If the mirror smash was a warning, then the next episodes of Coronation Street are when Theo’s nightmare bursts into broad daylight.

No longer confined within the four walls of the apartment, the violence that Theo unleashed on Todd becomes a street-shaking incident when the police storm Weatherfield on a night that makes everyone who watches it wonder: “Why didn’t anyone stop this sooner?”

After the “repentance – apology – promise” scene, Theo is surprisingly docile.

He cleans the house, cooks, buys presents for Todd, even talks about the future, as if the mirror smashing was just a “small accident”.

For Todd, everything is like a constant internal battle: on one side is fear, on the other side is attachment, plus a little fragile hope that “maybe this time he will change”. The old wounds have just had time to ease when a new storm quietly arrives.

The turning point is when Corrie begins to “see” Theo. Not in the usual sense, but through seemingly innocuous moments: neighbors hear the sound of objects being smashed, a friend catches Todd with a poorly concealed bruise, the building’s security camera accidentally records Theo grabbing Todd and dragging him into the house. These fragments gradually piece together a picture suspicious enough for outsiders to start asking questions.

When Theo “commits his worst act yet” – the worst act yet – Corrie doesn’t have to show every single blow. The tension is built with sound, camera angles, and the expressions of the indirect witnesses. Muffled screams, falling objects, and then an eerie silence. One neighbor finally gets fed up and calls the police. Within minutes, a patrol car appears on Coronation Street, its red and blue lights illuminating the faces peering out of the windows.