Reproduced with permission from fab telly blog PauseLiveAction.Have a look at it here, it's great.
On Corrie, we’ve left non-swimmer Roy Cropper floundering in the canal while Tony Gordon watches him drown. We’ll have to wait till Thursday to find out what happens (I’m avoiding spoilers because I don’t want to know yet, but I’m betting Roy will survive).
Tony Gordon is an absolutely classic villain, and it’s because the scriptwriters and actor Gray O’Brien have carefully given him that Jekyll and Hyde duality that the best villains have. Tony’s personality is based on getting what he wants, and it’s there that his ruthless streak comes in. What makes him successful in business becomes dangerous when it spills into his personal life, when an almost sociopathic streak kicks in so he doesn’t care about the feelings of others.
I say “almost” sociopathic, because Tony clearly does care a lot about other people, but only the ones he cares about, if that makes sense. You’re either part of Tony’s world (Maria, baby Liam), in which you will experience him as the most loving and considerate person in the world, or you’re outside, in which case, watch out.
I think if he hadn’t met Carla his “evil” side might never have surfaced. Carla is a person who brings out the passion in people, and Tony fell for her in a way he’d probably never allowed himself to do before. When he realised she was actually in love with Liam and not him, Tony reacted like he would with a business rival – destroy the opposition and things will be fine again. That’s been his pattern ever since, whether with Jed Stone or now with the Croppers.
What’s most powerful is that Tony’s self-interest is all about the people he loves. He isn’t trying to silence the Croppers to avoid going to prison, he’s doing it to protect the life he has with Maria and the baby. You can always see in his face the anguish that he’s found himself on this murderous road when really all he wanted was a normal, peaceful life, and that’s what makes him so compelling to watch.
From: PauseLiveAction, a fab telly blog.
Tony Gordon is an absolutely classic villain, and it’s because the scriptwriters and actor Gray O’Brien have carefully given him that Jekyll and Hyde duality that the best villains have. Tony’s personality is based on getting what he wants, and it’s there that his ruthless streak comes in. What makes him successful in business becomes dangerous when it spills into his personal life, when an almost sociopathic streak kicks in so he doesn’t care about the feelings of others.
I say “almost” sociopathic, because Tony clearly does care a lot about other people, but only the ones he cares about, if that makes sense. You’re either part of Tony’s world (Maria, baby Liam), in which you will experience him as the most loving and considerate person in the world, or you’re outside, in which case, watch out.
I think if he hadn’t met Carla his “evil” side might never have surfaced. Carla is a person who brings out the passion in people, and Tony fell for her in a way he’d probably never allowed himself to do before. When he realised she was actually in love with Liam and not him, Tony reacted like he would with a business rival – destroy the opposition and things will be fine again. That’s been his pattern ever since, whether with Jed Stone or now with the Croppers.
What’s most powerful is that Tony’s self-interest is all about the people he loves. He isn’t trying to silence the Croppers to avoid going to prison, he’s doing it to protect the life he has with Maria and the baby. You can always see in his face the anguish that he’s found himself on this murderous road when really all he wanted was a normal, peaceful life, and that’s what makes him so compelling to watch.
From: PauseLiveAction, a fab telly blog.
6 comments:
Well put- the duality of Tony makes him very watchable, fascinating ...besides the Jekyll and Hyde sides -- there are many other subtle sides as well as a lightly comic side as well. He's not so much the heavy, but a tragic hero in my books -- a modern day Macbeth who unable to control his ambitions has set himself on a collision course with fate.
We love Tony despite his evilness because Tony, at least bits of him, are in us...
Completely agree with this post. I wish Tony could stay, he's such a great character...I haven't been so enthralled by a storyline in ages.
Actually, I thought that ITV's corny trailers in particular make Tony Gordon look much more like gollum from thew Lord of the Rings films.
For some reason, Tony seems to be a different villian to most due to his caring side and I'm sure I read that Gray O'Brien's contract expires next year so he will be back.
I love Tony and dont want him to go. Perhaps he could be found not guilty by a sympathetic judge. I think the trailers are a copycat of Jekell and Hyde with James Nesbit which was very scary!
A good villain and more of a complex character than most other soap baddies with the writers demonstrating that he has other sides to him!
That said, I'd still rate Corrie bad boys Alan Bradley and Richard Hillman above him in the grand scheme of things.
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