The episode opens with Carla covering over various cameras she believes are watching her and she has a bag which contains four different mobile phones. We then cut to a visit by the social workers but no-one has grasped that she is making sure that she is being sick every time she takes her tablets.(Side note - I do not believe she would have been released from hospital for care in the community until they had seen signs of improvement).
Action moves downstairs to the cafe where Peter is chatting to the two social workers before they depart and so no-one actually sees a be-hoodied Carla sweep past them and out of the door.
Outside Victoris Court Sarah is walking home and meets a limping Gary who has to let his ribs heal of their own accord. They discuss Sarah's missing phone, then Sarah tells him about the state Carla is in and says if Nick is responsible for the factory roof then he is also responsible for Carla's breakdown - she has completely lost her mind. Gary has no answer to this assertion.
The focus moves back to Carla who is walking along Victoria Street and is hearing noises and music. She sees some of Robert's posters for her as a "Missing Person" and then we see her version of the poster board with her face appearing multiple times and the word "WANTED" plastered repeatedly over the photos. Gary approaches her saying "Talk of the devil" and she runs down a convenient alley between buildings. She sees his battered face and asks if they have got to him as well. He assures her all is well. In her mind the conversation she overheard in the cafe was people wanting her kidney. Behind Gary she can see a group of onlookers at the end of the alley but when Gary turns his head there is no-one there. Gary goes to phone Peter but Carla rapidly grabs it telling him that they are filming her all of the time. She opens her bag and Gary goes to retrieve his phone but she closes it rapidly before handing it back and then she runs away. Gary sees Sarah's phone is in the bag.
Carla appears in a park (not sure if it is the Red Rec or not) and sits on a bench. She tells a blonde lady sitting on the bench that she has a microchip in her ear and asks if the lady has a penknife to cut it out. Sensing Carla is slightly unbalanced the lady edges away saying she is going to get help. Carla hears more strange noises and then sees a famous red anorak heading along the edge of the park behind bushes. Carla "knows" it is Hayley and pursues her.
At the Rovers Roy, Peter and Johnny explain Carla's disappearance to Kate. And of course everyone is worried.
Back on Victoria Street Carla can "see" "Hayley" at the top of the fire escape steps on the outside of the Red Bank development - the former warehouse.
After the break Michelle spots Carla climbing the external staircase - and there is no "Hayley" in sight. Peter ascends the fire escape whilst Roy, Johnny, Michelle and Kate stare upwards. When Carla reaches the hooded figure "Hayley" turns around and Carla is face to face with "Rana". Carla asks Rana if she is dead and a stone faced Rana responds that Carla knows she is dead, "You killed me" she adds. Carla sees Rana walking down the stairs. Carla knows she will burn in hell and seeks Rana's forgiveness. Peter meanwhile is a flight of stairs down and is refusing to grab Carla for fear of spooking her. Peter slowly gets closer and quietly tells her that everything is going to be OK.
Except that Carla does not see Peter; she sees "Aidan". She asks "Aidan" if she is worth the kidney he gave her because she is rotten but Peter assures that Rana's death was an accident. She tells Aidan that she has got to go. She kisses him and then climbs the railings in an attempt to throw herself down but Peter grabs her around the waist. After an interminable time he slowly eases her back onto the platform. She looks round and sees Peter and tells him that Rana is dead and that she killed her. Peter holds and looking down we see an ambulance and police car arrive.
At ground level again Carla is protesting that she does not want to go to hospital and she fights getting into the ambulance. Once in she is secured and is going to be taken to a place of safety. She continues to ask for Aidan.
Two hours later at the hospital a sedative means that Carla is less agitated. She does not give into sleep easily. Peter is getting some information on Carla's future from a nurse who has seen people before make a full recovery. She is convinced that Gary Windass has visited her. And as the nurse has glasses she thinks he has a camera in them. They re-assure her that no-one can chase her in hospital. Carla finally sleeps.
Elsewhere in the hospital we see the evidence that Carla was entirely right about a visit from Gary. He has recovered Sarah's mobile from Carla's bag and is listening to her voicemail messages, including the one he left from Rick Neelan's office floor where he admitted to the sabotage of the factory roof in the hope of getting the repair job. Apparently Rana has been on his mind every day since the collapse. Gary deletes the incriminating message and limps away from the hospital.
This episode has been promised for a long time (Iain MacLeod did a single episode in his time on Emmerdale to try and explain the view of the dementia suffered to the public) and this was intended to explain the view of an individual suffering a psychotic episode, with Carla played by Alison King (and was this what tempted her to actually return to the Street?) being the individual concerned.
I am not convinced that we saw enough from Carla's viewpoint in this episode to make this as strong as I had hoped. Obviously Bhavna Limbachia was able to reprise her existence. If both Shayne Ward and Julie Hesmondhalgh had done so I think it might have got there. However I have no doubt that Alison King will be in line for awards for her performance. I hope the road to recovery is given proper treatment and is not executed off screen.
No Corrie Comicals this week. Hope to return to normality next week - but who knows!
Written by Carmel Morgan, directed by David Kester
Kosmo
@Kosmo100
All original work on Coronation Street Blog is covered by a Creative Commons License
4 comments:
Does anyone know how or when Carla ended up with Sarah's phone? As far as I can recall Carla had been stuck in the flat and hadn't been near Sarah in the days before Gary spotted the phone in her bag.
Jeanie (anon): If Corrie actually shows Carla taking a long time to recover and struggling to deal with some long-term repercussions of her mental illness, then hats off. But if she recovers quickly and is striding around a few months down the road, stilettos clicking, long, perfect hair streaming, red wine in hand, then this mental illness portrayal will have been an exploitative sideshow.
On another note--does anyone else find the fact that Peter has re-established himself as Carla's "partner" disturbing? When she was well, in a sound state of mind, she didn't want him because of his unforgivable betrayal. It was only when she started to slip into psychosis that they got back together--she clung to him as she clearly felt herself drowning. I know he is trying to help her but it seems like he's, perhaps not purposefully, taking advantage of her vulnerable, irrational state. Or to put it another way--in her state of psychosis she rejects everyone who could help her--Roy, her father, doctors--and clings to the one person who has hurt her time after time, Peter!
Alison King and Chris Gascoyne gave tremendous performances so we tend to gloss over the imperfections of the actual storyline. I've read comments that the roof collapse was the final straw in Carla's fragile mental health and that she had never dealt with previous trauma. This is a TV soap and I despair that we have to add our own explanations when really we should see them on the screen. Worse still are the supposed interviews with actors giving their explanations. I fully understand that mental health issues affect the most apparently healthy individuals but, again, this is a TV soap. We could have seen conversations with Michelle, pre-roof collapse, drip-feeding the viewers that all was not well but Michelle completely missing the signs. I think the dramatic tension of the episode would have been heightened if it had been only a one-hander or two-hander with Peter. It was spoilt with the business of Gary getting in to the hospital, yet another character who isn't spotted by hospital staff, and then standing in the lobby deleting the messages.
I agree with all of the above. Maybe we expect too much, but it's very annoying when they flag up an "issue" storyline but don't get it right. Carla would never (I hope) have been sent home in that state, plus a recovering alcoholic is hardly the best carer.
Also, Gary selling the passports back to their exploited owners makes him almost as bad as Rick.
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