Written by Ned Martel And Charlie Carver
Directed by Jesse Peretz
Ben (to Ashley): "Why am I so fucking lame?"
Following the reveal that Ben DeSoto and Mr. Nas are indeed related, this episode only seemed to further double down on such a thing. It also decided to have Ben and Kira's not so best friend Ashley (Elle Chapman) have sex too.
I'm not gonna lie. I wish Ben was a gay or a bisexual character as we've had more than enough straight male protagonists in this universe. In the space of five episodes, Ben has undeniably not landed with some viewers in the same way that Michael Langdon had done when Apocalypse had aired. What's not working with the guy?
For me, it's his hook ups with women. They feel forced. Kira felt forced and she's given quite the scathing posthumous analysis by Ashley. Ashley herself actually felt deliberately forced. Throughout the episode, her connection to Ben was forced and I think I know why that was.
Again, lack of romantic/sexual chemistry between Ben and Ashley to one side, the latter instigated everything here. Yet again, for a protagonist, Ben possesses very little agency as a character. Ashley texted him to arrange a date, got him to open up about his 13 fear, being a foster kid and made sure to point out his tramp stamp. She completely drove the narrative.
Putting it bluntly, she's obviously working for Mr. Nas and Ben's on the cusp of actually figuring out his own origin story. I guess, technically, Ben still isn't the Antichrist but he's clearly got a role to play in Nas's overall plan, whether he wants to or not. I guess we will see Ben rebel against Daddy at some point.
I also gotta say, Ben must be either a flipping masochist or just a danger magnet because how does he attract both Kira and Ashley? Both wanted to control him, though Ashley seems to be subtle about it to Ben. Also thanks to spoilers to future episodes, it does seem like she won't be around for much longer.
- Ben was born on Friday 13th, dead biological parents, overprotective neighbours looking out for him, six sets of foster parents and a woman named Martha who died on his 13th birthday.
- Do many straight men own a book by John Waters? Genuinely curious. Funny how Joey Pollari and John Waters have had scenes together this season. Maybe Ben could be bisexual after all.
- Ashley encounter Piggy Man at a family wedding in 2020 and survived it. I think she was lying about being afraid of 13. I think she did a lot of things to deliberately get close to Ben. She also had skin graphs of pig meat.
- Joey Pollari was the only regular actor who appeared in this episode. That's never happened before. 616 was branded above Ben's backside.
- A few others survived the plane crash (which was near the Bermuda Triangle), including the pilot. Ben also called the parents of Kira's friends.
- Chronology: From where the previous episode left off. Nas spied on Ben at the start of the episode.
Date Night might be one of the worst received episodes I've seen but I think I actually liked it better on second viewing. As long as the show doesn't repeat Michael's story through Ben and it seems like they won't, there's still potential here. It's a good showcase for Joey Pollari and some of his other assets. Look, I just like Ben DeSoto okay?
Rating: 7 out of 10
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