Let's start this review off with a song which applies to tonight's episode on so many levels:-
Tonight marked the first episode after Kath Beedles finished with the programme. Someone told me last week that the difference in quality between the last of the old regime and the beginning of the new would be marked, adn they were right.
This is the sort of episode Bryan Kirkwood would dismiss as a boring filler, but somehow Lorraine Newman and the new series story producer, Deborah Sathe, pulled something off and produced a real corker.
Crawling from the wreckage on one level is literally that: crawling from the wreckage left by Bryan Kirkwood. One of his major faults as a producer was the inability of the programme to be consistently good. It was consistently bad more often, with a shot of brilliance here and there. This follow-on week, after the revelation of Heather's murderer, has - so far - managed to maintain its momentum.
Fingers crossed it continues.
Characters I Would Like to Slap and Then Dump
Kat
Tanya
Lucy
Whitney
Bianca
Lauren
Lola
Tyler Moon
Joey the Puppet Boy - the Priapic Pinocchio
There, that feels better.
One of the main themes tonight in the programme was "continuity." Especially concerning Jay. The best bit of the night was Jay's scene with Patrick. Instead of forcing Cora on us as the matriarch we're supposed to revere, admire and love, why not have a patriarch for a change? I can think of no one better than Patrick - a man who likes a flutter, a bit of rum, a flirtation with the ladies, but one who is so full of wisdom, guidance and love and one who - like Pat - does not judge.
I had forgotten that Jay stayed with Patrick and Yolande for awhile while Bert was still around. I remember now the racist taunt he levelled at Yolande, which brought the wrath of Jase down on him. I loved the reference Patrick made to Paul Truman and the goodness Patrick saw in his son when Jay was convinced he, Jay, was truly an evil person - coincidentally, the headline in the Walford Gazette.
Contrast Patrick's attitude to Paul with Phil's to Ben. Patrick recognised that Paul was a good man, who was easily led and deeply flawed. He made his mistakes, and in the end, he paid for them with his life; and Patrick recognises that, blames himself to a certain degree, but never stops referring to the goodness in Paul.
Phil, on the other hand, is a desperate man - desperate not only to keep Ben from going to prison, but also to keep himself out of the frame. Instead of seeing that Ben had actually done some good for once, in accepting responsibility and admitting his crime, Phil casts about a plethora of excuses for Ben and his behaviour - chief amongst them being the fact, repeatedly mentioned that Ben wasn't "right in the head."
There you go. Ben wasn't "right in the head," but Jay was. For that reason, Jay shouldn't have listened to what Ben wanted. I was proud of Jay standing up to Phil the way he did. Phil was in bruiser mode - demanding that Jay change his statement and that Shirley stick to whatever story he wanted her to keep. Trying desperately to circle the Mitchells' wagons, but receiving little cooperation.
Jay wouldn't change his statement. Shirley disclosed how Ben laughed and joked at the table only hours after killing Heather. Only the runts of the Mitchell litter bent to Phil's will - Roxy and Billy. And Roxy was disgusted with her actions.
Perry Fenwick was one of the stars of tonight's episode - justifying his continued presence in the programme. He may lurk in the background a lot of the time, but when asked, Fenwick steps up to the plate and delivers. From the moment he yanked Jay off the street and out of the jaws of the growing mob, assuring him that he would look after him after offering the officials a place for Jay to stay to the moment he copped out, after silly Lola's snuffly reaction to Jay even being there, were classic.
Danielle Harold was the weak link there - least said, soonest mended; but why was her reaction thus when all she ever did was ridicule Heather.
The other brilliant scene was Billy's rejection of Jay, when he wondered aloud how Jay could stand by and let Ben kill Heather. Brilliant retort by Jay, reminding Billy that he hid in the shower and listened to Jase cry out in the agony of a prolonged death. Jay couldn't help Heather because the events surrounding her death happened so quick. Billy couldn't even call for help. I loved how all of Jay's reminiscence of his dad's death and how he'd forgiven Billy, cut deep with the utterance of every word he said, ending with his one-word assessment of Billy, which was utterly true (and Billy knew it): Coward.
Phil's total desperation turning to rage against Richie when she advised him to go for a reduced sentence for Ben. I was surprised that ten years was a maximum sentence for him, but with psychiatric assessments etc taken into consideration, a diminished responsibility plea makes it possible that we could see the return of Ben Mitchell in - what? - five years? And ending with Phil, asleep from mental exhaustion, on Ben's bed, clutching one of Ben's shirts, watched by an eagle-eyed Shirley, who doesn't for one minute believe Phil knew nothing about this. Roxy doesn't either, because she remembers how strangely Phil acted on the night of Heather's death.
Now to Sharon, and the writing was much more to fore for her tonight, especially the way in which she blew off Jack who offered her his place, yet again. Her presence is being made now amongst the people who've moved onto the Square since she left, putting the gossips like Zainab and co in their places for gossiping about the happenings chez Mitchell. This is the Sharon who looks out for her own, and the Mitchells and the Beales are, definitely Sharon's own. The next Lou Beale? You bet.
I'm glad she was concentrated on dealing with Ian's circumstances tonight. She's good with him, and she suffers no nonsense from that skinny-assed bitch of a daughter. Really, who wears false eyelashes around the house? Sharon brooks no shit from a Lucy who would really really really like Sharon to go, because the longer Sharon stays, the more she'll see how badly Lollygag Lucy and the Priapic Pinocchio treat him.
What a total liar Lucy is - pleading that Ian needs routine and rest, and sneering behind Sharon's back when Sharon is suggesting what no one else has - that he see a doctor.
I'm hoping that there'll be a scene down the road where Sharon will smack the living shit out of Lucy and kick Pinocchio the Priapic wooden boy in the nuts.
Good episode ... oh, as for Dennis Jnr ... Tiffany's back soon. I hope the new regime writes both of them down and out to silence.
Tonight marked the first episode after Kath Beedles finished with the programme. Someone told me last week that the difference in quality between the last of the old regime and the beginning of the new would be marked, adn they were right.
This is the sort of episode Bryan Kirkwood would dismiss as a boring filler, but somehow Lorraine Newman and the new series story producer, Deborah Sathe, pulled something off and produced a real corker.
Crawling from the wreckage on one level is literally that: crawling from the wreckage left by Bryan Kirkwood. One of his major faults as a producer was the inability of the programme to be consistently good. It was consistently bad more often, with a shot of brilliance here and there. This follow-on week, after the revelation of Heather's murderer, has - so far - managed to maintain its momentum.
Fingers crossed it continues.
Characters I Would Like to Slap and Then Dump
Kat
Tanya
Lucy
Whitney
Bianca
Lauren
Lola
Tyler Moon
Joey the Puppet Boy - the Priapic Pinocchio
There, that feels better.
One of the main themes tonight in the programme was "continuity." Especially concerning Jay. The best bit of the night was Jay's scene with Patrick. Instead of forcing Cora on us as the matriarch we're supposed to revere, admire and love, why not have a patriarch for a change? I can think of no one better than Patrick - a man who likes a flutter, a bit of rum, a flirtation with the ladies, but one who is so full of wisdom, guidance and love and one who - like Pat - does not judge.
I had forgotten that Jay stayed with Patrick and Yolande for awhile while Bert was still around. I remember now the racist taunt he levelled at Yolande, which brought the wrath of Jase down on him. I loved the reference Patrick made to Paul Truman and the goodness Patrick saw in his son when Jay was convinced he, Jay, was truly an evil person - coincidentally, the headline in the Walford Gazette.
Contrast Patrick's attitude to Paul with Phil's to Ben. Patrick recognised that Paul was a good man, who was easily led and deeply flawed. He made his mistakes, and in the end, he paid for them with his life; and Patrick recognises that, blames himself to a certain degree, but never stops referring to the goodness in Paul.
Phil, on the other hand, is a desperate man - desperate not only to keep Ben from going to prison, but also to keep himself out of the frame. Instead of seeing that Ben had actually done some good for once, in accepting responsibility and admitting his crime, Phil casts about a plethora of excuses for Ben and his behaviour - chief amongst them being the fact, repeatedly mentioned that Ben wasn't "right in the head."
There you go. Ben wasn't "right in the head," but Jay was. For that reason, Jay shouldn't have listened to what Ben wanted. I was proud of Jay standing up to Phil the way he did. Phil was in bruiser mode - demanding that Jay change his statement and that Shirley stick to whatever story he wanted her to keep. Trying desperately to circle the Mitchells' wagons, but receiving little cooperation.
Jay wouldn't change his statement. Shirley disclosed how Ben laughed and joked at the table only hours after killing Heather. Only the runts of the Mitchell litter bent to Phil's will - Roxy and Billy. And Roxy was disgusted with her actions.
Perry Fenwick was one of the stars of tonight's episode - justifying his continued presence in the programme. He may lurk in the background a lot of the time, but when asked, Fenwick steps up to the plate and delivers. From the moment he yanked Jay off the street and out of the jaws of the growing mob, assuring him that he would look after him after offering the officials a place for Jay to stay to the moment he copped out, after silly Lola's snuffly reaction to Jay even being there, were classic.
Danielle Harold was the weak link there - least said, soonest mended; but why was her reaction thus when all she ever did was ridicule Heather.
The other brilliant scene was Billy's rejection of Jay, when he wondered aloud how Jay could stand by and let Ben kill Heather. Brilliant retort by Jay, reminding Billy that he hid in the shower and listened to Jase cry out in the agony of a prolonged death. Jay couldn't help Heather because the events surrounding her death happened so quick. Billy couldn't even call for help. I loved how all of Jay's reminiscence of his dad's death and how he'd forgiven Billy, cut deep with the utterance of every word he said, ending with his one-word assessment of Billy, which was utterly true (and Billy knew it): Coward.
Phil's total desperation turning to rage against Richie when she advised him to go for a reduced sentence for Ben. I was surprised that ten years was a maximum sentence for him, but with psychiatric assessments etc taken into consideration, a diminished responsibility plea makes it possible that we could see the return of Ben Mitchell in - what? - five years? And ending with Phil, asleep from mental exhaustion, on Ben's bed, clutching one of Ben's shirts, watched by an eagle-eyed Shirley, who doesn't for one minute believe Phil knew nothing about this. Roxy doesn't either, because she remembers how strangely Phil acted on the night of Heather's death.
Now to Sharon, and the writing was much more to fore for her tonight, especially the way in which she blew off Jack who offered her his place, yet again. Her presence is being made now amongst the people who've moved onto the Square since she left, putting the gossips like Zainab and co in their places for gossiping about the happenings chez Mitchell. This is the Sharon who looks out for her own, and the Mitchells and the Beales are, definitely Sharon's own. The next Lou Beale? You bet.
I'm glad she was concentrated on dealing with Ian's circumstances tonight. She's good with him, and she suffers no nonsense from that skinny-assed bitch of a daughter. Really, who wears false eyelashes around the house? Sharon brooks no shit from a Lucy who would really really really like Sharon to go, because the longer Sharon stays, the more she'll see how badly Lollygag Lucy and the Priapic Pinocchio treat him.
What a total liar Lucy is - pleading that Ian needs routine and rest, and sneering behind Sharon's back when Sharon is suggesting what no one else has - that he see a doctor.
I'm hoping that there'll be a scene down the road where Sharon will smack the living shit out of Lucy and kick Pinocchio the Priapic wooden boy in the nuts.
Good episode ... oh, as for Dennis Jnr ... Tiffany's back soon. I hope the new regime writes both of them down and out to silence.
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