The Carla Conundrum

spoiler alert: this post makes reference to the February 8 episode on CBC

An astute reader made an interesting comment about the noticeably absent Carla Connor and what she's playing at. In particular, why didn't Carla ring the local cop shop (1-800-DCWeller? - ed) after learning the full extent of Tony's pernicious deeds?

Instead Cruella (or 'Morticia' if you're Janice Battersby - ed) took the first plane to Los Angeles and is now incommunicado (Is that near Malibu? - ed) presumably spending her time with an old friend and learning the difference between 'crisps and 'chips'. Her instructions are funneled via a lawyer. So what's her game?

Well, here's what we know:
1. She appointed the very fit Luke Strong to act on her behalf with respect to her interests in Underworld.
2. She gave Luke the option to buy out her interest in Underworld and, in fact, encouraged Luke to exercise that option - which he did.
3. She gave her share of Ladrags to Maria.

Also, bear in mind that Carla is the only person with a fairly complete overview of Tony's misdeeds. She interviewed both Jimmy (Tony's nervous associate and driver of the car which killed Liam) and Jed Stone. She heard Tony's confession in total and she knows that he's a psycho nutbar.

Is it possible that Carla simply wants to get away from Tony and Underworld and start over in the land of the Superbowl? Unlikely. After all, Tony killed Liam, the man she dearly loved. I think Carla has a game plan to deal with Tony but it hasn't played out yet. I also suspect that Luke is a pivotal part of that plan. Maybe he isn't who he says he is (i.e. just an old friend of Carla who knew Paul Connor). Maybe Luke's been charged with a more 'extensive' mandate (make a deep-fried Mars Bar using Tony as the Mars Bar? - ed)

There's definitely something about Luke. For one thing, his modus operandi is a little odd. First he shows up as Carla's representative. Then, later on, he decides to buy out Carla's stake in Underworld. Then, later on, he decides to fire Tony. Why didn't Luke do all of that in one fell swoop? He's like a magician doing a 'slow reveal' and keeping Tony constantly off balance. Then, right at the beginning of Friday's episode, Luke says to himself (in a Scottish accent no less) something along the lines of: "... it wasn't me. I wasn’t there."

Curiouser and curiouser. My guess is that Luke's got more tricks up his sleeve...