"Mini and Franky" (Episode 6.09)

"Mini and Franky" is the ninth episode of Series 6 and the 54th episode overall.

This episode primarily focuses on the friendship between Mini McGuinness and Franky Fitzgerald, and also on Mini's pregnancy and Franky's feelings about being given up as a child.

Plot
Franky is Mini's confidante when the episode opens and is leading her out of her bedroom for the first time in weeks for a hospital appointment. After just about managing to hide her bump from Mini's still-clueless mother and Eric, who make a surprise return from holiday, they soon discover that Matty is waiting for them outside. Though they try to ignore him, an argument inevitably breaks out between Matty and Franky as he tries to win her back. Franky's lips spit venom, but the little smirk on her face when she realises he is spying on her suggests that she's not yet done with him. In fact she becomes so enraptured by Matty that she doesn't realise Minny has collapsed in a heap behind her, complaining that something feels wrong.

She is quickly rushed to hospital where she spies Liv and Alex in the waiting room along with Franky and Matty. Alo bursts in shortly afterwards making a fuss about trying to see Mini, and more trouble arises when Nick arrives and spots Matty. He asks his brother why he didn't say that he was home and Matty replies it was because he came back for Franky. Nick tells him that they are together now, but Matty seems confident he'll get Franky back. As they continue to cause a commotion, Alo slips past the distracted receptionist and goes to see Mini.

She has been assured by a doctor that the baby is fine, though her anaemia and high blood pressure are a cause for concern. He shows her an ultrasound of the baby and lets slip that she's having a daughter, which causes a beautifully bright smile to spread across her face. But Alo inevitably walks in right at this moment, spies Mini's giant belly and vomits on the floor while Mini's mother turns up immediately after. She asks why Mini didn't tell her sooner so they could have "sorted it all out" and calls her a "fucking fool" for not wanting an abortion.

Alo, meanwhile, is shocked to discover that everyone - even Matty - knew about Mini's pregnancy before him. His frustration spills over to Matty, who declares that Franky only got with Nick to get back at him and orders her to come clean about how she really feels. Franky says nothing and Nick realises that Matty might just be right. Mini slips out as the brothers come to blows and all of the group steps in to stop them, with the exception of Franky.

Later, Mini faces the music as Alo reluctantly comes round to discuss the baby. She insists she wanted to tell him about being pregnant, though Alo can't come to terms with why she lied for months and told everyone else before him. Mini says she's only after his reassurance that they will be alright, but he says nothing. Again, it's refreshing to see Mini tiptoe towards letting herself be happy with her new situation by accepting her feelings for Alo, which makes his cold demeanour all the more devastating. She seems genuine with her emotions, but so does he. It did always seem like these two would be together at the end of it all, but here, it doesn't seem as certain. On top of that, Mini is also facing pressure from her mother to give up the baby, but she's not sure what to do and lashes out at her mum for failing to listen to her. She meets up with Franky, who's fallen out with Nick after failing to prove her love for him by refusing to call the police on Matty.

Desperate to escape their problems at home, Franky suggests they flee and gives an impassioned speech about how they can look after the baby together. Although initially unconvinced, Mini is swayed after Franky presents a picture of herself as an infant with her real mother and notes how happy the scene looks. It's a very sweet little scene and the idea that Mini and Franky would be better off doing this alone, in a world they've created for themselves, does actually seem like the most viable option for them at the time.

Franky's tendency to bring her own background into Mini's situation initially seems empathetic, but soon becomes unsettling when she describes the baby as a way to "put everything right again".

While crashing at the hostel, Mini comes clean about her feelings for Alo, admitting that she misses being held by him. It's a real breakthrough for the former "mean girl McGuinness". In the morning, Franky's true intentions become disturbingly clear when she deletes a voicemail message that Alo (with a little cajoling from Rich) left on Mini's phone declaring his love for her.

Turfed out of the shelter, Mini comes to realise that Franky's plan amounts to running for as long as possible until the baby is born and she can become the mother she never had herself. Her declaration that she doesn't want to go to Oxford falls on deaf ears, as Franky desperately tries to argue her way on to a bus. Finally, the girls clash and Mini tells Franky that she "can't fix" her own problems with the baby. Their argument is interrupted by Eric, who implores Mini to come home. She says she will only return if her mum will allow her to keep the baby, and although Eric admits he cannot promise this, Mini chooses to go with him. Her decision sees Franky completely unravel in a harrowing moment in which she fights for them to keep running, before collapsing into Eric's arms.

The final straw for Franky comes when Mini is reunited with her mum, who finally accepts her decision to keep the baby. They declare their love for each other, at which point Franky flees, distraught that her misguided plot for some form of makeshift family has left her more isolated than ever.

Luckily, Rich is still on Mini and Alo's side. He whisks her away to farmboy's barn and she discovers Alo building a makeshift home for them and the baby. And then it happens, the moment that it feels like the whole series has been building up to... Alo and Mini kiss, properly, for the first time.

Once the extravagance of Alo and Mini's first kiss is over, the episode closes with a cruelly perplexing ending in which Mini discovers blood under her dress and MC Hammer's 'U Can't Touch This' plays on as the credits roll.

Music Featured in "Mini and Franky"
Grouper - Moon is Sharp

Clare Grogan - Don't Give Up Girl The Saturdays - All Fired Up

Daughter - Love Hannah Peel - Sugar Hiccup Gem Club - Breakers Segal - Everywhere I Am Harlequin - Wild One Porcelain Raft - Backwords Benny Benassi - Cinema o F F Love - Be Around U Expensive Looks - Nothing More Segal - Everywhere Visions of Trees - Sometimes It Kills Tim Victor and Segal - Let Me In

MC Hammer - Can't Touch This

Young Dreams - Young Dreams