16th November, Christopher

Bit of Callum for us this week, as part of Pete’s double episode on Tuesday. I did miss his scenes with Stuart so it was nice to have a bit of Highway screentime, with some unexpected developments…

Screencaps for this episode can be found here.

So Vi has decided to tell her grandsons about her son Christopher (well, not so much decided as forced by Rainie, who Vi accidentally told on Monday and who threatened to tell Stuart if Vi didn’t.)
Callum and Stuart are sat at the bar of the Vic as Vi and Rainie sit in the booth across from them. Neither of the boys realise that it’s a serious subject she’s called them in for, Stuart joking about Vi buying them a drink having finally decided to open her purse, and Callum thinking he already knows what the news is – that she and Patrick are an item.
They’re confused when she shuts that down and then realise something’s wrong. It takes Vi a while to come out with it, confusing them even more when she mentions her son and having them think it’s about their dad – and bless Callum, it looked like he thought something had happened to Jonno and had the grace not to look too excited (I joke of course, it’s Callum we’re talking about, but still, I do think he could have been mentally preparing himself to be sympathetic over a man he has no interest in.)
It’s then that she clarifies; her other son. Which doesn’t clarify much, Stuart being sure that Vi doesn’t have another son. There’s a bit of tension when Rainie speaks up and Stuart realises that she knows Vi’s secret, and Callum trying to get his head around it and asking what other son.
Vi turns to Stuart and tells him he had the same nose as him and Jonno – and you’ve got a bit of separation there between Callum and the rest of the Highway men. One could read it as an implicit Mother Highway mention (because if Callum doesn’t have Jonno’s nose then he has his mum’s), or you could read it as another example of the familiarity and closeness Vi has with Stuart over Callum (which we come back to later.)
Stuart’s still trying to understand what she means, and starts to ask when this happened, but Callum thinks he’s figured it out – that Vi’s lost a baby. And please, that tiny voice crack on ‘baby’; maybe an accident but also just another sign of Callum’s empathy shining through.
As Stuart looks back at Vi in surprise, Vi corrects Callum; she didn’t lose him, she gave him up.

When we come back to the scene again later, Vi is basically shouting across the pub (Phil could probably hear from his position at the bar as well!) about how she felt when she gave birth and the baby had Down’s Syndrome – but she doesn’t want pity she says, just understanding. I guess she can tell Callum’s heading into sympathy territory; he’s being inquisitive while Stuart seems to be finding it hard to speak or even look at Vi – something Rainie’s quick to pick up on too.
Callum’s informed that the baby wasn’t their grandad’s, and I think that while it shocks him, it also serves to make him think that was the reason for the secrecy. But I’m not sure that’s the whole truth, as Vi had told Patrick that Grandad Highway had already taken off at that point (and whether he came back or not we don’t know). As we see later, Vi doesn’t tell the boys in this scene how old she was when she got pregnant, so I’m thinking that for her the shame comes from being that age and giving birth to a disabled child as a result.
She recalls ‘letting herself down’ with a gentleman, then finding out she was ‘in the family way’, i.e. pregnant. Then she admits she was on her own, and wanted a family to give the baby everything she couldn’t; to look at him and see nothing but love. Which probably isn’t meant to sound like an admission from Vi that she’d have judged him like she judges literally everyone else, but that’s what I heard.
Callum is surprised that she never told anyone, presumably thinking about how hard it must have been to keep it a secret – ever the empath. But as we know, he’s not the favourite, and it’s Stuart that Vi’s waiting on a response from (and for reasons we find out later). But nothing comes and Stuart’s still not looking at her, still processing. And so Vi takes her leave, thanking them both for listening; but she’s looking at Stuart, silently pleading with him to look back, but he doesn’t. And she ignores Callum as he calls after her too. Rainie urges Stuart to go after her as she’s family – and oh, the irony…

The irony being, as we find out in the scene with Vi and Stuart, that Vi let her pride win out over taking in a ten-year-old Stuart when he had no one else to look after him, and that’s why he ended up in care. And boy did my heartstrings get a good yanking here. The care system damaged Stuart immensely, and he tells Vi how much he hated it there; but this whole time he had thought Vi had been too sick to look after him. Instead she admits that she couldn’t have anyone knowing about the pregnancy, so she made the choice not to take him. That’s a pretty big admission, and it changes everything retrospectively for Stuart. Him being the favourite grandson suddenly seems less about him as a person and more about Vi’s guilt that she’d left him. And him having a good relationship with her was probably based on that understanding that she didn’t take him in because she couldn’t cope – not because she didn’t want anyone knowing her secret. It’s gutting, actually, and Stuart’s anger feels completely justified to me. He points out how he let her move in because that’s what family does; and now he knows Vi didn’t do the same with him.

So then we move to the next day in the EE universe, ie the second half of this double episode, and people keep trying to convince Stuart to give Vi another chance, like people gave him. But I feel like it’ll take longer than a day for Stuart to get over something like that; and also the rose tinted glasses are now off, meaning all those things Stuart let slide to keep the peace, he’s now bringing up and finally addressing.
Callum’s trying to convince him to go after Vi – neither of them knowing that by this point it’s too late and Vi’s already gone. I’ve never been more firmly on Stuart’s side here, as he points out that Vi still calls Ben Whitney. Something we thought had maybe stopped but apparently not, and Stuart has not only noticed, but he’s pointing it out as something that shouldn’t be happening; it’s hurtful. Slightly disappointed that Callum’s trying to defend Vi by glossing over that, instead putting it back to Stuart about his own feelings about Ben. I mean, he has a point, but showing disdain for Ben is one thing; making him feel lesser by referring to a painful time (on presumably a daily basis) in his own home is another. Stuart’s done terrible things, but you can see growth in him, and he tries; I’m just not sure I can say the same about Vi.
Callum can though, apparently; pointing out that Vi came to his wedding, despite everything she thinks. Stuart reckons that was for the free food (and she’d also been kicked out at this point too), but Callum insists that means they’re important to her.
Obviously Callum wouldn’t be Callum if he wasn’t determined to see the best in people regardless of what they’ve done; but watching him and Rainie try to tell Stuart he’s being unreasonable is just a little bit frustrating. Especially as Callum admits that Stuart is Vi’s world, recounting all the ways in which he wasn’t good enough (stupid hat mention!), but there was none of that with Stuart. And I don’t know if it’s occurred to Callum that her guilt might have been a factor in that, but to hear him say that so matter-of-factly, to try and make Stuart feel better – oof. Callum never feeling enough is a big sticking point with him (see proposal scene) so to know Vi contributed to that makes me hurt for Callum.
Still, he wants Stuart and Vi to patch things up so he pleads with Stuart to go after her, and even if Stuart doesn’t want her moving back in, they can at least sit down and talk. He doesn’t think he’s gotten anywhere, but later we see that Stuart did try – but was too late. Vi’s gone, the search for Christopher by the adoption agency presumably still ongoing… and Ballum might have an actual room with a bed to sleep in now. Yay!

That was our lot for the week, and no mention in next week’s spoilers so no Week Ahead this week. Although keep an eye out for the new Mitchell Manor because there’s a Ballum wedding pic on the wall!