I will be that guy and stick up for Rob Wilson. I did not watch what I am sure was his interminable and tiresome early tenure on DAYS as heroic Ben the cipher, but I did watch and love him on AMC 2.0, and I am enjoying him here as the clearly disturbed killer.

 

Wilson is very green still, but one thing I think he has always had is a surplus of charisma and charm, which masks a certain arrogance or dark anger which his Pete Cortlandt also exhibited. That character was a heartthrob and a hunk with a good heart, but he also had, like his father Palmer, a rigid conqueror side which came out when he was pushed and threatened to alienate his loved ones. This is a thread they only somewhat touched on before the show ended.

 

As a physical specimen Wilson is perfect, but IMO he has always been good - if untrained - at showing the dark side of perfection. Ben on DAYS is no different, and from what little I've seen I think his erratic portrayal of the somewhat deranged, arrested adolescent, weepy manchild underneath the perfect hunky surface is solid. I'm sure I'd have hated his year as the stalwart hero, though. He's more than just a Prince Charming.

I completely agreed with this until recently. I thought his Petey Cortlandt worked pretty well. And even though that whole first year of his Ben was dull as dirt, he always seemed likable enough. He definitely does well with those flashes of anger that have been peeking out from under the surface for months and months (there's something very "Boston" about it, and he embodies that well). 

 

But the bulk of his dramatic stuff lately has screamed terrible to me. The scenes where Abigail confronted him about putting the tracker on his phone felt like I was watching a high school drama student play out a scene he'd only read five minutes earlier. Like, I didn't even believe that he was the character speaking those lines. He's had his moments in this story, and I do think the experience will help him grow as an actor, but I'm finding a lot of his scenes painful to watch because I flat-out do not buy what he or the script are attempting to sell. 

Edited September 30, 201510 yr by Michael

I think he's adequate. I dont see the terrible actor that people are seeing here

basically. He can hold his own against the peeps he plays opposite most (Abby & Chad), so I don't see why peeps are so bothered by his acting? He's not bad to look at, either. And his character is a lot more 3-dimensional than most. 

 

the wat PTB are throwing his character under the bus in the name of Abby + Chad is so tragic, tho.