#tldr ben has bpd idc what the show says idc if it ever becomes canon he just does ! i can't make the man not borderline !

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Would you ever want EE to do a proper mental health storyline for Ben, or would you be concerned they'd make a mess of it?

I say "proper" not to dismiss everything that's already happened but more... he's obviously got a mental illness but the characters and writing don't really acknowledge it properly, it's more an unnamed Thing that causes angst and drama and is just like... oh man, there'sBen being unreasonable and crazy again! Whew he tried to kill his dad and had a breakdown but anyways!!! As fans we can say this that and the other is subtext but it would be cool to have a story where he/his family and friends - and the audience - actually have to acknowledge it as something more than Just Ben Kicking Off, Again, or Daddy Issues, Again.

i def wouldn’t be opposed to it !! i mean i’ve been saying ben has bpd since i first started watching again 2019 and i still firmly stand by that lmao and to be perfectly honest i’m not NEARLY as critical of ee’s handling of delicate storylines as a lot of ppl online like tbh i think they’ve done a decent job of all the difficult sls they’ve had recently (except chantelle/gray’s but even then (controversial opinion incoming !) i think for as much of a piece of shit gray is he’s a really interesting character and in a sick kind of way i like his scenes bc the actor is really good at playing an absolutely despicable bastard so in a weird way i get why they’d milk him for all his worth but that’s another can of beans lmao) like i think bobby’s mental health sls were handled well (apart from the fact his ocd sl kind of disappeared but that’s not an issue w the sl itself) and so far imo they’ve done a p great job w isaac’s mh sl so i’m not one of those ppl who are like ‘omg no more serious/difficult sls the show isn’t good at them !!!’

if they were to do it it’d have to be some point in the future i mean w callum’s ptsd sl basically confirmed they’d have to kind of play that out and then give it a rest for a little while so maybe in a couple of years?? and imo if they were to give ben a mental health sl they’d have to have some big trigger/episode happen to kind of bring up the issue again bc like u said it’s kind of like swept under the rug for a lot of characters as ben being ben and plus aside from in the aftermath of the boat stuff last year he’s been fairly stable since he’s been w callum so you’d need some kind of catalyst to send him off the rails again for it to become an Actual Conversation. and if callum started seeing some more professionals long term for his ptsd it would make sense for him to maybe be more likely to call out issues as he sees them?? if that makes sense ??

(as for an actual bpd sl i wouldn’t be opposed to that either i mean i feel like more ppl need to know what bpd is/what it entails just in general plus all of the ground work is literally right there and has been since ben’s childhood like imo you could not get a better diagnosis for ben than bpd but that’s just me !! but on the flip side i know a lot of ppl would probably be super critical of it a) bc of ben’s past actions/behaviours w crime and his manipulation and stuff and ppl w bpd get a bad rep for manipulation anyway but i personally am all for bad/imperfect rep plus imo it would help explain some of that behaviour and b) bpd is so kind of unknown?? niche in a way ?? and like there SO many different experiences w the same disorder that there are bound to be ppl complaining abt how it’s inaccurate or whatever ?? like i’d get why the ee team would be like ‘not worth the aggro lmao x’ but like i said imo if they WERE to go that way w ben’s character there’s no better diagnosis for him than bpd so ..... and i know you didn’t ask abt this specifically but if they were to go this way this is what i would want lmao)

idk i guess a mental health sl for ben is not smth i desperately want bc in my heart him having bpd is canon as far as i’m concerned but at the same time it’s definitely not smth i’d be opposed to if ben’s mental health issues became a serious problem again u know??? like it would be really nice to be like ‘ben’s not causing this problems just for the fuck of it, there’s a reason and this is it’ but at the same time i get why as a show they might not wanna do that so ??? idk i’m not particularly bothered one way or the other bc like i said in my heart me and him are bpd twins so !!!

the ONLY reason i'd be apprehensive is bc of audience reaction. like nbf people's reactions to ben's actions last year when he was so clearly going thru a crisis were so ugly and genuinely difficult to read as a mentally ill person and i haven't forgotten or forgiven that plus seeing how ppl are already reacting to callum actually showing symptoms of his ptsd and being Obviously Mentally Ill the exact same way and it's already tiring and UGLY like honestly ??? the majority of ppl in this fandom aren't mature enough and don't have the critical thinking skills needed for such a serious sl for ben and/or callum. they didn't during callum's struggle w him coming out (it wasn't as bad then but i promise it was still there) they didn't during ben's deafness sl/his breakdown in the aftermath of that and they are already showing that they're gonna be the same during callum's ptsd sl. and it's irking bc it's like.... ben and callum are BOTH victims of traumatic childhoods and abuse and are BOTH pretty obviously dealing with mental health issues bc of the shit they've been thru but the minute they actually show symptoms or act in a way that is clearly bc of trauma and/or mental illness it's literally like the world is ending on here n the characters are being ruined and their relationship is being ruined etc and don't even get me started on the way they talk abt these symptoms completely ignoring the fact that these are actual real life symptoms of real life illnesses that affect real life ppl..... the way ppl used to talk abt ben struggling to cope w his disability used to COMPLETELY fuck w my head as someone who used to do similar things while i struggled w my disability .... aha ....

but that's neither here nor there lmao the point is it's not the show i don't trust to do a decent job it's the audience's ability to handle it for what mental illness actually entails (aka the difficult/ugly symptoms) while not be complete dicks about it or making it abt ballum. but at the same time i wouldn't be opposed to a mental health sl for ben at all !!! i'd probably just hope it's not anytime in the next year or so and then disappear off the internet while it plays out lmao

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