Robert promises to keep the secret but Johnny wants him gone altogether. I don't think Robert's going to bend. Johnny's not that scary. Meanwhile, Carla's on a course of pain medication and still looking for wine. She didn't drink any but I wonder if that's going to become an issue. Bit rich isn't it, Robert coming around shouting the odds at Carla? Scared her witless. She gave Johnny a large piece of her mind for his interference. And I thought Carla and Johnny may be on the way to making peace with each other but after his antics, it might be awhile yet.
Sally's defending her chick and ticked off that Kate took Jenny's side. A lot of the other neighbours seem to be on Sally's side. I do like that Tim is willing to give Jenny or anyone else a second chance though he doesn't dare say that in earshot of his wife! And he's playing peacekeeper. Isn't he lovely? The girls did talk it out but Kate had to back off.
It was inevitable. Jenny got a job right on her doorstep, cleaning in the factory, right under Sally's nose, too. It's a law that almost everyone works right there where they live. It's also pretty coincidental that Underworld was hiring a cleaner just then. Sally wasted no time sounding off when she saw Jenny behind the broom and got herself backed into a corner. Fire Jenny or I'll resign? Don't let the door hit you on the way out, Sal! But true to predictions, she phoned up begging for her job back and that was the first Carla had heard of the whole upset but Sally got her job back.
But it wasn't long before the factory was in an uproar. There seems to be a thief among them (food, and later, money) and as the new girl, Jenny was instantly suspected and Sally brought the accusations into the pub where Jenny was having a drink with Rita. Everyone continues to make snide remarks about her being a thief all week with Sally being the most vocal, though Beth in particular isn't far behind. And the week goes from bad to worse for Jenny when Jack sees her and follows her into the factory. Naturally when she finally does bring him out of the factory, they all think she's taken him. To be fair, she should have marched him right back out again as soon as he showed up but that wouldn't work for the story. The way the timeline *seemed* to go was that she had him in there for a good 20 minutes, while they were all searching for him.
I can't blame her for getting angry at Sally and warning her off after that. There's only so much you can take. Mind you, it was good to see Jenny get a bit of spirit back. Odd, though, with three people running around screaming for Jack, and yet Sally never heard a thing. It was good that Kevin, once he realized the truth, apologized to Jenny. It would have been better if he'd done it in front of a lot more people but there you are.
It just gets worse. It sounds like Aidan was too busy calling his father and actually agreed to let Eva pump the gas into the van! Sheesh! Aidan and Eva finally got to the dinner party it turns out Eva's very overdressed because she thought it was a proper party. He also shows himself up as having no manners, using his phone at the table constantly trying to call his father until the hostess makes everyone put their phones in a bowl. A bit late isn't it? The entertainment for the evening turns out to be karaoke and Eva stole the show! Awesome! I do think it's a bit underhanded of Ritchie to blackmail Aidan against future orders if they didn't play nice and sing for their supper.
I really wish Aidan would get over himself and get past his rage against his father. It's really getting old and he makes himself look pathetic, always bitching and sniping at him. This time it nearly cost them a client when Carla came in with O'Driscoll behind her. And it's none of his business, either, he hasn't got any right to make the kinds of demands he was shouting about, telling Johnny and Aidan to keep their personal lives out of the factory. It's not his factory and his work is getting done. Anyway, Kate metaphorically knocked their heads together by threatening to cancel her wedding if they didn't sort themselves out and it seems like they did, over many ounces of alcohol. It's a start, at least.
In another new and breaking storyline, Sinead is comandeered by Johnny to suggest to Aidan that Underworld use a real woman to model their goods because Aidan won't listen to Johnny. ahem. Doesn't Carla have the ultimate say in anything? Anyway, Aidan offered Sinead the job instead of Eva who was right put out. That is really just a sub-storyline of a larger one. Eva discovered a girl hiding in the factory. She'll be the one that's been stealing things. She's Marta, 16 and is being more or less held against her will by a family that are keeping her in the country to work illegally for no work and ill treatment and threats against her family. Whoever it is might not actually follow through on their threats against her family in Poland, but she believes it and that's all that matters. Who do you think these people might be, eh?
Eva is now bringing food to Marta and continuing to help her hide out. Are there no women's shelters? Marta thinks if the police are involved, her employers will kill her family in Poland. I think the police could manage to protect them. She's just a kid, really, scared and out of her element. I still think it's unbelievable that she can manage to stay hidden in a busy factory. How could Kirk have heard a rustling from the part of the factory he was in (wide open door) when Marta was behind a closed door at the other end?
People are still suspicious that Jenny is the factory thief. At lunch, Kirk invited Jenny to sit with them and Beth commented that Jenny stole off her, Sally added "Allegedly"... Since when did she change her tune? She might have had to back down over the Jack incident but I seriously doubt whether her overall opinion has changed any. Beth dragged Sally back to the factory instead, ordering Kirkey along so there Jenny was sitting on her own. Johnny was quick to defend Jenny and also quick to high tail it out of the factory when he thought there might be mice. The thief is quite obviously Marta, now that we know she is hiding there. Anyway, Marta can't go out because she's not got a coat. Sean has a new coat. What are the odds? Yep, Marta tried to steal the coat and ran off, knocking boxes and people and Izzy out of her chair. She's in a lot of pain, too.
Mary's continues to hide away. Dev is being very kind and understanding while Mary keeps the one sided conversation going in order to avoid any serious talk lest she burst into tears again. What to do? bring in Erica, thinking Mary might respond better to another woman. Leave it to Mary, she doesn't just watch movies about adultery, she's reading classic literature about it, too. The Scarlet Letter! Mary's scarlet letter will be an H. No, she's not misspelling the word that starts with W, she's branding herself a Harlot! (that cracked me up). Erica had another go at getting Mary out of the house and lured her out on a shopping trip on behalf of the kids' tea. It worked.
Mary's slowing getting her life back and getting back out of the house though was not keen to go into the Rovers, the scene of her humiliation. But with Erica's help, she faced her demons and everyone was really kind. Even Sean, he played I Will Survive to support her. Wasn't that awesome?
Sally's political campaign took a jump start this week when Ken discovered a by election (held only 2 months before a full election. I know but there are often bylaws about that sort of thing, how long a seat can remain empty) Ken had an uphill battle trying to keep Tim focussed. He does want to be supportive of Sally but he doesn't want to do any actual work! Sally later snatched Audrey's address book to get her contacts which brought Audrey in under Ken's sphere again, somewhat awkwardly. Then Simon started poking holes in everything Sally said and that's fair. She kept changing her views depending on whichever subject that came up. I'm loving this so much. The writers are having a field day giving Sally so many great lines for this storyline and Sally is at her snobby best!
Phelan is making fast friends with Jason and dining out with Eileen as well. Where's Michael? Naturally, Kevin and Anna arrive and that's putting a damper on the mood. He purposely went over to chat to Kevin about "business" just to wind up Anna. Audrey's still off work. Ken wants to know how long she'll be gone. Doesn't she have a telephone? David's rushed off his feet and Beth is questioning the dye he's using on her hair. He looked at a chart and then looked a bit off. Has he made a mistake?
The work on the new garage is nearly done so Phelan is calling around looking for more work which Anna hears. he's not having much luck so he sabotages the garage in order to stay on there for a bit longer. He's not changed! Of course Kevin's ticked off at the main contractor and of course now Jason and Phelan can take over and do the work to fix it. Neither one is an electrician. Anna reckons he sabotaged it and of course he did, but she can't prove it and her hatred of him makes Kevin think she'd think the worst of him anyway. Gary's right, Anna needs to tell Kevin everything. She's afraid he'll leave her if he finds out but as Gary points out, this looks like it could end up that way anyhow.
Tyrone's keen to make a budget but he didn't count on Fiz turning down the heating! She couldn't say no when Luke invited Tyrone for a pint, though. She's also making Tyrone ask Luke for more rent. Luke could easily get ticked off and leave and then they'd have no extra rent money coming in. Ty couldn't ask after Luke generously gave him half of his fish and chips! Well, how could you? Never mind, Luke came up with the offer on his own, though he probably suspected that's what Tyrone wanted to ask.
Oh look. Simon's back and Leanne's got him interested in a football team and he was successful in getting accepted. It sounds like counsilling might even be working, Simon's opening up a lot, this week all to do with his father's alcoholism. One day at a time, though. Simon seems to be a fairly typical teenager when it comes to school work, or rather, guesswork! I'm pretty sure Leanne was much the same at his age and well she knows it. She also knows where it got her in the end. She likely thinks she could have got a lot farther on a university education. Her compromise to him getting his homework done is do it for him. That's not helping. Anyway he rejected it and was thoroughly rude about her not coming to the football match. This isn't angry Simon, it's a normal hormonal pubescent kid! Unfortunately, his mood did darken.
Leanne's a bit giggly over that fella from the other night, Tom but feels a bit guilty about the possibility of dating someone less than a year after Kal died. Zeedan's ok with it, at least, he's mature enough to tell her he is but he seems a bit wistful anyway. And you would, wouldn't you? But I bet Simon won't be so mature about it. And what a coincidence, he's the football manager! Leanne went to the match even though Simon didn't want her to.
Ok, first his mother and granddad show up. Then they both had to help him un-knot his shoelaces which is a bit humiliating in front of his mates who then ragged him about Leanne flirthing with Tom! That did it. That pushed Simon over the edge apparently. The other kid kept digging and digging until he ended up on the floor at Simon's hands, allegedly, with Simon screaming that he deserved it. Hmmmm.
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