There's been so much negative reaction to last night's bank robbery, the last hurrah of Jim McDonald, now on his way back to the Big Hoose. It's not the ending I would have hoped for, because most everyone agrees they wanted Jim and Liz to be happy ever after. I suppose that was just never fated to happen and we only got our hopes up.
Having said that, I really don't think that the bank robbery was all that awful. Of course it was ill thought out but Jim has never been one to think things through first. His main impulse has been the "scream and leap" method and he's not really learned anything from all the times that has crashed and burned. Thus, he didn't wear a mask and would have been identified even if he had got out of the bank without being stopped.
Some people have wondered how he knew Liz would have been watching on the CCTV. Why wouldn't he think that? He had her on the phone and she did say she was there. You might assume she would be with the police watching on the screens. It was odd, though, because it looked like they could all hear him as if they were watching a regular television when it was only that we could hear what he was saying over the phone that synced with him on the screens.
There was never any chance that he would hurt the hostages. We even saw him wait for a mother and baby to go in and emerge from the bank before he went in himself. Yes there was a chance he'd have turned the gun on himself and I'm glad he didn't. I felt Liz's heart break along with his and when he finally came out, I wished they had let the two of them be together for a minute but that wasn't in the cards either.
They've had a stormy relationship over the years but no matter what happened, they seemed to be each other's soul mate even if they couldn't always live together. They might have got together, but they might not have lasted, either. Tempers and jealousies would probably always do them in.
Maybe it's just better this way, but we'll never know.
20 comments:
they tapped into that CCTV very quickly didn't they? And very confusing when he came out - half the armed police are shouting stand still and the other half shouting walk towards me. Obvious it wouldn't work when Liz announced she was leaving the series - I wish they wouldn't do that as you are constantly watching for the "out" story
I know he's impulsive but he's not totally daft and I just cannot accept that Jim McDonald would walk into a bank with a shotgun, queue up, then demand 120 grand - wearing a flat cap, seemingly with NO knowledge of panic buttons and so forth. It just wasn't thought through properly, in the rush for yet another sensation.
I just think its a real pity that we couldnt have had a heart warming feel good ending for a change instead of all this sensationalism, which we are all getting immune to anyway. Now we have the nasty rude domineering old bag Syvie to bulldoze her way into poor Haley and Roy's lives. His discomfort yesterday was hard to bear. They are never ever going to replace Blanche we we grew up with really as she was in it on and off for years and they should realise that. Just too much unpleasantness and nastiness. Now we have the brattish Faye and the sleazeball Frank buying into the factory, its too much to take.
Why, oh why, oh why couldn't they have given Liz and Jim the happy ending they deserved. If, at a later date, Bev Callard wanted to return and Charlie Lawson didn't, it could have easily been explained that they had split up again off-screen, but at least two much loved characters could have gone off into the sunset together, instead of this pointless and tragic ending.
Didn't have to be a romantic, nice ending for me...couldn't care less whether the two of them sailed off together or separately. But anything but this stupid, unbelievable bank heist ...
Again Frosty -- you hit it on the mark: Sylvie, Faye, and Frank --- all lamebrain stories from lazy, unskilled writers...
If this keeps up, I'm forced to stop watching all together...
With all the negative comments, I'm surprised that over 10 million viewers watched it, compared to the 9 million who watched EastEnders during its Big Week of storylines. Corrie must be doing summat right.
@Coronation Street Corner: hope springs eternal?
Ratings are just one measure. Reaction to the programme is another. I watched Corrie, but did not enjoy it. I will watch it on Thursday and Friday too. But if it carries on like this, eventually I will stop watching. That is the danger for Collinson and his ridiculous rating chasing stories.
Today, it's ratings that matter in the TV world, not the acting. And that's very sad indeed. Is it something that Corrie has loyal viewers?
Sorry but I'm going to play Devils Advocate here.... Some of you liked the story line others hated it BUT at the end of the day the writers and producers have done their jobs right because YOU are all talking about it!!! ;oP
Anyway my personal point of view on the Liz & Jim storyline? Hell I liked it and thought it well planned, scripted, acted and produced. All credit to the whole team at ITV Corrie!
@Coronation Street Corner - Yes sadly it's so true in all forms of media that it's the ratings not talents that count! It's a real sad state of affairs but then ratings = profits apparently :o/
Very well put, Michael. I can't say i didn't enjoy the bank heist and i did think the acting and writing was pretty good overall. I enjoyed it far more than the storyline around the factory, that's for sure, and the storylien about the sham wedding
If I were a writer or producer, I would not be happy if people were talking about the show as a laughing stock. Plenty of high ratings shows have been cancelled: Crossroads, The Bill, Heartbeat... Neighbours was once huge, now its barely watched on Five. Corrie's ratings are in decline and I think many of us are worried that this rubbish will send them into freefall.
its not so much the acting im bothered about as the storylines
i knowbev callard wanted to leave but couldnt she have jsut left for a life in spain without all this twaddle with jim?
there was just no need for it
I cringed during the bank heist -- didn't enjoy anything about it because nothing about it was believable -- good acting or not. If the story is unbelievable or so bad you cannot suspend your belief, it fails regardless of the ability of the actors ... that is why hyped up movies fail at the box office, theatre shows end their run early, and TV shows no matter what their history get cancelled... viewers are going to be hopeful for the sake of sentiment and loyalty, but eventually they will run away... in droves...
What I feel has changed is its lack of depth in the characters, the dialogue, quality in the script, light hearted banter and attention to detail which made Corrie stand out from the others.
Now it’s need to knock out storylines at the rate of knots which doesn’t allow for such quality brings sloppiness, bad continuity, sensational stories which need evil/nasty/bitter characters which outnumber nice people. After a while it’s hard to keep watching nasty, irritating people all the time and even characters who have been in it for years are acting out of character and ‘not themselves’.
Collinson Out!
:)
Well put Beth. There was nothing wrong with the acting in Monday's show, in fact with a tiny few examples such as Xin in my opinion, the acting on Corrie is top notch. Even Faye who is a not likeable child is a good actor and you really believe her. The problem for me is the scripts and sloppy writing and the regurgitation in stories. John Stape up on a roof again for example. Corrie has been a well loved instition for 50 years, even folk abroad and visitors to this Country know about Coronation Street. Its charm has been that we really care about the characters and feel we know them, the comedy mixed with pathos and some really funny witty lines. This has all been superceded with Phil Collinson at the helm with "shock" sensation after sensation, trying to get into the papers and soap mags, terrible writing and the concentration of introducing new characters that are either criminals or downright nasty. It no longer has the feel good factor of everyday folk that we all feel we know and love and care what happens to and its going downhill rapidly unless it can be turned around. I think Phil Collinson should be replaced as soon as.
Trying to match Eastenders is not the way forward and I still wonder if the respective script writers have secret meetings as the same week that Roy's mother appears out ofthe wodwork so does Tania's on Eastenders.
And where did Eastenders get the idea of an overhead train being part of the cause of a roof collapse?
Great ending to the saga of Jim and Liz...nobody lives happily ever after on Coronation Street.
Just a very quick pedant-point. To enjoy improbable fiction or drama, you don't suspend belief. If you did, it'd be hard to enjoy even the most realistic plot. No - disbelief is the thing you're looking to suspend.
Pedantry over.
I think it's great so I do
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