The week ahead (week 22)

Well, long time no write! It’s been a quiet spell for Ballum on EE itself, as they’re away on honeymoon (referred to onscreen on Thursday when Suki made a comment to Phil about Ben away sunning himself), but they’re back next week and it’s straight into drama and their next big story.

So, we start off with what appears to be a bit of comedy when Ben and Callum return from honeymoon and find that Vi is still in the flat and they’re on a blow up bed. Like a lot of people, I’d have thought they’d be at Kathy’s – because even if there were no free bedrooms, a blow up bed in that front room is still a bit roomier than the front room at the parlour flat, right? However, I can see why EE made the choice of the flat for a few reasons. Firstly, for proximity to Vi; easier to have scenes with her grandsons if they’re all under the same roof. Secondly, I think it’s supposed to be seen as Ballum going from one extreme to the other; a lovely two weeks away from everything and everyone, with peace and privacy and sunshine – and then the second they return, they’re in the least ideal living situation they could have imagined. And it will seem even worse because of that contrast – I know I find it bad enough returning from trips away and feeling more stressed than usual because I’m missing being away, so I’m sure they might feel it too. Thirdly, if Ben and Callum getting their own place is on the horizon any time soon, being in that cramped living situation gives them more of an incentive to get a move on with it, as opposed to if they were in a slightly better place at the Beale house. And finally – would you want to live in the same house as Peter Beale? I think I’d rather take my chances with Vi, and I like to think Ben would too.

And talking about returning to stress, it’s not just the blow up bed that they have to contend with. They’re also reminded of everything else they left in Walford; beginning with the person who kicked them out in the first place. We’ve got Ben approaching Phil to thank him for the honeymoon and Phil responding that it’s the last thing they’ll ever get from him. And even though Ben’s shown such growth regarding Phil and maturity in how he’s handling this latest rejection – that’s going to hurt. Callum gets the same treatment of course, with Phil snubbing him in the cafe later in the week. At least they’ve got the newest Ballum stan Kat Slater on their side, who tries to encourage Phil to make amends with Ben. No indication we’ll actually see this, but Phil does try to be a father this week… for Kat’s twins, Bert and Ernie. Two son replacements for the price of one! It’s a shame Phil can’t bring himself to acknowledge that Callum’s ‘betrayal’ kept Ben out of prison; but then Phil’s default stance is ‘I’ve been wronged so it was the wrong thing to do, regardless of circumstances.’ Hopefully that growth will come in time… but it’s Phil, so who knows.

Ben gets involved with the Panesars again this week, but not for business. Suki admitted to Kheerat in Friday’s episode that Jags is in trouble in prison – they need to get protection money together to pay some people off or else Jags won’t make it out alive. But looks like Kheerat has an idea to help Jags without having to search for 100 grand of cash.
Back in December, Ben had revealed to Kheerat and Suki that he had contacts on the inside, using it to threaten Jags when Suki had that CCTV footage of him leaving the Vic after Ian’s attack. So no doubt that’s where the idea of Ben being able to protect Jags instead comes to Kheerat, and he suggests it to Suki. How she reacts to that depends on how desperate she is I suppose, but whether she’s onboard or not, Kheerat goes ahead and asks Ben – who agrees to help on Tuesday. However, Ben doesn’t know that Kheerat has a thing with Sharon and Kheerat wants to keep it that way – although Ben suspected it anyway when he saw them in the Vic, after he realised Kheerat had taken the Stas deal from them, and they weren’t even seeing each other then! But I think it’s less about how Ben would actually feel about it (because I’m not sure he would care that much), and more about Kheerat wanting the best possible chance of Ben agreeing to help Jags and minimising the risk of him saying no.

Friday brings some Ballum angst with it. Remember when I said that they’re being reminded this week of everything they left behind? Well, when Ben sees Callum with a colleague (which I’m going to assume is a catch up before Callum returns to work) he feels unwelcome, and makes his excuses. On honeymoon they could ignore the reality of what went on before the wedding, but upon their return it looks like this is the first time that Ben’s really realised that Callum is still a cop, and still in the job that led to all that grief for the both of them. He loves Callum, that’s why he married him, and wants to move past what happened; but I’m not surprised if the whole thing has made him reevaluate their dynamic – a dynamic that he thought was working well, but it wasn’t, because unbeknownst to him, it was being exploited. It’s bound to have shaken him, especially the thought that Callum didn’t tell him for months, which, as Callum acknowledges, was a choice he made, whatever the reason. And clearly Ben’s still struggling with it as he later confides in Kheerat.
I think this particular plot point is purely to pile the guilt and maybe fear onto Kheerat for keeping Ben in the dark about Sharon. Ben talks about people sneaking around behind his back and how much he hates it, and provides a pretty obvious link to what Kheerat’s doing as well. And even though it’s not really any of Ben’s business who Kheerat’s seeing, if Ben sees it as Kheerat sneaking around without telling him, then there’s a risk he might withdraw the protection of Jags, and that’s what Kheerat’s concerned about I think, rather than any actual loyalty to Ben. He’s seen the disdain Ben has for Sharon, and now there’s this unintentional warning to be honest with him.
For Ben, I feel like it’s less about the meeting between Callum and Fitzy itself (that’s not what I thought Fitzy would look like – I thought he was one of the wedding extras!) and more about what it represents to Ben. And if they’re maybe discussing police stuff as well, it could set Ben a bit on edge because what he thought was police stuff at the end of last year was in reality Callum being blackmailed by his boss. I can see a bit of fear that that kind of thing might happen again, and he wouldn’t know because he didn’t know last time when it was happening. Ben was raised to distrust the police, as all Mitchells do, and he put that aside for Callum, only to find out that Callum then became a victim of blackmail and his relationship with Ben exploited – so he can’t be feeling too good about the whole thing. And I like that it’s pretty much an instant issue upon their return; less time for it to fester, and I think a clear sign that they spent the honeymoon in ignorant bliss and not talking about any of this, at least not in depth.
Another thing that happens on Friday is that Kat gets mugged, giving her a bit of plot when Suki makes a comment about Phil finding the culprit and Kat defending him – but Callum also witnesses the mugging, and that leads into the events of the following week (which I’ll get into next week!)

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Our only other real piece of news is that Tony’s been longlisted for another award – this time a National Television Award for Serial Drama Performance! Voting closes next Friday at 11pm, so make sure your votes are in, see if we can get him to the shortlist! (You can also give Rose aka Frankie a vote for Best Newcomer as well while you’re there!)

We’re right into the drama this week it seems, so brace yourself!