My Family (TV Series) Droit de Seigneur Ben (2000) User Reviews

Droit de Seigneur Ben

[studioAT · 8/10 · 28 January 2022]

These early years of the show were very good indeed, and this is another smart and funny episode.

Janey was really at the centre of things during this period, and the scene between her and Ben towards the end is wonderfully played. I like that Ben wasn't quite as miserable as he would later become.

Lovely overall.

Family life with The Borgias.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 9/10 · 16 May 2020]

Janey gets a date with the son of one of Ben's wealthy patients, Susan gets free tickets for the Opera.

Twenty years plus old now, and still incredibly funny, I had forgotten just how good this show was. My favourite of the early series, this episode has the usual laughs and nice moments.

A great scene between father and daughter, it's amazing how content has changed over the years. As is so often the case it's Nick that steals the show, the final scene is hilarious. Nice jokes throughout, it was these subtleties that made it so funny, the milk for example.

Excellent, 9/10.

SA Plot done right.

[chloedean-47880 · 8/10 · 11 October 2022]

I felt compelled to write a review for this one as to how it handled the assault plotline.

It was very refreshing to only see the aftermath and reactions, so often with modern media they make it horrificly violent (as if SA isn't bad enough on its own.) And it can be a tough thing to handle in sitcom format as you run the risk of making a joke out of it or having a far too serious episode which is out of place tonally with the rest of the episodes.

The fact that we saw the denial (I. E: Janey thinking it was her fault and not a big deal) and the reassurance from her mum that it was not her fault and a big deal was interesting, and I think it was a good message to send to people who have experienced SA (or attempt of) as so often its easier to put the blame on yourself then try and understand how a human could behave that way of their own accord.

Also the fact she mentions what self defense move she used could provide helpful in encouroging people to take up self defense (or at least take note of her move which could provide useful if anything were to happen.)

I like that it still manages to keep the comedy, by putting the jokes around mistaken identities and how the dad reacts, the ending when the assistant is horrified as to how he could have set his daughter up with the Lords son even though she was the one to set them up was great and added a lot to their tense relationship which would be played up a lot. Also, when the Lords son comes in and refers to losing a tooth on "biting into a nasty piece of chicken bone" and having Ben assume he's talking about his daughter (who knocked out the guys tooth when defending herself) leading him and his assistant to enact revenge by trying to take it out whilst spraying Novocaine all over his face (essentially waterboarding him with it) to then find out it was the wrong son who has been disowned for being gay was great piece of writing.

Also the fact that the gay son wasn't made a joke out of for being gay was surprisingly open minded for the time.

Tldr: The handling of the assault plot was tasteful without showing anything/being overly dramatic and hasn't been replicated in such a way since. Surprisingly LGBTQ+ friendly for time is came out in.