecting a woman that was abused by Callum.

Between that,  and his brother Lee lurking around, hounding him for money and having overdoses. Billy is near at the end of his tether. Having to conduct Callum's funeral pushed Billy into a heap in the corner. Todd has been a support, having found out about Lee as well as all the other stuff. What's going to happen next? As expected, Billy is falling for Todd though really, it's probably more of a reaction. At least by the end of June, Sean knows about Lee, that's something. There was no reason why Billy should have kept that a secret from his partner and it was an endless source of frustration for me. The best part of this storyline has been Billy and Daniel Brocklebank's wonderful performance.

Across the road, after the funeral, Lee held Sarah hostage and had her believing that Callum really wasn't dead and that sent Sarah completely down into the black hole of a breakdown and she's landed in hospital. It was a nice turn around that it was David that called the ambulance, finally realizing she needed help and his plan of ignorning it wasn't going to work this time. And he was upset about Sarah's condition. They don't normally show much affection for each other so that was something a bit different.


Elsewhere, a heartbroken Nick is spending his days drinking and taking verbal potshots at Robert who refuses to let him buy back his share of the Bistro. Leanne is on Nick's side but even though she quit her job in solidarity, she ended up going back because she needs the money. Nick still has a hefty bank account after the sale. He also seems to be almost completely removed from what his family is going through. I very much feared he was going to rebound to Leanne yet again. He nearly did, too, with that tired old speech about her being the one he always returns to. I'm glad she rebuffed him. I never bought into that relationship. Other than them being teenage sweethearts, she never seemed to be interested unless she was on the rebound herself. He loved her, but he was her go-to guy when she was hurt or lonely.

But Leanne seems to have had a fling with someone unseen by the viewer. Was it Nick after all? The day after, there were several awkward encounters with men, none of which seemed to be the morning after the "what have I done" regret. Leanne was also seen chatting with Steve a couple of times in the days previous and that's unusual. They don't normally have much to do with each other even though they've known each other 20 years. Steve also had a possible rebound under his belt, literally, since he thought Michelle had left town. And Steve has form. His first fling with Tracy was while Karen had gone off after they had a big row.

Now here's the thing. It's not really a spoiler. You all know soap law and you've seen every soap cliche there is.  You all know that having sex with someone you shouldn't usually ends up with a little stick with a plus sign on it even if the owner is unlikely to get pregnant in the case of Steve's one night stands with Tracy that produced Amy and years later, Tracy's twins, the ones she miscarried. Kylie had a fling with Nick and got pregnant with his baby. Maxine consoled herself with the too-tall doctor and Joshua was the result. It's a soap cliche and the chances of Leanne finding that little plus sign on a stick will pay you good odds. I'm fully expecting it. Pun intended. Whether she keeps the baby or miscarries is another matter.

Loving Gemma. Her funeral outfit was awesomely tacky. Bored with Sinead and Chesney who overreacted again over a small kiss and this one an ill advised drunken one when he put grieving Gemma before Sinead when he finally returned from Portugal and Sinead got bladdered and tried to kiss Aidan. Sally continues to delight and the antics around Tim's home brewery in the conservatory and "summer house" are giggle-inducing. I'm also enjoying the rivalry between Mrs. Metcalf and Mrs. Nazir. I like Yasmeen and I'm glad they're giving her more to do. I continue to be bored with Zeedan and Rana. I just don't buy it and I just don't care.

In other news, Beth and Kirk split up for a brief moment leaving Kirk to room with a lonely Norris for a few days, spending his time beating Norris at board games. Tracy's kidney is giving her gyp but nobody wants to know except Beth, especially Robert who thinks she's faking it to get him back. 


Caz is still hopping around on crutches. It didn't seem to be that serious an injury. She didn't have pins put in her ankle or plates in her leg. You'd think it would be healed by now and Sophie thinks so, too. Sophie seems to be getting Luke on board too and Caz has slipped up once or twice where Luke has noticed. There you have it. Caz is faking the length of her injury to keep Kate under her jealous thumb. It's been slow building up but it'll probably heat up over the summer. I hope so otherwise it's dull as a dull thing, too.

Steve and Michelle busted up after Will reunited with Saskia. He probably went running back to her because Michelle didn't want him. It never did feel like a long lost love in the first place. I said it before and I continue to believe that Will was having a pre-wedding wobble and Michelle was lonely with Steve away so long. Will lied and Saskia believes there was an affair. Even if Steve believes there wasn't, he's gone off the wall about a kiss. I'd say he has a little more reason than Chesney because Michelle nearly went through with a full on affair. It was a bit more serious than a drunken pass. Even so, he did seem to drag out his cold shoulder and silent treatment a bit too long and Michelle walked out and pretended to leave town. He thought she did, anyway, though she was only cowering in Carla's empty flat.

The two of them really did need their heads banging together and it was infinitely frustrating watching both of them not talking to each other or saying exactly the wrong things. It just went on and on and I had lost the will to live weeks ago as it was. Finally, they got back together. Sheesh. 

Lastly, Jason was bereft and angry when suspcion for Callum's murder landed on Tony. Phelan hid the toolbag but Jason finally started to believe that his father just might have done it and turned it in. The police have found traces of Callum's DNA and Tony's prints on the weapon and that's that as far as they're concerned. Kylie managed to clean her prints off but remember, Tony used the tool after that. Gemma warned Jason that Callum's mates were out to get him in retaliation but the only retaliation actually came from a works van in flames courtesy of one of Phelan's mates. He was very, very good, very subtle and managed to influence Jason into a decision to leave town for an indefinite time.

So that's the last we'll probably see of Jason Grimshaw. I'll miss him. He was a real steady sort of character and a thoroughly nice bloke.



Tvor (Twitter @tvordlj)