Like last year, the sixth episode of Cold Feet‘s latest series felt like the big game changer as character relationships lived and died and plot points bubbled to the surface. It was a fun episode too because it was able to balance the show’s brand of quasi-surreal dream sequence / hallucination with real world comedy and drama.
I’ve been saying all along that I can’t see Adam and Tina lasting as a couple, partly because Leanne Best remains firmly in guest star capacity but also because I’m not sure Adam is going to find another Rachel. He’s already married and divorced Angela in series six and now this episode saw just how much he was battling his feelings for Sarah against his relationship for Tina. There were some amusing moments as Adam argued with his conscience in the bar and later in the car outside Sarah’s house but it all came crashing down in Adam and Pete’s big 50th meal when Sarah showed up to disrupt the celebration.
Not that there was much of a celebration. Karen might have found a potential new boyfriend Gareth and Nikki has finally left abusive husband George for David (which won’t go down well) but everywhere else the cracks were starting to show. Matthew (unsurprisingly) dumped Olivia until Karen ordered him to get back together with her daughter until she had finished her exams! Pete and Jenny meanwhile found themselves at the twelve year mark in their marriage for the second time and for the second time it didn’t look as if they were going to hit thirteen.
I’m always conflicted about these two. Of all the relationships, they should stay together but they both have issues with themselves and each other that as a viewer, flit between lovable and annoying. Pete was back to self righteous again, ordering Jenny to build a loft extension for her mum Barbara while she pushed back, bordering on being mean to both her husband and mother as she dreamed of better things. Pete’s assumptions about Barbara were arrogant at times but so were Jenny’s failure to reveal that she had signed up for a business course and then getting angry when Pete argued against it. I hope a short break is all that is needed next week for a happier reconciliation in the finale.
I’m not sure then same could be said for Adam and Tina though; Admittedly there is less spark between them now that they are together – and there definitely is between Adam and Sarah – but I don’t believe for a second that the latter would work at all. The whole manipulation of Adam, including getting him the job at her workplace, just to get revenge on Tina seemed hugely contrived. Though I guess the same could be said for Adam accidentally working with Sarah in the first place. But up until now, she’s seemed burned but likeable; the innocent victim in the affair Tina was part with and it was her vulnerability that first attracted Adam to her. But making her a bit of a bunny boiler – particularly walking into the meal at the end – seems a step too far.
The seventh series hasn’t quite had the charm of the sixth, the abortion and Karen’s short breakdown aside, there hasn’t been quite the same level of drama this time round. But this episode came close, the strongest of the series yet. There was some delightful humour, from Karen’s first date observed by her very unsubtle friends, to the awkward birthday that was obviously going to be a disaster from the very beginning. Episode six certainly left things spiralling out of control for the final two episodes. I’m intrigued to see where the show goes next.
Cold Feet airs on ITV every Friday. Are you watching the new season? Let us know!