Carl and Sally check in at the heartbreak hotel. Monday's first episode left audiences wondering if Carl (David Morrissey) and Sally (Sheridan Smith) would do more than just hold hands as the lift doors closed to take them up to their shared hotel room. This patronising recap serves only to illustrate a frustration with a 2-part drama, put on sequential nights, needing a full two-minute 'Previously...' to reacquaint viewers with the events of only 24 hours before. A sun-soaked sequence where the giddy couple sneak off work to play tourist in London bleeds back to reality as Carl loses his job at the hands of his condescending little oik of a boss played by Justin Salinger. This is a mirror image of Carl's dismissal of a young, new father in episode one. Yet when he says in frustration: "don't kick me in the head and call me mate," it was a little hypocritical considering his Janus attitude towards his wife at this time, and thus the love train begins to derail. The stereotyped storyline, as hoped, found its balance in two important ways. When Maggie (Olivia Colman spelled like the mustard in case you forget!) finds out about the affair and looses a chillingly cold volley of self-truths. Feeling "underappreciated", or "too old, too dull" is not an experience unique to Carl Matthews. Boy meets girl, they couldn't help themselves: "we just found each other". Whatever mate, jog on (into the rain and creepily stand outside Sally's house). Maggie would not betray her family and her children like that. The self-acknowledgement of his (and the drama's) cliché is completed when he is forced to confront his children. "I made a friend" was a phrase which stuck in the throat if he didn't intend to harm them or their mother then why did he give in to the temptation? At this point it seemed even he didn't know. On the other side of the tracks was Sally's predicament. Ironically, with less to lose, her life was still intact. She had her job and Ryan was none the wiser, punch-drunk that there was a baby on the way. However, faced with false vows at the altar, she tells Ryan (Sean Maguire) the truth. At this point Mr. Duracell gets a little over-energised and in a passionate rant of hatred punches the wall next to her face. This shock is hilariously followed by his rugby tackle of Carl, rendering the middle-aged lothario unconscious. Outside the hospital room, his two women meet with Sally's apology as pathetic as Carl's. Maggie has only turned up "to turn off his life support" and tersely leaves, but not before suppressing a smile at one of David Nicholls' witty one-liners delivered from Morrissey. Is there yet hope? The ambling atmosphere was given a kick up the pants by these coupled admissions of guilt. With Colman's serpentine hair, her glare could have turned Morrissey to stone. Whereas, Maguire's vein-bursting anger would more likely reduce Smith to a smoothie, probably a healthy carrot and grass flavour though. "We were better on the train" says Sally while she and Carl tried to figure out what to do next - solid advice for us all there. Perhaps Carl should have finished Anna Karenina after all, instead of using it as a prop for a mutual topic of a conversation in episode one. He would have learned a valuable lesson. What happened to Anna in the end? Wasn't it something about trains and a disaster? Nearly two hours of storyline were then sewn up in the last three minutes. The enduring message of forgiveness, redemption and hope despite terrible mistakes was a wholesome one and the right way for the brief encounter to part ways. When Carl was reading with his daughter at the end while Maggie looked on lovingly, it was a touching moment. It trumpeted that fences could be mended and ticket barriers could be surpassed. When life gets you down, it's only temporary. Wether the storm, because soon you will be reminded why you live the life you do and not to run away from your problems. This message was good... good, isn't that nice. It was just a shame it had to limp there rather insipidly. The endless sections of teenage fumbling and the taking of selfies in the London Eye may have been put to better use in the reconciliation. But that's just one hardened 22-year old's cynical nitpicking opinion. It seems Responsibiltyford was the intended destination all along. Next time, just look out the window at Excitementville. Don't get off the train.
