Hello, welcome to our only recap of the week, featuring minimal Ben – but thankfully it didn’t pan out how I’d originally feared, with Ben showing a bit of genuine concern alongside the typical snark.
Screencaps for this episode can be found here.
He arrives at the Mitchell house to find a stressed out Lola who berates him for being late. He’s a bit taken aback, and after shouting up at Lexi to greet her, he enters the front room to mutter out a defensive apology, that he’s literally only one minute late. It’s maybe a little more than that, considering the clock in the kitchen says it’s ten minutes past noon, but still – he doesn’t understand why it’s a big problem. He also still seems to have the keys to Mitchell Manor – it makes me wonder if he’d still been accessing the house for Lexi’s sake, even though Phil wasn’t speaking to him; or it’s an indication of their tentative truce after last week.
Either way, Lola isn’t happy and tells him so, informing him that some people have got places to be, and throwing information about Lexi at him, such as the fact she hasn’t had lunch yet and that her iPad should be taken from her in half an hour, and then blaming Ben again for being late. It all sounds like she’s been struggling to juggle things and is frustrated and stressed as a result. She’s upset as well – Isaac has refused to see her, so she’s trying to cope with the strain of that, and of Sheree’s disapproval. She’s determined to show Isaac that she hasn’t given up on him (which is why she’s worrying so much about being late), but as Ben observes, it’s at the expense of looking after herself.
Ben’s surprised that her plan is to go and see Isaac – he’d learned from Lexi that Isaac had dumped her (Lexi hears all the gossip, doesn’t she.) Not the most sensitive way he could have worded it, let’s be real. He’s even more surprised that she’s not only dismissed Isaac’s decision, but is planning on visiting even though Isaac isn’t letting her in – and I think he laughs in disbelief, as if she can’t be serious.
However, when she tells him it’s temporary, he realises that she believes it, and he’s concerned for her. Trying to see Isaac when he’s expressed wishes not to see her means Lola risks becoming more upset and hurt by the continued rejection, and Ben can see that. Maybe he thinks Lola won’t listen to him if he points out her own welfare, so he brings up Lexi and what she might think of seeing Lola like this, in a state because of the stress of it. He recommends she ‘take the hint’ and jump ship while she still can. I’m not sure why he expected Lola to react in any way to that other than negatively, but also it’s in character for Ben to avoid sincerity (as we know, and even Ben himself knows) so the alternative is to mask it with other things, such as snark. Or maybe getting a reaction is what he was going for, as Lola seems so convinced that persevering with Isaac is the right thing to do that it’s the only way he can think to snap her out of it. Unfortunately for him, it results in Lola digging her heels in and basically telling him to leave her alone, to just do something for her without sticking his boot in (turns out later that Ben wasn’t first choice to look after Lexi in this instance, it was Honey.) Ben insists he’s only trying to help, but Lola doesn’t buy it, or if she does believe it then she’s ignoring it – giving him a glare on the way out the door as she shouts up at Lexi to let her know that her dad’s here. And it was solely so she could say it with as much disdain as she could, because Ben did shout up at Lexi himself at the start of the scene. Her annoyance at Ben’s comments continue in her later scene at the cafe where she remarks to Honey about Ben pulling his finger out with Lexi, which read more like retaliation for earlier than the truth – I mean, he probably does see her less now that he’s not in the house with her but I don’t get the impression he’d be shirking his responsibilities – in fact, he probably tries to stay out of that flat as much as possible.
Anyway, her complete shut down leaves Ben once again huffing out a breath in disbelief. She was short with him from the off, so maybe he didn’t want to admit concern for her on principle, but it seemed pretty clear to me that that’s what was happening rather than it being about Lexi at this particular point – she was upstairs after all. I also find it amusing that Ben was recommending Lola jump ship, because how many times has Ben thought that about Callum? The exact phrase was even used by Kathy back in 2019 during their argument. Ben wouldn’t have a husband if Callum took his advice, so it’s funny that he’d try and get Lola to do the same with Isaac. I admit to side-eyeing him a little bit because he knows the importance of having unwavering support when you’re feeling unloveable and like a burden, having experienced it – even if he doesn’t feel he deserves it at times. I think he’d know objectively that persevering support is what Isaac probably needs; but also I guess he can’t know for sure the reasons Isaac has refused to see Lola so he’s taking it at face value. Plus we know Ben can lack self awareness at times so it’s nothing we haven’t seen before anyway. I am very glad though that I don’t have to call Ben out on anything the way I had feared I might, I should have given the guy more credit!
So there you have it. Ben’s involvement in this story strand continues next week, so I’ll see you on Sunday for the Week Ahead!
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