Well, we’re at our last ep of the week (no episode on Friday due to football) and we’ve got two scenes, featuring a struggling Callum and a confused Ben.
Screencaps for this episode can be found here.
At Ruby’s, Callum has Fitzy’s engagement ring in his hands, Whitney opposite him as he frets about Ben seeing them, as he thinks Callum’s at work. He doesn’t get to say what he thinks would happen, as Whitney asks him if it would be so terrible if Ben did see them. I’m not sure what she’s implying; maybe she means it wouldn’t be so terrible because then Callum could explain to Ben what’s going on. Or it’s said with a bit of bite because she thinks Callum’s implied Ben would have a problem with her. Or she means it wouldn’t be so terrible because they’re not doing anything wrong – which is a subtle encouragement for Callum to keep confiding in her.
Callum just shrugs and goes back to staring at the ring, as Whitney then asks how Fitzy is. And apparently he’s not good, still touch and go. And as we suspected, Callum doesn’t want to give Fitzy’s girlfriend the ring because then that means he’s acknowledging that Fitzy isn’t going to make it. He’s torn between doing what Fitzy asked of him and the implication that comes from doing it.
Whitney tells him to keep it, assuring him that Fitzy will give it to her himself. Callum’s not convinced despite her confidence and wonders what he’s going to do if he dies. Whitney reminds him that she’s there, and to remember that he doesn’t have to do anything he doesn’t want to do. Does she mean he doesn’t have to give Vicky the engagement ring? Or that he doesn’t have to tell Ben? Because honestly, I think that’s what she’s getting at here. And with her saying on Tuesday that if Ben and Callum don’t have honesty, what have they got – I think she maybe wants to believe that they’ve got nothing, because it makes her feel better.
At the minute, Whitney’s intentions are up to interpretation for the most part, but for me personally, even though I do think she genuinely wants to help Callum, I think after all the focus she had on Ben during wedding week, and the mentions of him taking her happiness ‘twice’; I wouldn’t be surprised if she gets a bit of satisfaction out of being Callum’s confidant while Ben’s in the dark – almost like balancing the scales in her mind. If she’s decided to believe that Ben is no longer at fault for killing Kush (which is still to be clarified), then what’s left is what that accusation brought to the surface, which was residual anger at Ben for “stealing” Callum. It’s suddenly starting to seem like less of a coincidence that Ben and Callum had just marked two years since park scene, which was also the moment Callum cheated on Whitney. Plus I can’t help but think of how the BBC spoiler referred to Whitney as ‘the wrong person’ for Callum to confide in and why they would say that if this is Whitney genuinely helping. Unless that’s just a reference to the hit and run, because as all things in soapland (as we’ve learned), nothing stays a secret forever.
Later in the Vic, Ben and Callum are having a drink at the bar when Ben puts forward the idea to go round to Jay’s that weekend to have a few beers and watch the footie. Ben, watching the football? He really would do anything for Callum. He’s trying to reach out to Callum with some familiarity, I think, to try and get him to connect. Callum agrees to the idea, but the smile is quite tight and he still feels distant to Ben. Maybe he was hoping Callum would tease him about wanting to watch the football. But he gets little in response and he looks around, a bit lost for what to say (a bit like the other day when Callum didn’t respond to his ‘bow around your waist’ joke).
He instead asks if it was a long day going by his mood – again picking up that something’s not quite right. Callum is vague (because ‘long day’ is a reference to his work, and Callum wasn’t at work), and then turns it on Ben by reminding him that he doesn’t want to talk about that; almost accusatory. This is the second time that Ben’s tried to encourage Callum to talk to him by referencing his job, and the second time Callum’s shut him down. Because I don’t think Callum wants to tell Ben the truth – withdrawal from loved ones being a symptom of PTSD, and he’s got shame and guilt on top of that – but Ben’s suggestion about not talking about work has almost given Callum an out; a solid, seemingly logical reason not to tell him. And he’s clinging to that. Even though I’m sure he knows that Ben would want to know that he’s struggling. Ben already suspects it after all, he just isn’t sure how to reach Callum and get him to talk to him. Plus he wants to believe that Callum would tell him, so he’s not pushing the issue. And then by letting it go, Callum can continue to believe that he’s right, that Ben doesn’t want to know about the stabbing because it’s work related. It’s like a cycle.
So, as I say, Ben lets it go, and tries instead to suggest they just chill at home tonight and sit on the sofa. It’s not an invitation to talk, just to be with each other – and he hopes Callum can take comfort from it as well as himself. And Callum appreciates it, agreeing to it with a little smile that seems more genuine than the one he gave in response to going to Jay’s. He just needs to nip to the gents first.
He’s left his phone on the bar, and when it dings with a new notification, Ben hears and glances over to it. He decides to sneak a peek, and it’s a text from Whitney that makes it sound like she and Callum had a lovely time while Callum fretted over Fitzy – plus a suggestion to do it again soon, again offering herself as a confidant rather than Callum going to her. It’s not really a text you would expect in the circumstances, but of course it’s intended by EE to raise Ben’s suspicions about what’s going on. Even if Callum wasn’t lying about going to work, it’s probably strange enough that he never mentioned meeting up with Whitney, who was blaming Ben for Kush’s death a month ago, and Callum by association. It’s intentional that the text doesn’t allude to Callum’s struggles – and it means that it could look to Ben that Callum’s withdrawing because he’s preferring to spend time with someone else, and Whitney of all people. And the existing insecurities he has doesn’t help.
As for Ben looking at the phone – I’m not sure if that’s an unfortunate result of social distancing, which made him moving to look at it seem more of a deliberate choice rather than instinctual curiosity which might be what they intended it to be; or a sign that he’s looking for an explanation for Callum’s behaviour, with him withdrawing and being a little snappy. Last year when Callum shut him out, he had Callum’s phone in front of him and decided not to go through it; but that’s not the same as looking at an incoming notification on the home screen because you’re worried, or suspect what you know had been happening before is possibly happening again.
If Ben wasn’t suspicious that something’s going on before, he no doubt is now. And not from a (god forbid) cheating angle, but more of a ‘he’s sneaking around and not telling me the truth’ thing in general; something he knows had been happening before, whatever the reasons behind it. Ben’s fears about the job and what it could be making Callum do still exist. He said to Kheerat that the thought of Callum keeping things from him again kills him. What was a fear before has now turned into a possibility, even if it looks Whitney related rather than job related. These boys have a lot of stuff to sort out, what with all these crossed wires muddling the waters. Let’s hope they’ll get there.
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