Sunday, January 11, 2015

Prelude to the Future - Review:- 06.01.2015

I would say tonight's episode is a veritable prelude to Peggy. It was also a prelude to Kat Slutter, and, regrettably, a step backwards in Stacey's development.

I gave the episode an 8, but it really deserved a 7.

A House Divided.



Yep, here's where we separate the men from the boys ... the real Mitchells from the runts of the litter. Step forward, Sharon, Mitchell Matriarch. 

The dividing line centres aroung the surviving Mitchell psychopath, the veritable Bride of Frankenstein, AKA Ronnie Mitchell. Isn't it amazing how the soap genre, whenever a beautiful young woman cops a head injury and is comatose, effects to make the victim more or less Barbie-Goes-to-Hospital? Ronnie had a head injury and surgery to relieve pressure on the brain, yet she still has all her hair and no bandages? Even the deplorable Tyler Moon got a Number One haircut. Ronnie, the pretty clinically dead corpse, just might wake up from her coma with some empathy and compassion, because she certainly had no soul beforehand.

The Mitchells are a divided lot. Phil's been arrested for Ronnie's attempted murder and for the murder of Emma, and more to the point (and very unPhil-like), he's been found with evidence of his misdeed - a cloth with brake fluid and Phil's DNA was found on his person. Well, we know how that got there, and so does Phil, but the complication is that Nick, the real culprit, is supposed to be dead. 

Nick overheard Ronnie wanting him dead, so he cut the brake line; unfortunately, other witnesses overheard Phil arguing with Ronnie at the wedding reception, overturning a table and telling her she'd pay for what she'd done. Of course, we all know that Mrs Doyle planted the evidence on Phil as well, at the urging of the undead Nick.

The real Mitchells are a class above the runts. Real Mitchells carry on as normal and keep their problems within the family fold. Runts of the litter make the obvious shows of ostentatious worry and grief (She's mah SISSSStah ... 'OwmahgonnalivewivoutmahSISSSSStah ... If theres anyfink you want done, Sharon ...) and then fall at the final hurdle.

I know Phil's stolen from Roxy, and he'd quite happily have seen Billy carted off to prison for killing Heather if Ben's hide could be saved; but at the end of the day, Phil has looked after and taken care of both Roxy and Billy. They've always looked up to him and acknowledged that Phil acted, first and foremost, for his family, and yet they throw all of that aside and believe that Phil would actually cut the brakes of a car in which his pregnant cousin was riding to teach her a lesson? Roxy stood right there and watched Phil save Ronnie's life.

But the lines are drawn - the runts against the real deal ... and the real deal is Sharon. Phil knows exactly who's set him up, why and how and what Sharon must do, and she doesn't stint from doing it either. 

Gunfight at the Cotton Corral.



The highlight of the episode came in the showdown between Sharon and Nick. If anything, this episode was rife with original and near-original characters - Sharon, Ian, Nick, Dot and Phil - Old Walford, and they still carry that magic: Phil desperately trying to clear his name and get out of prison, commissioning Sharon to get the money and the confession from Nick. Sharon was right. Exposing Nick for the fraud that he is would condemn Dot, Charlie and Ronnie in legal terms, as they'd been harbouring him. (Let's not forget CharlieBoy's part in the robbery, itself, and faking Nick's death, both crimes punishable by imprisonment).

The exchange between Dot, Sharon and Nick was absolutely classic.

Nick: 'Ello, Sharon. Long time no see. 'Ello Darlin.

Dot didn't know which way to look throughout that sequence, from the moment Sharon knocked on the door until she asked her to leave. Dot knows she's done wrong by harbouring Nick, hence her wordless reluctance to let Sharon into the house, then her refusal to surrender Nick - she can't, he's her son; but I think deep down Dot knew that Sharon's accusations rang true. After all, she remembered how Nick had tried to kill Mark Fowler and instead ended up killing his own son. Yet each time Nick does wrong a part of Dot clings to the belief that this time, just maybe everyone else has it wrong and Nick's telling the truth.

I know I done some bad things, Ma, but this time I swear I'm telling the truth.

Of course, he isn't telling the truth, and moreover, Yvonne knows it.

There was another classic scene as well, with Ian calling at the Mitchells to offer Sharon his moral and emotional support. I liked that, and I like this part of Ian. Sharon's worried that she's ruined any friendship she had with Dot, but even with Ian reassuring her, Sharon reminded him that he didn't know what it was like, and she was right - Nick had the lot of them eating out of his hand. As much as I've enjoyed Nick, this brings it all back to me how utterly amoral he is - just like Ronnie. In the end, Sharon does what she has to do ... for her family.

The Catholic Crisis of Conscience and Her Weak-Willed Spawn.



Mrs Doyle has a conscience. Aww, gwan, gwan ... sure and you don't think she's going to let our Nick forget that he's responsible for yet another death - which wasn't supposed to happen, as Nick points out.

Yvonne's conflicted, and her face, twisted with grief as she lamely protested that she knew nothing about whatever it was Nick did told Sharon all she needed to know, as Dot protested that she never knew Nick wasn't dead.

Speaking of responsibility, Charlie Cotton must have lemmings for balls. He fathered a child and they must have fallen over a cliff and died. Somewhere along the coast at Dover, people searching for seashells will come across Charlie Cotton's balls. He's been truly emasculated ever since the resident psychopath said she'd marry him. He loves the bitch, but he doesn't realise that to Ronnie, Charlie Cotton, bog cleaner, is just a walking sex toy.



Charlie's acting like the spoiled little kid he really is. He doesn't want his baby, he can't cope without Ronnie. Waaah, waaah, waaah ... He can't do anything without Ronnie, until Yvonne interposes and Dot reminds him to support the baby's head.

Jesus Christ on a bike ... think of that poor child's heritage. That's frightening.

Divine justice rules, however, and Mrs Doyle isn't the only one who shops at the local constabulary. Seems as if our Sharon's reported Nick's fraudulent death to the police - after all, Nick is also wanted for an armed robbery. Great duff-duff, and about time Sharon got one.

The Mourning Man.



Max is mourning the investigating officer in Lucy's murder. He just happened to be sleeping with her. Is Max guilty? It's difficult to tell, but Emma's handbag, and - more importantly - her phone with the sent text message to the purported murderer is in one of Max Branning's kitchen cupboards. Another important bit to note was that Abi clocked Lauren finding the phone amidst Emma's belongings, and was it me, or did she have this peculiar little smirk on her face throughout this episode?

Still, I refuse to believe such an entitled incompetent as Abi would be the murderer, but she's turned into such a snide little bitch, anything is possible.

Carol was clearly channelling an EastEnd version of Lorraine Wicks, foisting food on Max from every angle, but of course, the unifying thread throughout the episode was Billy's unintentional spreading of gossip that Phil had been arrested for Emma's murder, which prompts Max to attack creepy Ben and send Abi running after him, and then to destroy Emma's police file of evidence. Now we'll never know the significance of those house pictures, or will we?

Regressive Characters.



Sadly, I'm well over Kat now, and I hope when ... when DTC eventually reunites Alfie and the perennial dirty girl, they leave Walford for good. There we had Kat tonight, paired with Stacey, who genuinely wanted to sign on, holding court on the market again. Hang on ... haven't we been here once before with Bryan Kirkwood ... Kat egging Stacey on to do something she didn't want to do, cackling in the market? And there they are again, for Bianca, read Stacey this time, giving attitude and being rude to Tamwar.

Stacey: Get over yourself.

Sorry, Stacey? What was that? As Tamwar said, he was only doing his job, and they really need to respect that. Kat's referring to him as King of the Cock (with a big emphasis on the cock) in Aleks's absence was crude and common at the very least. They decided, in Donna's absence, to appropriate her pitch, with Stacey not even having a market licence. So it's back to Kat screeching, bullying and baiting Tamwar; and on finding out that Donna was moving onto the Square, ruminating about how awful a person Donna was ... just like Kat.

It was Kat as well, who spread Billy's gossip about Phil, and I also decided tonight that I'm not that keen on Pam, after initially liking her. She was pumping too hard for information about Ronnie and Phil, which Billy happily obliged, but then Kat, who overheard, took it upon herself to spread the gossip further. I'd forgotten about her adverse connections to the Mitchells and the karma of Ronnie having a child and then being unable to be with that child for the first months of his life, as well as the Mitchells, Phil and Ronnie, being responsible for her and Alfie losing the Vic; but they are still going the route of Kat the dirty girl again, and if that is the only thing DTC can think of for Kat and Alfie, then he should reunite them and get them the hell off the Square, because they are both toxic.

Just a thought ... but what if Ronnie awakens from her Sleeping Beauty coma on the 19th and confesses to Lucy's murder? 

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