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.....