A follow-up to yesterday's brilliant episode, with a couple of other storylines simmering.
Millennial Michelle Meddling. I'm not taking to this new Michelle. Yes, I know people change over the course of time and the fact that she's spent twenty years living in the US, which isn't showing in any way at all, bar the fact that she referred to her mobile as her "cell," but she just isn't gelling.
To begin with, Michelle had precious little at all to do with Martin during Susan Tully's ten years on the show, mainly because Martin was that much younger, and before James Alexandrou took over the role, after Tully left, Martin was pretty much mute. Seeing her hanging about Martin's house is a bit jarring, especially seeing her horn in and literally take over in such a way as she did tonight. Even when Stacey and Martin indicated that they'd made plans for the day, she totally disregarded this and imposed what she wanted instead.
She's a guest in Martin's and Stacey's home, even though she is a relative. They had decided on the course of action for the day - lounging about, with a light meal of hotdogs for Lily and then watching The Wizard of Oz with the kids, a family day ... until Michelle doesn't suggest, she announces that she's going to cook a bang-up meal and that they should invite everyone over from Ian's house and make a big family meal of it.
At least, we got the ubiquitous mention of Pauline, because Michelle was going to make a mince pie - the way "Mum" used to make it, which happened to be Martin's favourite. She literally takes over Stacey's kitchen and imposes herself on the couple - not that Martin is complaining; but then, I suppose he's glad enough to see a close relation visiting, but he lapped this up, and he and Michelle began a trip down memory lane referencing the times and events of their youth as a family,
I can tell you that there is nothing more boring for a spouse that Memory Lane reminiscences, told in such a way that the spouse in question feels excluded. I honestly felt for Stacey.
Michelle, in short, was rude.
Considering the fact that she's all but joined at the hip with Sharon and that she also attended Ronnie's Hen Night (when she didn't even know her), I'm wondering why she isn't moseying around Sharon and the Mitchells at the moment? Real Michelle wouldn't have barged in and taken over someone's kitchen like that, especially when she turned up on an unannounced visit.
And here's another thing ... Stacey alluded to "term starting", indicating that Michelle is still in education. The way Stacey mentioned this, it was as if she referred to primary or secondary school. Michelle had a third class degree from Walford Poly in sociology. She worked as a research assistant for a visiting professor of Urban Planning. She had, at that time, no advanced degree that would have enabled her to teach at university level. If she wished to teach at all, either in primary (elementary), middle school (ages 11-13) or secondary (high school), she'd have had to have been accepted at a US university, specialised and got a degree in Education. As well, the school term for most primary, middle and secondary students in the US started ... today.
Schools break up in the US a couple of days before Christmas - usually around 22 December - and return on 2 January. Uni terms begin around 14 January, but I don't remember anything being said about Michelle doing graduate school, whilst raising two kids, unless she's in some sort of administrative/clerical capacity. If she'd been teaching in any way, she'd have had ten long weeks of vacation from June until August, plenty of time to visit friends and family in the UK, but she didn't.
I'm not warming to this character at all. They can have her make all the allusions she wants to the bygone Fowler days, they can pair her up with Sharon, and try to make her act the way someone with some vague idea about how Michelle was would think she would act, but ... she isn't Michelle. And Michelle would never have been so thoughtless and tactless. She was brash and often rude, but in a situation like this, she wouldn't just barge in on a host, even if it were her brother and his wife, and toss aside their plans for the day in order to impose her own.
Please, send this imposter back to Florida forthwith and, like her effete, poseur of a son and her irritating daughter, never let her darken the portal of Walford again.
A Certain Spark. So Linda is stuck in Spain with the seriously ill Elaine. Does this mean she's not even going to return to fetch Ollie, when Mick fetches Linda and Elaine back to the UK?
I have a feeling the Breakfast Buffet at the Vic might be the beginning of Babe's leaving line, but the atmosphere between Mick and Lee continues.
I know what Lee did was totally awful, and it's yet another indication of how he has been infantilised within his family dynamic. We saw much the same with Nancy, in the episodes leading up to that totally puerile fight she had with Lee, resulting in Ollie's injury. When something of that nature happens, Mick turns into the incredible sulk and heaps spades of blame and recrimination on whoever happened to piss on his bonfire.
Don't get me wrong. I'm in no way trivialising what Nancy caused (an accident) or what Lee did (stupidity), but in both instances, Mick cold-shouldered the child in question, making them feel like a prime piece of shit. I totally get it that Mick is angry at what Lee has admitted to doing, and I totally get that he doesn't understand why he did it. But he needs to cool down and calm down and then talk to Lee, try to get him to explain why he did what he did.
I also totally get that it's likely that Mick possibly wouldn't understand Lee's reason for planning the raid or at least knowing about it - because he wanted the bullies at work to lay off bothering him and to like him. Neither Mick nor Whitney have ever been the victims of bullying or would understand office politics enough to realise that such situations do exist. They'd both be blinded by the fact that Lee had been a soldier, someone who should be hardened to wimps the likes of Oz.
This is one thing Mick has never done since Lee was diagnosed as having depression - sat and talked with his son, tried to understand why he feels the way he does. He might be surprised. Lee was so eloquent in telling Karen how he idolised his father and sought to be like him, always falling short of his own expectation. If Mick would pull his head out of his arse and listen, each time his son plaintively asks if Mick thinks Lee and Whitney could be like him and Linda, he may have understood the core of Lee's problems. Instead, he viewed such remarks as a compliment to him and Linda as a couple, and he basked in their admiration, rather than telling him not to worry about being like his father and his mother, just be a couple who was true to one another.
Instead, now, as with Nancy, he's finding it hard to forgive Lee. In fact, he's set his mind against it, cold-shoudering him in a mean-spirited way. I've also seen no encouragement from Mick for Lee to come clean tot he police and tell them the truth, accepting responsibility for what he's done. And Lee hangs about, offering to do any manner of small errands in a pathetic attempt to seek Mick's approval, but his suspicion is aroused, after Mick refuses Lee's help in attending a medical appointment with Ollie, and instead, accepts Whitney's offer of support.
Lee remembers all too well Whitney's pursuit of Mick the last time Lee was at a low point. And Linda is away. Lee noticed a spark, but will it ignite?
The Aftermath. So it's true. The Blisters are dead, their bloated bodies found, probably floating by that time, in the hotel pool. The police have identified them as dead. There's no witness protection, no phony escape, these birds have flown.
The core of the episode dealt with the relevant people being informed about their demise and Max, dealing with Jack. Once again, Jake Wood's brilliantly understated performance brings Scott Maslen to another level. Max is so sensitive to situations like this - he did as much with Carol when Billie died suddenly, having been through this with Bradley's death, and this got a mention tonight, in that brilliant scene he shared with Dot, telling her of the deaths.
That was probably the most touching scene in he episode, apart from when Jack was first told that Ronnie had died. Emotion caught in my throat when Max gently placed his hand on Jack's cheek, but when Dot implored him to stay and be there for Jack, to be a good brother, and Max admitted that people never know the right thing to say - like with Bradley.
Jack is understandably lost. He doesn't want his children to know yet until he's ready to tell them, but how long he can avoid telling them is beyond me? And what about Matthew, who has a living father? I'm surprised Dot didn't mention him.
I suppose this is the excuse Max will have now to return full-time to Walford, as help and support for Jack. And it was quick thinking for Max,when he learned the police needed to search the rooms, to excuse himself, and stay one step ahead of the police, to take Roxy's cocaine and later get rid of it.
The disbelief of various family members and extended family members was palpable, and we had to get the ubiquitous scene of Sharon, looking suitably sad, telling Phil of the Blisters' death, but not before Phil had informed her that Max had visited him, offering an olive branch, but Phil was having none of it.
Very good episode. It's going to be interesting watching Jack cope with this loss.
Millennial Michelle Meddling. I'm not taking to this new Michelle. Yes, I know people change over the course of time and the fact that she's spent twenty years living in the US, which isn't showing in any way at all, bar the fact that she referred to her mobile as her "cell," but she just isn't gelling.
To begin with, Michelle had precious little at all to do with Martin during Susan Tully's ten years on the show, mainly because Martin was that much younger, and before James Alexandrou took over the role, after Tully left, Martin was pretty much mute. Seeing her hanging about Martin's house is a bit jarring, especially seeing her horn in and literally take over in such a way as she did tonight. Even when Stacey and Martin indicated that they'd made plans for the day, she totally disregarded this and imposed what she wanted instead.
She's a guest in Martin's and Stacey's home, even though she is a relative. They had decided on the course of action for the day - lounging about, with a light meal of hotdogs for Lily and then watching The Wizard of Oz with the kids, a family day ... until Michelle doesn't suggest, she announces that she's going to cook a bang-up meal and that they should invite everyone over from Ian's house and make a big family meal of it.
At least, we got the ubiquitous mention of Pauline, because Michelle was going to make a mince pie - the way "Mum" used to make it, which happened to be Martin's favourite. She literally takes over Stacey's kitchen and imposes herself on the couple - not that Martin is complaining; but then, I suppose he's glad enough to see a close relation visiting, but he lapped this up, and he and Michelle began a trip down memory lane referencing the times and events of their youth as a family,
I can tell you that there is nothing more boring for a spouse that Memory Lane reminiscences, told in such a way that the spouse in question feels excluded. I honestly felt for Stacey.
Michelle, in short, was rude.
Considering the fact that she's all but joined at the hip with Sharon and that she also attended Ronnie's Hen Night (when she didn't even know her), I'm wondering why she isn't moseying around Sharon and the Mitchells at the moment? Real Michelle wouldn't have barged in and taken over someone's kitchen like that, especially when she turned up on an unannounced visit.
And here's another thing ... Stacey alluded to "term starting", indicating that Michelle is still in education. The way Stacey mentioned this, it was as if she referred to primary or secondary school. Michelle had a third class degree from Walford Poly in sociology. She worked as a research assistant for a visiting professor of Urban Planning. She had, at that time, no advanced degree that would have enabled her to teach at university level. If she wished to teach at all, either in primary (elementary), middle school (ages 11-13) or secondary (high school), she'd have had to have been accepted at a US university, specialised and got a degree in Education. As well, the school term for most primary, middle and secondary students in the US started ... today.
Schools break up in the US a couple of days before Christmas - usually around 22 December - and return on 2 January. Uni terms begin around 14 January, but I don't remember anything being said about Michelle doing graduate school, whilst raising two kids, unless she's in some sort of administrative/clerical capacity. If she'd been teaching in any way, she'd have had ten long weeks of vacation from June until August, plenty of time to visit friends and family in the UK, but she didn't.
I'm not warming to this character at all. They can have her make all the allusions she wants to the bygone Fowler days, they can pair her up with Sharon, and try to make her act the way someone with some vague idea about how Michelle was would think she would act, but ... she isn't Michelle. And Michelle would never have been so thoughtless and tactless. She was brash and often rude, but in a situation like this, she wouldn't just barge in on a host, even if it were her brother and his wife, and toss aside their plans for the day in order to impose her own.
Please, send this imposter back to Florida forthwith and, like her effete, poseur of a son and her irritating daughter, never let her darken the portal of Walford again.
A Certain Spark. So Linda is stuck in Spain with the seriously ill Elaine. Does this mean she's not even going to return to fetch Ollie, when Mick fetches Linda and Elaine back to the UK?
I have a feeling the Breakfast Buffet at the Vic might be the beginning of Babe's leaving line, but the atmosphere between Mick and Lee continues.
I know what Lee did was totally awful, and it's yet another indication of how he has been infantilised within his family dynamic. We saw much the same with Nancy, in the episodes leading up to that totally puerile fight she had with Lee, resulting in Ollie's injury. When something of that nature happens, Mick turns into the incredible sulk and heaps spades of blame and recrimination on whoever happened to piss on his bonfire.
Don't get me wrong. I'm in no way trivialising what Nancy caused (an accident) or what Lee did (stupidity), but in both instances, Mick cold-shouldered the child in question, making them feel like a prime piece of shit. I totally get it that Mick is angry at what Lee has admitted to doing, and I totally get that he doesn't understand why he did it. But he needs to cool down and calm down and then talk to Lee, try to get him to explain why he did what he did.
I also totally get that it's likely that Mick possibly wouldn't understand Lee's reason for planning the raid or at least knowing about it - because he wanted the bullies at work to lay off bothering him and to like him. Neither Mick nor Whitney have ever been the victims of bullying or would understand office politics enough to realise that such situations do exist. They'd both be blinded by the fact that Lee had been a soldier, someone who should be hardened to wimps the likes of Oz.
This is one thing Mick has never done since Lee was diagnosed as having depression - sat and talked with his son, tried to understand why he feels the way he does. He might be surprised. Lee was so eloquent in telling Karen how he idolised his father and sought to be like him, always falling short of his own expectation. If Mick would pull his head out of his arse and listen, each time his son plaintively asks if Mick thinks Lee and Whitney could be like him and Linda, he may have understood the core of Lee's problems. Instead, he viewed such remarks as a compliment to him and Linda as a couple, and he basked in their admiration, rather than telling him not to worry about being like his father and his mother, just be a couple who was true to one another.
Instead, now, as with Nancy, he's finding it hard to forgive Lee. In fact, he's set his mind against it, cold-shoudering him in a mean-spirited way. I've also seen no encouragement from Mick for Lee to come clean tot he police and tell them the truth, accepting responsibility for what he's done. And Lee hangs about, offering to do any manner of small errands in a pathetic attempt to seek Mick's approval, but his suspicion is aroused, after Mick refuses Lee's help in attending a medical appointment with Ollie, and instead, accepts Whitney's offer of support.
Lee remembers all too well Whitney's pursuit of Mick the last time Lee was at a low point. And Linda is away. Lee noticed a spark, but will it ignite?
The Aftermath. So it's true. The Blisters are dead, their bloated bodies found, probably floating by that time, in the hotel pool. The police have identified them as dead. There's no witness protection, no phony escape, these birds have flown.
The core of the episode dealt with the relevant people being informed about their demise and Max, dealing with Jack. Once again, Jake Wood's brilliantly understated performance brings Scott Maslen to another level. Max is so sensitive to situations like this - he did as much with Carol when Billie died suddenly, having been through this with Bradley's death, and this got a mention tonight, in that brilliant scene he shared with Dot, telling her of the deaths.
That was probably the most touching scene in he episode, apart from when Jack was first told that Ronnie had died. Emotion caught in my throat when Max gently placed his hand on Jack's cheek, but when Dot implored him to stay and be there for Jack, to be a good brother, and Max admitted that people never know the right thing to say - like with Bradley.
Jack is understandably lost. He doesn't want his children to know yet until he's ready to tell them, but how long he can avoid telling them is beyond me? And what about Matthew, who has a living father? I'm surprised Dot didn't mention him.
I suppose this is the excuse Max will have now to return full-time to Walford, as help and support for Jack. And it was quick thinking for Max,when he learned the police needed to search the rooms, to excuse himself, and stay one step ahead of the police, to take Roxy's cocaine and later get rid of it.
The disbelief of various family members and extended family members was palpable, and we had to get the ubiquitous scene of Sharon, looking suitably sad, telling Phil of the Blisters' death, but not before Phil had informed her that Max had visited him, offering an olive branch, but Phil was having none of it.
Very good episode. It's going to be interesting watching Jack cope with this loss.
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