Oh, anon. You picked my very favourite moment between them. Shut up, I know I say that about all the moments but with this one I really mean it.

Like, when would Charity Dingle ever let anyone talk to her the way Veronica talked to her? EVER? She was completely patronising and superior; two things Charity Dingle does not stand for.

“If I said to you ‘espresso’, what would spring to mind?”

Both the audience and Vanessa were waiting for an explosion at that point. Look at Vanessa’s face when Charity’s replying; she’s just waiting for the inevitable rude comeback:

But Charity keeps herself together and, although her response is pointed, it is nowhere near where it usually would’ve been. She even smiles:

Even when Veronica tells her to ‘trot along and make her one’, Charity doesn’t bite back. She pauses, reins herself in and then turns to ask Vanessa what she’s having:

Later on, when Veronica describes the lunch as ‘mediocre’, Charity doesn’t react as she normally would:

And again, Vanessa expects Charity to react and tries to prevent it by jumping in to assure her it was very nice:

But when Veronica starts in on Vanessa, Charity’s had it. I always think she’s like a predator sighting its prey at that moment. She’s not playing nice anymore and Veronica’s about to get it:

And the thing is, Veronica’s not even saying anything all that bad, really. She’s saying Vanessa’s too nice. But Charity acts as if she’s disrespected Vanessa in the most heinous fashion.  “Excuse me, you know nothing about Vanessa, or her life.”  Like, ‘HOW THE FUCK DARE YOU CALL MY GIRLFRIEND NICE?? YOU DON’T KNOW HER LIFE. JUST BECAUSE SHE WEARS YELLOW A LOT AND IS AN ACTUAL RAY OF SUNSHINE AND BRIGHTENS UP THIS WHOLE VILLAGE DOES NOT MEAN SHE’S NICE, OKAY??’

I mean, look at her face in that one.  Look how fucking offended she is on Vanessa’s behalf.  And when Vanessa says ‘Charity, don’t’, she doesn’t even glance at her, she’s too far gone.

Vanessa’s surprised when Charity starts defending her too:

And then when Veronica compares Vanessa’s attitude unfavourably to Rhona’s, Charity is having none of it:

“Rhona stood you up. Paddy stood you up. She’s the only one who won’t actually throttle you.” Or, roughly translated, “DON’T YOU EVEN THINK OF SAYING RHONA’S BETTER THAN HER. RHONA AND PADDY ARE FUCKING COWARDS WHO DESERVE TO BE SHOT AT DAWN FOR ABANDONING THIS PERFECT LITTLE CUPCAKE WHO SHOWED UP HERE EVEN THOUGH YOU ARE UNBEARABLE AND HAS SAT LISTENING TO YOU COMPLAIN WITH A SMILE ON HER FACE FOR A WHOLE AFTERNOON.”

Of course, by this point, Vanessa has the biggest, heartiest hearteyes you’ve ever seen.  And so have we as the audience, because we’ve never seen Charity Dingle defend someone vehemently who wasn’t blood related to her:

And she finally chucks Veronica out. She throws Veronica out of the pub for insulting Vanessa. “So, I’d like you to leave, please. Or I will pull that poker, right out your backside and hit you over the head with it, yeah?”:

You know what? I can see why people struggle with this conversation.  It’s not written in a straightforward manner and it twists and turns and takes unexpected directions, so I get why you’d be unsure of exactly what’s meant.

However, I think watching Charity’s face is just as important, if not more so, than listening to what she says.

C: “I just thought you and me were having a bit of fun.”V: “Yeah, well maybe we are.”C: “And maybe that’s all I can offer you right now. You know…and if that’s not enough, fine, I get that.”

So, first off, yes I think she absolutely is saying ‘If having fun isn’t enough for you then, I understand and we’ll end it.’  She assumes Vanessa wants something more serious than she does.  And I do like that she gives Vanessa the power.  Especially since Charity’s been the one pursuing her relentlessly for two days.  But I get the feeling, if Vanessa had turned round at this point and asked her to leave her alone, Charity would’ve actually respected her wishes. 

C: “But if it’s a Mrs and Mrs white wedding you’re after I am so not your woman.”V: “Even if it was, who said you would be?”C: “Really?”

As above, Charity assumes that Vanessa’s looking for something more, something deeper, than she is. And when she hears that she might not actually be in Vanessa’s plans for a trip down the aisle, this is what her face does:

Her whole face falls. So maybe that’s her realising that she wants more than just a bit of fun. And she can’t explain it away as Vanessa wanting more, because she’s just been told that Vanessa isn’t planning a big white wedding for the two of them in her head.

V: “I like you, Charity. I like you a lot. But that’s as far as it goes.”

This line in particular seems to cause people concern. But for me, it’s Vanessa saying ‘Listen, I like you, but I’m not in love with you or anything, okay? Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.’

Oh!  Also, me and @heartsways were talking about this scene yesterday and she pointed out that when Vanessa says - ‘I like you, Charity.’ - and then pauses briefly, Charity looks down, because she expects the next thing to be a ‘but’.  But it’s not! It’s the opposite of a ‘but’. It’s ‘I like you a lot.’

So, after they’ve both said their bits about how they care about and like each other but that neither of them are considering marriage just yet, Charity looks at Vanessa like this:

I really think the whole conversation is them coming to an understanding about their feelings. They both knew the other had some feelings for them.  They both knew they had their own feelings. But this is probably the first time Charity’s examined her own feelings for Vanessa, and I think she’s surprised at how many there are.  So they’re probably on much more of an equal playing field at this point. Which is a great place to start a relationship from. Cards on the table.

Ugh. Anon. Yes. These are all my feelings about them too!

I love it that it didn’t start off with one of them attached to someone else. I love that it wasn’t some tortured longing thing where someone refused to accept that they were attracted to the other one for a prolonged period of time.  It’s just two single people who are attracted to each other.

And I love, love, LOVE that they resolved the problems between them by talking about their feelings. I really liked that part where Vanessa was like ’I don’t have time for you to push my buttons, I’m a grown up with a job and a kid’.  That’s exactly how two women in their forties need to deal with people who are being dicks about their feelings.  

What was surprising/lovely/brilliant was that Charity called out her own behaviour. She acknowledged that she’s used to people reacting differently to her games and that she isn’t one to talk about how she feels about people.  She laid out about half a dozen reasons why Vanessa shouldn’t date her.  But then asked for a chance to prove herself anyway.  And that’s what just about killed me, anon.  That single line: “I will rock your world, if you let me.”  That is Charity Dingle putting herself out there and offering to try.

It’s hard to think of who would be a better match for Charity, really. Vanessa’s just the right balance of nice and fierce to keep Charity on her toes.  I hope the two of them keep up their jokey teasing and their banter, and that they continue to be honest and forward about what they want and need from each other.  

I felt sorry for her too. (I pretty much always sympathise with Charity, no matter what she’s done to bring it on herself.)

Her little face was heartbreaking.

I do take some solace from the fact that Vanessa’s actual words were:

Look, let’s get this straight. You are dull. Yeah, I said it. We might have had a few wild nights in the sack but right now, Charity, you are boring me. Comprende?

My emphasis. I took it from that that it’s Charity’s current dickish behaviour that Vanessa finds boring/tiresome and not Charity in general. Because, let’s face it,  we as viewers KNOW that Vanessa really likes Charity. That her she’s happier when she comes into the room and her heart beats faster and all of that.  

But Charity doesn’t so she really is hearing these insults and taking them to heart. It’s so frustratingly wonderful and terrible.

And not once...

BUT TWICE IN TWO DAYS!!!!

She did look like she regretted it after Chas’ comment.

CHARITY’S FUCKING FACE THOUGH AFTER SHE SAID SHE WAS DULL. JUST ABOUT BROKE ME.

“If you let me”.  

The ball is in Vanessa’s court. She holds the power in her hands and Charity gave it to her.