Perspective is 20/20: Why Peter Benton Remains Divisive for ER Fans in 2018
For me, ER predated my internet fandom community days because I didn’t
really have a heavy presence online until about 2009-2010. However, Hulu picked
ER up earlier this year and ER made a huge come back online as both new and old
fans alike picked up the series. Its internet presence also increased. Many of
the identified fan favorite characters and episodes were unsurprising. What
surprised me most is the fact that Peter Benton (Eriq LaSalle) is heavily
disliked in ER fan communities. I was taken aback because Peter is easily one
of my two favorite male characters of the entire series. From online
discussions, I ascertained that he might be one of ER's most divisive
characters in the sense that so many characters are easy to like or dislike,
but Peter causes much more debate. Admittedly, I was curious and started listening
in on the discussions. The reasons for disliking him tended to be: he's
repugnant, he's a hardass on his students, he's self-absorbed, he's cocky, etc.
Believe it or not, I was dumbfounded for a bit—until I thought more about
perspective, both mine and the perspective of those who dislike Peter.
For me, I have always liked Peter Benton because he’s one of ER’s most diverse, inclusive characters. He’s a first-generation, black male doctor from a modest background. Peter is fairly confident in who he is. He’s smart, and he’s a capable surgeon. He doesn’t often back down or play into society’s expectations of how he should comport himself as a black man. Oftentimes, that means setting himself apart from his overwhelmingly white colleagues, both intentionally and unintentionally as he bucks stereotypes about black men left and right. That’s when it hit me. Although my Peter Benton is a trailblazing character that I relate to as young woman of color in a traditionally white, male centric profession from a similar background, Peter Benton to others is an unnecessarily standoffish, and sometimes cruel, character. So this is who Peter Benton is to me.
When we meet Peter Benton, he's a fairly confident surgical resident. More or less, we see him just sit there and eat his food at the hospital: he’s there to do his job and not to gossip about his personal life with the other doctors. He definitely has a wall up, which I can understand because there are some issues of trust and emotional vulnerability when you’re in a space that you know is not meant for you. We learn most about Peter in the first season through his familial relationships because he is not engaged in interpersonal relationships with other folks at County General. He's the youngest son, and he's his mother's pride. As his mother's Alzheimer's increasingly worsens, Peter struggles to balance his work requirements and caring for his mother, who he desperately wants to keep out of a nursing home. Ultimately, his work suffers somewhat as he starts trading shifts and trying to make this schedule work so that he can do his part in taking care of his mother. Taking care of an ill family member is not a concern that any of his other colleagues have with the exception of Dr. Susan Lewis, whose struggle sometimes aligns with Peter’s as a first-generation doctor from a lower socioeconomic status background. Peter’s mother passes away at the end of the first season, which devastates Peter.
In season 1, we see Peter go up for a fellowship that he doesn't receive mostly because of his inexperience compared with the other top contender and because he's not the best team player. From that experience, Peter learns that he has to get better at working with other groups to network. In professions like medicine, particularly a sub-field as prestigious and elite as surgery, networking is compulsory to seek opportunities. When we first meet Peter, he is somewhat of a loner. As Peter grows and develops other relationships throughout the series, this changes a lot. Early on, we learn that Peter respects and works well with his female colleagues. For example, the fellowship he loses out on is to a black female doctor. Later, he goes to work with Dr. Angela Hicks (CCH Pounder) who is another black female. We see this mentor-mentee relationship develop quite a bit. In later seasons, we see his relationship, both collegial and personal, with Dr. Elizabeth Corday (Alex Kingston).
During season 2, it becomes a bit clearer the kind of doctor Peter really is. When the research team starts to cook its data, Peter struggles with the urge to "go along to get along" versus doing the right thing. Peter knows that what the team is doing is not right, and he knows he should speak up. However, he knows that if he speaks out of turn, he could face enormous consequences. Why is this such a hard decision for Peter? Well, it’s because Peter is balancing a few things. One is his precarious position within the hospital. It’s clear that Peter wants to get ahead. He wants to be the best surgeon possible, and he knows that at some level, he has to get used to working with people. Another is he really does know what is right. He doesn’t want to do the wrong thing, but he also doesn’t want the negative attention as not being the team player. The fact of the matter is that for folks in Peter’s shoes, making this kind of decision is often incredibly terrifying because it could mean the difference between career advancement and any career at all. While this continues to be an ongoing moral debate within our society, Peter eventually chooses to do the right thing and reports the team. This decision temporarily hurts him, but not for long. He bounces back with his morals intact and is able to move onto his next opportunity.
In the same vain, we see Peter do the right thing again in season 3 when he learns his female superior has been sleeping with his intern, Dr. John Carter (Noah Wyle). When he goes to her for a recommendation, she expects to be blackmailed into giving him a recommendation she doesn’t think he has earned. In response, Peter tells her that he doesn’t want the recommendation that he hasn’t earned, and that he’s not going to blackmail her. Peter trends toward doing the right thing…and usually for the right reason. As a woman of color, I am not exaggerating when I tell you that I clap when I watch this scene because there’s certain liberation and power that comes in refusing pity points from anyone. As much as marginalized groups sometimes need opportunity, I have yet to meet folks who think that this opportunity should be based on anything less than what their capabilities actually are. This is literally why I cringe during most contemporary conversations on affirmative action because as Peter showed in this situation, people aren’t looking for anything that they haven’t, or can’t, earn.
Season 3, which is where many people tend to have the most problem with Peter, is perhaps one of his strongest seasons on the entire show because he has a very important, developmental story line. Peter is in charge of a group of surgical interns, including Carter and Grant (Omar Epps). Both are promising young residents. Benton is hard on both of them, presumably because it’s the kind of tough love training (and borderline hazing) that he received. However, he’s much harder on Grant than Carter. Why? As Benton not so casually tells Grant, it is specifically because he’s black. No one is going to do him any favors in this field, which is why he has to be prepared to never make a mistake. He has to be the absolute best, and he actually boasts about not checking the box on his application. Now, this is quite telling about Peter’s own attitude and why he operates the way he does. He’s not going to be caught making a mistake. He’s going to be perfect because he doesn’t want anyone to think that he’s a pity hire based on his race. For me, this is an important point because while I understand exactly what Peter is doing here, I refuse to believe that this is how we have to continue to mentor fresh generations of professionals. We all know a certain sense of toughness and when to stand our ground, but sometimes things are a bit rough. However, like I said, I understand why Peter pushed Grant so hard because it’s how black folks have survived for many years now.
Where Peter’s story really goes off the rails for many people is when Grant commits suicide because of the pressures of his work and his personal life crashing down around him. While Grant’s story was a dramatic tool, this is a very real issue as statistics show that medical professionals tend to commit suicide at rates twice that of the general population. Through Carter’s frustrations and accusations, the viewers get the idea that maybe if Peter had been nicer to Grant, he wouldn’t have committed suicide. Carter’s frustrations are very relevant and understandable, especially as Peter doesn’t really react to the situation. Only, Peter does react once he’s alone with Dr. Hicks. For me, this was one of the most emotional scenes for Peter because it really spoke to his emotional vulnerability. For many marginalized folks, it is extremely hard to let your guard down around others, especially in this type of situation where you don’t want to be seen as weak within your profession. It’s not that Peter didn’t care; it’s that he actually cared a lot.
Toward the end of his tenure at the hospital, Peter’s position on being a black doctor and his responsibilities to his community at large changes a bit. When Dr. Romano (Paul McCrane) baits him into become the face of the hospital’s affirmative action initiatives, Peter does it because he wants to get back on Romano’s good side after a falling out. It’s in this capacity that we see Peter open up a bit more and take interest in a young black man, especially since Peter infamously refused to help a young black man in trouble in Season 1 at the behest of Nurse Heleh. It seems like his own experiences over the course of seven years reshaped the way Peter sees the role his race played in his life and the life of his family members.
Now, the thing that most people like about Peter is when he becomes a father to his son, Reese. Reese is born deaf. Peter, wanting to do anything he can do to “help” his son—and possibly giving us one of the best character arcs on disability rights and what that means—goes to the extremes to seek treatment for Reese. Eventually, he learns that he’s not going to be able to cure his son’s disability nor should that necessarily be the goal. Peter learns sign language, and he remains a strong presence in his son’s life, going to the extremes to ensure he gets visitation rights. This storyline is much more political than I think most people know to give it credit for being as Peter bucks the stereotype that black men don’t want to be fathers or that they don’t know how to be fathers. Peter has always been tied to his family, and we see him constantly working to maintain ties with Reese while balancing his career. At heart, Peter is truly a family man, which is not something that black men are often credited for being. Ultimately, Peter’s story at County General ends when he leaves the hospital to gain custody of his son and spend as much time raising him as possible.
Although he starts off being very low-key, Peter’s relationships also take an interesting turn. Towards the end of the first season, we see him begin an affair with married physical therapist, Jeanie Boulet (Gloria Reuben), who later becomes a physician assistant at County General. From Jeanie, we see him with Carla, who’s his son’s mother. I have a lot of issues with how this particular character reinforces negative stereotypes about black women, but that’s not the point of this blog post. Peter doesn’t have a good relationship with Carla, but he’s able to move on.
I am unapologetically a fan of the Peter and Elizabeth relationship of Season 4 and early Season 5 because I think those two characters just mesh really well. Also, Peter and Elizabeth just make a really adorable couple both physically and with regard to how their whit just plays off of each other. They have chemistry for days!! However, I totally understand Eriq LaSalle’s concerns about Peter’s first healthy, and possibly long-term, relationship on this show being with a white woman because that certainly feeds into the stereotype that successful black men only find happiness with white women. As a product of an interracial relationship, I have no issues with interracial relationships, but I certainly empathize with the tension here. In the end, I did like Peter with Cleo because it seems like she helped him come to terms with many things that he was facing. She also supported him—not that I particularly buy into the notion that women exist to make men good people. They just had an interesting dynamic that in many ways became a motif of ER, especially in its later years. In any case, it was nice to see ER address some of these relationship concerns that came with the territory of being Peter Benton.
This is what I see when I see Peter Benton. I see the Peter Benton who cares about his professional development, not because he’s a statistic but because being the best surgeon is his passion. I see a Peter Benton who is respectful and who is not closed off or harsh because he wants to be, but because it’s what he thinks will make him a good, respected doctor. I see a Peter Benton who struggles to find his comfort zone in this place where so many of his carefree colleagues easily set up shop so quickly. I see a Peter Benton that is confident, but who’s still young and naïve in many ways. I see a Peter Benton who flourishes over the course of eight seasons while learning some valuable lessons about being a doctor, being himself, being a partner, and being a father.
Alternatively, I understand the critiques of Peter and why people write him off as cocky, as someone who they may blame (in part or in whole) for a young doctor’s suicide. And this is where I think perspective matters. I’m not old enough to remember when ER premiered in 1994. In fact, I didn’t start watching ER live until around Season 8 because after spending about two summers and a year’s worth of days off from school watching the re-runs, I was finally able to stay up late enough to watch it live. One of the many things that I have read about the show over the years is how quickly ER caught on with black American communities because of Peter, and later, Jeannie. I can’t help but think that was because of how well ER developed Peter in a way that made sense to black folks, particularly young, black professionals. Because when I look back at Peter’s story, I still see myself and my contemporary struggle that came twenty years later. I want to be clear on this point: every viewer’s perspective is created equal; no one should feel forced to like anyone who they do not like for any rational reason. But in my love for Peter Benton, I have found that perspective really is 20/20.
For me, I have always liked Peter Benton because he’s one of ER’s most diverse, inclusive characters. He’s a first-generation, black male doctor from a modest background. Peter is fairly confident in who he is. He’s smart, and he’s a capable surgeon. He doesn’t often back down or play into society’s expectations of how he should comport himself as a black man. Oftentimes, that means setting himself apart from his overwhelmingly white colleagues, both intentionally and unintentionally as he bucks stereotypes about black men left and right. That’s when it hit me. Although my Peter Benton is a trailblazing character that I relate to as young woman of color in a traditionally white, male centric profession from a similar background, Peter Benton to others is an unnecessarily standoffish, and sometimes cruel, character. So this is who Peter Benton is to me.
When we meet Peter Benton, he's a fairly confident surgical resident. More or less, we see him just sit there and eat his food at the hospital: he’s there to do his job and not to gossip about his personal life with the other doctors. He definitely has a wall up, which I can understand because there are some issues of trust and emotional vulnerability when you’re in a space that you know is not meant for you. We learn most about Peter in the first season through his familial relationships because he is not engaged in interpersonal relationships with other folks at County General. He's the youngest son, and he's his mother's pride. As his mother's Alzheimer's increasingly worsens, Peter struggles to balance his work requirements and caring for his mother, who he desperately wants to keep out of a nursing home. Ultimately, his work suffers somewhat as he starts trading shifts and trying to make this schedule work so that he can do his part in taking care of his mother. Taking care of an ill family member is not a concern that any of his other colleagues have with the exception of Dr. Susan Lewis, whose struggle sometimes aligns with Peter’s as a first-generation doctor from a lower socioeconomic status background. Peter’s mother passes away at the end of the first season, which devastates Peter.
In season 1, we see Peter go up for a fellowship that he doesn't receive mostly because of his inexperience compared with the other top contender and because he's not the best team player. From that experience, Peter learns that he has to get better at working with other groups to network. In professions like medicine, particularly a sub-field as prestigious and elite as surgery, networking is compulsory to seek opportunities. When we first meet Peter, he is somewhat of a loner. As Peter grows and develops other relationships throughout the series, this changes a lot. Early on, we learn that Peter respects and works well with his female colleagues. For example, the fellowship he loses out on is to a black female doctor. Later, he goes to work with Dr. Angela Hicks (CCH Pounder) who is another black female. We see this mentor-mentee relationship develop quite a bit. In later seasons, we see his relationship, both collegial and personal, with Dr. Elizabeth Corday (Alex Kingston).
During season 2, it becomes a bit clearer the kind of doctor Peter really is. When the research team starts to cook its data, Peter struggles with the urge to "go along to get along" versus doing the right thing. Peter knows that what the team is doing is not right, and he knows he should speak up. However, he knows that if he speaks out of turn, he could face enormous consequences. Why is this such a hard decision for Peter? Well, it’s because Peter is balancing a few things. One is his precarious position within the hospital. It’s clear that Peter wants to get ahead. He wants to be the best surgeon possible, and he knows that at some level, he has to get used to working with people. Another is he really does know what is right. He doesn’t want to do the wrong thing, but he also doesn’t want the negative attention as not being the team player. The fact of the matter is that for folks in Peter’s shoes, making this kind of decision is often incredibly terrifying because it could mean the difference between career advancement and any career at all. While this continues to be an ongoing moral debate within our society, Peter eventually chooses to do the right thing and reports the team. This decision temporarily hurts him, but not for long. He bounces back with his morals intact and is able to move onto his next opportunity.
In the same vain, we see Peter do the right thing again in season 3 when he learns his female superior has been sleeping with his intern, Dr. John Carter (Noah Wyle). When he goes to her for a recommendation, she expects to be blackmailed into giving him a recommendation she doesn’t think he has earned. In response, Peter tells her that he doesn’t want the recommendation that he hasn’t earned, and that he’s not going to blackmail her. Peter trends toward doing the right thing…and usually for the right reason. As a woman of color, I am not exaggerating when I tell you that I clap when I watch this scene because there’s certain liberation and power that comes in refusing pity points from anyone. As much as marginalized groups sometimes need opportunity, I have yet to meet folks who think that this opportunity should be based on anything less than what their capabilities actually are. This is literally why I cringe during most contemporary conversations on affirmative action because as Peter showed in this situation, people aren’t looking for anything that they haven’t, or can’t, earn.
Season 3, which is where many people tend to have the most problem with Peter, is perhaps one of his strongest seasons on the entire show because he has a very important, developmental story line. Peter is in charge of a group of surgical interns, including Carter and Grant (Omar Epps). Both are promising young residents. Benton is hard on both of them, presumably because it’s the kind of tough love training (and borderline hazing) that he received. However, he’s much harder on Grant than Carter. Why? As Benton not so casually tells Grant, it is specifically because he’s black. No one is going to do him any favors in this field, which is why he has to be prepared to never make a mistake. He has to be the absolute best, and he actually boasts about not checking the box on his application. Now, this is quite telling about Peter’s own attitude and why he operates the way he does. He’s not going to be caught making a mistake. He’s going to be perfect because he doesn’t want anyone to think that he’s a pity hire based on his race. For me, this is an important point because while I understand exactly what Peter is doing here, I refuse to believe that this is how we have to continue to mentor fresh generations of professionals. We all know a certain sense of toughness and when to stand our ground, but sometimes things are a bit rough. However, like I said, I understand why Peter pushed Grant so hard because it’s how black folks have survived for many years now.
Where Peter’s story really goes off the rails for many people is when Grant commits suicide because of the pressures of his work and his personal life crashing down around him. While Grant’s story was a dramatic tool, this is a very real issue as statistics show that medical professionals tend to commit suicide at rates twice that of the general population. Through Carter’s frustrations and accusations, the viewers get the idea that maybe if Peter had been nicer to Grant, he wouldn’t have committed suicide. Carter’s frustrations are very relevant and understandable, especially as Peter doesn’t really react to the situation. Only, Peter does react once he’s alone with Dr. Hicks. For me, this was one of the most emotional scenes for Peter because it really spoke to his emotional vulnerability. For many marginalized folks, it is extremely hard to let your guard down around others, especially in this type of situation where you don’t want to be seen as weak within your profession. It’s not that Peter didn’t care; it’s that he actually cared a lot.
Toward the end of his tenure at the hospital, Peter’s position on being a black doctor and his responsibilities to his community at large changes a bit. When Dr. Romano (Paul McCrane) baits him into become the face of the hospital’s affirmative action initiatives, Peter does it because he wants to get back on Romano’s good side after a falling out. It’s in this capacity that we see Peter open up a bit more and take interest in a young black man, especially since Peter infamously refused to help a young black man in trouble in Season 1 at the behest of Nurse Heleh. It seems like his own experiences over the course of seven years reshaped the way Peter sees the role his race played in his life and the life of his family members.
Now, the thing that most people like about Peter is when he becomes a father to his son, Reese. Reese is born deaf. Peter, wanting to do anything he can do to “help” his son—and possibly giving us one of the best character arcs on disability rights and what that means—goes to the extremes to seek treatment for Reese. Eventually, he learns that he’s not going to be able to cure his son’s disability nor should that necessarily be the goal. Peter learns sign language, and he remains a strong presence in his son’s life, going to the extremes to ensure he gets visitation rights. This storyline is much more political than I think most people know to give it credit for being as Peter bucks the stereotype that black men don’t want to be fathers or that they don’t know how to be fathers. Peter has always been tied to his family, and we see him constantly working to maintain ties with Reese while balancing his career. At heart, Peter is truly a family man, which is not something that black men are often credited for being. Ultimately, Peter’s story at County General ends when he leaves the hospital to gain custody of his son and spend as much time raising him as possible.
Although he starts off being very low-key, Peter’s relationships also take an interesting turn. Towards the end of the first season, we see him begin an affair with married physical therapist, Jeanie Boulet (Gloria Reuben), who later becomes a physician assistant at County General. From Jeanie, we see him with Carla, who’s his son’s mother. I have a lot of issues with how this particular character reinforces negative stereotypes about black women, but that’s not the point of this blog post. Peter doesn’t have a good relationship with Carla, but he’s able to move on.
I am unapologetically a fan of the Peter and Elizabeth relationship of Season 4 and early Season 5 because I think those two characters just mesh really well. Also, Peter and Elizabeth just make a really adorable couple both physically and with regard to how their whit just plays off of each other. They have chemistry for days!! However, I totally understand Eriq LaSalle’s concerns about Peter’s first healthy, and possibly long-term, relationship on this show being with a white woman because that certainly feeds into the stereotype that successful black men only find happiness with white women. As a product of an interracial relationship, I have no issues with interracial relationships, but I certainly empathize with the tension here. In the end, I did like Peter with Cleo because it seems like she helped him come to terms with many things that he was facing. She also supported him—not that I particularly buy into the notion that women exist to make men good people. They just had an interesting dynamic that in many ways became a motif of ER, especially in its later years. In any case, it was nice to see ER address some of these relationship concerns that came with the territory of being Peter Benton.
This is what I see when I see Peter Benton. I see the Peter Benton who cares about his professional development, not because he’s a statistic but because being the best surgeon is his passion. I see a Peter Benton who is respectful and who is not closed off or harsh because he wants to be, but because it’s what he thinks will make him a good, respected doctor. I see a Peter Benton who struggles to find his comfort zone in this place where so many of his carefree colleagues easily set up shop so quickly. I see a Peter Benton that is confident, but who’s still young and naïve in many ways. I see a Peter Benton who flourishes over the course of eight seasons while learning some valuable lessons about being a doctor, being himself, being a partner, and being a father.
Alternatively, I understand the critiques of Peter and why people write him off as cocky, as someone who they may blame (in part or in whole) for a young doctor’s suicide. And this is where I think perspective matters. I’m not old enough to remember when ER premiered in 1994. In fact, I didn’t start watching ER live until around Season 8 because after spending about two summers and a year’s worth of days off from school watching the re-runs, I was finally able to stay up late enough to watch it live. One of the many things that I have read about the show over the years is how quickly ER caught on with black American communities because of Peter, and later, Jeannie. I can’t help but think that was because of how well ER developed Peter in a way that made sense to black folks, particularly young, black professionals. Because when I look back at Peter’s story, I still see myself and my contemporary struggle that came twenty years later. I want to be clear on this point: every viewer’s perspective is created equal; no one should feel forced to like anyone who they do not like for any rational reason. But in my love for Peter Benton, I have found that perspective really is 20/20.
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