That Ciara Brady, daughter of iconic super couple Bo and Hope, would leave her mark in Salem was inevitable.
That she’d have a memorable romance was a given. But no one ever expected that the love of her life would be a serial killer!
That’s a new twist, even in Salem.
With that twist comes complications. One of which is, can Ben and Ciara be considered an actual Days of Our Lives super couple on par with those couples that made Days great from the ’80s and ’90s?
Or do they just not quite make the cut?
Our TV Fanatics, Christine and Jack, dive in to decide if Ben and Ciara’s love story is overrated or epic. Check out their thoughts, then let us know yours in the comment section below.
Do you consider Ben and Ciara a Days of Our Lives super couple?
Jack: No, I don’t. I think the writers are trying REALLY hard to go there with all the references to Bo/Hope, but it just isn’t working.
The setup was there, I guess, because Ciara fell hard for Ben despite his past, so it could have been a Pete/Melissa type of thing. But, still, it devolved really quickly into sexathons and kidnappings and very little relationship-building stuff.
Christine: Will there ever be super couples the way there were in the ’80s and ’90s? But Ciara is the daughter of one of Days’ most popular and iconic super couples. And she and Ben have amazing chemistry.
Also, it feels like the writers seem willing to keep them together long-term which is half the battle. And I mean keep them together despite the occasional kidnapping.
So yes, I do think Ben and Ciara qualify as a new, modern super couple in Salem.
It’s ironic you mention “sexathons” because I remember people complaining that Bo and Hope always fell into bed instead of confronting their problems back in the day. So I guess some things never change.
Jack: At least they are staying together. The together/apart thing that most of the couples have nowadays is annoying. Though half the time, someone has pulled them apart via another kidnapping. Ciara is rivaling Marlena for that record number of kidnappings!
Christine: Yes, she is. And I suppose that’s the sign of a long-lasting heroine on Days, whether we like it or not.
The only thing that takes this couple down is if one of the actors decides to leave for good. Of course, they could recast, but I don’t think the show can ever replace the chemistry these two actors have now.
What do you think, Days fans? Do you consider Ben and Ciara a super couple?
What about Ben being a serial killer? Will they ever shake that?
Jack: I think the fact that Victoria Konefal has only committed to a recurring role is part of the problem, honestly.
When she’s not available, they have to come up with a plausible excuse for Ciara’s absence (usually another kidnapping), which interferes with them really being able to build anything with this couple.
I also think the serial killer thing is hard to reconcile. A lot of viewers feel it’s disrespectful to the characters that died to just redeem Ben, and I don’t like the whole “he’s on meds to make him not a killer now” thing, which is a ridiculous solution.
Christine: True, but young actors especially, want to do other things, so the only way to keep her is likely to let her have breaks to explore other roles.
I hate that they made Ben a serial killer. I hated it when it first happened when he was with Abby. It was just so unnecessary.
I was hoping they would turn him into an abusive boyfriend to Abby, which would have made sense since he grew up in an abusive household with Clyde. Then there could have been therapy and a road to redemption.
Jack: That’s what I was hoping for too. A realistic domestic violence storyline could have been redeemed.
Making Ben a serial killer was way over the top, and a lot of times, the things he says about his past feel like they would have fit JJ/Paige better because the things JJ did were not unredeemable.
Christine: Having Ben kill multiple people is a difficult road to come back from. However, on the flip side, Abigail killed Andre and gets to blame it on her mental illness, and everyone just accepts that and forgives her.
I know the storylines are very different, but it just irks me how mental illness is used as a catchall for all of Abigail’s faults, including bashing a man’s skull in, and that’s okay.
But back to Ben. The show knew it was taking a significant risk when it brought him back and tried to redeem him, much like Luke raping Laura on General Hospital and then making them a couple.
Ben will always have this hanging over him. It’s a shadow that will never go away.
Jack: And I also hate that the only time they ever mention Paige is as part of someone not accepting that Ben has changed. That irks me because there was so much more to her than just being Ben’s victim.
Christine: And I kind of laugh whenever they say Ben killed three people because Will is still alive. Only in Salem can someone be guilty of a murder of a live person.
Jack: They did take a considerable risk, and to an extent, I do feel like this is a soap, so a serial killer can be redeemed, but they’ve never really explored it.
Now it’s more like the bad guys all hate Ben for his past, and one of the people he tried to kill is his therapist, and we’re just supposed to go along with it.
Christine: Wait, I guess it is three people. I always forget about the woman who delivered Thomas.
Jack: Oh yeah, he killed Will, oops no he didn’t thing always throws a monkey wrench into it. I also always forget about poor Wendy, though I could have done without that whole Vincent wanting revenge for her death thing.
Christine: I wish this couple could get past it, but I think Days wrote it this way for the controversy. I mean, we’re still talking about it and arguing over it, which I suppose is the point. Bad attention is better than no attention, especially on a soap.
Jack: Yeah, one of the things that drives me nuts is that it feels like it goes in circles.
Someone wants to kill Ben or Ciara because of Ben’s past and kidnaps one of them, and the other one rescues them, they have lots of sex, then someone else tries to kidnap one of them to get revenge.
At least now, with the baby storyline, we’re finally breaking out of that pattern.
Speaking of which, is this the right time for them to start a family?
Jack: I don’t think it is. Mostly because of Ciara. I don’t think she’s mature enough. She’s fully focused on the fact that she wants a baby and not considering what that might actually mean for her life.
Ciara rolled her eyes at Ben discussing financial concerns, having just got married, etc., and didn’t really pay much attention to Allie’s explaining how much having a baby had changed her life.
To me, that doesn’t bode well for how Ciara will do as a mother, even if Ben does come to terms with his fears.
I actually almost wished that Ben was still with Abby just because Jennifer went through similar fears about passing schizophrenia onto her children. If Ben was with Abby and Jennifer was in Salem, that might have been an interesting conversation.
Christine: I was thinking that too! Jennifer could add some insight here.
But there’s never really a perfect time to have a baby. Ciara is newly married and wants to start a family. And when you’re excited, you want your partner to be excited too.
Since Ben has never said he’s reluctant to have a baby, he really blindsided Ciara, and yes, she’s used to getting what she wants. But I don’t blame her for her persistence and enthusiasm here.
Ben’s fears are completely valid, but people who are mentally ill do decide to have children. I hope the show tries to address this with some depth, but it’s Days, so at best, that’s a 50/50 shot.
Jack: Yeah, I’m afraid that this is a segue to the Devil messing with Ben and encouraging him to go back to bad behavior since he’s going to go see Marlena while she’s possessed.
I would like to see this dealt with more realistically, but I have my doubts on that score.
Christine: As for finances, doesn’t Ciara have a trust fund? I remember Bo and Hope having similar conversations because he didn’t want to rely on her trust fund.
And Ciara has never had to worry about money, so it’s not a real issue in her world. She can go to Grandpa Victor if they need help.
Jack: I think she had one from Victor at one point, but I haven’t heard about it recently. No one ever seems to need money unless it’s part of a specific storyline (e.g., Paulina cutting Chanel off).
Christine: Yeah, this is the one storyline I wish the Devil would stay out of, but there’s little hope of that.
Jack: Yeah, I think so too, though they could surprise us, I guess.
Christine: The one issue I’ve had so far is the idea of them adopting. Even with a private adoption, what mother will choose a couple where one parent has had a severe enough mental illness where he murdered three people!
Jack: Yeah, this being Salem, I’m expecting some sort of story where they don’t mention Ben’s background, and then someone reveals it so that the adoption falls through at the last minute.
It’s a shame, really, because adoption seems like it SHOULD be a viable option if they’re worried about genetics. Unless it’s someone they know already, like if they had wanted the baby at the time that Allie was not interested in keeping hers.
As a side note, the whole “Ben killed three people because he was psychotic” irritates me because most people with psychosis are not violent. It just perpetuates the stereotype that mental illness = dangerous person.
Christine: Yes, unless it’s someone who already knows them and they are close to, I just don’t see this happening.
Jack: I suppose Claire could come back pregnant somehow. That might be an interesting route to go down.
Christine: Unfortunately, we can’t get rid of Ben killing people because of his mental illness unless he pulls a Bobby Ewing, walks out of a shower, and we find out it was all a dream.
(For those younger viewers, this is a reference to an iconic plot twist from Dallas where an entire season turned out to be a dream.) Ben could then be married to Abigail and Ciara with Chad. Hey, this could be the Halloween episode this year!
Jack: LOL, that would be an interesting Halloween episode. I suppose it also could turn out that all his victims are on the island with Sarah and aren’t dead.
Christine: LOL! I think I’d love that.
What do you think, Days fans? Should Ben and Ciara have a baby?
Okay. What are your pet peeves about this couple?
Jack: Well, as I said earlier, I just find it annoying that the story goes around in the same circle over and over, though maybe the baby storyline will fix that.
I also don’t like how clingy these two are. It is one thing when Ciara has been gone for months and then has amnesia. I can understand Ben wanting to fix that.
But in the past, we’ve had scenes where Ben leaves for work, and five minutes later, Ciara turns up because she couldn’t stand to be apart from him.
When Ben said once that he didn’t know how to go on because he had nothing in his life other than Ciara, I thought that was a big problem with this couple — no interests or friends outside of each other.
Hopefully, that too will change with Allie and Tripp’s friendships with Ben and Ciara now.
Christine: Ben and Ciara definitely both need jobs. Maybe they can be detectives together (I vaguely think Bo and Hope went that route for a while.) But they need something.
My biggest pet peeve is the way they dress Ciara!
Victoria is absolutely gorgeous, and I understand that Ciara dresses with more of an edge, but some of her outfits are just bad.
In the same way that they sometimes dress Abigail as though she just stepped out of Little House on the Prairie, Ciara can be dressed like she’s working an undercover sting operation for Vice.
Jack: Oh my gosh, yes, sometimes I’m totally distracted by how bad her outfits are and have to go back to see what actually happened.
Christine: Yes! Although I’ll admit, there is some fun in going, “What is she wearing now!”
Jack: And working as detectives together could work. I enjoyed that in Beyond Salem.
Christine: It’s not like Black Patch is doing much these days. Maybe Steve would hire them.
Jack: Yeah, Black Patch seems to have practically been disbanded. Steve doesn’t even know what’s going on with John and Marlena (but that’s a topic for another post)
And Ciara is his closest friend’s daughter and Kayla’s niece, so it would be interesting for her to work for Steve.
So what do you think, Days of Our Lives fans?
- Do you consider Ben and Ciara a real super couple?
- Is it the right time for them to have a baby?
- Could they make a great detective duo, or do you see them taking another career path?
Hit that big, blue, SHOW COMMENTS button down below and let us know!
C. Orlando is a TV Fanatic Staff Writer. Follow her on Twitter.