Victims: Tue Jun 1, 2010 Corrie Episode Review

Written by Mark Wadlow, directed by David Kester & Ian Bevitt

Robbie is making himself quite at home on the street, visiting of the of places of businesses and interacting with the denizens.  Trev tells Carla that he’s standing by her, because if the police won’t protect her – he will.  She calls him her knight in high-visibility tabard. Carla thinks she’ll be okay today since Tony’s hardly going to show up there in broad daylight, plus there are coppers abound and Bill and Jason are up on the roof.  Oh, I really wouldn’t underestimate Tony Gordon at this point.  If I were her, I’d have been in my panic room yesterday.  And yes, if I were Carla, I’d probably have a panic room.  Let’s not forget who she’s got an 8am appointment with, after all.  Robbie arrives, but Carla tells him that something’s come up and asks if he can come back in an hour.  Robbie doesn’t seem to pleased with this change in plans, but agrees anyway.    

Robbie decides to spend the hour with Roy and goes over to the cafe to see if he’s ready.  Robbie gets a breakfast off of Roy as they discuss the train convention later.  After, Robbie stops by Underworld for his meeting with Carla who has just let the police leave on a lead they had on Tony being around Manchester Airport.  Clearly, a false lead. 

Hayley gets a package and opens it to find a lovely red dress not much unlike the salsa dress she’d bought-returned-tried to buy back.  Anna thinks the dress is lovely.  She later tells Roy that Hayley was chuffed as mint balls (?) when she opened the gift.  Well, it looks as thought the dress has done the trick, since Hayley comes into the cafe with her dress and suitcase in tow asking Roy if he’d be a gentleman and carry her bag upstairs for her.  Hayley and Roy are back together, champagne all around.  Roy wants to ditch the train convention to stay with Hayley, but she insists she go with this new friend of his, Robbie. 

Meanwhile, in the factory, Carla shows Robbie the inventory, and he says he’ll get his calculator.  She turns around to see a  gun cocked and pointed towards her.  He tells her that before she asks, ‘yes’ it’s a real gun.  No, I think she was thinking ‘Is this Tony’s doing?’  Robbie has Carla hostage now, and he goes on about how easily he could have been a train driver instead of an armed robber.  Robbie gets Carla to get rid of the idiots on the roof, so Carla does what he asks and gets Bill and Jason to leave.  Bill doesn’t take being laid off easy, and starts rapping on the door for her.  Robbie forces her up with the gun to her back to tell Bill to get lost.  After, he ties Carla to a chair and puts some tape over her face so no one can hear her screams, then leaves for a couple minutes.

He calls Tony to let him know that Carla’s tied to a chair and he’s out to get victim number two.  He turns the corner on the street and sees Roy but tells him that he’s got to pull out of the train convention but insists that Roy still go.  Roy basically delivers Hayley to Robbie on a platter, unknowingly of course.  Robbie is on the hunt for Hayley.  He barges into the cafe and tells her there’s been an accident in the factory and Carla’s called for her.  He tells her that he’s Carla’s client, Ron.  Of course, Hayley rushes to Carla’s aid.  Hayley walks right into her trap and realizes this as she sees Carla tied up in her chair and a gun cocked behind her.  Now that Robbie’s got the two victims bound, Tony shows his face.  He rips off her gag, and Hayley’s full of stupid questions.  Oh boy, what’s going to happen now.  One thing’s for sure – someone’s gonna get hurt. 

It’s witness day, and David’s on the phone to Anka, the Polish cleaning lady, who tells him how nervous she is.  He tries to reassure her that it’ll be all over so  quickly there’s no need.  David and Nick are clearly worried about whether or not Anka will show up at this point.  In the peanut gallery in court, Mary has saved Norris’ bench seat for him to his dismay.  I’m shocked he’ll be in the same room with her.  I suppose he thinks not much could happen in a court room, and goodness knows he wouldn’t leave this court for anything!  The trial starts up again, and Gail’s legal team is working for their pay!  Gail takes her oath and finally has her say in court.  But will she have her day?  Gail tells the judge and jury what we’ve all had to listen to for months, and well, at least she’s consistent!  The defence asks her what the last thing she said to him was and she says “I love you, Gail.”  The defence asks Gail about Tracy Barlow, and Gail sets the court straight and tells them all what Tracy is like and what she’s done.  The prosecution asks Gail about all the lies she told in order to protect Joe, and they basically start calling her a liar and she begins to crumble emotionally, but holds her to truth. 

Outside the courtroom, David is burning a crop circle into the tiled floors with all the pacing he’s doing.  Suddenly, he sees Anka come up the stairs of the courthouse.  Anna has a heavy look on her face the entire time, and turns to leave telling David that she’s sorry, but she can’t do it.  David is left shell-shocked. 

HIGHLIGHTS

- Carla referring to Trev as her Knight in high-visibility tabard.  There’s a lot of high-visibility outfits on the street today!

- Carla locking up the factory tight, and asking Robbie if he doesn’t mind, since there are some funny people out there.  No kidding! 

- Robbie dialing the phone with his gun.  What, does he have a Captain Hook complex? 

- When Tony rips off the duct tape from Carla’s mouth, he looks at the tape and reckons that’s about three layers of self-tan. 

LOWLIGHTS

- I know that Coronation Street is no strangers to coppers, but the place is literally crawling with them now!  Surely this must bring the price of real estate down.

- Robbie was eating candy bars at 8 in the morning?  Who eats candy bars at that hour?  This guy must be a nutter! 

- Robbie telling Carla, whist taken hostage, that he could have easily been a train driver over being an armed robber.  Hrmm, where did it all go wrong then?  Was it the lack of proper guidance in the early years?  Maybe he hung out with a bad crowd?  Or perhaps never got to take that Darjeeling-Himalayan ride?  Or maybe he’s just plain nutters, and not in the Roy Cropper way.