The week ahead (week 13)

Hope you’re all having a good Sunday! Tomorrow is the start of week 13, and Ballum have got quite a lot of little bits and pieces going on.

The gold bar business continues into next week, with Kheerat apparently not pleased at the checkmate Vinny put them in; but it looks like Suki may be more appreciative of the dirty tactics – which does kind of make sense. They ask Ben to come in on a new plan, whatever that plan may be, and suddenly Kheerat’s insisting that Vinny’s involved (maybe because he’s using the gold bars as a kind of ransom?) Ben’s not happy with it, but agrees anyway. It’s all quite vague at the moment, why Ben’s reluctant and what the plan even is, if Ben even knows about the gold bars. Whatever it is, it seems that Phil’s involvement in this is still basically nonexistent, so Ben’s still going off his own bat with this Panesar stuff anyway, which I continue to appreciate.

And speaking of Phil, Sharon pays him a visit in the same ep and announces she wants to be part of his money laundering scheme. I assume this scheme is a separate one to the one Ben and the Panesars have with Stas (I believe Phil has a few on the go), or perhaps Sharon’s just come to him with plans to start a new one – hence Tuesday’s ep where she starts looking into the fitness industry and possibly buying the gym, and using that as a base for some money washing (that’s assuming Phil agrees to let her in on it). I suppose her goal could be to get enough money to get out of the living situation she’s currently in, after moving out of the pub. Presuming she’s in the flat Mick and Linda were living at, you wonder why she needs somewhere bigger than that; or perhaps she just misses running the Vic. Counsellor Callum strikes again here as he’s the one who suggests to Sharon that she make a fresh start. Is the plan to move somewhere bigger within the Square, or away from Walford entirely?

But while Callum’s got that cute little friendship with Sharon, Ben is still very much of the opinion that she should have nothing to do with them. He spots her at the gym with an estate agent on Friday and decides to make an offer on the gym himself so she doesn’t get it. It’s unclear if he’s aware that she’s getting the gym so she can start money laundering, which I think would make a bit of sense as to why he’s so adamant that she doesn’t get it, in case she starts becoming more involved with Phil again as a result, or just starts taking away competition from him. Or it’s just pure luck that he spots her and just makes a counter offer so her new business plans are ruined, maybe as payback for Sharon taking the Vic from them last year. It’s a lot of trouble to go to to make a counter offer on a business you didn’t initially have any plans to previously – unless he doesn’t plan on going through with it, and is just to make her sweat a bit. Or maybe he thinks if she doesn’t get the gym then she’ll look elsewhere, i.e. out of Walford (hence his comment later on about how Sharon won’t be sticking around.) Who knows.
Kheerat and Sharon are also revisited and hinted at, after Ben made that accusation about the pair of them a few weeks back. She’s confided in him about her plans for the future it seems, and with Kheerat knowing that Ben’s made the counter offer, he may have to pick a side – either convincing her to look elsewhere or convincing Ben to withdraw his offer, maybe.

And finally, we’re treated to even more wedding planning scenes this week as Callum and Lexi go over the table plans, and having trouble over where to put Phil (I’m guessing he’s not at the top table then) before Lexi suggests Sharon. I love that she’s apparently on the guestlist despite Ben trying to steal away her business. Although, as I mentioned, he comments that she’s not going to be around for much longer anyway, maybe hoping she’ll leave if there’s nothing for her. Lexi probably doesn’t know anything about Kat and Phil, but Callum does, so he goes to Phil himself to ask if he’s bringing a plus one, presumably hinting that he should bring Kat. Unfortunately Kat overhears, and I’m guessing they perhaps realise she’s heard, or Kat confronts Phil, leading to the awkward situation. Whatever goes down, it all sounds like nice light-hearted drama with the potential for some comedy, so I’m looking forward to it!

Not much other news, but I wanted to link this opinion piece on Metro about the wedding, which as you may notice echoes a lot of my own thoughts in the Week Ahead post last week, including the significance of a real life gay couple coming in as body doubles. It’s a good, well balanced read!