It's Been Five Years

Five years since I posted here! Unbelievable!

Why the break, you ask? Well, I stopped watching Corrie. Once Hayley died in 2014, there wasn't any reason for me to keep watching. The godawful Peter/Tina story, still one of the worst stories of the decade, dragged on and... you know what? I can't even remember anything else that happened during that period. I attempted to google it and my eyes just glazed over. Basically stuff happened, all of it forgettable.

But now! I started watching again a few months ago. Aidan's suicide story drew me back in which is surprising really since I never had much use for the character in life. But with his death came a whole host of character-driven stories and messes that I really loved. Toyah and Eva's baby deception was exposed! Johnny freaked out and kidnapped baby Susie! Carla and Alya fought over the factory! It seemed every house on the cobbles was affected in some way and I loved it!

In one of the most recent episodes I watched, Sinead had just been diagnosed with cancer and it was heart-breaking to see. Sinead ran out of the doctor's room in tears, bumping into Ken in the process (was it ever explained why he was at the hospital by the way?). Now she faces the prospect of terminating her pregnancy in order to have a better chance at fighting this thing. And honestly, I get why she doesn't want to do that. Especially as someone who had an abortion and ended up regretting it. She's putting her baby's life ahead of her own, and honestly I can't say I wouldn't do exactly the same thing. I would have liked her to have told Daniel straight away but Corrie wouldn't have been able to do the four-hander (which I still haven't seen!) otherwise so I get that particular choice.

Strangely I've also enjoyed the fake daughter story. Obviously the premise is ridiculous but if it has proved one thing, it's that Charles Lawson and Beverley Callard can sell anything. It was a treat to see them so conflicted, being drawn back together because of their history and their chemistry. But Jim of course messes it all up. I guess he's done for now but I hope he's back soon. With the myotonic dystrophy, I can see his story coming to an end in the next couple of years but whether he's murdered or gets the deathbed treatment, I honestly can't say!

My one criticism of the writing at the moment is that there's no depth, no subtlety. Let's take Jim as an example. He's been in on the con from the beginning but how much more interesting would it have been to have him discover Hannah isn't his daughter halfway through the story? He's about to tell Liz and Steve but Hannah manipulates him, gets inside his mind, tells him his family abandoned him. Tracy picks up on his affected state and is party to the secret. Everything's exposed at the wedding (instead of Steve sleeping with Leanne again which was just predictable).

Or how about Doctor Ali? (I have to call him Doctor Ali because if I just call him Ali, the song from Aladdin comes into my head). Doctor Ali is grappling with the fact that he's murdered a man, a gangster who was after his family for... reasons (I may have tuned out because Ryan's drug mishaps don't interest me). There's a car accident, Michelle is acting like a screeching harpy which is pretty normal for her to be fair, Ryan is in a coma and showing more brain activity than he was beforehand, and Ali finds Ronan the gangster impaled on a fence post and decides to pull the fence post out of Ronan, killing him.

But how much more interesting would it have been if Doctor Ali had come across Ronan, realises he could treat him (as much as you can treat a guy IMPALED ON A FENCE POST, jesus Corrie) and then doesn't. Ronan goads him and Ali can't bring himself to save his life because if he does, he knows Michelle and Ryan are in danger, and for some reason, he LIKES Michelle and Ryan. Yes it's murder but the situation is greyer. And we get a doctor who has a tragic and dark backstory instead of the psycho killer route Corrie are predictably going to go down because it's been six months since the last one.

Overall though, I'm enjoying Coronation Street again. Despite my little five-year break, I've always considered it to be my soap and it's such a kick to see Ken involved in major story, Rita propping up the bar of the Rovers, Roy serving sandwiches in the caff. Some things haven't changed and I love that. It's comforting and safe. I've missed Corrie and I hope to continue watching it regularly for many years to come.