Friends

Friday episode, Eileen in despair. Paul is leaving for Yorkshire. There’s nothing she can or will do about it. Jason asks Deirdre to see her, maybe cheer her up. Afternoon, a scene of long-time friends commiserating.

Deirdre sized up the situation on entry: Eileen feeling sorry for herself, still lying on the couch. Deirdre opens a bottle, pushes Eileen over so she has room to sit beside her and pours two glasses of red.

They talk about Eileen’s bad luck with men. Eileen gives a synopsis of her relationship history. That is useful for newer viewers who may not know the story of the fathers of her sons or remember the wonderful Dennis. For viewers like me who do remember, it was nice to hear about them again. But it was especially nice to see a simple quiet scene of two friends just being with each other.

That’s what friends are for

We haven’t seen Deirdre and Eileen together much recently and it was a reminder that they are good friends and have shared a lot over the years. We haven’t seen many quiet scenes of any two people lately so this one was a pleasant interlude between the strife and action that follows most of the characters.

The wine, the talk, the reliving of past experiences prompts Eileen to action. So the last we saw this week was her running down the station platform looking for Paul on-board the Yorkshire-bound train. Depending on how that turns out, she may need Deirdre’s shoulder to cry on once again. Like the song says, that’s what friends are for.

And the line of the week came from Deirdre when Jason stopped her on the street. “Just the woman I’m looking for,” he said. She replied, “Can I have that on film and play it back on a daily basis?”