EastEnders viewers criticised Kathy Beale’s (Gillian Taylforth) behaviour towards her son, Ben Mitchell (Max Bowden) during last night’s episode (Wednesday, May 11) after she discovered that he had attacked Peter Beale (Dayle Hudson).
It was another dramatic EastEnders instalment last night which saw Ben reeling from beating up his nephew, Peter in a case of mistaken identity.
Ben’s mental health has been spiralling for months since the homophobic attack on his husband, Callum Highway (Tony Clay) earlier this year and most recently, after Callum’s police poster campaign was vandalised.
Struggling to cope with the homophobic abuse, he has resorted to attacking the perpetrators in the street.
After a string of attacks, Ben’s vigilante actions were exposed by Jay Brown (Jamie Borthwick) in previous episodes and he soon clocked on that Ben was responsible for the attack on Peter.
Ben mistook Peter for being the man responsible for throwing homophobic insults at Callum’s poster and, in a rage, he attacked him.
However, unbeknownst to Kathy, it was her own son behind the spate of violent crimes.
Furious that her grandson was a victim, she went on a tirade to Rocky (Brian Conley) saying, “It’s just so horrible, though. Someone is out there attacking innocent people. And for what? What is he, some sort of psycho? And Peter hasn’t done anything to hurt anyone, so why him? I just don’t understand it. What sort of monster does that?”
Later on, when Ben and Callum showed up to Kathy’s to tell her the good news that they had found a flat, Ben was stunned to see Jay there with a very angry-looking Kathy.
Jay soon admitted that he had told Kathy what Ben had been up to.
“I need you to explain yourself. Just tell me why. Why you’ve been attacking all these people, and why you attacked my grandson!” Kathy seethed.
Fans on social media were not happy with the way Kathy spoke to Ben, pointing out that she had failed to notice Ben had been struggling for months and that he wasn’t a ‘monster’ but needed professional help.
They also noticed that Kathy seemed more upset by Peter’s attack than Ben being a victim of a hate crime...
Why does Kathy think that Peter is such an angel so annoying and Ben isn’t a monster he just isn’t very well needs to get professional help #EastEndersMay 11, 2022
The last sentence annoyed me. "You attacked my grandson". He's your son and was involved in an attack and you wasn't as upset. But what really got me was bens her son and she should know there's something wrong. She knew he wouldnt attack Ian so why did she confront him like thatMay 11, 2022
I can't stand Kathy she cares more about everyone else than her own son. She has a reason to be upset but maybe if she actually cared about him she would see he was struggling for months.#EastEnders #BallumMay 11, 2022
Kathy is more upset and Pete then she was Ben tells alot about her being a mother and not realising how he is struggling. #Ballum #EastEndersMay 11, 2022
Way more to it than you think, Kathy.🙊🙊🙊 #EastEndersMay 11, 2022
EastEnders continues tonight at 7:30pm on BBC One.
