Ben! Did he really love Val?

[Ewings]

Did Ben really love Val, Bobby and Betsy? I think he loved them, but I am a bit puzzled as to how he could just leave them. I know he said he was leaving to protect them from Jean Hackney, but didn't Jean say that if Ben did not kill Greg then she would kill Val and the kids, not Ben. By leaving,Ben is only giving Jean the chance to come back and kill his family. I can't see how Ben could do that, considering how neurotic he has been over the whole incident. It just doesn't make sense.

All that makes me wonder just how much did he love them?

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Power is nothing without control

[Daniel Avery]

My take on his departure is a bit different, so it impacts on my answer to your question.

After Greg shipped Jean off to South America, Ben was led to believe Greg had killed her (or had her killed). When he found out that Jean had simply been shipped off and told to disappear, Ben flipped out and started imagining the lingerie-peddling mercenary coming back to kill him, Val, and the kids. He decided on his own that he had to hunt Jean down in SA and kill her, or he would always be wondering when she would show up. The implication (in my mind, anyway) was that he went down there and found Jean---and she killed him. Of course this was never spelled out (on soaps, they love the "presumed dead spouse returning to stir things up") and we simply never found out.

I don't think he left her and the kids because he no longer loved them. I think that if he were *alive* he would come back.
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Lilimae, after tripping Ben's alarm system:
"Turns getting a cup of tea into an adventure!"
---episode 186

[Jack_Ewing98]

Maybe instead of Ben being killed by Jean that he actually did kill her but was arrested by the SA authorities. He didn't let anyone know so that he didn't cause any embarassment to Val and her family.

[Frank Williams]

Either one way or the other, I'm glad he is gone.

TJ3

[mjdboy]

Personally, I think Ben found Jean in South America, intended on killing her but instead found himself attracted to her the way he'd been in college and decided to be w/her.
It would be a kick if they settled down and were living in like Minnesota someplace...

[Richard Brown]

I just couldn't imagine Ben killing anyone atall. Anger at the time may have spurred him on to leaving for South America, but I think had he come face 2 face with jean in SA, he'd have probably chickened out. That's why I think the explanation Knots Man gave to the 'What happened Ben'? saga on his recent reunion script was so believeable. Ben quite simply would've had to have a good reason for staying away from Val & the kids. The only 2 possible reasons would've been that he:

(a) Died

or

(b) Ended up in danger/ill etc that he just coudn't return to Val or Knots Landing - just like Knots Man explained.

That's my opinion anyway!

[Knots Man]

To be honest, I think that Ben did love Valene, he was just a little loopy around the time he left the series and not thinking straight! I'm glad that Richard appreciated the way I brought Ben back into the show during this week's reunion script - it was the only sensible way I really could bring him back...