State of the Street - October 2016

It's been a very emotional month with a lot of storylines coming to a head and a few starting off.

We've been watching David shut down and totally not cope with Kylie's death for several months. We found out that the person that killed her is a minor, just 15.  David knew that it probably meant that even if he got done for murder, he'd likely get a shorter sentence than if he was tried as an adult. Clayton tried to work a plea bargain to manslaughter which is little more than a slap on the wrist which further angered David to the point of a red haze. To be fair, if you saw the episode in question, Clayton never intended to kill Kylie. He was trying to rob the kebab shop so he had a knife but Kylie jumped in to defend Gemma who'd been pushed down and was unconscious. Clayton lashed out and stabbed her. I'm surprised he didn't try to claim self defense. It would seem they might have a good case for manslaughter.

None of that is going to sit well with David who planned to kill Clayton with a car full of flammable petrol, killing himself in the process. Clearly, he's temporarily insane. He loves his kids and his family and as crazy as David ever got in the past, he's never gone this far. He came within seconds of killing Macca in the hospital which really did shock me, and then there's this murder-suicide act of desperation.  It was real nail biting stuff. Gail finding out what her son was about to do and desperately locking him in the Bistro basement which didn't work. Nothing she said could get through that haze of rage, not even reminding him of the families of the other people that would be killed in such an explosion whose lives he would ruin. None of it made any difference until he got free from the cellar, got in the car and sped off only to be confronted with his little daughter who had run out on the street to look for her daddy. As far as that goes, luck was on his side and Lily was unharmed as was Gary who tried to save her. Both were trapped under the flipped car but it had landed wedged up by another vehicle rather than landing square on top of them.

But all the petrol he had in the car that he wanted to set on fire leaked all over the street and the people that were trying to move the car and one spark set it all off in a spectacular fireball. Some of the flames raced down the cobbles and, Anna, standing near a puddle of petrol that she'd just fallin into, soaking her trousers in it, found her legs aflame. Now David really does see what the impact was to his actions. Reality check is a tough thing and he's got to live with that one.

In the end, Clayton did get convicted of murder.  Maybe David can find a way to move on with his life without Kylie.  I think all this probably has snapped him out of that fore-mentioned haze of rage only to be replaced by a mire of guilt due to Anna's injuries and his daughter's near miss. How he'll rebuild his own life and whether he'll avoid being charged for this remains to be seen. It was all good but it would be nice if ITV would back off a bit from pyrotechnics over and over.

Oh and by the way, remember that David has epilepsy which, we have been told in the past, can be brought to the fore front by stress. Considering the state he's been in this past couple of months, he should have been writhing in seizures non stop but nooooo, it's been conveniently forgotten like so many other inconvenient plot points.

Steve really did think he could get away with having two women on the same street pregnant with his children. It didn't matter that his mother and Nick, Leanne's partner, both know the truth as long as his wife, Michelle doesn't know about Leanne. Michelle decided that Leanne is her new best friend since they're both pregnant. Awkward! You can practically see Steve shudder and get twitchy every time he catches them having girly chats. You can also see how uncomfortable Leanne is with the chats as well but that didn't last very long since Leanne put Tracy in the picture about the genetic condition behind Steve and Michelle's back.

I would have said that Nick was the wild card, considering his brain injury repercussions. This would be another good time to wheel that topic out of the closet and conveniently into the storyline as they do when they want to use it, packing it firmly away in the cupboard when it's not an issue, just like other plot points like David's epilepsy. The fact that Nick had coerced Leanne into having an abortion when they were first married in the late 90s has never been brought up. How I wish that would have been used against him at some point.

Anyway, it turns out that all of this might come out a different way. Turns out Jim McDonald has been diagnosed with a genetic disorder that may affect Steve or his children. Is that how this will be revealed? It's obviously going to be rare enough that if Leanne's child has the gene marker it will be noted. Still, Michelle is terrified Steve and/or the baby will have the genetic disorder and is not coping at all, even considering abortion if it turns out Steve does have the gene. I can understand it's a scary prospect but she's acting as though the baby will instantly be born ill when the chances are, even if the baby has the gene, he/she might not be symptomatic for decades. It's only just come up with Jim now and he's around 60.

There are a lot of unknowns of course but you do cope with help. Leanne is looking at the same prospect, at least for her child. She already has a boyfriend with brain damage so that box is kind of ticked. She never considered terminating that we are told though did ask Nick about it after she talked to Michelle. She was only concerned whether Nick would bail if the baby was potentially ill, though, she was still not considering an abortion. She can't tell Michelle how she feels because the secret of the baby's parentage isn't out.

Caz is turning into a real piece of work, isn't she? At first, after her breakup with Kate, she latched onto Maria so she could have a place to stay with the idea of possibly winning Kate back. Soon enough, though, she developed an infatuation with Maria and now it seems to be out and out obsession. Maria's going to have great difficulty exorcising Caz from her life, and who knows, it could even get dangerous. Maria was out of town, pretending to be a real wife to Pablo, yet another plot point that seemed to have been packed away until it was needed.

I know, from my own recent experience bringing my husband to Canada, that these sorts of applications are processed on a first come first served basis and the wait times can be quite long so it didn't surprise me it took this long for someone to be asking questions of Pablo and Maria. It might look a bit odd that the two of them live in separate cities, mind you, which is a fact very easily discovered by the government tax people if they bothered to look.

Anyway. Caz took advantage of Kirk who was minding Liam to stick around Maria's flat until Audrey kicked her out and she stole a new credit card of Maria's and has been using it. Maria knew the card was being sent to her so I'm sure once she starts getting bills there will be questions asked there. It looks like Caz is going to up her campaign against Maria. Caz is putting in award worthy performances, now, making everyone think Maria is starting to go loopy again. Why? Why would she take against Maria in such an outlandish manner when she barely blinked when Kate, who was going to marry her, dumped her.  That part of the story is a bit if a mystery to me but I'll suspend disbelief over that. It's a standard soap plot, I suppose.

The other side of the storyline, that one night stand Maria had with Aidan, has progressed to something that looks like it's developing into another infatuation and a love triangle. Aidan is a ladies' man. He resisted that commitment of moving in with Eva until he didn't have a choice, liking her enough that he didn't want to break up with her either. But the one time with Maria was clearly an indicator of his continuing nature that avoids true commitment.

Maria is lonely and vulnerable and I can see her developing a crush on him even though she also thinks he's a bit of a dog for apparently using her (because it takes two, you know. That using was mutual if you ask me). I really don't see Aidan developing a mutual infatuation but it could happen, if only to pry him away from Eva. Even if Maria does win him in the end, she should be wary. If they run with you, honey, they'll run on you. Maybe he'll be the one that saves Maria from something Caz does to her. He is basically a good guy. I do like this storyline because the character of Caz is interesting and crazy always works with me on the show!

Peter Barlow's back! I'm very glad. I have always enjoyed Chris Gascoyne's Peter, with all his faults and drama. Peter's hovering very close to bottom. Is he drinking again? Doesn't seem like it. But when he and his father start digging up the same old arguments, Ken suffered a stroke. Now Tracy blames him and he blames himself but Ken doesn't want Peter to leave.  It will be interesting to see how they handle Ken's recovery. So far the actor is actually doing a very good job portraying Ken's confusion and parallysis. There can't be a miracle cure. Or, since it's a soap, maybe there can be since it's not unknown for people to make a rapid recovery from a stroke. People can get better quite quickly sometimes and Ken was in very good health prior to the incident. He could be walking and talking by Christmas.  So will Peter and Leanne go another round again? I think there will always be something between them and since this is a soap, it's not out of the realms of possibility that they'll be drawn together again.

Phelan is continuing to work on this scam project with Eileen scurrying around enthusiastically underfoot, putting unintended roadblocks in his way. She did get a bit suspicious when she thought he'd sold the same flat to two different people but he managed to explain it away and distracted her with the prospect of a nice holiday when the flats are built. So that means never, right? I expect that if the actor is remaining on the show, then when it all goes pear shaped, Vinny will probably cheat Phelan as much as the other investors and Phelan will be able to pretend to be as much of a victim as the other potential flat-buyers. Todd will be the only one that knows the real story. For now. I'm still waiting for it to be Todd in the end that brings Phelan down because something or someone will have to in the end.

Other minor storylines include "Come here, go away" in the first seeds of a romance between Sarah and Gary. I think they make a good couple so I hope they can manage it for awhile but at the end of the month, she's after him to keep it a secret. Relationships never work out when they're being kept a secret.  Sharif's long time affair with family friend Sonia is now known to Alya who has blackmailed him for money to invest in her bespoke lingerie business in partnership with Underworld and the affair is about to come out any day now. Mary's working in the florist shop with Tracy, an odd couple if ever there was one but strangely, it works. Sophie's off to Miami for a few months due to the actress doing a play. Nice for some! Audrey seems to be getting closer to Freddie who is still struggling with his feelings vs his grief. I suppose when you're that age, the odds of finding a fella who's a widower has increased dramatically.

Beth only had to do community service with a fine for breaking the law regarding her bigamy. Seems like an easy get out of jail free card though someone has to spend the money on a divorce and since her husband is in the nick, it'll be her and Kirk paying for it, I suppose. It's nice that she managed to reconcile with him. The way to Kirk's heart is through his stomach (pizza) but also with puppies and that did the trick. He's the pickle to her cheese sandwich of life. Awwww.

Tvor (Twitter @tvordlj)