This is also my main argument when people try to demonize Mal for the love potion. Not ONCE while she thought Ben was under that spell did Mal try to take advantage of his affection. In fact she actively avoided it.
Let’s give Ben some agency here—that spell lasted all of 24 hours before he swam in the enchanted lake and it washed off. But did he say anything? NO. He had every opportunity to report her, as would have been his right given she did briefly steal his autonomy, and yet he actively CHOSE to not only not tell her he knew about the spell, but remained in a relationship with her in spite of it. Because, and this is what people hate to admit, HE. LIKED. HER.
Did he draw the wrong conclusions about why she put him under the spell? Yes. But I would argue that if consent is the thing people are so up in arms about, Ben’s assumption is worse. Mal used the spell so she could be his girlfriend and stand closer to the wand at the coronation—she had no intention of pursuing an actual relationship with him, especially not a physical one. BEN assumed that Mal liked him and used the spell to get him to break up with Audrey so they could be together.
The fact is, Ben was interested in Mal from the moment they met. He trails off mid speech when he shakes her hand, when he’s handing the VKs off to Doug and he says “I’ll see you later, and if you need anything…” he is looking DIRECTLY at Mal. He comes up to her at her locker to see how she’s doing, notably not asking about Evie who was just with her. He offers to sign her up for art class when he sees she has vandalized school property instead of idk telling her that’s against the rules??? And later shows up at HER DORM to check if they need anything, and proceeds to only speak to Mal even after he realizes all four of the VKs are there. He repeatedly went out of his way to cross paths with this girl because HE WAS INTERESTED IN HER. Before the love spell ever even entered the equation his eyes would find her whenever she was nearby and follow her when she left.
And yes obviously emotional cheating is bad but it’s also pretty clear from how stiff he is around her that Ben wanted out of his relationship with Audrey. He barely looks at her when they’re together. If you watch the conversation they have right before Mal gives Ben the cookie, it almost sounds like he was trying to break up with Audrey. His tone gets all serious right before she cuts him off, and he seems frustrated when she leaves. I firmly believe that had Mal not given him the love spell when she did, it was only a matter of time before Ben would have ended things with Audrey on his own, he was just too polite to be harsh about it.
He should have broken up with Audrey as soon as he became interested in Mal and decided not to ignore those feelings, that I will agree on. He was rather disconnected from her and sometimes dismissive. But Audrey also was not a saint. She insulted his parents to his face and was outwardly unsupportive of his goal, and is also shown to talk over him and dismiss him, and that’s just what we can see in the brief glimpses we were given of their relationship.
Audrey wasn’t a good girlfriend to Ben, but Ben was also not a great boyfriend to Audrey. They weren’t a good match. And especially after we see more of Audrey’s relationship with Leah in D3, it becomes very clear that Audrey was mostly clinging to their relationship simply because she had been pushed to reach for higher titles. Neither of them were actually invested in the relationship at least by then time we see them in D1 if not earlier, and Ben developing feelings for Mal strained that even more.
TLDR; Ben chose to stay in what was clearly not a happy relationship until the girl he was actively crushing on gave him a love spell that pushed him to end that relationship and get with her instead. Mal did it to get closer to the wand, not because she wanted to actually be with him, and avoided taking advantage of any attempts at physical affection on Ben’s part. After the spell washed off, instead of confronting her about it, Ben chooses to continue dating her because he already had an interest in her before the spell and thinks she likes him too. And then Mal catches feelings, drama happens, and she decides to remove the spell only to find out that he actually liked her the whole time, so they start dating for real.
Don’t try to rescue Ben, he’s exactly where he wants to be.
(Also just to make it clear in case it wasn’t: I’m not defending the love spell. Obviously don’t drug people that’s not good. My argument stems from a frustration at people ONLY criticizing Mal’s character when in reality Ben is not completely helpless in this situation. They both made questionable choices and should both be criticized for it, not just her.)
