This Is Emma Hynes

This Coronation Street double episode review, Friday 19 June 2015, originally appeared on the Coronation Street Blog.

Some madcap capers tonight courtesy of Luke and his band of merry men who, thinking they’ve been had, attempt to, shall we say, collect their Mule Face t-shirts at source. But they’re disturbed by two of the more honest bootleg hawkers in the business who seem to have had every intention of delivering the goods. When Dumber and Dumbest pop around to Tyrone’s to hand deliver the clothes and amusingly complain about thieving “recidivists”, the lads sympathise and pretend they know nothing of the disastrous attempted break-in they had engineered.

But it all comes crashing down when Chesney is recognised, and seems in for a hiding. That is, however, until Fiz arrives home and saves the day with her unique brand of high pitched pointy chiding. Luke is to be kicked out on foot of the trouble caused, but she changes her mind when trembling Tyrone speaks up for him and tells her he has been a good mate while she has been gone. I’m enjoying the amount of extras with speaking parts at the moment, but I’m afraid preachy Fiz had me reaching for a cushion to hide behind.

I didn’t know Michael was such a big Kylie fan. Not that Kylie, even though the neon-wearing palm-tree-pony-tail-sporting version is begging everyone to put themselves in her place; she should be so lucky (sorry). The day of his operation has arrived, and she keeps the seat warm by his bedside while Eileen is god-knows-where, and when David arrives with a card from Gail, it gives Michael a chance to play Jeremy Kyle and try to reunite the pair by asking both to stay until he returns from theatre.

After Eileen (at last!) delivers the news that the operation has been a complete success, it’s nice to hear Kylie ask David for his and his family’s support during her recovery, to “walk the walk” and help her succeed. It’ll be interesting to see who’ll be on board with this, even if it is for the sake of the kids.

I have been a fan of Gary and Alya since day one, and hoped their mutual respect for one another would see them go the distance. I was obviously disappointed then with tonight’s developments for a number of reasons. She is naturally angry and in pain after her father’s death, and there’s no telling what grief will do. While she is serpent tongued to Leanne and Sally, turning her back on her boyfriend and her faith in one evening seems a bridge too far.

Gary has enough respect for her to show concern when she tries to drink alcohol, and decline her invitation to take her to bed despite clearly wanting to, but this sees him get dumped. Sharif is home from hospital, it’s Ramadan and as family gather in her house and prepare for their meal, she is drinking beer with Jason Grimshaw who has just learned that Eva has gotten engaged in France. Alya makes the first move and Jason doesn’t need much persuading which is disappointing. Even though I wasn’t clear whether or not they had actually slept together, it is confirmed when he tries to convince her to go back to Gary, and she reveals to him that she was a virgin and has thus ruined everything.

While the wreckage of Victoria Court seems an odd choice for such a big moment in the circumstances, poor Gary proposes and she refuses him, replying in a distressed state that he should find someone who deserves him, and “it’s always gonna be no”. It is sad that this has to be the case, especially considering he has finally earned the respect of her family after, amongst other things, saving Sharif’s life, and his modesty is as strong as his desire to love and protect Alya. What a mess. All of this has left me rather deflated and I wonder if anything is sacred on the street.

Meanwhile the sea air seems to have had a greater impact on returned Lloyd than we may have anticipated, as we find him more concerned with imparting his knowledge of fish and pub crawls in Tromsø than musing on the wedding he missed and the tragedies which occurred in his absence. The scenes themselves were good and so I’m beginning to think that the key to enjoying Coronation Street in its entirety at the moment is to simply accept what’s happening in parts where you feel it could be done a little differently; if only that was something which came easily to me.

By Emma Hynes
www.emmahynes.wordpress.com
Twitter: @ELHynes