Throughout the ten series of Friends, we saw plenty of faces come and go, including cameos from hot shot celebrities like Brad Pitt, Danny DeVito, Robin Williams and Winona Ryder to name just a few. Generally speaking, most major characters stuck around from beginning to end, but there were a few that disappeared without a trace.
One of those characters has come to light recently, after a theory about him went viral again (after doing the rounds last year too). Whatever happened to Ross's son, Ben? We know he didn't see him too much due to him not having full custody, but given that all of the gang were present at his birth and how close they all were, you'd think he'd still have a place on screen right? He didn't turn up once after episode twelve of season eight and one guy's theory is doing the rounds after he put across a pretty good possible explanation for it. Be warned though, it's heartbreaking.
Redditor smokingcage first posted the theory on his blog, and it's received quite a lot of attention online. He suggests that Ross could've lost custody of Ben due to his behaviour, and he makes a strong case...
He tries to convince a self-defense instructor to help him "scare" the female characters. He tries to kiss his first cousin...he thinks of Logan's Run as a sexy movie. He's manipulative and disrespectful in his relationships, especially Rachel. He mocks Joey for being less educated and mocks Phoebe for her unconventional lifestyle. He sleeps with at least one of his students. He is known for being a terrible professor, both unethical and unskilled.
I mean, we like him but when you put it like that, we can kind of see it. He continues:
Friends was on for ten seasons, but Ben doesn't show up in person after episode twelve of season eight. He's only mentioned six times in the remaining fifty-four episodes after his last appearance.But, most troubling, is that it's during these remaining fifty-four episodes that Ross's second child is born. Not only does Ben never meet his new half-sister on screen, but a meeting between the two of them is never even mentioned. We never learn about if Ben has met his sister, if he likes her, if he is a good older brother. We simply never see him again.
But does Ross? Well, we'll never really know.
Which raises a serious question: does Ross still see Ben? Sure, he mentions Ben in these last two and a half season, but does he have any role in Ben's life? When he references Ben, is he referencing something that once was, a child he no longer sees or knows?Did Ross's insanity hit a breaking point with his ex-wife? Could she no longer handle his nice guy syndrome and homophobic snickering? Did she decide to take full custody of her son? Did Ross even fight her for Ben, or just let him go, shifting his focus to the new baby he had with the woman of his obsession? He couldn't even handle his daughter having a male caregiver.
We're not crying... *sniffles*
People like to give Ross the benefit of the doubt, wondering if perhaps he was a better father off-screen. Perhaps his children met but the audience never saw. The more likely answer is that he was such a deadbeat father that he completely faded away from his son's life, pretending to his family and so-called friends that he still saw a boy he barely knew.
So, what are your thoughts readers? Realistically, he probably just wasn't the main focus anymore and the writers didn't bother to write him out of the story with detail, but Friends fans will forever wonder.
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P.S, this is what the actor who played Ben looks like now...Feel old? We do!
