So, week one of the boxsets is over, and this week featured a little Callum and Ben returning from holiday. Although we only saw him briefly, it was nice to have Callum in Rainie's goodbye scene. She'd been given the choice between baby Roland and Stuart, and Stuart made sure the decision was easy for… Continue reading 29th and 30th June, rainbow paint

Wednesday's episode featured Callum giving his brother a pep talk about the importance of marriage vows and what they mean, which may have got him thinking about things. At the Highway flat, Callum's come round and made himself a cup of tea while they wait for the social worker - and Stuart - to arrive.… Continue reading 22nd June, unconditional support

Oh Jay, how you've redeemed yourself! Despite Lewis getting away unscathed (for now), Ben still got to unleash his anger and start to heal. The episode opens with Kathy approaching Peter in Walford East to ask him to cover for her at the Albert again. Only Peter isn't too happy at the thought of having… Continue reading 14th June, let him

You can see a shift in Ben's attitude in this episode, now that he's accepted that what happened wasn't his fault and he didn't deserve it. He defends himself against Jay's assumptions, and then decides to seek his own brand of closure when he worries he won't be taken seriously at the station. When Ben… Continue reading 13th June, not a tart

What a treat to have such a long uninterrupted scene between Ben and his mum in Thursday's episode. They covered a lot of the issues that Kate Oates referred to in the press release about this story - consent, sexual identity, masculinity; and for Ben specifically the fact he's a Mitchell brings other layers in… Continue reading 9th June, carried on

What can I even say after that episode? My heart's in pieces after some stunning work from Max in conveying Ben's raw vulnerability. Kheerat gets all the rights, Lewis gets none, and it's time for Kathy to step up after some of those comments she made. Warning for some discussion of rape and sexual assault… Continue reading 8th June, not well

Ben's behaviour continues to cause concern in last night's episode - and while he tries for some normality, he's reminded that he's not allowed to forget or move on, even though the world is moving on without him. In a continuation from the episode before, Ben is still huddled up on the sofa, watching a… Continue reading 7th June, I insist

A few short scenes in this episode, featuring a withdrawn Ben still having to cope with all of the consequences of what's happened to him and then some. Our first scene has Ben approaching the Arches just as Jay turns up, giving off to Kheerat because the car he'd left with them isn't ready as… Continue reading 6th June, can’t do it

We got a few short scenes in the latter half of this week, focusing on the concern for Ben and Callum’s determination not to feel that concern. In Wednesday’s episode, Kathy serves Callum his coffee in the cafe and tries to talk to him about Ben. Callum’s resistant, insisting he doesn’t want to talk to,… Continue reading 1st (and 2nd) June, pillow talk

After some intense weeks, the pace slowed a bit for last night's episode, with some small separate scenes showing where Ben and Callum are this week. Screencaps for this episode can be found here. Our Ben and Rainie scene ended up being quite short, and actually not just about Ben at all - of course,… Continue reading 30th May, not my style