Ben Wilson

**Dr. Ben Wilson** is a character on the Paramount+ series *Rabbit Hole*. He is portrayed by Charles Dance and by Phil Burke in John Weir's childhood flashbacks.

Dr. Ben Wilson invented the playbook for winning hearts and minds while toppling regimes. His background in psychology and no nonsense attitude made him the perfect CIA operative. His work left him paranoid and unfit for civilian life as he sees threats everywhere. But it’s not paranoia if they’re really after you. He is willing to risk everything to get what he wants, no matter who gets hurt along the way.

## Profile

### The staged suicide and the reveal

Dr. Ben Wilson is a spy who's been out in the cold too long. Despite this, John Weir is forced trust him after being framed for a murder.

In truth, Dr. Ben Wilson was originally Ben Weir, John Weir's father. He was forced to stage his suicide when John was still a child after discovering a secret so dark it threatened everything he knew. The one thing he did not account for was his son witnessing his "suicide," but by then it was already too late to go back.

After faking his suicide, Dr. Ben Weir becomes Dr. Ben Wilson and goes deep underground. During this time, he seeks to uncover the nefarious plans of Crowley, a man who amasses so much money that he stops thirsting for it and cares for only one thing: power. He watches from the shadows as his son John and his best friend Miles Valence build up a company that specializes in psychological manipulation to benefit companies. Realizing that Crowley will be attracted to what John and Miles have built, he makes the risky decision to reveal himself to his son, nearly 35 years after his son witnessed his apparent suicide.

At first, John is entirely disbelieving of his father's revelation. He and his best friend Miles Valence have built up a life and a company based on documents that Ben left behind in a safe, but John's psyche was deeply rattled by his father's suicide, making it difficult for him to form stable and lasting relationships. Ben's being alive changes everything that he knows and at first he simply cannot accept it, especially that Ben claims at the same time to need his help in taking down Crowley, talking about conspiracies in ways that make him seem completely crazy. However, when one of the seemingly crazy things that Ben predicts comes true, he and Miles have no choice but to believe him.

### The plan

Ben explains to John and Miles that during his time in the CIA, they created a book called *The Algorithms of Control*. The tools within it were intended to be used to sway public support, to get governments to fall in line with U.S. interests. Crowley, however, didn't see things that way, instead began selling psyops to the highest bidder. No longer satisfied with this, he wants a regime of his own. He warns them that by the next election it may already be too late and asks them if they will help him to stop Crowley. They agree, but wonder just how they can find Crowley. Ben, however, tells them that they don't have to, that Crowley will be attracted to the data intel business that they have built. They decide on a plan: John is to go public, while Miles splits with him, creating a new company named Arda Analytics. The two make a big public scene of splitting up, while secretly continuing to work towards the same goal.

The group finally puts their plan into place, but things quickly go south. John is framed for the murder of U.S. Treasury Department Edward Homm, whom he actually kidnapped, and witnesses the apparent suicide of Miles. Meanwhile, unknown to John, Ben goes after Kyle, an intern in John's office. He is convinced that Kyle is a mole for Crowley and determined to take him off the board. Kyle, however, catches Ben tailing him and stabs him in the gut, badly wounding him. He then returns to John's workplace and kills all of John's co-workers, who had been planning to stage their own deaths in an explosion. Ben discovers Kyle's activities, but chooses to keep them a secret from John, fearing what would the news would do to John's already fragile state.

Such is the state of affairs when John arrives at the old family home that they are using as a safe house. Along with John has come Hailey Winton, a woman that he met on a one-night stand and whom has unexpectedly become entangled in his affairs. Ben expresses annoyance at her presence, calling her a wild card that has to go. John tells him that he doesn't think that she's involved with Crowley, but Ben insists that if John isn't 100%, then they should kill her. John, however, states that they're not killing anyone. Ben argues that John isn't thinking clearly, that Miles's death has him rattled. John complains about Ben trying to psychoanalyze him, telling him that the next time he wants to fake his own suicide, don't fake it. The back-and-forth is all a bit much for Hailey, who asks Ben just how old John was when he faked his suicide. He tells it was 10 and Hailey asks John just how long he believed Ben to be dead. Ben, however, shouts at her to eat eggs and the other food they have laid out for her. Hailey, however, protests that none of it is vegan. "You're vegan, I should have known," groans an exasperated Ben.

John informs Hailey of the presence of an apple tree in the backyard, suggesting it as a better option than the nearby gas station, which is unlikely to have a good vegan. Ben meets Hailey out by the tree, quipping "How do you like them apples?", calling it a "dad joke." He tells her not to be frightened, that he's a man of his word and won't kill her. He continues that he was once a psychologist in the military, one of his first projects being to make a list of all of the tells of a liar. He tells her that he wants her to look him in the eye and answer just one question. She plays along and he asks her if she's really who she says she is. "Yes," she tells him and he asks her who she's working for. He apologizes, noting that this was two questions. "The Homeless Aid Network," she tells him and he tells her that he believes her and to relax.

### The Gao operation

Ben returns to John, who has been using a keyfob in the hope of cracking into Miles Valences's communications and desperately trying to figure out his password. Ben tells him that his time is up, that he's violating his own rule about not using the Internet from the same place for longer than 15 minutes without resetting. John, however, manages to crack the password, gaining Miles's comms data. Everyone then clears out, making their way for the next safe house.

John reports to Ben, telling him that he discovered something odd: that Miles was purchasing NFTs. This doesn't make any sense to him, as Miles was conservative and hated art. He says that it just wasn't him, but Ben tells him that the suicide has hit him hard, that people hide their true selves and that he's presenting signs of PTSD. John, however, tells him that it isn't a delusion, quoting his own words back at him: "If you want to understand people, study their patterns and the breaks and those patterns." He tells him it's out of character, and worth looking into. Just then, Edward Homm surprises them both by shouting from the other room "It's how he was being paid!" It's the first time he's spoken since his kidnapping.

The two of them go to Edward, discovering that through the thin walls of the safe house, he can hear everything they're saying so long as they're not mumbling. They ask him to tell them what he knows, but he asks first to talk to his wife. Although they can't reveal to anyone that he is alive, they manage to establish a connection to the cameras at his home so that he knows that she's alright. He then reveals that the man Miles was buying NFTs from, Elliott Gao, is a high-end money launderer who was acting as a middleman for anyone looking to move money anonymously. John tells Ben that this how they get Crowley, that if they can mess with Crowley's money pipeline, then he'll be forced to act, bringing himself out into the open.

Ben is skeptical, but John tells him that it could work, that if they can get Gao to think he's attracting the wrong kind of attention, he'll have to warn Crowley, forcing him to come out from the shadows to eliminate him. He suggests that they make use of Jo Madi, an FBI agent of the Financial Crimes Division who has been investigating him. They use her to spook Gao, then infiltrate an event he's hosting at his place in a couple days. He tells Ben that they will need Hailey's help on this, due to him not having a team. Ben is once again reluctant, but nevertheless forced to agree.

Ultimately, the operation has mixed results. Hailey goes in, posing as Jo Madi, but is figured out thanks to the presence of a man from her past: her boss at her previous job. Ben then goes in, posing as Crowley and chewing Gao out for talking to the FBI. Gao lets slip two names: Intaverse and Ledger. Before he can say anything else, however, he gets a call from the real Crowley. Crowley sends him a message, telling him to get a photo of the man claiming to be dead. From this, Crowley learns of Ben's survival.

### Ben's revelations

Afterwards, Ben tells John that the operation is done, that Crowley is ahead of them and this is the last place you want to be with him. John, however, tells him that they got good leads and still have an advantage in that Crowley doesn't know about him. Edward Homm tells them that Intaverse is a web media company which is infamous for running an ad offering "have a consensual affair on us." A congressman who responded to it was outed as being a member of Wikileaks, but later said he was being blackmailed. Ben and John realize that it's a honey trap, that Crowley is collecting dirt on politicians, just waiting for one to be camera-ready. Ben says again that Crowley is so far ahead of them and John declares that they need to move faster, to change the plan. He declares that they need to bring is team back in, not knowing what Ben knows: that they are all dead.

John and Ben go to Edward Homm, who has been busy researching Intaverse and their political donations. He tells them that Intaverse's donations are all public, but that they and their subsidiary companies have donated to a total of 141 different candidates on all ends of the political spectrum, that it's going to be very difficult to ID if there's one single candidate they're getting behind. John comments that this is why they need more people, but Ben insists that they stick to the plan. He tells John that they can't risk more exposure by letting anyone else in. He repeats that they stick to the plan as if it's a mantra and John points out that a lot has already gone wrong with it. He secretly continues trying to contact the members of his team, while also going through Miles Valences's phone records, determined to figure out the last person that he talked with.

After further research, Edward reports a breakthrough. He tells them that he realized that individual employee donations might be a better barometer in trying to figure out what candidate Intaverse might be supporting. He looked at the executive-level donations and discovered that the vast majority of these went to a single PAC: the America SOS Committee, which has almost exclusively supported a single candidate: Senator Nora Evers of New Jersey. They point out that she isn't even running for president and he tells them that based on the amount of the donations, there's no question that she will be. He also tells them that he is going viral on Twitter under the hashtag "#EdIsNotDead." Before they can process this, a canister comes flying through the window, turning out to be a smoke bomb. The group finds themselves under siege. Ben and John manage a plan to escape, but in the aftermath, John grows more paranoid, convinced that there is something he is missing. Ben tells him he's missing the obvious: that Miles sold them out, but John refuses to accept this explanation.

As John continues to dial numbers found in Miles's communication, he finally reaches the last number and hears a phone ringing nearby. He is shocked to discover that it is Ben's phone. "You told him to jump?" asks John, but Ben pleads with him to listen, that he had no idea that Miles was going to commit suicide. He tells John that he was trying to fix things and wanted to warn Miles about Kyle. He finally explains the truth: that he had tried to take out Kyle, fearing him to be a liability, but was stabbed by Kyle in the process. He reveals to John that his entire team is dead. He tells him that he didn't know how to tell him, that he was trying to make it right. This was what the call to Miles was about, that he wanted to warn him. As all of this goes down, the group is forced to keep moving safe houses, somehow being discovered each time. They finally realize it as being from a microchipped bottle of whiskey they stole during the Gao operation and dispose of the tracker.

Rattled by the death of his team, John tells Ben that he should just take over Ben's part of the plan. Ben tells him that he's sorry, that it must be the thousandth time he's said it, but John tells him it's actually the first time. Ben tells him it still matters to him what he thinks of him, but John replies that he must have been something in the day, but he just doesn't believe him anymore.

### Crowley's manipulations

Despite John's doubts, the team moves forward with an op to get to Senator Nora Evers, whose presidential campaign is rapidly gaining momentum. They succeed in getting to her and getting her to reveal the leverage that Crowley has on her: a briefcase containing highly incriminating documents, ones she claims are so incriminating that if they got out, anyone with her last name would change it. They also manage to discover where the documents are being kept and devise a plan to retrieve them. However, when Ben asks John what his part in the plan is, John tells him that it's nothing, that he doesn't want anyone getting hurt. Ben is left in the latest safe house with Edward Homm. Edward sits watching the podcast of a man named Morgan Shaw, who claims to have evidence of his being alive. He comments that it probably isn't good, people speculating on him being alive. Ben dismisses Shaw as being a lunatic that nobody listens to, but Edward points out he has 23,000 hits. He asks Ben if he really thinks Shaw has an informant in the government, but Ben tells him that even if he does, it doesn't matter, that they think they're in upstate New York.

Meanwhile, Hailey discovers that John has been using an app on his smartphone called "Magic Squares" to send messages to Miles, asking if he's there. She takes the phone to Ben, asking him if they should be concerned that John is trying to send messages to a dead friend. He tells her that John isn't thinking clearly at the moment, that he calls it "going down the hole." He tells her that John needs him, that he really should be with him on this op. He asks her if John told her the plan, telling her that he's worried about John too and that if there's a problem with the plan, she doesn't have the experience to see it. She suggests that he's using his reverse psychology on her and playing on his empathy, but he says that he's not playing, that John is his son. The plan works, with Hailey helping John in a critical moment. In the aftermath, however, Senator Evers is assassinated. As news reports come on about the assassination and the woman believed responsible, Ben recognizes that she is, in fact, nothing more than a patsy found by Crowley. Meanwhile, John receives a message through the Magic Squares app reading "I'M SORRY, JOHN, BUT I HAD TO MAKE IT LOOK REAL."

In the aftermath of Senator Evers's assassination, there is a groundswell of support for the Shared Data Act, a key piece of legislation that she was supporting. The act would provide private corporations with personal user data from the U.S. government. At the safe house, John goes into a spiral thanks to the apparent message from Miles on the Magic Squares Act. He begins envisioning various scenarios in his head, one of these being that Ben is actually working on Crowley's side. As Ben states that they may not have enough time to figure out what the numbers in Evers's briefcase mean, John shouts at him, saying that for five years he's been saying that they have to strop Crowley. "Now you say you want the Data Act to pass?!" he shouts. Hailey points out that Ben didn't say this and John leaves the room, confused. He discovers a new message on the Magic Squares app reading "He's been lying to you." "Who?" he replies.

Hailey moves to follow John, saying that one of them needs to check on him. Ben, however, tells her to leave him alone, that right now John considers him to be the cause of what ails him rather than the cure, so it's better they leave him alone. He asks Edward if he's making any sense of the contents of the briefcase and he tells him that he is, that it's corporate IDs and bank routing numbers. Just then, Hailey tells them that John is gone. Hailey stares at the messages on John's laptop. In response to John's "Who?" the sender has replied "Ben," followed by "This chat is burned. Move to the encrypted app." As John makes his way inside a local electronics store, Hailey tells Ben that she's going to go look for him. "Good luck," he tells her and she asks if he isn't even a little worried about John, that he's his son. He tells her he worries all the time. He asks where she's even going to look and she tells him she might start with his ex-wife. He expresses surprise that John even has an ex-wife.

John enters a store called Bart's Electronics and uses one of the computers there to login to a free SMS app. There, he receives a cipher from an anonymous account, which he translates as "BEN USED US." "How?" he types back and receives another long cypher in response. He also manages to throw off Hailey, who tracked him through his phone. Hailey returns to the safe house, and Ben reveals that Edward figured out the contents of the briefcase. They contain a roadmap to Crowley's operation, a who's who of CEOs, journalists and more. Hailey asks who they should bring it to, but he tells her that they can't bring it to anyone, Edward explaining that they have no way of knowing who might be compromised. He tells her that they might still have a play, but that they have to wait for John to get back.

John, meanwhile, retrieves a package that was dropped off at his ex-wife's. As he heads off, he is intercepted by Kyle, who forces him to come with him to a man claiming to be Crowley. The man tells him that it was actually Ben who wanted the Shared Data Act passed. He asks him whose idea it was for him and Miles to spin off Arda Analytics, saying that Ben manipulated them both. The man tells him that Ben is using him and he decks him to the ground, only to discover an earpiece in his ear. Through the earpiece comes a voice, apparently that of the real Crowley. He tells him that he needs his help. He continues that all John knows about him has been what Ben told him, but that every move, setback and dead body has all been Ben's doing. John asks him if he really thinks he's going to believe him over his own father. He says that John's mother didn't deserve what Ben did to him, but that Ben always chooses his own ambition. He then tells John that for a decade, Ben was living in a brownstone three blocks from him as Dr. Benjamin Wolff, psychologist. "Your father wasn't traveling around the world hunting a criminal. He was your neighbor," he tells him.

John returns to the safe house. He asks Hailey and Edward where Ben is and they tell him he isn't back yet. He goes to Ben's room and discovers a gun underneath the mattress. When Ben returns, he accosts him, asking him about what Crowley said about where he was living. Ben admits to having lived there briefly, but not the ten years that Crowley claimed. John tells him that Crowley said he was the real threat. Ben calls it insane, but John replies that what's insane has been listening to him and trusting him as if he actually cared. Ben tells him that he never stopped caring. John, however, replies that he's been telling him for so long that the only way to deal with a threat is by dragging it into the light and killing it and that he's beginning to think that he might be right. Just then, however, Edward begins playing the contents of the package that he got from his ex-wife. It turns out to be a message from Miles. The message reveals that Crowley had infiltrated his organization and that he had ordered him to kill John. As there was no way he was going to do this, he instead committed suicide in order to save John. With this, John realizes that if Crowley infiltrated Miles's organization, then he had access to his comms and had been faking the messages to John. John apologizes to Ben, but he tells him that there don't need to be anymore apologizes, that he just needs to know that he's going to work together with him to stop Crowley once and for all. "I thought you said it was too risky," replies John, but Ben tells him that it's too risky to wait. He points out that if Crowley can do this with just a bit of data, there'll be no stopping him if he has access to the data from the Shared Data Act. He tells him that they have to stop him now, before it's too late. "Whatever it takes," agrees John.

### The endgame

A news report reveals that the President of the United States has signed off on the Shared Data Act, or Nora Evers American Protection Act, as it has been renamed. With this, vast amounts of American user data are now in the hands of select private corporations. Shortly after this, Crowley uses the data to arrange the assassination of three federal circuit court judges. Ben declares that it's begun, that Crowley has just shut down the most powerful court in the country and will likely either just pack it with judges beholden to him, or see to it that it never reopens. He tells the others that when he and Crowley were in India, Crowley had said that the one thing the country had right was having a caste system. He continues that if Crowley gets his way, he'll create a permanent underclass. John asks what the next steps are and Hailey asks if they could just go public with the information that they have. Ben tells her that they can't, that right now Crowley controls the narrative and will just use fear to counter whatever they put out there. John says that they need to move to the "Homm Plan."

"There's a Homm Plan?" asks Edward and Ben tells him that there of course is, asking if he's blind. He says that the plan is to reveal that he's alive and the breadcrumbs they've been throwing out to Morgan Shaw will pay off in a viral moment. "You're Zaius?" realizes Edward. Ben agrees that this is so, telling him it's easier to create a folk hero than it was back in the day. He and John reveal that they are also the ones behind "#EdIsNotDead," that they have been paying a clickfarm in the Philippines to spread the message. They then contact a reporter with a broadcast called *Pulse of the Nation*, intending to reveal Edward's survival on her program. Ben comments to John that the one thing that worries him about the plan is that it doesn't end with Crowley's death. To this, John replies that he has to trust him, even though it's not a big thing in their family.

As the plan goes forward, John tells Ben that he has an important pickup for him in Yonkers. "The ex-wife that you neglected to tell me about," comments Ben. He says that John lied to him, but John just chuckles, saying that he never asked. He asks Ben that he not scare his ex-wife, Liv, unnecessarily. Ben arrives at Liv's place, where he is surprised to see a picture of her and John's son, Sam. She tells him that Sam is at a friend's house and that they'll go when he gets back. Later, she sits discussing Sam's teenage angst with Ben, who tells her that she might want to call him again. She tells him that she's not worried, but he replies that he knows the type of business that her former husband was engaged in and that it doesn't hurt to be extra-cautious. She makes the call, but it just goes to voicemail and he tells her that they'll take his car. However, as they head outside an enter, they are almost immediately surrounded by a group of armed men, who demand that they get out. A black van then pulls up in front of the driveway.

Crowley sits, watching as the news reporter from *The Pulse of the Nation*, Debra Wyman-Massey, declares Edward Homm's survival, stating that she will have him on her broadcast. The van pulls up and his men bring him Ben and Liv. Crowley tells Ben that he has always been naive and Ben asks him why he doesn't just put a bullet in his head, that he's won. Crowley asks him what it would accomplish to die a hero's death, that it wouldn't save the United States because they both know that it took a wrong turn a long time ago. He tells him that people need to have their decisions made for them and that it's the only way to restore some balance. He tells him that it's time to bring the dogs to heel. Ben tells him that the country is not his to take, but he replies that he already took it.

At the studio, John and his team prepare for Edward Homm to go on air, only for the proceedings to be interrupted when the studio executive receives a call from Crowley, who demands to speak to John. He tells John that he has his father and his wife. "Say hello, Ben" he demands and Ben curses him. Crowley tells John that he will kill the both of them if he doesn't do as he says. John tells him that his father had always said that the people he cared about would be his greatest weaknesses, that if someone was coming after you, they would be their way in. Crowley tells him he should have listened to his father and John replies that this isn't the first time he's heard that. John tells Crowley that he knows that he's in no position to beg, asking if he would at least release his ex-wife, saying that she's not involved in this. Crowley, however, replies that he won't, that she still means something to him and that this is the point. He asks what his play is and he tells him that this isn't the first time that his ex-wife has been kidnapped and that the last time he had to send in a real bad-ass to get her back and that she never talked to him again. Crowley asks him why any of this matters and he tells him "...the woman that you've got... isn't my ex-wife. She's the person I sent in to get her. The badass."

At this, the woman, not John's ex-wife, breaks free of her handcuffs. She takes out one of Crowley's guards, then grabs his gun, quickly subduing the rest. "Clear!" she shouts, and a cursing Ben asks John just what that was. "Yeah, sorry about that," comments John and Ben asks if he had kept him in the dark because he had felt that up until now he couldn't trust him. John, though, replies that he was playing the narrative to the bitter end, like he had taught him. "You've got him now, he's all yours," he tells Ben. Ben replies that this is the nicest thing anyone's ever done for him. John tells him that this is sad, but that he's welcome.

Ben goes to Crowley, who curses and coughs, clearly not in good shape. He tells him that he's spent the better part of his life watching him, chasing him and hiding from him. He tells him that he sacrificed his family and even his sanity for this and that he wanted there to be some wonderful conclusion, the mother of all confrontations, but that he can't even stand up. He asks him if ever once had a nagging doubt that he might have been wrong. "Of course not," he says, when he receives no response. He asks him just how ill he is, saying that maybe he should have just left him to die. Crowley tells him that the only doubt he ever had was about him. Ben then shoots him dead. In the aftermath, he talks with the "badass" that John hired. He says that he guesses he doesn't really have a grandson and she agrees that Sam is actually hers. She tells him that he's been with his grandparents since things heated up. She walks away and suddenly Ben hears the muffled sounds of a transmission coming from Crowley's body. He pulls an earpiece from Crowley's ear and places it within one of his own ears. "Who is this?" he asks.

## Gallery

### Video

Rabbit Hole - The John & Ben Dynamic - Paramount+
## References

1. ↑ Snierson, Dan (January 6, 2023). 'Things are not what they seem' in first look at Kiefer Sutherland's thriller *Rabbit Hole*. Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved on February 25, 2023.