Aftermath

Coronation Street, Thursday 29th May

I'm a bit late with this one, but here we go anyway...

The episode started with lots of silence, not unlike EastEnders in the aftermath of Lucy's Beale's death. My favourite thing about Corrie is the dialogue (closely followed by Rita's wig, Deirdre's belts, and the theme tune), so the silence unsettled me a bit. It was good and tension-inducing though, as was the later experimentation with camerawork: point-of-view shots as Rob went to pick up the weapon and the trinkets he'd taken from Tina's flat (one of which he dropped in the ginnel/entry... sleuthing ahoy), and I think there was a low-angle zoom on him at one point. None of this is standard on the Street, but I think a special murder week calls for such variation, and I was not displeased with the effect. I liked Rob's choice of burial spot for the evidence: under the viaduct. Now there's a potential location for a nighttime dig-up / confrontation / screaming match. I bet that stuff won't stay buried for long.

I loved the fact that Rita and David were keeping a vigil by Tina's hospital bed. Actually, I loved the fact that this episode skipped the tedious hospital check-in procedure and Rita's sleepless night, dropping us into the action in the cold light of day. The doctor treating Tina had a lovely kindly, relaxing voice. I don't think he'll be able to stick her brains back together though, sadly. Actually, gladly, given that she's not a real person and as a character she's much more excitement-producing when dead.

Tracy had some good lines, notably commenting on Tina being pretty ("Not any more she's not") and passing comment on the identity of the murderer in an investigative style which would not have been out of place in Sheerluck Holmes, the racist comedy play produced by my secondary school when I was in Year 10. "It's an open and shut case as far as I'm concerned," she said. All she needed then was a group of thirteen-year-old girls dressed as prostitutes (in frocks made by the textiles teacher) singing "Illicit Solicit" behind her to really recreate Stretford's arts scene in the mid-90s. Tracy and Rob's tense agreement to be each other's alibi, while both accusing each other's sibling of the head-bashing crime, is going to make good viewing over the next few episodes I think.

Meanwhile, over at Anna and Owen's, Anna has revealed to the girls that "Real life can sometimes be a letdown". Lots of meaningful glances and barbed comments passed between her and Owen before he went off laying tarmac. Katy was sad that the couple had left the hotel early: "Me dad was proper looking forward to it," she said. Is it just me who thinks that a dad shouldn't be telling his daughter how much he's looking forward to bonking his partner in a hotel room? This follows on from an episode a few weeks ago where Owen cried in Katy's arms because Anna was refusing to do it with him. I just don't think this is a realistic father-daughter conversational topic, and it grates on me a bit. 

There was a lot of Carla brilliance in last night's episode. Top acting, top writing. "You chose to drop your trousers," she said to Peter. He cowered in a sniveling heap. His lines and performance are doing a great job of painting him as a truly self-serving horror. I hope Rob and Carla gang up and frame him for the murder.

Other things I enjoyed in the episode:

- Liz sticking up for Tina.
- The male police officer's short tie.
- Reference to a panama hat. (Is that restaurant Panama Hatty's still there in Manchester? I used to love it.)
- Reference to a pasty. (I think I'm homesick.)
- Kirk telling people he got dropped on the head as a child, but "got away with it."

BUT... where are Kal's glasses? I do like a man in glasses; when he takes them off in preparation for a clinch, he immediately sees his partner in soft focus, which is nice for Leanne (casting no aspersions on her attractiveness, I'm just thinking of the insecure preoccupations which sometimes go hand-in-hand with taking a new lover).

I'm looking forward to the next episode, hopefully the glasses will make a reappearance.