Characters / Ben's City

The characters in Ben's City (with their french names in parentheses) include:

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Main characters

Ben Hardy (Ben Hardi)

Ben is the main protagonist of Ben's City. He lives in a loft with his girlfriend Sophie, has a friend named Scott who is a publicist, and works for provincial Minister of Environment, Henry Wallet.

• The Ace: He never seem able to fail at doing anything.
• All a Part of the Job: Ben truly enjoys working for Minister Wallet, despite it being a lot of work for him.
• Chronic Hero Syndrome: Always ready to help anyone.
• Curtains Match the Window: Brown hair and eyes.
• Hypercompetent Sidekick: To Henry Wallet. It's a wonder how Henry can get anything done without Ben helping him.
• Meaningful Name: His name is prnounced like the French idiom "bien hardi", meaning someone that steps up to adversity. Fittingly he is the one to come up with solutions to incoming problems.
• Morality Pet: To Minister Wallet. He even needs to show him what to do when he gets bribed.
• Must Make Her Laugh: When he first meets Sophie. Coupled with Love at First Sight.
• Schedule Fanatic
• Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: The Sensitive Guy to Scott's Manly Man. He is open to culture and talking his about his emotions while Scott is more a person that likes action and only shows his vulnerable side to a few close people.
• Undying Loyalty: He has problems giving up on Wallet.

Sophie N'Guyen

Sophie owns a hairdressing salon with her friend Luke. Is now a family mother as she gave birth to a young girl at the beginning of Season 2.

• Beware the Nice Ones: At some point, an old friend now rock star invited her to a restaurant. Then, he showed her his room, and revealed his true intention. The next time we see the guy during a TV interview, he's got a black eye and he's missing a few teeth. Sophie, who was watching the interview with Ben, has her left arm in bandages.

• Death Glare: She can get rather scary when she's angry.

• Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: Ben is one head taller than her.

Scott Gardner (Guy Garneau)

A publicist whose ads are interesting, to say the least. He flirts with many girls, though seems to prefer one named Rina above the others.

• The Ace: Season 2 plays him as this. His advertising campaigns are all successful, though to varying degrees; he is always eager to help people, especially his sister, his nephew Nicholas, his friend Ben or the government. Not to mention that even if he can snark, he's still a very nice guy.
  • Broken Ace: ...Yet it's been revealed in season 2 that his school grades weren't really high. He's also shown signs of alcoholism. Not to mention that he's kind of quick to threathen those who annoy him too much, as proven by this exchange. Scott goes to visit his sister's block owner as he didn't repair a wall in her apartment. He also has some Survivor's Guilt about his father dying to save him as a kid.
    Scott: I'm the guy at the end of this fist. (He points to his fist) If you don't make the repairs in my sister's apartment, you'll be at the other end of this fist. Understood?
• Anime Hair: Just HOW does it stay up?
• Berserk Button : Technology that works wrong makes him throw tantrums and break the machines.
• Big Ego, Hidden Depths: He is really successful in love and business but still has hang up about his dad sacrificing himself.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: We quite often see the result of his ad campaigns... and one could really wonder how he actually keeps his job.
  • Subverted in "The Cloud", when one of his ads ends up being so good that every single person in the city buys the product, and some more than once. The product happens to be a box of screwdrivers, and the thought that everyone would buy one because of only one ad is pretty funny.
  • Subverted again with the whole show; apparently, his ads really are the better ones around, and the other ads are shown as not as good. That makes him better than the others, indeed. Even if by the real world's standards, his advertisement campaigns are pretty darn silly.
• Cloud Cuckoolander / Deadpan Snarker: It's often hard to tell, but he goes from one to the other, and sometimes it's hard to tell which one he is at the moment.
  • On some occasions, it's clearer. He offers "In theaters near you" as possible slogan for a floor cleaner. On the same way, he is clearly snarking when telling Ben how happy he is:
    • Scott: Look, I'd start a parade, but I wouldn't want to spill our glasses.
• Goofy Print Underwear: His have the logo of a sports team printed all over them. The logo resembles that of the Montreal Canadians hockey team.
• The Hedonist: Like fast cars, beautiful women and thrillseeking vacations. When his luxury car is in need of repair he makes sure to tell any passerbys the more modest car is a replacement and wears a mask to not be seen in such a bland car.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He snarks and can be quick to violence but is always willing to help and give his life or everything he has.
• Papa Wolf: Don't you dare intimidate his nephew Nicolas. He'll teach you a lesson. He could even use death threats to get his point across.

  Scott: Would you like it if a priest spoke about you between two pieces of organ music?

• Relationship Upgrade: With Rina (see below), in a B plot to an episode where she believes to be pregnant because of him. Not to mention he is also seen more often with her than with any other girl he dated.
• Scare 'Em Straight: Does that to Nicholas when his nephew starts dropping from school. He shows him a group of three homeless men living in a dead end alley, and they tell him they are there because they didn't go to school. Quite the PSA...

Henry Wallet (Léopold Ouellet)

The klutzy Minister of Environment, who isn't always smart and who always makes mistakes. Ben is extremely useful to him.

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• Benevolent Boss: He treats both Ben and his driver Lucien like friends. When Scott was lost in the Himalaya he went with Ben to rescue him and used many ressources for the expedition.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: His incompetence is laughed at, not because it's dangerous or anything, but because he really is an idiot. However, thanks to Ben, he always keeps his job.
• Comically Missing the Point : Oh, so often.
• Corrupt Politician: An unusual Downplayed variation on this trope where he is well-meaning and his corruption comes from him being just that incompetent.
• Cloud Cuckoolander: But as Season 2 goes on, he realizes more and more when he's said something stupid.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass : Despite his clear incompetence and the fact his intelligence could use a few more IQ points, he's still the Minister of Environment of a province and can actually do what's needed to help. Then again, without Ben...
• A Day in the Limelight: His wife gets the plot of an episode based around her and a strange illness called the Peppermind, some sort of mental disease... caused by eating too much peppermint candies... and which causes the person to say nonsensical things.
• The Ditz: Lacks a lot of common sense and believed every whales has a Jonas in them.
• The Fool: Despite not knowing much about environment he is a superb minister thanks to being too stupid to get bribed or swayed by companies and criminal organisations and willing to trust Ben's word on what to do.
• Good Is Dumb: He is nice and means the best but he is also a complete idiot.
• Open Mouth, Insert Foot: To the point he gets upset at others for letting him finish his thoughts when it clearly was gonna be stupid.
  Wallet: Instead of keeping this cold silence can't you guys just say "Leopold can you check if your brain is connected with your mouth".
• Power Fantasy: Once dreamt he was a badass action hero Minister of Environment visiting mafiosi to force them into following the environmental laws. It degenerates into a shooting, in which he is hurt and has to run away. He then calls Ben, who puts on a robotic suit and goes off to help him. Then Wallet woke up.

Mrs. Shrink (Madame Alline Allaire)

Scott's neighbor. She cares for her daughter. Her house is filled with inventions from her dead husband. In "Scott's Return", her name is revealed to be Aline (or Alice in Season 2). She strongly believes in supernatural occurrences.

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• 15 Minutes of Fame: In "Scott's Return", after she calls the CNTV network (and at the same time reveals her full name), suddenly there's people all around her house selling or buying stuff with her face on it.
• Feminine Women Can Cook: The main promotional image shows her holding a pie.

• Nosy Neighbor: Inverted. She does truly care for Scott, almost like a son, and he returns the favor. You could argue that Scott helps her with a lot of things (especially in Season 1), but she also helps him on a few occasions. When Scott's alcoholism starts getting out of control, she suggests him to go to a reunion of the A.A. And the night before that suggestion, as Scott had come back home drunk, she called him (while he was drinking), and tossed this fine little joke:
  Mrs. Shrink: Scott, did you get your entrance remade in a zigzag pattern? (as he wasn't walking in a straight line)
• Pink Means Feminine: She wears a pink shirt and is behaving like the average widow, gardening and cleaning while Scott offers help for most manual tasks.

• Supernatural Aid: Her husband helps from beyond the grave to solve two mysterious cases in Season 2.

Secondary Characters

Luke (Luc)

Sophie's gay friend and co-owner of the hairdressing salon.

• Camp Gay

Peter Mess

Prime Minister of Canada, who seems unwilling to help most of the time he appears.

• Light Is Not Good: He seems very antagonistic to the ministers of the province, despite the fact he's the Prime Minister of Canada.
• Politically Incorrect Villain: Subverted. He is incorrect in how he interacts with his political subordinates.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: Is not seen at all during Season 2.

The Prime Minister of Quebec

Despite his rank, he really wants the best for the people. In Season 2, his name is revealed to be Lucien.

• Ascended Extra: Has a more prominent role in Season 2.
• Captain Ersatz: Of Lucien Bouchard, a past Prime Minister of Quebec.

Nicholas

Scott's nephew. Is often bullied.

• Scare 'Em Straight: As he's skipping school, Scott presents him to a trio of homeless people who never went to school and live in extreme poverty. They make jokes about how there's still place for a fourth one, after which the homeless people tell him to stay in school if he doesn't want to end up like them. Seems like it's worked.

Edith (Édith Viens)

A TV anchorwoman with exaggeratedly large hips, who bears a strong dislike to Mr. Wallet.

• Impossible Hourglass Figure: Up to eleven.

Tristan Direct

A slightly dumb TV reporter who always has some stupid question to ask to whoever he interviews.

• Punny Name: "Triste" means "sad" and "en Direct" means "live" in French.
• Transplant: Debuted in another show created by Pérusse, titled Le Journul, which aired in the early 2000s.

Maude Shrink (Maude Allaire)

Aline Shrink's daughter.

• Celeb Crush: Apparently, she has a crush on Johnny Depp. In season 2's Episode 3, Scott gives her a brand-new smartphone to test, and in her dream, she mutters Johnny Depp's name; the phone found the number online and called the actor.

Rina

One of Scott's dates who becomes more prominent than all the others as the season goes on.

• A Day in the Limelight: She appears a lot more in the Plot B of an episode, in which she believes to be pregnant from Scott.

One-time characters worthy of note

Rick

• Really 700 Years Old: Debatable but hinted at in the twist ending to "The All Inclusive".

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