Despite Carla’s best efforts,
Peter remains distracted. Over at the Rovers, Tina tells him he can find a new
babysitter and another pub to drink in. Having reluctantly agreed to let Tracy attend
a business meeting alone, Rob is mocked by Tina for allowing women to
manipulate him and called a Mummy’s boy. After flirting across the bar, she lures
him out to the smoking area where she goads him into kissing her by saying he
hasn’t got it in him. When they’re discovered by Carla, Tina acts concerned,
but gets the result she clearly wants when their encounter is reported directly
back to Peter. However, it’s worth noting that this occurs entirely by chance.
Without Peter or Carla in the pub when she lures Rob out, it’s not clear just how her devious actions were going to have the desired effect, and leaves the viewer wondering if Carla hadn't accidentally found them, how she intended for the news to reach Peter. He's furious, but to
prevent any suspicion on Carla’s part, claims he’s angry because Rob has
betrayed his sister. Meanwhile Tracy arrives home to an empty house, and leaves
a voicemail for Rob saying Deirdre and Amy are out for a few hours if he’d like
to come around. Why she didn’t just go back to the pub is as much of a surprise
as Deirdre’s seemingly unannounced return from Canada.
Kylie demands Gail get off her
case as she pushes her to reconsider the necessity of supervising David’s visits.
Ignoring the agreement on the basis
that Kylie is behaving like a child, Gail leaves David alone with Max and Lily as she goes shopping. Despite his concern at Kylie’s reaction, he puts the time
to good use by sewing the remainder of Max’s sheep costume for the nativity. As
David cavorts around wearing the sheep's head but pretending to be a
wolf, we are presented with the metaphor of the century. Not only is he caught
by Kylie, but his distractedness sees Max open one of her presents instead of
David’s. She kicks him out for the umpteenth time, and bans him from the
nativity.
Dennis’s little black book is
hanging by a thread, but so are those listed it would appear, as so far they’ve
turned out to be either ill or deceased. David mightn’t be the only wolf in
sheep’s clothing as Rita’s character does a complete about turn for no apparent
reason. “If he’s found a passion for something, where’s the harm in that?” she
asks Norris as he engages in her favourite pastime of late; mocking and
belittling Dennis. This empathy and encouragement continues as she insists she
wasn’t going to allow Norris deride his efforts in front of Richie. Not that I'm complaining, it's high time she changed her attitude, but like Tina’s
seduction of Rob, this sudden development is something of a leap of faith. Rita does however
point out that it would turn out badly for Dennis if the gig doesn’t go well; while
she finally seems to have decided to offer encouragement and support, she clearly doesn’t
appear to have any confidence in him.
Jenna quizzes Roy in advance of
his driving test. He is determined to pass while Hayley is just proud that he
is making an attempt.
Despite everything, Julie still
expresses concern for Brian to an incredulous Eileen as he prepares to move
out. Later that evening she asks him to call over to Eileen’s when he’s done. Broaching
the subject of the mortgage, Brian says he can’t afford to pay half, and Julie doesn’t
see why she should bear the full cost. He suggests that she buy him out and
quotes some figures. This leaves Julie in no doubt that her decision
is the correct one; while her world was crumbling, he was number crunching. As
the door closes in his face and on their relationship, a suitably dejected Brian makes
his wistful departure for Wales, and the estranged couple and viewer alike are left to ponder what could have been.
By Emma Hynes
Twitter: @ELHynes
All original work on the Coronation Street Blog is covered by a Creative Commons License
Seriously? They sack Brian but Jenna is still on the show? Morons!!
ReplyDeleteSeriously, what is going on with the writers? Everything has changed almost overnight. Rita is a shrew, Tina a stalker, Carla, well..she must be nipping more than a few glasses of red, she is just plain loony tunes!! Why are the writers doing this? Do they not think or care what they write anymore? Some of it doesn't even make any sene.
ReplyDeleteYes, strange character behaviour all round these days. However, might I add that there seems to be REAL chemistry between Rob and Tina. LOVE these two together. Anyone agree?
ReplyDeleteAgree that there's way more chemistry between Tina and Rob than her with a middle-aged, goose-stepping Peter Barlow. I hope Tracy finds out about those two and does her usual thing to the both of them. In general everyone seems to be acting strange...far stupider than usual...so much so that most if not all of the last episodes are really stretching the believability scale not to mention the entertainment satisfaction meter. Oh when oh when will we some of that ol' kitchen sink magic that kept us pining for more ? :-(. I'm still hoping and hoping but so sad right now...
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you on that. I feel like the writers don't care what we think or feel or REMEMBER. I can't tear myself away from watching, with the hope they wrap up some of these storylines that run on so long they run out of steam. I'm still miffed at how they let the story line with Kirsty and Tyrone fizzle out the way they did. Especially with the talent that the actress who played her was so believable, they could have run with it and it could have been one of THE best stories ever. Same goes for Hayley, I am at the point where I dont care, because I lost a sister to pancreatic cancer very suddenly in July, and she certainly wasn't able to go months with quality in her life. I know it's just a show, but, the possibilities of amazing writing, is just allowed to escape. I am dreading the months we will be subjected to another lover for Sophie, why do the good actors leave, and we are left with bottom of the barrel actors? :(
ReplyDeleteTHere was rather sloppy writing wasn't there? Deirdre's back? Since when? Rita's about face, and yes, Tina snogging Rob and it being a huge coincidence that Carla caught her.
ReplyDeleteHow can the Bistro accommodate a last minute gig on the Friday before Christmas, are they not booked to the rafters with office Christmas parties? They should have been rushed off their feet all through December.
ReplyDeleteDeirdre's going and coming back was very odd, if she's had time off for whatever reason she could have just been mentioned 'off camera' like she was last night.
Tina/Peter/Rob, it's just bizarre, I suppose it will all have some kind of meaning in the weeks to come, can't say I'm all that bothered though.