The week ahead (week 25)

Hello! It’s our second binge week, and looks like we’ve got a decent amount of content!

So, there is a lot going on in Tuesday’s episode (no episode on Monday, so there’s a double airing on Thursday instead.) Our cliffhanger last week was Ben finding the ring in Callum’s backpack, so he goes to Whitney to ask about what the heck is going on – perhaps on the expectation that she’ll tell him the truth even it might hurt Ben, since he knows how she feels about him. This is actually the first time they’ve interacted for a good while – in fact, I could be wrong but I can’t think of a scene since the one in December 2019 where Whitney returned Callum’s phone to Ben. So I’m looking forward to seeing what this exchange will look like.
What Whitney says to him exactly (and what Ben accuses her of) remains to be seen, but she tells him to talk to Callum – so he does. And in spoilers released on Friday, we learned that Callum tells him about Fitzy and the stabbing. The conversation doesn’t go well because Ben’s angry at being shut out. It’s bound to hurt that Callum confided in Whitney over Ben, his husband, and to Ben it will feel like Callum didn’t trust him with the truth, or even that he used Ben’s ‘no work talk’ as an excuse to avoid telling Ben about something that clearly transcends that. Or maybe he’ll blame himself for saying it, for making Callum think he couldn’t tell Ben. It’s probably a mix of things, really. Plus I imagine the extent of the PTSD stuff isn’t coming out in this particular conversation – though, you know, even if it did, Ben’s anger at being lied to is still valid in the way that Callum’s was last year when Ben was trying to feel a sense of agency after the hearing loss. Callum’s pain doesn’t cancel out how he’s made Ben feel. I just don’t know if I could see Ben walking away with that particular understanding in the same way Callum couldn’t walk away back then, but guess we’ll have to see. It sounds to me as though Callum’s going to be on the defensive side rather than a side that’s willing to really explain how he’s feeling anyway, especially if he’s realised that Ben’s got Fitzy’s ring.
Ben goes and drowns his sorrows then, feeling alone. Sounds like he goes to make a phone call to keep Jags’ protection going after getting the money from Kheerat earlier in the ep, but then he spots Kheerat and Sharon looking cosy, which is the straw that breaks the camel’s back where Ben’s concerned. He’s made it extremely clear to Kheerat about the depth of his dislike of Sharon (regardless of whether it’s justified), so Kheerat has known full well from the start about what Ben’s reaction might be if he knew they were seeing each other, and especially if he knew Kheerat deliberately kept it from him. And this is knowledge Kheerat had when he went to Ben with the deal regarding Jags. And he not only kept Ben in the dark about Sharon; he also didn’t reveal the extent of the danger Jags was in when organising the protection. He framed it as a business deal, not life or death.
And so in a flash of drunken anger, Ben ‘changes his instructions’ on the call, which obviously means instead of saying ‘yeah, I’ve been paid this month, keep it going’, he instead tells them to back off because the deal’s off. Kheerat’s betrayal feels personal to Ben, not just because he’s with Sharon, but because he concealed it – which would feel to Ben like they’ve been laughing at him behind his back. And with it coming right after learning about Callum not trusting him either; in his regressed, drunken state I guess he just wants a bit of control back and makes a snap decision that is obviously being portrayed as something he wouldn’t have done had he not have been drunk and upset – which is still growth, because 2019 Ben would have totally done that sober.

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Looks like it’s the morning after the night before in Thursday part 1, when Ben returns after being out all night to a worried Callum. I wondered if he ended up sleeping in the Arches like he joked about when they came back from honeymoon, though the car lot might have been a comfier alternative.
I’d hope this is maybe where they talk things out a little, Ben in a calmer mood and Callum less defensive, with both of them realising that they have to be honest with each other about how they’re feeling and what’s been going on, and close that gap between them.
One reason I think this might happen is to amp up Ben’s guilt when speaking to Kheerat later, who comes clean about Sharon, telling him it’s over now and thanking him for protecting Jags, not knowing that Ben withdrew it. If he’s in a better place than he was the night before, he’s going to feel extra bad about the snap decision he made. And judging by a spoiler about an upset Suki in this ep, there’s no time for Ben to reinstate the protection.

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Yeah, I’m pretty sure Jags is a goner, and presuming Ben and Callum had a talk in the previous ep, Ben opening up to Callum in Thursday Part 2 will be him admitting what he’d done, perhaps after hearing the news. I suspect there will be an enormous amount of guilt from Ben because it was a spur of the moment decision when he was drunk and hurting, and he didn’t inform Kheerat that he’d done it. I’m certain he wouldn’t have done it if he thought Jags was going to die without it (though Jags isn’t Ben’s responsibility anyway.) So now I imagine he’ll be feeling a huge amount of self blame, interestingly not unlike what Callum’s just been through. So that element might come up in their talk. And I kinda hope it does, because I think it would be good for them to wind up helping each other, learning from each other and just being supportive husbands together. And that then leaves room for drama to come up once the Panesars learn that Ben pulled the protection, as I’m sure that’s coming out (or maybe they guess when they get the news, I’m not sure.) Not that Jags’ fate is Ben’s fault, and I get the feeling the Panesars will know that. Ben just kept him alive for a few extra weeks. Suki put him there and the whole family went along with it. But if they were looking for a scapegoat… Ben’s an easy target (when is he ever not?)

No other news to speak of, but this should be a good week to binge if you’re going to! Have fun!