Tuesday, 17 November 2015

Whatever Happened to Tracy's redemption?


Even more difficult times are ahead for Tracy, who, obnoxious though she is, is having a rough time at the moment.


She is still grieving for her mother, her father has taken up with Nessa, Tony has cleared out the money from the Barlow’s Buys account and, presumably, she is still experiencing great guilt at her causing the death of two completely innocent people.

A while ago, Robert seemed to be on her case. He was trying to encourage her to admit her guilt and she seemed on the very point of doing so. Viewers will recall that Tracy was arrested and there was great jubilation on the cobbles as a result. Carla, in particular, was transformed when it was revealed that she was not guilty of causing the fire and therefore not guilty of the deaths of Kal and Maddie. The drinking, the gambling, the drunkenness were all kicked into touch and now, she is experiencing one of her happiest times on the cobbles. The factory is picking up, the relationship with Nick seems to be going very well and Carla seems the least tortured she has been for some time.  

 But then, for some reason, Tracy was released and since that time, the strange thing is, that there has been barely any mention of the fire. So what is happening? Has the storyline been abandoned? There are references to Maddie, usually by Sophie, and Kal’s memory is invoked frequently when we see how devastated Alya and Zeedan are, and their grandparents too.

It also seemed for a while that Robert might have succeeded in persuading Tracy to move towards some kind of redemption, the first stage of which would have been her confession. Yet it all seems to have dwindled away.

Things are going to get even worse for Tracy. Robert will take a shine to Leanne. Soap magazines are even suggesting that Robert will leave Tracy for Leanne. But hang on a minute. Wasn’t Robert supposed to be devoted to Tracy? All through his marriage to someone else, wasn’t it the case that he couldn’t get Tracy out of his mind? At least, that was what he claimed.

Though this may be a contentious view, I like the fact that Corrie has a female villain. Many say she is surplus to requirements, unconvincing, even ridiculous, but I for one would miss her. Why? I would miss her directness, her snarkiness, her rudeness, her viciousness. the relationships she has with Amy, Ken, Liz, Michelle and the other residents.

If Tracy was redeemed she wouldn’t be Tracy any more, so maybe the whole redemption idea was shelved. In Tracy’s favour, her grief over her mother’s death was real as were her attempts to be nice to Ken and help him recover, though it has to be said that Nessa seems to have been more effective at that.


The much talked about return of Rob, even though he will be pulling strings from his prison cell, may well involve Tracy and her old nemesis Carla. By. then though, she may well have gained another nemesis in Leanne


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8 comments:

  1. I sincerely doubt that Tracy is capable of real guilt. More likely she is too busy feeling sorry for herself, as she seems to view herself as the victim in every situation no matter what her actions were that led to it.

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  2. Leopards don't really change their spots much. I think robert had an idealized view of her all these years. She was selfish before but she's mired in it now, and her period of being nicer to people has already started with her glee over Tony's downfall. Robert's going to realize she really isn't a nice person and isn't going to change. She'll end up shooting herself in the foot and ruining her relationship.

    yeah, I wonder in the aftermath of everyone knowing Tracy is responsible for the fire, why more people aren't screaming at her and being rude to her in the streets. Yasmeen was for a short while but it was too hard on her and her family. Sophie's rude to her but she's rude to everyone. Nobody seems to be blanking her like they did Carla but i suppose most people don't take much notice of Tracy anyway.

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  3. I too wondered why the fire storyline had been mainly dropped, I guess they don't have enough evidence to charge Tracy with arson/manslaughter, but I didn't think her involvement in the fire would stop being mentioned altogether.
    I'm surprised the residence don't make digs at her every step of the way....Carla sure bore the brunt when it was thought she was the guilty party.
    As for Robert - it's true he was brought in on the premise of having carried a torch for Tracy for so many years, but perhaps now that he's seen what she's truly like, perhaps he's become disenchanted, realizing that the woman he thought he loved was merely an image in his imagination.

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  4. PS - your 'prove you're not a robot' thing is really annoying, asking for multiple correct responses, just sayin!

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  5. The problem with Tracy is if they redeem her character, there will be nothing left. Dramatically speaking, at least to me, she's very uninteresting. Totally predictable, and without any explanation for how she behaves. There was one episode when she told Ken that Peter had got all the attention when she was growing up. Is the basis of her nastiness that she never feels good enough? If so, can we see more of this and let her try (and probably fail) to deal with it?

    If they want to preserve her character, they ought to match her up with some long-suffering male and let them live separately from Ken. Tracy isn't strong enough to carry her own storylines and should do her evil deeds as a bit player in other characters' storylines. Once she gets into her 40's, the idea of someone bitter and twisted like Tracy trapping any man she wants becomes a bit silly. I see her as a cross between Norris and Ivy.

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  6. If Tracy stays she needs to be Toxic.
    Even if it's just a few comments in the Rovers it's better than her becoming a domestic godess.

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  7. Ironically before he was made the fall guy for Tina's murder[no pun intended]Rob Donovan was a good influence on Tracy and was making her seem 'human' but now he's gone she's regressed to her old self.
    That being said,I cannot help but think if Tracy wasn't a Barlow she would've gone long ago as she has lost credibility.

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  8. I've decided not to think about her "issues" too much. She gets some great lines and her scenes with Amy are usually very funny.

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