The confusion continues as this time Callum gets what we had assumed were Jay’s scenes in Tuesday’s episode. What is going on?!
After Ben spoke to Emma yesterday on Callum’s advice, Callum’s still not sure they should be dismissing her so quickly. He tries to get Ben to listen to him, but Ben is very very clear that they can’t trust Emma. Callum thinks they won’t get rid of her so easily this time; implying that they may as well try to work things out. Confusion about the spoiler mix up aside; I think it’s very Callum to be so forgiving and open to second chances, and from a character point of view it makes sense. What doesn’t really make sense is the story point of view – why are they putting Ballum at odds when they’ve built up Jay as the person who disagrees with Ben and his motivations for doing so laid out (making Lexi happy no matter what)? In fact, in this scene Jay comes in backing Ben up about not letting Emma anywhere near Lexi and telling Callum he doesn’t care what Lexi wants because she’s a baby. Where did that energy come from? He goes on to say that Emma shouldn’t have been messaging Lexi behind their backs, and he’s correct, but… this is definitely not what they were setting up the week before. Hmm.
Ben declares he’s going to handle this, but Callum points out that going in all guns blazing isn’t going to help anyone. Jay leaves for work as Ben leans in to talk about how well Lexi is doing and he’s worried that Emma’s going to come in and take her off the rails. Callum reaches for his hand and promises him that it will be alright, in that soft Reserved-For-Ben voice, and that he’ll sort it. After a bit of hesitance Ben nods in agreement and leans back, and the apprehension is clear on Callum’s face as he pats Ben’s hand, not really sure about how he’ll sort it.
Later, Callum’s in the cafe drinking coffee and ignoring a call from Emma when he catches eyes with Kathy and she comes over, letting him know that Emma was in earlier. How did Callum get Emma’s number, or Emma his? Who knows. But it looks like she’s realised that Callum might listen where Ben and Jay won’t, so she’s no longer refusing to talk to him; funny that.
Kathy jokes about being tempted to spit into Emma’s coffee, which gets her an amused scoff from Callum. He fills her in on Emma and Lexi texting, though apparently she’s already learnt through Ben. So she knows what Emma’s done to Lola, and that she’s been covertly messaging Lexi. The way she said Ben gave her an earful though suggests she didn’t really listen to his reasons for not wanting Emma around… and I’m not surprised because that would mean confronting the fact that Ben feels so strongly about it because she left him as a child too. She also knows Callum is supposed to be sorting things, and Callum admits then that he doesn’t really know how. He’s thinking about it from Lexi’s point of view, that she might want to connect with Lola via Emma, a blood relation. But also, when Kathy points out that Emma is her nan, Callum points out in turn that it doesn’t mean she gets the right to hurt Lexi like she did Lola.
Kathy sits down opposite Callum and makes it clear she knows what Emma did was wrong, but Lexi wants her in her life – and this would be a good opportunity for a bit of self reflection with Kathy and acknowledgement of what she’d done and how she was forgiven. But we can’t have that apparently, so instead Kathy implies that Lexi needs Emma to help her with things she’s about to go through that none of them have gone through. I mean… talk about a weak argument. You can tell this scene was meant for Jay because I think that comment would be intended to make him more nervous; Callum would be doing research and doing what he could to help Lexi through those things and Kathy surely knows that. There’s also the irony of Kathy saying Lexi needs Emma when she’s literally right there, as is Honey. And Denise, and Kim, and even Amy. And period lessons at big school. And Google. In my mind, Kathy wanted to give Emma a chance because of her own experience but she didn’t want to admit it or confront it, so instead made this excuse up which ended up being insulting to single or queer parent families. Not out of character though really, considering she made Ben feel like he wasn’t enough on his own because he’s a survivor with triggers. Anyway, the thought of Kathy, Lexi’s nan, telling Callum that Lexi needs a nan is hilarious to me.
She goes on to put the question to Callum of what would Lola do; another indication that this scene was intended for Jay. Not that Callum can’t give it a guess though, because it’s not the first time he’s guessed what Lola would do – when Ben was panicking about Lexi’s holiday club outfit and saying Lola wouldn’t have forgotten, Callum assured him that she would have, because she wasn’t perfect but still a brilliant mum, as Ben is a brilliant dad. He was good friends with Lola and they shared some confidential things with each other too.
He admits that Lola hated Emma by the end, but that before that she was good with Lexi. Was she? I’m not sure. She was taking Lola’s attention away from Lexi, and then of course scarpered once she heard Lola was going to die very soon and she didn’t want to be around that. So I’m skeptical. Callum wonders then about Ben and Jay, knowing they’re both adamant that Emma doesn’t see Lexi. But Kathy asks which scenario is better: Lexi being happy or her dads fighting with her nan? I mean, it’s not that simple, is it. But it seems to give Callum something to think about.
To be fair there’s no other way to ‘sort it’ than to actually try speaking to Emma again – so Callum ends up meeting her in the Vic later. He remains wary of her, body language making it clear to Emma that even though he’s agreed to meet with her, it’s not a promise of anything.
She takes a seat next to him, and they happen to be right in front of Lola’s framed picture on the bar. Emma comments on how Lola’s smile lit up every room, and uses it as a lead in to explaining how when Lexi reached out to her, she couldn’t not respond. She insists she wants to make it right, but when Callum asks how long she’s been messaging Lexi, she admits it’s been weeks. That’s weeks of not telling them and instead cultivating a relationship with Lexi without their knowledge. And Callum rightly points out that she should have told them, because she’s the adult and Lexi is the child.
Emma reminds him that Lexi is her granddaughter, but it’s a bit of a cheek to call her that when she spent Lola’s entire life not being her mum. And now she’s dead Emma thinks she can have a do-over with Lexi even though Lola made her feelings clear? She points out that Lexi not confiding in them shows she’s struggling. Callum can’t really argue because that’s exactly how Ben struggles, and Lexi’s a chip off the old block it seems. Still, Emma coming in and thinking Lexi needs her when really she’s just capitalised on Lexi’s grief is very bold of her.
Emma tries to appeal to Callum to let her have this chance with Lexi after she lost it with Lola. She implies that if she doesn’t have a relationship with Lexi then Lexi will be suffering in silence with no one else to talk to. Callum is sure Lexi knows she can talk to them; she’s got lots of other people in fact who she can confide in. Then Emma pulls out her phone and shows him the messages that Lexi’s been sending, about some girls at school not talking to her and calling her an orphan because her mum’s dead. He deflates at the messages, and admits they didn’t know about that. Emma tells him that Lexi doesn’t want to upset them, hence going to Emma instead. I guess if she wants someone with a detachment to everything, Emma would be it.
She prompts him to keep reading, and as Callum does, Ben walks in and approaches just as Callum’s reading out a message about Lexi wishing Emma was there to stick up for her like Lola would (except I’m not sure where she got that idea, because it’s clear Emma can’t stick up for anything, not least her own daughter.) Callum’s heart’s clearly broken by the messages, the only thing on his mind being his sadness for Lexi – but then Ben speaks up beside him and calls him out for this idea of sorting things out, playing happy families. Callum makes an attempt to get Ben to listen to him but Ben’s just as angry at Emma now as he was yesterday, and he makes it very clear that he isn’t going to let Emma lie her way back into Lexi’s life. That suggests he’s aware of Emma’s ability to manipulate, and of course he’s also aware that Emma can get up and leave as soon as things get too hard, and he simply refuses to let that possibility happen. Callum tries to say they should hear her out but Ben isn’t interested. He doesn’t want to give Emma the chance to break Lexi’s heart, and she’s fragile already. He ignores her talking about Lexi wanting Emma in her life (and to be fair, that wish is null and void because it’s come about off the back of Emma messaging her without Ben’s knowledge, making her feel heard and potentially exploiting how vulnerable she is – and Ben knows a thing or two about that.)
Ben’s absolute refusal to hear her out makes total sense to me as it feels informed by Ben’s past experiences with people exploiting him and also abandoning him. He’s also extremely sure of himself as Lexi’s dad and he exerts that, telling Emma that as Lexi’s dad he is saying Emma isn’t going anywhere near her. There is no room for argument and he walks back out again.
It’s a bit awkward once he’s gone, but Callum breaks the silence by telling Emma that he’ll talk to Ben. She thanks him, but when as Callum gets up he warns Emma to not make him regret it.
It’s a very strange week, isn’t it? Makes you wonder what’s happened for the spoilers to be so wrong. And yet so far, character wise it’s fitted pretty well. Callum would be the one out of the three of them willing to listen to Emma because he has a long-standing tendency to see the best in people. Story wise is a different matter because it seems they’re not executing what they built up to (which is Jay being manipulated into hearing Emma out because of a duty he feels to Lola with making Lexi happy and as a result overstepping.) With Callum though, it’s a different context as it’s based on who he is as a person and how he feels about Lexi herself. So unintentional or not, we have some nice dad!Callum content from all this, which is lovely!
Jenn's Ballum Blog 