Entertainment

Could Ben Ever Return To 'Eye Candy'?

by Danielle Santola

The MTV premiere of Eye Candy proved that nobody is safe when it almost immediately killed off who we thought would be the primary male character. Unless you've read the R.L. Stine book, which is the original source material for the show, you probably never saw Ben's death on Eye Candy coming. Lindy Sampson's charming, NYPD ex-boyfriend Ben is actually already deceased when the Eye Candy book begins, so his death on the show wasn't all that surprising for fans of the novel. But it also goes to show that we can lose any character at any minute during the series' first season. Lindy had just finally reconciled her relationship with Ben when he was murdered before her eyes, and but could Ben return to Eye Candy somehow? Unfortunately, I don't think this is one of those shows where the dead will have a chance at coming back.

Within the first 20 minutes of the series, MTV had you rooting for Lindy and Ben. Between losing her sister, getting arrested, and being stalked by a psycho serial killer, Lindy deserved a happy ending and it should have been with Ben. Then the series broke our hearts by killing Ben and leaving us speechless. Watching Lindy tell Ben for the last time that she loves him, you almost wondered whether he was really gone. But this just isn't the kind of show where characters miraculously return.

A dating-app serial killer in New York City is an interesting concept for a TV series, but add in some supernatural stuff and it gets a little weird. This isn't Game of Thrones or Once Upon a Time, or even Pretty Little Liars, where there's always a question of whether a character is really gone. Ben's death was necessary to the show because it justifies Lindy's obsession with tracking down the killer. Without his death, her search would have much less of a purpose.

Since the actor who plays Ben Daniel Lissing's IMDB tells us that he'll only be in two episodes, a reappearance outside of a flashback of some kind does not seem likely.

Meanwhile, I'm beginning to like the tension between Lindy and Ben's detective partner Tommy, which makes me less and less upset about Ben's death —though it does make me more certain that Ben will not be returning. Tommy very obviously has a thing for Lindy, even though he's yelling at her most of the time. As Ben's best friend, he seems to be on a mission to keep Lindy safe, despite pretending to hate her.

However, I also have a theory that Tommy could be the killer. Ben's death would make a lot of sense if Tommy was looking to get close to Lindy. He would have definitely needed Ben out of the way. Either way, Ben's gone for good, leaving plenty of room for Tommy to either begin a relationship with Lindy, or continue stalking her. We'll just have to wait and see what his real motives are.

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