On the edge of my seat

The warm up to the Full Monty turned out to be Sunita tearing chunks out of Stella for ruining her reunion with Dev who rightly realized that Sunita really doesn't love him anymore and was agreeing to get back together with him for all the wrong reasons. Even though I can't blame Dev for putting the blocks on the reunion and even though it's clear that if it had gone ahead, sooner or later, Sunita would probably have left him, I still think it was none of Stella's business to stick her nose in it and eventually, Stella thought so too.

Here's how the Full Monty went: In order to spread out the event and use up valuable time, we had the introduction of each of the lads for a solo turn on the stage. Karl didn't like it, Rob reveled in it. Jason sure got the women going but the doctor and his stethoscope seemed to be the hit of the night. Tommy really got into it. I think he's done that before! Toni upped the ante to get the boys down to the brass tackle and the audience was suitably worked up for the main event, the troupe of dancers whipping their kit off to the tune of Hot Stuff (coincidence? I think not).

Sunita got drunk and laid into Stella, vowing to get even, along with the traditional drink thrown over the object of her venom  and the loud argy-bargy was entertaining to the punters who were waiting for the charity show to start. A guilty Stella's left the show for an early night in a hot bath.  Earlier in the day, Jason got the electrics working but Karl nicked the keys to the pub from behind the bar and was seen looking slipping out before the main event, after his solo.

(an aside: Did you notice in the Bistro when Karl returned that Paul seemed to sense something off? I reckon he smelled smoke on Karl but didn't quite put his finger on what he subconsciously detected.)

I thought Kirsty might have been the wild card to the fire but no, we saw Karl light the cgi fire and be discovered by Sunita and naturally during the argument between them, she went hurling down the steps and he left her there when the fire got a bit hotter. Did he really think that would be the answer to his prayers? Did he not realize that Stella was upstairs? Obviously he didn't see her slip out. I do wonder why there isn't a smoke detector in the cellar where the electrics are. It would have gone off long before.

But alas, Norris spotted the fire and the lads were saved the dignity when Norris that broke up the party just when the kit was coming down to the bare essentials and we're in full disaster mode.

While it was nothing close to the tram crash, I still think the pyrotechnics *were* impressive. It looked very cgi while Karl was in the basement but from the outside of the Rovers on the outdoor set,  and even with the indoor set fires and the stunt person standing in for Sunita, it looked very good. It was established that that most of the Barlows were out at an ice show but Tracy was rugged up in bed with a bad cold. Pity she did get out in time. Ok, that was mean but spoilers did say someone would die. Was there any reason why I shouldn't have hoped?

Karl played the hero and now he and Stella are both trapped upstairs while Sunita is inhaling possibly fatal amounts of smoke downstairs. Karl didn't even tell the others that she was in there, the bar steward!!!

Previews for the next episode look even more exciting! Wednesday will have us on the edge of our seats for sure. Well, me anyway!