Here's the #BenMitchell thread no one asked for. Because Ben did a shitty thing and no one liked it. So here's how I look at it in 3 ways:

1. Close up, looking at the current SL & eps.

2. Looking at Ben's character and personality.

3. With a wider lens of this being a soap.

On Mon we had Ben talking to Callum about the op. He's got EVERYTHING riding on this and yet the op might not work. And if it does, Ben will need to spend months learning how to hear in a 'new way'. He's nervous. And we know that because he deflects when Callum says the op is a

step CLOSER to things getting better for Ben.

On top of that, he's got the "Phil stuff" - Phil shut him down when he offered to go to the football and nodded when Ben called himself weak (=rejection) and then offered him this dodgy job. Ben's obviously happy, but

thinking about it, he's also freaking out! These jobs ALWAYS end up with Phil being disappointed in Ben!!! And now Ben has his hearing loss to deal with, which HE KNOWS won't be fixed (Phil doesn't), so chances are this is going to go south really quickly and very easily.

So here we have Ben looking at what he CAN do. What's his advantage here? How can he show off with Phil? Look clever? Well, he's got Callum. Callum who will do anything for him. Callum who's helped him before, with Danny. Callum who might be able to get info for him.

It's a stupid idea and even Phil tells him that. It's flawed logic, but you can see where he's coming from. Plus, let's add he's feeling unwell...

But let's also look at Ben's character & personality. This isn't the first time Ben messes up or makes a poor, questionable choice!

Ben didn't mean to hurt Callum here - he saw an opportunity to regain the upper hand in a situation he has little control over and tried to play it to his advantage. He jumped into it with 2 feet WITHOUT THINKING as he often does (Fowler wreath anyone?). He's a rubbish gangster!

And he's a rubbish liar, especially when it comes to Callum! He messed up. Got this all wrong. This is Ben not knowing how to navigate relationships because HE'S BEN. Because his parents did a right number on him. And then, well, Paul happened. Let's not forget that

Ben has very little self-esteem and self-worth and HUGE self-destructing and self-sabotaging tendencies. These things will keep creeping up for him from time to time! Of course we don't like them, but this is Ben and maybe we need to stop 'romanticizing' him.

And by that I mean that we can't expect 'the love of a good man' to change years of conditioning - Ben will get it wrong sometimes, especially in new situations and dynamics.

And the last thing is... we're watching a soap. If this was a book or a movie, we'd see an obvious

change in Ben - by the end of the story, he would have grown up and changed his way. Learnt the life lesson. Be a new man. But this is an ongoing story. As Zack Morris put it, EE isn't fiction - it's dramatizing real life. If Ben got everything right from now on, it wouldn't be

realistic at all! We're watching mini story arcs where the characters do develop, grow, and learn lessons, but it happens SLOWLY and over time, with no final resolution. Otherwise, Ben would be off our screens!

So, last night caused reactions in people. Some felt or

Some felt or . I felt & . But we got a reaction - people are talking about this. One way or the other, we care enough to feel SOMETHING, which is more that can be said for at least one of the other characters last night. It means they're doing something right with Ben.

If you're still here, thank you for reading my essay. I'm pretty sure this is going somewhere so hang in there, lovely people. And be happy and kind to each other! #Ballum