Hi guys! Hope you enjoyed last night. The Ballum content was about as much as I was expecting personally, and it was nice to see them even if they weren’t doing a whole lot. There were some unintentionally hilarious moments as well.
Screencaps for this episode can be found here.
We had a nice little exchange between the pair of them just before they clocked that the Mitchell house was on fire, and it was on the topic of Pride – their first as a married couple, as Ben points out. Actually their first together properly at all, as last year in the EE Universe they were both in lockdown separately.
I think Callum detects the excitement in Ben’s voice and decides to tease him by guessing it means a few drinks and an early night, because they’re boring now. He’s already smiling by the time he finishes his sentence because he knows the protest is coming from Ben, who argues that it means they stay out all night, until the sun comes up. They’re in a good mood, and that means it’s about to come crashing down.
And true to form, their Pride plans are once again thwarted as Ben spots the smoke rising from Mitchell Manor; and in a move that is completely in character, he shouts at Callum to call 999 as he rushes towards the house, screaming his dad’s name. I did find that hilarious, just like their wedding day when he was ordering Callum to do something after Kat had been run over. Proper married couple vibes.
Ben arrives at the house just as Phil is staggering out, having managed to regain consciousness and find his way out amidst the fire. Bit of Phil and Ben close contact as Ben grabs him to check he’s alright, and then panics that Lola and Lexi are inside and, to my surprise and probably Callum’s as well, he rushes right inside to the kitchen in preparation for pulling out anyone else who’s inside. I did appreciate the little bit of angst that had Callum yelling at Ben not to go in.
Phil’s telling them there’s no one else inside, that they’re all looking for Scarlett (they must have gotten the gossip on her from somewhere) and Tommy’s away to the park (about that…), but to be honest from the look on Ben’s face at the size of the flames I don’t think he could have gotten much further anyway. And a good thing too!
And so Ben tumbles back out again, coughing up a smoke infested lung as Callum gets on the phone in his capacity as PC Highway and requests the fire service to the house. I’m wondering if there’s some kind of advantage to calling as a cop to the emergency services, or if he has to report that he’s a cop even when off duty, as that’s the second time he’s done it. Or maybe it’s just EE reminding us that he still hasn’t been fired yet.
From then on it’s a bit of background work for Ballum. Callum relays to the operator that the house is empty – all of them unaware that Janine and Tommy are trapped.
Ben is the doting son, crouched on the ground asking Phil what the hell happened as he places his jacket around Phil’s shoulders. All Phil can tell him is that he was arguing with Shirley and then she hit him over the head – leading Ben to the conclusion that it was her who started the fire. And presumably Phil doesn’t tell anyone else, it’s just Ben and Phil (and Callum, of course) who think they’re in the know. Although, when Janine appears at the window later on I guess it’s possible they might re-evaluate their theory.
Soon they learn that Tommy’s inside, thanks to Kheerat spotting Scarlett outside the house and asking questions. And cue the comedy as everyone gathers to watch as Janine opens the window and shouts for help. What’s even funnier is that Callum has actually moved even further away by the time Janine starts to dangle Tommy out the window, presumably hoping someone would catch him. But no, apparently that’s too dangerous. Callum shouts some reassuring words at Tommy from his place of safety as well, which was nice of him. I can’t get too mad about it, as I think it was an unfortunate result of the filming and the production logistics. Maybe the actors aren’t allowed to get close to the exterior flames, which were visible on the ground floor. Maybe they couldn’t figure out a way for Tommy to drop and not get caught (because I feel his injury might be an important story point) when everyone was standing there, so they just… had them standing there. It’s a bit of manufactured high stakes drama, I’ll live with it.
So as everyone waits for the men in the fireproof suits to come and catch him instead, a gas cannister in the house explodes and Janine is hurled back into the house, leaving Tommy there on his own clinging by his fingertips. And before the firemen can get there, he falls, to everyone’s horror. And Ben’s still there next to Phil, hand on his shoulder to calm him, even after Phil’s been seen to with an oxygen mask – and it’s sweet, not gonna lie. Obviously Ballum didn’t need to be close contact for this, but we’ll get there soon! I trust there are reasons for everything – well, everything except that music moment when Gray walked out of the house with Kheerat around his shoulders. No reason for that at all.
No word on whether Ballum are in the rest of the week, but now there’s quite a few people without a home, including Lola and Lexi. Not that Ballum can help from their airbed in the flat! There’s also Shirley who possibly thinks she’s to blame, and maybe another confrontation with Phil. And the less said about Gray the hero, the better I think – but I feel like he might be getting the Mitchells’ legal cases after all.
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