Well, that was dramatic! And not quite what I expected from the outcome of Kush’s court hearing. Unfortunately it seems to be setting the Mitchells up for a fall….
Screencaps for this episode can be found here.
Our first scene is Ben at the Mitchell house, buttoning up his coat and preparing to leave as Phil sits in the armchair. Phil informs Ben that Kat isn’t around because they called things off. Of course he wouldn’t want to admit that she dumped him because of the whole Kush thing, how she believed he didn’t have a conscience over Kush going to prison for them (even though she was trying to convince Whitney the next day that it was a good deal that Kush is right to take… can’t feel that bad about him going to prison, eh Kat?)
Ben isn’t really sure what to say in response to the news – it’s no secret that he’s not a Kat fan so to express disappointment would be insincere. So he just asks Phil if he wants to talk about it instead. And of course Phil turns that offer down. Talk? About his feelings? Not a chance.
Phil shuts the conversation down by hurrying Ben along to court; letting us know that’s where Ben’s headed in his buttoned up coat. He’s off to see for himself that Kush follows through.
If you’ll remember, the spoilers described this scene a little differently to what actually happened – we had been led to believe that Phil’s worried about Kush’s appearance in court and Ben assures him that he’ll make sure to remind Kush what’s at stake. None of that actually happened, and Phil doesn’t seem that worried about Kush – he’s just moping about Kat. And Ben didn’t promise to give Kush any warnings or reminders, and nor did he in the episode – verbally, anyway.
A bit later, on the Square, Ben watches Kush and Whitney have a moment before Kush leaves for court (a moment that was full of bad foreshadowing, in my opinion. Kush promising to come back to her? It makes me a bit uneasy.) Whitney sees Ben before Kush does, and he turns to look at him. Ben just meets his eye for a moment before hurrying along, but it’s enough to set Kush on edge – for reasons we weren’t actually aware of until the court scene.
And now, the court scene in question! Ben watches on as Kush hears the crime he’s on the stand for – stealing the two cars from the insurance company – and Kush pleads guilty, to Ben’s relief. But that’s not the end. It comes out then that Kush has another deal in mind – with the courts. He’s agreed to give the names of the co-conspirators of the car theft as a witness, along with the other offences he plans on pleading guilty to, and in response the judge adjourns his sentencing to a later date, giving Kush bail in the meantime. Yikes. As you can imagine, Ben is not happy. He constantly looks to Gray, as if there’s anything he can do – and unfortunately he cannot, as much as he’d like to. Kush getting bail, and possibly a lighter sentence in exchange for handing over the Mitchells? So he’s back with Whitney? Nope, that’s not good for Gray.
It gets even worse from there, when the judge asks Kush if there’s anything he’d like to say. Turns out he does – he’s even written it all down. He admits to going to the insurance company with the intention to steal the cars that night; but he wasn’t alone. Ben was talking about Kush being brave the other day, but this is brave – looking right at Ben knowing he’s about to drop him right in it. Ben’s only barely concealing his horror, masking it as defiance as he looks back at Kush; maybe a last ditch attempt to intimidate him into shutting up. No such luck, as Kush goes on to name his accomplices – Phil Mitchell, Ben Mitchell, and Shirley Carter. No Kat, of course, even though she’s the one who alerted the others that there was a job to be had in the first place. So it’s not quite a moral obligation from Kush here to make the bad guys pay, even though he tries to make it seem so.
It’s not the only slight twisting of the truth either – Kush makes it sound like he was forced into taking the deal after being blackmailed by the Mitchells, when in fact he willingly accepted it for the money he was being given as a result. I don’t recall any strong-arming, even from Ben in Monday’s episode – a bit of manipulation, yes, but no threats. “They need to pay for what they’ve done” says Kush, but they didn’t want Kush anywhere near that job in the first place; he insisted, and then he got himself caught by refusing to give up on a car that he couldn’t get going.
It reminds me of Keanu blaming the Mitchells for his affair with Sharon and kidnapping of Callum. He was just a poor victim of the nasty Mitchells, wasn’t he? The Mitchells are many things, but at least they know it. In fact, I think people give them too much credit. They’re scapegoats for everyone because everyone thinks they’re bad news, dangerous and even murderous (even though they’re just slightly useless criminals for the most part). And with Kush reading out their names in the middle of the courtroom, it would not look good for them at all if Kush were to disappear. It’s a motive, clear as day. And Gray, who happens to have been sitting in on this whole thing too, knows that as well.
Ben’s outburst to insist Kush is lying probably doesn’t help his case either. He’s asked to sit down by the court, and Kush nods at him, probably thinking he’s pulled off a genius move.
However, it’s not really that genius. He’s got bail, but still has to return for sentencing. He’s grassed the Mitchells up, but (as far as we know) hasn’t got the evidence to back it up – he said it himself, he’s the only one who got caught. And I feel like that’s maybe hinted at when he returns home to tell Whitney they need to leave the country right that second. It’s implied the Mitchells will be coming for him, so he must be assuming they won’t be held in custody for long. But why not just run away before the hearing, as he’s still not a free man? At least he wouldn’t have had the Mitchells after him then. He probably wouldn’t get the money either way, but he’d only get that if he pleaded guilty and got sentenced. Offering the names of the others got him out on bail, but he’s still breaking the law by running away, escaping his sentencing. Oh Kush. What are you doing.
So with Kush and Whitney planning on running away, and Ben, Phil and Shirley now under arrest, what’s next? Well, we don’t know yet. Callum’s on duty, Kat saw Phil being arrested, Gray is possibly worried about what Kush is planning, and the Mitchells have one heck of a motive if Kush doesn’t make it out alive. Let’s see what happens tonight…
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