What can you say about a show where absolutely nothing ever happens? Not much. I don't know what was worse about Tuesday's episode - Katie Douglas's sub-par writing or Sonia, whom, since her return, I've decided I hate with a passion second only to the hatred I feel for Donald Trump.
And that's a heavy hate.
Nothing happened on Lorraine Newman's watch, except love and warmth and a lot of unnecessary fluff. Nothing happened with Sean O'Connor, except a naff pretence at depicting reality which came across as preachy, moralising public service announcements about the state of Britain as seen through the eyes of a middle-aged luvvie.
Tuesday's episode was obviously a stab at fleshing out the Taylors, whilst totally ignoring the one member of their tribe most viewers find the most interesting, if not the one with the most depth: Keanu. His role has been limited to the odd couple of lines here and there, eventually leading to him storming off under duress. He's the only member of a family of chavs who's serious. He's in an apprenticeship, he's bringing home a wage (something of which he never ceases to remind his mother); he's serious about his prospects and is cognizant about the fecklessness of his family. You feel there's a depth of character to be explored, and we're wasting everything in favour of Lorraine Stanley blatantly over-acting and a storyline, once again, about an underaged girl, who's pregnant and who won't reveal the identity of the father, which means that this unknown quantity is someone the viewers know, which has to mean that the dad is a member of her own family.
So now, we have Sean O'Connor's very own version of Michelle's teenaged pregnancy - except we have no established nebulous father figure to ponder, which has led many people to wonder if this is a crime of incest, or pseudo-incest.
A lot of people reckon that Keanu isn't Karen's son, that he's someone whom she's taken in, based on her remark about having "taken him in" and based also on the fact that Keanu, in one of his many brief scenes, was noticed to have tenderly kissed Bernadette, but here's another possibility, considering that Sean O'Connor likes to toss out red herrings as much as DTC ever did ... what if Keegan is the baby's father?
Think about it.
Bernadette is supposedly fifteen years old, even though the actress who plays her looks thirty-seven. Keegan is fifteen. That was established a couple of weeks ago,which totally confused me because at one time, I thought he was the same age as Shakil (who looks brilliant, by the way, since he's shed the man bun), but a few weeks back, it was said that Keegan was fifteen.
He's definitely not Bernadette's twin. He also has a different surname from the rest of the family - he's a Baker in a gaggle of Taylors. Karen's weird explanation to Bernadette as to why Keegan retained his father's surname was so vague and incomprehensible that I don't even remember what it was. Also, Karen remarked that her brood was the product of two relationships - when talking about her having never been married, she quipped, Neither of them could be bovvered.
Keegan, smack dab in the middle of all Karen's children, is the only bi-racial child she has and the only one with a different surname. He's also the only one whom Karen treats slightly rougher than the rest. I'm beginning to wonder if Keegan arrived on the relationship scene as part of his father's baggage as a very small child or an infant, and was left with Karen when his father absconded as a kind of emotional souvenir of whatever it was she had with his father. We know Sean O'Connor is fond of the odd "mother-not-mother" moments (cf: the omnipresent Denise and Ada-Emerald) ...
So I wouldn't put that trick past him.
I can't believe Karen was as shocked as she was to learn of Bernadette's pregnancy. After all, Karen, herself, was a teenaged mum, has never been married to any of the fathers of her children, and Bernadette's older sister, herself, has two children and isn't married to their father. She's had multiple role models to emulate. Karen's behaviour in the doctor's surgery was overbearing, but afterward, Bernadette's reasons for wanting to keep the baby ("because it would be hers and she'd love it") was the absolute set-up for Karen's typical remark about the child not actually being a doll.
Then we had that ludicrous scene of Bernadette proving to Karen that she would, indeed, be a responsible mum by making cheese toasties for her two younger brothers, ultimately followed by the duff-duff scene where Karen, after seemingly cheerfully accepting Bernadette's decision to become a teenaged mum, breaks down in tears on her own - the inference being that, just like any other mum, Karen wanted better than what she had for her children, at the very least, for her daughter. She, herself, was a single teenaged mother; her oldest daughter followed suit, allegedly in order to get a home of her own paid for by the Council, and now Bernadette has thrown away any sort of future she could have had - aside from dreaming of making money off a reality television show - by binning off school (with no qualifications) and settling for the life of a single, teenaged mum.
Now begins the countdown to the revelation of "who's the daddy". Again.
They're BACK. Sean O'Connor certainly likes old-looking and sounding actors playing adolescents. The bullies are back. O'Connor hasn't finished with them yet. I gather they're going to be taking on both Rebecca and Louise at the same time, although Louise doesn't realise that yet.
Once again, the show made Sharon look like a shallow div, and the set-up in the Mitchell household is a mockery. It's also obvious now that a lot of Michelle's role has been enhanced with what would have been Phil's dialogue - the present of a computer game for Dennis, who - American citizen by birth that he is - was born on the 4th of July.
Louise is still smarting from the gossip propagated around the school about what didn't happen at the party, and she's in need of someone to listen to her concerns; but Sharon was so blasé about all of this and was intent upon concentrating only on Dennis's 11th birthday. That totally wasn't Sharon. The real Sharon would have been down at the school, reading the riot act to the head about what was being passed around about Louise and making sure something was done about it. Instead, this imposter shrugs it off, even laughing it off when Louise demands that she change schools for the next term.
And where the hell does Dennis get off sharing a laugh and a fist bump with Michelle because of her present? He's a little sheister, but he has more integrity about him than to accept any gift, much less the friendship of a woman who smacked him when he told her a few, grown-up home truths. Sharon also wants to remember that it was Dennis who gave Keegan the vital piece of information about Louise which had her believing that she'd been raped at this party.
The Green-Eyed Monster. Dot will want to be back in full-time care once she's had a dose of Sonia,who's already lying to her about having lost the cat once again. Sonia is a self-serving bitch. She wasn't concerned in the least about making Robbie homeless when she blithely told him that Dot wasn't entitled to take any more than one lodger in her home.
Although Dot correctly spelled out what had happened during the time she sublet the house to Cora, the court specifically told Dot that she could have no more than one lodger living with her at one time. Sonia comes back with the news that every bedroom in the house can be filled. Whether or not that has anything to do with the bedroom tax is beyond my ken, but the real truth of the matter is that after Jim's death, the Council would have re-located Dot to a smaller property - a flat or a maisonette.That house would have been reserved for a family.
I'm keen to know what secret Sonia's hiding, because she's so critically micro-managing everything,right down to where Dot would sleep.
The gist of her situation with Rebecca is simple: She's jealous of the relationship she has with Martin and Stacey. She's jealous of the fact that she's happy in that family. She's so jealous that she uses the cheap accusation to Martin that the only reason he's happy to have Rebecca is for the free babysitting of the younger children. It was patently obvious that Sonia was jealous when she spied Rebecca,across the Square, having a shared moment and a laugh with Stacey. She's also deeply jealous, I think, that Stacey and Martin are having another child.
Sonia, who ultimately rejects Tina in this episode, sees Martin, Stacey and their children and realises what she gave up. Good. Even tonight as she tried to search for Dave, she was already moaning about having to care for an elderly relative. She didn't even want to go on her own, and she tried to enlist Jack's support.
Dot's cat is the best judge of character in that show. He runs a mile from Sonia and Robbie.
Keeping Track. Steven's tale of woe with an indifferent Lauren, another one who is never satisfied with what she's got, continues at a snail's pace. Jacqueline Jossa should be high on John Yorke's P45 list, because she contributes nothing to the show. At one time, this storyline seemed to have a purpose and was a teensy bit provocative. Now, it's lost in another mire of ineptitude.
Widdle Mick. Come on ... Would high-flying Fi really hire a pregnant woman as a barmaid? Can any heavily pregnant woman, who's been on her feet running after kids all day, seriously entertain propping up a bar and serving drinks on an evening shift?
At least we know something now. Stacey's baby will be due around Christmas,and it will probably be born in the Vic.
Surprise, surprise.
Mick and Fi ... Jack and Norwegian Ronnie ... how long, O Lord?
And that's a heavy hate.
Nothing happened on Lorraine Newman's watch, except love and warmth and a lot of unnecessary fluff. Nothing happened with Sean O'Connor, except a naff pretence at depicting reality which came across as preachy, moralising public service announcements about the state of Britain as seen through the eyes of a middle-aged luvvie.
Tuesday's episode was obviously a stab at fleshing out the Taylors, whilst totally ignoring the one member of their tribe most viewers find the most interesting, if not the one with the most depth: Keanu. His role has been limited to the odd couple of lines here and there, eventually leading to him storming off under duress. He's the only member of a family of chavs who's serious. He's in an apprenticeship, he's bringing home a wage (something of which he never ceases to remind his mother); he's serious about his prospects and is cognizant about the fecklessness of his family. You feel there's a depth of character to be explored, and we're wasting everything in favour of Lorraine Stanley blatantly over-acting and a storyline, once again, about an underaged girl, who's pregnant and who won't reveal the identity of the father, which means that this unknown quantity is someone the viewers know, which has to mean that the dad is a member of her own family.
So now, we have Sean O'Connor's very own version of Michelle's teenaged pregnancy - except we have no established nebulous father figure to ponder, which has led many people to wonder if this is a crime of incest, or pseudo-incest.
A lot of people reckon that Keanu isn't Karen's son, that he's someone whom she's taken in, based on her remark about having "taken him in" and based also on the fact that Keanu, in one of his many brief scenes, was noticed to have tenderly kissed Bernadette, but here's another possibility, considering that Sean O'Connor likes to toss out red herrings as much as DTC ever did ... what if Keegan is the baby's father?
Think about it.
Bernadette is supposedly fifteen years old, even though the actress who plays her looks thirty-seven. Keegan is fifteen. That was established a couple of weeks ago,which totally confused me because at one time, I thought he was the same age as Shakil (who looks brilliant, by the way, since he's shed the man bun), but a few weeks back, it was said that Keegan was fifteen.
He's definitely not Bernadette's twin. He also has a different surname from the rest of the family - he's a Baker in a gaggle of Taylors. Karen's weird explanation to Bernadette as to why Keegan retained his father's surname was so vague and incomprehensible that I don't even remember what it was. Also, Karen remarked that her brood was the product of two relationships - when talking about her having never been married, she quipped, Neither of them could be bovvered.
Keegan, smack dab in the middle of all Karen's children, is the only bi-racial child she has and the only one with a different surname. He's also the only one whom Karen treats slightly rougher than the rest. I'm beginning to wonder if Keegan arrived on the relationship scene as part of his father's baggage as a very small child or an infant, and was left with Karen when his father absconded as a kind of emotional souvenir of whatever it was she had with his father. We know Sean O'Connor is fond of the odd "mother-not-mother" moments (cf: the omnipresent Denise and Ada-Emerald) ...
So I wouldn't put that trick past him.
I can't believe Karen was as shocked as she was to learn of Bernadette's pregnancy. After all, Karen, herself, was a teenaged mum, has never been married to any of the fathers of her children, and Bernadette's older sister, herself, has two children and isn't married to their father. She's had multiple role models to emulate. Karen's behaviour in the doctor's surgery was overbearing, but afterward, Bernadette's reasons for wanting to keep the baby ("because it would be hers and she'd love it") was the absolute set-up for Karen's typical remark about the child not actually being a doll.
Then we had that ludicrous scene of Bernadette proving to Karen that she would, indeed, be a responsible mum by making cheese toasties for her two younger brothers, ultimately followed by the duff-duff scene where Karen, after seemingly cheerfully accepting Bernadette's decision to become a teenaged mum, breaks down in tears on her own - the inference being that, just like any other mum, Karen wanted better than what she had for her children, at the very least, for her daughter. She, herself, was a single teenaged mother; her oldest daughter followed suit, allegedly in order to get a home of her own paid for by the Council, and now Bernadette has thrown away any sort of future she could have had - aside from dreaming of making money off a reality television show - by binning off school (with no qualifications) and settling for the life of a single, teenaged mum.
Now begins the countdown to the revelation of "who's the daddy". Again.
They're BACK. Sean O'Connor certainly likes old-looking and sounding actors playing adolescents. The bullies are back. O'Connor hasn't finished with them yet. I gather they're going to be taking on both Rebecca and Louise at the same time, although Louise doesn't realise that yet.
Once again, the show made Sharon look like a shallow div, and the set-up in the Mitchell household is a mockery. It's also obvious now that a lot of Michelle's role has been enhanced with what would have been Phil's dialogue - the present of a computer game for Dennis, who - American citizen by birth that he is - was born on the 4th of July.
Louise is still smarting from the gossip propagated around the school about what didn't happen at the party, and she's in need of someone to listen to her concerns; but Sharon was so blasé about all of this and was intent upon concentrating only on Dennis's 11th birthday. That totally wasn't Sharon. The real Sharon would have been down at the school, reading the riot act to the head about what was being passed around about Louise and making sure something was done about it. Instead, this imposter shrugs it off, even laughing it off when Louise demands that she change schools for the next term.
And where the hell does Dennis get off sharing a laugh and a fist bump with Michelle because of her present? He's a little sheister, but he has more integrity about him than to accept any gift, much less the friendship of a woman who smacked him when he told her a few, grown-up home truths. Sharon also wants to remember that it was Dennis who gave Keegan the vital piece of information about Louise which had her believing that she'd been raped at this party.
The Green-Eyed Monster. Dot will want to be back in full-time care once she's had a dose of Sonia,who's already lying to her about having lost the cat once again. Sonia is a self-serving bitch. She wasn't concerned in the least about making Robbie homeless when she blithely told him that Dot wasn't entitled to take any more than one lodger in her home.
Although Dot correctly spelled out what had happened during the time she sublet the house to Cora, the court specifically told Dot that she could have no more than one lodger living with her at one time. Sonia comes back with the news that every bedroom in the house can be filled. Whether or not that has anything to do with the bedroom tax is beyond my ken, but the real truth of the matter is that after Jim's death, the Council would have re-located Dot to a smaller property - a flat or a maisonette.That house would have been reserved for a family.
I'm keen to know what secret Sonia's hiding, because she's so critically micro-managing everything,right down to where Dot would sleep.
The gist of her situation with Rebecca is simple: She's jealous of the relationship she has with Martin and Stacey. She's jealous of the fact that she's happy in that family. She's so jealous that she uses the cheap accusation to Martin that the only reason he's happy to have Rebecca is for the free babysitting of the younger children. It was patently obvious that Sonia was jealous when she spied Rebecca,across the Square, having a shared moment and a laugh with Stacey. She's also deeply jealous, I think, that Stacey and Martin are having another child.
Sonia, who ultimately rejects Tina in this episode, sees Martin, Stacey and their children and realises what she gave up. Good. Even tonight as she tried to search for Dave, she was already moaning about having to care for an elderly relative. She didn't even want to go on her own, and she tried to enlist Jack's support.
Dot's cat is the best judge of character in that show. He runs a mile from Sonia and Robbie.
Keeping Track. Steven's tale of woe with an indifferent Lauren, another one who is never satisfied with what she's got, continues at a snail's pace. Jacqueline Jossa should be high on John Yorke's P45 list, because she contributes nothing to the show. At one time, this storyline seemed to have a purpose and was a teensy bit provocative. Now, it's lost in another mire of ineptitude.
Widdle Mick. Come on ... Would high-flying Fi really hire a pregnant woman as a barmaid? Can any heavily pregnant woman, who's been on her feet running after kids all day, seriously entertain propping up a bar and serving drinks on an evening shift?
At least we know something now. Stacey's baby will be due around Christmas,and it will probably be born in the Vic.
Surprise, surprise.
Mick and Fi ... Jack and Norwegian Ronnie ... how long, O Lord?
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