Coronation Street spoilers follow from Friday's episode (October 13).
The TV gods are sending us into an early noughties time warp – Big Brother is back, Survivor is returning and Coronation Street's Platt clan have just faced a sinister showdown with another serial killer. Richard Hillman would be proud.
The downfall of Stephen Reid allowed his family to take centre stage across this week's climactic episodes, but our only real question is: why did it take so long for them to feel properly involved?
Stephen's killing spree has played out on the ITV soap for the past 13 months, but the Platt family have remained on the periphery for most of the storyline.
While some fans may have hoped for a Hillman-esque saga that saw Gail and her loved ones in starring roles, there was no real attempt to echo 2003's iconic scenes. Instead, it was other familiar faces on the Street like Carla Barlow, Jenny Connor and Tim Metcalfe who became the key players in the storyline.
Sure, there were moments when Stephen's nefarious behaviour affected his loved ones – from cruelly conning his mum Audrey to tampering with a DNA test arranged by his niece Sarah.
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These storyline twists provided extra intrigue as Stephen's scheming hit close to home, but at every turn, the Platts' involvement felt all too brief.
This week's episodes were a brilliant reminder of why the Platts are the Street's best family, as they finally banded together to figure out the truth about Stephen.
There were laugh-out-loud moments throughout – everyone checking their bank accounts to see if Stephen had cleared them out, Gail starting a debate on when an appropriate time was to start drinking, and David wanting to set up a bathroom rota with the family all under the same roof for the night.
David was on particularly strong form with his sarcastic wisecracks. When his family confidently stated that Stephen wouldn't harm Sarah, he replied: "Well, we think he might have killed three people up until now – I don't think he's that fussy."
Sarah was given a major role in Friday's episode as Stephen went on the attack for a final time, while all of the Platts were present for the killer's dramatic last moments on the cobbles.
Even so, we can't help thinking that the big plot finale would have had greater emotional stakes if the Platts had appeared more regularly throughout the storyline.
It's possible that their absence from the saga has been a matter of storyline logistics. The Platts were preoccupied with an entirely separate plot – Max's radicalisation – in the early months of Stephen's arc, so it might have been strange for them to appear in two major stories at the same time.
Here at Team Digital Spy, though, we kept waiting for someone within the Platts to rumble Stephen much sooner. The story could have taken on a thriller-style tone if someone within the family had become suspicious of Stephen without the evidence to prove it, prompting them to play detective and give the killer an unlikely nemesis.
Even if this wasn't the direction the storyliners wanted to go down, more generic family scenes for Stephen and the Platts could have given his comeuppance much more impact. The show will surely now explore how characters like Gail and Audrey are affected, but they've only appeared with Stephen in a small number of scenes this year.
Todd Boyce, who played Stephen, recently let slip that his storyline nearly went on for six months longer. We couldn't help noticing signs of this in the final two weeks, as Stephen's various secrets were brought to light at rapid pace.
This sometimes felt rushed and made it difficult to keep track of how much each individual character knew about each crime at any given point.
Away from our small gripes, Corrie's big week had plenty to praise. The horror movie feel to the scenes in a boarded-up Rovers Return were excellently done, led by a powerhouse performance from Sally Ann Matthews as Jenny Connor.
This foreboding atmosphere might have been more present throughout the entire week if the episodes had been set at night rather than during the day.
The story was also given plenty of room to breathe, airing as the only main plot this week. The writers clearly had faith in letting the characters take centre stage, as this was one of the few Super Soap Weeks which didn't centre around a catastrophic stunt.
Corrie has also set up some interesting new storylines for the future. Peter Barlow causing Stephen's death is sure to mark the start of a gripping exit storyline for the fan favourite, while Audrey's denial over Stephen's crimes seems likely to cause ructions within her family.
Underworld is also now in crisis (when is it not?) thanks to Stephen casually stealing £250,000 from the business before he left the office for the final time.
We also can't forget the inevitable race against time to rescue Tim, who's still trapped in a car boot and in danger of becoming a fourth victim if someone doesn't get to him soon. Over to you, Sally and DS Swain...
Coronation Street airs on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 8pm on ITV1 and streams on ITVX.
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