Sunday, May 3, 2015

CarterTown - Review:- Monday 27.04.2015

Even if DTC isn't getting the message, Kim certainly is. Carters, Carters, everywhere, and all they do is drink. An albatross around everyone's neck.

I thought this was a pretty mediocre episode, the highlight being Stacey, because everything that wasn't going round and round in circles, was happening off-screen.

The Mysterious Mitchells and Their Branning Revenge.




I have to say this: I hate it when actions happen off-screen and are related to the viewers as an established fact. I had to do a double-take in the scene where Phil met Ritchie in the park, with all those cryptic remarks about Phil in a balaclava and waving to the security camera before I realised that Phil had burgled Ritchie's office - off-screen, of course. He used a particularly jolting phrase tonight, one I'd not heard since the 80s.

I want you back in the firm.

There it is, plain as anything for all to see and savour ... the firm. Shades of Den, and maybe shades of Gavin? The fact that Phil had retrieved Ritchie's little black book of dodgy clients was enough to bring Ritchie back onside with Phil tells me something - that maybe this book was the key to finding Kathy and Gavin, because Gavin is equally as important as Kathy in this storyline as well.

Phil is suddenly Mr Bigger-Than-He-Ever-Was, and the gangsters are on the horizon. He's keeping Sharon (and by extension Ian and Ben) in the dark about this, but why? Is he taking money off Gavin, possibly to help find Gavin's daughter, who happens to be Phil's wife?

I thought the scam of Max was a bit lame. If anything, it showed how much of a coward Max was and how little he knew about the big boys' fames. All it took was a little bit of organised panic from Karin - and either Karin is a bad liar or DVO is a bad actress (possibly as much of one as the other) to teeter Max over the edge - screaming at Carol, not in the least interested in Dot's change of plea, panicking only to free himself of any potential trouble arising, and believing every word which came out of Karin's mouth.

She made up some phony police organisation and made it seem as if the were swarming over all the so-called stolen vehicles she'd spread all over London. She probably only sold those few to Max, of which he'd sold all but two Range Rovers.

The shakedown was so ridiculous it was embarrassingly funny - convincing Max to shed his clothing because he'd been inside a vehicle which was literally - in Karin's words - "crawling" with drugs, only to have Phil produce his signature piece of revenge when Max was stripped down to his underwear and vulnerable. 

Phil's after not only the Arches, but also the car lot - all Max has, as he told Carol. Max either pays up or Phil gets him out of the game by reporting him to the police for selling stolen cars.

It's also clear that Jay seems very uneasy in this scam.

It's Only a Slater Moon.



I guess life is as normal as it can be for the Weasel and Jane the Queen. I admit, I find it difficult how Jane can live with herself, after what she's done, but there she was tonight playing up the fact that Ian won't hire any extra help, and she has to run around proving him wrong.

I wouldn't put Alfie into restaurant management, but he did do a good job looking after the cafe. Ian is supposed to be Alfie's mate, yet he won't consider giving him employment, knowing he has a wife and three young kids for whom to provide.

In the meantime, Stacey provided the scene of the episode when she handed the hoary old scrote, Buster, his arse and refused to work with his rapist son. Buster Bloodvessel can protest Dean's innocence all he wants, the truth is that Buster doesn't know his son. A year ago, he'd have passed him in the street and not have known him.The truth is that he's protesting Dean's innocence because he's his new-found son, and basically, that's what he's supposed to do. The only thing he knows about Linda, the victim - indeed, as well as Dean and Mick - is from what Shirley's told him.

Stacey would rather quit than compromise her integrity.

Tonight, Stacey finally reached her limit. She's fed up with having to deal with Dean - realising that, had Linda not said anything, she'd still be with him - and she's fed up with dealing with Kat and her eternal and interminable moaning. As she said, Kat could go moan to Alfie. Out of the blue, there suddenly appears the heretofore curiously absent Whitney, complete with the sort of designer nails with which a girl could do absolutely nothing. In fact, I'm surprised a teaching assistant, dealing with very young children, would be allowed such talons, which could be harmful to the children. Their encounter leads to a tea session where Stacey moans about getting old before her time, and ends the piece by asking Whitney if she had something stronger to drink.

Epidemic Proportions.

The Carters were at their worst tonight, and their overt confluence is now being acknowledged by characters within the show. Subtle tip by the writer to the viewers who are complaining about Carter overload.

I can't decide Babe's game, but I know exactly where Mick is coming from. He simply doesn't want to sell the Vic. It's his home and his business. if he doesn't want to sell, that's down to him. And why should he sell to Shirley? As he reiterated, why should he uproot and move his family just to accommodate Shirley and Dean?

This was another roundabout tale of trying to reconcile Mick with Shirley. There can be no reconciliation as long as Shirley is shouting Dean's innocence from the rooftops. In a curiously lateral way, this storyline is now featuring Linda as the subtle villain of the peace. Shirley won't make a gesture toward Mick until Mick admits that Linda is a liat; Mick won't make a gesture until Shirley acknowledges Dean's guilt.

Linda, sadly, is just sick of the whole kerfuffle and wants to move on. There was some weird conversation going on tonight, which almost suggested that Linda was throwing in the towel and realising that she'd just have to deal with Dean. Then there was the weird conversation at the luncheon - Babe and all that "we're-family-we-sit-down-eat-and-talk" shit was simply too much - as much as it becoming almost a comic parody of the old "fairmly" motif.

Whenever there's a crisis, instead of having a cup of tea, the Walford residents throw some sort of a dinner party, which always goes wrong. It's a presumption that the Carters have taken over the Trueman-Fox home, even if they are paying rent. Buster treats Denise like the help, and Shirley was actually, literally pushing Denise out of her own home in order that the Carter summit could take place. I don't blame Kim for getting annoyed. She's bringing a preemie home and hoping to get into a routine and some quality time, only to find her home filled with strangers who are, frankly, treating the Foxes like "the Help."

The conversation at the dinner table was strange to say the least. All this talk about Mick accepting that situations change, especially implying that he and Dean could become civil if not close, based on the fact that only a few years ago, Mick wasn't talking to Stan. There's a difference to broach - Stan didn't rape Mick's wife.

When all of that doesn't work and Mick is prepared to walk out, Babe does a David Cameron. By that I mean something particularly distasteful. Have you ever noticed that when David Cameron is talking about the NHS, he brings up his dead son? Well, this is what Babe did tonight. It seems that today is the 14th anniversary of Jimbo's death. (Yep, Jimbo would be 35 this year, if he were alive). Now this is something totally strange. Not only has Jimbo's death anniversary not been mentioned before - indeed, Shirley wasn't present when he died, and the year before his death, she'd set fire to Mick's pub, which is another inconsistency because I thought the Vic was the first pub Mick had owned.

Anyway, all of a sudden now, Shirley is mourning Jimbo's death - hey, better late than never - and if Mick walks out, she'll have lost two sons. All the while, Shirley sits there, looking suitably tragic before she leaves the table and Babe suggest that Mick buy Shirley out of her share of the pub. That shouldn't be too difficult, considering that Shirley's share consists of ten grand only.

A rock got the duff duff - more precisely, a rock wrapped in a piece of paper emblazoned with the word "rapist" on it. Even if Buster Bloodvessel and Shirley Queen of Scrotes don't believe Dean's guilty, someone else does. They'll probably blame Mick or Linda.

Mediocre episode. 

Oh, phrase of the night - Kim declaring Donna a "bringer-downer" - and scene of the night was when Denise told Kim about their mortgage arrears - but I thought Kimowned the house and that there was no mortage? That she bought it from a payout she received from her ex? Go figure. 

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