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Thursday 29 May 2014

Coronation Street episode review, Wednesday 28 May 2014


Its day three of Who Kills Tina? week, and as 9pm approached, I promptly returned to the edge of my seat and braced myself for the massive twist we had been promised. I was not disappointed.

Breathless and clearly in shock, a stunned Rob peers over the balcony at a motionless Tina and gathers himself before trashing her apartment, even making off with some of her possessions. What he doesn’t expect is to find her alive when he exits the flat. Despite not having said a single word between Tina’s fall and this latest discovery, Marc Baylis deftly conveys the maddening range of emotions Rob experiences as he hurtles from one phase of the aftermath to the next.

Asking her if she’s okay, and offering to call her an ambulance, together with the accidental nature of her fall ensures that Rob is portrayed as a good man with a conscience as described by Marc Baylis and Stuart Blackburn last week. However, after he fails to convince Tina that the bang to her head is affecting her memory of events, things take a nastier turn. Assuring him she’s more determined than ever to see him go down, now adding attempted murder to his list of charges, and ignoring his appeals for leniency on the grounds that he’s happy and getting married, Rob decides to silence her forever with an iron bar.

As things stood last night, both Tina and Rob evoked immense sympathy in me. She would have died a vulnerable and lonely character, and he would have been a good man who committed a murder by accident. Tonight therefore provides a double twist for me; not only would Tina have made a recovery had Rob not attacked her a second time, but it is their respective character flaws which actually lead to their downfall.

Through gritted teeth Tina asserts, “I was born gobby”. These, her final words, prove that she is unable to suppress this part of her nature, and it ultimately leads to her death. Similarly, while a tearful yet menacing Rob may visibly appear to struggle with the choice that lies before him, he announces his impending murder with the chilling retort, “and you’ll die gobby too”. While I look forward to both the psychological battle that we’re promised lies ahead of him, and Marc Baylis’ undoubted ability to offer a mesmerising portrayal, it is difficult not to consider Rob a coldblooded killer after tonight. It’s a great twist, and a thrilling and fantastic episode throughout, but perhaps an accidental death would have been preferable if the aim is to ensure viewers are “with” Rob as this storyline progresses.

With everyone convinced Tracy and Rob are having their own private engagement party next door to the Rovers when in reality both are up to no good on their own terms, and lie to eachother on reuniting, it will be interesting to see how this prospective alibi plays out.

Liz likening pondlife Peter Barlow to a jellyfish may have left viewers plumbing the depths for clues as to why, but once you consider how he appeared weirdly calm and floated through the tempestuous waves of adulterous transparency while simultaneously stinging Carla with the news that Tina was not better than her, but different, it couldn’t be more accurate. At least he can rely on Steve for a kind word in the face of yet another personal disaster. “You never know,” his friend chirps, “it might all blow over.”

Carla's fury doesn't offer much hope for Steve's prediction. She concludes that Peter, the only man she ever wanted to have children with, mustn’t have loved her at all despite his insistence that he never stopped doing so. Her rage sees her announce to the Rovers rabble that she’s going to kill Tina before storming off to find her. As she emerges on to the balcony of the builder’s yard she spots Tina’s body on the ground below just as a stunned Leanne and Kal arrive on the scene. She receives no support from anyone but Michelle as the police arrive and take her away, not even Rob which may prove that his fear of returning to prison outweighs his concern for his sister which could have interesting consequences for the story as it progresses.

Meanwhile, Debbie Rush’s powerful performance is a triumph of tragedy and despair as Anna breaks down and confesses all to an incredulous Owen. Despite the dreadful nature of the revelation, considering the tender and loving side of him that has emerged in recent times, I didn’t expect that his reaction would be so cold; he even appeared repulsed at one point. However, he does eventually break down, and is clearly struggling to cope with the news as he tells her “Nothing will ever be normal ever again.”

This was another gripping episode which was superbly acted, written and directed, and if the week so far is anything to go by, the fourth installment tomorrow night at 9pm can't come quickly enough.

By Emma Hynes
Twitter: @ELHynes

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21 comments:

Anonymous said...

I really didn't see the iron bar smack-down coming. I thought Tina was dead and then she started moaning etc. So..Rob did the only thing he could - finish her off. I don't think it was as much to do with Peter's betrayal of Carla as it was his fear of going back inside that finally tipped him over the edge. So now, there are two cold blooded killers in the family. Poor Deidre.

Lily said...

I thought Marc Baylis and Alison King were both phenomenal tonight. The amount of emotions portrayed both verbally and non-verbally by them both was simply amazing. I was totally drawn in, right on the edge of my seat. I thought Chris Gascoyne also portrayed grovelling Peter in an incredibly convincing way. It wasn't about the begging or pleading, but about his almost emotional detachment about the affair, as if trying to prove to Carla that it meant nothing. The scenes with Chris and Simon Gregson always make me chuckle! Michelle Keegan also pulled out quite the show as an injured Tina shakily pointing her finger at Rob. Very fitting last words for her character as well, "I was born gobby!" But again the real stars tonight were Alison King and Marc Baylis.
Thanks for the review Ruth :)

Some other lines Rob could have used:
"You should have stayed in London Tina..."
"You should have run to Portsmouth Tina..."
"All I wanted to do was teach--err I mean--all I wanted to do was sell dodgy gear for maximum profit!"
"You should have stayed at the party Tina..."

Hehe

Lily said...

Aaaaaaaaand I meant Emma! Sorry!! :(

Just saying said...

Outstanding perfomances by Anna, Rob and Tina.
As for the jellyfish comment by Liz...I think she was telling Peter that he was spineless.
Great show!
Honourable mention to Deirdre drunkenly asking why Peter had to ruin Tracy's party!

Anonymous said...

I had a deja vue moment when Carla asked Peter if Tina was better than her....I knew he was going to say "different"...........a scene totally copied from Friends!

Anonymous said...

See people - this is why you shouldn't jump to conclusion. I recall seeing posts about how David and many others survived the fall before and so on... WAIT for the story to play out before you comment. :)

Frosty the Snowman said...

Now Rob has clobbered Gobby with the iron bar his character has become untenable and we can guess that he will ultimately be written out which is a shame.

Come on - Tina may have been a gobby little traitor but she wasnt stupid, who is pushed over the balcony by someone to be injured and still taunt them? Pretty obvious Rob would have no alternative but to shut her up permanently. Now we have to put up with a week in Weathy General with Rita's crying and hand wringing from the other residents. Quite why Fiz and Tyrone are around the bedside I dont know, where they best friends? Must have missed sommat.

John McE said...

Tina coming back to life was a brilliant twist, and certainly unexpected. Having thought all along that Tony was the most likely killer, it crossed my mind for a moment that he might still be the one to kill her, but then the iron bar in the skip told a different story.

For once, I wish they'd concentrated solely on the main dramatic storylines, rather than have Leanne and Joe 90 put in an appearance.

Anonymous said...

What I found interesting, certainly in terms of how things wil play out, is that what Rob did was all totally unnecesary as Peter had told Carla about the affair himself. So he has now committed murder and unwittingly made his pregnant sister a suspect for no reason at all. Will be interested to see whether he confesses to Tracy and whether they hatch a plot together, maybe taking advantage of Norris and Mary having seen Peter all flustered with scratches and Roy witnessing the argument.

Anonymous said...

Watching here in Canada, we haven't seen any of the excitement yet. All these storylines reaching a climax makes me wonder: is there anything in the UK equivalent to the "sweeps weeks" that occur in the US every few months, when the various networks compete for ratings, with sensational episodes of series, in order to command higher advertising rates from their sponsors?

John McE said...

No, but recently, long-running Corrie plots are dragged out so that they can be resolved in the week that Britain's Got Talent reached the semi-finals stage.

This is shown every night of the week, and Corrie is shown each night at the later than normal 9pm, sandwiched between the actual BGT show and the results show.

The actual week's episodes are usually very good, but at the cost of having some less than thrilling storylines go on and on, just so they can be resolved at this time.

Beth said...

It certainly was quite a twist Tina coming back to life. But heck, no broken bones. Not a scratch. Yes she did seem shaken up fair play considering she'd fallen from quite a height and I know this is television but was she made of rubber......?

Humpty Dumpty said...

They missed a trick when Tina revived. Rob should have called her bluff, saying that it was her word against his. As he leaves, Tony appears from the shadows and has obviously heard Tina's threat to expose the dodgy gear racket. It's Tony who kills her, but Rob thinks he has. His dilemma, eventually, is that he can't tell the police, 'OK, I sort of pushed her over the balcony but I didn't whack her.'

Having said that, great stuff and there was a murder weapon, after all.

Laura said...

I agree with Frosty....who lays there and still runs off at the mouth? That was pretty stupid even for "a gobby barmaid with nothing".
And please....who would survive that with no broken bones or anything? That was too unrealistic for me to really get into the whole scene..I just didn't believe it could happen. Actually, I thought she just might break into some dance video moves....I mean come on she would've gotten up if he hadn't whacked her with the pipe!

Anonymous said...

Well at least this time - people don't survive at the Weatherfield General.

Hing Jon Onn said...

It reminded me of John Staple when he fell from that building floors up and unrealistically just got up and ran off!

Tvor said...

To be fair, it's not that big a drop, unless you land on your head which will kill you. But that can happen just falling over a cobble. It's only up one flight of stairs, after all. It's certainly conceivable that you could fall and not be killed or seriously injured beyond a sprain or broken arm and lots of bruises.

Anonymous said...

As strange as this may sound,I had more sympathy for Maxine who was also murdered with a pipe by Richard Hillman then I did for Tina. Maxine's last thoughts were of her infant son Joshua whom she was trying to protect whereas Tina despite surviving an accidental fall was still taunting Rob and determined to destroy his and Carla's lives all because she didn't get her happy ending with Peter.

ChiaGwen said...

Can't fathom why Rob felt compelled to whack Tina over the head just because she was going to tell Carla about the affair. Hardly heart attack or stroke inducing news plus would he really care if she miscarried as he hates Peter so much you would think he would be glad she wasn't carrying Peter's baby any more. Also it would be Tina's word against his regarding Tony and the dodgy goods - werent' the police called when she threw the brick through their window - so hardly a pristine background for Tina. Great acting, but had to laugh when Rob heard those moans from Tina - sounded more like two people having a 'good' time rather than someone who had fallen from a great height. Agree, a greater twist would have been Rob seeing Tony finish Tina off - now he has to leave the show instead of Tony... :(

Just saying said...

Chia Gwen - Rob whacked her with the pipe not becuase she was going to tell about Peter's affair with her. It was because she was going to send him and Tracy to prison....

corrieqooq said...

So we get to see the killer live with his guilt and paranoia ... How very Dostoevsky! Wonder if it will go for1200 pages of script as well? Can't wait to see these eps!

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