The week ahead (week 2)

Afternoon! This post will be a bit bare because we actually have very little to go on for the week ahead, as Ballum continue to be part of Frankie’s story.

It’s a good week for us in terms of writers, with Jonny writing most of the week. The last Ballum episode he wrote was Ben’s little confrontation with Ian outside the Vic on the day Ian was attacked, back in early December. I’m sure I don’t need to remind you of what else he’s written, but you can always have a search for him on the Writer’s List if you wanted to check! Yasmeen Khan wrote Chris’ memorial, and most recently, the episode after the car heist with Callum and the frozen peas. And Rashida is another new writer – they’ve had quite a few new writers in the last few months, and it’s great that they’re being given that opportunity; fresh eyes are often a good thing.

This week we’re definitely getting him writing some Ballum anyway, on Tuesday when both Ben and Callum express concern over Frankie. There’s no indication of how long the scenes will be but it would be rather nice if we got Callum talking to Frankie, using more sign, explaining why he had no choice but to arrest her the previous week. I’d also be interested to know how Callum feels about the homophobic comments that were made – we’ve not really seen him experience that beyond his dad and his brother, but after standing up to Jonno, but I wondered if it was a case of anything else being insignificant after he took on the biggest reason for his fear of coming out, or if it would remind him of those comments Jonno would make and how influential they once were.
We’ve also got Ben warning Frankie about what happened last time she had a drink, and it would be good if we had Ben explaining his own methods of self harm with starting fights he knows he won’t win and how it’s not healthy, acknowledging that he’s had a bit of growth. Or even pointing out how it can go badly wrong and result in death, like it did with Paul. Or maybe they’ll go the angle of him thanking Frankie and bringing up Paul in that context, of getting abuse just for kissing your boyfriend hello.
Obviously I really doubt any of this is going to be explored in a twenty minute episode where other things are going on, but I can daydream! But I do genuinely wonder if Frankie is going to tell Ben and Callum anything about why she’s going off the rails, or if it’ll remain at a surface level of them supporting Frankie despite not knowing what the problem is. I’m sure they’ll ask though, and her deflection won’t work as well as it did on Friday.

There aren’t even any spoiler pictures or other news to bulk this post out a bit! But I finally got to add another kiss to the Kiss List, bringing the total to 35. So there’s that! I also tidied up the Screencaps, putting them into monthly folders so it’s hopefully a little easier to navigate… if anyone uses them or would like to. Hope you all have a great week!