The week ahead (week 8)

It’s been a quiet few weeks for us, it has to be said! There’s a bit more content coming up with Ben at least.

So basically, Ben’s part of a plot involving a bit of rivalry between the Panesars and the Mitchells; something that was briefly touched on last year after Ben was caught on Suki’s CCTV leaving the Vic after Ian’s attack. Ben and Kheerat had called a truce then, but looks like the turf war is back on when Kat tells Phil that Kheerat’s trying to steal a customer from them. The details are suitably vague; such as what exactly both families are offering that this new guy has to pick between. Pest control and car repair are two very different businesses, so I gather it’s not altogether legitimate. And we’re most likely not going to get the details in the episodes either, as that tends to be the case for any dodgy dealings – we’re just told it’s shady and that’s that. But it does sound like a juvenile, low stakes crime, which is something I’m completely fine with; as I mentioned during the car heist, this kind of thing is part of Ben, the opportunist wanting a quick buck who also loves getting one over on his enemies. And it’s also the kind of thing that Callum will roll his eyes at but tell him to be safe and not to take too many risks. Ben’s not Ben without a little bit of dodginess, after all.

So, presumably the Mitchells think the ball is in their court on Tuesday, but they make the mistake of angering Kat, who overhears Ben make a nasty comment about her and Phil agreeing. It sounds like Kat expected it of Ben, but not Phil. Though really, it’s the most Phil thing ever. He’s not really known for his respect for women, is he? In fact, it’s probably where Ben got it from. It remains to be seen what the nasty comment is, but it results in Kat wanting revenge. If it’s anything resembling slut-shaming I will be calling him out, as Ben has no business judging someone for that when he’s used sex as a coping mechanism in the past as well. But we’ll see…

Kat gets her revenge on Thursday as she happens to spot Stas, the hotly sought after customer (maybe he’s the only customer either of them have), and sabotages the deal with the Mitchells. It doesn’t say how, but we can probably guess as Ben gets a call from him later, telling him the deal’s off and he’s gone with Kheerat instead because he heard that Ben was badmouthing him. Quite an appropriate revenge for Ben and Phil badmouthing Kat, I guess! It sounds hilariously petty – and what’s more, Ben thinks Sharon has something to do with it, randomly (I’m guessing that might make a bit more sense in context as it sounds a bit of a leap for Ben to make.)
It sounds like there’s a bit of a showdown in the Vic where Ben goes to confront Sharon as she tries to calm the feud between the Mitchells and the Panesars, but somehow ends up making it worse, whatever that means! If Stas had any sense he’d ditch them all and go somewhere else entirely. Maybe there’ll be punches thrown or glasses smashed. Certainly sounds like Kat enjoys it and is satisfied with her revenge, but I’m sure things with her and Phil aren’t over yet.

There’s nothing for us on Friday in terms of spoilers, apart from the below spoiler picture that’s apparently from Friday on the BBC site, featuring Ben and Kheerat in Ruby’s club. Perhaps Friday is the start of them working out some kind of deal that runs into the following week.

In terms of writers for this week – it’s an all female roster, starting with Lauren Klee in the first half of the week (one of our faves, who wrote the siege and the recent Christmas Day ep), and two new writers; Jenny Davis, who’s previously written for Doctors, and Jessica Barnes, who was an EE script editor in 2016. Fingers crossed for a decent week!

When I say a quiet week, it really has been quiet – no other news to speak of! Hope everyone’s doing okay, hanging in there until we next see Ballum together and we hopefully get a reference to the engagement and/or wedding!