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Starting with the youngest, Saturday showed
five interconnected students all, in one way or another, embroiled in a Head
Boy election campaign. There was the sweet, culpable Alicia (the eagle-eyed
amongst you will recognize EastEnders’ Lucy Beale), her Head-Boy hopeful, slimy
beau Jonas, her best mate Meera (pregnant, coincidentally, with said slimy
beau), Meera’s expelled elder brother and fellow vote canvasser Isaac. The show
swerved the ever-awkward portrayal of young people as caricatures and stereotypes
and managed, with Alicia’s chagrin at illicit images of her being passed around
the campus, to infuse contemporary issues facing young people without over
killing it. Jonas stepped forward as the comprehensive’s answer to Tom Riddle,
luring Alicia onto an unstable school roof and tugging at her hair until it
gave way. Unsavory a guy as he was, Jonas’ character deserves credit for
propelling the episode forward. It’s no picnic to pick his lowest point:
realizing Meera lay trapped beneath the debris and opting to remain tightlipped
to paramedics, hiding her schoolbag in an effort to cover his tracks, pressing
for Alicia to be tended to by another doctor when good-guy Tom smelled a rat or
impelling her to take responsibility for being atop the roof are all contenders
of note. Lucy Beale might be Walford’s biggest bitch, but at least she has
standards.
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| Alicia's saving Tom: Those first on the dramatic scene dug the students from the rubble |
Whereas Jonas’ wayward tendencies became
palpable after a few moments spent in his company, the show’s writers took an
astutely different tact with Isaac. His was a slow burn, and the glaring
question mark that popped up around him when he implored paramedic Dixie to
“never leave me” took its time in abating. In the final quarter of the episode
Dixie fathomed that the Jonas-preoccupied Deputy Head was in fact Isaac’s
father, and I thought I had him nailed: he’s mother-deprived, desperate for a
spot of paternal recognition and worn down by competing with hundreds of other
kids for it. Sorted. No? “Isaac’s gay. Get over it.” When Dixie dropped the
bombshell on Isaac’s dad, writers hailed it upon viewers with the same line. In
Isaac’s case, the show offered up ebb and flow rhythm and refreshing depth
until the curtain call. This was the route favoured with Meera’s big bro, too;
50 minutes witnessed his transformation from bullyboy thug to in-the-closet screw
up facing an arranged marriage and life without a sister (it was left a
discreet and tantalizing blank whether he had confided in her about his
sexuality woes).
For Alicia, around whom the bulk of the
student relationships revolved, this was a sophomore run on the show. When she
was recognized by doctor Tom I was a tad ill at ease, envisaging forthcoming
scenes demanding prior knowledge of the characters and their on-screen
experiences, but my fears were allayed pronto. Gladly, Alicia’s persona was
amply explored prior to the roof’s collapse and her battle with bulimia and
affiliation with Tom were nimbly made explicit. Better still, when she conjured
up her inner Beyonce at long last and gave a cheating Jonas what-for, it was
cathartic without lacking credibility. Hers was not a “happily ever after”
conclusion, and the show’s producers resisted the temptation to paint
everything as naively dandy by leaving Alicia with the prospect of a galling,
counseling-rich road to recovery.
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| The watchability factor: Linda was torn between work and auntie-hood |
Skipping over to the “Casualty” pros,
character dynamics and tendencies were covered with equal dexterity. When I
blogged about “Hart of Dixie” about a fortnight ago I detailed how irritating
it was too watch multiple ill-fitting strands of the episode compete pitifully
for attention instead of complement one another. With “Casualty”, however, the
love-matches, rivalries and affiliations seem to be strictly within the hospital environment and
therefore cohesive with the medical drama backbone of the show; work and play,
in this case, were more “salt and pepper” than “chalk and cheese”. Linda the
nurse bounded into the spotlight as engaging from the get-go. Her unexpectedly
becoming guardian to a niece and nephew was mentioned (again bolstering the
show’s accessibility to “Casualty” novices) without being excessively detailed,
and she rightly asserted herself as a show veteran. What I relish about telly
is that countless arresting and exhaustive storylines can run simultaneously; listless
big-budget Hollywood titles have made the “party girl suddenly has to care for
infant” premise their main focus, but “Casualty” added it to its mix on
Saturday as a fifth of just one episode. It’s the episode-spanning but accessible
plots like these that may well sway me into reinstating “Casualty” on my
Saturday to-do list. Storyline aside, Linda struck as amiable and, crucially,
watchable each and every time she entered the frame. Whether she was on the
receiving end of a slap from her demanding niece Britney (flawless choice of
name for a precocious and diva-ish teen, by the way), being called to care for
her ill nephew whilst balancing work or being turned down by soon-to-leave
nurse Lenny, she was scooping my support unfailingly. On the subject of Lenny,
the show’s writers deserve applause here for allotting a fairly crushing line
(“I feel like I’m becoming the
surrogate dad here”) to a thoroughly relatable nice-guy character. One more, “Casualty”
refused point blank to serve up one-dimensional plots, people or “happily ever
afters”.
If I were to knit
pick, my only gripe with Saturday’s show was its handling of thorny doctor,
Dylan. In the first few minutes of the episode he displayed a knack for
alienating both fellow characters and new viewers; his standoffish persona and
lack of likeability made him prickly viewing. Fast-forwarding about twenty
minutes, he was shown receiving a solicitor’s letter with trepidation. Granted,
this being a long-running drama there has to be a sprinkling of long-running
plots that are going to be a touch baffling for new viewers, but by coupling
the episodes only hardcore-fan plot
with its most ostracising character (Jonas, perhaps, excluded), the show’s
writers made it tough to engage with scenes that focused on Dylan. Had it been
Lenny or Linda at the centre of a multifaceted and history-rich plot? I’d have
Googled. In this case? I glossed over.
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| Indifference: Dylan's situation left this new viewer baffled |
In all, I feel that
Saturday’s viewing robbed me of selfless intentions and the chance to reminisce
on the days before viewer voting: I enjoyed it as an astute and entertaining
show in its own right. “Casualty” struck as fresh, dextrously composed and
totally able to hold its own on the weekend telly battlefield. Time to take it
off the life support.
One Line Wonder
Dixie (the
paramedic, showing all the finesse and due care of an NHS professional just
summoned to a crisis): Collapsed
roof at a school. That’s a court case right there.
The Fortune Telly-er
Dixie and paramedic
hubby Jeff were edging into the thick of things this week, with Dixie yearning
for a maternal role; there may well be an adoption on the horizon for these
two. I see Linda’s Britney-woes gaining momentum in the coming weeks, too.
Perhaps Britney will be put in danger and Linda the nurse/super-aunt will save
her. Something mammoth is going to happen with Dylan and his solicitor’s
letter, but I’m already beyond the point of caring.
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