(Series 20, ep. 45 ‘Report to the Mirror, Part One’ by Andy Bayliss 6.11.18) As usual, you can see my full review of the episode over at Metro. I do have a couple of extra thoughts though, before you go.
– Jac’s description of her implant, ‘It cracks, it creaks… it throbs and it pulses.’ How on earth has she concentrated on surgery and stuff with all that going on inside her? Yikes.
– Abigail Tate disappeared without much ceremony, didn’t she? So Henrik Hanssen, the former CEO who’s still suffering all types of post-traumatic stress, takes it upon himself to pick up his old job where he left off. This is what moral compasses do. I hope he restores his office decor back to its former serene splendour ASAP though.
– Wasn’t Sacha lovely with Zav’s mum? Isn’t Sacha lovely generally? The world needs to Be More Sacha.
– It looks like the Gaskell story is coming to a huge climax next week (clip here). Will we be left with a Mr Nasty vacuum after that? Is that why Selfie’s coming back, to plug the villain gap?
HOLBY CITY BEHIND THE SCREEN
Surely it is not up to Henrik to pick up on his old job. Wouldn’t it be a Board decision? At best they may appoint him as Acting CEO until a new one (maybe Henrik) is appointed.
They should bring back Jayne Grayson for a bit of a stability! Since the end of 2012 the role of CEO/Acting CEO has switched from Hanssen to Serena, Imelda Cousins, Serena, Hanssen, Serena, Guy Self, Hanssen, Ric, Hanssen, Serena, Abigail Tate and now back to Hanssen. It’s amazing how Adele Effanga never got the job at some point!
😂🤣😂. It’s probably the only job she hasn’t had… that and First Lady! 🤣😂🤣
It seems a bit quick that Abigail Tate has left with no explanation. But we haven’t really heard about her since she was with Fletch (indeed, I can’t even remember if they broke up, or had a break up conversation – I can vaguely recall that Abigail cottoned on to the depth of Fletch’s feelings about Jac, but can’t recall what the outcome of that was)
Seems very strange. If it wasn’t for the fact that it seems like all kinds of stuff is about to hit the fan for Gaskell from all kinds of directions, I would be very VERY worried about Jac’s propects, given that the last person who threatened Gaskell after also making it very clear to him that they were the only person who knew where the bodies were buried so far, and then ended up on the operating table ended up murdered.
I still can’t get my head around Essie’s attitude more than anyone else’s – she’s the one that’s worked closest with Gaskell, and has seen exactly how far he’s willing to push things to serve his own ambition, yet somehow (for speed of plot reaons) she has become Gaskell’s biggest cheerleader and has been assauging everyone else’s doubts about him.
After the trailer for the next part, I think what I’m most looking forward to is Gaskell’s mysterious patient from Lisbon waking up, and (hopefully) being coherent enough to fill in a lot more of his backstory. I mean, where did this stuff about him being raised in some kind of cult with children being branded come from? I did remember seeing the funny mark in the flashback episode, but I don’t think anyone said anything about it then, or in any other conversation with Hanssen.
Oh – that thing about Zav being blackmailed by Gaskell – we HAVE seen that. We didn’t know that it was Zav’s mother at the time, but when Gaskell went to look at the CCTV footage of Roxanne’s accident in order to cover his own tracks, he also spotted Zav in another part of the car park having a conversation and handing over a bag to the mystery woman (which was also why Zav was the first on the scene when Roxanne was knocked down).
So Gaskell didn’t do any digging on Zav, he just got lucky in that he saw that Zav was doing something dodgy at the same time as he was threatening Roxanne, and therefore was vulnerable to persuasion.
Brilliant review, I really love your funny but on the spot reviews of each episode of Holby City. Never really warmed to Gaskell, so hope his end is near. I kind of prefer Self over Gaskell.