Hey all, time for another week ahead – which looks like it has the potential to be a bit dramatic!
Mon 19th July – Pete Lawson
Callum acquires details for Simon Atmore, the man responsible for Paul’s murder. He realises that Ben is agitated, and refrains from giving him the information. Ben, however, later finds the piece of paper amongst Callum’s belongings, and sets in motion a plan to meet with Simon.
Callum discovers that Ben has made a plan to meet with Simon and urges him not to, but Ben is determined to get his revenge. Callum becomes desperate when Ben refuses to listen to his pleas.
Tues 20th July – Pete Lawson
Callum fears for Ben and goes to Phil, explaining that he has got the number of Paul’s killer and needs his help. Phil insists that Callum will have to sort it out on his own. Later, Simon waits for his probation officer but realises something is wrong and steps back into an alley.
Thurs 22nd July – Pete Lawson
Callum sees Phil when Phil is playing football with Tommy. Callum fears the worst when he learns the truth.
Fri 23rd July – Yasmeen Khan
No Ballum spoilers
First of all, it’s good for us that we’ve got Pete writing not one, not two, but three episodes this week! Considering that’s where the Ballum spoilers are, I think it means we’ve got a good chance of our content flowing this week in a way that’s maybe not always possible with different writers at the helm. Whatever happens, at least they’re in good hands.
So we basically pick up where we left off the week before last, with Callum aquiring the details for Simon Atmore, but when he sees how agitated Ben is, he keeps it to himself. I have no doubt that the anniversary of Paul’s death is a factor – he died on the 18th July, and it wouldn’t surprise me if they set this ep on that day just to amp up Ben’s emotions and that feeling of injustice that Paul’s killer is out and about on this day of all days. It might also increase his urgency to confront Simon, and Callum’s clearly concerned that Ben’s not going to stick to what they agreed.
However, Ben finds the paper later in Callum’s things. It’s not clear if he knows the paper exists at this point and it looking for it, or is looking for something else and comes across it innocently; or simply suspects that Callum’s got it and is looking for proof. Though not sure how likely that would be, as I’m not sure I’d suspect the details were on a piece of paper instead of somewhere more secure… but anyway. Soaps and all that.
Callum realises Ben’s found it and has made a plan to meet Simon and tries to urge him not to. Seems like Ben’s being pretty upfront about everything, about how he wants revenge and that just talking isn’t going to cut it.
Tuesday looks like it’s set the next day, and I feel like Ben may have given Callum the details of when he’s meeting Simon as it seems Callum’s aware he’s got time to go and ask Phil for help. He tells Phil he’s got the number for Simon (could just be misleading wording but did he keep a copy I wonder?) but Phil doesn’t want to know and tells Callum he’s on his own. Callum’s worried about Ben’s safety but at this moment it seems that Phil isn’t, too stuck in his own stubbornness. Unless he winds up changing his mind somehow…
Simon’s been lured to the gym under the guise of meeting his probation officer (wonder if it’s the same actor from 2016, Tom Palmer?) and realises something’s not right before stepping back into the alley, i.e the perfect ominous place to get into trouble. Not to go too wild with the speculating but what if it’s not just Ben who’s made contact with Simon? What if someone else phoned to lure him there? It’s all very vague after this spoiler but that means anything can happen. I have this feeling that it’s not Ben that comes face to face with Simon in the alley. Phil tells Callum to sort it out on his own but we don’t know how he plans to do that. Maybe he attempts to beat Ben to it by meeting Simon first?!
Jags’ funeral is also on Tuesday, and perhaps that’s not a coincidence. Maybe that’s some sort of catalyst for Ben, seeing a mourning family as he’s off to end someone else’s life. I mean, I’m of the opinion that Simon deserves everything he gets, but I also wonder if Frankie’s words to Ben the other week about letting go meant more than just anger at Phil, and it was foreshadowing this somehow. Maybe Callum manages to convince Ben to stay – but then we’ve got Phil meeting up with Simon instead, having changed his mind. He didn’t step up five years ago, maybe he sees this as another one of his many do-overs, and it happens to once again be the wrong thing? It’ll be on record that Callum searched the database for Simon, and it’ll be on record that Simon kidnapped Ben in 2016 as well as murdered his boyfriend – so Ballum will be the suspects if anything happens to Simon.
Which leads me to Thursday, where Callum and Phil have a conversation that is clearly embargoed when Callum spots him playing with Tommy. He could either be updating Phil on what happened, miffed that he didn’t step up to help – or thanking him for changing his mind and helping after all. I actually think it’s the former, as it seems like it might be significant that Phil’s there with Tommy, maybe visually hitting home to Callum that Phil’s moved on and has washed his hands of Ben. But then Callum also learns a truth in this ep, leading him to ‘fear the worst’. Wonder if this truth is something he learns from Phil? That he went to meet Simon after all, and the fear could be that Callum’s saved Ben from trouble only for Phil to land him right back in it again? The thing about that though is that it keeps the stalemate between Callum and Phil going – unless maybe Phil changing his mind to help means he’s had an epiphany of sorts and things do shift somehow.
Maybe Callum doesn’t learn the truth from Phil after all though. Maybe he lands into trouble at work for the search on Simon, or maybe Ben reveals something to him. Maybe they both did something to Simon and are discussing what to do – or they both watched Ben do something to Simon and are discussing how to keep him out of trouble. There are a lot of ways this week can go, isn’t there? I’m intrigued and quite excited.
With Danny Dyer being the last person to attempt to Boot the Bell last Sunday, Max came out on top as the champion. Woop! Tony and Max can both be heard in Danny’s video, so it’s worth a watch!
I’d also recommend giving this article a read about Vi’s unchallenged homophobia and the hopes that EE may show the connection between her comments and what it can lead to, how it can escalate into the violence that took Paul’s life.
I think that’s it, hope you all enjoy the week!
Jenn's Ballum Blog 