There is also the fact that Peter is back to being clean and serene, with a clear head, it's starting to seem like he's realised his mistakes and is slowly drifting back to Leanne.
Carla even seems to be alienated from the factory now, with Rob and Michelle running the show.
However, I do think the character is salvageable, giving her a fresh start away from the factory would be great, and mixing her in with a new set of characters could give the character some fantastic storyline potential.
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I could see that Carla might sell the factory to spite Rob but she would still need a reason to be on the Street after she and Peter split up (it's inevitable, isn't it?). She could buy a vacant shop - bound to be one - and use for it for upmarket dress hire, perhaps. She could employ snobby Sally, and Julie would at least be a customer if not a worker.
ReplyDeleteI like Carla, I haven't always but I've really warmed to her since her relationship with that bin man that ran off with Janice. I like that she's a bitch and a borderline alcoholic but what are the writers doing to her this week? It wreaks of plot device to ensure Leanne and Peter become closer in the run up to Leanne's xmas wedding.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately for Carla this means that when she comes back at Christmas she will effectively have alienated herself from the entire street. Whilst I'm almost certain her and Peter with reunite she's lost Michelle who was her only friend and this brother of hers who I have not warmed to in the slightest.
I thought Rob would provide Carla with at least some ties to the street but instead he seems content with throwing his weight around in a factory that he's worked at for a few months straight out of prison.
I say, kick Rob to the curb (or better still, a DNA test to prove he's not her brother and her real brother is actually another far more interesting rough diamond waiting to come along in a few months time) and let Michelle and Carla run the factory together.
In my opinion, Carla needs some light material for a few months or there's a danger of going 'Ronnie Mitchell' on her, and I really can't stand Eastenders.
I would love to see a double date with Carla, Peter, Steve and Michelle. No one wants characters to be happy all the time but a period of respite could go a long way for this particular character.
With Sunita about to depart, perhaps Carla and Karl could hook up. She likes 'em bad and he a bad'un. Stella and Carla can have pub fights and Leanne would join in. Lots of cutie-Q dialogue: "O Karlie, I love you so much" "Me n'all Carlie." When she runs out of money Carla can turn to escorting, using Leanne's old agency. Cur more fights between Leanne and Carla.
ReplyDeleteI really like Carla and Peter together! There is a spark between them and the actors are superb. I'm just disappointed in the return storyline because it's obvious that it's just a way of pushing Peter and Leanne back together for who knows how long this time. After everything that's happened, we're supposed to want to watch that? No thanks.
ReplyDeleteAs for Carla, she can be selfish but not like this. She would never have forced Peter to choose between her and Simon, five months back. The plot feels too forced and I'm not really buying any of it, to be honest.
I am not sure how they can turn this around now but I'm curious about what the writers have planned for Carla for 2013...
If nothing else, I'm really praying that something will happen to that damned faktry. Let it be blown to smithereens. Let it close down for good. Let Carla open a more modern enterprise (that she learned about in LA). Something. ANYTHING to bring it into the current century. Please.
ReplyDeleteHmm. "...isolated from all the characters she used to get on well with." I don't think Carla got on well with anyone on the street. She was very abrasive to almost everyone, and the fights with Baldwins, the affair with Liam, the affair with Peter, the whole Tony and Frank messes sure didn't endear her to anyone I can recall. It will be interesting to see if they can salvage her.
ReplyDeleteShe started to become close(ish) with Maria for a while. I don't know why people are so itchy about the Factory; it gives us another stage where characters can interact and let's face it, the writers seem bent on making sure everyone but Marcus and Brian literally work on the Street so it keeps the factory girls onscreen. A call centre, while modern, doesn't provide enough scope for interaction while everyone's chained to their desks unable to gab to each other.
ReplyDeleteI can't see Carla going for Karl; he's simply not alpha enough. The writers seem to have forgotten about the Karl/Sunita pairing, for which I am quite grateful!
Problem is when some characters disappear for a time they just dont fit in any longer on their return. Peter has ties in the Street but Carla has none apart from her dopy brother who is more interested in the business than his sister. I have no feeling for Carla one way or the other, find her drinking tiresome and wouldnt be sorry if she went but I doubt whether a good actress like Alison King would be written out. Unfortunalely though some characters however good have their time and I think Carla has had hers.
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ReplyDeleteI love Carla and would be really sorry if she left any time soon. I think she has great potential as long as the storyliners find her something else to do as opposed to this constant cycle of drinking and angst. I had hoped they would explore more of her family however having seen her brother now I'm not so keen!
I think it's a shame they killed off her mother off screen. It would have been fascinating to see her interact with her mum. Mother and daughter running the factory would have been interesting!
Carla needs to grow a pair. She was so strong and confident when she first landed on the street. Now...a rock of jello.
ReplyDeleteThey need to bring her back so she can take charge. I used to love the way she put people in their place. No way the old Carla would just let Leanne slap her around like that. She also wouldn't be bowing and scraping begging any man to please please please take her back to America..or Timbuktu for that matter..she'd be giving him a boot up his backside and chucking him out the door. And..why didn't Leanne get picked up for disorderly? She instigated the whole thing.
I think what has Carla in such a mess is that she's been able to escape in L.A. and find her old feisty spirit. Coming back to all the problems and especially all the reminders on the street is more than she can cope with. The rape shattered her self-confidence. L.A gave her a chance to gain some of it back, but being in the environment where it all happened is making her realize how fragile and tenuous her veneer of self-assuredness really is, and it's terrifying her. She really meant that speech about how if she stayed another week she'd be dead.
ReplyDeleteWe will never see the old feisty Carla that first arrived on the street. We probably won't even see the Carla that fought her ex-husband in a burning factory in 2010...and really that's the way it should be.
ReplyDeleteA rape victim (even a woman as strong as Carla) does not get over that traumatic attack in a matter of months or years, IF they ever get over it.
Thank goodness the writers finally addressed that she never faced up to what happened to her in last night's episode: she went from the rape to the trial, to the exposure of the affair (and being castrated on the street as a liar and a cheat), to Frank's murder, and then straight into the middle of a custody battle with Simon/Leanne/Peter.
Alison King is a fantastic actress and one, if not the, strongest on the show. The emotion she conveys with a simple look is so powerful, you just get drawn in and feel the extent of her suffering. So I think it is safe to say that the character of Carla will be salvagable. Why? Well as Carla herself said, she's had more comebacks than Tom Jones! ;)
Loads of mileage left in Carla -once she parts company, and moves on from CalifornIA Pete.
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