(Series 7, Ep.3) My usual approach to writing about Waterloo Road is to be all flippant and (ideally) amusing about it. Do they not know how hard they’re making it for me at the moment? It’s very tricky to be F and A when a beloved character has been smitten by a terminal illness. So let’s get the serious stuff dealt with first. This week, Sambuca Kelly discovered that her brain tumour is incurable. She didn’t find this out from her mum (who already knew and couldn’t think of a way to tell her) or Tom Clarkson (who knew but was too busy ringing round hospitals trying to find someone who just might have a cure that no-one else had thought of). She did a bit of research on the internet then took herself off to the hospital to ask her consultant which of the many pills she was on was going to shrink her tumour. He told her the truth – none of them would. She was dying. Holly Kenny is playing this difficult role with astonishing skill, maturity and honesty. Every tiny emotion is there on her face, and it’s quite heartbreaking.
Talking of heartbreaking, what is Vicki McDonald playing at? She was proposed to in front of the whole school (well, a representative selection of regulars and extras, anyway) by the magnificent Ronan Burley. It was all very romantic, with Grantly summing up the joyous mood: “The countdown to teen pregnancy and messy divorce starts now.” Then Vicki immediately went off for an assignation with creepy Aiden Scotcher, who is supposed to be way cooler than Ronan because he prefers to spend his weekends grappling with Jess Fisher rather than with a Lord of the Rings box set. Huh. It’s going to break poor Ronan’s heart when he finds out that his new fiancee has cheated on him, and Jess is not going to be best pleased either, as she spent most of the episode with her tongue lodged somewhere in the region of Aiden’s tonsils. What we also know about Scotcher Jr is that he has a bit of a past – his dad warned him that he didn’t want to see him “getting another girl pregnant.” What are the odds on a baby-mother and offspring turning up at a dramatic moment in a future episode?
Scotcher Senior, meanwhile, has made romantic progress with Karen. She’s even helping him with his homework. Yes, it turns out that he not only has a degree, but he’s currently studying for a teaching qualification. How terribly handy, given that he’s already the best teacher in the school (for a caretaker), if you ignore the health and safety regulations he flouts to get Kyle Stack up a ladder with a squeegee (don’t ask). He’s already practically on a Dead Poets Society footing with the previously unmanageable Kyle.
Never-Seen-Before-Boy of the week was one Stuart Foley, who was being horrible to Amy Porter (writing “slag” on her locker etc) because her mum was having an affair with his dad and he thought that if he drove Amy from Waterloo Road. her mum would go away too. Deluded indeed if he thinks that he, guest artiste for a week, can get rid of a regular cast member so easily. It all served to show what a peculiarly rubbish teacher Eleanor Chaudery is. She’d been given the Pastoral Care hat for the week, and even by the terrifyingly low standards set by Kim Campbell and Adanna Lawal, she was still rubbish at it.
Next time: A mysterious new pupil, Rob and Karen get closer, and Finn and Sam don’t.
Posted by PLA (more Waterloo Road here)
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