Tonight's Coronation Street is basically the appetizer for next week. As you're probably very much aware, next wekk is Britain's Got Talent week and where Coronation Street gets moved to 9pm. It allows the writers to push the boundaries a little bit more, with storytelling they wouldn't get away with pre-watershed and of course for the special week of episodes a big storyline has to take centre stage. For this year it is Phelan.
With that in mind, he featured quite a bit tonight. He's still in contact with Nicole from afar on the parenting site. Gary is still very much suspicious of this new found friend Nicole has made and continued to make enquiries to ascertain whether anyone has seen him, specifically in Wales. Eileen and Nicole continued to shrug off his fears, very much willing to believe the police's word that Phelan isn't behind the stalking. The police are of course correct on that front as stalker Faye continued to hang about tonight. Unfortunately her actions are severe consequences for Nicola, who home alone heard a sound, went to investigate and ended up slipping down the stairs and winding up unconscious.
Thankfully Cathy and Fiz heard the noise out on the street, and are quick to contact Eileen who gets into the house and goes to Nicola's side. Faye though watches all this going on with a tinge of guilt. The endgame to her stalking we haven't had hints of yet, but tonight was a fine example of how sometimes your actions can have consequences for the unintended. She does fortunately regain consciousness though isn't out of the woods.
Faye very much has regret for her actions and does eventually confess that she has been responsible for the stalking to Seb. Wanting Eileen to pay for Anna being banged up is completely understandable, but her actions aren't at all. She was partially responsible for Anna's imprisonment and Seb's disgust with her is justified. At the hospital Eileen is there with Nicola every step of the way. Unfortunately the fall has had some very bad effects on Nicola, and she's forced to given birth early. Giving us a bit of a Holby City crossover, Eileen goes into the operating room to give support to Nicola. She does very much thankfully give birth to a love little boy, but just like with Eve giving birth there are some afterbirth worries momentarily before he starts crying.
Seb does later inform everyone that Faye is responsible for the stalking, and I'm glad that's one reveal that wasn't dragged out. No-one can quite believe it though, especially Tim, and unfortunately Gary is absent from seeing his newborn son but Sarah is there in his place. Gary is of course hard at work, tracking down Phelan and seeing with his own eyes that he is indeed alive, and trying to put a plan into action.
David meanwhile was trying to get used to his newfound freedom, with Shona continuing to support him, even giving him details of a helpline so he could talk to a professional as he worries about no-one believing that he's been raped. With Shona's actions obviously getting to him, Josh decided to hit back tonight by poisoning Max against David. We already knew he was a scumbag, but telling Max that David will never love him as much as Lily because he's not his actual son? Completely and utterly disgusting. For us it's obvious that Josh is just trying to get a rise out of David, and that he does get as David is incensed by max's words and orders him to stay away from Josh, before then storming into the cafe to confront him. Doing this in front of a bunch of witnesses probably isn't the wisest idea for someone just out of prison.
They do of course actually break out into a fight which Shona manages to pull David away from whilst Alya is completely stunned, and she's not the only one. Shona does eventually manage to talk some sense into David, but he does still need to speak up and tell someone what Josh has done. His hesitancy is completely understandable, but Josh is going to continue to push him into acting out and getting back behind bars, and with no-one knowing the truth his actions do look quite bizarre. Fortunately David does in the end heed Shona's word and give the helpline a call. It's an extremely positive step and a reminder that none of us are alone; help is always at hand we just have to have the strength to reach out and accept it.
The one good thing to come out of all of this though is Alya decides to put the breaks on her and Josh. She doesn't know what the drama is between him and David, but she doesn't want any part of it. Josh does somewhat accept this and proclaims he may just move away, which obviously leaves Alya with a bit of food for thought.
David Issac may not get a lot of things right as a writer (yes he was back tonight and suddenly I wasn't quite so sad by the absence of Rana) but he did give us fleeting viewers a bit of a catch up on Ryan 3.0. It's almost as though Coronation Street realized putting the 3rd new face to Ryan Connor in under a decade might be a bit confusing, so tonight he paid old flame Tracey a visit. She dated Ryan 2.0 in an attempt to get back at Steve and Michelle and claimed that she was pregnant and Ryan 3.0 claims she owes him an apology for breaking his heart. What he's really after though is free flowers which Tracey does eventually give in to. he also has a mini catch up with Steve, inviting him to Robert's stag because that isn't awkward at all. Tracey's quick to reassure Steve he doesn't have anything to worry about with her ex around, and Steve's quick to assure Tracey that she's past it so he's not worried at all.
When we have had a couple of weeks that have been so heavy with drama? it's nice for Coronation Street to switch gears and allow any episode to delve deep into the comedic aspects of the show. Plots are still moving forward, we get a nice little rotation with the characters, and it makes for an easy enough Friday viewing.
Ryan 3.0 is later treating the Connor ladies to a mini show of his stag night costume, where he is dressed up as one of the Gallagher brothers. Michelle warns him not to go too crazy with Robert, obviously worried for his health, but keeping that little fact a secret from everyone? causing quite a few misunderstandings. Michelle covers her concern with Kate by claiming that Aidan is still on her mind, whilst Ryan at the pub is trying to get Robert to drink when he shouldn't be and misinterpreting his hesitance as being stuck up. It also does help that Ali is the one backing Robert up and trying to keep him going nice and steady, since Ryan and Ali are still not exactly seeing eye to eye. Robert is obviously uncomfortable with Steve at the stag because who really wants their fiance's ex husband joining them, and Tracey's in the corner attempting to flirt with Ryan 3.0 to make Steve jealous.
Because soaps can't have a wedding without some form of drama, it's obvious Robert and Michelle's drama is going to revolve around Steve. He has more of a connection with Ryan 3.0 than Robert does, knows more about the situation than him so obviously Michelle can talk with him about things she wouldn't with Robert, and given how much Ryan 3.0 is dubious over whether Robert is really suitable for his mother and bringing up her relationship with Steve? You can already see where this is going.
Steve and Ali do of course get talking with both of them extremely concerned over whether Robert is suitable for Michelle, and Ali reveals all on Robert's latest health issues completely unaware that Michelle does know. Rana was the most recent victim of David Isaac's plowing through plot for the sake of storyline, and granted tonight was a bit of a collaborative effort with two different writers, but still Steve emerges as the latest victim. There hasn't been any real hint that he still has feelings for Michelle. He's seemed to be loved up with Tracey and happy with just being Michelle's friend. Yet tonight he's calling Tracey's mock attempts at making him jealous pathetic, and insinuating he still has romantic feelings for Michelle, and maybe Robert isn't right for her (We do all know Carla is the answer to this but hey!).
Ryan 3.0 does soon tell Michelle of his concerns and is once again bringing up Steve, because he's apparently their #1 shipper. And of course because of plot, Tracey decides to go off with the stags to continue the night, whilst Steve stays back coincidentally with the hens and Michelle. He does gently try to question Michelle on whether she thinks she's rushing into the wedding. Her thoughts are very much focused on Aidan, he's just worried about letting slip Robert's health issues.
Strangely enough the Connor girls decide that their hen party is going to be low key and classy. Their version of this involves dressing up and drinking loads of wine at Michelle's flat. Kate continues to look gloriously tomboy-ish as she seems to have had a bit of a wardrobe change recently (I guess your girlfriend moving in with you does that) of course part of her look may probably be her grief over Aidan, but given so much screen time as of late has been saddled in Zeedan? It's nice to see her join the rest of the Connor ladies and Marie in having a care free laugh. Would've been even better if Rana had been joining them, but we can't have everything. The evening isn't completely carefree though with Carla accidentally offending Maria by bringing up the disaster that was Aidan's wedding day (Marie gate crashed it). At the Rovers the Connor women do take a moment to reflect on the fact Aidan will be missing the big day, and again I'm going to cry over the lack of Rana tonight.
Continuing to prove she is under-rated, Gemma was also on fine form tonight as she helped land Rosie a modelling gig. The fact she did this whilst admitting she didn't really care about Rosie's drama but still wanted to hear the gossip? Extremely amusing. Gatecrashing the interview at Underworld didn't exactly go off without a hitch though. At first they're not particularly interested in Rosie and Gemma really has to sell her, and Rosie of course then discovers one of the agents involved is her ex.
All in all, tonight's double bill was a great set-up for next week, even if it wasn't the best of writing. There's no denying that Coronation Street are the experts at balancing humour with the more hard hitting storylines and I cannot wait to see what next week produces.
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