Sunday Comments December 13

I didn't see Simon actually hit Amy but he did grab her wrist and threaten to so i suppose it's as good as. It's all coming out now. Amy was instigating it but Leanne is right, Simon shouldn't have hit her. He was at his rude worst to everyone, shoved Leanne and ran out of the room. Eva made Leanne admit that Simon's been hurting her. Ken reacted as Ken always does, looking pained and saying "Whattttt????" that's his bog standard reaction, you know. Leanne continued to make excuses for him and even if she's got a blunt way of putting it, Tracy's right. Leanne should have nipped it in the bud a long time ago, getting help for Simon before it escalated.

At least Simon was able to talk to Ken later on and get a hug. Tracy shocked Robert with her caustic attitude about Leanne and the whole situation. Is that the first serious crack in the relationship? I think so. Now Leanne has to deal with Simon but it sounds like there's support coming from an unexpected direction, Robert. Tracy knew she went too far but her apology fell short when she realized where Robert went. And still, she continued to make light of the situation, blaming Leanne for making more out of it. Robert seems very turned off by her this week even when she planted herself under his nose at the Bistro. When Leanne showed up, all of Tracy's intentions to charm Robert went out the door and she ended up getting herself thrown out by Robert who called her a poisonous bitch. I cheered. I really did. And I watched it twice!

Now that Tracy has a Leanne bee in her bonnet, she's not going to let it go. She's trying to suck up to Robert, trying to make up to him but that little flame of jealousy isn't going to go away, is it? We know what she's like. I like that Zeedan's being all big brothery with Simon. Simon didn't get on well with his first session, wasn't willing to talk at all and doesn't want to go back. Sounds like it will be an uphill battle. But she's got Robert's respect.

Meanwhile, Ken's told Peter and predictably, he's not hopped on the first train to Manchester even if he did blame himself. Simon's scared to talk to a counsellor, he thinks they could take him away. They won't but I hope that Leanne has some sort of legal guardian papers at hand, just in case. Oh and I see Zeedan's back on the scene, come to hang out with Simon for a bit. He did apologize to Amy and Tracy pushed for a pound of flesh but Ken managed to divert things with the offer of a pizza. I suppose he thought it was too soon to ask Simon to go with them! Leanne did get a good swipe in at Tracy in the process, over Robert. At least Leanne isn't shy and can stand up to Tracy with the best of them. Tracy might make vague threats but Leanne is a Battersby. I reckon she's way tougher than Tracy is.

Steph really wants to stop the race and her scream did distract him at the start. She could have been the cause of his losing control but luckily, he got himself together and won the race. It looks like the roads must have been closed off or abandoned. I don't think any roads in Manchester would have been that empty any time of night let alone early evening. They all left Andy there on his own! and Luke finally admitted to Steph what Jamie was holding over his head. About time and all. She was really dignified confronting him, too and he came across like the pathetic loser he is. I really wished she had had some kick boxing or ninja training and brought him down and yet, even though she confronted him, he still suggested Luke could race again because he's in a lot of debt and naturally that made Luke even more angry when he found out.

Luke wants Steph to tell Andy what's going on and of course she won't so that's more lies after everything else. I suppose lies are one of soap staples but it doesn't half get on my nerves. Nobody trusts the people they are supposed to love with the truth, fearing they won't love them anymore. Jamie's still skulking around, though and he's desperate. It looked like Steph might have got through to him until Luke came aboard him again. Jamie insists that Luke race again and Steph finally has to tell Andy because he thinks Jamie's after her and Andy isn't taking it well. Jamie promises he doesn't choose to hurt her but he will anyway. He's too desperate. It wouldn't stop at one more race, would it? So she called his bluff. Do it. He did it. Oh 'eck.

Now that the photos are out in the cyberworld, Andy's perennial in a bad mood and Steph is paranoid, thinking everyone and anyone knows. She went off on a group of customers, thinking they were having a laugh at her expense but oops, wrong end of the stick. Lovely scene with Leanne and Steph in the kitchen with Leanne being really supportive. And she was indeed, taking Steph to make a complaint to the police. Before they got there, Andy and Luke exposed Jamie's doings to his girlfriend which added even more pleasure to Jamie's downfall! Jamie got nicked well and proper.

Alya's been skiving off work, now she knows Gary is coming back and dreading it. Her family are still keeping her at arms' length but her heartbreak has finally thawed her grandfather's heart. And there he is, our favourite ginger builder. Why no question, "How's yer dad?", which would have been polite if nothing else. Gary also has every intention of taking up his partnership in the gym, much to the chagrin of the Nazirs. Gary's right, there was a contract, all signed and legal. Dev backed him up. Looked like Zeedan actually admired Gary for standing his ground.

Jason and Gary came face to face in the cafe, with Jason thinking Gary was coming on to Eva to get back at him. Not such a bad idea, but no, it was just a typical soap bad timing thing. Jason even allowed Gary the chance to thump him. He's just that nice a guy. He's making advances with Eva again, probably to get in there before Gary makes good on his threat, i.e. if he wanted Eva he'd go for it. Jason just wants to make sure Gary doesn't get the opportunity while it's fresh in his mind! But warning Eva about it was the wrong move, because she can see right through him.

For someone that was anxious to avoid Gary, Alya was the first one that said hello to him and later in the week, made the effort to talk to him and apologize but he just doesn't want to know. Gary's got some good ideas for the gym which impresses Dev and Zeedan but is it me, or does Zeedan not seem as enthusiastic about working in the gym? Yes, Zeedan really isn't taking to the job well. He'd rather leave Gary to it. Gary even managed to spot a drug deal (steroids) and cracked down on that (no pun intended!)

Erica might not be returning Dev's apparent affections but she's not above using him for free drinks but Mary has marked her cards. It got it all out in the open so they two women know where they stand with each other. I laughed at Dev the morning after he and Erica were in the pub, him all hungover and her as chirpy as if she'd drank water all night! If Dev does fancy Erica, though he says he doesn't, it doesn't look like he's going to get very far in that direction, no matter how much charm he pours on. I'd love to see them become really good friends, full stop.

Mary's still in contact with Brendan and sounds very happy chatting and flirting with him by phone and searching for UFOs but he ended up cancelling their plans. She's already showing signs of being a little obsessive with him and acting a bit like a 14 year old giggling over the phone. I hope she doesn't turn stalkery. She really has read a lot more into their friendship than is intended. We've never seen Brendan act as anything but friendly. But she got a shock, didn't she? He's got a wife. Someone he's never mentioned before. I wonder if he realized she was getting herself in too deep and wanted a way of getting her to back off. She was gutted and came down to earth with a crash. Dev knew very well something was wrong but she wouldn't admit it.

Everytime Hope tugs on Tyrone's heart particularly, he goes out and buys more toys. That's all going to add up, even if he's buying some of them at the pound shop. He says the inflatable Santa came from a friend but I bet it didn't. He says he's paying the bills, but he isn't because he's maxed his credit cards. He even bought an inflatable Santa, lying to Fiz it was free and then went off on Roy because it deflated after all Roy and Ches did to attach it. I mean, he *really* went off on one. Of course Tyrone apologized to Roy and Cathy because Tyrone is a lovely man. It's too bad he's getting snowed under in debt and can't tell Fiz though Roy kind of guessed that might be a problem and offered his hand just in case. But Ty is too proud. Instead, he's going to one of those payday loan places.

Meanwhile, Sinead and Chesney seem to be at odds over this free trip to Portugal. You don't see them arguing very often. Sinead doesn't like being around the lovely (but no personality, according to Fiz) Katy. Fiz gave her good advice so I guess she'll go with Chesney after all.




Deirdre: A Life on Coronation Street - official ITV tribute to a soap icon. Available here.


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