Avery’s take on THE mother of all twists, and what it means for Swarla’s storyline
“Hi, Lise.”
It’s controversial. Some people don’t like it at all, including our very own SwarlaHQ, and others feel very vindicated because they predicted months ago and others are excited to see what’s ahead for Swarla.
Personally, I am excited. Soaps are defined by drama and their biggest and most iconic characters get the most dramatic story lines that take centre stage. Sarah Platt became iconic when she had a baby at 13, David Platt when he pushed Gail down the stairs and went to prison, Hayley and Roy Cropper with the shocking and progressive story line with Hayley’s transgender identity, Michelle Connor when we learnt that Ryan had been switched at birth and Tracy Barlow when she attempted to sell her daughter to Roy and Hayley. If that first dramatic story line does well with audiences, they get more. Hayley was held hostage with Carla in Siege Week and her and Roy have been in kidnapping story lines, intertwined with the law, both spent time in prison and even, somehow, in a twisted love triangle with Tracy Barlow.
David and Sarah have had countless story lines since, Gail’s arrest in the early 2000s was huge for David and then both he and Sarah were involved in a massive story line surrounding the murder of Callum Logan with Kylie Platt. Sarah has also had a series of dramatically disastrous relationships that have made for amazing television from Todd to Callum to, most recently, gangster Damon Hay. Meanwhile, Michelle had a series of dramatic story lines especially involving her on-again-off-again relationship with Steve, feuds with Tracy Barlow and an excellent portrayal of giving birth to a stillborn baby in 2017.
If characters dramatic story lines don’t succeed and they aren’t as loved, they often fade away into the background. While they are still much loved, we don’t often see them centre-stage in the storytelling. Shona Platt hasn’t really had her own story line that isn’t intertwined with David since her entry and we haven’t been able to know her outside of the relationship. Similarly, since Maria Connor has setled in her relationship with Gary she has spent more and more time off-screen, no longer dating most of the men on the street. At present the list includes, Nick Tilsley, Tyrone Dobbs, Peter Barlow, Liam Connor, Tony Gordon, Jason Grimshaw, John Arnley, Luke Britton, Charlie Stubbs, Aidan Connor, Ali Neeson, Christ Gray, Marcus Dent and so many more it genuinely hurts my brain. Unfortunately, since Gary, she had spent less time on screen because she can’t be used in those story lines as much.
For Carla, she’s had a series of dramatic story lines. Classic love triangles to ease her in. First with the Paul’s series of affairs with sex workers and then between her, Liam Connor, Maria Connor and Tony Gordon. Tony Gordon produced her first truly dramatic story line, greatly involved in the discovery of Liam’s murder and then taking a place in the acclaimed 2011 Seige Week. Another love triangle that lasted years, between her, Leanne Battersby, Nick Tilsley and Peter Barlow, took centre-stage in the 2010 Tram Crash including, the again iconic, live episode. Then the rape she faced at the hands of Frank Foster won her a series of awards and the pursuing relationship with Peter Barlow solidified her place on the street, marrying into one of the most iconic families.
It was all of this that allowed the Connors to become what they are. They were introduced with a clear plan to be centred around Michelle but Kym Marsh’s busy work schedule with HearSay meant that the show had to adapt and Alison King was more available and the family became centred around two strong female characters. Those characters allowed more Connors to be introduced in 2015 and 2016 with Aidan, Kate and Johnny.
However, for a long time, Carla has been isolated, lost her Connor status and spent more time linked to the Barlows. With her relationship to Lisa Swain, she has gained the ability to fully reclaim her title as Carla Connor again. No longer tied to another family, she is back at the centre of a family with Ryan Connor, Lisa Swain, Betsy Swain and Roy Cropper around her.
For the first time, she has also become an owner of a house on the street, specifically the posh side. I’m excited to see them on screen as much as possible and I don’t want them to move into the house and disappear from our screens.
I have adored seeing how Betsy and Lisa develop and learnt to live with their grief, it’s central to both Lisa and Betsy’s personalities and attitudes towards the world. However, it has consumed their relationship with Carla and how they interact with everyone on the street. It is a very accurate portrayal of grief but it is understandable that the writers want to develop them outside of that. Bringing Becky back will allow them to explore more emotions. As my favourite Nottinghamian who lives in Australia very intelligently put it, “it’s not invalidating their grief, it’s a whole new cycle of it”. Which is impressively intelligent considering she’s a Nottingham Forest fan but it’s also like not 7am for her so her brain is working better than mine.
Rather than being engulfed in sadness and guilt of their grief, we’ll be able to see them express new feelings of anger directed at Becky and explore their feelings towards her. They have idolised her after her death and this will challenge that world view that they have. The return of Becky is also their first major dramatic story line that centres on them. We’ve seen them in dramatic story lines before but this is the first one where they are at the core.
Plus, it’s just classic soap. Bringing someone back from the dead leaves us with so many questions. Who is she? Why did she fake her death? Who was involved? How did she fake her death? What does Costello have to do with it? And was she corrupt? It is going to be a very fun way, I think, to have them all answered.
Also the inevitable love triangle with Lisa torn between her past with Becky and her future with Carla. I can’t wait to see the choices that both she and Betsy make and how they react, and how Carla reacts, to Becky’s return. Seeing Lisa chose between Becky and Carla will be very satisfying, in my opinion, I can’t possibly see a way that she chooses Becky and if Corrie goes that direction this entire article will change because anyone who doesn’t choose Carla Connor is a brain dead idiot (I am talking about Peter Barlow who let her go not once but twice).
I’ve watched a lot of Coronation Street too. There have been a lot of love triangles and qutie a few lesbian love triangles but they all involved men. Sian Powers torn between Sophie Webster and Ryan Connor, Rana Habeeb torn between Kate Connor and Zeedan Nazir. For a time, there was a small love triangle between Kate, Sophie and Rana but it was short-lived with Kate and Sophie’s relationship doomed from the start.
Personally, no matter how much I already hate Becky, I’m excited to see a lesbian love triangle devoid of men ruining everything. At first, when all the rumours started popping up, I hated the idea of Becky being alive. This morning, though, when I was streaming the episode with my favourite Kit hater living in Australia we screamed and went through a hundred emotions together. That’s how a soap should make me feel. I don’t want to feel happy all the time, I want to be dragged through the ringer emotionally with suspense, shock, sadness, joy and anger at the characters and their actions. A TV show producing those emotions is exciting and fulfilling and I, for one, can’t wait to see what roller coaster of emotions it’s going to send me on next.
I also can’t wait to see Betsy and Lisa chose Carla over because that’s what should happen and if they do anything else and I will very mad because Swarla are endgame and they are getting married and nothing is changing. As someone who lives in Australia who took a very inconveniently timed pee break halfway through the episode and made me wait on pause for two whole minutes also once said, Carla is “not the step mum, she’s the mum who stepped up” (before sending a gif of Diana saying ‘well there were three of us in this marriage’ because it’s a lot easier to be funny when it’s not 7am).
I may still hate this in time but for now I’m cautiously excited and I can’t wait to see Alison King, Vicky Myers and Sydney Martin put on their best performances in upcoming scenes.