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Since Carla Connor and, new regular on the cobbles, DS Lisa Swain shared their first profound conversation almost six months ago, Corrie fans have been noticing their romantic connection and hoping the pair will get together.
Over the past couple of months, there’s been a slow progression with many bumps in the road, but this week, to quote the line of Lisa’s that might well be the understatement of the century, “things have moved on a bit”.
That’s why we thought we’d do a round-up of all that’s happened in the world of Swarla in the past few episodes in preparation for more of our new favourite pairing next week.
Wednesday: Lisa forgot Becky's birthday
Wednesday’s (20th November) episode opened happily for the two women, with Lisa revealing she’d been reinstated at work and Carla promising a night out to celebrate, but things quickly turned sour when Lisa bumped into Betsy, who reminded her that it was the birthday of Becky, her late wife and Betsy’s other mum.
Lisa made her way to the Rovers, where she began to drown her sorrows, and Ryan called Carla in for some backup, stating that “Lisa’s gone rogue”, and given she nearly had his eye out with a dart, we don’t blame him.
Sure enough, Carla showed up to save the day, even if she did have to endure Lisa’s rendition of Gnarls Barkley’s Crazy. Honestly, the fact that she didn’t run a mile despite the detective’s singing being far from X Factor-worthy proves that she’s in this for the long haul.
Carla ended up taking Lisa back to her flat for some tea, with the latter opening up about exactly why she’d had a skinful. However, just as Carla came in with some much-needed comforting words, Lisa decided that her sofa was precisely the place to have a rest and fell asleep. Carla covered her with (bravely, we thought) a white blanket and left her to it.
Friday: Carla and Lisa slept together
In Friday’s (22nd November) episode, Lisa woke up on Carla’s sofa, not remembering how she got there. Carla brought her a bacon butty from Roy’s and allowed her to sleep the rest of her hangover off in her flat, making her way to the factory.
There, she talked to Ryan confessing that she liked the detective, but felt like she was in “uncharted waters”. Her nephew encouraged her to make her move anyway, calling her stubborn for not having done so already.
Carla arrived back at her flat to find Lisa half-dressed in her clothes and decided to go for it, closing the gap between them with a kiss.
The pair then ended up in Carla’s bedroom, with months of waiting by dedicated fans finally over.
Afterwards, the two women chatted on the sofa that Lisa had drunkenly passed out on the night before, with Carla remembering a girl from school that, in retrospect, she had a crush on.
Lisa noticed she had a missed call from Betsy where she mentioned her “dad”, a code that meant she needed help. The pair went looking for Betsy, questioning Mason about her whereabouts, not knowing that she had been cornered by his brothers.
Thankfully, Ryan came to the rescue and Betsy ended up unharmed in the Rovers, but that’s not where the complications ended.
As Lisa grilled her daughter about her ordeal, Betsy noticed that the top Lisa was wearing was Carla’s and put two and two together, throwing her drink over her mum in sudden anger.
Neither Carla nor Lisa tried to deny the allegations, looking like a pair of teenagers who’d been caught out, and Betsy left the pub on the particularly scathing note that Becky was “worth ten thousand” of Carla.
Friday: It looked to be all over
Later, Carla and Lisa were back in the flat, the mood significantly different to how it had been just a few hours earlier, with Lisa even saying, “we should keep our distance”. Ouch.
Carla retaliated, calling the detective a “little bit of a coward” when it comes to her love life and pointing out that she uses Betsy as an excuse to keep her at arm’s length.
For what seemed like the millionth time in the past couple of months, Lisa ran away from Carla. Alexa, play The Bolter by Taylor Swift.
The next we saw of Carla, she was telling a dismayed Ryan that Lisa had ended their relationship before it had even begun, and despite him encouraging her to try again after a little while, she had well and truly given up.
On her way home, Carla came across Betsy, who was still sulking, and decided to try and talk to her. Even in the face of rejection, she made a plea to the teen to allow her mum some happiness and try to move on from the past.
Unfortunately, her words didn’t make it past Betsy’s defences, who told Mason’s brothers that the factory would be empty the following day so they could rob it.
Next week: Carla is attacked
In Monday’s (25th November) episode, Carla is set to be attacked at the factory by one of Mason’s brothers after another conversation with Lisa, who sits at her hospital bedside and wills her to wake up.
When it’s time for Carla to go home, she’s disappointed when Lisa isn’t there to take her. Roy, having noticed the connection between the pair, gives the detective some words of advice. Will she take them to heart?
