I already didn't have good feelings about this post from the title alone. Thankfully, the first few comments were made by people who have common sense:
I don't particularly agree with the last statement, though. Benlie is about as salvagable as Kevin's first car.
Then, just when I thought everything was good...
Hoo boy... buckle up, folks. This one's gonna be a doozy...
First off, HOW can someone not recall a single instance of Kai abusing Ben when said instances are LITERALLY SHOWN ON SCREEN, then also immediately debunk said claim by stating, "The only physically abusive thing she did was step on his face in Secret of Dos Santos"?
...so they basically admitted to it being physical abuse.
Also, the argument that Ben deserved being stomped on because he "lied to her" falls apart when you realize that HE DIDN'T LIE TO HER TO BEGIN WITH. Ben not telling Kai he wasn't the one to actually find the guide to the temple wasn't lying, nor was it intentionally withholding information. Ben's intention in that moment was not to showboat about his accomplishments, but rather to do what he went there to do: help Kai get to the temple. Hence, clarifying who found the guide did not cross his mind.
Then, when Skurd clarifies that he was the one who found the guide to the temple, Kai (unsurprisingly) gets unreasonably upset over a minor detail that, quite frankly, never mattered in the long run... and why should it? The guide was located, and they all got to the temple in the end. Kai's behavior was absolutely uncalled for here, and she really should've been more grateful that Ben was helping her at all. I don't doubt for a second that the average person would turn up their nose at her request for help, but Ben didn't because that's just who he is. Someone who wants to help people no matter how horribly they treat him.
"She only downplays his accomplishments because she didn't want to come to terms with her feelings for Ben, just like Ben himself".
Not wanting to come to terms with "liking him" does not call for VERBALLY TEARING HIM DOWN.
If Kai can't "come to terms with her feelings", it is a sign of her own lack of maturity rather than Ben's. A more mature person would have handled this by, say...
Distancing themselves from the person they have conflicting feelings about? Instead of verbally abusing them and making things worse??
As for the idea that Ben has feelings for Kai, I still stand by the idea that he ultimately started dating her out of curiosity rather than out of romantic feelings. I just can't fathom Ben actually loving Kai in that way, but I could definitely see him giving her a chance out of kindness. If Ben does have conflicting feelings about her, then it's more justified on his side because Kai's words and actions are conflicting in and of themselves. Maybe some old feelings came back on his end, but that still wouldn't bode well considering how easily Kai could use that to manipulate him.
"I don't remember her doing anything "emotionally manipulative" in Fight at the Museum besides having petty couple fights with Ben or her just being annoyed with Ben being immature.".
Y'all, I'm about to blow the BIGGEST gasket...
Kai insulting Ben's intelligence after he asks a genuinely reasonable question (and, whether intentionally or not, encouraging his actual girlfriend at the time to do the same) isn't emotional abuse? Her begging Ben to stay at the museum with sad puppy eyes, knowing well enough how tired and hungry he was, isn't manipulation? Kai was willing to do anything to keep Ben there for as long as she needed (or maybe "wanted" is a more accurate term). Would any sane person intentionally do this to someone they supposedly love romantically??? No, they wouldn't, which also means you can't argue that she wanted him there because she "likes him". She was keeping him there out of a desire to have the most high-level security possible.
Think about it: what better security is there than a one-man superhero army? On top of that, Kai tries to deflect responsibility for her own actions almost immediately after falling out of the vents with Ben, so who's to say she wouldn't try to claim that she wasn't manipulating Ben into staying?
Ben would have been better off not going to the museum at all that day. He got berated no matter what he did (even when it was the right thing to do), so what was even the point??
On the topic of "petty couple fights", only two of those words apply here because Ben and Kai aren't even a couple at that point (although I don't consider them a "couple" in any timeline...), and the "petty fights" are ALWAYS INSTIGATED BY KAI. Why?
It's because SHE is not mature enough to admit when she is wrong or apologize, instead deflecting & projecting her own flaws onto Ben and demanding apologies from HIM. Ben only gets "immature" (which is actually just him being justifiably frustrated with her) in these one-sided fights because Kai was being antagonistic, and that antagonism came from her own alleged conflicting feelings towards Ben, which she DESPERATELY needs to process.
