Rating Paul Marquess's First Week At Hollyoaks

The moment I have been waiting for a year for is finally here, as Paul Marquess officially took over the reigns of the Channel 4 soap Hollyoaks. But was his first week any good? Was it all that I ever wanted and dreamed it would be? Or was it a major let down, with convoluted plot twist and more stupid storylines then you could shake a stick at? Well I guess you will have to keep reading as I grade Paul Marquess first five episodes!

Monday -

In Marquess's inaugural episode we see that Gaz has been arrested and charged with the murder of Calvin Valentine (who was actually murdered by Theresa Mcqueen the cousin of Calvin's wife Carmel).

The other side story dealt with Stephanie Dean overcoming her battle with cancer and starting to have a positive outlook on life and realizing that it is time once again to go after stardom, but what will be different this time is the fact that she has a SOB STORY! Yes the freshly widowed woman adopted and orphan and wins her battle with cervical cancer is not off to conquer the world! OR at least attempt to.
Overall -

Monday was not a bad episode, it was decent and the fact that Paul has already axed the characters that I would obviously be ranting about here (*cough* THE ENTIRE Valentine clan *cough*), I was able to sit back and relax as I slowly came back 'home' to the lovely village of Hollyoaks.
Tuesday -

Tuesday's episode was alllllll about poor little Theresa...........she finally told Myra that she was knocked up, but refused to tell just who the father was (because Myra would probably beat the living daylights out of her....and rightfully so!).
The whole Gaz mess continued today with the Valentine clan yelling and fighting over it... Lauren went to visit Gaz, Sasha flipped out, and Carmel calmed them all down.....Is it time to say goodbye yet?

Stephanie decided to go try out for the X-factor, she and Gilly guilt trip Rhys into helping her out by using her cancer.... it was such a low blow, and they knew it, but it was kinda hilarious to see Rhys crumble and start helping her.
Cindy who still wants Darren is "SHOCKED" when she finds Darren in bed with Suzanne Ashworth!

Overall-

Yay EastEnders style cliffhangers! While this wasn't the best 'duff-duff' copycat, it wasn't the worst! Yea I am trying to find the good in this episode dang it. The episode really kinda bored me.. I don't care about Gaz and the Valentines, and I could care less that Theresa is carrying Calvin's baby, just let everyone find out that she's the murder and she can pop out the child in prison like Becca and then die as well....ugh. So I guess my optimism is slowly fading away hu?

I just wish there was a bit more of a focus on Steph/Rhys/ the older generation. I don't really care to much to see these people who cannot act on my screen muttering through their scenes. I want to be gripped and enjoying my soap opera and I am not really enjoying it when that 'mess' is on. The good news is that they will be gone soon so hopefully that will come sooner rather then later.

Wednesday -

So Suzanne leaves Neviel and shacks up with Darren for a "few days". Meanwhile Darren and Cindy are still having this flirting back and forth thing. Rhys eventually catches up with Darren and to Darren's surprise Rhys is actually okay with their relationship, but he understands that it is temporary, and it is just the way things have to be. Later on Darren returns to his flat, and is completely stunned to see Cindy and Suzanne chatting and laughing on the sofa as they watch the telly.

We have some stuff going on at the Valentines (the girls want their dad to start acting like their dad again).


And the episode ends once again with a shocker as Jake comes home and finds Loretta in his bed in yet another fake-Duff-duff moment!

Overall-

To dang much crap went on in this episode, and to many characters I simply do not care about! But hey I did enjoy the Darren / Cindy / Suzanne dynamic, and i am interested to see where things go. But with casting the way it is I am guessing that Cindy is going to go away on maternity leave as Suzanne exits the show so Darren will be left all by himself for a little bit....HA! That will be the day.

Now I just have to say that the 'BEST' part of the episode came after the fake-duff-duff when Suzanne and Cindy were discussing which Sex and the City girl they were and then told Darren he was sleeping on the sofa! It was just amazing.

Thursday-

YAY! The collage gang is on today!

Ashworths --

Josh comes home and flat out tells his dad to get his act together and go fight for his marriage!

Nancy is dating Elliot, and the two of them have a discussion about her sexuality.... *sigh* more on then in my "overall" thoughts.....

Stephanie performs at the dog and does a killer job and showed everyone up!


Today's duff-duff knock off came in the form of Cheryl winning the lottery!

Overall-

Today's episode was a vast improvement over the other episodes, but that may simply be the fact that I love the charcter of Nancy and really the whole collage gang, so this episode was a lot more towards my liking then say an episode full of the craptastic Valentines. But with that said Nancy could do SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much better then Elliot, she deserves so much better, so I really hope that this relationship doesn't last that much longer, and with casting news the way it is I think my wish might happen soon so YAY!

Friday-

Oy, okay so Friday's episode is a mish-mash..

Cheryl lost her winning ticket in her bra....yay...

Elliot tries to rig the competition so that Nancy will win, only Cheryl won.

Amy tried to win, but didn't.....

and the fake-duff-duff goes to Kyle threatening Lauren......

Overall -

Okay I am going to be honest and say that I really didn't care for this episode, it was meh, but Nancy was in it and the focus was on the college crew so i didn't hate it as much as some of the episodes earlier in the week.


Paul M's Hollyoaks was interesting, it wasn't bad, but it wasn't good. It was a decent week of a soap that I once loved and I was actually able to sit through without having to claw my eyes out and shout "WHY GOD WHY ME?" With that said I really cannot advise anyone pick up the show just yet, the best time will be when Stunt weeks appear, and from the sounds of things to come you shouldn't have to wait too long for that to happen.

So my grade for Paul's first week is a solid C+ also known as average...here is hoping that an A+ is in store for Hollyoaks future!

What did you think of this week's episodes? were they better then Lucy Allens? Did you hate them? Let me know in the comments below