Yes, folks, we're back in the saddle again. The saddle of filler episodes. The saddle where we don't know if any of the filler scenes are meant to be the end of one storyline or the beginning of something else. We had a lot of that tonight. It was watchable, mind you, but not much happened.
Sharon's Mother. Let's get one thing straight: Angie is Sharon's mother. She's the one who did the heavy lifting, loving her and mothering her since she was a young girl. Angie helped her with her homework and sat with her when she was ill. Carol Hanley gave birth to Sharon and gave her away.
There were a couple of little niggles with what is, ostensibly, the beginning of Sharon's latest storyline - which, I imagine, will eventually become all about Kathy, because I suspect this journey has something to do with Kathy's return. Firstly, Sharon last saw Carol Hanley in 1990, which would have been twenty-five years ago, not twenty, as Sharon told Carol Jackson. Secondly, it grated on me to hear Carol and Sharon discuss Hanley as "Sharon's mother" so freely. This is the second incidence of birth parents being given precedence over the people who either adopted or raised children as their own.
Kevin Wicks has been whitewashed out of existence, with Dean referring to Bloodvessel as "Dad", after having only known him for five minutes; and now "Sharon's mother" is the person who wrote the letter at which Abi sneaked a look.
Sharon's euphemistic answer to Carol's question about seeing Hanley was totally apt. Only someone who was adopted would understand why Sharon hadn't seen her in more than 20 years. Short translation: Carol Hanley rejected Sharon. The illegitimate child she had as a teenager had no place in her tidy, ordered. middle-class life with her well-off husband, her two sons and her infant daughter.
As for Abi, you get the impression that a great deal of the reason she's moved herself, uninvited, into the Mitchell abode is to taunt Jay, but that seems to have backfired. Ben leaves for work, inordinately early, more than likely to avoid Abi. Jay doesn't dally either, even after Abi offers to fix him breakfast. Abi is the uninvited guest, whom everyone avoids, thinking she'll eventually get the message and go. She's also the only person in the Mitchell household, who doesn't have a job and, therefore, cannot contribute financially to the household. She's intent on surfing the internet in her onesie all day whilst the Mitchells work.
True, she was only looking in the drawers of the sideboard for the wifi password, but that didn't give her licence to have a snouch and read personal letters. Sharon was right to tick her off, and Abi, being the spoiled brat that she is, goes whining to Auntie Carol, who shows up on the Mitchell doorstep in order to tick Sharon off for ticking Abi off. Same old same old. Substitute Carol for Tanya. Poor Abi. Her sister's left her, her dad's a cock, yadda yadda. True to Branning form, Sharon ends up apologising to Carol about ticking Abi off. What Abi needs is for someone to kick her up off her lazy arse and make her get a job.
And here we have Carol giving skewed advice again, making an analogy about having gone to see her mother two weeks before she died ... except, except that Carol Hanley is merely the woman who gave birth to Sharon.
Sharon did, however, learn one thing from Carol Hanley. She learned her birth father's name was Gavin - the same first name as Kathy's husband.
Sharon takes Carol's advice and trots off to visit Carol Hanley, only to find that Carol's brown bread, and to be confused by her half-brother to be someone from the hospice. Sharon's half-brother is a beefy middle-class posh sort. I hope he's not going to move to Walford. We know what DTC & Co think of well-spoken, middle-class professionals ...
Sharon's Mother. Let's get one thing straight: Angie is Sharon's mother. She's the one who did the heavy lifting, loving her and mothering her since she was a young girl. Angie helped her with her homework and sat with her when she was ill. Carol Hanley gave birth to Sharon and gave her away.
There were a couple of little niggles with what is, ostensibly, the beginning of Sharon's latest storyline - which, I imagine, will eventually become all about Kathy, because I suspect this journey has something to do with Kathy's return. Firstly, Sharon last saw Carol Hanley in 1990, which would have been twenty-five years ago, not twenty, as Sharon told Carol Jackson. Secondly, it grated on me to hear Carol and Sharon discuss Hanley as "Sharon's mother" so freely. This is the second incidence of birth parents being given precedence over the people who either adopted or raised children as their own.
Kevin Wicks has been whitewashed out of existence, with Dean referring to Bloodvessel as "Dad", after having only known him for five minutes; and now "Sharon's mother" is the person who wrote the letter at which Abi sneaked a look.
Sharon's euphemistic answer to Carol's question about seeing Hanley was totally apt. Only someone who was adopted would understand why Sharon hadn't seen her in more than 20 years. Short translation: Carol Hanley rejected Sharon. The illegitimate child she had as a teenager had no place in her tidy, ordered. middle-class life with her well-off husband, her two sons and her infant daughter.
As for Abi, you get the impression that a great deal of the reason she's moved herself, uninvited, into the Mitchell abode is to taunt Jay, but that seems to have backfired. Ben leaves for work, inordinately early, more than likely to avoid Abi. Jay doesn't dally either, even after Abi offers to fix him breakfast. Abi is the uninvited guest, whom everyone avoids, thinking she'll eventually get the message and go. She's also the only person in the Mitchell household, who doesn't have a job and, therefore, cannot contribute financially to the household. She's intent on surfing the internet in her onesie all day whilst the Mitchells work.
True, she was only looking in the drawers of the sideboard for the wifi password, but that didn't give her licence to have a snouch and read personal letters. Sharon was right to tick her off, and Abi, being the spoiled brat that she is, goes whining to Auntie Carol, who shows up on the Mitchell doorstep in order to tick Sharon off for ticking Abi off. Same old same old. Substitute Carol for Tanya. Poor Abi. Her sister's left her, her dad's a cock, yadda yadda. True to Branning form, Sharon ends up apologising to Carol about ticking Abi off. What Abi needs is for someone to kick her up off her lazy arse and make her get a job.
And here we have Carol giving skewed advice again, making an analogy about having gone to see her mother two weeks before she died ... except, except that Carol Hanley is merely the woman who gave birth to Sharon.
Sharon did, however, learn one thing from Carol Hanley. She learned her birth father's name was Gavin - the same first name as Kathy's husband.
Sharon takes Carol's advice and trots off to visit Carol Hanley, only to find that Carol's brown bread, and to be confused by her half-brother to be someone from the hospice. Sharon's half-brother is a beefy middle-class posh sort. I hope he's not going to move to Walford. We know what DTC & Co think of well-spoken, middle-class professionals ...
Poverty in MitchellLand.
Let's get this straight: Sharon is poor. She's struggling with bills to pay, when Roxy, who's also poor, comes begging for funds to finance a solicitor for CharlieBoy and Dot. Ronnie, who's plottinglanguishing in hospital, thinking of ways to torture Roxy and CharlieBoy, is also poor, having had to nick 100 grand from Phil. I guess the boxing club isn't making all that dough. And who pays the mortgage on the house in which Roxy lives?
My concern is this: Where is Phil? He appeared briefly on the day of Ian's wedding, plopped a whopping big load of money down on the Mitchell coffee table, promising that there was more where that came from, and then he disappeared - ostensibly, to tell a ghost not to return to Walford. Wherever he's gone, he's not left any money behind.
Roxy tries Ritchie Scott, but Ritchie doesn't do pro bono, which means she doesn't represent people who are, for lack of a better word, poor.
The big news from this vignette is that Dot's refused bail and, as a result, has been transferred to prison proper. (Dot in the showers, praying to Jesus ... hold that thought).
The Pearly Queen. Dot's not the only one thinking of Jesus. Kim thinks that Pearl being so ill is karma from Jesus for Kim having questioned him. The easy remedy for that is to get her baby christened - Pearl Denise Patrice ... Fox-Hubbard, I guess. Vincent the BabyDaddy stakes claim to his daughter next week. TMN* takes up residence on the Square.
Tameka Empson played a blinder tonight. To think this character has been wasted doing bad comedy for the past five years, when she should have got her teeth into something more dramatic.
One of the good things about this vignette tonight is that it showed the Shirley-Denise friendship on track again, with Shirley showing enormous compassion for Kim's plight and interest in their situation, enough to engage Stan in helping Patrick over his fear and perceived cowardice.
Another Carter Gig, Another Lie.
My concern is this: Where is Phil? He appeared briefly on the day of Ian's wedding, plopped a whopping big load of money down on the Mitchell coffee table, promising that there was more where that came from, and then he disappeared - ostensibly, to tell a ghost not to return to Walford. Wherever he's gone, he's not left any money behind.
Roxy tries Ritchie Scott, but Ritchie doesn't do pro bono, which means she doesn't represent people who are, for lack of a better word, poor.
The big news from this vignette is that Dot's refused bail and, as a result, has been transferred to prison proper. (Dot in the showers, praying to Jesus ... hold that thought).
The Pearly Queen. Dot's not the only one thinking of Jesus. Kim thinks that Pearl being so ill is karma from Jesus for Kim having questioned him. The easy remedy for that is to get her baby christened - Pearl Denise Patrice ... Fox-Hubbard, I guess. Vincent the BabyDaddy stakes claim to his daughter next week. TMN* takes up residence on the Square.
Tameka Empson played a blinder tonight. To think this character has been wasted doing bad comedy for the past five years, when she should have got her teeth into something more dramatic.
One of the good things about this vignette tonight is that it showed the Shirley-Denise friendship on track again, with Shirley showing enormous compassion for Kim's plight and interest in their situation, enough to engage Stan in helping Patrick over his fear and perceived cowardice.
Another Carter Gig, Another Lie.
The answer to any Carter crisis is to throw a party. The other answer to any Carter crisis is for Mick to throw his passive-aggressive weight around. So the plan of action for today is to send Linda away from Walford (the way he sent her on a shopping spree the day after Dean disappeared) and plan a gig for tonight to celebrate their overdue "engagement."
(Really, Mick? You've been together for 24 years, you have three children, and Linda uses your surname. Isn't an engagement a bit too much now? But when did that ever stop the Carters or Mick? Besides, this is yet more of Mick reinforcing Linda's childlike and innocent demeanor, something that's always been to his advantage in controlling her).
Mick keeps reiterating that he wants things to get back to the way they were - hence the party at the drop of a hat and at any excuse, hence obliterating Dean from the equation.
That's the big question: Is Dean dead or alive? It's a question many viewers are thinking superfluous in the wake of the fact that we've just come off ten months of a major murder mystery, and we really don't need to go on a variation of another one - this time without habeas corpus because ... who does have the body, if, indeed, there is a body to be had?
The other big question is: How big is Mick's lie to Nancy? Nancy is the avenging angel here. She doesn't like Dean anymore than anyone else, but, at the same time, she knows he didn't deserve to be killed by Mick, if that's what Mick's done. She also knows and is afraid that if Mick did kill Dean, then he'll inevitably be discovered and go to prison. That's why she tells Linda what happened - that Dean came back to Walford, that he tried to burn the pub, and that Mick stopped him and, from where Nancy was standing, killed him, and may have even moved the body.
Nancy proves to be no fool. She's not stumped that her dad's sent her to Tottenham Court Road to pick up the family's mended laptop as a means of keeping her away from Linda.
Nice to see Elaine again, and nice, as well, that Nancy overheard Mick's plot for Elaine to take Linda to a matinee of Miss Saigon so that she could return to be further diverted by an engagement party. Nancy tells her mother of the plot, forcing Mick to tell Linda almost all of the truth - Dean held Nancy for the briefest of moments and never with his hand over her mouth. Nancy screamed for Mick, and when Mick entered the cellar, he told her she could go. There was, really, no hostage situation, per se.
Mick maintains that Dean left the cellar of his own volition, but I'm not so sure. I think Mick moved him, whilst Dean was unconscious and possibly dumped him someplace else - or else Dean found his way to Babe.
Either way, it's one storyline too many for the Carters, and Linda's trust in Mick is beginning to wane just a wee bit.
(Really, Mick? You've been together for 24 years, you have three children, and Linda uses your surname. Isn't an engagement a bit too much now? But when did that ever stop the Carters or Mick? Besides, this is yet more of Mick reinforcing Linda's childlike and innocent demeanor, something that's always been to his advantage in controlling her).
Mick keeps reiterating that he wants things to get back to the way they were - hence the party at the drop of a hat and at any excuse, hence obliterating Dean from the equation.
That's the big question: Is Dean dead or alive? It's a question many viewers are thinking superfluous in the wake of the fact that we've just come off ten months of a major murder mystery, and we really don't need to go on a variation of another one - this time without habeas corpus because ... who does have the body, if, indeed, there is a body to be had?
The other big question is: How big is Mick's lie to Nancy? Nancy is the avenging angel here. She doesn't like Dean anymore than anyone else, but, at the same time, she knows he didn't deserve to be killed by Mick, if that's what Mick's done. She also knows and is afraid that if Mick did kill Dean, then he'll inevitably be discovered and go to prison. That's why she tells Linda what happened - that Dean came back to Walford, that he tried to burn the pub, and that Mick stopped him and, from where Nancy was standing, killed him, and may have even moved the body.
Nancy proves to be no fool. She's not stumped that her dad's sent her to Tottenham Court Road to pick up the family's mended laptop as a means of keeping her away from Linda.
Nice to see Elaine again, and nice, as well, that Nancy overheard Mick's plot for Elaine to take Linda to a matinee of Miss Saigon so that she could return to be further diverted by an engagement party. Nancy tells her mother of the plot, forcing Mick to tell Linda almost all of the truth - Dean held Nancy for the briefest of moments and never with his hand over her mouth. Nancy screamed for Mick, and when Mick entered the cellar, he told her she could go. There was, really, no hostage situation, per se.
Mick maintains that Dean left the cellar of his own volition, but I'm not so sure. I think Mick moved him, whilst Dean was unconscious and possibly dumped him someplace else - or else Dean found his way to Babe.
Either way, it's one storyline too many for the Carters, and Linda's trust in Mick is beginning to wane just a wee bit.
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