At school, Paxton accidentally bumps into his project which makes Ben call him a dumbass. Paxton squares up to Ben, who backs off. Ben’s day zooms by as he attends one class after the other; the only thing he eats is beef-jerky. Ben starts overworking himself when he studies Latin in History class. Like his life, his locker is falling apart after being loaded with books. As he bends down to pick them up, he notices a sharp pain in his abdomen. Mrs. Grubbs spots him and asks why he has been taking 10 classes. She wants him to drop two immediately. Ben refuses though, pointing out that he needs to work hard, as he is going to be a senior soon. Mrs. Grubbs gives him an ultimatum – he has one day to drop the classes himself or she will drop them for him. After that, she spots Paxton and asks him to hand over his college essay which Paxton seems unhappy about. Ben overhears the conversation and seems worried. In class, Mr. Brighton assigns students the task of teaching the lessons to one another as an assignment, in light of his divorce. Ben, Devi, and Trent team up for the project. Trent intentionally teams up with two of the smartest people in class in order to score higher. Ben admits that he’s busy throughout the day and only has time to work on the group project between 1:15 and 2:00 am that night. Devi warns Ben that if he does not come to her house after school, she’ll make Trent do Ben’s work. Ben does not want his grade to fall down because of Trent so he agrees to make some modifications to his schedule. Suddenly, he feels the sharp pain in his stomach a second time. After class, Trent, Devi, and Ben work on the project when Devi calls out Ben on his insane plan. Ben jokes that Devi will never get into Princeton even with 11 ‘Easy A’ classes. Devi retaliates that it would be better than getting a bunch of B’s, something that Ben would be getting if he did not work smartly. Just then, Devi’s mom walks in yelling at her for keeping the doors locked while she is with the boys. Devi reassures Nalini that Ben and Trent barely register as boys for her and that they were only working on a school project. Nalini mentions that Rhyah is coming over for dinner and invites them to eat, but Devi declines the offer. Rhyah and Nalini are setting up the table when Devi walks down with her friends. Nalini invites them all to dinner but Ben states he has six hours of homework. Des walks to the table and asks if Ben was in medical school. Ben wonders who Des is when he recalls Trent’s party when he was drunk. Devi is angry that Nalini for not telling her that Des was coming too as she goes to her room to change. Ben plans on skipping homework in order to stay back and check what was going on between her and Des. At dinner, Devi subtly confronts Des for not texting her. Ben realizes that Des has left Devi hanging and he starts to pity her. Just then, Rhyah mentions that Des got into Stanford early. Ben is jealous again. The next day, Ben asks Devi if she likes Des. Devi says she does, wondering why he left her hanging for so long. Ben tells her to stop trying so hard and ask him out if she likes him. In Calculus class, the professor asks them to turn in their essays but Ben does not have one. Turns out, last class when the professor was assigning an assignment, Ben was listening to an audiobook for Literature class. The teacher gives Ben a zero on the assignment bringing his grade down to B. Ben is worried about his GPA when he leaves class. On his way out, he experiences shooting pain in his abdomen and is about to collapse. Paxton finds him in the hallway and rushes him to the hospital. At the hospital, Ben is with Paxton when the doctor tells him that he doesn’t have an inflamed appendicitis. Instead, the pain he is experiencing is a result of impacted fecal matter in his colon caused by stress and poor diet. Paxton jokes that this means Ben is full of sh*t. Ben undergoes surgery and has to wait until he passes gas. Paxton further jokes about the situation and Ben is mortified. As they wait, Paxton asks Ben about Devi. They mention how they are both jealous of the life the other lives. Ben mentions working so hard to get into college for his dad when Paxton makes him realize that he should do things for himself and not someone else. Ben helps Paxton with his college essay and tells him to use his relationship with his adoptive sister as a subject. That night, Ben is at home resting when his father returns from Arizona. Ben tells his dad that he’s changing his schedule and will most likely not be able to get into Columbia. His father reassures him that it’s okay for him to rest and not stress, even it if means he doesn’t get into the University. Hearing this certainly helps ease his stress. The next day, Ben tells Mrs. Grubbs that he will be dropping Calculus and Statistics classes and picking an art elective instead. Mrs. Grubbs is happy and agrees. She then spots Paxton and praises his college essay which makes her tear up. Paxton looks at Ben in appreciation. Ben finds Devi, who tells him that she was going to go out on a date with Des after she asked him out, taking Ben’s advice. Trent meets Ben and thanks him for helping Paxton invite Ben to hang out with the cool gang.
The Episode Review
Like Season 2, we have another episode with Ben’s point of view. I always enjoy Ben’s story way better as he is one of the most misunderstood characters on the show. It seems like he is working himself up to the point of exhaustion. Oftentimes, dedicated students do put themselves through such pressure. Kudos to Ben for finally realizing that his goals only mean so much if he is healthy at the end of the day. In this episode, Devi shined as the someone who taught Ben that he was competing with himself now with his overscheduling. Ben advised Devi to talk to Des despite his crush on her, which seems like he is maturing in more ways than one. I certainly didn’t know I needed Ben and Paxton as friends, but it’s fun to see the two together. How he helps Paxton out shows that Ben is really a good person inherently and he deserves the world. Devi, take notes.
