#hot stretch

[dorkasdaydreams]

Re-Watch Update:

Just finished "Hot Stretch", and...

I'm a little shook right now, ngl.

At the very end of the episode, the Kineceleran kids call Ben "Ester's boyfriend". One of the kids asks where Ester is, and Rook tells her that Ester is "still at large". Ben says it isn't Ester's fault that they never got the fusion engine back (which is true because I'm pretty sure Ben ATE the fusion engine). Rook looks at him sternly, then Ben tells Rook that Ester is not his girlfriend and that he and her are just friends. However, what Ben says immediately after this genuinely made my eyes go wide for a moment:

Ben asks if Rook thinks he (Ben) has a shot with Ester.

Now, this little line wouldn't be quite as questionable for Ben to say if he wasn't UNDER THE IMPRESSION THAT HE WAS STILL WITH JULIE.

One could argue: "Maybe he thought Julie had lost interest in him", but if that's the case...

Then why does he call Julie his girlfriend when he meets up with her in "Rules of Engagement"???

How do you explain this??? Did Ben just... forget Julie existed??? Or was this just a poorly-executed joke???

Granted, Ben didn't actually start a relationship with Ester until after he was officially broken up with Julie, and Ester was the one who made the first move on HIM in that moment... but it still makes him look at least a little bit bad, doesn't it? Is it just me?? Am I reading too much into it???

Thankfully, because Ben wasn't really romantically involved with Ester before the breakup, it's still a better look compared to Ms. Julie "I'm Tired of My Boyfriend Not Spending Enough Time with Me Even If He Literally Can't Sometimes Because of His Very Dangerous and Demanding Job, So I'm Going to Make an Excuse to Ghost Him and Get a New Boyfriend without Telling Him" Yamamoto.

...Anyways, on to "Catfight"!

[saftasming]

Haven’t used my pen and art tablet in forever, I managed to doodle this cinnamon roll.  (♥)

[dorkasdaydreams]

Adding to my previous post about Ben's last line in "Hot Stretch":

Once again, there is a part of my personal past that has me sympathizing with Ben. Specifically it concerns the ex-boyfriend I mentioned in a post from a couple of months ago (and I'm gonna sound like a hypocrite, but please bear with me because I didn't remember it until now... I guess that just goes to show how much I want to forget about all of that stuff).

During the last few months of my first relationship, I was having doubts about whether or not I wanted to stay with the guy I was dating at the time. As for why that was the case, long story short: we were NEVER going to be compatible in the long run due to how different our lives were. He also crossed my boundaries several times, particularly in a very... COERCIVE manner... but I'll spare you the specifics on that...

(Also, if you're wondering why I was staying with him at all despite him disrespecting my boundaries so often, it's because this guy had been my best friend throughout most of our middle school and high school years. Being that close to him for so long made me feel like I OWED him total love and loyalty. I still cared for him as a person, but my romantic feelings had dwindled a while before we actually broke up.)

Our last few months together just so happened to take place during my penultimate semester of college (which was last year), and one of my fellow peers in one of my courses was a nice guy who was a lot more similar to me than my then-boyfriend was. I soon realized that I was starting to have thoughts such as, "Would he treat me better?", or "Would I feel happier with him?"

However, because I was already in a relationship at the time, I dismissed those thoughts and kicked myself for even having them in the first place. Then, in May, my ex and I officially broke up.

In my last semester, I made an effort to get to know the second guy. Sadly, we had a couple of major differences that made me realize it might not have worked out long-term, so I lost romantic interest in him. We still remained friends, though.

With all of this in mind, I think I have a better understanding of why Ben said what he said at the end of "Hot Stretch". If Julie hadn't returned any of Ben's calls before "Rules of Engagement", it's understandable that he would be having doubts about how much he actually loves her and vice versa. Therefore, Ben considering the idea of a relationship with Ester makes sense. However, Ben (to my knowledge) doesn't bring this up again until the end of "Rules of Engagement", AFTER he has officially broken up with Julie. Even then, he wasn't the one who initiated the relationship. ESTER made the first move by grabbing him by the arm and pandering to Ben's love of Mr. Smoothy's by claiming she loved it as well.

Anyway, apologies for the long follow-up. NOW I'm going to re-watch "Catfight"!

[benzarro]

[benzarro]

[benzarro]

[benzarro]