Rob Vs Robert, who's the best match for Tracy Barlow?

Spoiler alert!

Rob Donovan will be back on our screens later this year, pulling strings and yanking chains from inside the prison walls. Not sure if it means he's getting out and will be a regular again or if it's a temporary return. In any case, I'm excited! I grew to really like the character. I thought he was probably the best match for Tracy ever and I thought his chemistry as Carla's brother really worked. There's no further news on exactly what his storyline is going to be other than he knows a big Connor secret and is going to be using it to his advantage.

But it's bound to throw Tracy into a confused hot mess, isn't it? She's just getting back together with her ex-husband Robert. She says Robert knows her better than anyone. I would argue that point. I think, for the woman she is now, that trophe goes to Rob Donovan. Robert knew her in her early 20s and the worst thing she ever did to him, that we know of, is cheat on him with his best friend and lealve him. Not a nice thing to do to someone but he would have taken her back. She must have been bored with him to do it, she certainly seemed so when she first returned to Weatherfield.

Since then, let's see what Tracy has done:

Affair with Dev, who had previously slept with her mother, though she didn't know it at the time. She then destroyed Dev's clothes when he ditched her.

Had a one night stand with Steve, got pregnant, pretended Roy Cropper was the father after making a bet that she could bed him. She drugged Roy, lied that they had sex and the very thought of it, plus the pregnancy presented to him, had Roy on the verge of suicide. Did Tracy care? Did she heck. She offered to sell Roy and Hayley her baby for cold hard cash. She did take Amy back after having a flicker of maternal instinct. We're still not altogether sure how strong that is!

She tried to sabotage Steve's second wedding to Karen. She was obsessed with Steve and that lasted nearly 10 years. She even finally managed to get him to marry her after he split from Becky but she miscarried twins and blamed Becky for it after she'd fallen down a staircase during an argument with Becky. Her lies were exposed on her wedding day and she lost Steve for good.

She pretended she was physically abused by Charlie Stubbs and then killed him in cold blood because he'd had an affair and was tiring of her. She lied in court, persuaded her mother to lie as a witness but got sent down anyway. She nearly was responsible for Gail getting convicted of Joe's murder by lying to the authorities that Gail had confessed. She only got released on a technicality.

She tried to steal her grandmother's boyfriend because she thought he was rich. He wasn't.


She accidentally caused a fire in Carla's flat when she nearly committed murder a second time. She put a candle down under a lampshade to pick up a weapon and she almost bashed Carla over the head but heard someone else in the flat first and she fled. The candle caught the lampshade and the flat on fire and though Carla and the other occupant, who turned out to be Tracy's daughter, got out safely in the end, Kal Nazir was killed as was Maddie Heath. She might not have done it on purpose but she was responsible.

The list goes on but those are the worst things she's done. Rob knew about a lot of them and he loved her and her sharp, nasty tongue anyway. He was a bit of a scallywag himself and I think he knew her, accepted her, and loved her though even she went a bit far for his taste now and then and he was always able to rein her back. He got on great with Amy and eventually, Deirdre. We have yet to see Robert interact much with Amy though Ken thinks the sun shines out of his backside in spite of the disappointment that he lied about being married. That's not an issue now because he and his wife are finished.

Robert may end up being Tracy's conscience about the fire but Rob still has her heart, I think. Robert came back while Tracy was in shock and grieving over her mother's death. I think he's about the past for her, someone to comfort her. He held a torch for her all these years but never had the gumption to come back and try to win her back. Now she's vulnerable so I think he took advantage of that, not in a manipulative way because I don't think he's that sort. I think he saw the opportunity and took it, unable to resist his heart on his sleeve. But I still think, between the two, that Rob is a better match for Tracy.

Having said that, Rob may have other ideas. Tracy was the one that dobbed him in to the police, mainly to save her own skin over the stolen goods though she said it was for Amy, too, and that might have factored into it a bit. He won't be so inclined to pine for her but who knows? Prison is lonely. He may have forgiven her and won't be very happy if he finds out about Robert.

If Marc Baylis isn't returning for the long term, it may all be a non-issue. If he doesn't get out of prison, which will be tricky since he did confess, then I suppose Tracy won't wait for him and stick with Robert but I think Robert would be better off with someone else.

Hey... Leanne's single.....

What does Sarah have to lose? Plenty

Sarah has now seen the truth about Callum, a truth she probably already knew down deep. Callum accused her of knowing what he was really like and being attracted to the excitement of it. That could be true. We're all pretty sure that she only started going out with him so she could wind up David and we are definitely sure that's why Callum did it initially. As he said, it would also have looked good in court in his bid to win custody of Max.

I still fail to understand how a man with his background could possibly be considered for full time full custody of a child even if he did pretend to have cleaned up his act. Surely the police or Social Services would be investigating both he and David very closely in this matter. If nothing else, David should have got his lawyer to hire a private investigator to prove Callum was still dealing but reality doesn't really have much of an impact on soaps so we'll just leave that there. It is what it is. Kylie can only testify that he was dealing back at Christmas when David kicked her out. She was getting drugs from Callum up until then. Callum can then say he stopped after she left town. Again. unprovable in court.

Now, though, Bethany has seen and heard many things that can prove Callum's activities and has been coerced into it herself. Dropping a package of money off isn't illegal but handling a package in return which had drugs in it most certainly is. Could she say that she didn't know what was in the package? Possibly. A photo of her smoking a spliff is a misdemeanor at worst. So Bethany really doesn't have anything to worry about, I don't think. Sarah though, is frantic. She knows Callum has evidence against Bethany and thinks Bethany could be sent to juvenile detention. Callum's pretty threatening and considering the state of Gemma's face, and the fact that David has been roughed up in the past, Sarah knows his threats are real and dangerous. She's not just scared for Bethany in a legal sense but for all of their physical safety if she goes to the police.

Callum still deals drugs. Callum had a loaded gun in his flat, in a child's bedroom closet, no less. Callum is blackmailing Sarah into keeping quiet. I don't really think he wants Kylie back romantically, that suggestion the other week was more in aid of getting Max than it was getting back the "love of his life". Callum wants full time custody of his child. Does anyone see the problem here? I still don't really understand why he wants Max full time, given the kind of business he's doing.

I don't think he had a shocking childhood which might lead him to the conclusion that bringing up a child in a criminal environment isn't such a bad idea. Callum's mother, a teacher, seemed quite nice and respectable and it follows, somewhat logically, that he probably had a decent bringing up rather than a rough childhood on a dodgy estate, or shuffled in and out of care or something similar to the childhood we know that those like Tyrone, Fiz and Chesney had. Is his mother afraid of him, too, rather than testify that he shouldn't be a full time dad? Or is she just wearing massive blinders, thinking her son isn't a bad boy, just a bit naughty and his recent jail sentence was a miscarriage of justice.

I would suspect, in the long run, that Sarah will do the right thing and go to the police. It may even bring Bethany and Sarah back to a more even relationship.  Callum is going to cross the line at some point soon, before the custody hearing. I maintain my prediction that he will end up dead. Any number of Platts could be suspect but the guilty party will be an expendable crew member as per the Soap Laws, probably Gemma. Callum's a baddie, even if he's not a very convincing one, and will pay for his crimes.

State of the Street - July

July was shadowed by the death of beloved Deirdre Barlow. Will Tracy actually turn over a new leaf? If she does, she's going to have to admit to accidentally staring the fire, releasing Carla from her cloak of guilt and misery. Robert might be the key to that. I don't think Tracy is going to turn into Emily Bishop any time soon but perhaps she'll be a little less manipulative. I doubt she'll ever curb that sharp tongue. The Personality Transplant Fairies can't rework her completely, ok?

I want to see Ken really struggle and I want to see his friends rally round to support him. It doesn't look like it's starting off in that direction though he does seem to be wandering, a little lost. I don't want him to end up with another woman but I fear that they've already put Audrey in his path. I can see him turning to her for comfort and whatever else a nearly 80 year old man has to offer but I would prefer if she keeps him at arms' length as merely a good friend. Plus, she's got enough to deal with. Her family is even more of a disaster than his!

Elsewhere, with Kylie back in the saddle, Callum is about to be pooched. From seemingly nowhere, he decided he wanted Kylie back in his life and wanted to be a family with her and the kids. I reckon it was more about getting Max and taking him from David than actually wanting her. She knew it. She went straight to David and then to Sarah, because Callum is clearly using her as we all knew. And David finally took Kylie back for real.

I can understand his reluctance, though. Yes, he was the one that threw her out but she stayed away and she was addicted to drugs. Building back that trust is not easy, especially when you're David Platt and you have had trust issues ever since your step father tried to kill you. Now to deal with Callum. What's their Really Good Idea? Set Callum up to prove to Sarah he's only using her. But in the meantime, Callum is taking aim at Bethany as his next weapon against David and Kylie and that's bound to backfire on his ass big time. Luring a 15 year old into being a drug mule by playing on her teenage crush? 25 years to life, right? I hope Sarah ends up being the one that is key to bringing Callum down in the end. She may not get on with David but he's blood, he's family and maybe in the long run, she'll do the right thing because it's affecting her daughter.

Dan the Brewery Man's storyline was mercifully short. He was a decent villain, well acted but I'm glad they didn't drag that out. It would have been tedious to have months of he and Leanne glaring at each other and quietly arguing in corners. The hostage situation was a bit silly, really. Why didn't someone shout out a window? And if Chesney is used to their normal sorts of noises over head, surely he'd realize the smashing and banging is a sign of trouble instead of ignoring it. At least one opportunity to scream HELP would have arisen if not more. There were three people, two of them adults, against one unarmed man, as well. I don't believe that, with a kitchen full of weapons, one of them couldn't have defended them all before Dan got to the kitchen first. Liz and Leanne together would have been a formidable avenging team.

Never mind. It was all designed to reveal Leanne's past to Simon, giving him one more reason to resent her. We're supposed to forget that he was crayoning get well cards for people just a year ago and is now old enough to understand what a prostitute is and what it means. They've done domestic abuse before, with Kirsty and Tyrone and this is yet another twist on it. Leanne is probably stronger than Simon but he's growing quickly and has anger behind him. She would of course be reluctant to push back and discipline is likely to be ignored or thrown back at her. She really needs to ask for help and she really should get that child some councilling. I think Zeedan is going to come into play here as the good "big brother" influence that Simon badly needs.

Speaking of that, Zeedan may finally be coming into his own after spending a year sulking and whining. Where his mother's death seems to have had him retreat into his grief, his father's death really seems to have him realize his regrets. He wants to prove that he can be the man that would make his father proud. A sign of maturity. And that might be the only thing that saves Simon. Zeedan's not as close to Simon as Leanne so there's more objectivity. Simon would be more likely to listen to him as an outside influence. I'd like to see Zeedan talk to Simon about accepting Leanne's past, too. He was initially much against her for it but came to realize that she has changed her life for the better and his father loved her. Zeedan has lost both of his parents and though Peter is still alive, Simon likely feels like his father is lost to him most of the time, both physically and emotionally. I am interested to see how this all plays out, if that's the direction they're going, but please, PLEASE don't put Leanne and Zeedan together romantically in any way whatsoever, not even as a brief "last night?" or "That kiss? that was a mistake!"

Alya's reconciliation with Gary is going well. For Gary. Alya's still cringing with guilt every time she sees Jason and now that the family approves of the engagement, her guilt factor ramps up another notch. But that's not enough. Then she has a pregnancy scare. She's bound to let the cat out of the bag before much longer. I'm surprised in one way that she isn't pregnant since that's a staple of Soap Law. One inadvisable shag and you're up the duff. Alya and Gary really don't make a good match and are a boring couple. While I am not really a fan of Izzy anymore, she who has really lost that intial spark, Gary did suit her much better.

Roy and Cathy's friendship is growing and I rather like this storyline as well. Right now, Cathy isn't a very happy person, mired in grief and depression but I hope when she starts to move on and feel better she'll be a more cheerful person. That's the kind of friend Roy needs around him regardless of whether it's romantic relationship or not. A yin to his yang so to speak. I think at this point viewers might not mind if it turns more emotional but because the actress is quite well known, I would be surprised if she stays with the show long term. Maybe it will end up being an off-screen relationship or with the occasional cameo but if we got to keep Melanie Hill, who plays Cathy, as a long term character that would be a real coup for the show and would be a great addition to the cast.

Michael and Gail nearly made it back together until he told her about that kiss he had with Eileen and Gail went ballistic. It might not have hurt her so much if it hadn't been her enemy. She got her anger and bitterness with Eileen all mixed up in her tirade and spewed some hurtful things about Michael, things she didn't believe but was trying to put Eileen down further. Michael didn't know that, however, and that's pushed him right back...into Eileen's arms! Did you see that coming? A mile away. I wonder if he and Gail will get back together at all? He might stay alive if he stays away since most of her husbands end up dead and he had a near miss on that score himself.

And let's face it, Gail's right. She sees him coming to terms with what Andy did. In reality, there would be no way that Michael would move in with the man that pretended to be his son. There's far more reason to forgive Gail for keeping the secret out of concern for his heart condition than to forgive the man that stole his son's identity for months. And Gail forgave Michael for breaking into her house, let's not forget. I think she needs to throw that back in his face. I do reckon they'll get back together eventually. I think he does still love her in spite of the fact that he's temporarily had his head turned by Eileen. That's a rebound thing.

It's also appalling that Michelle would encourage Eileen to chase after a married man. She certainly wouldn't like it if someone was pushing their friend at Steve, would she, if the situation was reversed. I realize that pursuing a married man isn't a new thing for Eileen, not after that Paul debacle but still...Michael's already starting to have his eyes opened as far as Eileen's faults which don't sit well with him. If Michael and Gail do get back together, and I hope they do, I reckon it will happen by Christmas.

Robert Preston was made out to be a decent guy but then the age old cliche bounces out of the storyline bag, he's married but it doesn't count because he never got over Tracy! It flatters her but she's got no time for cheaters. After all this, though, the wife will have likely kicked him out. She might have been able to stay married even though, down deep, she knew he still loved Tracy but now that he's been physically unfaithful as well, she should muster her pride and end the marriage. We don't know yet if that's going to happen but it's likely.

I can't decide if I like the character. Maybe he's going to be the catalyst to her semi-redemption as I mentioned previously. He will turn out to be a good man that urges her to do the right thing. It will be interesting to see how far to the good Tracy lands. A little way would be a good thing. You can't sustain an out and out bitch who gets away with murder and manslaughter over and over and never pay for it in some manner.