It’s a Carla heavy show tonight as we see her inching ever closer to a nervous breakdown. Being holed up at Number 1 with only Ken and his six-volume collection of literary platitudes for company would be enough to drive anyone a bit doolally, and Mrs C becomes convinced that she is being watched and plotted against. When she hears Ken on the phone to Peter telling him that he thinks her mind is disturbed she reaches breaking point, lashing out at Ken and running into the street with no shoes on. As an aside I should point out that for a woman on the edge of sanity she did have a very professional looking pedicure.
When Peter finds her, she is staring at the remains of the factory. He realises she needs help and takes her to the medical centre. Unfortunately, they meet an implacable Moira who, as doctor’s receptionist of the old-school, clearly takes every single patient who successfully manages to see a doctor as a painful personal defeat and is more concerned with them trying to jump the queue. Luckily Saint Toyah of Battersby is on hand. She gives Carla’s her very best soft-voiced counselling and discovers that she is in the grip of extreme paranoia and believes that Rana is still alive. As Toyah leaves the room to tell Moira and Peter that Carla needs to see a mental health specialist her patient escapes out of the window.
Elsewhere Imran discovers that it was Alya who sent the threatening messages from Rana’s account, but rather than be angry he hugs her, telling her he wants Carla to suffer. Anyone else think a grief stricken one-night-stand might be on the cards for these two? Heading over to the Community Centre/makeshift factory he walks right into Sean making an unsavoury joke about a rooftop protest and storms off followed by Nick. Keeping up his good Samaritan act, Nick tells Imran about the death of Brian and how he has never really got over it. Which I’m sure was news to all Corrie viewers who haven’t heard Nick mention his dad for about 20 years.
Meanwhile Gary’s woes continue. Not only does he have a hairdo weirdly similar to Kim Jong Un (might be just me), but it also transpires that Alex has used the money he borrowed from Rick to buy Cathy a very expensive bracelet, meaning he is now inescapably in the loan-shark’s debt.
Over at the cab office Dev, Steve and Tim are playing on an app which claims to tell you your heart age. When Steve finds that his heart is ‘older than he is’ (I mean living with Tracy will do that), the three decide to have a £100 wager on who can lower their heart age the most over the course of a month. I’m not a massive gambler myself but this must surely count as one of the most boring bets in history. Granted there may be a Rovers punter out in the beer garden betting on which fly will drown in their beer first, but at least he/she has the decency to keep it to themselves.
Back on the Street the police call in at the factory/Community Centre looking for the Underworld accounts, which Sarah helpfully hands over. Then they’re called to Number 1 where Peter reports Carla missing. Nice to see them earning their money. When Nick finds out about the accounts it’s almost enough to wipe the smug grin off his face as he tells David that if the police start digging there’s a good chance they’ll find Audrey’s stolen money.
And that’s it for tonight. How far will Carla get without shoes? Will Nick be exposed as more crooked than an £11-pound note? And does anyone know where the heck Liz is? We’ll have to wait until next week to find out!
I’ve been Kelly and you can hear more of my pointless mutterings on twitter @mskelstar. Kosmo will be back next week. See y’all in a fortnight.
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9 comments:
I thought the same about Carla's pedicure! And yep, I agree that it was bizarre to see Nick fighting back tears when talking about his dad. I could understand him having the conversation with Max and Lily in the future one day, but to have it with Imran? Imran lost his father last year so he doesn't need Nick to spell it out to him about what it's like to lose a dad. Plus Nick spoke about Brian's death as if it were so similar to Rana's.
I hadn't really thought about Imran and Alya getting together, but considering Alya has a habit of sleeping with somebody as a way of coping with her grief (Jason after her dad, Josh after Luke) and the fact that Imran's interest in Toyah seems to fluctuate I wouldn't be surprised if they had a one night stand. No doubt Imran will discover that Toyah tried to help Carla at the medical centre and will view it as a personal betrayal, sending him into Alya's arms (and bed). But they *could* actually work as a couple, so I wouldn't be completely against it.
I fail to understand the comment about the pedicure as it relates to someone suffering from mental health issues. (I saw multiple comments on twitter about this as well)
Kate’s wedding was less than a month prior. Pedicures last longer than manicures, sometimes over a month depending on the type of polish (Gel or UV/LED cured polish can last over a month...) unless you get a really botched job.
But regardless of when she had a professional pedicure, or simply did it herself, does that equate that she is not on the brink of a psychotic breakdown?
Do we judge cancer patients with this kind of stigma? Oh well, your radiation and chemotherapy can’t be that draining on you that you’re this emotional. You have a pedicure!
As a viewer, as someone who has dealt with a family member suffering from psychosis, on a personal level, I find the amount of stigma surrounding mental health to still be so backward. Here in Canada we have an annual Bell Let’s Talk Day (run by one of the major companies in the country) to support opening up about mental health and removing the stereotypes that surround them. But then I see a soap that is trying to depict a mental health issue in a very realistic way, and people comment about the character still seeming to be fine because, you know, she still has polish on her toes.
When you live with, or work with someone suffering from a mental health issue, you know that they are not their illness. It’s sad that people have to know someone personally going through a mental health issue before they learn any type of compassion, regardless of whether it is for a fictional character or an actual human being.
Well said Anon, who cares if she had a pedi. I would assume she had this for the wedding but really who cares? I found Carla's scenes very emotional and (unsurprisingly) well done. I'm glad they're doing this storyline and look forward to an episode in her POV.
Peter was unbelievable tonight. First he assuring Ken that Carla is fine, just a bit down. Then he blames Ken for her leaving the house. Then he is all soft voiced and concerned for her. Then he is all bolshy and angry with the police for not doing enough to look for Carla who is on the edge of a breakdown. Hypocrite.
Yes if you're having a nervous breakdown you can't have a pedicure, never mind that she'd have had it before. Thanks to Anon 02:36 for expressing these thoughts far more eloquently than I could. Also why was the very nice scene between Nick and Imran dismissed out of hand?
Of course you are all right that having a pedicure does not negate a mental health issue. It wasn’t my intention to suggest that Carla is fine because she has nail polish on, it was intended as a light-hearted admiration of the glamorous appearance of the character. But I see that this is not how it came across, and I apologise for this. Thank you all for your comments and insights. I agree that this is a very important storyline and I will be more sensitive in the future.
Thank you, Kelly! I think it was a culmination of seeing so many insensitive tweets and comments online after yesterday’s episode and the pedicure comment (which was made quite a bit online, not just here I promise you) was the unfortunate straw that broke the camel’s back at just how ignorant we can all still be about mental health.
The difference here is that yours was not an intentionally insensitive comment, but you acknowledged that it came off that way. We are all prone to saying things or writing things without realizing how it may come off, myself included, and I know that if you can’t hear how someone uses tone, especially with writing, it can be misread, which may be what I did when reading your comment and for that I apologize myself.
I have much respect for you, and love your blog posts!
Anon 2:36
(Anon 00:56 here)
Just to clarify, I didn't mean anything about Carla's appearance and her mental health. I'm not an expert in nail beauty so I would just assume that unchipped, shiny nails had been freshly painted. Regardless of Carla's psychosis storyline her toenails would have still stood out to me because even if she wasn't having a nervous breakdown, her mind would still occupied by other things (guilt over Rana, Kate disowning her, the police investigation) so I just thought it would be unlikely she'd be concerned with painting her nails.
While that is indeed a boring bet, it has got Steve, Tim and Dev together for what will hopefully be some funny scenes. Much needed to balance the heavy drama.
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