Tonight, it's The Swarla's Show. Or maybe The Swecky Show? I think we need to know who's the original Swain, i.e. did Lisa take Becky's name or Becky Lisa's? Or is it a whole new surname that they adopted? I'd like to think Lisa is the ur-Swain, she is the Swainiest Swain - this interloper can't take our Swain!
Anyway, Swain 1.0 corners D.I Costello and demands answers, but he won't give her any crumbs just yet because this storyline is going to run for another few weeks. In the meantime, Becky just wanders into no. 6 and demands to see Betsy, Carla blabs her mouth to Kit, and Lisa tells Carla not to tell Betsy about the former Mrs Swain, which I guess'll last around three episodes, tops. Carla tells Lisa that she'll be there for her as there's not much that fazes her. I suppose once you've been kidnapped, taken hostage, had your factory burn down, and got married to Nicky Tilsley, you can face anything
I'd like to know how Becky thought running off to Spain, leaving Lisa and Betsy to face the gangster-shaped music was protecting them? Another loose end that I hope will be tied up, how did Logan Ratcliff know about Tia Wardley? If he's under Costello's protection then why is he in chokey?
There's other stuff going on too. Tyrone can't feel his legs and is revealed to have spinal injuries so I guess we're in for another medical storyline. And Dame Maureen turns D.S Maureen as she is determined to use 6 months of a law degree to track down whodunnit.
Whodunnit turns out to be Carl as Dylan's alibi about taking Brody to the hospital after he had a seizure checks out (to be honest I think they'd still be waiting in A&E). Is Carl going to be the next Stephen Reid/Richard Hillman/Joel Deering? He's certainly leaning into his bad boy persona, whereas I think it'd be better if he were a rough diamond who deeply cares for his sister. I suppose this is all to show Abi that whilst Kev is old and pretty dull and will never drink wine in a conservatory that he's the better bet than bad boy Carl. I also think Brody losing control of the car whilst having had a seizure, but still fleeing the scene, would've been a better storyline, but I’m not a storyliner so what do I know.
In the C storyline, Todd and Theo move into Daniel's old flat above Dev's. It's not got great feng shui for relationships has it, that flat? Deedee and Joel lived there also and Sharif used it for secret trysts. It starts badly already as George (who really needs to befriend Brian or someone, anyone other than his ex-girlfriend's son) turns up with house-warming beers and Theo sulks and pouts. To be honest, I'm surprised he didn't shove the matching keyrings he bought for him and Todd down poor Todd's throat when Todd hadn't bought a reciprocal moving-in present. It feels like TPTB wanted to do another coercive control storyline, but gay this time, but didn't want to be, or appear to be, homophobic (the evil gay man!) so they've given Theo a tragic backstory to explain his mental health problems. Anyway, it's all going to get a lot more upsetting before Theo goes off to Emmerdale.
Rachel Stevenson - on bluesky
