Ben Burke was Ethan and Theresa Burke's teenage son.
History[]
The first flashback into Ben's life we see is when, on the day of his birthday, Ethan guides a blindfolded Ben through a park in Seattle. When Ben takes off the blindfold, the boy sees his parents with a birthday cake in front of him. Before blowing out the candles, he wishes that his parents won't end up like everybody's else's -- he means he hopes they will not get divorced. He is later informed that his father has to leave town for a few days.
In the very first episode, during a walk with his mother, Ben sees her talking on the phone and he asks her if she was talking on the phone with Ethan, his dad. When she lies, telling him that she was just leaving a message and that everything was fine, Ben notices that she is lying. He says that everyone had a tell, and that hers was that she paused and looked to the right every time she lied. His mother tells him that he is very perceptive and like Ethan in that way.
In an effort to make him feel less anxious about the whereabouts of his father, and to avoid talking with her son about the topic, Theresa asks Ben if he wants to take a picture to send to Ethan. They are interrupted when the phone rings, and Theresa informs Ben that Ethan has been in an accident. Ethan is worried, but his mother assures him that he seems like he is okay for now.[1]
There is a brief cut-scene at the end of episode one in which Ben is shown playing his guitar in his room. Both him and his mother look worried.
Five days after his father's disappearance, Ben mentions that they haven't seen any news on TV about the disappearance of his father. Theresa tells him that the reason behind this is because Ethan's investigation was classified. Noticeably upset, Ben comments on how Ethan could be dead or with "that woman". He asks his mother which one is worse.
After hearing Theresa saying that she was going to Boise to find out what happened to Ethan, Ben declared that he would join her. His mother refused his offer, claiming that he should stay in Seattle with his aunt since he had school, but Ben insisted in going with her.[2]
On the morning, Ben woke up in his mother's car, and discussed about how they were chasing his im to sit while she talked to the receptionist, and after the latter left, she called him to tell her when the woman came back.
After finding out that Ethan had used his credit card in a gas station, they headed that way to find out more about Ben's father. When the cashier flirted with his mom, Ben mentioned how that woman was his mother, looking for his husband. After some kids told them about an accident near Wayward Pines, they decided to go there for more information.
On their way, there were pulled over by a cop, who told them that their car was leaking oil. The officer asked Ben to stay in the car, and then asked Theresa to open the hood to fix the problem. They resumed their trip, just nine miles away from Wayward Pines.
After the accident, in which Ben broke an arm, he woke up with his mother in Wayward Pine's hospital. After being released, they were taken to a new house in the town. In there, Ben and Theresa were cheking the fridge, just as Ethan talked to them from behind, and the reunited family came together in a hug. To discuss a few things with Theresa, Ethan asked Ben to step outside, where he was greeted by his full name by a kid on his bike. When his father walked out the door, he asked him to stay close to the house, and take care of his mother. Despite just having arrived there, Ben saw his father leave.
During a snack, Ben asked if he could go to the hospital to see if they had his phone and guitar, but his mother refused, remarking what Ethan had asked them. Upset by they situation, Ben commented on the lack of TV and Wi-Fi, and when his mother told him to see it as a vacation, statement he quickly corrected ad being in house arrest.
When his father arrived to the house, he saw him from the second story leaving the premise with an unknown figure, and followed them trough the forest, where he found out that the other person was Kate. He ran to his mother and told her what he had seen, and after thinking for a while, she decided to leave town with Ben.
While walking on the road, they saw they were being followed by a police car, and they ran to one of the sides to avoid it. However, the car followed them until they run near an electrified gate. Sheriff Pope came out of the car, and told them they had to ask for his pemission to leave, and when Ben tried to confront him, he was pushed aside. Arnold pulled a gun and point it to Theresa, and asked Ben to get up. He asked the boy if he was ok, and punched him in the face, claiming that that was "for his father". He took Ben to the police car, and told him not to move.
Ben saw an opportunity when his father arrived to fight the cop, and when his father was on the ground, Ben started the car and ran over Arnold. He then saw his father shot the cop and open the gate. However, Ben noticed how something took the body of the man, and when they started hearing strange animal noises, Ethan close the door and drove away.[3]
The family got back to the house, and Ethan asked a freaked out Ben to go inside. His father escorted him and cleaned him up a little, while the boy asked what were those things that took the sheriff body. Ethan claimed that they were wolves, and then left Ben to talk to his mother. After a man in a bike gave a package to Ben, his mother rushed to him. They opened the package and discovered that Ben was enrolled in the Wayward Pines Academy, and that he was expected to be there the next day at 8 a.m..
The next day, Theresa walked Ben to the school, where they were received by a joyful teacher who told Ben about the school's areas of focus. She asked Ben if his instrument was the guitar, and when the boy said yes, she was happy to have guessed. When the bell rang, Theresa hugged Ben and told him she would be coming to pick him up, and then he was escorted inside by Mrs. Fisher.
Mrs. Fisher took Ben to a classroom to have a private session with her to determinate the level in which he was. She proceeded to ask Ben a series of questions about his place in the world, and when she asked Ben why didn't he leave, he answered that he couldn't because his father had been assigned there. The teacher asked him how could he be so sure about what his father said, and proceed to question Ben if his father had ever lied before, and how could he trust him.
After school was over, Ben was waiting outside for his mom, when a girl approached him. She asked where did he live, and when he couldn't answer that question, Amy said that they would find out together, and started walking with him. Ben told Amy about his session with Mrs. Fisher, and Amy asked him about his previous school in Seattle and if he had a girlfriend there. When they started talking about the fence and the animals on the other side, Theresa found the teenagers and told off Ben for not waiting for her to pick him up at school. However, Amy took the fault and said that she was the one that asked Ben to walk with her. Theresa said that it was okay and took Ben home, leaving Amy alone and still apologizing.
On his second day at school, Ben was in another private session with Mrs. Fisher, and when he told that he was from Seattle, but he didn't know where he was living now, the teacher announced that he could start going to classes the next day. She then asked Ben to close his eyes and proceeded to give him a guitar.
That night, while his parents were out, Ben received the visit of Amy, who asked him to go with her to her favourite place in the world, a bench in the woods. She asked Ben to tell her about his old friends, and when he confessed him that he had lied to her, since he didn't really have any friends, she said she didn't mind. When he asked about what was on the other side of the fence, Amy came closer to him, but instead of an answer, Ben got a kiss on the cheek. He backed away, surprised, but after a short moment, he hugged her.[4]
When they were arriving at his house, Amy asked him if he would join her and some friends to walk to school the next day. Ben agreed to do it and before she left, Amy kissed Ben again, this time on the lips. In the kitchen, Ben found his mother washing some dishes. She told him that his father was working late on a case, and that when he finish, they could go back to Seattle. When he was questioned about how that sounded, Ben responded saying that it seemed great.
The next morning, Ben let Theresa know that he was walking to school with some friends, but she wouldn't allow him, since they didn't know who was trustworthy in that town yet. When he heard that, Ben got angry because she and his dad told him to fit in, but now she was doing the exact opposite of that. He stormed off the house and went to school without her.
On the school, Ben noticed how everyone was being nice to him, and asked Amy if they were being forced to do it, since in his previous school, nobody ever noticed him. The girl told him that Wayward Pines Academy wasn't like every other school, but before getting anything else from her, Ben heard that he was needed for orientation.
He headed to a white room, where he found two other kids already seated, Carrie and Reed, and a chair waiting for him with the number 111. His teacher, Mrs. Fisher, entered the room with a projector, and close the door and turned off the lights so they could see the presentation better. She showed them a picture of a forest, and Ben noticed an odd figure in it. She told the kids that those creatures were abbies, the most efficient predators in the world, and revealed to them that they were the result of a series of mutations that made the humans devolve.
During lunch break, Ben was with his orientation mates when Amy approached them. She asked Ben if thing were making more sense, but he said they didn't, at all. He reasoned that if the abbies were walking on plain sight in Idaho, someone must have noticed them before. The girl assured him that what Mrs. Fisher was telling them was true, and that after lunch, things would be clearer for them.
Back in the room, the teacher gave the kids some ancient coins. Ben scraped the coin and found out that it was an American quarter from the year 2095. Confused, he asked how was that possible, and Mrs. Fisher revealed that they were chosen to be part of a community in a world different from the one they left behind, a world that died out two thousand years ago. She told them that there were placed into hybernation chambers, where they slept until they were needed. Upset, Ben asked why were they chosen, and they were told that the reason was to ensure the survival of the human race. When Ben wanted to know who created Wayward Pines, the teacher said that his name was David Pilcher.
Mrs. Fisher asked the kids not to tell anything of what they learned to his parents, since when one of the kids did in the past, his parents decided to leave that world with him. She urged them to follow the rules to ensure their survival since they were the First Generation, and when they finished the lesson, they headed to a room next to the one they were. There, the kids were greeted by all the other students, who were holding candles to celebrate their welcome into the First Generation. Amy shared her fire with them, while the students banged the tables with their hands.[5]
After finding out the truth behind Wayward Pines, Ben gave the idea a long thought, something his mother noticed. When he told her about the billions of people in the world and how that made him feel small, she tried to comfort him. That night, still remembering his welcome into the First Generation while holding the 2095 coin, Ben looked outside the window.[6]
The next day, Ethan told his family to walk to school, since his car wouldn't start. During their walk, Theresa wanted to know if Ben missed Seattle, but the boy remembered her that they shouldn't talk about their past. When they were approaching the school, Ben stated that he liked there, since he had friends, and told his mother that she might like it too if she gave it a chance. Before getting in, they were greeted by Megan Fisher and Amy, and the teacher asked Amy to help Ben find a biology book.
In biology class, Mrs. Fisher asked Ben and Amy to go to the front, using them as example of a male, and a female body, made to fit with eachother. After class, Amy asked Ben to meet her after diner to go to a meadow in the woods, and before Ethan came to take Ben home, he accepted Amy's offer.
That night, Ben sneaked out of his house and met Amy at a corner, where they waited until a delivery truck stopped almost at 8pm. To make Ben feel better, Amy told him that she had gotten in the back of the delivery truck before. He followed Amy as she opened the door and they traveled on the back of the truck. There, Ben began to inspection the boxes, until he heard music. Amy had opened a music box she found in the truck, she pushed Ben against the wall behind some bags, and while sitting, they started kissing. When the music stopped, a bomb inside the music box detonated, pushing Ben and Amy outside the truck. The explosion left Ben's body lying on the street.[7]
Megan talks to Ben about punishment and crime. Ben talks to the teens about how those who break the rules must be punished. Ethan has little details about Amy's procedure.
After his father sacrificed himself to kill the abbies, he was knocked unconscious with debris from the explosion and was put into an hibernation chamber. Three years and 4 months later, he woke up in the hospital with an adult Amy as his nurse. Noticing that she treated his as "Mr. Burke" and after she mentioned graduating two months before his waking, Amy covered the surveillance system on the room, and explained that after the deaths of Pilcher and his father, members of the First Generation took over Wayward Pines. She told Ben that she had managed to convince the new leaders that Ben wasn't like his father, and when the boy started asking for his clothes, Amy tried to calm him, saying that if he didn't calm down, he was going to be put into hibernation again. Finally, after he insisted, Amy gave him his clothes while crying.
Afterwards he stumbled through Main Street, and ended up on a square with a statue of Pilcher and several bodies hanging from light poles with signs on them. Ben could only grab his head with his hands trying to take the new information in.
In the year 4032 Ben is the head of a Wayward Pines rebellion, which is ultimately unsuccessful and leads to him being captured on Jason's orders. After being exiled outside the fence by members of the First Generation, he is killed by abbies. His disfigured body is later found by Adam Hassler and recognized by his mother.
Appearances[]
Wayward Pines[]
Season 1[]
- 101. "Where Paradise Is Home"
- 102. "Do Not Discuss Your Life Before"
- 103. "Our Town, Our Law"
- 104. "One of Our Senior Realtors Has Chosen to Retire"
- 105. "The Truth"
- 106. "Choices"
- 107. "Betrayal"
- 108. "The Friendliest Place on Earth"
- 109. "A Reckoning"
- 110. "Cycle"
Season 2[]
- 201. "Enemy Lines"
- 202. "Blood Harvest"
- 206. "City Upon A Hill" (flashback/archive footage)
Fringe Crossover[]
Charlie Tahan played the leading role “Ben Stockton” in Fringe Season 1 Episode 8 “The Equation”. Among a number of parallels in this episode, his mother’s name was Abby. This episode may have influenced Wayward Pines as it predates the series by seven years.
References[]
|