TONIGHT'S EASTENDERS SPECIAL FROM BEN MITCHELL'S POINT OF VIEW

Tonight's episode of EastEnders was a special one as it was from Ben Mitchell's point of view as he decided to carry out a dangerous and life changing job.

Tonight's episode was written by Simon Ashdown and directed by Jamie Annett who directed Max Bowden's work on Waterloo Road 8/9 years ago.
Viewers tonight experienced some limited audio levels with some on-screen subtitles showing words and fractured sentences to reflect on Ben’s hearing difficulties which he has been facing since the boat crash on EastEnders 35th Anniversary episode back in February.

I have to say as I was watching the episode tonight that being hard of hearing myself certain parts of the episode had me able to relate.

In the first episode tonight, us viewers tonight saw a flash forward to another part of the episode which was quickly taken back to his daughter, Lexi watching Ben Mitchell up and telling him to place his hearing aid in. What a sweet little scene.

Moments later, EastEnders viewers saw that Ben was struggling with his limited hearing as Lola Pearce and his boyfriend, Callum Highway were talking about him taking Lexi to school. However, the moment he spotted Lola and Peter Beale at the Car Lot which paused Ben in his tracks.
Ben was next seen in the cafe with his father Phil Mitchell and Kathy Beale where it was obvious how much he was struggling, till he saw Lola and dragged her off outside the cafe when Jay Mitchell came to his girlfriend's rescue.

However back at Phil ahead of the job as he was taking all of his anger out on his loved ones which led to his father, Phil worrying about his son and chose to call him off the upcoming job which led to the pair arguing after Ben struggled to hear the whole conversation, leaving Ben devastated.
Max's acting at this part was amazing, and I caught myself believing in the hurt!

Outside the Queen Vic, his friend, Jay was following Ben where Jay was seen telling Ben about why Lola aborted their baby leading to Ben rushing into the hair salon to speak to Lola ordering her outside which he walked her to The Arches where she was forced to admit the truth that she had slept with Peter, The emotions within this scene were wonderful, and I even had a little tear in my eye as I was watching this episode. Love how protection Ben was becoming over his friend Jay.

In the next scene following on from his argument with Lola, Ben was seen in the Prince Albert in the next scene where he was seen getting drunk, after leaving Ben spotted a van in Albert Square following Phil and Danny Hardcastle which left him looking worried, so he grabbed Gray's car from The Arches after he changed the plates on the vehicle he went to the warehouse of the job.

However, when Ben arrived for the job which was already under way when he entered with only the touch on his phone to keep him company, but the situation soon spiralled out of control as Ben hold an object in his right hand whilst having his wits about him which led to Ben having a gun pointed at him as he made a discovery.

The vulnerability of Ben in this moment was just edge of your seat viewing, and definitely gave me goosebumps! The fact that Ben had ringing in his ears after the bang very close to his ears is something that I can relate a lot with which is why I turned turn my volume down but I still got a little of the loudness.

I love how Phil will do all he can to protect his son in a difficult situation but Phil's smile when he had the money in his hands, Ben's face at the end had me so weird as it was obvious that thanks to the shooting Ben was fully deaf.

The attention to detail throughout this episode was beyond words because as it summed up the scenes so well, the dialogue was just perfect and got all the points of view of Ben across (thanks to Max's attention to detail), but I have to say the most special part for me of this episode was the camera angles thanks to Jamie's incredible directing!

I have to give Max Bowden a very special mention of all of his incredible work on this special episode, and for raising awareness of deafness which I have to say he has been amazing on.
Also, I have to give Spesh Maloney for all of the sounds used in this episode to give it the realness it needed, and for that I am so grateful.

MASSIVE CREDIT TO EASTENDERS FOR EVERYTHING THAT WAS PUT INTO TONIGHT'S WONDERFUL EPISODE ESPECIALLY THE RESEARCH!

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