Sunday Comments, October 28

Lines of the week:

• Maria "You didn't know him like i did" Norris "No, but quite a few did apparently"
  
• Jane Simon "It's very rare to get as much evidence as this" (almost as if it was handed to them, wasn't it!)
  
• Cilla "Fiz has no idea how to bring up a kid" (neither does Cilla)
  
• Liam "Good looks can be a curse sometimes"
  
• Steve to Carla "If i'm honest, you absolutely terrify me" (me and all)
  
• Sean about Kelly "Is it still sexual harassment if you're obviously up for it?"
  
• Roy "50 years old and still in perfect working order" Girl in cafe thinking he means Dev "Is that a character reference?"
  
• Roy about Becky "I'll bet she's not going to a car boot sale. She's not even got a car boot!"
  
• Roy to Chesney "Even loneliness feeds the soul" (Whap! upside the head with a football *snork*)
  

Happy 30th birthday, Tracy. I'm really surprised there hasn't been any press thronging the street like there was after Richard's escapades. Tracy even managed to get to Charlie's funeral so that it will look good for her not because she wanted to go. David has decided to use Charlie's funeral to sidle up to Maria but she put him in his place pretty quick although she could have been a bit more sensitive about it. If he'd been smarter (or more mature) he wouldn't keep slagging Charlie off to Maria and if he keeps doing it in the salon he's going to get sacked. Ken's right, he and Deirdre have to go to the funeral for Tracy's sake, or at least it would be the thing to do if Tracy really were upset like they think she is. Tracy can hardly keep the smirk off her face. Or is that just Kate F's acting again ;) Jason and Maria are the only two who really were upset. Tracy's not really hiding much from her cellmate. You know, the cellmate *could* be called to testify against her. I guess the next few months are going to be all about Tracy putting on a performance as the grieving abused girlfriend.

So now that the secret about Charlie trying to drown David is out, he's going to be a witness. He loves the attention so what does he do? ramp it up! Oh yes, "I saw her do it"! Weaving a tangled web, there, David. If Tracy thinks he really did see what happened, could David be the next victim? Tracy is not allowed to influence anyone's opinion so you know that's just like a red rag to a bull, especially with David. I thought Tracy was going to swallow her own tongue when Ken told her David saw *everything*! Of course she's nervous not knowing what David's saying. If he really did see anything, she will know he saw that it wasn't the way she said it was. And if he is lying, her story and his have to match. So she's making sure it does.

Aw. Norris was actually nice to Chesney. and then a total Pratt to Claire over the petition (or birthday card). And he's given up on internet dating and found the world of classmates.com. There couldn't have been too many of his own ex-school mates because he's starting in on Rita's past and she's actually letting him find some of those exotic dancers in the troupe she was in years ago. She's tempted to meet up with her old mate Doreen.

Wonder why Cilla is so concerned about luring Chesney back home? Just for how it looks? She couldn't actually feel guilty could she? And she made up with Yana a damn sight quicker than with Les. Poor Ches, first he stumbles in on Sally Webster in the shower and now it's Maria. Or maybe it's Lucky Ches! Chesney really does know his mother. Lovely little scene with Chesney and Roy on the street (where Les and Kirk were kicking the football). Just a few lines that ended up with Roy looking flummoxed that his attempt at philosophy was rewarded with a football upside the head.

Looks like Joanne fancies Liam too (who wouldn't!) and Adam seems to be uncaring. There's going to be trouble between Kelly and Jo though. Kelly doesn't take rivalries in good humour. I dunno. Joanne seems so young. Doesn't she look about 18 to you? But there does seem to be a lot of chemistry there. Roy and Hayley were really nice to Becky too, selling stuff in a car boot sale and giving her the money and a coat. Poor Roy, all aflutter because Becky got hold of some rare comics in with the car boot stuff but what a star, she brought them back because she didn't want to take a cheque *and* he ended up getting 1500 pounds for the collection! Paul didn't like it when he found out Carla goes through his pockets before the laundry. Does he have something to hide? Looks like he and Carla might not make their ninth anniversary if their eighth was anything to judge.

David's hair looks really daft! Sean's back. I didn't know he was gone! Ohh, what's Roy going to buy with his money? What would Hayley like, he askes! Aw what a sweetie! The girl in the cafe that had business with Charlie sure handled Dev pretty smoothly. I think he's slipping! So she's renovating the old Bakery! Heavens, that salon is like a DMZ this week, with everyone hollering at everyone else and talk of murders and stuff. Dev's charm doesn't seem to have the effect it used to on the ladies. He sure struck out, twice, with the woman wanting to do business with the builders. Notice how he puts on the smoooooooooth seductive voice even when he's just talking about Welsh rarebit but as soon as things get difficult, when she asks about Charlie Stubbs, he runs for the hills. Or the Rovers as it happened. Now who wants a man that only wants to be a Good Time Charlie? (er, no pun intended)

Sunday Comments, October 21

Lines of the week:

• Blanche to Peter "Say your own prayers you lazy ha'p'orth"
  
• Deirdre "'I just keep imagining her locked up in there surrounded by weirdos" Blanche "Sounds like home from home!"
  
• Tracy "There are some complete loons in here" (Pot... kettle?)
  
• Peter "I can't keep up with this family's enemies"
  
• Cilla "Do you want to see my scars?" Tyrone "That's enough of an apology for me" (me and all!)
  
• Audrey to Blanche "You know, jealousy is very unattractive. Especially in you"j
  
• Blanche to Rita after receiving her birthday card "Maybe next year you could run to a stamp" (I actually think she was making a joke, not being mardy!)
  
• Deirdre "The only reason we would claim his body is so we could spit on it!"
  
• Chesney to Les "You're not my dad" (ouch)
  
• Deirdre "The truth always comes out in the end" (which is what Tracy *doesn't* want)
  

Deirdre sure has a skewered view of Tracy doesn't she? Scared little girl? Tracy is more likely to be the bully of Cell Block B. Deirdre certainly seems to be going over the top with the teeth gnashing, grimacing and squawking. Jason finally got to tell his side of things. LOl Blanche knows all the regular solicitors and officials from her habit of keeping herself entertained watching a live version of Court TV. You know that Ken would not advocate spending loads of money on an overpriced solicitor even if the free ones are crap. But it's not fair for Deirdre to be angry at Ken for being rational and "wait and see". In the state Deirdre is already, Tracy will be able to lead her mother around by the nose easily. I can see that Deirdre is going to get on every last one of my nerves really, really quickly. Tracy wants a new female lawyer, that specializes in domestic abuse cases. Every little bit helps. i suppose Tracy'll pull the flannel over her eyes too only her story has a few holes in it the size of a lorry. Well it isn't that easy so Tracy is just going to have to convince her parents to find the money to go private, against Ken's every principle. but he's not going to be able to stand up against the twin Niagara Falls of Guilt that Tracy and Deirdre are going to lay on him non-stop.

And Ken with all his principles, won't accept any money from Blanche or Adam. He's only fueling Deirdre's firey resentment towards him. So he's going to put the house up as collateral instead of using anyone else's money. ok, i officially can't stand Deirdre now. She's either A. putting words in everyone else's mouth, B. accusing Ken of everything including the sun going down at night and C. being completely unreasonable and nasty. What she said to Jason about spitting on Charlie's body was really uncalled for though i do understand she hates what she thinks Charlie did to her daughter. But her hysterics are just completely tedious and OTT. 100,000 pounds to defend Tracy on a murder trial? Boy have legal fees gone up since Deirdre was banged up. Mike Baldwin only spent 10 grand on her legal fees, including a trial though it wasn't murder.

Poor Chesney is reduced to doing the housework and laundry. All Kirk can do is say how nice it is things are looking tidier. Lazy git! I guess it's better that Fiz take over for the time being. I fail to see how they thought that dog would ever fit in the flat. Did you see the look on his doggy face when Chesney was told the dog couldn't come? I swear the dog had a sad look on his face too! Chez can always go and see the dog anytime he wants. It's only over the road. I've not no sympathy for Les. He's a lazy selfish lout. He's not looking after Chesney and it took Chesney moving out and scolding him to snap him out of it. Poor little boy though, must feel like he doesn't belong anywhere. Cilla gets back and is completely unrepentant that everyone was so upset at what she'd done as long as Les suffered. Cow! She wants to make Les's life a misery whenever she wants. So what's different now than before? And then she decided to take Les back and be all smiley in the pub and didn't even seem to care that Chesney went missing. She decided to sit on her backside at home "waiting". Do long distance bus companies still stop at roadside stops and sell tickets to walk on customers?

Looks like Carla is slowly taking over the factory with her own work, probably at the detriment of the regular knicker orders. That's not going to go over well. So what does Carla do? hire a night workforce! Hmm looks like Kelly fancies Liam and Liam fancies Joanne.

Back to Eileen and the baby. Well Charlie's gone, Jason can always mind the baby can't he! Jason might be able to do some smaller jobs, but he probably doesn't have access to the bank accounts so what happens when he gets paid for jobs! i'm curious to know what's going to happen to the business and the house. There are no known relatives and the only one we know of is Shelley's baby. She could get a nice little packet if she would only stand up and be counted. I'm quite surprised that this sort of thing hasn't hit the front page of the newspapers yet.

Looks like Bill is back for good and his marraige is over. He's going to look for a flat but you just know where he's actually going to end up. And it took all of...oh...5 minutes. At least this time around Bill is officially separated and is free to be with whomever he wants and Audrey is no longer a scarlet woman.

I see Ken's car mysteriously appears from the invisible car park that everyone's car lives in when it's not needed. I think they should have tried to get a more accurate postal code for Number 6 Coronation Street. M10 is what they used and that's down by Luton airport in London! Good God, Claire made Tracy a friendship bracelet? How old is she? 12?? And where does she get off getting all stroppy just because Ken is a bit busy to talk to her about her petition? How would Maria not know who Peter was? And vice versa? She was definitely living round there when he was. You gotta love Blanche, making sure everyone knows/remembers it's her birthday. And Norris is lost in cyberspace again. I wonder what he's after now? Old school friends? I wouldn't have thought he'd have had any friends in school. I couldn't tell who's singing voice was lower... Ken, Adam, or Deirdre! There have been some awfully old songs playing in the Rovers lately. Careless Whisper on evening and a cover of Ruby Tuesday another night. Chesney's voice is dropping.

Sunday Comments, October 14

Lines of the week:

• Amber about Dev "He always gets a bit touchy when an ex-girlfriend turns out to be a murderer"
  
• Blanche "The one thing a trial has over a funeral. The element of doubt"
  
• Blanche "Did i miss something? I fell asleep in the bath!"
  
• Rita "How many weeks do they owe?" Norris "Five!"
  
• Tracy to Charlie "Do everyone a favour. Hurry up and die!"
  
• Chesney about Becky "She's scary!"
  
• Ken "She has a lawyer" (I thought they were called solicitors?) Deidre "Not anyone she knows" (she doesn't *know* any lawywers!)
  

wow! what a week! After Charlie taunting Tracy last week, that seems to have steeled her resolve. Tracy was right, Charlie is all about mind control, not violence as such. His games had very different effects on Shelley and Tracy, didn't they? Tracy wouldn't be controlled and gave as good as she got most of the time. She really expected him to be sent down. Poor Claire! Claire really hasn't a clue and she didn't realize that what she was urging Tracy to do today that she couldn't do yesterday was kill Charlie, not leave him and that plus Tracy's anger at his release fueled her resolve and boy did she whack him upside the head! Funny, though, i never noticed that statue in the house before! She was worried when he didn't die straight away but he did and she knows she'll be arrested. She just thinks she will get off because of how she's set it all up. The character of Tracy has hit the wall now, though. Moral statutes dictate that she must be punished. The only deaths where the killer gets off are accidental ones and *real* self defence ones.

I think Tracy's reaction was really good too. First the hissing and venom and then one more whack. She shuddered and was dazed a bit and then when Amy cried out for her, she seemed to come out of it again and started thinking on her feet. Tracy put the knife in Charlie's left hand. Is he left handed? or her cutting her own hand, it might have been the one she would have hit him with yet there won't be any blood on the statue. One of those will be the mistake that's going to do her in. It would have been difficult for her to reach and hit him hard enough if he was coming at her with a knife. His reach is longer than hers.

A bit ironic that Steve was the one that drives Charlie to the court. Jason and Maria were probably the only ones that genuinely cared that Charlie was dead. I wonder if anyone called Bev and Shelley to let them know? Shelley at least will rest easier knowing the father of her baby is not around. The scene with Tracy and Claire was really good, wasn't it! I think Tracy was actually sincere and not putting on a big story for Claire's benefit either. only Claire was at cross purposes and didn't know it. She seemed to spend all day there though unless Charlie's court appearance was later in the afternoon anyway. Apparently Amy was actually in the house yet up to that night, we hadn't seen hide nor hair of her for days although Ken and Deirdre had her at one point. She's awfully small for Tracy to be leaving her unsupervised in her room so much but then, nobody was going to give Tracy a Mother of the Year award.

Norris was being pulled to that door like a magnet, he was nearly weeing himself to get in and have a nose around! Badgering Claire and the police. Poor Claire was beside herself. And Deirdre is so beside herself she's blaming everyone for her not following her instincts. So is Steve. Haven't i been banging on about him not seeming to be bothered even though it seemed Tracy was being abused? Tracy really gave the police the answers she thought they wanted to hear and probably rehearsed it all night in her cell. She's out on bail and they say she can't go see Charlie so i guess that means she can't go unplug him either lol! Jason is gutted, and even Maria is pretty shakey. At least he'll have two people that will mourn him. I say that and it sounds sympathetic, but really, as bad as he was, he didn't deserve this and everyone should have someone that cares enough to mourn their death.

I don't know why Tracy was so worried about if Charlie was dead or not, if he had died, they would have changed the charges to murder or manslaughter which they did. Tracy got her way, though, and sneaked into the hospital to put on a performance in front of her mother. Everyone is giving the police the story she wants them too but they haven't talked to Jason yet. Well at least Tracy doesn't have to worry about Charlie waking up and telling the truth but it looks like it's going to be a very tangled web indeed. I wonder if Tracy is going to use Steve's sympathy as a fall-back fella. She didn't seem to mind cozying up to him when he went to see her. But her performance in reaction to their revealing that they knew about Maria and suggesting that she was angry enough to kill him rang false to me and probably to the cops. It took her by surprise, too. I don't think she expected that she'd actually be charged with his murder in the end.

Hmmm. Not much else going on but it looks like Kelly put the fork in Becky's new relationship. Or at least she tried. Too bad Becky was so defensive about it. She was the one that pushed him away in the end. He looked a nice fella too. Looks like Les is about as useless as a chocolate teapot, at least when he's supposed to be minding Chesney anyway. Wonder how long Cilla will be gone? She's got a good long holiday on that bit of money he raised. I guess he's working all the hours to pay everyone back. Ever get the feeling that Michelle's Sonny is a bit too good to be true? Steve managed yet again to put the brakes on a romantic evening for Sonny and Michelle by encouraging Carla's curiosity.

Yay! Amber's back on screen and delivering one of the best lines of the week! And she's nearly as nosy as Norris! Bill's back again. I didn't know he'd left! Amber asked Dev was Tracy violent? She slashed all his clothes! A fact that Amber didn't waste any time telling the police. Wait a minute. Amy was playing with Adam? We haven't seen hide nor fuzzy eyebrows of him in months until today!!

Tracy hits the wall

I've written before about spoilers, whether you read them or not and if it spoils it for you if you know ahead of time what's going to happen. This post will mention plot spoilers for what's happening in Canada here this week and in the near future for the character of Tracy Barlow so if you're in a part of the world that's behind Canada in the story or if you don't watch until Sundays, look away now.

Today the character of Tracy "hits the wall" so to speak. She's gone as far as she can go. When you've killed someone in cold blood, you will not get away with it and the character has to go. Soaps are usually moral and dirty deeds do not go unpunished. Even if it takes awhile for the doer to get their punishment, they will in the end, or they'll be redeemed somehow. Murderers are rarely redeemed without serving their time first. Accidental or self defence murders are not the same thing. If you've plotted and killed, you are off the canvas. You either die or get sent down. Richard Hillman is a case in point.

So today, Tracy whacked Charlie Stubbs with a statue and he'll be dead by the end of the week. She's spent a lot of time making it look like he's abusive and the more vulnerable have swallowed it, hook line and sinker. Having him beat the crap out of her brother Peter was unfortunate but it also didn't go amiss in her plan though i do think she hadn't expected quite the violent reaction she got when she taunted Charlie for a second about the man she brought home. I do think she felt bad about that but smirked to herself when Charlie was arrested.

Charlie then decided he'd had enough and said she had to leave and even called her bluff, gave her a knife and urged her to plunge it in. She couldn't do it. but i think he caught her off guard and that was why. When she actually did do it with the statue, she was on an adrenaline high and oddly enough, it was Claire that gave her that little push she needed to follow through to the end game. Claire urged her to do it, meaning leave Charlie but of course Tracy was talking about not having the nerve to (kill him) and Claire seemed to bolster her confidence to go through with it. It was a really great scene, Tracy not putting on a front for Claire for once even though she knew Claire wasn't talking about the same thing she herself was.

Knowing what was going to happen, seeing the visual screen caps, it didn't have the same effect as actually watching it today. Wow! Charlie didn't know what hit him. Literally. Odd though, we've never seen that statue in the house before now! Seeing it live was worth the wait and as usual, the spoilers don't convey the impact that seeing it first hand has. You really do get caught up in the moment even though you know what's going to happen. In the next episode where she was snarling at his nearly lifeless body, before he passed out, she was show stopping.

Still, the deed is done and though she will be worried when he doesn't die immediately, she figures all her birthdays have come at once when he does. Oh, she will get arrested, she's aware of that, but figures the abused woman self defence excuse will get her off. There's always a fly in the ointment though, a mistake or a glitch she didn't think of. I won't go into that right now. It doesn't really matter, anyway. She did it, it was plotted and you know she's got to go down for it. They made a big deal about "filming two endings" where she gets off in one and gets convicted in the other but there was never any doubt. You do the crime, you do the time.

On a lighter note, the former editor of Corrieblog wrote this, lyrics that fit to the song Copacabana but which tell the tale of Tracy Barlow. It's bloody brilliant!

Sunday Comments, October 7

Lines of the week:

• Deirdre "Is it any wonder i smoke?" Ken "Once Peter's on the scene, i have a feeling things are going to be very different" (be careful what you wish for)
  
• Liz re the owner of the pub "Well, Steve, really. But I own Steve so..."
  
• Roy about Norris "His competitiveness will be his downfall"
  
• Tracy to Charlie as he's being led away by the police "I'm sorry" (and then she smirks)
  
• Tracy to her parents "It's my fault as much as it is his" (and that's the first true thing she's said)
  

Well we all knew Janice was a shadow of her former self and it was written into the show, her recent weight loss. Oh heck. Just like that Janice is going to take a chance and skip off to France with someone she's known 5 minutes? do i smell potential heartbreak? She's had a few times where she's left work and managed to get her job and flat back when she returned. Wanna bet it happens again? Because she will be back, mark my words.

I think Carla is the one that wears the pants in the Connor family. She's all sharp edges and hard faced... or is that the botox? Sorry, but she really does seem to have a plastic Barbie doll face ;) And Carla is going to get her manicured fingernails stuck in behind the scenes too, nicking staff to sew her designs too. It's all going to make for some fun in the factory though. Doesn't seem to be a lot of love lost between Carla and Michelle.

What did Tracy tell Deirdre happened to her? Ooh Peter is coming to visit. Tracy said she thought Amy should have a more normal looking Mom and then, in front of Amy, stripped off the dowdy clothes and into her tart gear. Yeah, that's going to send a good message. so Peter's back. And he's still chewing gum. After all Tracy's winding Charlie up about her sleeping with someone else, he finds Peter in the shower and beats the crap out of him. I checked, Peter had been gone a month or two before Charlie showed up so Charlie won't have recognized him but i'm surprised Tracy never showed him a picture of this brother she's gone to visit a couple of times. Jason of course, managed to cause a catastrophe by leaping to conclusions and winding up Charlie because he didn't see Peter's face. He'd have known him otherwise. Mind you, she helped wind up Charlie too, but i don't think she expected the violent reaction and man, it was *very* violent, wasn't it! I was quite surprised. Peter would have put up a good fight if he hadn't been caught off guard. Becky seemed very circumspect, watching from the back while everyone else was gawping and Ken was hollering at Tracy and what does she do? skip back into the house behind Charlie.

I think it's the beginning of the end. Tracy won't stand for her brother being savaged, it's just one more nail in Charlie's coffin and one more reason for revenge. How did they get Amy out of the house or was she over at the Barlows already? Tracy might not have wanted to take the complaint further but obviously Peter did. Deirdre certainly was scenery chewing wasn't she? Charlie knows now what Tracy was up to, making him look bad and then planning to kill him, making it look like self defence. He made her wait all day to find out he was out on bail and he's had enough and is chucking her out and even gave her the knife to do him in, calling her bluff. But i think his taunting her might just tip her over the edge. Tracy needs the adrenaline rush to do it, and he caught her off guard.... this time. Will she or won't she? watch next week!

Why didn't Eileen show Jason how to wind a baby? Did i miss something? When did they find out the name of the baby's mother, Emma? that cute little baby is working her charms on Sarah too. She figures they can be a family and Jason is delighted, not only does he get a bit of totty back in his bed, he's got a babysitter! How thick is Jason though, getting Violet to babysit one night when she's only just lost a baby! Shouldn't be surprised really. He puts the Gorm in Gormless. Becky has an admirer! He seems a git gormless too. She'll probably eat him alive but better that than Kelly sticking the knife in.

Steve isn't above bribing Ryan with chips for info on Michelle's new fella. You wouldn't think there would be enough to know about butterflies to last all day! Hmm Michelle hasn't started off on the right foot with Sonny if she's not told him about her son. In the end, Sonny was just fine with it and Steve wasn't too happy about that. Pub quiz night! Vernon looked and acted like an ass. No change there, then. Steve should have known at least one shoe designer. Won't he remember calling karen on that tv quiz show with a shoe question? Norris and Roy certainly took it far too seriously with the sneaky Norris cheating off Roy's paper. Becky was all ready for the Hip Hop question! What a star! She is quickly becoming a favourite with me. And Charlie certainly caused the pub to go silent when he walked in for a pint after the fight.