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Monday, 3 February 2014

Coronation Street double episode review, Monday 3 February

Tina is back but only for a few days, until Friday, while she sorts out a few things and returns to her couch in Shepherd’s Bush and her bar job. Lloyd kindly accepts no payment from her for her Streetcar ride and tells her that Weatherfield is much better than ‘that London'. As Tina says, it’s the bright lights  and she can’t resist them, with a touch of sarcasm The question is though, can she resist Peter Barlow? From his cocky facial expression he clearly believes she can’t. As he talks to her we see how unsettled, rattled and generally perturbed by his presence she is. Despite her denial that she has come back for him, her whole demeanour seems to refute that claim.

It was uncomfortable viewing to see Carla and Tina together, Carla (or should that be Queen Carla, as she has risen so much in our esteem after her kindness to Hayley) clearly at a loss as to why Tina disappeared without saying goodbye. What has happened to the sisterhood Tina? Or do you not subscribe? Tina’s ‘affair’ (yes and Peter’s) is particularly reprehensible as Carla has been nothing but sweet to her.  There is a lot to be said for self-control and for not betraying your friends. It was a good cover-up to say that it was Rob who was bothering her and easy for Carla to believe, as she would be delighted for Tina and Rob to get together, even suggesting that she might give them a nudge while Peter looks aghast!

The satisfying aspect of all these machinations is that this is all playing out in Soapland, so we can rest assured, though it may take a while, that the bad will  get their comeuppance.

So to the newspaper bill - £18.60 which Tracy claims she cannot pay, so is refused the cola drops for Amy, the daughter Tracy now realises she has. Rob decides he will pay the paper bill thus securing the cola drops, by paying in pennies.  Not as clever as he thinks he is, he then talks to Tina, joking about the kiss they shared and to Carla too which Norris overhears. 

Later,as Rob and Tracy see Norris and Mary coming towards them, cruel Tracy calls them Daffy and Donald and it is this which spurs Norris on to reveal the damaging knowledge he has. Tracy emits a she-wolf cry of anguish and runs off to her mother. She asks Deirdre to guess who it was that Rob had cheated with. ‘I’ll give you a clue - she hates my guts.’  Deirdre’s facial expression as she says, ‘That narrows it down,’ is genius and should be painted and hung in a gallery somewhere.  Deirdre, rather surprisingly, finds herself persuading Tracy to forgive Rob, confessing that she’s not his biggest fan, but also tells Tracy to milk the situation, to keep him on a tight leash and to get a romantic mini break out of it. As Tracy flounces out saying she needs air, Deirdre suggests Tracy takes Eccles, but there is no leash for him.

Tracy is in no mind for reconciliation and throws Rob’s belongings out onto the street, after having told Rob, in reply to his, ‘What we have is amazing’  that in fact what ‘we HAD was amazing’ and so Rob is taken in by his sister, Carla.  Peter seems very keen that his sister and Rob should get back together and the reason is clear, though it confounds Carla, who was aware that Peter wasn’t keen on Rob and Tracy being together. We know though that if Rob is ‘on the prowl’ Peter is afraid that one of Rob’s prey would most certainly be Tina.  

Gratifying though it was to see Tracy so upset and furious, it also produced an even better result and that was Mary’s praise and denunciation of Norris. She begins by praising him and it is clear that Norris is enjoying it. Norris says, ‘That ugly encounter left me quite traumatized.’ Mary did tell him that the way he was behaving by telling Tracy what he knew about Tina and Rob was unseemly, but he ignored her and carried on. Mary’s denunciation begins with the stark, ‘You deserved it.’ Softening the blow a little she says, ‘You have many endearing qualities, you are community- minded and very, very moral.’ She tells him he has good clear morals and expects others to live that way. She continues, ‘You’re a stickler for detail – the way you scrutinize the grammar on everything you read – it’s absolutely fastidious.’ Then comes an explanation as to why Mary sees Norris as a conundrum. She informs him that he is ‘a despicable busybody who delights in upset and distress’ wherever he can. And who can argue with that? Her final warning is probably the best. ‘It’s only a very stupid man who will risk the wrath of Tracy Barlow. You have stirred up a hornet’s nest.’ With the foreboding of a soothsayer, Mary, not so stupid after all, predicts future events. 

The scenes with Dev and Kal, each rather amusingly criticising the other for the same thing, was quite amusing if a little unconvincing as to how business partners might talk of each other. Each calls the other ‘a nightmare’ which adds a touch of concern as to how they will work together. Jason’s dad, Tony is keen that his son isn’t ripped off and tells Kal and Dev that no, Jason won’t give then a ‘ball park figure’  but will give a proper estimate in the morning. Why is he so keen to be involved? Might he have a selfish motive?

Sophie and Maddie seemed to be getting on reasonably well until Sally came along. Turning up at Maddie’s house her mum mistook Sally and Sophie for the social services and had told Ben, Maddie’s little brother,  to stay out of the way - Ben having run away from his foster parents.
Back at Sophie’s for tea Sally oversteps the mark, by her criticisms of a situation she does not know nor understand. Maddie leaves, quite rightly telling Sally that she knows nothing about her family. 
  
Andrea is everything Michelle is not, which was clearly exemplified in tonight’s episodes. Andrea is cheerful, good fun, and has a sense of humour. Interestingly, Steve was more than a little reluctant to give out Andrea’s phone number to Lloyd. So it becomes clearer that Steve may have feelings for Andrea and maybe, just to make it more complex, Andrea agrees to go out with Lloyd to make Steve jealous - a real test to come of the strength of Lloyd and Steve’s friendship, not to mention Michelle’s reaction.


Would you trust Phelan? A man who comes to your house to make a ‘joke’ about whether he will release the money or not. This is surely going to go wrong –both Phelan and his wife not people you would trust or befriend.  None of this bodes well for Phelan and Armstrong.    
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10 comments:

Frosty the Snowman said...

Ridiculous that Tina would return, nobody cares and surprised that Hailey's demise was not mentioned - obviously short memories! Now he have to put up with more sick making scenes with her and grubby old man Peter Barlow.

John McE said...

Haven't we seen more than enough of Tina and Peter unable to keep their hands off each other already? Now we've got yet more weeks of it of this completely unbelievable plot. Unbearable.

Newfy Pearl said...

LOL The scenes with Peter and Tina are bad enough...but what about Rita! lol
I was disappointed that Tracy did not drag Tina into the street by her hair like she did with Maria.
The writers are making the Tina character so unlikeable. I bet it will not be a success story for that actress like it was for Katherine Kelly who had such a tremendous exit.

Anonymous said...

The acting last night was terrible. Tracy is awful most of the time but last night she was just crap. Its as if the actors know this storyline is a heap of rubbish so aren't even trying anymore. Don't blame them with the bad script-writing.

And of course yet another "Take the piss out of Steve" moment with of course dog faced Michelle conveniently arriving from the back to put him down even more. Although his attraction to Andrea is obvious, he was in the right not to give out her phone number without her permission. And why must the likes of Eileen, Todd and Jenna act like pathetic school kids over a 'crush', plain stupid.

Joseph said...

I thought it was a pretty good episode last night.

For the first time the Sophie/Maddie storyline showed promise and potential. I could do without the inevitable romance but I can totally get behind Sophie and Sally helping Maddie and her family get Ben back. It would be good character development for Sally actually. Hope they continue this instead of sticking Sally in a boring triangle with Tim and Kevin.

For the first time last night, I got the same vibe from Rob/Tracy than I did from Charlie/Tracy (who I LOVED back in the day). Thought Tracy was a bit more passive - it's hardly out of character for her to go completely crazy on Rob - but still I enjoyed it.

The only thing I really hated was the Peter/Tina scenes. I'm pretending the affair didn't happen but when Peter first saw Tina again, and he was checking her out from behind, I was back to calling him a bastard. Honestly he's got Carla! This isn't a 'why have cotton when you can have silk?' thing. I don't get it, and I'm sad that this is Tina's last story.

Also think Kym Marsh/Ryder/Lomas/whatever-the-hell-her-surname-is-today is improving slightly in the acting. Michelle didn't come across as a bully so much last night. There may still be hope yet, but I'd rather Steve still dump her.

Also this may be me but I wasn't getting an 'Andrea is seeing if Steve is jealous' vibe last night. She seemed genuinely concerned that it would be awkward for Steve. Maybe the acting or writing just came off wrong. Whatever.

Anonymous said...

I'm loving Carla but I hate the Tina and Peter storyline. It's so bad that it's embarrassing to watch. Come on Corrie, you are better than this!

We've already had a week dedicated to Tina "leaving for good" when we all knew she was coming back, now there's another few weeks of Tina "definitely leaving for good this time" when we all know she isn't going anywhere yet.

I hate the way the producer has forced this storyline down our throats! It's horrifically contrived.

Tvor said...

"Deirdre’s facial expression as she says, ‘That narrows it down,’ is genius and should be painted and hung in a gallery somewhere."

Brilliant!!!!

Mad Hatter said...

Anyone else think Norris has been on top recently? I know a blog was posted about him recently and him showing a softer side. I like how he stuck up for Mary and wiped the annoying sneer off Tracy's face.

abbyk said...

I have never been a fan of Mary's, until last night. It was totally out of character and won't last, but was nice to hear someone say it. I hope Norris heard it; was liking the glimmer of kindness he showed during Hayley's demise.

It was also odd seeing Steve as the only one not displaying sophomoric behavior. Sensible adults don't just hand out phone numbers willy nilly; he was right to want to ask her permission. The gang egging him on, Tracy looking for fights to pick, Sally looking at Sophie's texts like she was a 12 year old, Phelan's little joke, serious immaturity all around. What a let down after last week.

Anonymous said...

I really hope Andrea isn't just using Lloyd to get to Steve. That would be really nasty and manipulative to both of them. Besides, she'd be mad to throw away lovely Lloyd for spineless Steve!!!

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